On this day 14 January – Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres – Lewis Carroll – Humphrey Bogart – Jeanette MacDonald – Anaïs Nin – Blossom Rock – Donna Reed – Shelley Winters – Ricardo Montalbán – Alan Rickman

Posted on 29 JanamSun, 14 Jan 2024 00:45:00 -06002024-01-14T00:45:00-06:0012 2011 by MacGregor

#RIP #OTD in 1867 Neoclassical painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres died of pneumonia in his apartment on the Quai Voltaire in Paris, aged 86. Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris with a tomb sculpted by his student Jean-Marie Bonnassieux

#RIP #OTD in 1898 author (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking-Glass), poet (Jabberwocky, The Hunting of the Snark), mathematician, photographer, Lewis Carroll died of pneumonia following influenza at his sisters’ home, “The Chestnuts”, in Guildford, Surrey, England  He was two weeks away from turning 66 years old. His funeral was held at the nearby St Mary’s Church.  His body was interred at the Mount Cemetery in Guildford

On this day in 1957, U.S. Navy veteran, Academy Award-winning actor and American icon, Bogie, Humphrey Bogart, died from cancer at his home in Holmby Hills, California at the age of 57.  Born Humphrey DeForest Bogart on 25 December 1899 in New York City.  Bogart is a Dutch name meaning orchard.  His acting breakthrough came in 1941, with High Sierra and The Maltese Falcon. The next year, his performance in Casablanca raised him to the peak of his profession and cemented his trademark film persona;  the hard-boiled cynic who ultimately shows his noble side.  Bogart’s other notable movies included; To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), Dark Passage (1947), Key Largo (1948), with his wife Lauren Bacall; The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948); The African Queen (1951), for which he won his only Academy Award; Sabrina (1954) and The Caine Mutiny (1954).  His last movie was The Harder They Fall (1956).  During a film career of almost thirty years, he appeared in 75 feature films.  Bogart was married four times; Helen Menken (1926 – 1927 divorce), Mary Phillips (1928 – 1937 divorce), Mayo Methot (1938 – 1945 divorce), Bacall (1945 – 1957 his death).

Bogart met Bacall while filming To Have and Have Not (1944), a loose adaptation of the Ernest Hemingway novel.  When they met, Bacall was nineteen and Bogart was forty-five.  He nicknamed her “Baby.”  Bogart was drawn to Bacall’s high cheekbones, green eyes, tawny blond hair, and lean body, as well as her poise and earthy, outspoken honesty.  Their physical and emotional rapport was very strong from the start and quite contrary to the Hollywood norm, it was his first affair with a leading lady.  Bogart was still miserably married and his early meetings with Bacall were discreet and brief, their separations bridged by ardent love letters.

Bogart was a founding member of the Rat Pack.  In the spring of 1955, after a long party in Las Vegas with Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, her husband, Sid Luft, Mike Romanoff and wife Gloria, David Niven, Angie Dickinson and others, Bacall surveyed the wreckage of the party and declared, “You look like a goddamn rat pack.”  Romanoff’s home in Beverly Hills was where the Rat Pack became official.  Sinatra was named Pack Leader, Bacall was named Den Mother, Bogart was Director of Public Relations, and Luft was Acting Cage Manager.  When asked by columnist Earl Wilson what the purpose of the group was, Bacall responded “to drink a lot of bourbon and stay up late.”

Bogart is credited with five of the most quotable quotes in American cinema:  “Here’s looking at you, kid” – Casablanca, “The stuff that dreams are made of.” – The Maltese Falcon, “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” – Casablanca, “We’ll always have Paris.” – Casablanca, “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.” – Casablanca.  Bogart is also credited with one of the top movie misquotations.  In Casablanca, neither he, nor anyone else, ever said, “Play it again, Sam“.  When Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), his former love, first enters the Café Americain, she spots Sam, the piano player (Dooley Wilson) and asks him to “Play it once, Sam, for old times’ sake.”  When he feigns ignorance, she responds, “Play it, Sam. Play “As Time Goes By.“”  Later that night, alone with Sam, Rick says, “You played it for her and you can play it for me” and “If she can stand it, I can! Play it!”  The slang term “bogarting” refers to taking an unfairly long time with a cigarette, drink, et cetera, that is supposed to be shared (e.g., “Don’t bogart the microphone!“).  It derives from Bogart’s style of cigarette smoking, with which he left his cigarette dangling from his mouth rather than withdrawing it between puffs.  No one was Bogart cool, before or since.  Indeed, here is lookin’ at you.  

The Final Footprint – Bogart was cremated and his cremains are inurned in the Garden of Memory Columbarium of Eternal Light, Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California.  Inurned with his cremains is a small gold whistle, which he had given to Bacall, before they married, in reference to their first movie.  His star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is located at 6322 Hollywood Boulevard.  The latest in a long line of Bogart biographies is Stefan Kanfer‘s  “Tough Without a Gun: The Life and Extraordinary Afterlife of Humphrey Bogart.”  Other notable Final Footprints at Forest Lawn Glendale include; L. Frank Baum, Lon Chaney, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis, Jr., Elizabeth Taylor, Jean Harlow, Nat King Cole, Sam Cooke, Walt Disney, Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Michael Jackson, Carole Lombard, Tom Mix, Casey Stengel, Jimmy Stewart, and Spencer Tracy.

#RIP #OTD in 1965 soprano, sister of Blossom Rock (see below) actress (The Love Parade, Love Me Tonight, The Merry Widow, One Hour With You, Naughty Marietta, San Franciso) Jeanette MacDonald died; Houston Methodist Hospital, heart failure, aged 61. Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale

220px-Anais_NinOn this day in 1977, author Anaïs Nin died in Los Angeles, California after a three year battle with cancer, at the age of 73.  Born Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell on 21 February 1903 in Neuilly, France to a Cuban father and a French/Danish mother.  Nin wrote journals (which span more than 60 years, beginning when she was 11 years old and ending shortly before her death), novels, critical studies, essays, short stories, and erotica; including Delta of Venus (1977), Little Birds (1979) and Henry and June (1986).  On 3 March 1923, in Havana, Cuba, Nin married her first husband, Hugh Parker Guiler (1898–1985), a banker and artist, later known as “Ian Hugo” when he became a maker of experimental films in the late 1940s.  According to her diaries, Vol.1, 1931–1934, Nin shared a bohemian lifestyle with writer Henry Miller during her time in Paris.  The diaries tell that her union with Miller was very passionate and physical, and that she believed that it was a pregnancy by him that she aborted in 1934.  In 1947, at the age of 44, she met former actor Rupert Pole in a Manhattan elevator on her way to a party.  The two ended up dating and traveled to California together; Pole was sixteen years her junior.  On 17 March 1955, she married him at Quartzsite, Arizona, returning with Pole to live in California.  Guiler remained in New York City and was unaware of Nin’s second marriage until after her death in 1977, or chose not to know.  Nin referred to her simultaneous marriages as her “bicoastal trapeze”.  In 1966, Nin had her marriage with Pole annulled, due to the legal issues arising from both Guiler and Pole having to claim her as a dependent on their federal tax returns.  Though the marriage was annulled, Nin and Pole continued to live together as if they were married, up until her death in 1977.  Nin often cited authors Djuna Barnes and D. H. Lawrence as inspirations. 

The Final Footrpint – Her body was cremated, and her cremated remains were scattered over Santa Monica Bay in Mermaid Cove.  Philip Kaufman directed the 1990 film Henry & June based on Nin’s novel Henry and June: From the Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin.  She was portrayed in the film by Maria de Medeiros.

#RIP #OTD in 1978 sister of Jeanette MacDonald (see above), actress (“Grandmama” on The Addams Family) Blossom Rock died in Los Angeles, California, aged 82. Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California

On this day in 1986, actress Donna Reed died of pancreatic cancer in Beverly Hills, at the age of 64. Born Donna Belle Mullenger on January 27, 1921 in Denison, Iowa. Her career spanned more than 40 years, with performances in more than 40 films. Perhaps best known for her role as Mary Hatch Bailey in Frank Capra’s 1946 film It’s a Wonderful Life. In 1953, she received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Lorene Burke in the war drama From Here to Eternity.

