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- Actress
- Soundtrack
Before the tragic legacies of songbird icons Édith Piaf, Billie Holiday and Judy Garland took hold, there was the one...the original...lady who sang the blues and started the whole "bawl" rolling. Like her successors, Helen Morgan lived the sad songs she sang...and more.
She started her life fittingly enough on August 2, 1900 in very humble surroundings. Her father was an Illinois dirt farmer and school master. She moved to Chicago while young and worked a number of menial blue-collar jobs -- manicurist, cracker-packager, counter clerk. But her passion was music and, at the age of 18, decided to leave and pursue her dream as a cabaret singer. Within a few years, she was working under the Broadway lights with the George White Scandals. In between. she studied music at the Metropolitan Opera and performed in vaudeville shows.
Helen was the antithesis of the freewheeling "Jazz Age" baby as her deep, dusky voice seemed born to weave tales of sadness and lament rather than focusing on fun and frolic. The Chicago mobsters and underground bootleggers bawled like burly babies and really took to Helen's "torch song" renditions while glamorously propped on a piano with trademark scarf in hand (originally used to disguise nerves). Prohibition-era gangsters even bankrolled her clubs which became very popular...and frequently raided.
Helen conquered Broadway in the late 1920s with her quintessential role as the tragic mulatto, "Julie", in the landmark smash musical, "Show Boat", in 1927. Introducing the standards "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" and "Bill", Helen earned more success with the musical "Sweet Adeline" in 1929 in which she introduced another favorite "Why Was I Born?". Her fragile mind and heart, however, couldn't handle the problems that started surfacing in the 1930s.
A broken marriage, emotional instability and a deep passion for the demon drink quickly did her in. She couldn't hold jobs and her health worsened by the year. After spiraling badly for a half-decade, she tried sobering up and made a huge splash in 1936 with the screen version of Show Boat (1936) starring Irene Dunne, Allan Jones and Paul Robeson. She also began to redeem herself in clubs again but it was ultimately too late. Years of abuse did its damage and she died of liver cirrhosis in 1941 at age 41. In 1957, a glossy, somewhat fictitious movie was made chronicling her life and troubled times. The Helen Morgan Story (1957), starred a game Ann Blyth as the sultry, ill-fated songstress, with Gogi Grant a spectacular choice for dubbing in the vocals to all of Helen's best known standards.
Yes, before there was a Garland, there was Morgan, and although Garland seems to have her beat these days as THE musical icon of despair, Helen was the original tear-stained blueprint.- Tall, dapper, oval-faced, crisp-talking British stage actor James Stephenson was born in Yorkshire on April 13, 1889, the son of a chemist and druggist. A bank clerk to begin with, he later pursued a career as a merchant and served with the British Army during World War I. He had no formal acting training, but a growing interest led him to amateur theatre presentations and eventually working professionally on the London and Liverpool stages.
Rather late in life, the 48-year-old Stephenson made his film debut with the British drama The Perfect Crime (1937) at Warner Brothers' Teddington Studios in England. He continued there with the comedy You Live and Learn (1937) and the mystery Mr. Satan (1938). Warner mogul Jack Warner saw much promise in Stephenson and summoned him to Hollywood where he became a studio contract player. Having married Lorna Hewitt Anderson (1908-1967) in 1936, Stephenson left his homeland and emigrated to America, summoning her later once he settled in. They eventually became U.S. citizens in 1938.
During his extremely short stay, the distinguished gent with the clipped tones and neat, sliver mustache indulged himself in urbane villainy in the oily, cultivated tradition of George Sanders and his brother Tom Conway. He proved a reliable support in such films as You Live and Learn (1937), Boy Meets Girl (1938), Nancy Drew: Detective (1938), White Banners (1938), Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939), You Can't Get Away with Murder (1939), Espionage Agent (1939) and the classic adventures Beau Geste (1939) and The Sea Hawk (1940).
At one point he was entrusted by director William Wyler and mega-star Bette Davis to play the sympathetic role of the family attorney Howard Joyce in the melodrama The Letter (1940). It was the role of a lifetime and he didn't let them down for he earned an Oscar nomination in the process. He had supported Ms. Davis earlier in her dramatic vehicles The Old Maid (1939) and The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939).
Stephenson was soon on a roll. Having been handed the role of the titular sleuth in Calling Philo Vance (1940), he was finally first-billed in the above-average "B" movie Shining Victory (1941) when he when he tragically suffered a myocardial infarction in 1941, dying at age 52 in Pacific Palisades. Having made 40 films in just four years, Hollywood lost a valued, charismatic player. Survived by his wife, James is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. - London-born Virginia Woolf came from a wealthy family and, unlike her brothers, received her education at home, an unusual step for the times. Her parents had both had children from previous marriages, so she grew up with a variety of siblings, stepbrothers and stepsisters. Her father was a well-respected editor and author and the former son-in-law of William Makepeace Thackeray. Author James Russell Lowell was her godfather, and Henry James and George Elliott were regular visitors and guests at the family home. As she recalled later in life, her most pleasant childhood memories were of the summers spent at the family home in Cornwall, by Porthminster Bay (the Godrevy Lighthouse there was the basis for her novel "To the Lighthouse").
