Today is the 96th birthday of the Skipper from Gilligan’s Island:  Alan Hale Jr. He was a film and theatre actor before landing that role, whole full careers of both. The most interesting facts I discovered while researching him is that I had no idea the number of Gilligan’s Island specials and movies after the series was over. That and he had is own seafood restaurant and travel agency afterward. Brilliant. The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.

NAME: Alan Hale JR.
BIRTHDATE: March 8, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH: Los Angeles, CA
DATE OF DEATH: January 2, 1990
PLACE OF DEATH: Los Angeles, CA
HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME: 6653 Hollywood Blvd. (television)

BEST KNOWN FOR: American film, stage, character and television actor and a restaurant owner, who was the son of character actor Alan Hale, Sr., whose career spans four decades of television. He also appeared on several talk and variety shows.

Alan Hale Jr. was born Alan Hale MacKahan in Los Angeles, California on March 8, 1921. His father was character actor Rufus Edward McKahan, who used the stage name of Alan Hale (1892–1950), and his mother was silent film actress Gretchen Hartman (1897-1979). Appearing in over 235 films, his father had a successful screen career both as a leading man in silent films and as a supporting actor in sound movies.

During World War II, Hale, Jr., enlisted in the United States Coast Guard. After the death of his father in 1950, Hale dropped the “Junior” from his name.

In 1931, Hale made his Broadway stage debut in Caught Wet. The play opened on November 4 and closed later that month. He made his screen debut two years later in Wild Boys of the Road. However, his part was deleted out of the film’s final release but he still received screen credit for the role. He later appeared in roles in To the Shores of Tripoli (1942), Yanks Ahoy (1943), Sweetheart of Sigma Chi (1946), and When Willie Comes Marching Home (1950). During the late 1940s and early 1950s, he frequently appeared in Gene Autry films and also had a recurring role from 1950 to 1952 on The Gene Autry Show. In 1952, Hale landed the starring role in CBS’s Biff Baker, U.S.A., but the series was canceled in 1954.

Hale continued his career with guest spots on The Range Rider (five times), Annie Oakley, Fireside Theater, Frontier,Matinee Theater, Fury, Northwest Passage, and The Man from Blackhawk (as Miles Mackenzie in the 1960 episode “The $100,000 Policy”). He also had roles in The Gunfighter (1950), Silver Lode (1954), The Sea Chase (1955), The Three Outlaws (1956), The True Story of Jesse James (1957), and Up Periscope (1959).

In 1957, Hale landed another starring role in the syndicated television series Casey Jones, which aired thirty-two episodes before it was canceled in 1958.

In 1957, he played folksy rancher Les Bridgeman in the episode “Hired Gun” of the ABC/Warner Brothers western series Cheyenne, with Clint Walker in the title role. Whitney Blake plays Bridgeman’s wife Lilli, who hires a professional assassin to kill her husband so that she can marry a rival rancher, Kiley Rand (Don Megowan). Cheyenne Bodie goes undercover to unravel the mystery.

From 1958 to 1960, Hale had a recurring role on Rory Calhoun‘s CBS western series The Texan.

Throughout the early 1960s, Hale continued in guest-starring roles on episodes of Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Rawhide, The Real McCoys, Mister Ed, Assignment: Underwater, Hawaiian Eye, Adventures in Paradise, Lock Up, The Andy Griffith Show, Lassie, Tales of Wells Fargo, Route 66, and Hazel. He was featured in two episodes of Perry Mason, first as murderer Lon Snyder in the 1961 episode, “The Case of the Unwelcome Bride,” then in 1963 he played Nelson Barclift in “The Case of the Bouncing Boomerang”. Actress Diana Millay also appeared in both episodes.

In addition to numerous guest roles on television, Hale was noted for his supporting-character roles in such movies as the character of Whitey in the 1947 Christmas movie “It Happened on 5th Avenue“, as Porthos’ son in the 1952 “Three Musketeers” sequel “At Swords Point” opposite Cornell Wilde and Maureen O’Hara, in thestock car racing film Thunder in Carolina (1960) starring Rory Calhoun, The Long Rope (1961) with Hugh Marlowe, Bullet for a Badman (1964) with Audie Murphy,Advance to the Rear (1964) starring Glenn Ford, and “hanging party” blacksmith Matt Stone in Hang ‘Em High (1968) starring Clint Eastwood.

n 1964, Hale won the co-starring role as the Skipper on the CBS sitcom Gilligan’s Island. The series aired for a total of 98 episodes from 1964 to 1967. The role proved to be the most prominent role for Hale, as the show continued to be popular for later generations of viewers due to syndicated reruns. The popularity of the show typecast its actors, making it difficult for them to successfully pursue diversified acting opportunities. They received no substantial residual payments for their roles, and the difficulty in finding roles often created financial hardship and resentment. However, Hale did not mind being so closely identified with the Skipper. According to Sherwood Schwartz, he often visited children in hospital dressed as the Skipper.

Hale reprised the role of the Skipper in three television films, Rescue from Gilligan’s Island in 1978, The Castaways on Gilligan’s Island in 1979, and The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island in 1981. He also voiced the Skipper in two cartoon versions of the series, The New Adventures of Gilligan from 1974 to 1977 and Gilligan’s Planet from 1982 to 1983. Hale also appeared as the Skipper in two unrelated sitcoms, The New Gidget in 1987 and ALF in 1989. He also promotedGilligan’s Island reruns on TBS, alongside Bob Denver. Denver and Hale also appeared as their characters at various promotional events.

Dawn Wells said in a 2014 interview on CRN.com with Larry and Nancy Manetti, when asked if Alan Hale Jr. was the consummate professional of the Gilligan’s Island series, “Well, that is so interesting, because Alan Jr. and his father looked so much alike, you don’t know, who was who. His father did all the Errol Flynn … I used to say to Alan, ‘How was it growing up in a household, with all those moviestars?’ Alan was absolutely, the consummate professional, wonderful gentleman, jovial, never complained … he was the exact same size of my dad. Everytime he picked me up and hugged me, I thought he was my father, he was my dad.” Then, Wells also responded if she ever went to her acting mentor’s restaurant, he once owned in Los Angeles, “It was a lobster house on La Cienega Blvd., and he would greet you with his sea hat on, as you can…. but that was after the show; and he had his friend, Anthony, there, with some good food, too.” The last question that has ever been asked by Dawn, was if Gilligan’s Island, was nearly his show, “No, no… as a matter of fact, it was interesting when you go back and find the people that they should thought say the other characters, and I understand Alan was doing a movie in Utah and they wanted to bring him to audition and he couldn’t get a flight out, so … he hitchhiked, hitchhiked on the highway and then, he came in to audition.” After the show’s cancelation, and until Hale’s death, Wells not only stayed in touch with him, but were also neighbors, who were both golfing buddies. Gretchen’s death in 1979, drew the relationship between Hale & Wells closer, who received word from the loss of her mentor’s mother.

After the end of Gilligan’s Island, Hale continued his career in television. He guest-starred on several series, including The Wild Wild West, Here Come the Brides,Land of the Giants, The Virginian, Here’s Lucy, Marcus Welby, M.D., The Paul Lynde Show, The Love Boat, and Crazy Like a Fox.

Hale also appeared in film roles from the 1960s to the 1980s. During the 1970s, he starred in The Giant Spider Invasion (1975) and Angels Revenge (1978), both of which were later featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000 (as was his 1963 film The Crawling Hand). In 1983, Hale costarred in comedy-drama film Hambone and Hillie, starring Lillian Gish. The following year, he had a role in the comedy Johnny Dangerously and became a spokesman for a car dealership in Victoria, British Columbia. In 1987, Hale starred in the horror film Terror Night. Later that same year, he made his final film appearance in a cameo role with Bob Denver in Back to the Beach. Also in 1987, he reprised his role as The Skipper on The New Gidget with his childhood friend and classmate William Schallert and Bob Denver, and on an episode of ALF.

In addition to acting, Hale also co-owned Alan Hale’s Lobster Barrel, a restaurant that was opened in the mid-1970s. The Lobster Barrel was located on La Cienega Boulevard on Los Angeles’ Restaurant Row. According to Hale’s agent, Hale was “phased out” of the business in 1982. He later opened Alan Hale’s Quality and Leisure Travel office.

Hale was married twice; his first marriage was on March 12, 1943 in Hollywood to Bettina Doerr Hale with whom he had four children: Alan Brian, Chris, Lana, and Dorian. The couple later divorced. In 1964, Hale married former singer Naomi Ingram, to whom he would remain married until his death.

Hale died on January 2, 1990, of thymus cancer at St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles at age 68. His ashes were sprinkled into the Pacific Ocean. Gilligan’s Island co-star, Dawn Wells, was in attendance representing the surviving members of the cast.

TELEVISION
Gilligan’s Island Skipper (1964-67)
The Good Guys Big Tom (1969)
Casey Jones Casey Jones (1957-58)

FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Back to the Beach (7-Aug-1987)
Johnny Dangerously (21-Dec-1984) · Desk Sergeant
Red Fury (1984)
Hambone and Hillie (24-Apr-1983)
The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island (15-May-1981)
The Castaways on Gilligan’s Island (3-May-1979)
The Fifth Musketeer (6-Apr-1979)
The North Avenue Irregulars (9-Feb-1979)
Angels’ Brigade (1979)
Rescue from Gilligan’s Island (14-Oct-1978)
The Giant Spider Invasion (30-Dec-1976)
There Was a Crooked Man… (19-Sep-1970) · Tobaccy
The Andersonville Trial (17-May-1970) · Board Member
Hang ‘Em High (31-Jul-1968) · Stone
Tiger by the Tail (1968)
Bullet for a Badman (24-Jun-1964) · Leach
Advance to the Rear (15-Apr-1964)
The Crawling Hand (4-Sep-1963)
The Iron Maiden (7-Jun-1963)
The Long Rope (1961)
Thunder in Carolina (Jul-1960)
Up Periscope (4-Mar-1959) · Malone
The Lady Takes a Flyer (29-Jan-1958)
All Mine to Give (Nov-1957) · Tom Cullen
Affair in Reno (15-Feb-1957)
Battle Hymn (14-Feb-1957) · Mess Sergeant
The True Story of Jesse James (Feb-1957) · Cole Younger
The Three Outlaws (13-May-1956)
The Killer Is Loose (2-Mar-1956) · Denny
The Indian Fighter (21-Dec-1955)
A Man Alone (17-Oct-1955)
The Sea Chase (4-Jun-1955) · Wentz
Many Rivers to Cross (23-Feb-1955) · Luke Radford
Destry (1-Dec-1954) · Jack Larson
Young at Heart (Dec-1954)
Rogue Cop (17-Sep-1954)
Silver Lode (23-Jul-1954)
Captain Kidd and the Slave Girl (20-May-1954) · Jay Simpson
The Iron Glove (Apr-1954)
Captain John Smith and Pocahontas (20-Nov-1953) · Fleming
The Man Behind the Gun (31-Jan-1953) · Olaf
Springfield Rifle (22-Oct-1952) · Mizzell
Wait ‘Til the Sun Shines, Nellie (27-Jun-1952)
The Big Trees (5-Feb-1952) · Tiny
At Sword’s Point (1952)
Home Town Story (1-May-1951)
The West Point Story (22-Dec-1950) · Bull Gilbert
The Blazing Sun (20-Nov-1950) · Ben Luber
The Underworld Story (26-Jul-1950)
Riders in the Sky (29-Nov-1949) · Marshal Riggs
It Happens Every Spring (10-Jun-1949) · Schmidt
One Sunday Afternoon (25-Dec-1948) · Marty
It Happened on 5th Avenue (19-Apr-1947) · Whitey
Eagle Squadron (16-Jun-1942)
To the Shores of Tripoli (11-Mar-1942)
All-American Co-Ed (31-Oct-1941) · Tiny

Source: Alan Hale, Jr.

Source: Alan Hale, Jr. – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Source: Alan Hale, Jr (1921 – 1990) – Find A Grave Memorial

Source: Alan Hale Jr., Who Was Skipper On ‘Gilligan’s Island,’ Dies at 71 – NYTimes.com

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Today is the 93rd birthday of the actress Kim Stanley.  She was the narrator of To Kill A Mockingbird and played Francis Farmer‘s mother in Frances, two gorgeous films that are so very powerful and important.  Her body of work is so incredibly impressive and valuable.  The world is a better place because she was in it and still feels the loss because she has left.

NAME: Patricia Reid
DATE OF BIRTH: February 11, 1925
BIRTHPLACE: Tularosa, New Mexico, U.S.
DATE OF DEATH: August 20, 2001 (aged 76)
PLACE OF DEATH: Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.

BEST KNOWN FOR: American actress, primarily in television and theatre, but with occasional film performances.

Kim Stanley (born Patricia Reid) was an American actress, primarily in television and theatre, but with occasional film performances.