Reed is known for her work in television, notably as Donna Stone, a middle-class American mother and housewife in the sitcom The Donna Reed Show (1958–1966), in which her character was more assertive than most other television mothers of the era. She received numerous Emmy Award nominations for this role and the Golden Globe Award for Best TV Star in 1963. Later in her career, Reed replaced Barbara Bel Geddes as Miss Ellie Ewing Farlow in the 1984–1985 season of the television melodrama Dallas.

From 1943 to 1945, Reed was married to make-up artist William Tuttle. After they divorced, in 1945 she married producer Tony Owen. After 26 years of marriage, Reed and Owen divorced in 1971. Three years later, Reed married Grover W. Asmus (1926–2003), a retired United States Army colonel. They remained married until her death.

The Final Footprint

Her remains are interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. Other notable final footprints at Westwood include; Ray Bradbury,  Sammy Cahn, Truman Capote, James Coburn, Rodney Dangerfield, Janet Leigh, Farrah Fawcett, Hugh Hefner, Brian Keith, Don Knotts, Burt Lancaster, Peter Lawford, Peggy Lee, Jack Lemmon, Karl Malden, Dean Martin, Walter Mathau, Marilyn Monroe, Carroll O’Connor, Roy Orbison, George C. Scott, Dorothy Stratten, Natalie Wood, and Frank Zappa.

On this day in 2006, actress Shelley Winters died from heart failure at the Rehabilitation Center of Beverly Hills, at the age of 85. Born Shirley Schrift on August 18, 1920 in St. Louis, Missouri. Her career spanned almost six decades.

She appeared in numerous films, and won Academy Awards for The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) and A Patch of Blue (1965), and received nominations for A Place in the Sun (1951) and The Poseidon Adventure (1972). Other roles Winters appeared in include A Double Life (1947), The Night of the Hunter (1955), Lolita (1962), Alfie (1966), and Pete’s Dragon (1977).

Winters was married four times. Her husbands were:

  • Captain Mack Paul Mayer, whom she married on December 29, 1942 in Brooklyn;[11] they divorced in October 1948. Mayer was unable to deal with Shelley’s “Hollywood lifestyle” and wanted a “traditional homemaker” for a wife. Winters wore his wedding ring up until her death, and kept their relationship very private.
  • Vittorio Gassman, whom she married on April 28, 1952 in Juarez, Mexico; they divorced on June 2, 1954.
  • Anthony Franciosa, whom she married on May 4, 1957; they divorced on November 18, 1960.
  • Gerry DeFord, whom she married on January 14, 2006.

The Final Footprint

Her body was interred at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City. Her third former husband, Franciosa, had a stroke on the day she died and died five days later. Other notable Final Footprints at Hillside Memorial include; Jack Benny, Milton Berle, Cyd Charisse, Lorne Greene, Moe Howard, Al Jolson, Michael Landon, Jerry Leiber, Suzanne Pleshette, and Dinah Shore.

On this day in 2009, actor Ricardo Montalbán died from congestive heart failure at his home in Los Angeles at age 88. Born Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino on November 25, 1920 in Mexico City. His career spanned seven decades, during which he became known for many different performances in a variety of genres, from crime and drama to musicals and comedy.

Among his notable roles was Armando in the Planet of the Apes film series from the early 1970s, where he starred in Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) and Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972).

Montalbán played Mr. Roarke on the television series Fantasy Island (1977–1984), and Khan Noonien Singh in both the original Star Trek series (1967) and the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982). He won an Emmy Award for his role in the miniseries How the West Was Won (1978), and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild in 1993.

Montalbán was professionally active into his 80s, when he provided voices for animated films and commercials, and appeared as Grandfather Valentin in the Spy Kids franchise. During the 1970s and 80s he was a spokesman in automobile advertisements for Chrysler, including those in which he extolled the “rich Corinthian leather” used for the Cordoba’s interior.

Montalbán married actress and model Georgiana Young (born Georgiana Paula Belzer; September 30, 1923 – November 13, 2007) in 1944. Georgiana was the half-sister of actresses Sally Blane, Polly Ann Young and Loretta Young. They were married for 63 years. Her death preceded Montalbán’s by one year and two months.

The Final Footprint

He is buried in Culver City, California at the Holy Cross Cemetery. Other notable final footprints at Holy Cross include; John Candy, Bing Crosby, Jimmy Durante, John Ford, Rita Hayworth, Chick Hearn, Conrad Hilton, Jr., Bela Lugosi, Al Martino, Audrey Meadows, Chris Penn, Jo Stafford, and Sharon Tate.

On this day in 2016, actor and director Alan Rickman died in London of pancreatic cancer, at the age of 69. Born Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman on 21 February 1946 in . He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), performing in modern and classical theatre productions. His first big television role came in 1982, he played the Vicomte de Valmont in the RSC stage production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses in 1985, and after the production transferred to Broadway in 1987 he was nominated for a Tony Award.

Rickman’s first cinematic role was as the German terrorist leader Hans Gruber in Die Hard (1988). He also appeared as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), for which he received the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role; Elliott Marston in Quigley Down Under (1990); Jamie in Truly, Madly, Deeply (1990); P.L. O’Hara in An Awfully Big Adventure (1995); Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility (1995); Alexander Dane in Galaxy Quest (1999); Harry in Love Actually (2003); Marvin the Paranoid Android in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005); and Judge Turpin in the film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s musical of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007). Rickman gained further notice for his film performances as Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series.

Rickman made his television acting debut playing Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet (1978) as part of the BBC’s Shakespeare series. He later starred in television films, playing the title character in Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny (1996), which won him a Golden Globe Award, an Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, and Dr. Alfred Blalock in the Emmy-winning Something the Lord Made (2004). His final film roles were as Lieutenant General Frank Benson in the thriller Eye in the Sky (2015), and the voice of Absolem, the caterpillar in Alice Through the Looking Glass.

In 1965, at age 19, Rickman met 18-year-old Rima Horton, who became his girlfriend and would later be a Labour Party councillor on the Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council (1986–2006) and an economics lecturer at the nearby Kingston University. In 2015, Rickman confirmed that they had married in a private ceremony in New York City in 2012. They lived together from 1977 until Rickman’s death. The two had no children.

The Final Footprint

His remains were cremated on 3 February 2016 in the West London Crematorium in Kensal Green. His ashes were given to his wife. His final two films, Eye in the Sky and Alice Through the Looking Glass, were dedicated to his memory.

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Day in History 13 January – Edmund Spenser – Stephen Foster – Wyatt Earp – James Joyce – Donny Hathaway – W. D. Snodgrass – Teddy Pendergrass

Posted on 29 JanamSat, 13 Jan 2024 00:51:00 -06002024-01-13T00:51:00-06:0012 2011 by MacGregor

Edmund_Spenser_oil_paintingOn this day in 1599, poet Edmund Spenser died in London at the age of 46.  Born in East Smithfield, London, around the year 1552.  Perhaps best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I.  In my opinion, he is one of the premier craftsmen of Modern English verse, and one of the greatest poets in the English language. 