The sudden death of Virginia's mother in 1895, when she was 13, and the passing of her sister two years later led to the first of Virginia's mental breakdowns. In 1904 her father died, which caused a complete mental and physical collapse and for a while she was sent to a mental institution to recover. Nervous breakdowns and bouts of severe depression tormented Virginia throughout her life, and the fact that as children she and her sister Vanessa were sexually abused by two of their stepbrothers added to her already considerable feelings of guilt and inferiority.
She studied at London's Kings College, where she became acquainted with such literary figures as Lytton Strachey, Saxon Sydney-Turner and Leonard Woolf. She married Woolf in 1912. Virginia was always ashamed of what she termed her "unattractive countenance", and once wrote that "being wanted [was] a pleasure that I have never felt". In 1922 she met Vita Sackville-West, and the two women began a relationship that lasted for almost ten years. She was said to have written her novel "Orlando" as a love letter to West.
After the publication of her novel "Between the Acts" she fell into a deep depression, exacerbated by the destruction of her London home by Nazi planes during the bombing of that city, and the less than enthusiastic critical reaction to her biography of her close friend Roger Fry. Her condition deteriorated to the point where she was unable to write or even read. She finally had a full-blown nervous breakdown. Unable and unwilling to continue, she wrote a note to her husband saying that "I am certain I am going mad again" and "I shan't recover this time . . . I can't fight any longer . . . I can't go on spoiling your life any longer." On March 28, 1941, she left her home, walked to the banks of the nearby River Ouse, loaded heavy stones into her pockets and walked into the water. She was 59 years old. - Actor
- Soundtrack
Stanley Fields was born on 20 May 1883 in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for Little Caesar (1931), Algiers (1938) and Hell's Kitchen (1939). He was married to Alta Bailey. He died on 23 April 1941 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Director
- Cinematographer
- Writer
In the late 1890s Porter worked as both a projectionist and mechanic, eventually becoming director and cameraman for the Edison Manufacturing Company. Influenced by both the "Brighton school" and the story films of Georges Méliès, Porter went on to make important shorts such as Life of an American Fireman (1903) and The Great Train Robbery (1903). In them, he helped to develop the modern concept of continuity editing, paving the way for D.W. Griffith who would expand on Porter's discovery that the unit of film structure was the shot rather than the scene. Porter, in an attempt to resist the new industrial system born out of the popularity of nickelodeons, left Edison in 1909 to form his own production company which he eventually sold in 1912.- Actor
- Director
Charles Murray was born on 22 June 1872 in Laurel, Indiana, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Percy (1925), Vamping Venus (1928) and The Wizard of Oz (1925). He was married to Nellie Bae Hamilton. He died on 29 July 1941 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Lou Gehrig is remembered as baseball's "Iron Horse" and used to own the major league record for the 2,130 consecutive games that he played for the New York Yankees between 1925 and 1939, where he had a .340 career batting average, making him one of the greatest hitters of all time. Henry Louis Gehrig was born in the Yorkville section of Manhattan, New York City on June 19, 1903. His parents, Heinrich and Christina Gehrig, were German immigrants. Of their four children, Lou was the only one who survived to adulthood. Growing up as a mama's boy, Lou lived with his parents until he married at the age of 30. Lou attended New York public schools, including the High School of Commerce, where he excelled in baseball, football and swimming. In his senior year, Lou's school won New York's public school baseball championship. They played Chicago's best high school team at Wrigley Field in 1920. The game was a portrait of what was to come: with the bases loaded and two outs in the 9th inning, Lou crushed a 3-2 pitch over the right field to win the game. To fulfill his parents' dream, Lou enrolled at New York's Columbia University in 1922. Because he had briefly played for a professional baseball club the preceding summer, Lou was barred from athletic competitions at Columbia for a year. After sitting out the year, Lou started on the college's baseball and football squads, earning him the nickname "Columbia Lou." When his father lost his job and his mother fell ill, Lou decided to leave college for a professional baseball career. In June 1923, the New York Yankees signed him to a minor league contract. He was assigned to the team's Hartford, Connecticut, farm club where he played for two seasons. Lou was then inserted into the Yankee lineup on June 1, 1925 substituting for their regular first baseman, Wally Pipp. For the next 14 years, Lou did not miss a single game. Even though Lou made an immediate impression in the majors, leading the American League with 20 triples in his second season, it was in 1927 that this six-foot, 210-pound left-hander blossomed as a slugger. He challenged teammate Babe Ruth for the league's home run title. By the end of the season, Lou had hit 47 home runs to Babe Ruth's 60, earning second place. That year, Lou hit .373 and set a major league record by racking up 175 RBIs. Not surprisingly, Lou was voted the league's Most Valuable Player. He also helped the Yankees to win the 1927 World Series against the Pittsburgh Pirates. True to his form, Lou