This week’s Illustration Friday challenge word is “mesmerizing”. In his doctoral dissertation of 1766, De influxu planetarum in corpus humanum [“The Influence of the Planets upon the Human Body”], physician Franz Mesmer theorized that a natural energy force exists and flows continuously over the body. He publicized his belief that this energy was influenced by the …
This week’s Illustration Friday challenge word is “boundaries”. Mother lays down boundaries to keep baby …um …safe. That’s right. Safe.
On a bright August afternoon in 1867, eight-year old Fanny Adams, along with her little sister Lizzie and her friend Minnie Warner, went to play near Flood Meadow, just up Tan House Lane from her home in southeast England. While the girls played, they were approached by Frederick Baker, a 29-year old, well-dressed solicitor’s clerk. …
This week’s Illustration Friday challenge word is “mysterious”. On Saturday, I went to meet my son at a free concert at the Great Plaza on the Delaware River’s waterfront. Instead of driving and fighting for a parking space on a busy holiday weekend, I took the train into downtown Philadelphia. I disembarked at the Market …
My wife’s grandmother turned 101 this past July. When I met her nearly thirty years ago, she was a feisty, strong-willed woman who called things as she saw them and took no shit from anyone. She came from humble beginnings in Russia and lived an even more humble existence upon her arrival in the United …
Continue reading ‘from my sketchbook: an exercise in selfishness’ »
While studying criminal law at the Sorbonne in her native Paris, Corinne Calvet dabbled in acting on French radio dramas and on the stage. She appeared in a few French-produced films until noted producer Hal Wallis brought her to Hollywood and cast her in Rope of Sand opposite Burt Lancaster in 1949. She went on …
The Illustration Friday challenge word this week is “disguise”. “Um, four please.”
Bud Jamison has the dubious distinction of delivering the first “eye poke” in a Three Stooges short. It was in 1934’s Woman Haters and he applied the move to Moe, Larry and Curly in succession. Bud also recited his lines in that short in verse. He went on to be a staple supporting player in hundreds of …
Continue reading ‘from my sketchbook: bud jamison and vernon dent’ »
The Illustration Friday word of inspiration this week in “influence”. “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.” The man who said that began his celebrated literary career as a printer, then on to the unlikely path of master riverboat pilot on the Mississippi. After a short and failed attempt …
Marie McDonald, daughter of a Ziegfeld girl, began modeling as a teenager. Her aspirations took her to Hollywood where she danced at nightclubs and sang with big bands, including a brief stint with Tommy Dorsey. She was soon signed to a contract with Universal Pictures and got her first credited role in Abbott & Costello’s …