The Final Footprint – His coffin was carried to his grave in Westminster Abbey by other poets, who reportedly threw many pens and pieces of poetry into his grave with many tears.  His epitaph reads:

HERE LYES (EXPECTING THE SECOND
COMMINGE OF OVR SAVIOVR CHRIST
IESVS) THE BODY OF EDMUND SPENCER
THE PRINCE OF POETS IN HIS TYME
WHOSE DIVINE SPIRRIT NEEDS NOE
OTHIR WITNESSE THEN THE WORKS
WHICH HE LEFT BEHINDE HIM

Other notable Final Footprints at Westminster include; Robert Browning, Lord Byron, Geoffrey Chaucer, Oliver Cromwell, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Edward The Confessor, Elizabeth I, George II, George Friederic Handel, Stephen Hawking, James I (James VI of Scotland), Samuel Johnson, Ben Jonson, Charles II, Edward III, Edward VI, Henry III, Henry V, Henry VII, Richard II, Rudyard Kipling, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Milton, Sir Isaac Newton, Laurence Olivier, Henry Purcell, Mary I, Mary II, Mary Queen of Scots, Thomas Shadwell, Lord Alfred Tennyson, Dylan Thomas, and William III.

stephen_FosterOn this day in 1864, songwriter, “The Father of American Music”, Stephen Foster died in Bellevue Hospital in New York at the age of 37.  Born Stephen Collins Foster on 4 July 1826 in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania.  Primarily known for his parlour and minstrel music.  Foster wrote over 200 songs; among his best known are “Oh! Susanna,” “Camptown Races,” “Old Folks at Home,” “My Old Kentucky Home,” “Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair,”  and “Beautiful Dreamer.”

From a modern perspective Foster’s compositions can be seen as disparaging to African Americans, and racist. Others have argued that Foster unveiled the realities of slavery in his work while also imparting some dignity to African Americans in his compositions, especially as he grew as an artist.  Foster composed many songs that were used in minstrel shows.  This form of public entertainment lampooned African Americans as buffoonish, superstitious, without a care, musical, lazy, and dim-witted.  In the early 1830s, these minstrel shows gained popularity, and blackface minstrel shows were a separate musical art form by 1848, more readily accessible to the general public than opera. 

The Final Footprint – Foster was buried in the Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh.  He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970, and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2010.  “My Old Kentucky Home” is the official song of the Kentucky Derby.

Wyatt_Earp_portraitOn this day in 1929, city policeman, teamster, buffalo hunter, bouncer, saloon-keeper, gambler, brothel owner, pimp, miner, boxing referee, Pima County Deputy Sheriff, and Deputy Town Marshal in Tombstone, Arizona, Wyatt Earp died at home in the Earps’ apartment at 4004 W 17th Street, in Los Angeles, of chronic cystitis (some sources cite prostate cancer) at the age of 80.  Born Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp in Monmouth, Warren County in western Illinois, on 19 March 1848.  Earp took part in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral during which lawmen killed three outlaw Cowboys.  To Wyatt’s displeasure, the 30-second gunfight defined the rest of his life.  He is often regarded as the central figure in the shootout in Tombstone, although his brother Virgil was Tombstone City Marshal and Deputy U.S. Marshal that day, and had far more experience as a sheriff, constable, and marshal and in combat.  His first wife Urilla Sutherland Earp died while pregnant less than a year after they married.  Within the next two years he was arrested, sued twice, escaped from jail, then was arrested three more times for “keeping and being found in a house of ill-fame”.  He landed in the cattle boomtown of Wichita, Kansas where he became a deputy city marshal for one year and developed a solid reputation as a lawman.  In 1876 he followed his brother James to Dodge City, Kansas where he became an assistant city marshal.  In winter 1878, he went to Texas to gamble where he met John Henry “Doc“ Holliday whom Earp credited with saving his life.  Earp moved constantly throughout most of his life from one boomtown to another.  He left Dodge City in 1879 and with his brothers James and Virgil, moved to Tombstone where a huge silver boom was underway.  The Earps bought an interest in the Vizina mine and some water rights.  There, the Earps clashed with a loose federation of outlaw cowboys.  Wyatt, Virgil, and their younger brother Morgan held various law enforcement positions that put them in conflict with Tom and Frank McLaury, and Ike and Billy Clanton, who threatened to kill the Earps.  The conflict escalated over the next year, culminating on 26 October 1881 in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, during which the Earps and Holliday killed three of the Cowboys.  In the next five months, Virgil was ambushed and maimed and Morgan was assassinated.  Pursuing a vendetta, Wyatt, his brother Warren, Holliday, and others formed a federal posse which killed three of the Cowboys they thought responsible.  Unlike his lawmen brothers Virgil and James, Wyatt was never wounded in the few gunfights he took part in, which only added to his mystique after his death.  After leaving Tombstone, Earp and his third wife Josephine Earp moved from one boomtown to another, starting in Eagle City, Idaho; followed by San Diego, California; Nome, Alaska; Tonopah, Nevada; and finally Vidal, California.  An extremely flattering, largely fictionalized, best-selling biography published after his death created his reputation as a fearless lawman.  As a result of the book, Wyatt Earp has been the subject of and model for a large number of films, TV shows, biographies and works of fiction that have increased his mystique.  Earp’s modern-day reputation is that of the Old West’s “toughest and deadliest gunman of his day”.  Wyatt_&_Josephine_Earp_grave

The Final Footprint – His Associated Press obituary described him as a “gun-fighter, whose blazing six-shooters, were for most of his life allied with the side of law and order”.  His pallbearers were W. J. Hunsaker, (Earp’s attorney in Tombstone and noted L.A. attorney); Jim Mitchell (Los Angeles Examiner reporter and Hollywood screenwriter); George W. Parsons (founding member of Tombstone’s “Committee of Vigilance”); Wilson Mizner (a friend of Wyatt’s during the Klondike Gold Rush); John Clum (a good friend from his days in Tombstone, former Tombstone mayor, and editor of The Tombstone Epitaph); William S. Hart (good friend and western actor and silent film star); and Tom Mix (friend and western film star).  The newspapers reported that Mix cried during his friend’s service.  His wife Josie was too grief-stricken to attend.  Josie, who was of Jewish heritage, had Earp’s body cremated and buried his ashes in the Marcus family plot at the Hills of Eternity, a Jewish cemetery in Colma, California.  Although it never was incorporated as a town, the settlement formerly known as Drennan located near the site of some of his mining claims was renamed Earp, California in his honor when the post office was established there in 1930.  When Josie died in 1944, her ashes were buried next to Earp’s.  The original gravemarker was stolen on 8 July 1957 but was later recovered.  Earp has been portrayed in films by various actors including; Randolph Scott, Henry Fonda, Burt Lancaster, James Garner, Kurt Russell, Kevin Costner, and Val Kilmer.

On this day in 1941, novelist and poet, James Joyce, died following surgery for a perforated ulcer in Zurich, Switzerland at the age of 58.  Born James Augustine Aloysius Joyce on 2 February 1882 in the Dublin, Ireland suburb of Rathgar.  In my opinion, one of the most influential writers of the early 20th century.  Perhaps best known for Ulysses (1922), his landmark novel which perfected his stream of consciousness technique in a modern re-telling of The Odyssey.  Joyce’s other major works include; the short-story collection Dubliners (1914), and the novels A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) and Finnegans Wake (1939).  In 1904, he met Nora Barnacle, a young woman from Connemara, County Galway who was working as a chambermaid.  She would be his lover, companion, muse and eventual wife.  On 16 June 1904, they had their first date, an event which would be commemorated by providing the date for the action of Ulysses.  The entire novel chronicles the passage of Leopold Bloom on an ordinary day in Dublin.  Joyce fans worldwide now celebrate 16 June as Bloomsday.  The day involves a range of cultural activities including Ulysses readings and dramatisations, pub crawls and general merriment, much of it hosted by the James Joyce Centre in North Great George’s Street.  Joyce and Nora were married from 1931 until his death.  “Molly Bloom’s soliloquy” from Ulysses is one of my all-time favorite literary passages.  

The Final Footprint – Joyce is interred in the Joyce private estate in Fluntern Cemetery in Zurich.  The estate is marked by a bronze statue of Joyce.  Nora died on 10 April 1951 and is interred next him.  Their graves are maked by a full ledger granite marker.  Other memorials inlcude; a bronze bust in St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin, a bronze statue in Trieste, Italy, the Jame-Joyce-Plateau fountain at Platzspitz Park in Zurich and a bronze statue on North Earl Street in Dublin.

#RIP #OTD in 1979 singer, keyboardist, songwriter, backing vocalist, and arranger, soul legend, Donny Hathaway died after jumping from his 15th-floor room in the Essex House hotel, Manhattan, aged 33. Lake Charles Park Cemetery, Bel-Nor, Missouri. 