had almost decided to sit out the entire series to stay by his ill mother's side. For the next 13 consecutive seasons, Lou knocked more than 100 home runs, and slugged 46 home runs with 184 RBIs in 1931. On June 3, 1932, Lou hit four home runs in one game against the Philadelphia Athletics, setting another major league record. In 1933, Lou married Eleanor Twitchell, who helped him withstand the rigors of professional baseball. On the eve of his 2,000th consecutive game in 1938, Eleanor suggested that Lou was getting compulsive about the streak and advised him to end his career at 1,999 games. Despite his wife's good intentions, Lou would not be deterred and appeared there and at 130 more games. During 1939 spring training Lou began to experience weakness and problems with coordination. On May 2, 1939, Lou's consecutive game streak finally ended when he removed himself from the team. Suspecting something more than his training was making him feel worn out, Lou entered the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota for health tests and on June 19, 1939, his 36th birthday, Lou was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a rare incurable muscular disorder which causes the muscular motor functions to degenerate, resulting in atrophying muscles, which in turn can lead to paralysis and ultimately death. New York mayor Fiorello LaGuardia named Lou the city's parole commissioner upon his retirement from baseball in 1939, a job he held until his declining health confided him to his bed in early 1941. Lou Gehrig finally passed away from ALS on June 2, 1941 at the age of 37. His universal renown was so great that amyotrophic lateral sclerosis later became known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.
- Clarence Wilson was born on 17 November 1876 in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for You Can't Take It with You (1938), The Count of Monte Cristo (1934) and Penguin Pool Murder (1932). He died on 5 October 1941 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Bodil Rosing was born on 27 December 1877 in Copenhagen, Denmark. She was an actress, known for Sunrise (1927), You Can't Take It with You (1938) and Why Be Good? (1929). She was married to Einer Jansen. She died on 31 December 1941 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Within the British colony of expatriate actors in Hollywood during the 1930's, Barnett Parker was among the most stereotypical. Harrowgate College-educated, straight-backed, balding and well-intoned, Parker caricatured a multitude of unctuous, stiff-upper-lip butlers, man-servants or waiters, though his performances could, at times, verge on the brink of being camp. When driven to frustration his characters commonly resorted to incoherent twitter or wild gesticulation.
Parker was trained under Marie Tempest and George Alexander in England. He first acted on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre as Wilfred Tavish in Arthur Wing Pinero's "The "Mind the Paint" Girl" in 1912. He was well served with further roles in hit plays like "Hobson's Choice" (1915), "Artists and Models" (1924) and "The Red Robe" (1928). He was at first prone to reject film offers, professing to favor acting on stage. Nonetheless, the celluloid medium eventually beckoned, enticing him to sign with the East Coast-based studio Thanhouser in 1915. He worked in films during the daytime (while treading the boards at night) and quickly landed a plum role as a weak socialite, rescuing Gladys Hulette in Prudence, the Pirate (1916). He was seldom thereafter afforded the opportunity for heroic acts. During the 1930's, he was primarily in demand for small roles as dandified or 'silly ass' Britishers, giving value for money in films like Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Personal Property (1937), Live, Love and Learn (1937) and Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937). Looking rather older than his years, Barnett Parker died at the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles after multiple heart attacks on August 5, 1941.- Margaret Mann was born on 4 April 1868 in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK. She was an actress, known for Four Sons (1928), Black Beauty (1921) and The Law Rides (1936). She was married to James F. Smythe. She died on 4 February 1941 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Kaiser William II was born on January 27, 1859 to a Prince and Princess of Prussia. His mother was the daughter of Queen Victoria. He grew up like any Prussian Prince, except for an arm that was deformed from birth. He admired his grandparents who became Kaiser and Empress when he was small. He also admired his English Grandmother Queen Victoria as well as Otto von Bismarck. During his formative years he had to deal with having brothers and sisters. His brother Henry even got married to their cousin Irene (their Aunt Alice's daughter). Because of the attention his parents gave to his arm he grew to detest them.
When William was in his late teens he fell in love with his cousin (the daughter of his Aunt Alice) but she did not love him and got married to Grand Duke Serge of Russia. A few years later he got married to a granddaughter of his grandmother's half-sister. They had several children. In 1888 when his father died he raided his desk to find anything that may have incriminated his father in something, but all that was found was papers about how bad he had been in his life. He was with his grandmother Queen Victoria when she died in 1901. Later that year he lost his mother as well. He did the same thing to his mother that he did with his father with the same results. Vickie had given all her papers to the British ambassador to Berlin a few days before she died.
