Just a few years after her father’s death, Mary Koenig took a job as a housekeeper to help support her family. Taking advantage of her connection to employer, the wealthy and influential Harry Payne Whitney, Mary pursued Broadway. Taking the stage name “Mae Murray,” she landed a place in the chorus line of the famed …
Willard Scott, the avuncular weatherman on NBC’s The Today Show passed away this week at the age of 87. He enjoyed a long and productive career in broadcasting, beginning in the 1950s with a live, improvised radio show originating in Washington, DC. At the same time, he worked with local TV station WRC in children’s …
Charlie Watts, the longtime drummer for the venerable Rolling Stones passed away last week at the age of 80. His death prompted an outpouring on social media of love and condolences in the form of memories, stories and anecdotes from a host of renowned peers, like Paul McCartney, Pete Townshend, Elton John and many, many …
Nancy Frankel graduated in 1952 from Temple University’s Tyler School of Art and pursued and received a Masters Degree in art education from Columbia University. She explored a variety of mediums, working in tempera paint and graphite as well as bronze, Plexiglas, cut wood and other materials to create three-dimension sculptures. Her abstract works reflected …
After recovering from an accident that nearly rendered him immobile for the rest of his life, nine-year-old Dick Trickle was taken to Crown Speedway in his hometown of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. The youngster was bewildered by the speeding cars and, at that moment, was determined to become a race car driver. Dick became one of …
Photographer Felix Benedict Herzog — the first to have his photographs accepted as “art” — spotted 17 year-old Audrey Munson window-shopping with her mother on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue. He introduced the teen to his friends and colleagues in the New York art society. Soon, Audrey was an in-demand artist’s model — posing for photographs, paintings and …
John Hughes was a pioneering and influential filmmaker whose output dominated movie screens throughout the 1980s. With his directorial debut Sixteen Candles, John kicked off his signature style of portraying teen angst in an open, realistic and often humorous fashion. Thanks to the inspired casting of sixteen-year old Molly Ringwald, Sixteen Candles spawned other teen-centric …
14 year-old Hugh Masekela was inspired to pick up a trumpet after seeing Kirk Douglas in the 1950 film Young Man with a Horn. He sought out someone to teach him to play with the help and guidance of his friend, Johannesburg Archbishop Trevor Huddleston. Soon, Hugh was writing music that was reflective of his …
ZZ Top is one of the few bands in rock & roll history to feature the same personnel lineup for its 52 years of existence. Founded in 1969 by Frank Beard, Dusty Hill and Billy Gibbons, ZZ Top, the “Little Ol’ Band from Texas” as they are affectionately known, enjoyed a lengthy career, filled with …
Cass Daley was a born entertainer. She sang on street corners as a child. Later, while working as a hat-check girl in a local club, Cass was given the opportunity to sing between shifts. She performed in vaudeville in the 1930s, eventually taking a featured role in the Ziegfeld Follies as a singer and comedienne. …