#RIP #OTD in 2009 poet (Heart’s Needle) W. D. Snodgrass died in Erieville, New York, aged 83. Cremation (Heart’s Needle inaugurated confessional poetry and earned Snodgrass a Pulitzer. He disliked the term)

On this day in 2010, singer Teddy Pendergrass died from respiratory failure with his wife Joan by his side, at Bryn Mawr Hospital in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania at the age of 59. Born Theodore DeReese Pendergrass on March 26, 1950 in  Philadelphia. He initially rose to musical fame as the lead singer of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes. After leaving the group over monetary disputes in 1976, Pendergrass launched a successful solo career under the Philadelphia International label, releasing four consecutive platinum albums, then a record for an African-American R&B artist. Pendergrass’ career was suspended after a near-fatal car crash in March 1982 that left him paralyzed from the chest down. Pendergrass continued his successful solo career until announcing his retirement in 2007. Pendergrass died from respiratory failure in January 2010.

In June 1987, he married a former Philadanco dancer named Karen Still, who had also danced in his shows. They amicably divorced in 2002. In the spring of 2006 Pendergrass met Joan Williams. He proposed to her after four months, and they married in a private ceremony on Easter Sunday, March 23, 2008. A formal wedding was celebrated at The Ocean Cliff Resort in Newport, Rhode Island, on September 6, 2008. 

The Final Footprint

His body was interred at the West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. Another notable final footprint at West Laurel Hill is that of John B. Stetson.

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Day in History 12 January – Agatha Christie – Affirmed – Maurice Gibb – Alice Coltrane – Precious Bryant – Ronnie Spector – Lisa Marie Presley

Posted on 29 JanamFri, 12 Jan 2024 00:24:00 -06002024-01-12T00:24:00-06:0012 2011 by MacGregor

#RIP #OTD in 1976 writer (novels revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple) Agatha Christie died at her home at Winterbrook House in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, aged 85. St. Mary’s church, Cholsey, Oxfordshire

On this day in 2001, thoroughbred racehorse, Champion Two-Year-Old Colt (1977), Champion Three-Year-Old Male (1978), Two-X Horse of the Year (1978, 1979) and 11th Triple Crown Winner (1978), Affirmed, died at Jonabell Farm near Lexington, Kentucky, age 25.  Affirmed was euthanized after falling seriously ill with laminitis, a circulatory hoof disease.  The same disease led to the death of fellow Triple Crown winner Secretariat.  Foaled on 21 February 1975 at Harbor View Farm near Fellowship, Florida.  Affirmed was the great-great-grandson of Triple Crown winner War Admiral through damsire Crafty Admiral, and thereby the great-great-great grandson of Man o’ War who won two of the three Triple Crown races himself.  Affirmed was also known for his famous rivalry with Alydar, whom he met ten times, including in all three Triple Crown races and where Alydar became the first racehorse to finish second in all three Triple Crown races.  I remember watching all three of those races that year.  I fell in love with both of these beautiful chestnut horses.  Affirmed was trained by Hall of Fame trainer Laz Barrera.  Barrera once said: “Affirmed is greater than Secretariat, or any Triple Crown winner, because only Affirmed had to face Alydar.”  During the Triple Crown races, Affirmed was ridden by Hall of Fame jockey Steve Cauthen. 

The Final Footprint – Affirmed was buried whole, the ultimate honor for a race horse, at Jonabell Farm, wearing the flamingo pink colors of his original owners, Harbor View Farm.  His grave is marked by a half-life size bronze statue on a granite base.

On this day in 2003, musician, singer, songwriter Maurice Gibb died unexpectedly due to complications of a twisted intestine, with his wife, children, and brothers at his side at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, Florida at the age of 53. Born Maurice Ernest Gibb on 22 December 1949 in Douglas, Isle of Man. He achieved fame as a member of the pop group Bee Gees. Although his brothers Barry and Robin Gibb were the group’s main lead singers, most of their albums included at least one or two compositions by Maurice, including “Lay It on Me”, “Country Woman”, and “On Time”. Gibb’s role in the group focused on melody and arrangements, providing backing vocal harmony and playing a variety of instruments.

Gibb started his music career in 1955 in Manchester, England, joining the skiffle-rock and roll group the Rattlesnakes, which later evolved into the Bee Gees in 1958 when they moved to Australia. They returned to England, where they achieved worldwide fame.

By 1964 he began his career as an instrumentalist, playing guitar on “Claustrophobia”. After the group’s break-up in 1969, Gibb released his first solo single, “Railroad”, but his first solo album, The Loner, has never been released.

Gibb and Scottish pop singer Lulu married on 18 February 1969 and divorced in 1975. Their careers and his heavy drinking forced them apart.

He married his second wife, Yvonne Spenceley Gibb, on 17 October 1975. Their marriage lasted until his death.

The Final Footprint

His funeral service was attended by Michael Jackson. After his funeral service, his body was cremated.

On this day in 2007, jazz musician and composer, and swamini, Alice Coltrane died of respiratory failure at West Hills Hospital and Medical Center in suburban Los Angeles, aged 69. Born Alice McLeod on August 27, 1937 in Detroit. Also known by her adopted Sanskrit name Turiyasangitananda or Turiya. One of the few harpists in the history of jazz, she recorded many albums as a bandleader, beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s for Impulse! and other major record labels. She was the second wife and the widow of jazz saxophonist and composer John Coltrane.

The Final Footprint

She is buried alongside John Coltrane in Pinelawn Memorial Park, Farmingdale, Suffolk County, New York.

#RIP #OTD in 2013 blues, gospel, folk singer, Piedmont fingerstyle guitarist, one of Georgia’s great blueswomen, Precious Bryant died in Columbus, Georgia, of complications from diabetes & congestive heart failure, aged 71. Salem Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery, Olive Branch GA

#RIP #OTD in  2022 singer, co-founder of The Ronettes (“Be My Baby”, “Baby, I Love You”, “(The Best Part of) Breakin’ Up”, “Do I Love You?”, “Walking in the Rain”) Ronnie Spector died at her home in Danbury CT from cancer aged 78. Cremation

#RIP #OTD 2023 singer, songwriter, daughter of Elvis and Priscilla, Lisa Marie Presley died of small bowel obstruction caused by a bariatric surgery at West Hills Hospital in Los Angeles, aged 54. Graceland Meditation Garden, next to her son

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Day in History 11 January – Francis Scott Key – Thomas Hardy – Eva Tanguay – Anita Ekberg

Posted on 29 JanamThu, 11 Jan 2024 00:30:00 -06002024-01-11T00:30:00-06:0012 2011 by MacGregor

On this day in 1843, lawyer, author, and poet, Francis Scott Key, died at the home of his daughter Elizabeth Howard in Baltimore, Maryland at the age of 63.  Born on 1 August 1779 in Carroll County Maryland.  During the War of 1812, Key dined aboard the British ship HMS Tonnant, as a guest of the British.  Key was there to negotiate the release of prisoners.  Key was not allowed to return to his own sloop: he had become familiar with the strength and position of the British units and with the British intent to attack Baltimore.  As a result, Key was unable to do anything but watch the bombarding of the American forces at Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore on the night of 13 September – 14 September 1814.  When the smoke cleared, Key was able to see an American flag still waving and reported this to the prisoners below deck.  On the way back to Baltimore, he was inspired to write a poem describing his experience, “The Defence of Fort McHenry”, which he published in the Patriot on 20 September 1814.  He intended to fit the words to the rhythms of composer John Stafford Smith‘s “To Anacreon in Heaven”.  It became  known as “The Star Spangled Banner”.  Under this name, the song was adopted as the American national anthem, first by an Executive Order from President Woodrow Wilson in 1916 (which had little effect beyond requiring military bands to play it) and then by a Congressional resolution in 1931, signed by President Herbert Hoover.  In 1832, Key served as the attorney for Sam Houston during his trial in the U.S. House of Representatives for assaulting another Congressman.  Key was a distant cousin and the namesake of F. Scott Fitzgerald whose full name was Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald.  Scott was married to Mary Tayloe “Polly” Lloyd (1784 – 1843 his death).  

