josh pincus is crying

As a visitor and patient of John Harvey Kellogg’s Battle Creek Sanitarium, C.W. Post was impressed and inspired to start his own cereal company. Concerned with his own health, Post invented a cereal alternative to coffee that he dubbed “Postum”. Postum was made from wheat bran, wheat, molasses, and maltodextrin from corn. It was never presented as a coffee substitute. Instead, it was marketed as a healthful, caffeine-free alternative. The beverage was slow to catch on at first, but became increasingly popular among those worried about the negative effects of caffeine. The Mormon culture endorsed Postum due to their abstention from coffee. During World War II, Postum enjoyed a huge rise in popularity as the population sought a replacement for government-rationed coffee.

In 1897, Post introduced another of his inventions - Grape Nuts cereal. Originally marketed as “brain food”, Grape Nuts became a popular breakfast food, owning to its unique flavor and texture, although it contains no grapes and no nuts.

As Post’s business increased, he introduced more varieties of cereals, including his own corn flakes, first called “Elijah’s Manna”, then later Post Toasties. Post was one of the first companies to offer a discount coupon as enticement to try their product. Through advertisements, a “One Penny Off” certificate was made available to the public.

As his business grew, Post amassed one of the largest fortunes of the early Twentieth century. However, in late 1913, his declining health forced him to cancel public appearances. In 1914, convinced he was suffering from stomach cancer, Post committed suicide by gunshot. His only child, 27-year-old Marjorie Merriweather Post, inherited his company and his fortune. (Marjorie went on to marry financier E.F. Hutton. Their daughter is actress Dina Merrill.)

James Byrd, Jr. was murdered for no other reason than because he was black.

On June 7, 1998, 49-year old James was walking home from a party. He couldn’t afford a car so he walked everywhere, but he didn’t mind walking. Shawn Berry, Lawrence Brewer and John King drove up to James in a pick-up truck and offered him a ride. Shawn recognized James from town. Happy to accept a lift, James climbed into the open bed of the truck. The three men in the truck’s cab were acquainted with each other from various meetings in and out of prison; their common bond was an active and twisted belief in white supremacy. They had no intention of driving James home.

The truck stopped on a remote road just outside of Jasper, Texas where the three men beat James unconscious and urinated on his battered body. Then, they chained him by his ankles to the back of the truck and dragged him for nearly three miles. James was whipped around and tossed about behind the vehicle until he hit a culvert (a large concrete pipe used to channel water) and his head and right arm were severed. The truck stopped, James’ body was untied and dumped in front of Jasper’s oldest Black church and cemetery.

In the morning, the county sheriff’s department found several items strewn among the blood and gore on the dirt road, including a wrench with “Berry” written on it and a lighter engraved with “Possum” (John King’s prison nickname) and three interlocking “K”s, signifying allegiance to the Ku Klux Klan. The perpetrators were soon picked up. After trial, King and Brewer were given death sentences. Berry was sentenced to life in prison.

A long-time Texas prison tradition was ended as a result of James Byrd Jr.’s murder and Lawrence Brewer’s arrogance. Texas, as well as other states that have the death penalty, offers the condemned a last meal of their choosing. The meal options and combinations are nearly limitless (alcohol requests are regularly denied). The weblog Dead Man Eating has chronicled these requests, noting an overwhelming demand for cheeseburgers, traditional Mexican fare, ice cream and Dr. Pepper. The occasional insistence that the contents of a final meal be kept secret or the refusal of a meal altogether are also included in the list. On the evening before his September 21, 2011 execution, Brewer asked for an elaborate meal that included a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, a meat-lover’s pizza, a big bowl of okra with ketchup, a pound of barbecue, a half a loaf of bread, peanut butter fudge, a pint of ice cream and two chicken-fried steaks. It arrived at his cell around 4 p.m. and he refused it.  This final act of audacity prompted Texas State Senator John Whitmire to write to prison officials saying, “Enough is enough! It is extremely inappropriate to give a person sentenced to death such a privilege. It’s a privilege which the perpetrator did not provide to their victim.”

The “last meal” practice in Texas was ended the next day.

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My annual Christmas music compilation is available as a FREE DOWNLOAD for a limited time.
26 unusual songs and a custom full-color cover with track listings — all for you and for FREE!
Just CLICK HERE for “A Non-Traditional Christmas 2011.”
(You will be taken to a new window. Click the word “download” next to the title, not the big green “DOWNLOAD” button at the bottom of the page.)

