On this day in 1675, artist Johannes Vermeer died after a short illness in Delft, Dutch Republic, at the age of 43. Baptized On 31 October 1632 in the Reformed Church in Delft. Perhaps best known for his painting, Meisje met de parel (Girl with a Peal Earring) (1665), Vermeer specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. He was a moderately successful provincial genre painter in his lifetime. Vermeer apparently worked slowly and with great care, using bright colours and sometimes expensive pigments, with a preference for lapis lazuli and Indian yellow. He is particularly renowned for his use of light. Recognized during his lifetime in Delft and The Hague, his modest celebrity gave way to obscurity after his death and was omitted from surveys of Dutch art for nearly two centuries. In the 19th century, Vermeer was rediscovered by Gustav Friedrich Waagen and Théophile Thoré-Bürger, who published an essay attributing sixty-six pictures to him, although only thirty-four paintings are universally attributed to him today. Since that time, Vermeer’s reputation has grown, and he is now acknowledged as one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age. Vermeer married Catharina Bolenes (Bolnes).
The Final Footprint – Vermeer is entombed in the Oude Kerk (Old Church), nicknamed Oude Jan (“Old John”), a Gothic Protestant church in the old city center of Delft. Its most recognizable feature is a 75-meter-high brick tower that leans about two meters from the vertical. Tracy Chevalier‘s novel Girl with a Pearl Earring and the film of the same name (2003) are named after the painting; they present a fictional account of its creation by Vermeer and his relationship with the (equally fictional) model. The film was nominated for Oscars in cinematography, art direction, and costume design
Gallery
Lady Seated at a Virginal (c. 1672)
The Milkmaid (c. 1658)
The Astronomer (c. 1668)
The Girl with the Wine Glass (c. 1659)
Girl with a Pearl Earring (1665)
The Music Lesson or A Lady at the Virginals with a Gentleman, c. 1662–65
Art of Painting or The Allegory of Painting (c. 1666-68)
On this day in 1890, a Hunkpapa Lakota holy man, tribal chief, Sitting Bull was killed by Indian agency police on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in South Dakota, during an attempt to arrest him, at a time when authorities feared that he would join the Ghost Dance movement, at the age of 58 or 59. Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake in Standard Lakota Orthography Jumping Badger, also nicknamed Slon-he or “Slow”, in the Dakota Territory c. 1831. In 2007, Sitting Bull’s great-grandson asserted from family oral tradition that Sitting Bull was born along the Yellowstone River, south of present-day Miles City, Montana. Sitting Bull led his people as a tribal chief during years of resistance to United States government policies. Before the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Sitting Bull had a vision in which he saw the defeat of the 7th Cavalry under Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer on 25 June 25 1876. Sitting Bull’s leadership inspired his people to a major victory. Months after their victory at the battle, Sitting Bull and his group left the United States for Wood Mountain, North-West Territories (now Saskatchewan), where he remained until 1881, at which time he and most of his band returned to US territory and surrendered to U.S. forces. After working as a performer with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show, Sitting Bull returned to the Standing Rock Agency in South Dakota.
The Final Footprint – His body was taken to nearby Fort Yates for burial. In 1953, his Lakota family exhumed what were believed to be his remains, reburying them near Mobridge, South Dakota near his birthplace.
On this day in 1943, influential jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, Fats Waller died from pneumonia on a cross-country train trip near Kansas City, Missouri at the age of 39. Born Thomas Wright Waller in New York City on 21 May 1904. Waller’s innovations to the Harlem stride style laid the groundwork for modern jazz piano, and his best-known compositions, “Ain’t Misbehavin'” and “Honeysuckle Rose”, were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame posthumously, in 1984 and 1999.
The Final Footprint – At the time of his death, Waller was returning to New York City from Los Angeles, after the smash success of Stormy Weather, and after a successful engagement at the Zanzibar Room, during which he had fallen ill. Reportedly, as the train with the body of Waller stopped in Kansas City, so stopped a train with his friend Louis Armstrong on board. More than 4,000 people attended his funeral in Harlem, which prompted Dr. Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., who delivered the eulogy, to say that Fats Waller “always played to a packed house.” Afterwards he was cremated and his ashes were scattered, from an airplane piloted by an unidentified World War I black aviator, over Harlem.
On this day in 1944, big-band trombonist, arranger, composer, and bandleader, US Army Air Forces Major, Glenn Miller died in a plane crash over the English Channel at the age of 40. Born Alton Glenn Miller on March 1, 1904 Clarinda, Iowa. He was the best-selling recording artist from 1939 to 1942, leading one of the best-known big bands. Miller’s recordings include “In the Mood”, “Moonlight Serenade”, “Pennsylvania 6-5000”, “Chattanooga Choo Choo”, “A String of Pearls”, “At Last”, “(I’ve Got a Gal In) Kalamazoo”, “American Patrol”, “Tuxedo Junction”, “Elmer’s Tune”, and “Little Brown Jug”. In just four years Glenn Miller scored 16 number-one records and 69 top ten hits.
In 1942, Miller volunteered to join the U.S. military to entertain troops during World War II, ending up with the U.S. Army Air Forces.