She began her acting career in theatre, and subsequently attended the Actors Studio in New York City, New York. She received the 1952 Theatre World Award for her role in The Chase (1952), and starred in the Broadway productions of Picnic (1953) and Bus Stop (1955). Stanley was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play for her roles in A Touch of the Poet (1959) and A Far Country (1962).

During the 1950s, Stanley was a prolific performer in television, and later progressed to film, with a well-received performance in The Goddess (1959). She was the narrator of To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) and starred in Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964), for which she won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She was less active during the remainder of her career; two of her later film successes were as the mother of Frances Farmer in Frances (1982), for which she received a second Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress, and as Pancho Barnes in The Right Stuff (1983). She received an Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie for her performance as Big Mama in a television adaptation of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1985).

She did not act during her later years, preferring the role of teacher, in Los Angeles, California, and later Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she died in 2001, of uterine cancer.

Today is the 131st birthday of the publisher and book shop owner, the book shop owner Sylvia Beach. Her influence and support helped some of the most popular and important authors of the 20th century. The world is a better place because she was in it and still feels the los that she has left.

NAME: Sylvia Beach
DATE OF BIRTH: March 14, 1887
PLACE OF BIRTH: Baltimore, MD
DATE OF DEATH: October 5, 1962
PLACE OF DEATH: Paris, France

BEST KNOWN FOR: Sylvia Beach, born Nancy Woodbridge Beach, was an American-born bookseller and publisher who lived most of her life in Paris, where she was one of the leading expatriate figures between World War I and II.

Beach was born in her father’s parsonage in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, on March 14, 1887, the second of three daughters of Sylvester Beach and Eleanor Thomazine Orbison. Although named Nancy after her grandmother Orbison, she later decided to change her name to Sylvia. Her maternal grandparents were missionaries to India, and her father, a Presbyterian minister, was descended from several generations of clergymen. When the girls were young the family lived in Baltimore and in Bridgeton, New Jersey. Then in 1901, the family moved to France upon Sylvester Beach’s appointment as assistant minister of the American Church in Paris and director of the American student center.

Beach spent the years 1902-1905 in Paris, returning to New Jersey in 1906 when her father became minister of the First Presbyterian Church of Princeton. Beach made several return trips to Europe, lived for two years in Spain, and worked for the Balkan Commission of the Red Cross. During the last years of the Great War, she was drawn back to Paris to study contemporary French literature.

While conducting some research at the Bibliothèque Nationale, Beach found the name of a lending library and bookshop, La Maison des Amis des Livres at 7 rue de l’Odéon, Paris VI, in a French literary journal. There she was warmly welcomed by the owner who, to her surprise, was a plump fair-haired young woman, Adrienne Monnier. Monnier was wearing a garment that looked like a cross between a peasant’s dress and a nun’s habit, “with a long full skirt … and a sort of tight-fitting velvet waistcoat over a white silk blouse. She was in gray and white like her bookshop.” Although Beach was dressed in a Spanish cloak and hat, Monnier knew immediately that she was American. At that first meeting Monnier declared, “I like America very much”. Beach replied that she liked France very much. They later became lovers and lived together for 36 years until Monnier’s suicide in 1955.

Beach immediately became a member of Monnier’s lending library, and when in Paris she regularly attended the readings by authors such as André Gide, Paul Valéry and Jules Romains. Inspired by the literary life of the Left Bank and by Monnier’s efforts to promote innovative writing, Beach dreamed of starting a branch of Monnier’s book shop in New York that would offer contemporary French works to American readers. Since her only capital was US$3,000 which her mother gave her from her savings, Beach could not afford such a venture in New York. However, Paris rents were much cheaper and the exchange rates favorable, so with Monnier’s help, Beach opened an English language bookstore and lending library that she named Shakespeare and Company. Four years beforehand, Monnier had been among the first women in France to found her own bookstore. Beach’s bookstore was located at 8 rue Dupuytren, Paris VI.

Shakespeare and Company quickly attracted both French and American readers – including a number of aspiring writers to whom Beach offered hospitality and encouragement as well as books. As the franc dropped in value and the favorable exchange rate attracted a huge influx of Americans, Beach’s shop flourished and soon needed more space. In May 1921, Shakespeare and Company moved to 12 rue de l’Odéon, just across the street from Monnier’s Maison des Amis des Livres. Shakespeare and Company gained considerable fame after it published James Joyce’s Ulysses in 1922, as a result of Joyce’s inability to get an edition out in English-speaking countries. Beach would later be financially stranded when Joyce signed on with another publisher, leaving Beach in debt after bankrolling, and suffering severe losses from, the publication of Ulysses.

Shakespeare and Company experienced difficulty throughout the Great Depression of the 1930s, but remained supported by wealthy friends, including Bryher. In 1936 when Beach thought that she would be forced to close her shop, André Gide organized a group of writers into a club called Friends of Shakespeare and Company. Subscribers paid 200 francs a year to attend readings at Shakespeare and Company. Although subscriptions were limited to a select group of 200 people (the maximum number the store could accommodate), the renown of the French and American authors participating in readings during those two years attracted considerable attention to the store. Beach recalled that by then, “we were so glorious with all these famous writers and all the press we received that we began to do very well in business”. Violette Leduc describes meeting her and the ambiance of the shop in her autobiography La Bâtarde. Shakespeare and Company remained open after the Fall of Paris, but by the end of 1941, Beach was forced to close. She was interned for six months during World War II at Vittel until Tudor Wilkinson managed to secure her release in February 1942. Beach kept her books hidden in a vacant apartment upstairs at 12 rue de l’Odeon. Ernest Hemingway symbolically “liberated” the shop in person in 1944, but it never re-opened for business.

In 1956, Beach wrote Shakespeare and Company, a memoir of the inter-war years that details the cultural life of Paris at the time. The book contains first-hand observations of James Joyce, D. H. Lawrence, Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, Valery Larbaud, Thornton Wilder, André Gide, Leon-Paul Fargue, George Antheil, Robert McAlmon, Gertrude Stein, Stephen Benet, Aleister Crowley, Harry Crosby, Caresse Crosby, John Quinn, Berenice Abbott, Man Ray, and many others.

After Monnier’s suicide in 1955, Beach had a relationship with Camilla Steinbrugge. Although Beach’s income was modest during the last years of her life, she was widely honored for her publication of Ulysses and her support of aspiring writers during the 1920s. She remained in Paris until her death in 1962, and was buried in Princeton Cemetery. Her papers are archived at Princeton University.

American George Whitman opened a new bookshop in 1951 at a different location in Paris (in the rue de la Bûcherie) originally called Le Mistral, but renamed Shakespeare and Company in 1964 in honor of the late Sylvia Beach. Since his death in 2011, it has been run by his daughter Sylvia Beach Whitman, named after Beach.

Source: Sylvia Beach’s Shakespeare and Company, 1919-1941 – History – Shakespeare and Company

Source: Sylvia Beach – Wikipedia

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Today is the 80th birthday of the ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev.  His strength and grace are unparalleled.  The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.

NAME: Rudolf Nureyev
OCCUPATION: Ballet Dancer
BIRTH DATE: March 17, 1938
DEATH DATE: January 06, 1993
PLACE OF BIRTH: Irkutsk, Russia
PLACE OF DEATH: Paris, France
FULL NAME: Rudolf Hametovich Nureyev

BEST KNOWN FOR:  Ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev, whose primary dance partner was Margot Fonteyn, was ballet director for the Paris Opera and appeared in the film Valentino.

Ballet dancer and choreographer Rudolf Nureyev was born, the youngest child and only son to a peasant family of Tartar heritage, on March 17, 1938, in Irkutsk, Russia. When Germany invaded the U.S.S.R., Rudolf and his family evacuated from Moscow to Ufa, Bashkir. Although the family lived in poverty there, Rudolf’s mother, Farida, managed to buy a single ticket to the opera and sneak her children in. At his first glimpse of ballerina Zaituna Nazretdinova, Rudolf knew he wanted to become a dancer.

At the age of 11, Nureyev started ballet classes under Anna Udeltsova. A year and a half later, he moved on to teacher Elena Vaitovich.

Any time you dance, what you do must be sprayed with your blood.

Nureyev started dancing professionally as an extra at the local opera when he was 15. From there he landed a job with the corps de ballet and toured with them in Moscow.

When Nureyev turned 17, he got into the Leningrad Ballet School, where Alexander Pushkin became his teacher. When he graduated, Nureyev accepted a soloist contract with the Kirov Ballet in St. Petersburg and debuted opposite Natalia Dudinskaya. Over the next few years, he would dance an additional 15 major roles in productions at the Kirov Theater, including The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake.

In 1961, Nureyev and the Kirov company toured in Paris. That year, he also made his London debut at ballerina Margot Fonteyn’s yearly gala for the Royal Academy of Dancing. As a result, Nureyev was invited to dance with Fonteyn during the following year’s gala. Their chemistry as a dance team would captivate audiences and garner large fees for years to come, although the partnership was never exclusive. Nureyev’s gallery performance was also the start of his long-lasting relationship with the Royal Ballet, his home base up until the mid-1970s.

Concurrent with his success as a dancer, Nureyev took his first stab at choreography in 1964 with revised versions of Raymonda and Swan Lake. He would go on to re-choreograph four more ballets during his career.

In 1977 Nureyev was considered for the position of director at the Royal Ballet. At the time, he refused because he wanted the time to dance. Six years later, he said yes to a job as ballet director for the Paris Opera, which permitted him to continue dancing six months out of the year. During this time, Nureyev began to take on roles in films such as Valentino and Exposed. Over the course of his career, he achieved success on the stage and both large and small screens.

In the years preceding his death, Nureyev expanded his repertoire to include orchestral conducting. He died of AIDS on January 6, 1993, in Paris.

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Today is the 95th birthday of the French mime Marcel Marceau.  The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.

NAME: Marcel Marceau
OCCUPATION: Actor, Artist
BIRTH DATE: March 22, 1923
DEATH DATE: September 22, 2007
EDUCATION: Ecole des Beaux-Arts
PLACE OF BIRTH: Strasbourg, France
PLACE OF DEATH: Cahors, France
ORIGINALLY: Marcel Mangel

BEST KNOWN FOR: Marcel Marceau was best known for his work as a mime artist in France.

Mime artist. Marcel Mangel was born March 22, 1923, in Strasbourg, NE France. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and with Etienne Decroux. In 1948 he founded the Compagnie de Mime Marcel Marceau, developing the art of mime, becoming himself the leading exponent. His white-faced character, Bip, based on the 19th-c French Pierrot, a melancholy vagabond, is famous from his appearances on stage and television throughout the world.

Among the many original performances he has devised are the mime-drama Don Juan (1964), and the ballet Candide (1971). He has also created about 100 pantomimes, such as The Creation of the World. In 1978 he became head of the Ecole de Mimodrame Marcel Marceau.

Marcel Marceau died on September 22, 2007 in Cahors, France.

FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story (8-Nov-2007) · Himself
Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin (11-Sep-2003) · Himself
Kinski Paganini (1989)
Silent Movie (16-Jun-1976) · Himself
Shanks (9-Oct-1974)
Barbarella (10-Oct-1968)

Source: Marcel Marceau

Source: Marcel Marceau – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Source: Marcel Marceau – Artist, Actor – Biography.com

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Today is the 132nd birthday of the photographer Edward Weston. His images are hauntingly beautiful. The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.

NAME: Edward Weston
OCCUPATION: Photographer
BIRTH DATE: March 24, 1886
DEATH DATE: January 1, 1958
EDUCATION: Illinois College of Photography
PLACE OF BIRTH: Highland Park, Illinois
PLACE OF DEATH: Carmel, California

BEST KNOWN FOR: Edward Weston’s photography captured organic forms and texture. Portraits of his family taken in the 1940s are some of his best work.

Edward Henry Weston was born March 24, 1886, in Highland Park, Illinois. He spent the majority of his childhood in Chicago where he attended Oakland Grammar School. He began photographing at the age of sixteen after receiving a Bull’s Eye #2 camera from his father. Weston’s first photographs captured the parks of Chicago and his aunt’s farm. In 1906, following the publication of his first photograph in Camera and Darkroom, Weston moved to California. After working briefly as a surveyor for San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad, he began working as an itinerant photographer. He peddled his wares door to door photographing children, pets and funerals. Realizing the need for formal training, in 1908 Weston returned east and attended the Illinois College of Photography in Effingham, Illinois. He completed the 12-month course in six months and returned to California. In Los Angeles, he was employed as a retoucher at the George Steckel Portrait Studio. In 1909, Weston moved on to the Louis A. Mojoiner Portrait Studio as a photographer and demonstrated outstanding abilities with lighting and posing.) Weston married his first wife, Flora Chandler in 1909. He had four children with Flora; Edward Chandler (1910), Theodore Brett (1911), Laurence Neil (1916) and Cole (1919). In 1911, Weston opened his own portrait studio in Tropico, California. This would be his base of operation for the next two decades. Weston became successful working in soft-focus, pictorial style; winning many salons and professional awards. Weston gained an international reputation for his high key portraits and modern dance studies. Articles about his work were published in magazines such as American Photography, Photo Era and Photo Miniature. Weston also authored many articles himself for many of these publications. In 1912, Weston met photographer Margrethe Mather in his Tropico studio. Mather becomes his studio assistant and most frequent model for the next decade. Mather had a very strong influence on Weston. He would later call her, “the first important woman in my life.” Weston began keeping journals in 1915 that came to be known as his “Daybooks.” They would chronicle his life and photographic development into the 1930’s.