After his mother died he continued to rule Germany in a back handed manner, and did not like the fact that his Uncle Edward was more powerful than he was. He did not like the fact that he was part of starting World War One because it pitted him against cousins, aunts, and uncles all over Europe and the Americas. His response to his cousin changing their last name to Windsor was that he would like to see the Merry Wives of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha. After the war he had to give up his throne and he went to the Netherlands, where after the death of his first wife he married a second. He stayed married to his second wife till he died at the age of 82 in 1941. - Peggy Shannon was born Winona Sammon on January 10, 1907, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. She attended Catholic school where she became friends with child actress Madge Evans. While visiting her aunt in New York sixteen year old Peggy was discovered by producer Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.. He hired her as a chorus girl in The Ziegfeld Follies. Peggy married actor Alan Davis in 1926. The following year she was starring on Broadway in Earl Carrol's production of What Anne Brought Home. In 1931 she was offered a contract at Paramount studios. With her beautiful face and red hair Peggy was promoted as "the new Clara Bow". When Clara suffered a nervous breakdown Peggy was given her role in The Secret Call (1931). Although she starred in the films This Reckless Age (1932) and Hotel Continental (1932), her career never really took off. She also developed a reputation for being difficult to work with. After her movie contract was not renewed she tried returning to Broadway. Unfortunately by this time she had serious drinking problem and was fired from the play The Light Behind The Shadow. Peggy continued to get small parts in B-movies like Youth on Parole (1937) and Cafe Hostess (1940). She divorced Alan in 1940 and married camera man Al Roberts. On May 11, 1941 her husband returned home from a trip and found Peggy slumped over the kitchen table. She had died from a heart attack at the young age of thirty-four. Her autopsy revealed that she had a serious liver ailment caused by her alcoholism. Three weeks after her death Albert committed suicide. Peggy is buried at Hollywood Forever cemetery in Hollywood, California. The epitaph on her tombstone says "That Red Headed Girl, Peggy Shannon".
- Claude King was born on 15 January 1875 in Hackney, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Behind the Mask (1932), London After Midnight (1927) and Bella Donna (1923). He was married to Evelyn Hall and Evelyn Walsh Hall. He died on 18 September 1941 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Adrian Morris was born on 12 January 1907 in Mount Vernon, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Grapes of Wrath (1940), The Petrified Forest (1936) and Radio Patrol (1937). He was married to Eve Virginia Shipley. He died on 30 November 1941 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Eugene Clifford was born on 14 June 1886 in Elgin, Illinois, USA. He was a writer, known for The Flight Commander (1927), The Making of O'Malley (1925) and Scarlet Saint (1925). He died on 2 August 1941 in Warwick, New York, USA.
- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Joyce was born at 41 Brighton Square, Rathgar, Dublin, on 2 February 1882. His father invested unwisely, and the family's fortunes declined steadily. Joyce graduated from University College Dublin (UCD), in 1902. He briefly studied medicine in Paris but his mother's impending death from cancer brought him back to Dublin. In 1904, Joyce began "Stephen Hero", which he later re-worked as "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man". He also met Nora Barnacle, a chambermaid, and on 16 June 1904 they went walking at Ringsend, at the Liffey's mouth; Joyce later chose that date for the events recorded in Ulysses.
Having briefly shared a Martello tower at Sandycove, County Dublin, with Oliver St. John Gogarty, he sailed from Dublin with Nora in October 1904. Joyce found work in a language school in Trieste. In 1909, he made two trips to Dublin, to arrange publication of Dubliners, and to open a short-lived cinema. His last visit was in 1912, when he failed to overcome his publisher's doubts about Dubliners. In 1914 the book was published in England, and "A Portrait" was serialised in a London magazine. With the outbreak of World War I, Joyce moved to Zurich in neutral Switzerland, where, in 1917, he underwent the first of many operations for glaucoma. "Ulysses", his masterpiece, was serialised in New York in 1918-20, but eventually halted by a court action.
