On this Day: August 25

On this Day August 25

Musical Milestones

1962 – 17-year-old Eva Narcissus Boyd, a.k.a. “Little Eva,” scores her first and only No. 1 hit with “The Loco-Motion.”

1970 – Elton John plays his first U.S. gig at the Troubadour in Los Angeles.

1973 – One-hit-wonder Stories has the most popular song on the radio with “Brother Louie.”

1975 – Bruce Springsteen releases his breakthrough album “Born to Run.”

1979 – The Knack own the top spot on the singles chart for six weeks with “My Sharona.”

History Highlights

1916 – The National Park Service is founded to manage and preserve national parks and monuments for future generations.

1939 – MGM Studios’ “The Wizard of Oz” premieres, starring Judy Garland as Dorothy. It and “Gone With The Wind,” which was released later that year, are the first major motion pictures to use Technicolor at a time when films were shot in black and white.

1984 – Author Truman Capote (“Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “In Cold Blood”) dies in Los Angeles at the age of 59.

1985 – Samantha Smith of Maine, the 11-year-old “ambassador” to the Soviet Union, dies in a plane crash. Smith was best known for writing to Soviet leader Yuri Andropov in 1982 and visiting as Andropov’s guest in 1983.

2009 – Edward “Ted” Kennedy, the youngest brother of President John F. Kennedy and a U.S. senator from Massachusetts from 1962 to 2009, dies of brain cancer at age 77 at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.

Celebrity Birthdays

1917 – Actor-director Mel Ferrer (“War and Peace,” “Green Mansions,” “Wait Until Dark”) (d. 2008)

1918 – Grammy and Tony-winning composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein (“West Side Story,” “Peter Pan,” “Candide,” “Wonderful Town,” “On the Town,” “On The Waterfront”) (d. 1990)

1921 – Producer, actor, singer and sportscaster Monty Hall, best known as host of the TV game show “Let’s Make a Deal” (d. 2017)

1930 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actor Sir Sean Connery, best known for playing British secret agent James Bond/007 in seven Bond movies

1931 – Emmy-winning TV host, actor and singer Regis Philbin (“Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee,” “Live! with Regis and Kelly,” ” Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”)

1933 – Actor Tom Skerritt (“M*A*S*H,” “Up In Smoke,” “Alien,” “Top Gun,” “A River Runs Through It,” “Contact,” “Picket Fences”)

1941 – Rock singer-bassist and KISS founder Gene Simmons, born Chaim Weitz

1954 – Singer-songwriter Elvis Costello (“Alison,” “Everyday I Write the Book,” “Veronica”)

1958 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning director Tim Burton (“Beetlejuice,” “Batman,” “Edward Scissorhands,” “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Ed Wood,” “Big Fish,” “Alice in Wonderland”)

1961 – Country music singer-songwriter and actor Billy Ray Cyrus, best known for his 1992 smash “Achy Breaky Heart”

1968 – Emmy-winning TV chef Rachael Ray

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Brother Louie / Stories

Though originally helmed by onetime Left Banke mastermind Michael Brown, Stories ironically scored their lone hit, the 1973 chart-topper “Brother Louie,” following Brown’s exit from the lineup.

Born To Run / Bruce Springsteen

Springsteen’s third album was the one that broke it all open for him, planting his tales of Jersey girls, cars and nights spent sleeping on the beach firmly in the Top Five.

The Wizard of Oz

MGM Studios’ classic “The Wizard of Oz,” follows Dorothy and her dog Toto when they are caught in a tornado’s path and somehow end up in the land of Oz.

Journey to the Soviet Union

Samantha Smith, an 11-year-old from Maine, describes her trip to Russia at the invitation of Yuri Andropov after writing him a letter expressing her fears about a nuclear war.

The Joy of Music / Leonard Bernstein

This classic work is perhaps Leonard Bernstein’s finest collection of conversations on the meaning and wonder of music. It is a must for music fans who wish to experience music more fully and deeply through one of the most inspired, and inspiring, music intellects of our time.

Beetlejuice

A couple of nice homebody ghosts, trying to rid their house of afamily of trendsetting human beings, is hell-bent on making their home unlivable — even for the dead. Starring Michael Keaton, Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin. Directed by Tim Burton.

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