In 1922 Weston visited the ARMCO Steel Plant in Middletown, Ohio. The photographs taken here marked a turning point in Weston’s career. During this period, Weston renounced his Pictorialism style with a new emphasis on abstract form and sharper resolution of detail. The industrial photographs were true straight images: unpretentious, and true to reality. Weston later wrote, “The camera should be used for a recording of life, for rendering the very substance and quintessence of the thing itself, whether it be polished steel or palpitating flesh.” Weston also traveled to New York City this same year, where he met Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand, Charles Sheeler and Georgia O’Keeffe.

In 1923 Weston moved to Mexico City where he opened a photographic studio with his apprentice and lover Tina Modotti. Many important portraits and nudes were taken during his time in Mexico. It was also here that famous artists; Diego Rivera, David Siqueiros, and Jose Orozco hailed Weston as the master of 20th century art.

After moving back to California in 1926, Weston began his work for which he is most deservedly famous: natural forms, close-ups, nudes, and landscapes. Between 1927 and 1930, Weston made a series of monumental close-ups of seashells, peppers, and halved cabbages, bringing out the rich textures of their sculpture-like forms. Weston moved to Carmel, California in 1929 and shot the first of many photographs of rocks and trees at Point Lobos, California. Weston became one of the founding members of Group f/64 in 1932 with Ansel Adams, Willard Van Dyke, Imogen Cunningham and Sonya Noskowiak. The group chose this optical term because they habitually set their lenses to that aperture to secure maximum image sharpness of both foreground and distance. 1936 marked the start of Weston’s series of nudes and sand dunes in Oceano, California, which are often considered some of his finest work. Weston became the first photographer to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship for experimental work in 1936. Following the receipt of this fellowship Weston spent the next two years taking photographs in the West and Southwest United States with assistant and future wife Charis Wilson. Later, in 1941 using photographs of the East and South Weston provided illustrations for a new edition of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.

Weston began experiencing symptoms of Parkinson’s disease in 1946 and in 1948 shot his last photograph of Point Lobos. In 1946 the Museum of Modern Art, New York featured a major retrospective of 300 prints of Weston’s work. Over the next 10 years of progressively incapacitating illness, Weston supervised the printing of his prints by his sons, Brett and Cole. His 50th Anniversary Portfolio was published in 1952 with photographs printed by Brett. An even larger printing project took place between1952 and 1955. Brett printed what was known as the Project Prints. A series of 8 -10 prints from 832 negatives considered Edward’s lifetime best. The Smithsonian Institution held the show, “The World of Edward Weston” in 1956 paying tribute to his remarkable accomplishments in American photography. Edward Weston died on January 1, 1958 at his home, Wildcat Hill, in Carmel, California. Weston’s ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean at Pebbly Beach at Point Lobos.

Source: Edward Weston – Photographer – Biography.com

Source: Edward Weston – edward-weston.com

Source: Edward Weston | American photographer | Britannica.com

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Today is the 86th birthday of the actress Debbie Reynolds. I love how she was out there working, doing what she loved for her whole life. The world is a better place because she was in it and still feels the loss that she has left.

NAME: Debbie Reynolds
OCCUPATION: Theater Actress, Film Actress, Singer, Television Actress
BIRTH DATE: April 1, 1932
DEATH DATE: December 28, 2016
PLACE OF BIRTH: El Paso, Texas
PLACE OF DEATH: Los Angeles, California
REMAINS: Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles

BEST KNOWN FOR: Known for her boundless energy and pert demeanor, legendary actress Debbie Reynolds has made memorable turns in films like ‘The Tender Trap,’ ‘Singin’ in the Rain,’ ‘Tammy and the Bachelor’ and ‘The Unsinkable Molly Brown.’

Actress and singer Debbie Reynolds was born Mary Frances Reynolds on April 1, 1932, in El Paso, Texas. Reynolds, who got her start in beauty pageants before being discovered by a Warner Bros. film scout, made her cinematic debut in a modest part in 1948’s June Bride, followed by a more noticeable role in musical The Daughter of Rosie O’Grady (1950).

Signing with MGM later that year, she showcased her flair for impersonation in Three Little Words, in which she portrayed 1920s vocalist Helen Kane. Reynolds co-starred in the film with comedian Red Skelton and dance icon Fred Astaire, whom she would later call out as being supremely kind and helpful sharing his tips about dancing.

Known for her boundless energy and pert demeanor, Reynolds made her way with starring roles in a number of musicals, among them Two Weeks With Love (1950; opposite Ricardo Montalban), Skirts Ahoy! (1952), Give a Girl a Break (1953) and Hit the Deck (1955). The actress’s most famed turn was in Singin’ in the Rain (1952). At 19 years old, she starred opposite Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor, shining in numbers such as “Good Morning” and “All I Do Is Dream of You.” Parts in other lighthearted projects followed, including The Affairs of Dobie Gillis (1953), Athena (1954) and The Catered Affair (1956).

In 1957, Reynolds secured a place at No. 1 on the pop charts with the sentimental ballad “Tammy” from the popular romantic film Tammy and the Bachelor, in which she starred opposite Leslie Nielsen. (The Tammy series continued in an number of sequels throughout the ’60s, with the title role played by Sandra Dee and then Debbie Watson.)

In the early 1960s, the actress appeared in more comedic outings, among them The Rat Race, co-starring with Tony Curtis as romantic leads, and The Pleasure of His Company, in which Reynolds was reunited with Astaire, who played her wealthy father. A couple of westerns were also in the mix, namely The Second Time Around (1961) and How the West Was Won (1962), a nearly three-hour outing with a star-studded cast that included Gregory Peck, Henry Fonda, Carolyn Jones and Eli Wallach.

In 1964, Reynolds further won more acclaim with her title role in The Unsinkable Molly Brown, for which she received an Academy Award nomination. The hit musical biopic followed the life of the famed unconventional lady of society and Titanic survivor. Reynolds was next seen in Goodbye Charlie (1964), once again paired with Curtis, which was followed by 1966’s The Singing Nun and 1967’s Divorce American Style. The latter project, a satire, co-starred Dick Van Dyke and was penned by Norman Lear and Robert Kaufman.

After starring in the short-lived television sitcom The Debbie Reynolds Show (1969) and the campy feature What’s the Matter With Helen? (1971), Reynolds did not act in films for an extended period of time, outside of voice-over work as the title character in the 1973 animated feature Charlotte’s Web. Instead, she turned toward stage work, spending the next few years performing in Las Vegas nightclubs and on Broadway, where she received a Tony Award nomination for the 1973 revival of Irene. In 1976, she also starred in a live musical revue at the Minskoff Theatre simply entitled Debbie.

After guest spots on TV shows like Alice, The Love Boat and Hotel, Reynolds returned to Broadway, where she replaced Lauren Bacall in the lead role of the musical version of Woman of the Year (1983). In 1989, Reynolds began to tour nationally with a stage production of The Unsinkable Molly Brown.

Reynolds returned to feature films in 1992, with a cameo appearance in The Bodyguard followed by a supporting role in Oliver Stone’s Heaven and Earth (1993). In 1996, she headlined her first film in 25 years when she was cast in the title role of Albert Brooks’s endearing comedy Mother, followed the next year by a part in In & Out. Reynolds later took on a recurring role on the hit NBC sitcom Will & Grace, for which she earned a guest actress Emmy nomination. Several roles later, the actress portrayed Liberace’s mother in the acclaimed HBO biopic Behind the Candelabra (2013), opposite Michael Douglas and Matt Damon.

In November 2015, Reynolds received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. With her granddaughter accepting the prize at a special ceremony, Reynolds was given the honor in connection to her work on issues around mental health as a co-founder of the organization The Thalians.

Reynold’s sunny film persona belied a life behind the scenes filled with personal ups and downs. In 1955, against the advice of Frank Sinatra, she wed singer Eddie Fisher, but was embroiled in a media scandal when it was revealed that he left the marriage for actress Elizabeth Taylor. Reynolds and Fisher had two children — Carrie, a writer and accomplished actress known for playing Princess Leia in Star Wars, and Todd, a filmmaker — before divorcing in 1959.

The following year, Reynolds married shoe mogul Harry Karl, who funded his gambling habit with most of her money. Burdened with his debt, Reynolds filed for divorce in 1973. In 1985, she wed real estate developer Richard Hamlett, who reputedly was also the source of significant financial turmoil; they divorced in 1996.

With anecdotes that highlight her trademark humor, Reynolds has published the autobiography Debbie: My Life (1988) along with Unsinkable: A Memoir (2013) and Make ‘Em Laugh: Short-Term Memories of Longtime Friends (2015).

Reynolds experienced a devastating loss when her 60-year-old daughter Carrie passed away on December 27, 2016, after suffering a massive heart attack. She posted a brief message following her daughter’s passing on Facebook: “Thank you to everyone who has embraced the gifts and talents of my beloved and amazing daughter. I am grateful for your thoughts and prayers that are now guiding her to her next stop. Love Carries Mother.”

A day after Carrie’s death, Reynolds was at her son Todd Fisher’s home in Beverly Hills to discuss her daughter’s funeral arrangements when she suffered a possible stroke, as reported by TMZ. She was rushed to Cedar Sinai hospital in Los Angeles and died there hours later. “She wanted to be with Carrie,” Todd Fisher told Variety. Reynolds was 84.

A private memorial was held for Carrie Fisher at her Beverly Hills home, which is located on a property she shared with Reynolds, on January 5, 2017. A funeral for Debbie Reynolds was held the following day at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles, where she was buried with some of Fisher’s ashes.

After Fisher and Reynolds’ memorials, Bright Lights, an HBO documentary about their relationship, aired on January 7, 2017. The film, which is directed by Alexis Bloom and Fisher Stevens, premiered at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival in May.

TELEVISION
Kim Possible Nana Possible (voice, 2003-07)
Rugrats Lulu Pickles (2000-04)
Will & Grace Bobbi Adler (1999-2006)
The Debbie Reynolds Show Debbie Thompson (1969-70)

FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Behind the Candelabra (21-May-2013) · Frances Liberace
One for the Money (26-Jan-2012)
Carol Channing: Larger Than Life (20-Jan-2012) · Herself
These Amazing Shadows (22-Jan-2011) · Herself
The Boys: The Sherman Brothers’ Story (24-Apr-2009) · Herself
Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project (13-Oct-2007) · Herself
Return to Halloweentown (20-Oct-2006)
Halloweentown High (8-Oct-2004)
Connie and Carla (13-Apr-2004) · Herself
Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge (12-Oct-2001)
These Old Broads (12-Feb-2001)
Rugrats in Paris: The Movie (5-Nov-2000) [VOICE]
The Christmas Wish (6-Dec-1998)
Halloweentown (17-Oct-1998)
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie (16-Oct-1998) [VOICE]
Zack and Reba (1-Oct-1998) · Beulah Blanton
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (22-May-1998) · Voice of Debbie Reynolds [VOICE]
In & Out (10-Sep-1997) · Berniece Brackett
Wedding Bell Blues (18-Oct-1996) · Herself
Mother (7-Sep-1996) · Beatrice Henderson
That’s Entertainment! III (16-Jun-1994) · Herself
Heaven & Earth (20-Jan-1993)
The Bodyguard (25-Nov-1992) · Herself
Battling for Baby (12-Jan-1992)
That’s Entertainment! (23-May-1974) · Herself
Charlotte’s Web (22-Feb-1973) [VOICE]
What’s the Matter with Helen? (30-Jun-1971) · Adelle
How Sweet It Is! (21-Aug-1968)
Divorce American Style (21-Jun-1967) · Barbara Harmon
The Singing Nun (17-Mar-1966) · Sister Ann
Goodbye Charlie (18-Nov-1964)
The Unsinkable Molly Brown (11-Jun-1964) · Molly Brown
My Six Loves (3-Apr-1963)
Mary, Mary (1963) · Mary McKellaway
How the West Was Won (1-Nov-1962) · Lilith Prescott
The Second Time Around (22-Dec-1961) · Lucretia Rogers
The Pleasure of His Company (1-Jun-1961) · Jessica Poole
Pepe (21-Dec-1960) · Herself
The Rat Race (10-Jul-1960) · Peggy Brown
The Gazebo (16-Dec-1959) · Nell Nash
It Started with a Kiss (19-Aug-1959)
Say One for Me (19-Jun-1959)
The Mating Game (29-Apr-1959) · Mariette Larkin
This Happy Feeling (18-Jun-1958)
Tammy and the Bachelor (14-Jun-1957)
Bundle of Joy (12-Dec-1956) · Polly Parish
The Catered Affair (14-Jun-1956) · Jane Hurley
The Tender Trap (4-Nov-1955) · Julie Gillis
Hit the Deck (3-Mar-1955)
Athena (4-Nov-1954) · Minerva
Susan Slept Here (25-Jun-1954) · Susan Landis
Give a Girl a Break (3-Dec-1953) · Suzy Doolittle
The Affairs of Dobie Gillis (14-Aug-1953)
I Love Melvin (20-Mar-1953) · Judy Schneider
Singin’ in the Rain (27-Mar-1952) · Kathy Selden
Mr. Imperium (2-Mar-1951)
Two Weeks: With Love (23-Nov-1950) · Melba Robinson
Three Little Words (12-Jul-1950) · Helen Kane
The Daughter of Rosie O’Grady (30-Mar-1950) · Maureen O’Grady

Source: Debbie Reynolds – Wikipedia

Source: Debbie Reynolds

Source: Debbie Reynolds – Actress, Theater Actress, Film Actor/Film Actress, Film Actress, Singer, Television Actress – Biography.com

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Please pick up the Dr. Seuss book I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew. It’s a quick read, of course, and it’s about a young person — or cat, or dog? Or whatever Dr. Seuss creatures are — who’s beset by troubles and does everything he can to escape from them.

