After stints as a nanny and a horseback riding trainer, 21 year-old Mercedes Grabowski entered the lucrative adult film industry, using the screen name “August Ames.” She began associations with some of the top distributors of pornography and was featured in some 270 films with titles like Dirty Talk, Don’t Tell Hubby, Flesh Hunter and Naturally Delicious. August was nominated for four AVN Awards, the porn industry’s equivalent to the Oscars.

On December 3, 2017, August tweeted her anger and dismay over her claim that she was being forced to perform a sex scene with an actor who had appeared in gay pornographic films. She expressed anger towards her agent and offered a “warning” to her replacement on the film-in-progress, as August had been fired for her refusal to perform. She received a wave of backlash from her contemporaries. Most labeled her statements and attitude as homophobic. August denied the allegations, saying she loved and supported the gay community.

Two days later, on December 5, 2017, August was found hanged in a public park near her home in Southern California. An investigation by the Ventura County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that she was driven to suicide by, what was ruled, cyberbullying. August had also battled depression for most of her life, according to her husband, pornographic film director Kevin Moore. August was 23 years old.

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Bertha Ricketts was born in Mississippi, where her mother and grandmother provided a homeschooled education. They also provided a nickname — “Cid” — based on her calm and “placid” nature. She furthered her education at Columbia University, where she earned a Masters Degree. Cid enrolled in nursing school, but dropped out after a year when she married one of her professors. She had four children and after they had grown, she embarked on a new career as an author.

Her first novel was not well received. But her second, “Quality” published in 1946, was very popular. It took on racial segregation and  address themes that were controversial at the time. The novel provided the basis for the 1949 film Pinky starring Jeanne Crain.

Her next novel, “Tammy Out of Time,” became her most well know. It was filmed as Tammy and the Bachelor starring Debbie Reynolds. It spawned several more books in a series, as well as more movies and a television series.

Cid published more novels and short story collections, as well as non-fiction accounts of her adventures on the Colorado River as the only woman in the 1955 Eggert-Hatch river expedition.

Later in her life, Cid moved to Massachusetts to be closer to her extended family. On October 15, 1970, Cid, in a robe and slippers, answered a knock at her front door. It was her sixteen-year old grandson. The boy bludgeoned Cid to death with a hammer. Cid was 80 years-old. Her grandson took his own life while incarcerated.

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Violette Morris excelled at sports — all sports. She was an avid and fierce boxer, often defeating men. She was selected for the French national water polo team even though there was no women’s team at the time. She won gold medals in football at the 1921 and 1922 Women’s Olympiads. She was also successful in  airplane racing, horseback riding, tennis, archery, diving, swimming, weightlifting. She expressed an interest in auto racing and underwent a voluntary mastectomy so she could fit in the cars more easily. She competed in and won a number of automobile events throughout the 1920s.

Violette was invited to participate in the 1936 Summer Olympics by Adolf Hitler. She happily obliged. Post-Olympics, Violette began collaborating with the Nazis, securing black market gasoline, spying and even torturing prisoners. Several reports claim that Violette enjoyed inflicting torture, often smiling and laughing during lengthy interrogations. She earned herself the nickname “The Hyena of the Gestapo.”

In April 1944, Violette’s car was sabotaged by members of the French Resistance. A few minutes into a journey from Lieurey, Violette’s car sputtered to a halt. She was driving members of the Nazi-sympathizing Bailleul family to Normandy. The car was ambushed by the French Resistance and all occupants were killed. Violette’s bullet-ridden body was taken to a morgue where it lay unclaimed for months. She was eventually buried in an unmarked communal grave. Violette was 51.

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After performing in various stage productions in his native Kansas, Kendall McComas and his family relocated to Southern California to help Kendall in his pursuit of a movie career.

In 1927, 11-year. old Kendall landed a small part in Mickey’s Eleven, a two-reel short subject that was part of the “Mickey McGuire” film series. This series provided actors Mickey Rooney and Billy Barty with the starts of their respective careers. Kendall was cast as a member of Mickey’s gang. He would go on to appear in eleven “Mickey McGuire” shorts, playing several different characters, including “Stinky Davis” in his final three appearances.

Kendall appeared in several feature films before being signed to Hal Roach’s “Little Rascals” troupe. Despite being a teenager, Kendall was cast as sniveling grade-school student “Breezy Brisbane.” Kendall worked with the “Little Rascals” for a little over a year. In 1934, he played his last screen role as an uncredited “Boy” in the forgotten comedy I’ll Fix It starring Jack Holt. At 18, he said goodbye to show business.

In the 1960s, Kendall worked as an electrical engineer at the  U.S. Naval Weapons Center in China Lake, California. Later, he settled into a job as an institutional mortgage-backed bond salesman, using the name John Mandy.

Two weeks before turning 65, and facing mandatory retirement, Kendall took his own life.

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