Happy Holidays from your pal JPiC!
(Please contact me if you have trouble with the download.)

At quarter to six on the morning of March 22, 2011, Rebecca Coriam picked up the phone in a hallway of the Disney cruise ship “Wonder”, dialed an on-board number and, after speaking for a minute or two, began to cry. A fellow crew member, passing her on his way to who-knows-where, stopped to ask Rebecca if she was okay. She nodded in the affirmative and he continued on his way.

That was the last time Rebecca, or “Bex” as she was known to family and friends, was seen.

When Rebecca failed to show up for her morning shift as a youth activities counselor, Disney Cruise Line executives contacted her parents at their northwestern England home to say she was missing. Mr. and Mrs. Coriam were invited to Los Angeles to meet the ship when it made port at San Pedro. They were met by Superintendent Paul Rolle of the Royal Bahamas Police Force. Because the Disney Wonder is registered in The Bahamas, investigations of this nature fall under Bahamanian jurisdiction. The officer informed Rebecca’s parents that police had little to go on.

 Upon arrival in the Los Angeles suburb of San Pedro, Rebecca’s distraught parents hoped to talk to crew and passengers but, instead were greeted by an empty ship as preparations for the next scheduled cruise had already begun. They were able to talk with some crew members, but received only minimal information. They gathered Rebecca’s belongings - photos, clothing, rosary beads - and watched the short surveillance video of Rebecca on the phone in the hallway. They were given cold, vague answers to their numerous questions. The ship’s captain told them a pair of flip-flops, that may have belonged to their 24-year-old daughter, had been found in a private “crew only” area, but they couldn’t be sure. Soon, the bewildered and distressed couple found themselves standing on the San Pedro dock as the ship — emblazoned with the universally-recognized “mouse ears” — sailed off on another journey, leaving them to wonder if they’d see their dear Bex again or if anyone cared if they ever would.

Barbara Nichols was definitely “in on it”. For nearly four decades, she flaunted her way across Hollywood in small (even uncredited) roles as strippers, gold-diggers, prostitutes, gun molls and other assorted floozies. She played characters with names like “Lola”, “Brandy”, “Candy” and even “Poopsie”. She played her brassy, buxom, wise-cracking dumb-blond scene-stealer to its absolute limits. And she laughed all the way to the bank.

1957 was a banner year for Barbara. That year, she appeared in three hit films, Pal Joey, The Sweet Smell of Success and The Pajama Game,  alongside Frank Sinatra, Rita Hayworth, Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Doris Day and other top Hollywood stars of the day. Barbara was also romantically linked to dozens of Tinseltown’s eligible (and not-so-eligible) hunks. She was funny, talented and “on-the-ball”, unlike similar one-dimensional bimbos (like Diana Dors and Barbara Payton) to whom she was often compared. Unfortunately, she made some low-budget clunkers and, as the 1960s approached, her film career was shot. The always-resilient Barbara turned to television. She appeared in many TV sitcoms and dramas in the 60s, delivering her lines and slinking around the set as she had done in so many films so many times before. Her popularity among producers and directors made her a favorite guest star on The Beverly Hillbillies, Batman, The Untouchables  and The Jack Benny Program.

Two near fatal car wrecks took a toll on Barbara’s health. Despite quick recoveries and an eagerness to return to performing, she suffered severe physical damage that was worse than she let on. She fell into a coma for several months and passed away from complications of a liver ailment in 1976. Barbara was 46.
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My annual Christmas music compilation is available as a FREE DOWNLOAD for a limited time.
26 unusual songs and a custom full-color cover with track listings — all for you and for FREE!
Just CLICK HERE for “A Non-Traditional Christmas 2011.”
(You will be taken to a new window. Click the word “download” next to the title, not the big green “DOWNLOAD” button at the bottom of the page.)

Happy Holidays from your pal JPiC!
(Please contact me if you have trouble with the download.)

