Catherine Hukill expressed an interest in acting as a teenager in her native Chicago. She performed a song-and-dance act with her cousin in several local productions. In the middle 1920s, she teamed up with Frank Faylen and toured the vaudeville circuit as “Faylen and Hughes,” where she played the role of the “dumb girl” to …
Duncan Hines worked tirelessly, criss-crossing the country selling letter openers and paper clips, as well as printing services for a Chicago based company. His sales routes took him all over, forcing stays in hotels and meals in one restaurant after another. In 1920s America, there were very few (if any) chain restaurants, so Duncan frequented …
Upon his discharge from the US Navy after World War II, Herk Harvey took a teaching position in the drama department at the University of Kansas. He decided against a career in chemical engineering, the trade he mastered in the service, opting to use the directorial experience he gained before the war. Herk did some …
Jeanette Dubois was born in either New York or Philadelphia on August 5, 1932 or possibly 1938 or maybe even 1945… sources are not clear. It is clear, however, that she appeared with the great Sammy Davis Jr. and Louis Gossett Jr. in Golden Boy on Broadway in 1964. In 1970, using the more exotic …
Mia Zapata learned to play piano and guitar at the age of nine, influenced by Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith, Ray Charles, Hank Williams and Sam Cooke. In 1986, at the age of 21, Mia and three friends formed a band called The Gits. After playing around the Yellow Springs, Ohio area and the campus of …
Scottish-born actress Adrienne Corri made her film debut at the age of 19 in the British drama The Romantic Age. Her career soon blossomed with roles in David Lean’s Dr. Zhivago, where she played Lara’s mother, and in Otto Preminger’s thriller Bunny Lake Is Missing. Adrienne also appeared in a number of low-budget horror films, including Vampire …
It appeared that Stanislav Bogdanovich was poised to take the world of chess by storm. The young Ukranian, a graduate of the National University of Odessa Law Academy, had already won a number of championships. He was awarded the title of International Master in 2009, and Grandmaster in 2017. His opponents described Stanislav as a …
On November 20, 1973, The Who’s performance at San Francisco’s Cow Palace was briefly interrupted when Keith Moon passed out behind his drum kit. It seemed that the horse tranquilizers he had downed prior to the concert were too much for the drummer to handle. Moon was carried off by some roadies and the three …
Lewis Latimer was the youngest of four children born to slaves George and Rebecca Latimer. Noted journalist and abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison advocated for their continued freedom when their owners sought the couple out after the couple ran away. Garrison raised the funds to buy the Latimers’ freedom. Seventeen-year -old Lewis Latimer took a job …
In 1930, animator Max Fleischer released the cartoon short Dirty Dishes, featuring a sexy, anthropomorphic French poodle, drawn by staff artist Grim Natwick. The character sang the song “Crazy Town,” which was augmented by a few “boop-boop-a-doo”s. In subsequent cartoons, the character was refined by studio animators Seymour Kneitel and Berny Wolf and soon became …