The Final Footprint – Key was initially entombed in Old Saint Paul’s Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland in the vault of John Eager Howard.  In 1866, his body was moved to his family plot in Frederick, Maryland at Mount Olivet Cemetery.  The Key Monument Association erected a memorial in 1898 and the remains of both Francis Scott Key and his wife were placed in a crypt in the base of the monument.  Cenotaphs in his honor have been erected at Fort McHenry, on Eutaw Street in Baltimore and at the Presidio in San Francisco, California.  The US Navy named a submarine in his honor, the USS Francis Scott Key. 

#RIP #OTD in 1928 poet, novelist (Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Far from the Madding Crowd) Thomas Hardy died at his home, Max Gate aged 87. His heart at St. Michael’s Churchyard, Stinsford, England, cremated remains Poets’ Corner Westminster Abbey

#RIP #OTD in 1947 singer (“I Don’t Care”), actress (The Wild Girl) and entertainer, the Queen of Vaudeville, The I Don’t Care Girl, Eva Tanguay died in Hollywood, aged 68. Hollywood Forever Cemetery

On this day in 2015, actress Anita Ekberg died at the clinic San Raffaele in Rocca di Papa in Castelli Romani, Italy, at the age of 83. Born Kerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg on 29 September 1931 in  Malmö, Skåne, Sweden. She is best known for her role as Sylvia in the Federico Fellini film La Dolce Vita (1960). Ekberg worked primarily in Italy, where she became a permanent resident in 1964.

Both of Ekberg’s marriages were to actors, but neither of them succeeded. She was married to Anthony Steel from 22 May 1956 until their divorce in 14 May 1959 and to Rik Van Nutter from 9 April 1963 until their divorce in 1975. 

in Hollywood or Bust (1956)

The Final Footprint

Ekberg’s funeral service was held on 14 January 2015, at the Lutheran-Evangelical Christuskirche in Rome, after which her body was cremated and her remains were buried at the cemetery of Skanör Church in Sweden.

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Day in History 10 January – Buffalo Bill Cody – Sinclair Lewis – Gabriela Mistral – Dashiell Hammett – Coco Chanel – Howlin’ Wolf – David Bowie – Jeff Beck

Posted on 29 JanamWed, 10 Jan 2024 00:45:00 -06002024-01-10T00:45:00-06:0012 2011 by MacGregor

On this day in 1917, soldier, Medal of Honor recipient, bison hunter and showman, Buffalo Bill Cody, died surrounded by family and friends at his sister’s house in Denver, Colorado, at the age of 70.  Born William Frederick Cody on 26 February 1846 near LeClaire, Iowa.  One of the most colorful figures of the American Old West, mostly famous for the shows he organized with cowboy themes.  At one time or another, the wild west shows Cody appeared in or founded featured, James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok, Annie Oakley, Calamity Jane and the great Lakota Sioux holy man and war chief Sitting Bull.  He was instrumental in founding the city of Cody, Wyoming.  Cody established the TE Ranch located on the South Fork of the Shoshone River about thirty-five miles from Cody.  The spread eventually included 8,000 acres for a grazing operation that ran about 1,000 head of cattle.  Cody was married to Louisa Maud Frederici (1866 – 1917 his death).  My heroes have always been Cowboys.

The Final Footprint – Cody is interred in the Cody private estate on Lookout Mountain in Golden, Colorado.  Louisa was interred next to him when she passed in1921.  The estate is marked by a stone monument with a bronze plaque with their names and birth and death years.  Underneath Louisa’s name is the inscription, AT REST HERE BY HIS REQUEST.  Cody’s grave is marked by a bronze individual marker inscribed with his name and birth and death dates and the following; MEDAL OF HONOR INDIAN SCOUT 3 US CAV INDIAN WARS.

#RIP #OTD in 1951 writer (Main Street, Babbitt, Arrowsmith, Elmer Gantry, Dodsworth, It Can’t Happen Here), poet, playwright Sinclair Lewis died in Rome from advanced alcoholism, aged 65. Cremated remains interred at Greenwood Cemetery in Sauk Centre, Minnesota

#RIP #OTD in 1957 poet (Sonetos de la muerte), the first Latin American author to receive a Nobel Prize in Literature, Gabriela Mistral died of pancreatic cancer in Hempstead Hospital in New York City, aged 67. Cementerio de Monte Grande, Monte Grande, Chile.

On this day in 1961, writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories Dashiell Hammett died in Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan on January 10, 1961, of lung cancer.  Born Samuel Dashiell Hammett near Great Mills on the “Hopewell and Aim” farm in Saint Mary’s County, Maryland, on 27 May 1894.

He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade (The Maltese Falcon), Nick and Nora Charles (The Thin Man), the Continental Op (Red Harvest and The Dain Curse) and the comic strip character Secret Agent X-9.

In my opinion, one of the finest mystery writers of all time.  In his obituary in The New York Times, he was described as “the dean of the… ‘hard-boiled’ school of detective fiction.”  Time included Hammett’s 1929 novel Red Harvest on its list of the 100 best English-language novels published between 1923 and 2005.  In 1990, the Crime Writers’ Association picked three of his five novels for their list of The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time.  Five years later, four out of five of his novels made The Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time as selected by the Mystery Writers of America.  His novels and stories also had a significant influence on films, including the genres of private eye/detective fiction, mystery thrillers, and film noir.

Coco_Chanel,_1920On this day in 1971, fashion designer and founder of the Chanel brand, Coco Chanel died at the Hotel Ritz in Paris, where she had resided for more than 30 years, at the age of 87.  Born Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel on 19 August 1883 to an unmarried mother, Eugénie Jeanne Devolle – known as Jeanne – a laundrywoman, in the charity hospital run by the Sisters of Providence (a poorhouse) in Saumur, France.  Her father, Albert Chanel was an itinerant street vendor who peddled work clothes and undergarments.  Chanel is the only fashion designer listed on Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.  Along with Paul Poiret, Chanel was credited with liberating women from the constraints of the “corseted silhouette” and popularizing the acceptance of a sportive, casual chic as the feminine standard in the post-World War I era.  A prolific fashion creator, Chanel’s influence extended beyond couture clothing.  Her design aesthetic was realized in jewelry, handbags, and fragrance.  Her signature scent, Chanel No. 5, has become an iconic product.  Chanel was known for her lifelong determination, ambition, and energy which she applied to her professional and social life.  She achieved both success as a businesswoman and social prominence thanks to the connections she made through her work.  These included many artists and craftspeople to whom she became a patron.  However, Chanel’s life choices generated controversy, particularly her behaviour during the German occupation of France in World War II.  Chanel was the mistress of some of the most influential men of her time, but she never married.  She had significant relationships with the poet Pierre Reverdy and the illustrator and designer Paul Iribe.  During the German occupation of France, Chanel resided at the Hotel Ritz, which was also noteworthy for being the preferred place of residence for upper echelon German military staff.  Her romantic liaison with Hans Gunther von Dincklage, a German officer who had been an operative in military intelligence since 1920, facilitated her arrangement to reside at the Ritz.

The Final Footprint – Chanel’s funeral was held at the eglise de la Madeleine.  Her fashion models occupied the first seats during the ceremony and her coffin was covered with white flowers – camellias, gardenias, orchids, azaleas and a few red roses.  Her grave is located in the Bois-de-Vaux Cemetery, Lausanne, Switzerland.

Howlin'_WolfOn this day in 1976, blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and harmonica player Howlin’ Wolf died from complications of kidney disease at the Hines VA Hospital in Hines, Illinois at the age of 65.  In my opinion, one of the greatest blues artists of all-time.  A number of songs written or popularized by Burnett, such as “Smokestack Lightnin'”, “Back Door Man”, “Killing Floor” and “Spoonful”, have become blues and blues rock standards.  Born Chester Arthur Burnett on 10 June 1910 in West Point, Mississippi in an area now known as White Station. 