The Final Footprint
U.S. Army Air Force UC-64
Monument in Grove Street Cemetery, New Haven, Connecticut
Miller was due to fly from the town of Bedford in the United Kingdom to Paris on December 15, 1944, to make arrangements to move his entire band there in the near future. His plane, a single-engine UC-64 Norseman, departed from RAF Twinwood Farm in Clapham, on the outskirts of Bedford, and disappeared while flying over the English Channel. Two other U.S. military officers were on board the plane, Lieutenant Colonel Norman Baessell and the pilot, John Morgan. Miller spent the last night before his disappearance at Milton Ernest Hall, near Bedford. Miller’s disappearance was not made public until December 24, 1944, when the Associated Press announced Miller would not be conducting the scheduled BBC-broadcast “AEF Christmas Show” the following day. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star.
On this day in 1966, film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, philanthropist, co-founder (with his brother Roy) of Walt Disney Productions, Walt Disney, died in Burbank, California at the age of 65. Born Walter Elias Disney on 5 December 1901 in Hermosa, Chicago, Illinois. His father, Elias, was of Irish-Canadian descent. His mother, Flora Call, was of German-American descent. Disney married once, Lillian Bounds (1925 – 1966 his death). Disney holds the record for most Academy Award nominations (with 59) and most Oscars awarded (with 22). The first movie I remember watching was Disney’s animated production of The Jungle Book (1967) based on the book by Rudyard Kipling.
The Final Footprint – Disney was cremated and his cremated remains reside in the Disney Family Private Garden, Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California. Shortly before his death, he apparently wrote down the name of actor Kurt Russell. No one seems to know why. Before Disney died he made a short film for the Disney Company executive board in which he addressed each board member and ended the film by saying, “I’ll be seeing you.” In 2009, the Walt Disney Family Museum opened in the Presidio of San Francisco. Disney has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for movies and one for television. Other notable Final Footprints at Forest Lawn Glendale include; L. Frank Baum, Humphrey Bogart, Lon Chaney, Natalie Cole, Nat King Cole, Sam Cooke, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis, Jr., Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Michael Jackson, Jennifer Jones, Carole Lombard, Tom Mix, Casey Stengel, Jimmy Stewart, Elizabeth Taylor, and Spencer Tracy.
O
n this day in 1978 actor Chill Wills died from cancer in Encino, California, aged 76. Born Theodore Childress Wills in Seagoville, Texas, on July 18, 1902.
Wills was cast in numerous serious film roles, including as “the city of Chicago” as personified by a phantom police sergeant in the film noir City That Never Sleeps (1953), and that of Uncle Bawley in Giant (1956), which also features Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, and James Dean. Wills was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Davy Crockett’s companion Beekeeper in the film The Alamo (1960).
Wills was a poker player and a close friend of Benny Binion, the founder of the World Series of Poker and former owner of Binion’s Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Wills participated in the first World Series, held in 1970, and is seated in the center of the famous picture with a number of legendary players.
The Final Footprint
Cremated remains interred in Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California
On this day in 2010 actor, film director, producer and screenwriter, Blake Edwards died of complications of pneumonia at the Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California, aged 88. Born William Blake Crump July 22, 1922, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Edwards began his career in the 1940s as an actor, but he soon began writing screenplays and radio scripts before turning to producing and directing in television and films. His best-known films include Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), Days of Wine and Roses (1962), The Great Race (1965), 10 (1979), Victor/Victoria (1982), and the hugely successful Pink Panther film series with British actor Peter Sellers. Often thought of as primarily a director of comedies, he also directed several drama, musical, and detective films. Late in his career, he took up writing, producing and directing for theater.
In 2004, he received an Honorary Academy Award in recognition of his writing, directing and producing an extraordinary body of work for the screen.
The Final Footprint
Cremation
On this day in 2011 author and journalist who wrote or edited over 30 books (including five essay collections) on culture, politics, and literature, Christopher Hitchens died of complications from esophageal cancer at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, aged 62. Born Christopher Eric Hitchens in Portsmouth, Hampshire on 13 April 1949.
Hitchens political views evolved greatly throughout his life. Originally describing himself as a democratic socialist, he was a member of various socialist organisations in his early life, including the International Socialists. Hitchens eventually no longer regarded himself as socialist, but continued to admire aspects of Marxism. He was critical of aspects of American foreign policy, including its involvement in Vietnam, Chile, and East Timor. However, he also supported the United States in the Kosovo War. After Hitchens disenchantment with Marxism, he emphasized the centrality of the American Revolution and Constitution to his political philosophy. Hitchens held complex views on abortion; being ethically opposed to it in most instances, and believing that a fetus was entitled to personhood, while holding ambigious, changing views on its legality. He supported gun rights and LGBT rights while opposing the War on Drugs. Beginning in the 1990s, and particularly after 9/11, his politics were widely viewed as drifting to the right. During the 2000s, he argued for the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, endorsed the re-election campaign of George W. Bush in 2004, and viewed Islamism as the principal threat to the Western World.
Hitchens described himself as an anti-theist and saw all religions as false, harmful and authoritarian. He argued for free expression, scientific discovery, and the separation of church and state, arguing that they were superior to religion as an ethical code of conduct for human civilisation. The dictum “What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence” has become known as Hitchens’s razor. Hitchens notably wrote critical biographies of Catholic nun Mother Teresa in The Missionary Position, President Bill Clinton in No One Left To Lie To, and American diplomat Henry Kissinger in The Trial of Henry Kissinger.
The Final Footprint
Body donated to medical research
#RIP #OTD in 2013 actress (Rebecca, Suspicion, The Constant Nymph, Letter from an Unknown Woman) Joan Fontaine died in her sleep of natural causes in her Carmel Highlands, California home, aged 96. Cremation
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