“To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost.”
— Gustave Flaubert
The celebrated French author Gustave Flaubert lived a life of outspokenness and debauchery and suffered from venereal disease most of his life. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 58.
If you’re going to believe a made-up story about a strong and inspiring woman during the Revolutionary War, forget the one about Betsy Ross. Here’s the story of Nancy Hart.
According to various accounts, Nancy Hart and her husband Benjamin lived near Savannah, Georgia with their eight children. Nancy was a strong and resourceful woman, providing for her family through her skills as a hunter and herbalist. She was known by most to be fearless, as well as ruthless. She never hesitated to exact vengeance on those who offended her or meant to bring harm to her family. She also possessed a short and furious temper.
One morning, a group of six British soldiers forced their way into the Hart home looking for food. They demanded that Nancy kill and cook one of her turkeys, and she reluctantly agreed. When the bird was prepared and served, the soldiers lay their guns by the door before sitting down at the table to eat. While they were eating, she covertly slid their weapons out of the house through a hole in the wall of the cabin. She picked up the last gun and took aim at the soldiers, ordering them to remain still. One of the soldiers ignored her threat. When he stood, Nancy shot and killed him. Another soldier made a move towards her and she shot and killed him as well. She held the remaining four soldiers at bay until her husband and several neighbors arrived to assist. Benjamin wanted to shoot the four men, but Nancy insisted that they be hanged…. and she intended to do just that.
In 1912, a construction crew working on a railroad in the area uncovered evidence to support “The Legend of Nancy Hart.” During excavation of land less than a mile from the former site of the Hart homestead, workers found six skeletons buried neatly in a row. A few of the skeletons’ necks were broken, which suggested they had been hanged. Further investigation determined that they had been buried for at least 100 years.
Hart County, in northeastern Georgia, is named in Nancy’s honor.
As a teen, Roger Charlery was a fan of punk rock and was the drummer in the punk band Nam Nam Boys. He began a friendship with second wave ska band The Beat… and by friendship, I mean Roger would crash their gig, storm the stage and begin “toasting” (a form of rapping originating in the Caribbean) during their songs. He officially joined the band in the late 70s, recording three albums with them. He adopted the stage name “Ranking Roger,” a common boast among club DJs,
Soon, Roger and fellow Beat member Dave Wakeling formed General Public along with members of The Specials and Dexy’s Midnight Runners. General Public achieved success with a few albums until they split in the middle 80s. Over the years, Roger and Wakeling assembled and toured with various incarnations of The Beat and General Public.
Roger pursued a solo career, dabbling in electronic music as well as his stand-by ska. He regularly collaborated with Sting, in additon to appearing with Big Audio Dynamite, The Selector and his son Matthew Murphy, better known as “Ranking Junior.”
Roger toured extensively into the 21st Century. In the summer of 2018, he suffered a stroke that forced a cancellation of a planned tour. In early January 2019, Roger underwent surgery to remove to brain tumors. He also began receiving treatment for lung cancer. He passed away on March 26 at the age of 56.
“Allright! Break time is over in two minutes!,” yelled the dungeon keeper, as he checked his watch.
George and Ira Gershwin wrote the character “Bess” in their opera “Porgy and Bess” with popular contralto Etta Moton Barnett in mind. When she was approached to play the role, the singer was firm about refusing to sing the “N” word that was prominent throughout the libretto. The Gershwins honored her conviction and deleted the word from the script and lyrics.
In 1933, Etta performed for President and Mrs. Franklin Roosevelt at the White House, a rarity for an African-American performer and a first since 1878 when soprano Marie Williams sang for President Rutherford B. Hayes and his wife.
After experiencing vocal problems in the 1950s, Etta retried from the stage and devoted her life to advocate for equal rights and community causes in Chicago. She passed away in 2004 at the age of 102.
The 1957 low-budget science fiction film The Amazing Colossal Man was a favorite of the MST3K gang.
At 11 years old, Elizabeth Cotten scraped together three dollars and seventy-five cents and purchased a guitar from Sears & Roebuck. It was a right-handed model, so the young, aspiring musician turned it upside-down to play, as she was left handed. She developed her own unorthodox playing style, using her fingers to play bass lines and her thumb to pick out the melody. Her family noted, from that point forward, no one in the house got any rest from Elizabeth’s constant playing. As a teenager, she was performing and writing songs.
But then, she stopped to take a job at local department store. One day in the store, Elizabeth was befriended by folk music composer Ruth Seeger when she discovered Ruth’s daughter Peggy wandering unaccompanied. Elizabeth began working as a maid for the Seeger family. Here, she met Ruth’s children, including Mike and his half-brother Pete. A conversation with Mike prompted Elizabeth to pick up the guitar again. Mike began recording Elizabeth performing some of her own compositions, including her signature “Freight Train.”
In the 1960s, Elizabeth performed regularly on the folk music circuit. Her songs were covered Joan Baez, Jerry Garcia, Peter, Paul and Mary, Taj Mahal and many others. Elizabeth won a Grammy in 1984 for Best Traditional Recording. She loved performing and did so until a few weeks before her death in 1987 at the age of 94.
A story has been circulating around the internet about Elizabeth Cotten’s composition “Shake Sugaree.” The story goes that Elizabeth was working as maid for a Dead Head when he discovered that the band’s recording of the song “Sugaree” offered no credit or compensation to its author. He allegedly fought a legal battle until Elizabeth was given rightful acknowledgment and royalties for the song. This story is not true. The Dead’s song “Sugaree” bears little resemblance to Elizabeth Cotten’s song, aside from the name, which was just a nod to Elizabeth by Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter.
Lon Chaney was “The Man of A Thousand Faces.” All of them black & white.
How could you not love Katherine Helmond?
Every character she portrayed was a delight, even if they were quirky and odd. But that’s what Katherine brought to her characters. And that’s what made them endearing. And that is the mark of an accomplished actor.
She was a staple on television, with roles on the sitcoms Soap and Who’s The Boss? and even a proposed series with Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. She was a favorite of director Terry Gilliam, cast in three of his films. She even lent her voice to the ditsy “Lizzie” in Disney/Pixar’s Cars trilogy.
Sadly, Katherine lost her battle with Alzheimer’s Disease at the end of February 2019. She was 89.
Born in the tiny town of Beausejour, Manitoba, Canada, pretty Hayley Marie Kohle was signed to a modeling contract by the prestigious international agency Panache Management. At eighteen years old, Hayley found herself modeling across the globe, walking the runways of New York, Athens, Istanbul, Milan,London. She graced the pages of fashion magazines worldwide.
On October 11, 2008, Hayley was in Milan. She told her roommate that she was stepping outside for a cigarette. She got up, casually walked to the window, opened it and jumped seven stories to her death. Hayley was 26 years old.