The Final Footprint – Burnett is buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery, Hillside, Cook County, Illinois in a plot in Section 18, on the east side of the road.  His large gravestone, allegedly purchased by Eric Clapton, has an image of a guitar and harmonica etched into it.

David Bowie

Bowie smiling

during the Heathen Tour (Chicago, 2002)

On this day in 2016, singer, songwriter, actor David Bowie died from liver cancer in his New York City apartment at the age of 69. Born David Robert Jones on 8 January 1947 in Brixton, London. Bowie was a leading figure in popular music for over five decades, acclaimed by critics and other musicians for his innovative work. His career was marked by reinvention and visual presentation, his music and stagecraft significantly influencing popular music.

“Space Oddity” became his first top-five entry on the UK Singles Chart after its release in July 1969. After a period of experimentation, he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era with his flamboyant and androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust. The character was spearheaded by the success of his single “Starman” and album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. In 1975, Bowie’s style shifted radically towards a sound he characterised as “plastic soul”, garnering him his first major US crossover success with the number-one single “Fame” and the album Young Americans. In 1976, Bowie starred in the cult film The Man Who Fell to Earth, directed by Nicolas Roeg, and released Station to Station. The following year, he further confounded musical expectations with the electronic-inflected album Low (1977), the first of three collaborations with Brian Eno that would come to be known as the “Berlin Trilogy”. “Heroes” (1977) and Lodger (1979) followed.

Bowie had UK number ones with the 1980 single “Ashes to Ashes”, its parent album Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps), and “Under Pressure”, a 1981 collaboration with Queen. He then reached his commercial peak in 1983 with Let’s Dance, with its title track topping both UK and US charts. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Bowie continued to experiment with musical styles, including industrial and jungle. He also continued acting; his roles included Major Celliers in Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), the Goblin King Jareth in Labyrinth (1986), Pontius Pilate in The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), and Nikola Tesla in The Prestige (2006), among other film and television appearances and cameos. He stopped concert touring after 2004 and his last live performance was at a charity event in 2006. In 2013, Bowie returned from a decade-long recording hiatus with the release of The Next Day. He remained musically active until his death two days after the release of his final album, Blackstar (2016).

Bowie married his first wife, Mary Angela Barnett on 19 March 1970 at Bromley Register Office in Bromley, London. Bowie and Angela divorced on 8 February 1980 in Switzerland.

On 24 April 1992, Bowie married Somali-American model Iman in a private ceremony in Lausanne. The wedding was later solemnised on 6 June in Florence.

during the Ziggy Stardust Tour from 1972–73

filming a video for “Rebel Rebel” in 1974

performing during Diamond Dogs Tour, 1974

performing with Cher on the variety show Cher, 1975

as the Thin White Duke at Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, 1976

performing in Oslo, Norway, 1978

Serious Moonlight Tour, 1983

performing during the Glass Spider Tour, 1987

in Chile during the Sound+Vision Tour, 1990

with wife Iman, 2009

The Final Footprint 

In his will, Bowie stipulated that he be cremated and his ashes scattered in Bali “in accordance with the Buddhist rituals”.

A woman places flowers outside Bowie’s apartment in New York on Lafayette Street the day after his death was announced

Following Bowie’s death, fans gathered at impromptu street shrines. At the mural of Bowie in his birthplace of Brixton, south London, which shows him in his Aladdin Sane character, fans laid flowers and sang his songs. Other memorial sites included Berlin, Los Angeles, and outside his apartment in New York. Bowie had insisted that he did not want a funeral.

#RIP #OTD in 2023 guitarist (Yardbirds; Jeff Beck Group; Beck, Bogert & Appice) Jeff Beck died from a bacterial meningitis infection at a hospital in Wadhurst, England at the age of 78. St. Mary’s Church Cemetery, Shotley, Babergh District, Suffolk, England

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Day in History 9 January – Anson Jones – Katherine Mansfield – Verna Bloom

Posted on 29 JanamTue, 09 Jan 2024 00:03:00 -06002024-01-09T00:03:00-06:0012 2011 by MacGregor

On this day in 1858, doctor, fourth and final President of the Republic of Texas and Architect of Annexation, Anson Jones, died from a self inflicted gunshot wound, in the Capitol Hotel (now the Post Rice Lofts, formerly the Rice Hotel) in Houston, Texas at the age of 59.  Born on 20 January 1798 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.  Before becoming president Jones served as Texas congressman, Minister to the United States under Sam Houston, Texas senator and Secretary of State under Houston.   On 19 February 1846, a formal ceremony was held in Austin to bring Texas into the United States.  Jones delivered a speech that he concluded by declaring, “The final act in this great drama is now performed.  The Republic of Texas is no more.”  In his final official act as president, Jones lowered the Texas flag from its pole; Houston, with tears in his eyes, stepped from the crowd to gather the flag in his arms.  Jones had hoped to be selected as one of Texas’ two U.S. senators, however, Houston and Thomas Rusk were chosen.  

The Final Footprint – Jones is interred in the Jones Private Estate in Glenwood Cemetery in Houston.  His grave is marked by an upright granite monument and a full ledger stone marker.  The ledger is inscribed; In Memory of Anson Jones Last President of the late Republic of Texas Protector and Consuminator of her Annexation to the Confederacy of the North American States: First Grand Master and Implanter of Ancient York Masonry in Texas: The Revered of Senates and the Light of Cabinets!  One of my offices in Houston overlooked the Glenwood Cemetery.  Jones County and the county seat town of Anson were named after him.  I have driven through Anson many times going back and forth betwee Austin and the Texas Panhandle.  Other notable Final Footprints at Glenwood include; Maria Franklin Prentiss Langham Gable, Oveta Culp Hobby, William P. Hobby, Howard Hughes, Glenn McCarthy, and Gene Tierney.

On this day in 1923, writer Katherine Mansfield died from a pulmonary haemorrhage in Fontainebleau, Île-de-France, France, at the age of 34. Born Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp on 14 October 1888 in Thorndon, Wellington, New Zealand.  She wrote short stories and poetry under the pen name Katherine Mansfield. Mansfield was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis in 1917.

She was the daughter of a successful businessman who sent her away to school in England. At 18, her parents brought her back to New Zealand, and she found that she no longer had anything in common with her family.

She became one of the wildest bohemians in New Zealand. She had affairs with men and women, lived with Aborigines, and published scandalous stories. She moved back to London and lived in the bohemian scene there. she became a friend of D. H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, Lady Ottoline Morrell and others in the orbit of the Bloomsbury Group. At one point, she married a man she barely knew and left him before the wedding night was over because she couldn’t stand the pink bedspread.

She didn’t begin to write the stories that made her famous until her younger brother came to see her in 1915. They had long talks, reminiscing about growing up in New Zealand. He left that fall for World War I and was killed two months later. She was devastated by his death, and she wrote a series of short stories about her childhood, including “The Garden Party,” which many critics consider to be her masterpiece.

She said;

Why be given a body if you have to keep it shut up in a case like a rare fiddle?

If only one could tell true love from false love as one can tell mushrooms from toadstools. With mushrooms it is so simple — you salt them well, put them aside and have patience. But with love, you have no sooner lighted on anything that bears even the remotest resemblance to it than you are perfectly certain it is not only a genuine specimen, but perhaps the only genuine mushroom ungathered.

“Love and Mushrooms,” journal entry (1917), published in More Extracts from a Journal, ed. J. Middleton Murry, in The Adelphi (1923), p. 1068

The Final Footprint

Mansfield suffered a fatal pulmonary haemorrhage after running up a flight of stairs.  She died within the hour.  Because Murry forgot to pay for her funeral expenses, she initially was buried in a pauper’s grave; when matters were rectified, her casket was moved to its current resting place at Cimetiere d’Avon, Avon, near Fontainebleau.