In the early 1930s, Frank Churchill filled the void of house composer just after Carl Stalling left The Disney Studios to join Warner Brothers (along with Disney animator Ub Iwerks). Frank was a veritable music machine, cranking out “feel good” musical scores to accompany the cheerful antics depicted in Disney’s animated cartoons. His music and collaborative lyrics were featured in some of Disney’s most popular shorts, including The Tortoise and The Hare, The Robber Kitten,  several Mickey Mouse cartoons and, famously,  The Three Little Pigs,  which introduced the Frank Churchill-penned hit ”Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” Based on the popularity of his catchy tunes, Walt Disney asked Frank to score his upcoming full-length animated film Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs  in 1937. Frank scored the film and wrote eight songs, including “Whistle While You Work”, “Heigh-Ho” and “Someday My Prince Will Come”. The film was an undeniable hit and the songs became instant classics.

Frank became music director at The Disney Studios and continued to compose music for Disney shorts. His next major task was scoring Disney’s 1941 animated film Dumbo,  on which he collaborated with composer Oliver Wallace (who wrote “”Der Fuehrer’s Face” recorded by Spike Jones). Frank earned an Oscar nomination for the song “Baby Mine” from Dumbo and took home one of the coveted statuettes for his score from the same film.

Soon, he began working on the music for Bambi,  Disney’s planned release for 1942. Considering the happy, cheerful tone of his compositions, Frank was a solemn, reserved, troubled, and often depressed, man. While working on the score for Bambi,  he received negative criticism from Walt Disney on the direction in which the music was headed. That, coupled with the death of two close friends and bouts of heavy drinking, proved too much for Frank. On May 14, 1942, just two months after winning the Academy Award, Frank sat down at his piano and shot himself. His score for Bambi,  which was completed by colleague Edward Plumb, received an Oscar nomination.
- - - - -

My annual Christmas music compilation is available as a FREE DOWNLOAD for a limited time.
26 unusual songs and a custom full-color cover with track listings — all for you and for FREE!
Just CLICK HERE for “A Non-Traditional Christmas 2011.”
(You will be taken to a new window. Click the word “download” next to the title, not the big green “DOWNLOAD” button at the bottom of the page.)

Happy Holidays from your pal JPiC!
(Please contact me if you have trouble with the download.)

Joyce Compton had an unusual Hollywood career (unusual, at least, as compared to the multitude of tragic Hollywood careers highlighted on this blog). Joyce starred in hundreds of uncredited roles in a career that spanned five decades. She was regularly cast as the quintessential “dumb blond”, playing the part in big-budget films and B-grade productions. Her portrayals of ditsy hatcheck girls, brassy flirts and sassy prostitutes usually consisted of one or two lines delivered in scene-stealing glory. The roles were one-dimensional and formulaic, but always an audience favorite. Joyce played supporting parts in Imitation of Life, Rose of Washington Square, They Drive by Night, Christmas in Connecticut, Mildred Pierce, Sorry, Wrong Number  and many, many others. She was featured alongside such big names as Barbara Stanwyck, Cary Grant, Al Jolson, Claudette Colbert, Humphrey Bogart and her good friend Clara Bow. Although she appeared in some well-known and revered films, she also worked on pictures with budgets so low, she wore her own clothes instead of lavish, wardrobe department-supplied costumes.

Around the time Joyce turned 40, Hollywood decided she was too old the play “the dumb blond” role. Offers came less frequently and Joyce’s star began to fade. So, at 40 years-old, Joyce became a registered nurse. She got a kick out of being recognized by patients at hospitals and was always eager to relate stories of her acting days and receive praise graciously.

Joyce retired to a life of gardening, painting and occasionally watching herself in an old film on late-night television. She passed away in 1997 at the age of 90. Her death went virtually unnoticed by the press.

E. Mason Hopper, a prolific director of the silent film era, saw young Edwina Booth in a stage production and was taken by her performance. He offered the actress a small role in an upcoming film starring Marie Prevost. Impressed with Edwina’s ability, MGM cast her in the studio’s new big-budget jungle adventure Trader Horn.  The cast and crew were sent on location to East Africa. Trader Horn  (1931) was the first major motion picture to be shot in Africa. (Prior efforts were small travelogue films.) MGM hoped the realism of a location shoot would increase the film’s appeal and success.