On his way to a promised paradise called Solla Sollew, he endures bad weather, illness, war, cancelled bus routes. Nothing goes his way and the closer he gets to his destination the rougher life becomes. But he’s determined to make it because he’s convinced that all of his troubles will be over if he can just get far enough away from them.

And maybe that would work, if only Solla Sollew was a bit more accessible. Turns out there’s no such thing as a place that’s trouble-free, no matter how far you travel. And that leaves our hero with a choice — keep running from his troubles, or turn back and deal with them… knowing now that troubles never really go away. But you can become trouble for them.

Described by a conservative parents website as “one of Seuss’ more heavy-handed books,” it’s a great read, it will inspire your inner-child and hopefully keep you from over-complicating your troubles.

Today is the 277th birthday of the American portrait artist Charles Willson Peale. You have seen his art and may not have known the name of the artist. His work helped chronicle major historical figures and events at the formation of the United States. The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.

NAME: Charles Willson Peale
OCCUPATION: Painter
BIRTH DATE: April 15, 1741
DEATH DATE: February 22, 1827
PLACE OF BIRTH: Chester, Queen Anne’s County, Maryland
PLACE OF DEATH: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

BEST KNOWN FOR: Charles Willson Peale was an American painter best known as one of the most prolific artists in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He painted more than a dozen heroic portraits of George Washington.

Charles Willson Peale, was an American painter best remembered for his portraits of the leading figures of the American Revolution and as the founder of the first major museum in the United States.

As a young man, Peale worked as a saddler, watchmaker, and silversmith. His career in art began when he exchanged a saddle for a few painting lessons from John Hesselius. Peale’s interest in art was heightened when he met and received advice from the well-respected portrait painter John Singleton Copley. In 1766 a group of Maryland patrons sent him to London, where he studied for three years with American expatriate painter Benjamin West.

Upon his return to America, Peale immediately became the most fashionable portrait painter of the middle colonies. He moved to Philadelphia in 1775, entered wholeheartedly into the Revolutionary movement, and served with the city militia in the Trenton-Princeton campaign. From 1779 to 1780 he represented the “Furious Whig” party in the Pennsylvania Assembly, an activity that damaged his professional career. He opened a portrait gallery of Revolutionary heroes in 1782 and in 1786 founded an institution intended for the study of natural law and display of natural history and technological objects. Known as Peale’s Museum (later known as the Philadelphia Museum), it fulfilled Peale’s objective to make wide-ranging collections democratically accessible. The museum grew to vast proportions and was widely imitated by other museums of the period and later by P.T. Barnum. Located in Independence Hall, the museum was a mélange of Peale’s paintings, curious gadgets, minerals, and stuffed animals. Its most celebrated exhibit was the first complete skeleton of an American mastodon, which was unearthed in 1801 on a New York farm. Peale, who had accompanied the archaeological expedition, chronicled the excavation in his painting Exhuming the Mastodon (1806). In 1812 the museum was relocated to Baltimore, Maryland, and Peale relinquished its directorship to his son Rubens.

In his long life, Peale painted about 1,100 portraits, including sitters such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams. Crisply outlined and firmly modeled, his portraits reflected the Neoclassical style developed in France by Jacques-Louis David. His seven life portraits of Washington from actual sittings were repeated many times by himself and other painters of his family. In 1812 Peale wrote “An Essay to Promote Domestic Happiness,” a tract that scholars today believe may have influenced many of his portrait compositions, in which family members touch intimately and are posed in a relaxed, informal manner. Peale was a master of trompe l’oeil painting; his The Staircase Group (1795), a life-sized double portrait of his sons Raphaelle and Titian, intentionally framed in a real door jamb and with a projecting bottom step, is said to have deceived George Washington into doffing his hat to the boys’ images. Peale’s brother James and his sons Raphaelle, Rembrandt, Rubens, and Titian were also painters.

Source: Charles Willson Peale – Painter – Biography.com

Source: Charles Willson Peale – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Source: Charles Willson Peale | American painter | Britannica.com

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Today is the 90th birthday of the French artist Yves Klein.  His influence in the minimalist discipline is undeniable.  His vision has pushed the art world forward.  The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.

NAME: Yves Klein
OCCUPATION: Painter, Sculptor
BIRTH DATE: April 28, 1928
DEATH DATE: June 6, 1962
PLACE OF BIRTH: Nice, France
PLACE OF DEATH: Paris, France

BEST KNOWN FOR: Yves Klein was a French painter, sculptor and performance artist whose work greatly influenced the development of minimalism.

Klein was born in Nice, in the Alpes-Maritimes department of France. His parents, Fred Klein and Marie Raymond, were both painters. His father painted in a loose Post-Impressionist style, while his mother was a leading figure in Art informel, and held regular soirées with other leading practitioners of this Parisian abstract movement.

From 1942 to 1946, Klein studied at the École Nationale de la Marine Marchande and the École Nationale des Langues Orientales and began practicing judo. At this time, he became friends with Arman (Armand Fernandez) and Claude Pascal and started to paint. At the age of nineteen, Klein and his friends lay on a beach in the south of France, and divided the world between themselves; Arman chose the earth, Pascal, words, while Klein chose the ethereal space surrounding the planet, which he then proceeded to sign:

With this famous symbolic gesture of signing the sky, Klein had foreseen, as in a reverie, the thrust of his art from that time onwards—a quest to reach the far side of the infinite.

Between 1947 and 1948, Klein conceived his Monotone Symphony (1949, formally Monotone Silence Symphony) that consisted of a single 20-minute sustained chord followed by a 20-minute silence[3][4] – a precedent to both La Monte Young’s drone music and John Cage’s 4′33″.[citation needed] During the years 1948 to 1952, he traveled to Italy, Great Britain, Spain, and Japan. In Japan, at the age of 25, he became a master at judo receiving the rank of yodan (4th dan/degree black-belt) from the Kodokan, which at that time was a remarkable achievement for a westerner. He also stayed in Japan in 1953. Klein later wrote a book on Judo called Les fondements du judo. In 1954, Klein settled permanently in Paris and began in earnest to establish himself in the art world.

The critic Pierre Restany, whom he had met during his first public exhibition at the Club Solitaire, founded the Nouveau Réalisme group in Klein’s apartment on 27 October 1960. Founding members were Arman, Francois Dufrêne, Raymond Hains, Yves Klein, Martial Raysse, Daniel Spoerri, Jean Tinguely, and Jacques Villeglé, with Niki de Saint Phalle, Christo and Gérard Deschamps joining later. Normally seen as a French version of Pop Art, the aim of the group was stated as ‘New Realism=New Perceptual Approaches To The Real’.

A large retrospective was held at Krefeld, Germany, January 1961, followed by an unsuccessful opening at Leo Castelli’s Gallery, New York, in which Klein failed to sell a single painting. He stayed with Rotraut Uecker at the Chelsea Hotel for the duration of the exhibition; and, while there, he wrote the “Chelsea Hotel Manifesto”, a proclamation of the “multiplicity of new possibilities.” In part, the manifesto declared:

At present, I am particularly excited by “bad taste.” I have the deep feeling that there exists in the very essence of bad taste a power capable of creating those things situated far beyond what is traditionally termed “The Work of Art.” I wish to play with human feeling, with its “morbidity” in a cold and ferocious manner. Only very recently I have become a sort of gravedigger of art (oddly enough, I am using the very terms of my enemies). Some of my latest works have been coffins and tombs. During the same time I succeeded in painting with fire, using particularly powerful and searing gas flames, some of them measuring three to four meters high. I use these to bathe the surface of the painting in such a way that it registered the spontaneous trace of fire.

He moved on to exhibit at the Dwan Gallery, Los Angeles, and traveled extensively in the Western U.S., visiting Death Valley in the Mojave Desert. On 21 January 1962, in an elaborate ceremony in which Klein dressed as a Knight of the Order of St Sebastian, he married Rotraut Uecker, sister of German artist Günther Uecker, at Saint-Nicholas-des-Champs, Paris. His last works included painting geophysical reliefs of France and casting his friends’ torsos, painting them blue, and attaching them to gold-leafed supports.

He suffered a heart attack while watching the film Mondo cane (in which he is featured) at the Cannes Film Festival on 11 May 1962. Two more heart attacks followed, the second of which killed him on 6 June 1962. His son, Yves Amu Klein, was born on 6 August in Nice. Yves Amu studied architecture, design, cybernetics theory of systems, and Fine Arts sculpture. He went on to create robotized sculptures. Rotraut Klein remarried, and has homes in Paris; Phoenix, Arizona; and Sydney, Australia.

Alongside works by Andy Warhol and Willem de Kooning, Klein’s painting RE 46 (1960) was among the top-five sellers at Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art sale in May 2006. His monochromatic blue sponge painting sold for $4,720,000. Previously, his painting RE I (1958) had sold for $6,716,000 at Christie’s New York in November 2000. In 2008, MG 9 (1962), a monochromatic gold painting, sold for $21,000,000 at Christie’s. FC1 (Fire Color 1) (1962), a nearly 10-foot long panel created with a blowtorch, water and two models, sold for $36.4 million at Christie’s in 2012.

In 2013, Klein’s Sculpture Éponge Bleue Sans Titre, SE 168, a 1959 sculpture made with natural sea sponges drenched in blue pigment fetched $22 million, the highest price paid for a sculpture by the artist.

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Today is the 118th birthday of the actor David Manners. He had ten exceptionally productive years in Hollywood and then walked away. Great story. The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.

NAME: Rauff de Ryther Duan Acklom
OCCUPATION: Actor, Singer
BIRTH DATE: April 30, 1900
DEATH DATE: December 23, 1998
PLACE OF BIRTH: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
PLACE OF DEATH: Santa Barbara, California, United States
REMAINS: Cremated (ashes scattered)

BEST KNOWN FOR: David Joseph Manners was a Canadian-American actor.

Born Rauff de Ryther Daun Acklom in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1902 (sometimes listed as 1900 or 1905), David Manners became one of the leading Hollywood actors of the 1930s, playing opposite the likes of Katharine Hepburn, Barbara Stanwyck, Kay Francis and Constance Bennett.

Claiming descent from William the Conqueror, Manners was indeed from well-to-do stock; the family tree of his mother, Lilian Manners, included Lady Diana Cooper and the Duke of Rutland, while the Ackloms included the writers Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, W H Homing and Morley Aklom.

Manners’ original career path was to be forestry, which he studied as a young man at the University of Toronto. But boredom set in and, despite his father’s objections, a still youthful David embarked upon a life on the stage, studying in Hollywood with Eva Le Gallienne, who, upon seeing one of his stage performances, declared he was “a very bad actor”. Notwithstanding this, Manners was discovered by the director James Whale, who was looking to cast the film version of his hugely successful stage production of R C Sherriff’s Journey’s End (1930). To this day, Manners’ portrayal of the young Second Lieutenant Raleigh is considered pivotal to the film’s success, and it certainly set up a firm foundation for his future career in Hollywood.