Joyce returned to Trieste in 1919, then moved to Paris, where, in 1922, "Ulysses" was published by Sylvia Beach, owner of a celebrated bookshop. Its portrait of Dublin, and of the Jewish advertisement canvasser Leopold Bloom, revolutionised the novel with its 'stream of consciousness' technique; it was not published in Britain until 1936. In 1923, Joyce began the almost impenetrable "Finnegans Wake", which was published in 1939. Joyce and Nora finally married in 1931. In 1940, the couple returned to Zurich, where he died on 13 January 1941, aged 58.- Director
- Music Department
- Composer
Pennsylvania-born Victor Schertzinger trained as a violinist and toured internationally, then became a symphonic conductor. His first film credit was for composing the orchestral accompaniment for Civilization (1915). He directed Charles Ray films, among others, during the silent era. He went back to composing when talkies came in, with many credits throughout the '30s, ending with The Fleet's In (1942), which appeared posthumously after his sudden death in 1941. This superb score included four hit songs, with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. He also directed films during this era, including the sumptuous British production of The Mikado (1939) in Technicolor, which stands the test of time to this day. He also had close directorial relationships with James Cagney, Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. He was unusually well-liked, and known for getting along with everyone.- Director
- Producer
- Additional Crew
In the US from the age of 10, he first worked as a journalist-illustrator for the New York World. Interviewing Thomas A. Edison, he so impressed the inventor with his drawings that Edison suggested he allow some of them to be photographed by the Kinetograph camera. The result was a short film, Edison Drawn by 'World' Artist (1896). Fascinated by the new medium, Blackton bought a Kinetoscope from Edison, went into partnership with a friend, Albert E. Smith, and exhibited films with it. In 1897 they added a third partner, William T. Rock, and the young partners converted the projector into a motion-picture camera and established the Vitagraph Company. They started film production in an open-air studio on the roof of the Morse Building at 140 Nassau Street, New York City. Their first film, The Burglar on the Roof (1898), was about 50 feet long, with Blackton playing the leading role. In 1898, during the Spanish-American War, they produced Tearing Down the Spanish Flag (1898), probably the world's first propaganda film. Smith operated the camera and Blackton was again the actor, tearing down the Spanish flag and raising the Stars and Stripes to the top of a flagpole. Blackton and his partners continued filming fake and real news events, ranging from Spanish-American War footage to coverage of local fires and crimes in New York City. They constantly expanded their activities and soon moved into the world's first glass-enclosed studios, in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Blackton directed most of the production of this early period, including such story films as A Gentleman of France (1905) and Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman (1905), two milestones in the development of the American feature film. Blackton pioneered the single-frame (one turn, one picture) technique in cinema animation, turning out a number of animated cartoons between 1906 and 1910, including the immensely successful Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906), The Haunted Hotel (1907), and The Magic Fountain Pen (1909). He also introduced (in 1908, before Griffith) the close shot, a camera position between the close-up and the medium shot. Like Griffith, he emphasized film editing, setting his films apart from most of the products of this very early period. His film editing was especially noteworthy in his 'Scenes Of True Life' series, a realistic group of films he directed beginning in 1908. Next to Griffith, Blackton was probably the most innovative and creative force in the development of the motion picture art, not only as the director of hundreds of films but also as organizer, producer, actor, and animator. He pioneered the production of two- and three-reel comedies and starred in one such series as a character called Happy Hooligan. Beginning in 1908, he also pioneered the American production of distinguished stage adaptations, including many Shakespeare plays and historical re-creations. When the output at Vitagraph became too heavy for one man to handle, he initiated the system (later to be adopted by Ince) of overseeing the work of several underling directors as production supervisor. In 1917 he left active work with Vitagraph and began independent productions. During WWI, he directed and produced a series of patriotic propaganda films, the most famous of which, and which he also wrote, was The Battle Cry of Peace (1915), based on a hypothetical attack on New York City by a foreign invader. Blackton later went to England, where he directed a number of costume pageants, two of them experiments in color. When Vitagraph was absorbed by Warner Bros. in 1926, Blackton retired. He lost his entire fortune in the 1929 crash and was forced to seek work on a government project in California. Later he was hired as director of production at the Anglo-American Film Company, where he worked until his death. Between 1900 and 1915, Blackton was president of the Vitaphone Company, a manufacturer of record players. In 1915 he organized and became president of the Motion Picture Board of Trade, later known as the Association of Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America. He was also publisher and editor of Motion Picture Magazine, one of America's first film-fan publications.- Sydney Fairbrother was born on 31 July 1873 in Southwark, London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Down Our Street (1932), Don Quixote (1923) and The Temperance Fete (1932). She was married to Trevor Lowe (Charles Montague Trevor Lowe) and Percy Buckler (Thomas Percy Warr Buckler). She died on 4 January 1941 in Kensington, London, England, UK.
- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Richard Carle was born on 7 July 1871 in Somerville, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Ghost Walks (1934), Ninotchka (1939) and Seven Sinners (1940). He was married to Laura Casner and Ella Samantha Clifford. He died on 28 June 1941 in North Hollywood, California, USA.- Writer
- Music Department
- Composer
Rabindranath Tagore was born on 6 May 1861 in Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India [now India]. He was a writer and composer, known for Song of the Body, Streer Patra (1972) and Natir Puja (1932). He was married to Mrinalini Devi. He died on 7 August 1941 in Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India [now India].- Actor
- Soundtrack
Al Bowlly was born on 7 January 1899 in Delagoa Bay, Portuguese East Africa [now Maputo Bay, Mozambique]. He was an actor, known for Ready Player One (2018), The Jacket (2005) and The Outsider (2018). He was married to Margaret Fairless and Freda Roberts. He died on 17 April 1941 in London, England, UK.- Purnell Pratt was born on 20 October 1878 in Bethel, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Scarface (1932), Alibi (1929) and Red-Haired Alibi (1932). He was married to Julia C. Price. He died on 25 July 1941 in Hollywood, California, USA.