The production of Trader Horn  was plagued with difficulty. The crew was poorly prepared and poorly equipped to film in Africa. MGM decided, at the last minute, to film with sound. Edwina’s role as “The White Goddess” required her to perform in a skimpy, next-to-nothing, costume. During the long working hours and extended production time, she was overcome by the jungle heat and unfamiliar insects. Edwina contracted malaria and was out of commission (and the movie business) for six years while she recovered. She sued MGM, claiming she was provided with inadequate clothing, inadequate shelter and forced to sunbathe in the nude. Her lawsuit asked for one million dollars. Fortunately for MGM, Trader Horn  was a success. Unfortunately for Edwina, she settled for a reported $35,000.

When Edwina was ready to re-enter show business, the reputation of her lawsuit preceded her and no studio wanted her services. She managed to make two very low-budget adventure serials that met with little fanfare and little success. When Trader Horn  was re-released in 1938, Edwina Booth was a forgotten name. She completely withdrew from the public eye and became very active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, although she received fan mail for the rest of her life. After years of false rumors about her death, Edwina passed away quietly and in obscurity in 1991 at the age of 86.

As a child, little Sue Hamilton had aspirations of becoming a farmer, but sometimes things change. And things changed for Sue.

After high school, Sue began modeling. A photographer with whom she worked sent a sampling of her pictures to Playboy.  The magazine was impressed and contacted Sue. She was elated -never believing that, at just under five feet tall and weighing in at 98 pounds, she was Playboy material. A date was set for a photoshoot and Sue (posing under the name “Sue Williams”) became Miss April 1965. She was one of the shortest Playmates in the publication’s history, as well as the first with breast implants.

When the brief fame that the Playboy  appearance brought died down, she returned to her job as a secretary at a film processing company in Burbank, California. A scout from American International Pictures (AIP) saw her pictorial in Playboy,  sought her out and signed her to a long-term contract. Her debut role in the beach party romp, How to Stuff a Wild Bikini  (Frankie Avalon’s last beach movie), gave her two speaking lines. She went on to make four more films under the directorial guidance of AIP mainstays William Asher (husband of Elizabeth Montgomery and creator of Bewitched)  and Norman Taurog (Oscar’s Best Director in 1931).

In 1965, Sue, along with other AIP contract actresses, went on a publicity tour for the auto racing comedy Fireball 500.  During the course of the tour, she was interviewed for a newspaper article about dieting. Sue confided that despite her tiny stature, she strictly avoided butter, potatoes, sauces, gravy, and dessert. Dinners, she explained, were a small sliver of meat and several peas.

Sue continued modeling for four more years, until she committed suicide in 1969 at age 23.

In the month following the capture of the Chinese capital of Nanking by the Japanese during the second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, thousands of Chinese civilians and disarmed soldiers were murdered and up to 80,000 Chinese women were raped by soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army. As the years went on, many Japanese nationalists have disputed the severity of the incident and have dismissed the numbers as exaggerated. Some have even denied the occurrence at all, claiming the stories were wartime propaganda. Iris Chang, the granddaughter of escapees of the massacre, devoted her life to uncovering the truth.

For two years, Iris conducted extensive research. She gathered information, interviewed survivors, travelled to Nanking and pored over numerous chronicles and personal diaries. In 1997, she published The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II.  Her effort was met with much praise and an equal amount of criticism. She was heralded as bringing previously hidden accounts to light. However, she was condemned by others for what was called “seriously flawed [research] full of misinformation and harebrained explanations”.  After publication of the book, Iris solicited the Japanese government to apologize for its troops’ wartime conduct and to pay compensation.

Her next book, The Chinese in America,  was a history of Chinese-Americans. She presented them as perpetually on the outside of society, despite their indispensable contributions.

While preparing for her fourth book focusing on the Bataan Death March, she suffered a nervous breakdown. Lack of sleep coupled with the ongoing depression she experienced during her research for the Nanking book were determined to be the cause. A colleague helped her to check into the Norton Psychiatric Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. There, doctors diagnosed her with brief reactive psychosis. She was given medication and observed for signs of bipolar disorder. Her ordeal in Nanking had left her physically weak and mentally drained for years.

On November 9, 2004, Iris was found dead in her car by a county employee on a rural road south of Los Gatos, California. She had shot herself through the mouth with a handgun. Later, three handwritten notes were discovered, one of which read in part: “I promise to get up and get out of the house every morning. I will stop by to visit my parents then go for a long walk. I will follow the doctor’s orders for medications. I promise not to hurt myself. I promise not to visit Web sites that talk about suicide.”

Iris was 36 years old.