But it was his role as John Harker in Universal’s 1931 production of Dracula, opposite Bela Lugosi, for which he will be most remembered. Drastically cut down from the Bram Stoker novel, with many of the character’s seminal lines being given over to Renfield in a bizarre plot swap, Manners still manages to efficate a smouldering leading man. He would work with Lugosi twice more, and later commented that he found him “a pain in the arse from start to finish. He would pace around the sound-stage between scenes, velvet cape wrapped around him, posing in front of a full-length mirror while he intoned with sepulchral emphasis, ‘I am Dracula . . . I am Dracula!’ ” When asked about the film’s director Tod Browning, Manners said, “The only directing I saw was done by Karl Freund, the cinematographer.”

David Manners gave possibly one of his most sensitive performances as a burnt-out flying ace in William Dieterle’s The Last Flight (1931) and was excellent as the shy blind man who conveys his love for Barbara Stanwyck through a ventriloquist’s dummy in Frank Capra’s The Miracle Woman (1931), though this film was banned in the UK. George Cukor cast him as Katharine Hepburn’s fiance, rejected by her after she discovers there is insanity in her family, in A Bill of Divorcement (1932), and Manners was to remain part of Cukor’s circle of close friends until the director’s death in 1983.

Other horror roles included the romantic lead in The Mummy (1932), and The Black Cat (1934), where he played alongside Jacqueline Wells as one of the newlyweds caught in a storm and taking shelter in the gloomy castle of Karloff and Lugosi. Manners played the title role in The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1935), and appeared with Katharine Hepburn again in A Woman Rebels (1936), but, becoming entirely disillusioned with Hollywood and the “false glitz and glamour way of life,” Manners announced his retirement from acting so he could concentrate on writing, his first love, and painting.

Tempted back to the theatre a decade later, he starred in Maxwell Anderson’s play Truckline Cafe. Directed by Elia Kazan, it featured an unknown Marlon Brando, who reportedly later said of Manners “I owe him my entire career”. The play ran for 13 performances on Broadway, but it was in December 1946 that Manners scored a great personal success when he took over from Henry Daniell as Lord Windermere in Lady Windermere’s Fan. Designed by Cecil Beaton, the play was a hit in New York and toured for a year, but it was the star’s final vehicle; when the run was up, Manners announced his permanent retirement as an actor.

Although briefly married to Suzanne Bushnell when he first arrived in Hollywood, Manners later had a home in Pacific Palisades, which he shared with his partner and fellow writer, William Mercer, also running an art gallery. Among his published books were two novels, Convenient Season and Under Running Laughter, and two philosophical works, Look Through and the critically acclaimed The Soundless Voice, hailed as “a penetrating book on meditation”.

After the death of Mercer in 1978, Manners lived alone in an ocean-view apartment in Santa Barbara, maintaining a private personal life and refusing to dwell on the past. He did, however, often declare fond memories of his Hollywood friendships with Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, George Arliss, Constance Bennett and others. “Tried and true friendship,” he would say, “that’s what this old world needs plenty of.”

David Joseph Manners died on December 23, 1998. His ashes were scattered in Rancho Yucca Loma.

FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
A Woman Rebels (29-Oct-1936) · Lt. Alan Craig Freeland
Jalna (9-Aug-1935) · Eden Whiteoaks
Mystery of Edwin Drood (4-Feb-1935) · Edwin Drood
The Moonstone (20-Aug-1934)
The Black Cat (3-May-1934) · Peter Alison
Roman Scandals (25-Dec-1933)
Torch Singer (8-Sep-1933)
The Devil’s in Love (21-Jul-1933)
The Mummy (22-Dec-1932) · Frank Whemple
The Death Kiss (5-Dec-1932) · Franklyn Drew
They Call It Sin (20-Oct-1932) · Jimmy Decker
A Bill of Divorcement (30-Sep-1932) · Kit Humphreys
Crooner (20-Aug-1932)
Man Wanted (23-Apr-1932) · Tom Sherman
Beauty and the Boss (9-Apr-1932)
Lady with a Past (19-Feb-1932) · Donnie Wainwright
The Greeks Had a Word for Them (3-Feb-1932)
The Ruling Voice (31-Oct-1931) · Dick Cheney
The Last Flight (19-Aug-1931) · Shep Lambert
The Miracle Woman (20-Jul-1931) · John Carson
The Millionaire (1-May-1931)
Dracula (12-Feb-1931) · John Harker
Mothers Cry (4-Dec-1930)
The Truth About Youth (3-Nov-1930) · Richard Dane
He Knew Women (22-Apr-1930)
Journey’s End (9-Apr-1930)

Source: David Manners Biography

Source: David Manners – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Source: Obituary: David Manners | Culture | The Independent

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Today is the 102nd birthday of Dick Proenneke.  Who doesn’t love a recluse?  Especially one that is not writing a manifesto and sending letter bombs, but is simply building a log cabin in the Alaska wilderness and talking to himself.  A lot.  I will watch this series on PBS whenever it is on, it is my “Law and Order,” so to speak.  The take away from Dick’s story is that he did all this after he retired, so it is never too late to follow your dreams.  The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.

NAME: Dick Proenneke
DATE OF BIRTH: May 4, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH: Primrose, Harrison Township, Lee County, Iowa
DATE OF DEATH: April 20, 2003
PLACE OF DEATH: Hemet, Riverside County, California, USA
RESIDENCE: Twin Lakes, Alaska
OCCUPATION: naturalist, carpenter, mechanic
AWARDS: 1999 National Outdoor Book Award

BEST KNOWN FOR: Richard Louis “Dick” Proenneke was an American naturalist, who lived alone in the high mountains of Alaska at a place called Twin Lakes. Living in a log cabin he constructed by hand, Proenneke made valuable recordings of both meteorological and natural data.

Proenneke’s father, William Christian Proenneke, served in World War I and later made his living as a well driller. His mother, Laura was a homemaker. His parents married in late 1909, or early 1910, and had three daughters and three sons: Robert, Helen, Lorene, Richard (Dick), Florence, and Raymond (Jake). The year of Richard’s birth is often given as 1917, but social security and census records have him born in Primrose, Harrison Township, Lee County, Iowa, on May 4, 1916.

Proenneke enlisted in the United States Navy the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor and served as a carpenter. He spent close to two years at Pearl Harbor and was later stationed in San Francisco waiting to join a new ship assignment. After hiking a mountain near San Francisco he contracted rheumatic fever and was hospitalized at Norco Naval Hospital for six months. During his convalescence the war ended and he was given a medical discharge from the Navy in 1945. According to friend and writer Sam Keith, the illness was very revealing for Proenneke, who decided to devote the rest of his life to the strength and health of his body.

Following his discharge from the Navy, Proenneke went to school to become a diesel mechanic. The combination of his high intelligence, adaptability, and strong work ethic turned him into a very skilled mechanic. Though quite adept at his trade, Proenneke yielded to his love of nature and moved to Oregon to work at a sheep ranch. He moved to Shuyak Island, Alaska, in 1950.

For several years, he worked as a heavy equipment operator and repairman on the Naval Air Station at Kodiak. Proenneke spent the next several years working throughout Alaska as both a salmon fisherman and diesel mechanic. He worked for the Fish and Wildlife Service at King Salmon on the Alaska Peninsula. His skills as a mechanic were well-known and extremely sought after, and he was able to put away a modest nest egg for retirement.

On May 21, 1968, Proenneke arrived at his new place of retirement at Twin Lakes. Beforehand, he made arrangements to use a cabin on the upper lake of Twin Lakes owned by retired Navy captain Spike Carrithers and his wife Hope of Kodiak (in whose care he had left his camper). This cabin was well situated on the lake and close to the site which Proenneke chose for the construction of his own cabin.

Proenneke’s cabin is hand-made and is notable for its remarkable craftsmanship due to his skill as a carpenter and wood worker, and because of the films he made of the complete construction procedure. Most of the structure and the furnishings are made from materials in and about the site, from the gravel taken from the lake bed to create the cabin’s base, to the trees he selected, cut down, and then hand-cut with interlocking joints to create the walls and roof rafter framing. The window openings were planned and cut to suit. The fireplace and flue were made from stones he dug from around the site and meticulously mortared in place to create the chimney and hearth. He used metal containers for food storage—one-gallon cans were cut into basin shapes and buried below the frost line. This ensured that fruits and perishables could be stored for prolonged periods in the cool earth yet still be accessible when the winter months froze the ground above them. Proenneke’s friend, bush pilot and missionary Leon Reid “Babe” Alsworth, returned periodically to bring food and orders that Proenneke placed through him to Sears.

Proenneke remained at Twin Lakes for the next sixteen months when he left to go home for a time to visit relatives and secure more supplies. He returned to the lakes in the following spring and remained there for most of the next thirty years, going to the contiguous United States only occasionally to be with his family. He made a film record of his solitary life which was later recut and made into the documentary Alone in the Wilderness. It has aired on PBS numerous times. With a score of 9 out of 10 from the aggregation of nearly 2000 votes at the Internet Movie Database, the documentary is one of the highest rated of all time. In 2011 a sequel was produced after it was discovered that Proenneke had shot enough footage for at least two more programs. Alone in the Wilderness: Part 2 premiered on December 2, 2011. A premiere date for Part 3 has yet to be announced.

In 2007 Proenneke’s cabin was included in the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1999, at age 82, Proenneke returned to civilization and lived the remainder of his life with his brother Raymond “Jake” Proenneke in Hemet, California. He died of a stroke on April 20, 2003, at the age of 86. He left his cabin to the National Park Service, and it remains a popular visitor attraction in the still-remote Twin Lakes region of Lake Clark National Park.

Sam Keith, who got to know Proenneke at the Kodiak Naval Station and went on numerous hunting and fishing trips with him, suggested that Proenneke’s journals might be the basis for a good book. Proenneke agreed to whatever changes Keith wanted to make. In 1973, Keith published the book One Man’s Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey, based on Proenneke’s journals and photography. After years in print it was re-issued in a new format in 1999, winning that year’s National Outdoor Book Award (NOBA). A hardcover “commemorative edition”, celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the publication of One Man’s Wilderness, was published by Alaska Northwest Books in 2013. In 2003, some of the copyrighted text from the book and some of Proenneke’s film were used with permission in the documentary Alone in the Wilderness, which began appearing on U.S. Public Television. It follows Proenneke’s life as he builds a cabin from the surrounding natural resources and includes his film footage and narration of wildlife, weather, and the natural scenery while he goes about his daily routine over the course of the winter months.

In 2005, the National Park Service and the Alaska Natural History Association published More Readings From One Man’s Wilderness, another volume of Proenneke’s journal entries. The book, edited by John Branson, a longtime Lake Clark National Park employee and friend of Proenneke, covers the years when the park was established. Dick had a very close relationship with the Park Service, assisting them in filming sensitive areas and notifying them if poachers were in the area.

Source: Proenneke’s Cabin – Lake Clark National Park & Preserve (U.S. National Park Service)

Source: Richard Proenneke – Wikipedia

Source: Alone in the Wilderness, the story of Dick Proenneke, by Bob Swerer Productions

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Today is the 205th birthday of the Danish philosopher and writer Søren Kierkegaard.  If you are anything like me (we are all more similar than different, really), there are writers which whom you feel a bit lacking for not having read more of their work.  He is at the top of the list for me, so much so that I have been toggling between windows looking for digital copies of anything of his.  It looks that I have settled on reading The Diary, The Essential and Either/Or.  That will be my task for the day, to locate one of those.  The world is a much better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.

NAME: Søren Kierkegaard
OCCUPATION: Theologian, Philosopher, Critic, Writer
BIRTH DATE: May 5, 1813
DEATH DATE: November 11, 1855
PLACE OF BIRTH: Copenhagen, Denmark
PLACE OF DEATH: Copenhagen, Denmark
FULL NAME: Søren Aabye Kierkegaard

BEST KNOWN FOR: Søren Kierkegaard was a 19th century Danish philosopher who wrote about Christian belief systems and helped birth existentialism.

Our life always expresses the result of our dominant thoughts.

Søren Kierkegaard, a Danish philosopher who imposed restrictions on his own love and emotions and declared the idea of subjectivity as truth, is now recognized as the founder of Existentialism, an influential author in psychology, and an important figure in Postmodernism.

He was born Søren Aabye Kierkegaard on May 5, 1813, into a wealthy family in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was the youngest of seven children. His father, named Michael Pedersen Kierkegaard, was married to his 3rd cousin Ane Sorensdatter Lund, and was a rigid religious man who suffered from depression and guilt, which he imposed on his children. From the young age Kierkegaard was disabled and suffered from complications after his fall from a tree when he was a boy. He was also strongly influenced by his father’s depression and stubborn belief in a curse that all his children were doomed to die by the age of 33.

Truth always rests with the minority … because the minority is generally formed by those who really have an opinion, while the strength of a majority is illusory, formed by the gangs who have no opinion.