- Actress
- Writer
Georgette Leblanc was born on 8 February 1869 in Rouen, Seine-Inférieure [now Seine-Maritime], France. She was an actress and writer, known for L'inhumaine (1924) and Macbeth (1915). She was married to Maurice Maeterlinck. She died on 28 October 1941 in Le Cannet, Alpes-Maritimes, France.- Auriol Lee was born on 13 September 1880 in London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Suspicion (1941) and A Royal Divorce (1938). She was married to Frederick Lloyd. She died on 2 July 1941 in Hutchinson, Kansas, USA.
- Cissy Fitzgerald was born on 20 June 1873 in Blean, Kent, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Patricia Gets Her Man (1937), The Painted Angel (1929) and Flirtation (1934). She was married to Osmund Mark Tucker. She died on 10 May 1941 in Ovingdean, Sussex, England, UK.
- Georg John was born on 23 July 1879 in Schmiegel, Poland. He was an actor, known for M (1931), Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922) and Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge (1924). He died on 18 November 1941 in Lódz, Lódzkie, Poland.
- One of the greatest drag performers in the history of the American Theatre. First performed in drag at the age of 10 in an annual revue of the Boston Cadets. Subsequently appeared on Broadway in 1904 in a drag role in Mr. Wix of Wickham. Performed in the legitimate theatre and also in a number of films.
- Lee Millar was born on 20 February 1888 in Oakland, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Bone Trouble (1940) and Baggage Buster (1941). He was married to Verna Felton and Anna McNaughton. He died on 24 December 1941 in Glendale, California, USA.
- Ida Waterman was born on 10 March 1852 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. She was an actress, known for Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley (1918), The Swan (1925) and The Enchanted Cottage (1924). She was married to Joseph Francoeur and Fred Waterman. She died on 22 May 1941 in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
- Director
- Writer
- Editor
Walter Ruttmann was born on 28 December 1887 in Frankfurt-on-Main, Germany. He was a director and writer, known for Metropolis (1927), Mannesmann - Ein Film der Mannesmannröhren-Werke (1937) and Acciaio (1933). He was married to Christine Margarete Helene Prasch, Nina Hamson, Erna Treitel and Maria Christina Agnes Sommer. He died on 15 July 1941 in Berlin, Germany.- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Director
- Writer
Pen Tennyson was an English film director. He only directed three films before his accidental death at age 28. He had previously served as an assistant director to Alfred Hitchcock in several 1930s films.
In 1912, Tennyson was born in London. He was the eldest son of the civil servant and academic Charles Bruce Locker Tennyson (1879-1977) and his wife Ivy Pretious. Through his father's side of the family, Tennyson was a great-grandson of the famous poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809 -1892). Alfred served as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom (term 1850-1892). He is mostly remembered for writing the "Idylls of the King" (published in updated editions, 1859-1885), a collection of narrative poems based on Arthurian legends. The work was the most famous Victorian era-version of the legends, and it remains popular.
Tennyson received his secondary education at Eton College, an independent boarding school for boys between the ages of 13 and 18. He entered the film industry in 1932, at age 20. His mother introduced him to film distributor Charles Moss Woolf (1879-1942). Woolf in turn introduced him to film producer Michael Balcon (1896-1977), who helped him get his start in the industry. Balcon became his mentor, and reportedly treated Tennyson as a surrogate son.
Tennyson started working as a camera assistant at the Gaumont British Studios, located at Shepherd's Bush.in West London. In 1934, Tennyson was promoted to the position of assistant director. His first assignment was the film" The Man Who Knew Too Much", with Hitchcock serving as the main director.
Temnyson next worked with Hitchcock in the film "The 39 Steps" (1935). While Hitchcock helped in Tennyson's training, their relationship was not without its problems. During this film. Hitchcock played a cruel prank on Tennyson. He convinced him that they needed a double for actress Madeleine Carroll, and that there was nobody available. He then had Tennyson dress in drag for one of the film's scenes. Carroll herself was actually available for the scene, but Hitchcock had a laugh at Tennyson's expense.
In 1938, Michael Balcon became the new head of the Ealing Studios. This was a successor company to the Associated Talking Pictures (ATP). Tennyson followed his mentor to this company, and was finally given his chance at becoming a director. His directing debut was the boxing-themed sports film "There Ain't No Justice" (1939). In the film, a small-time boxer learns that his recent fights were fixed and that his career is controlled by gambling syndicate.
Tennyson's first film was well-regarded by critics due to its "realistic portrayal of the boxing world", though certain scenes of graphic violence had been censored at the film's production phase. Film historians credit the film as one of the first British sound films to attempt a realistic portrayal of working-class life in London.