#RIP #OTD in 2019 actress (Medium Cool, High Plains Drifter, Where Have All The People Gone?, The Last Temptation of Christ, Honkytonk Man, Animal House) Verna Bloom died in Bar Harbor, Maine, from complications of dementia aged 80. Cremation

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On this Day 8 January – Marco Polo – Galileo – Paul Verlaine – Mary Colter – Kay Sage – Yvonne De Carlo – Buck Henry

Posted on 29 JanamMon, 08 Jan 2024 00:33:00 -06002024-01-08T00:33:00-06:0012 2011 by MacGregor

On this day in 1324 merchant traveler Marco Polo died at his home in Venice at the age of 69. Born 0n 16 September 1254 in Venice, possibly in the former contrada of San Giovanni Crisostomo. His travels are recorded in Livres des merveilles du monde, a book which did much to introduce Europeans to Central Asia and China. Polo learned the mercantile trade from his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, who travelled through Asia, and apparently met Kublai Khan. The three of them embarked on an epic journey to Asia, returning after 24 years to find Venice at war with Genoa; Marco was imprisoned, and dictated his stories to a cellmate. He was released in 1299, became a wealthy merchant, married and had three children. Polo was not the first European to reach China, but he was the first to leave a detailed chronicle of his experience. Polo influenced European cartography, leading to the introduction of the Fra Mauro map.

The Final Footprint – Due to the Venetian law stating that the day ends at sunset, the exact date of Marco Polo’s death cannot be determined, but according to some scholars it was between the sunsets of January 8 and 9, 1324. Biblioteca Marciana, which holds the original copy of his testament, dates the testament in January 9, 1323, and gives the date of his death at some time in June 1324. Polo was either entombed in the San Lorenzo church in the sestiere of Castello (Venice), or perhaps in the no longer extant San Sebastiano in Venice.

On this day in 1642, astronomer, physicist, engineer, and polymath Galileo Galilei died in Arcetri, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, Italy at the age of 77. Born on 15 February 1564 in Pisa (then part of the Duchy of Florence), Italy. Galileo is perhaps the father of observational astronomy, the father of modern physics, the father of the scientific method, and the father of modern science.

His contributions to observational astronomy include the telescopic confirmation of the phases of Venus, the observation of the four largest satellites of Jupiter, the observation of Saturn and the analysis of sunspots.

Galileo’s championing of heliocentrism and Copernicanism was controversial during his lifetime, when most subscribed to either geocentrism or the Tychonic system. He met with opposition from astronomers, who doubted heliocentrism because of the absence of an observed stellar parallax. The matter was investigated by the Roman Inquisition in 1615, which concluded that heliocentrism was “foolish and absurd in philosophy, and formally heretical since it explicitly contradicts in many places the sense of Holy Scripture.” Galileo later defended his views in Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632), which appeared to attack Pope Urban VIII and thus alienated him and the Jesuits, who had both supported Galileo up until this point. He was tried by the Inquisition, found “vehemently suspect of heresy”, and forced to recant. He spent the rest of his life under house arrest. While under house arrest, he wrote Two New Sciences, in which he summarized work he had done some forty years earlier on the two sciences now called kinematics and strength of materials.

The Final Footprint

The Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinando II, wished to bury him in the main body of the Basilica of Santa Croce, next to the tombs of his father and other ancestors, and to erect a marble mausoleum in his honour.  These plans were dropped, however, after Pope Urban VIII and his nephew, Cardinal Francesco Barberini, protested, because Galileo had been condemned by the Catholic Church for “vehement suspicion of heresy”. He was instead buried in a small room next to the novices’ chapel at the end of a corridor from the southern transept of the basilica to the sacristy. He was reburied in the main body of the basilica in 1737 after a monument had been erected there in his honour; during this move, three fingers and a tooth were removed from his remains. One of these fingers, the middle finger from Galileo’s right hand, is currently on exhibition at the Museo Galileo in Florence, Italy.

Middle finger of Galileo’s right hand

On this day in 1896, French poet associated with the Symbolist movement, Paul Verlaine died in Paris at the age of 51.  He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the fin de siècle in international and French poetry.  One of my favorite poets.  Verlaine married Mathilde Mauté de Fleurville but later left her and their son to begin a love affair with the poet Arthur Rimbaud.  The French painter Henri Fantin-Latour depicted Rimbaud and Verlaine in his 1872 painting Around the Table (Writers).  Born Paul-Marie Verlaine on 30 March 1844 in Metz, France. 

The Final Footprint – Verlaine was buried in the Cimetière des Batignolles (he was first buried in the 20th division, but his grave was moved to the 11th division – on the round about, a much better location – when the Boulevard Périphérique was built). Other notable final footprints at Batignolles inlclude;  Léon Bakst, André Breton, Cora Pearl,  and Édouard Vuillard. 

On this day in 1958 architect and designer Mary Colter died in Santa Fe, aged 88.  Born Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter on 4 April 1869 in Pittsburgh.

She was one of the very few female American architects in her day.  She was the designer of many landmark buildings and spaces for the Fred Harvey Company and the Santa Fe Railroad, notably in Grand Canyon National Park. Her work had enormous influence as she helped to create a style, blending Spanish Colonial Revival and Mission Revival architecture with Native American motifs and Rustic elements, that became popular throughout the Southwest. Colter was a perfectionist, who spent a lifetime advocating and defending her aesthetic vision in a largely male-dominated field.

Colter retired to Santa Fe, in 1948. She donated her collection of Native American pottery and Indian relics to Mesa Verde National Park.  Four of her Grand Canyon National Park buildings are protected within the Mary Jane Colter National Historic Landmark District.

The Final Footprint 

Oakland Cemetery in Saint Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota

#RIP #OTD in 1963 Surrealist artist and poet (Faut dire c’qui est) Kay Sage died from a gunshot wound to the heart in Woodbury, Connecticut, aged 64. Cremated remains scattered with those of her husband Yves Tanguy on the beach at Douarnenez in Brittany.

On this day in 2007, actress, dancer, and singer Yvonne De Carlo died of heart failure in Los Angeles at the age of 84. Born Margaret Yvonne Middleton on September 1, 1922 in Vancouver. A brunette with blue-grey eyes, she became an internationally famous Hollywood film star in the 1940s and 1950s, made several recordings, and later acted on television and stage.

By the early 1940s, she and her mother had moved to Los Angeles, where De Carlo participated in beauty contests and worked as a dancer in nightclubs. In 1942, she signed a three-year contract with Paramount Pictures, where she was given uncredited bit parts in important films and was intended to replace Dorothy Lamour. Paramount loaned her out to Republic Pictures for her first credited role in a feature film, Wah-Tah in the independent production Deerslayer (1943).

She obtained her breakthrough role in Salome, Where She Danced (1945), a Universal Pictures release produced by Walter Wanger, who described her as “the most beautiful girl in the world.” The film’s publicity and success turned her into a star, and she signed a five-year contract with Universal. From then on, Universal starred her in its lavish Technicolor productions, such as Frontier Gal (1945), Song of Scheherazade (1947), and Slave Girl (1947). Cameramen voted her “Queen of Technicolor” three years in a row. Tired of being typecast as exotic women, her first serious dramatic performances were featured in two films noir, Brute Force (1947) and Criss Cross (1949).

The first American film star to visit Israel, De Carlo received further recognition as an actress for her work in the British comedies Hotel Sahara (1951) and The Captain’s Paradise (1953). Her career reached its peak when eminent producer-director Cecil B. DeMille cast her as Moses’ Midianite wife, Sephora, her most prominent role, in his biblical epic The Ten Commandments (1956), which was immensely successful at the box office and remains an annual tradition on television. Her success continued with starring roles in Flame of the Islands (1956), Death of a Scoundrel (1956), Band of Angels (1957), and The Sword and the Cross (1958), in which she portrayed Mary Magdalene. She also accepted supporting roles in McLintock! (1963) and A Global Affair (1964).