His philosophy and writing was also influenced by Regine Olsen, the love of his life and the muse for his writings. He and Regine met in 1837, while they were students at University, and they became engaged in 1840, but he harbored some undisclosed secret of dark and personal nature. A year later he chose to break off the engagement rather than to reveal his secret to Regine. She married another man and refused to see Kierkegaard ever again. He sank into psychoanalysis of the ethical and emotional aspects of breaking off in his book Repetition (1843) which he published under the pseudonym Constantin Constantinus. At that time he was suffering from melancholy, probably a form of depression coming from his own trauma and disability. In his writings Kierkegaard used the word ‘marriage’ as a trope for the universal demands made by social mores.

Kierkegaard’s works deal with problems of choice in many aspects, ranging from emotions and feelings of an individual, to religious, philosophical, and political aspects of human society. Kierkegaard offered no solutions but rather a variety of views on individual, social and political conundrums and unresolvable complexities, ranging from an “Attack on” approach to an observationist position. His masterpiece and arguably the greatest work, Either/Or, was written during his stay in Berlin in 1842, then was revised and completed in Copenhagen in the fall of the same year. In it Kierkegaard plays with his three incarnations, philosopher named “A”, Judge Williams, author of rebuttals to “A”, and editor named Victor Eremita. It was published in 1843 and found little understanding among the contemporaries. His other important works are The Concept of Irony (1841), Fear and Trembling (1843), and Works of Love (1847), among others. In his later works Kierkegaard analyzed the detrimental effect of organized religion on individuals in Denmark caused by rigidity of established state church. His analysis of ‘fear’, ‘sin’, ‘guilt’, and other tools of control over minds, as well as his thoughts on the decay of the Danish State Church and failures of applied religion lead to his statement that “the human race has outgrown Christianity” which ignited attacks on him from many angered critics.

Each human being has infinite reality, and it is pride and arrogance in a person not to honor his fellow-man…. It is a paralogism that one thousand human beings are worth more than one… The central point about being human is that the unit “1” is the highest; “1000” counts for less.

Kierkegaard published his works under various pseudonyms. He used several pseudonyms to create an imitation of a discussion between several pseudo-authors, all of those in fact being one man, Kierkegaard. For that reason and also because of his complex personality and intricate thought and reasoning, he made it difficult to distinguish between what he truly believed and what he was making up for a mere argument. He died in a hospital on November 11, 1855, of complications from his fall from a tree in his childhood, and was laid to rest in the Assistens Cemetery in Copenhagen, Denmark. His works were little known outside Denmark until professional translations were made in the 1920s. His works has been extremely influential ever since. His arguments against objectivity and emphasis on skepticism, especially concerning social morals and norms, laid groundwork for the 20th century Existentialism and Postmodernism.

Along with Friedrich Nietzsche, he is regarded as the father of Existentialism and existential psychology. Kierkegaard’s influence may be found in many art movements, such as Dada, Futurism, and other movements in modern art. He influenced Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Martin Buber, Albert Camus, Simone de Beauvoir, Franz Kafka and John Updike among many other thinkers and writers.

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Today is the 136th birthday of the man who is widely recognized as the co-founder of Cubism: Georges Braque. While his counterpart’s name is much more recognizable, his works in the genre are equal to Picasso’s and breathtakingly beautiful. The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.

NAME: Georges Braque
OCCUPATION: Painter
BIRTH DATE: May 13, 1882
DEATH DATE: August 31, 1963
EDUCATION: École des Beaux-Arts
PLACE OF BIRTH: Argentuil, France
PLACE OF DEATH: Paris, France
FRENCH LEGION OF HONOR AWARDEE

BEST KNOWN FOR: Georges Braque was a 20th century French painter best known for inventing Cubism with Pablo Picasso.

Georges Braque was a French painter born on May 13, 1882, in Argenteuil, France. He spent his childhood in Le Havre and planned to follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather by becoming a house painter. From about 1897 to 1899, Braque studied painting at the École des Beaux-Arts in the evenings. Wanting to pursue artistic painting further, he moved to Paris and apprenticed with a master decorator before painting at the Académie Humbert from 1902 to 1904.

Braque started his art career using an Impressionistic painting style. Circa 1905, he transitioned into a Fauvist style after viewing works exhibited by the Fauves, a group that included such notable artists as Henri Matisse and André Derain. The Fauves’ style incorporated bold colors and loose-form structures to emulate deep emotions.

Braque’s first solo show took place in 1908 at Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler‘s gallery. From 1909 to 1914, Braque and fellow artist Pablo Picasso collaborated to develop Cubism as well as to incorporate collage elements and papier collé (pasted paper) into their pieces.

Braque’s style changed after World War I, when his art became less structured and planned. A successful exhibition in 1922 at the Salon d’Automne in Paris garnered him much acclaim. A few years later, renowned dancer and choreographer Sergei Diaghilev asked Braque to design decor for two of his ballets at the Ballets Russes. The end of the 1920s saw another style change as Braque began painting more realistic interpretations of nature, though he never strayed far from Cubism, as there were always aspects of it in his works.

Braque started to engrave plaster in 1931, and his first significant show took place two years later at the Kunsthalle Basel. He gained international fame, winning first prize in 1937 at the Carnegie International in Pittsburgh.

The advent of World War II influenced Braque to paint more somber scenes. After the war, he painted lighter subjects of birds, landscapes and the sea. Braque also created lithographs, sculptures and stained-glass windows.

In 1910 Braque met Marcelle Lapré, a model introduced to him by Pablo Picasso. They married in 1912 and lived in the small town of Sorgues in southeastern France. During World War I, Braque served in the French army and sustained wounds in 1915. It took him two years to fully recover.

In his elder years, his failing health prevented him from taking on large-scale commissioned projects. Braque died on August 31, 1963, in Paris.

Is the subject of books:
G. Braque, 1959, BY: John Russell
Braque, 1961, BY: Jean Leymarie
The Art of Georges Braque, 1968, BY: Edwin Mullins
Georges Braque: Life and Work, 1988, BY: Bernard Zurcher

Source: Georges Braque – Painter – Biography.com

Source: Georges Braque – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Source: Georges Braque Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works | The Art Story

Source: Georges Braque

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Today is the 110th birthday of Jimmy Stewart.  Chances are that one of your favorite classic movies also happens to be one of his.  Some of my favorites of his are:  After The Thin Man, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, The Philadelphia Story, Rear Window and  The Man Who Knew Too Much.  I could have gone on naming more, I could have just copied his IMDB listings and it would have been accurate.  The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.

NAME:  Jimmy Stewart
OCCUPATION:  Film Actor, Theater Actor
BIRTH DATE:  May 20, 1908
DEATH DATE:  July 2, 1997
EDUCATION:  Princeton University
PLACE OF BIRTH:  Indiana, Pennsylvania
PLACE OF DEATH:  Beverly Hills, California
GOLDEN GLOBE: 1974 for Hawkins
HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME: 1708 Vine St.
KENNEDY CENTER HONOR: 1983
PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDM: 1985
OSCAR: for Best Actor 1941 for The Philadelphia Story

BEST KNOWN FOR: Jimmy Stewart was a major motion-picture star known for his portrayals of diffident but morally resolute characters in films such as It’s a Wonderful Life.

One of film’s most beloved actors, Jimmy Stewart made more than 80 films in his lifetime. He was known for his everyman quality, which made him both appealing and accessible to audiences. Stewart grew up in the small town of Indiana, Pennsylvania, where his father operated a hardware store.

Stewart got his first taste of performing during his time as a young man. At Princeton University, he acted in shows as a member of the Triangle Club, which put on shows. Stewart earned a degree in architecture in 1932, but he never practiced the trade. Instead he joined the University Players in Falmouth, Massachusetts, the summer after he graduated. There Stewart met fellow actor Henry Fonda, who became a lifelong friend.

That same year, Stewart made his Broadway debut in Carrie Nation. The show didn’t fare well, but he soon found more stage roles. In 1935, Stewart landed a movie contract with MGM and headed out west.

In his early Hollywood days, Stewart shared an apartment with Henry Fonda. The tall, lanky actor worked a number of films before co-starring with Eleanor Powell in the 1936 popular musical comedy Born to Dance. The movie featured the Cole Porter hit “Easy to Love.” Another career breakthrough came with Frank Capra’s You Can’t Take It With You (1938). This comedy won an Academy Award for Best Picture, and made Stewart a star.

Stewart also played the lead in Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). In this film, he portrayed a young, idealistic politician who takes on corruption. Stewart received his first Academy Award nomination for this film. The following year, he took home Oscar gold for The Philadelphia Story. Stewart co-starred with Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, two other major movie stars, in the romantic comedy.

From 1941 to 1946, Stewart took a break from his acting career to serve in World War II. He joined the U.S. Air Force and rose up through the ranks to become a colonel by war’s end. In 1946, Stewart returned to the big screen with It’s a Wonderful Life directed by Frank Capra. This film tells the story about a man brought back from the verge of suicide by a guardian angel and visions of the world without him. It was a disappointment at the box office, but it became a holiday favorite over the years. Stewart reportedly considered it to be one of his favorite films.

Stewart soon starred in Harvey (1950), a humorous movie about a man with an imaginary rabbit for a friend. But he seemed to be less interested in doing this type of lighthearted film in his later career. Stewart sought out grittier fare after the war, appearing in Anthony Mann’s westerns Winchester ’73 (1950) and Broken Arrow (1950). He also became a favorite of director Alfred Hitchcock, who cast in several thrillers. They first worked together on Rope (1948). Vertigo (1958) is considered by many to be Hitchcock’s masterpiece and one of Stewart’s best performances. The following year, Stewart also won rave reviews for his work in Otto Preminger’s Anatomy of a Murder.

In the 1970s, Stewart made two attempts at series television. He starred on The Jimmy Stewart Show, a sitcom, which ran from 1971 to 1972. The following year, he switched to drama with Hawkins. Stewart played a small-town lawyer on the show, which proved to be short-lived. Around this time, he also made a few film appearances. Stewart worked opposite John Wayne, Lauren Bacall and Ron Howard in the 1976 western The Shootist.

Stewart became the recipient of numerous tributes during the 1980s for his substantial career. In 1984, Steward picked up an honorary Academy Award “for his high ideals both on and off the screen.” By the 1990s, Stewart had largely stepped out of the public eye. He was deeply affected by the death of his wife Gloria in 1994. The couple had been married since 1949 and had twin daughters together. He also became a father to her two sons from a previous marriage. Jimmy and Gloria Stewart were one of Hollywood’s most enduring couples, and his apparent love and commitment to her added to his reputation as an upstanding and honorable person.

Poor health plagued Stewart in his final years. He died on July 2, 1997, in Beverly Hills, California. While he may be gone, his movies have lived on and inspired countless other performers. Stewart’s warmth, good humor and easy charm have left a lasting impression on American pop culture.

TELEVISION
Hawkins Billy Jim Hawkins (1973-74)
The Jimmy Stewart Show Jim Howard (professor, 1971-72)

FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (21-Nov-1991) · Wylie Burp [VOICE]
North and South II (4-May-1986)
Right of Way (21-Nov-1983)
The Green Horizon (19-Jul-1980)
The Magic of Lassie (2-Aug-1978)
The Big Sleep (13-Mar-1978)
Airport ’77 (11-Mar-1977) · Philip Stevens
The Shootist (11-Aug-1976)
That’s Entertainment! (23-May-1974) · Himself
Fools’ Parade (18-Aug-1971)
The Cheyenne Social Club (12-Jun-1970)
Bandolero! (1-Jun-1968)
Firecreek (24-Jan-1968) · Johnny Cobb
The Rare Breed (2-Feb-1966) · Burnett
The Flight of the Phoenix (15-Dec-1965) · Frank Towns
Shenandoah (3-Jun-1965)
Dear Brigitte (8-Jan-1965)
Cheyenne Autumn (3-Oct-1964) · Wyatt Earp
Take Her, She’s Mine (13-Nov-1963) · Frank Michaelson
How the West Was Won (1-Nov-1962) · Linus Rawlings
Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation (15-Jun-1962) · Mr. Hobbs
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (22-Apr-1962) · Ransom Stoddard
X-15 (22-Dec-1961) · Narrator [VOICE]
Two Rode Together (26-Jul-1961) · Sheriff Guthrie McCabe
The Mountain Road (Jun-1960)
The FBI Story (25-Jan-1960) · Chip Hardesty
Anatomy of a Murder (1-Jul-1959) · Paul Biegler
Bell Book and Candle (19-Dec-1958) · Shepherd Henderson
Vertigo (9-May-1958) · John “Scottie” Ferguson
Night Passage (24-Jul-1957)
The Spirit of St. Louis (20-Apr-1957) · Charles Lindbergh
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1-Jun-1956)
The Man from Laramie (31-Aug-1955) · Will Lockhart
Strategic Air Command (25-Mar-1955) · Lt. Col. Robert Holland
The Far Country (4-Oct-1954) · Jeff
Rear Window (1-Aug-1954) · L. B. Jeffries
The Glenn Miller Story (10-Dec-1953) · Glenn Miller
The Naked Spur (3-Aug-1953) · Howard Kemp
Thunder Bay (21-May-1953)
Carbine Williams (May-1952)
Bend of the River (23-Jan-1952)
The Greatest Show on Earth (10-Jan-1952)
No Highway in the Sky (21-Sep-1951) · Theodore Honey
The Jackpot (1-Nov-1950) · Bill Lawrence
Harvey (13-Oct-1950) · Elwood P. Dowd
Broken Arrow (21-Jul-1950) · Tom Jeffords
Winchester ’73 (12-Jul-1950) · Lin McAdam
Malaya (27-Dec-1949) · John Royer
The Stratton Story (12-May-1949)
You Gotta Stay Happy (28-Oct-1948)
Rope (28-Aug-1948) · Rupert Cadell
On Our Merry Way (3-Feb-1948) · Slim
Call Northside 777 (1-Feb-1948) · P .J. McNeal
Magic Town (7-Oct-1947) · Rip Smith
It’s a Wonderful Life (20-Dec-1946) · George Bailey
Ziegfeld Girl (25-Apr-1941) · Gilbert Young
Pot o’ Gold (3-Apr-1941) · Jimmy Haskell
Come Live With Me (29-Jan-1941) · Bill Smith
The Philadelphia Story (1-Dec-1940) · Macaulay Connor
No Time for Comedy (7-Sep-1940)
The Mortal Storm (14-Jun-1940) · Martin Breitner
The Shop Around the Corner (12-Jan-1940) · Alfred Kralik
Destry Rides Again (29-Dec-1939) · Tom Destry, Jr.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (17-Oct-1939) · Jefferson Smith
It’s a Wonderful World (19-May-1939) · Guy Johnson
The Ice Follies of 1939 (10-Mar-1939) · Larry Hall
Made for Each Other (10-Feb-1939) · Johnny Mason
You Can’t Take It with You (23-Aug-1938) · Tony Kirby
The Shopworn Angel (15-Jul-1938) · Bill Pettigrew
Vivacious Lady (13-May-1938) · Peter
Of Human Hearts (5-Feb-1938) · Jason Wilkins
Navy Blue and Gold (19-Nov-1937)
The Last Gangster (12-Nov-1937) · Paul North
Seventh Heaven (25-Mar-1937)
After the Thin Man (25-Dec-1936) · David
Born to Dance (27-Nov-1936) · Ted Barker
The Gorgeous Hussy (28-Aug-1936) · “Rowdy” Dow
Speed (8-May-1936) · Terry Martin
Small Town Girl (10-Apr-1936)
Wife vs. Secretary (28-Feb-1936) · Dave
Next Time We Love (30-Jan-1936)
Rose-Marie (28-Jan-1936) · John Flower
The Murder Man (12-Jul-1935)

Source: James Stewart – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Source: James Stewart – Biography – IMDb

Source: Jimmy Stewart – Film Actor, Theater Actor – Biography.com

Source: Jimmy Stewart

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NAME: Mary Cassatt
OCCUPATION: Painter
BIRTH DATE: May 22, 1844
DEATH DATE: June 14, 1926
EDUCATION: Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
PLACE OF BIRTH: Allegheny, Pennsylvania
PLACE OF DEATH: Le Mesnil-Théribus, France

BEST KNOWN FOR: American Mary Cassatt was one of the leading artists in the Impressionist movement of the later part of the 1800s.

Artist Mary Stevenson Cassatt was born on May 22, 1844, in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania. Mary Cassatt was the daughter of a well-to-do real estate and investment broker, and her upbringing reflected her family’s high social standing. Her schooling prepared her to be a proper wife and mother and included such classes as homemaking, embroidery, music, sketching and painting. During the 1850s, the Cassatts took their children abroad to live in Europe for several years.

Though women of her day were discouraged from pursuing a career, Mary Cassatt enrolled in Philadelphia’s Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts at age 16. Not surprisingly, she found the male faculty and her fellow students to be patronizing and resentful of her attendance. Cassatt also became frustrated by the curriculum’s slow pace and inadequate course offerings. She decided to leave the program and move to Europe where she could study the works of the Old Masters on her own, firsthand.

Despite her family’s strong objections (her father declared he would rather see his daughter dead than living abroad as a “bohemian”), Mary Cassatt left for Paris in 1866. She began her study with private art lessons in the Louvre, where she would study and copy masterpieces. She continued to study and paint in relative obscurity until 1868, when one of her portraits was selected at the prestigious Paris Salon, an annual exhibition run by the French government. With her father’s disapproving words echoing in her ears, Cassatt submitted the well-received painting under the name Mary Stevenson.

In 1870, soon after the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, Mary Cassatt reluctantly returned home to live with her parents. The artistic freedom she enjoyed while living abroad was immediately extinguished upon her return to the outskirts of Philadelphia. Not only did she have trouble finding proper supplies, but her father refused to pay for anything connected with her art. To raise funds, she tried to sell some of her paintings in New York, but to no avail. When she tried again to sell them through a dealer in Chicago, the paintings were tragically destroyed in a fire in 1871.

In the midst of these obstacles, Cassatt was contacted by the archbishop of Pittsburgh. He wanted to commission the artist to paint copies of two works by the Italian master Correggio. Cassatt accepted the assignment and left immediately for Europe, where the originals were on display in Parma, Italy. With the money she earned from the commission, she was able to resume her career in Europe. The Paris Salon accepted her paintings for exhibitions in 1872, 1873 and 1874, which helped secure her status as an established artist. She continued to study and paint in Spain, Belgium and Rome, eventually settling permanently in Paris.

Though she felt indebted to the Salon for building her career, Mary Cassatt began to feel increasingly constrained by its inflexible guidelines. No longer concerned with what was fashionable or commercial, she began to experiment artistically. Her new work drew criticism for its bright colors and unflattering accuracy of its subjects. During this time, she drew courage from painter Edgar Degas, whose pastels inspired her to press on in her own direction. “I used to go and flatten my nose against that window and absorb all I could of his art,” she once wrote to a friend. “It changed my life. I saw art then as I wanted to see it.”

Her admiration for Degas would soon blossom into a strong friendship, and Mary Cassatt exhibited 11 of her paintings with the Impressionists in 1879. The show was a huge success both commercially and critically, and similar exhibits were staged in 1880 and 1881. Shortly thereafter marked a dormant period for Mary Cassatt, who was forced to withdraw from the art world to care for her ill mother and sister. Her sister died in 1882, but after her mother regained her health, Mary was able to resume painting.

While many of her fellow Impressionists were focused on landscapes and street scenes, Mary Cassatt became famous for her portraits. She was especially drawn to women in everyday domestic settings, especially mothers with their children. But unlike the Madonnas and cherubs of the Renaissance, Cassatt’s portraits were unconventional in their direct and honest nature. Commenting in American Artist, Gemma Newman noted that “her constant objective was to achieve force, not sweetness; truth, not sentimentality or romance.”

Mary Cassatt’s painting style continued to evolve away from Impressionism in favor of a simpler, more straightforward approach. Her final exhibition with the Impressionists was in 1886, and she subsequently stopped identifying herself with a particular movement or school. Her experimentation with a variety of techniques often led her to unexpected places. For example, drawing inspiration from Japanese master printmakers, she exhibited a series of colored prints, including Woman Bathing and The Coiffure, in 1891.

Soon after, Mary Cassatt began taking an interest in young, American artists. She also sponsored fellow Impressionists and encouraged wealthy Americans to support the fledgling movement by purchasing artwork. She became an advisor to several major collectors, with the stipulation that their purchases would eventually be passed on to American art museums.

A 1910 trip to Egypt with her brother, Gardner, and his family would prove to be a turning a point in Mary Cassatt’s life. The magnificent ancient art made her question her own talent as an artist. Soon after their return home, Gardner died unexpectedly from an illness he contracted during the journey. These two events deeply affected Cassatt’s physical and emotional health, and she was unable to paint again until around 1912.

Three years later, she was forced to give up painting altogether as diabetes slowly stole her vision. For the next 11 years, until her death—on June 14, 1926, in Le Mesnil-Théribus, France—Mary Cassatt lived in almost total blindness, bitterly unhappy to be robbed of her greatest source of pleasure.

Is the subject of books:
Mary Cassatt: Oils and Pastels, 1972, BY: E. John Bullard
Mary Cassatt, 1994, BY: Nancy Mowll Mathews

Source: Mary Cassatt – Painter – Biography.com

Source: Mary Cassatt – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Source: Mary Stevenson Cassatt (1844–1926) | Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Source: Mary Cassatt

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Today is the 112th birthday of the one and only Josephine Baker.  Her iconic everything has cemented her in a time and place forever:  Paris between the wars.  The first song of hers that I ever heard was J’ai Deaux Amors and I remember really listening to it and seeking out more of her music.  Her story is tremendous and her trajectory is that of no other.  She started life in St. Louis and by the time of her death, the entire world was in love with her.  Parisians named a swimming pool in her honor.  The world is a better place because she was in it and still feels the loss that she has left.

NAME: Josephine Baker
OCCUPATION: Civil Rights Activist, Dancer, Singer
BIRTH DATE: June 3, 1906
DEATH DATE: April 12, 1975
PLACE OF BIRTH: St. Louis, Missouri
PLACE OF DEATH: Paris, France

BEST KNOWN FOR: Josephine Baker was a dancer and singer who became wildly popular in France during the 1920s. She also devoted much of her life to fighting racism.

Josephine Baker was born Freda Josephine McDonald on June 3, 1906, in St. Louis, Missouri. Her mother, Carrie McDonald, was a washerwoman who had given up her dreams of becoming a music-hall dancer. Her father, Eddie Carson, was a vaudeville drummer. He abandoned Carrie and Josephine shortly after her birth. Carrie remarried soon thereafter and would have several more children in the coming years.

To help support her growing family, at age 8 Josephine cleaned houses and babysat for wealthy white families, often being poorly treated. She briefly returned to school two years later before running away from home at age 13 and finding work as a waitress at a club. While working there, she married a man named Willie Wells, from whom she divorced only weeks later.

It was also around this time that Josephine first took up dancing, honing her skills both in clubs and in street performances, and by 1919 she was touring the United States with the Jones Family Band and the Dixie Steppers performing comedic skits. In 1921, Josephine married a man named Willie Baker, whose name she would keep for the rest of her life despite their divorce years later. In 1923, Baker landed a role in the musical Shuffle Along as a member of the chorus, and the comic touch that she brought to the part made her popular with audiences. Looking to parlay these early successes, Baker moved to New York City and was soon performing in Chocolate Dandies and, along with Ethel Waters, in the floor show of the Plantation Club, where again she quickly became a crowd favorite.

In 1925, at the peak of France’s obsession with American jazz and all things exotic, Baker traveled to Paris to perform in La Revue Nègre at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. She made an immediate impression on French audiences when, with dance partner Joe Alex, she performed the Danse Sauvage, in which she wore only a feather skirt.

However, it was the following year, at the Folies Bergère music hall, one of the most popular of the era, that Baker’s career would reach a major turning point. In a performance called La Folie du Jour, Baker danced wearing little more than a skirt made of 16 bananas. The show was wildly popular with Parisian audiences and Baker was soon among the most popular and highest-paid performers in Europe, having the admiration of cultural figures like Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway and E. E. Cummings and earning herself nicknames like “Black Venus” and “Black Pearl.” She also received more than 1,000 marriage proposals.

Capitalizing on this success, Baker sang professionally for the first time in 1930, and several years later landed film roles as a singer in Zou-Zou and Princesse Tam-Tam. The money she earned from her performances soon allowed her to purchase an estate in Castelnaud-Fayrac, in the southwest of France. She named the estate Les Milandes, and soon paid to move her family there from St. Louis.

In 1936, riding the wave of popularity she was enjoying in France, Baker returned to the United States to perform in the Ziegfield Follies, hoping to establish herself as a performer in her home country as well. However, she was met with a generally hostile, racist reaction and quickly returned to France, crestfallen at her mistreatment. Upon her return, Baker married French industrialist Jean Lion and obtained citizenship from the country that had embraced her as one of its own.

When World War II erupted later that year, Baker worked for the Red Cross during the occupation of France. As a member of the Free French forces she also entertained troops in both Africa and the Middle East. Perhaps most importantly, however, Baker did work for the French Resistance, at times smuggling messages hidden in her sheet music and even in her underwear. For these efforts, at the war’s end, Baker was awarded both the Croix de Guerre and the Legion of Honour with the rosette of the Resistance, two of France’s highest military honors.

Following the war, Baker spent most of her time at Les Milandes with her family. In 1947, she married French orchestra leader Jo Bouillon, and beginning in 1950 began to adopt babies from around the world. She adopted 12 children in all, creating what she referred to as her “rainbow tribe” and her “experiment in brotherhood.” She often invited people to the estate to see these children, to demonstrate that people of different races could in fact live together harmoniously.

