As a teenager, multi-talented Ernest Crowdus performed as a singer, dancer, musician and comedian in traveling minstrel shows. He changed his surname to “Hogan” to capitalize on the high regard for Irish singers. In 1895, he wrote a comedic song called “Pas Ma La,” based on an exaggerated dance he made up while touring with …
This week, the Illustration Friday word is “wings”. Jimmy McCulloch looked like he was headed in the direction of super-stardom. At fifteen, he was recruited by Who guitarist Pete Townshend to be a part of a group that would record songs he wrote but would not be released by The Who. Jimmy, along with “Speedy” Keen and …
This week’s Illustration Friday challenge word is “myth”. Walt Disney. Artist. Animator. Innovator. Visionary. In 1928, Walt produced Steamboat Willie, the first synchronized sound cartoon. The cartoon introduced the world to a little character named Mickey Mouse. Walt would go on to create the first full-length animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Feature-length cartoons were unheard of at the time. Walt was …
Kevin Coughlin was one of those teen actors that was everywhere in the 60s. With his big smile and tousled shock of blond hair, he convincingly played both good kids and delinquents. Kevin showed up in various episodes of popular Westerns like The Virginian, Gunsmoke and Bonanza. He was equally adept in comedies, with parts in …
From the time he was young, Donny Hathaway expressed an interest in music. He sang in church choir with his grandmother and played in jazz bands. At Howard University, on a fine arts scholarship, Donny studied music and began a life-long friendship with classmate Roberta Flack. He left Howard University before graduation and began writing, playing and …
In 2008, popular South Korean actress Choi Jin-sil hanged herself. She had starred in nearly two dozen movies and television shows and was the veteran of over 100 commercials. She earned herself the nickname “The Nation’s Actress”. She was married to Cho Sung-min, a one-time pitcher for the Japanese baseball team The Yomiuri Giants. The …
The Illustration Friday word this week is “ocean”. Forty-one years before George and Brad and their friends, there was Frank, Dean, Sammy, Joey, Peter and their pack.
Eugenia Eagles quit school as a child to work as a cash girl in a Kansas City department store to help her widowed mother support six children. But, at 15, young Jeanne caught the acting bug and began touring with a traveling theater company. At 21, she headed to New York City, where she became …
Mary Mallon was an uneducated, hot-tempered Irish immigrant, but, boy, could she cook. Mary came to the United States in 1884 and worked a succession of menial jobs until she discovered her talents in the kitchen. In 1900, she found employment as the personal cook for a family in Westchester County, just outside of Manhattan. …
Winstead Sheffield Glenndenning Dixon Weaver loved to pull pranks and plan practical jokes as a student at Stanford University. His penchant for comedy led him to become a contributor to the school’s humor magazine. Using his childhood nickname “Doodles”, he began appearing on Rudy Vallee’s radio program and eventually signed on as a member of the raucous …