The following year Tennyson directed his second film, "The Proud Valley" (1940). It depicted the life of an African-American immigrant who works as a miner in the South Wales coalfield. The film was intended as a comeback for American actor Paul Robeson (1898-1976), who had not appeared in films since 1937. However, Robeson's outspoken political views had angered the British press baron Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook (1879 - 1964). Beaverbrook both ensured that the film received little actual publicity and had Robeson blacklisted throughout the British film industry. Robeson left the United Kingdom shortly following the film's release.
In 1940, Tennyson started his service in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve (RNVR). He created the propaganda feature film "Convoy" (1940) in order to lionize the Royal Navy's activities in World War II. According to "Kinematograph Weekly", this film was the most popular British film of 1940 in its domestic market. It was Tennyson's third and last film as a director.
Later within 1940, Tennyson was commissioned in the Royal Navy. In June 1941, he was transferred to a unit that created instructional films for the Admiralty, the British government department responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. His experience in the film industry likely made him ideal for this role.
On July 7, 1941, Tennyson completed a filming session at Scapa Flow, in the Orkney Islands. Scapa Flow served as the United Kingdom's chief naval base during World War II. Following the filming, Tennyson boarded a airplane that was supposed to transport him to Rosyth. The airplane accidentally ploughed into a hillside, killing Tennyson and everyone else aboard. The accident took place during fine weather conditions. Tennyson was 28-years-old at the time of his death.
Tennyson was survived by his wife, the actress Nova Pilbeam (1919-2015). He had no known children. He is remembered as a promising film director, who died prematurely.- Aribert Mog was born on 3 August 1904 in Berlin, Germany. He was an actor, known for Der Etappenhase (1937), Fährmann Maria (1936) and Der Sprung ins Nichts (1932). He died on 2 October 1941 in near Nova Trojanova, Soviet Union [now Russia].
- Writer
- Cinematographer
Maurice Leblanc was a prolific French author born in Rouen on November 11, 1864. He had studied law, but abandoned that for a career in writing. He initially wrote for various periodicals, with "Une Femme" being his first published work in 1887. He gained fame in France and abroad after starting his Arsène Lupin series of novels. Lupin was a gentleman-thief who was a master of disguise and made his first appearance in 1905 in "L'arrestation d'Arséne Lupin". In 1908 LeBlanc pitted Lupin against Sherlock Holmes in "Arsène Lupin Versus Holmlock Shears". Leblanc would eventually produce 20 volumes worth of Lupin's adventures. On November 6, 1941, Leblanc died in Perpignan, France, at the age of 76.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
E.H. Calvert was born on 27 June 1863 in Alexandria, Virginia, USA. He was an actor and director, known for The Wizard (1927), The Love Parade (1929) and Vultures of Society (1916). He was married to Lillian Drew and Thelma M. (actress). He died on 5 October 1941 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Henry Carvill was born on 11 May 1866 in St. Mary's, Nova Scotia, Canada. He was an actor, known for To Hell with the Kaiser! (1918), The Great Victory, Wilson or the Kaiser? The Fall of the Hohenzollerns (1919) and The Turn of the Wheel (1918). He died on 11 March 1941 in London, England, UK.
- B.F. Blinn was born on 3 April 1872 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for Stop, Look and Listen (1926), Common Sense (1920) and The Blooming Angel (1920). He died on 28 April 1941 in Hollywood, California, USA.
- Elias Disney was born on 6 February 1859 in Bluevale, Ontario, Canada. He was married to Flora Disney. He died on 13 September 1941 in Hollywood, California, USA.
- Music Department
- Composer
- Writer
Gus Kahn was born on 6 November 1886 in Koblenz, Germany. He was a composer and writer, known for Paycheck (2003), Repo Men (2010) and Con Air (1997). He was married to Grace Kahn. He died on 8 October 1941 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Eddie Conrad was born on 27 October 1892 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Foreign Correspondent (1940), Stars Over Broadway (1935) and Lucky Partners (1940). He died on 1 April 1941 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- S.J. Warmington was born on 16 December 1884 in Hoxton, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Sabotage (1936), Murder! (1930) and Wisp o' the Woods (1919). He was married to Olga Slade. He died on 11 May 1941 in Kensington, London, England, UK.
- Elliott Dexter was born on 21 December 1879 in Galveston, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for The Witching Hour (1921), Woman and Wife (1918) and Daphne and the Pirate (1916). He was married to Mrs. Nina Chisholm Untermyer (socialite) and Marie Doro. He died on 23 June 1941 in Amityville, New York, USA.
- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Mostly forgotten today, radio comic Joe Penner was a major craze back in Depression-era 1933 and 1934. There was no heavy social significance to his work and certainly no subtlety -- just a lot of slapstick silliness that helped audiences forget their troubles and get happy.