During the 1950s, Baker frequently returned to the United States to lend her support to the Civil Rights Movement, participating in demonstrations and boycotting segregated clubs and concert venues. In 1963, Baker participated, alongside Martin Luther King Jr., in the March on Washington, and was among the many notable speakers that day. In honor of her efforts, the NAACP eventually named May 20th “Josephine Baker Day.”

After decades of rejection by her countrymen and a lifetime spent dealing with racism, in 1973 Baker performed at Carnegie Hall in New York and was greeted with a standing ovation. She was so moved by her reception that she wept openly before her audience. The show was a huge success and marked Baker’s comeback to the stage.

In April 1975, Josephine Baker performed at the Bobino Theater in Paris, in the first of a series of performances celebrating the 50th anniversary of her Paris debut. Numerous celebrities were in attendance, including Sophia Loren and Princess Grace of Monaco, who had been a dear friend to Baker for years. Just days later, on April 12, 1975, Baker died in her sleep of a cerebral hemorrhage. She was 69.

On the day of her funeral, more than 20,000 people lined the streets of Paris to witness the procession, and the French government honored her with a 21-gun salute, making Baker the first American woman in history to be buried in France with military honors.

Source: Josephine Baker – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Source: Josephine Baker – Civil Rights Activist, Dancer, Singer – Biography.com

Source: Josephine Baker | French entertainer | Britannica.com

Source: Josephine Baker

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Today is the 122nd birthday of Wallis Simpson.  The king gave up the throne for her.  Her style remained impeccable for her entire life.  Have you seen W.E.?  Brilliant.  The world was a better place because she was in it and still feels the loss that she has left.

NAME: Wallis Simpson
OCCUPATION: Duchess
BIRTH DATE: June 19, 1896
DEATH DATE: April 24, 1986
PLACE OF BIRTH: Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania
PLACE OF DEATH: Paris, France
AKA: Wallis Warfield Simpson
Originally: Bessie Wallis Warfield
AKA: Wallis Simpson
Full Name: Wallis, Duchess of Windsor
AKA: Wallis Spencer

Best Known For:  American socialite Wallis Simpson became the mistress of Edward, Prince of Wales. Edward abdicated the throne to marry her, a period known as the Abdication Crisis.

Wallis Simpson was born Bessie Wallis Warfield on June 19, 1896, in Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania. The daughter of Baltimoreans Teackle Wallis Warfield and Alice Montague, Wallis dropped her first name during her youth. Her father died of tuberculosis when she was a baby, and Wallis and her mother became dependent on the charity of Wallis’s Uncle Warfield. Wallis became the poor relation, which led to an insecurity that followed her into adulthood. Uncle Warfield paid for Wallis to attend Oldfields School, the most expensive girls’ school in Maryland, where she was at the top of her class and was known for always being immaculately dressed.

In 1916, Wallis met Earl Winfield Spencer Jr., a U.S. Navy aviator. The couple married six months later. Win, as her husband was known, was an alcoholic, and in the course of their marriage was stationed in San Diego, Washington, D.C., and China. He and Wallis would be separated for months at a time. When their marriage began to break down, Wallis spent what she called her “lotus year” in China, traveling alone. Win and Wallis divorced in 1927. Wallis then married Ernest Aldrich Simpson, an English-American shipping executive. They wed in London and moved into a large flat with several servants.

Around this same time, Wallis met Lady Furness, then the mistress of Edward, Duke of Windsor (then known as the Prince of Wales), and on January 10, 1931, Wallis was introduced to the Prince of Wales at an event at Burrough Court. The prince later remembered that Wallis had a cold that night and was not at her best.

In January 1934, Wallis became Prince Edward’s mistress. He denied this to his family, who were outraged at his behavior, but by 1935 she had been presented at court and the couple had vacationed in Europe multiple times together.

On January 20, 1936, George V died, and Edward ascended the throne. It had become clear that Edward planned to marry Wallis as soon as she divorced Simpson. This caused a scandal in Britain that is now known as the “abdication crisis.” The consensus from the Church of England and the conservative British establishment was that Edward could not marry a divorced woman who still had two living ex-husbands. The king’s ministers also disapproved, finding Wallis’s behavior unacceptable. Britons were reluctant to accept an American as queen. During this time, Wallis fled to France to avoid the heavy press coverage.

On December 5, 1936, after Edward was told that could not keep the throne and marry Wallis, he decided to abdicate.

On December 11, 1936, Edward made a BBC broadcast, saying he could not do his job as king without the support of “the woman I love.” In May of the following year, Wallis’s divorce was made final, and on June 3, 1937, she became the Duchess of Windsor.

Wallis and Edward referred to themselves as “W.E.”—their initials, but also a dig at the royal “we,” which refers to a person in high office using a plural pronoun rather than a singular one to refer to him- or herself. Subversive and playful, their nickname reflects their relationship. Wallis had charisma and sex appeal. She was famous for her wit and her style. Though seemingly unimportant, Wallis played a cataclysmic role in the future of the British monarchy.

Source: Wallis Simpson – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Source: Wallis Simpson – Duchess – Biography.com

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Today is the 134th birthday of the first movie mogul, Louis B. Mayer.  The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.

NAME: Louis B. Mayer
OCCUPATION: Business Leader, Producer
BIRTH DATE: c. July 12, 1884
DEATH DATE: October 29, 1957
PLACE OF BIRTH: Minsk, Russia
PLACE OF DEATH: Los Angeles, California
Full Name: Louis Burt Mayer
AKA: Louis Mayer
Originally: Eliezer Mayer

Best Known For:  Louis B. Mayer was a film mogul and the most influential person in Hollywood from the mid-1920s to the late-1940s.

Film producer and executive Louis Burt Mayer was born to an Eastern European Jewish family in Minsk, Russia. Though he was reportedly born on July 12, 1884, Mayer would claim throughout his life that he was born on the Fourth of July; he was similarly unclear about the exact location of his birth. The future mogul was the middle child of five siblings, with two sisters and two brothers, all of whom grew up in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.

At the age of 12, Mayer quit school to help his father run the family scrap metal business. When he was 19, he moved to Boston, expanding the father-son scrap enterprise into the United States. Soon after he arrived, Mayer met and married a butcher’s daughter, Margaret Shenberg. The couple had two daughters, Edith Mayer (1905-1987) and Irene Mayer (1907-1990), who would both go on to marry movie executives.

It wasn’t long before Mayer grew tired of the family business and began to look for a less gritty line of work. Luckily, a friend in the know tipped him off to a burlesque theater for sale in Haverhill, Massachusetts, a joint known derisively as the “Garlic Box.” It was a rundown theater with a bad reputation, but the enterprising young Mayer smartly chose to premiere a religious film at the establishment’s opening, immediately currying favor with community skeptics.

The budding businessman soon got a taste for success and began to acquire more and more old theaters in the area, rebuilding their reputations and facades in equal measure. After taking over all five of Haverhill’s theaters, he partnered with Nathan Gordon to gain control of a large theater chain in New England.

In 1914, Mayer made his first foray into film distribution when he bought exclusive rights to the landmark picture The Birth of a Nation with the money he earned pawning his wife’s wedding ring. He would also start a distribution agency in Boston and a talent-booking agency in New York. However, the siren song of Hollywood couldn’t be ignored for long; in 1918, Mayer moved to Los Angeles to form Louis B. Mayer Pictures Corporation.

By then the producer had gained a reputation for his hunger, audacity and ability to spot talent. Far from a hands-off studio honcho, Mayer cultivated a specialty for acquiring talent and roaming the back lots looking for his next glamorous lead. Some of Mayer’s landmark discoveries included Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Katharine Hepburn, Clark Gable and Fred Astaire.

The producer’s watershed moment would come when Marcus Loew came knocking on his door. Recently having merged his company with Samuel Goldwyn’s studios to give birth to Metro-Goldwyn, Loew found himself without a head executive for the company. Soon Metro-Goldwyn became Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and the iconic MGM Studios was born. Over the next 25 years, Mayer built the studio’s reputation on a string of glamorous and mostly uncontroversial films. Some of the biggest hits of Mayer’s era were Ben-Hur (1925), Grand Hotel (1932),  Dinner at Eight (1933) and The Good Earth (1937).

At its height MGM, was Hollywood’s kingmaker (and queenmaker), churning out more films and stars than any other studio. The MGM lot itself was legendary—over 150 acres and as self-sufficient as a town, complete with its own opium den, barbershop and 24-hour dining establishment. Also housed on the property was none other than the iconic MGM lion, whose digs amounted to an onsite zoo.

Louis B. Mayer himself had gained a reputation of leonine proportions not long after his arrival in Hollywood. Characterized by his strong will and tell-it-straight relationships, Mayer once told Robert Young, “Put on a little weight and get more sex, we have a whole stable of girls here.” Clearly, the approach worked; MGM was the most successful studio in Hollywood, even managing to stay profitable through the Great Depression. For almost a decade Mayer held the rank of highest paid man in America, a far cry from his days diving in the Bay of Fundy for scrap metal.

By 1948, the heyday of the Hollywood studio era had begun to fade. MGM had gone years without an Oscar and relations between Mayer and other executives began to fray as profit margins thinned. In 1951, Mayer left MGM after 27 years at the helm. Six years later, on October 29, 1957, the legendary producer and executive died of leukemia.

One of Hollywood’s first true moguls, there is no denying his influence on the early years of the film industry’s boom, but as Mayer himself once said, “The sign of a clever auteur is to achieve the illusion that there is a sole individual responsible for magnificent creations that require thousands of people to accomplish.”

Source: Louis B. Mayer

Source: Louis B. Mayer – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Source: Louis B. Mayer – Business Leader, Producer – Biography.com

Source: Louis B Mayer

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Today is the 114th birthday of the poet Pablo Neruda.  His Sonet XVII (below) is one of my very favorite poems of all time.  The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.

NAME: Pablo Neruda
OCCUPATION: Poet
BIRTH DATE: July 12, 1904
DEATH DATE: September 23, 1973
EDUCATION: Temuco Boys’ School
PLACE OF BIRTH: Parral, Chile
PLACE OF DEATH: Santiago, Chile
Chilean Ambassador to France
Nobel Prize for Literature 1971
Lenin Peace Prize 1953

BEST KNOWN FOR:  Pablo Neruda was a Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet who was active in world politics through his role as a diplomat.

Pablo Neruda (July 12, 1904 – September 23, 1973) was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet, diplomat and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name after Czech poet Jan Neruda.

Neruda became known as a poet while still a teenager. He wrote in a variety of styles including surrealist poems, historical epics, overtly political manifestos, a prose autobiography, and erotically-charged love poems such as the ones in his 1924 collection Twenty Poems of Love and a Song of Despair. In 1971 Neruda won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez once called him “the greatest poet of the 20th century in any language.” Neruda always wrote in green ink as it was his personal color of hope.

On July 15, 1945, at Pacaembu Stadium in São Paulo, Brazil, he read to 100,000 people in honor of Communist revolutionary leader Luís Carlos Prestes. During his lifetime, Neruda occupied many diplomatic positions and served a stint as a senator for the Chilean Communist Party. When Conservative Chilean President González Videla outlawed communism in Chile in 1948, a warrant was issued for Neruda’s arrest. Friends hid him for months in a house basement in the Chilean port of Valparaíso. Later, Neruda escaped into exile through a mountain pass near Maihue Lake into Argentina. Years later, Neruda was a close collaborator to socialist President Salvador Allende. When Neruda returned to Chile after his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Allende invited him to read at the Estadio Nacional before 70,000 people.

Neruda was hospitalized with cancer at the time of the Chilean coup d’état led by Augusto Pinochet. Three days after being hospitalized, Neruda died of heart failure. Already a legend in life, Neruda’s death reverberated around the world. Pinochet had denied permission to transform Neruda’s funeral into a public event. However, thousands of grieving Chileans disobeyed the curfew and crowded the streets.

Sonnet XVII

Author of books:
Crepusculario (1923, poetry)
Veinte Poemas de Amor y una Canción Desesperada (1924, poetry)
Tentativa del Hombre Infinito (1926, poetry)
Anillos (1926, poetry, with Tomás Lago)
El Hondero Entusiasta (1933, poetry)
Residencia en la Tierra, 1925–1931 (1933, poetry)
Residencia en la Tierra, 1925–35 (1935, poetry, 2 vols.)
España en el Corazón (1937, poetry)
Canto General (1950, poetry)
Alturas de Macchu Picchu (1943, poetry)
Tercera Residencia, 1935–45 (1947, poetry)
Odas Elementales (1954, poetry)
Confieso que he Vivido (1974, memoir)

Source: Pablo Neruda – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Source: Pablo Neruda – Diplomat, Poet – Biography.com

Source: Pablo Neruda – Biographical

Source: Pablo Neruda

It's Words To Live By July on my instagram account! 
I will be posting a quote that I love every day for the month of July. 
@TheRealSPA

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