With aspirations of stardom, Rita Johnson set out for Hollywood after two years of acting on Broadway. She made her motion picture debut in 1937’s London By Night, a lighthearted mystery starring George Murphy, long before he was elected to the US Senate. Rita continued to be cast in films throughout the 30s and 40s. …
Ben Raleigh was writing songs as far back as the 1940s. His songs were recorded by Eddie Fisher, Dinah Shore and Nat King Cole among others. In 1946, Sammy Kaye and his Orchestra had a Top Ten hit with Ben’s composition “Laughing on the Outside (Crying on the Inside).” Pop singer Leslie Gore recorded Ben’s “She’s a Fool” and song stylist Johnny Mathis had a …
In 1946, Abe Saperstein, enjoying success from his exhibition basketball team The Harlem Globetrotters, decided to try his hand at baseball. In the same fashion, he assembled a squad of barnstorming all-stars called the Cincinnati Crescents. He signed 6′ 4″ Luke Easter to play first base. Luke was thrilled, as he was only able to …
Mary Fuller began making one-reelers for Vitagraph Studios as an eighteen year-old. Soon, she joined the cast of Edison Studios’ 1910 production of Frankenstein, playing the notorious doctor’s fiancée. This was the first filmed version of Mary Shelley’s horror classic. By 1914, Mary Fuller was a bona fide movie star, rivaling top box-office draw Mary …
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 …
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 …
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. …
