Martha Mansfield was an active and popular actress in silent movies. On November 30, 1923, while working on location in San Antonio, on the film The Warrens of Virginia a Civil War costume epic. Martha was playing the role of Agatha Warren and had just finished her scenes and retired to a car when a …
J. G. Parry-Thomas was a race car driver who at one time held the Land Speed Record. On April 27, 1926 at Pendine Sands Beach in Wales, Parry-Thomas took his car to over 170 miles per hour, despite poor conditions and soft, wet sand. The record would stand for almost a year until it was …
The neighbors in Hyde Park knew her as “Tootie”, the devoted daughter who came to take care of her ailing mother. She had the back porch enclosed and turned into a bedroom so she could stay with her mother full time. She was a devout Jevhovah’s Witness and was active in raising awareness of the persecution …
This week’s challenge word on the Illustration Friday website is “pioneer”. Louis Jordan, a pioneer in jazz, blues and rhythm & blues, was the link between big band swing and rock and roll. He was a prolific songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He was known as “The King of the Jukebox” and was very popular with both …
On September 10, 1995, two men robbed a convenience store in Lorena, Texas. 27 year-old Jeff Wetterman was shot and killed during the robbery. The two men, David Vest and Michael Johnson, each named the other as the gunman. Vest pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery and, in exchange for an eight-year sentence, testified against Johnson. …
D. Boon was the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter of the California punk group The Minutemen. The band was known for their intelligent, yet radical, songs and minimalist approach to music. A typical Minutemen live performance would cram 50 songs into less than 40 minutes. The Minutemen released a series of albums and EPs between …
This week’s challenge word on the Monday Artday website is “family”. Years before Joseph Jackson was humiliating his kids into pop stardom, there was Murry Wilson. As a young man, Murry Wilson desperately longed to be a songwriter. He worked at a Goodyear factory and even suffered the loss of an eye in an industrial …
“Iceberg right ahead!” Those famous words were spoken by lookout Frederick Fleet aboard the the RMS Titanic on April 14, 1912. Just after seven bells, Fleet saw a black mass in the ocean ahead. He immediately struck three bells and telephoned the bridge. His report received the standard “Thank you” reply. While still on the telephone, the ship …
Dora Gerson was a singer and silent film actress in Berlin, Germany in the early 1920s. She was performing in an ensemble troupe when she met film director Veit Harlan. They married in 1922 and divorced in 1924. Harlan would eventually direct anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda films on orders of Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. In …
The current Monday Artday challenge is “gratitude”. Curt Flood spent most of his career as a center fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals. He led the National League in putouts four times. He won seven consecutive Gold Glove Awards. He also batted over .300 six times, and led the NL in hits in 1964. He retired …