Born József Pintér in Hungary, he arrived as a child in New York City. He changed his name to Joe Penner and became fairly successful on the vaudeville and burlesque circuits as a Lou Costello-like patsy. His catchphrase "Wanna buy a duck?" started here. The story goes that in his routine he would customarily go out on stage with some sort of prop and say to his straight man, "Wanna buy a..." whatever the prop was. No laughs basically until one day when he went out on stage with a wooden decoy and said, "Wanna buy a duck?" The house went wild. Penner would parlay this one simple line into a major radio career. He was introduced to the air waves by Rudy Vallee and enjoyed a meteoric rise, quickly becoming a household name with his unabashed "anything for a joke" antics and other one-liners like "You naaaaasty man!" One of the earliest roles of voice talent Mel Blanc on national radio was as the voice of Goo-Goo, the duck that figured in Penner's famous catchphrase. Egghead, the forerunner of the Elmer Fudd character, was partly based on Penner too, which used a similar voice and mannerisms. Penner was one of the first to have a regular radio series regularly broadcast from Los Angeles.
His popularity and ability at singing novelty songs helped move him into minor leads in Hollywood "B" musical films during the 30s. Often the movies had college themes such as College Rhythm (1934), Collegiate (1935) and Mr. Doodle Kicks Off (1938). His talents were limited but the call seemed to be there. His best known film The Boys from Syracuse (1940), based on the Broadway musical, had him playing dual roles while hamming it up with Martha Raye.
Had he not died so young (of a heart attack at age 36 in 1941), Penner probably would have suffered an early decline anyway simply due to the repetitive nature of his shtick and faded into supporting character roles.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Oliver T. Marsh was born on 30 January 1892 in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. Oliver T. was a cinematographer, known for Sweethearts (1938), Bitter Sweet (1940) and Maytime (1937). Oliver T. was married to Elizabeth. Oliver T. died on 5 May 1941 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Producer
- Director
- Additional Crew
Stuart Walker was born on 4 March 1888 in Augusta, Kentucky, USA. He was a producer and director, known for The Eagle and the Hawk (1933), Evenings for Sale (1932) and Romance in the Rain (1934). He died on 13 March 1941 in Beverly Hills, California, USA.- Elizabeth von Arnim was born on 31 August 1866 in Kirribilli, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. She was a writer, known for Enchanted April (1991), Mr. Skeffington (1944) and Enchanted April (1935). She was married to John Francis Stanley Russell and Count Henning August von Arnim. She died on 9 February 1941 in Charleston, South Carolina, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Robert Baden-Powell was born on 22 February 1857 in London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Boy Scouts to the Rescue (1917), Boardwalk Empire (2010) and Boys of the Otter Patrol (1918). He was married to Olave Baden-Powell. He died on 8 January 1941 in Nyeri, Kenya.- Sherwood Anderson was born on September 13, 1876, into the family of a house-painter in Camden, Ohio. He worked as a newsboy, a house-painter, and a stable groom until he moved to Chicago at the age of 17. There he attended business classes at night, while having a day job as a warehouse laborer. After his military service in Cuba during the Spanish-American war, he returned to Ohio and graduated from Wittenberg College in Springfield, Ohio. His marriage didn't work, and he moved to Chicago again. There he joined the Chicago Group of writers, which also included Theodore Dreiser, Carl Sandburg, and Edgar Lee Masters. They led the so-called Chicago Literary Renessance between 1900 and 1930.
After the success of his books, "Winesburg, Ohio" (1917) and "The Triumphs of the Egg" (1921) Andersen received his first 'Dial' Award for his contribution to American Literature. He went traveling and became part of the expatriate community in Europe during the 1920s. In Paris he met Gertrude Stein, whom he much admired. He encouraged Ernest Hemingway in his writing aspirations. He also gave him a letter of recommendation to Gertrude Stein, pushing Hemingway to move to Paris from Chicago, where they met in 1921. Their friendship broke after Anderson's "Dark Laughter" (1925) prompted the satirical "Torrents of Spring", a parody of Anderson by Hemingway.
Andersen completed the "Dark Laughter" (1925) in New Orleans, where he shared an apartment with William Faulkner, who was also inspired by Anderson's works. In 1926 he moved to Marion, Virginia, where he built a home. There Anderson bought two weekly newspapers, one Republican, one Democrat, and edited both for 2 years. He was lecturing around the country and studied the labor conditions during the Depression. He wrote, " . . . Joseph Conrad said that a writer only began to live after he began to write. It pleased me to think I was after all but ten years old. Plenty of time ahead for such a young one." He died of peritonitis after swallowing a toothpick, during his private trip to Panama Canal, on March 8, 1941. - Actor
- Writer
Florencio Parravicini was born on 24 August 1876 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was an actor and writer, known for Luisito (1943), Hasta después de muerta (1916) and Tres anclados en París (1938). He died on 25 March 1941 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.