She gained a new generation of fans as a star of the CBS sitcom The Munsters (1964–1966), playing Herman Munster’s glamorous vampire wife, Lily, a role she reprised in the feature film Munster, Go Home! (1966) and the television film The Munsters’ Revenge (1981). In 1971, she played Carlotta Campion and introduced the popular song “I’m Still Here” in the Broadway production of the Stephen Sondheim musical Follies. Yvonne, her best-selling autobiography, was published in 1987. A stroke survivor, De Carlo died of heart failure in 2007. She was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to motion pictures and television.

De Carlo’s name was linked with a number of famous men through her career, including Howard Hughes, and Robert Stack. In 1947, she announced her engagement to actor Howard Duff, her co-star in Brute Force (1947) and Calamity Jane and Sam Bass (1949), but they never married. She was engaged three more times—to American stuntman Jock Mahoney, English photographer Cornel Lucas, and Scottish actor Richard Urquhart—but felt “trapped” whenever she looked at the engagement ring on her finger.

De Carlo with her husband, Robert Morgan, at the New York premiere of The Ten Commandments (1956)

De Carlo met stuntman Robert Drew “Bob” Morgan (1915–1999) on the set of Shotgun in 1955. They met again, after the death of Morgan’s wife, on the set of The Ten Commandments in Egypt. They were married on November 21, 1955, at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Reno, Nevada.

The Final Footprint

De Carlo was cremated.

On this day in 2020, actor, screenwriter, and director Buck Henry died of a heart attack at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, at the age of 89. Born Henry Zuckerman on December 9, 1930 in New York City. Henry’s contributions to film included, his work as a co-director on Heaven Can Wait (1978) alongside Warren Beatty, and his work as a co-writer for Mike Nichols’s The Graduate (1967) and Peter Bogdanovich’s What’s Up, Doc? (1972). His career began on television with work on shows with Steve Allen in The New Steve Allen Show (1961). He co-created Get Smart (1965–1970) with Mel Brooks. He later guest starred in such popular shows as Murphy Brown, Hot in Cleveland, Will & Grace, and 30 Rock.

He was twice nominated for an Academy Award, for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Graduate (1967) and for Best Director for Heaven Can Wait (1978) alongside Warren Beatty.

Henry hosted NBC’s Saturday Night Live ten times between 1976 and 1980. It became a tradition during these years for Henry to host the final show of each season, beginning with the 1976–1977 season. Henry’s frequent host record was broken when Steve Martin made his 11th appearance as host of the show on the finale episode of the 1988–1989 season. During the October 30, 1976, episode, Buck Henry was injured in the forehead by John Belushi’s katana in the samurai sketch. Henry’s head began to bleed and he was forced to wear a large bandage on his forehead for the rest of the show. As a gag, the members of the SNL cast each wore a bandage on their foreheads as well.

The Final Footprint

Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills. Other notable final footprints at Hollywood Hills include; Gene Autry, Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, David Carradine, Scatman Crothers, Bette Davis, Sandra Dee, Ronnie James Dio, Michael Clarke Duncan, Carrie Fisher, Bobby Fuller, Andy Gibb, Michael Hutchence, Jill Ireland, Al Jarreau, Buster Keaton, Lemmy Kilmister, Jack LaLanne, Nicolette Larson, Liberace, Strother Martin, Jayne Meadows, Ricky Nelson, Bill Paxton, Brock Peters, Freddie Prinze, Lou Rawls, Debbie Reynolds, Telly Savalas, Lee Van Cleef, and Paul Walker.

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Day in History 7 January – Catherine of Aragon – Big Foot Wallace – Rod Taylor – France Gall – Neil Peart – Michael Apted – Tommy Lasorda

Posted on 29 JanamSun, 07 Jan 2024 00:30:00 -06002024-01-07T00:30:00-06:0012 2011 by MacGregor

Catherine_aragonOn this day in 1536,  Princess of Wales as the wife of Prince Arthur, as the wife of King Henry VII, Queen of England from 1509 until 1533, Catherine of Aragon died at Kimbolton Castle at the age of 50.  Born at the Archbishop’s Palace in Alcalá de Henares near Madrid, on the night of 16 December 1485.  She was the youngest surviving child of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile.  Catherine was three years old when she was betrothed to Prince Arthur, heir apparent to the English throne.  They married in 1501, and Arthur died five months later.  In 1507, she held the position of ambassador for the Spanish Court in England, becoming the first female ambassador in European history.  Catherine subsequently married Arthur’s younger brother, the recently succeeded Henry VIII, in 1509.  For six months in 1513, she served as regent of England while Henry VIII was in France.  During that time the English won the Battle of Flodden, an event in which Catherine played an important part.  By 1525, Henry VIII was infatuated with his mistress, Anne Boleyn, and dissatisfied that his marriage to Catherine had produced no surviving sons, leaving their daughter, the future Mary I of England, as heiress presumptive at a time when there was no established precedent for a woman on the throne.  He sought to have their marriage annulled, setting in motion a chain of events that led to England’s schism with the Catholic Church.  When Pope Clement VII refused to annul the marriage, Henry defied him by assuming supremacy over religious matters.  In 1533 their marriage was declared invalid and Henry married Anne on the judgement of clergy in England, without reference to the Pope.  Catherine refused to accept Henry as Supreme Head of the Church of England and considered herself the King’s rightful wife and queen, attracting much popular sympathy.  Despite this, she was acknowledged only as Dowager Princess of Wales by Henry.  

catherinePeterborough_Cathedral_Catherine_of_Aaragon_Grave,_Cambridgeshire,_UK_-_DiliffThe Final Footprint – Catherine was entombed in Peterborough Cathedral with the ceremony due to a Dowager Princess of Wales, not a queen.  Henry did not attend the funeral and forbade Mary to attend.  Catherine’s English subjects held her in high esteem, and her death set off tremendous mourning among the English people.  The controversial book The Education of Christian Women by Juan Luis Vives, which claimed women have the right to an education, was commissioned by and dedicated to her.  Such was Catherine’s impression on people that even her enemy, Thomas Cromwell, said of her, “If not for her sex, she could have defied all the heroes of History.” 

Bigfoot_Wallace-224x300On this day in 1899, Texas Ranger, Big Foot Wallace, died in Big Foot, Texas at the age of 82.  Born William Alexander Anderson Wallace on 3 April 1817 in Lexington, Virginia.  Wallace was a famous Texas Ranger who took part in many of the military conflicts of the Republic of Texas and the United States in the 1840s, including the Mexican-American War.  Reportedly a descendant of Scottish hero William Wallace.  Larry McMurtry included a fictionalized version of Wallace in his Lonesome Dove prequel, Dead Man’s Walk.  In this book, Wallace is one of the Rangers who signs on with Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call to go on the Texas Santa Fe Expedition.  My Heroes have always been Cowboys. 

Tbigfootwallacegravehe Final Footprint – Wallace was originally interred in Devine, Texas, but the Texas legislature appropriated the necessary funds to have him disinterred and reinterred in a place of honor in the Texas State Cemetery, Austin, Texas.  His grave is marked by a large granite marker inscribed with his name and birth and death dates and the following; HERE LIES HE WHO SPENT HIS MANHOOD DEFENDING THE HOMES OF TEXAS.  BRAVE HONEST AND FAITHFUL.  Other notable final footprints at Texas State Cemetery include; Stephen F. Austin, John B. Connally, Nellie Connally, J. Frank Dobie, Barbara Jordan, Tom Landry (cenotaph), James A. Michener (cenotaph), Ann Richards, Edwin “Bud” Shrake, and Walter Prescott Webb.

#RIP #OTD in 2015 actor (The Time Machine, Giant, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, The Birds, Darker than Amber, The Train Robbers, Inglourious Basterds), Rod Taylor died from a heart attack at his home in Beverly Hills, aged 81. Cremation

On this day in 2018, French yé-yé singer France Gall died from cancer at the American Hospital of Paris in Neuilly-sur-Seine, at the age of 70. Born Isabelle Geneviève Marie Anne Gall on 9 October 1947 in . In 1965, aged 17, she won the Eurovision Song Contest. Between 1973 and 1992, she collaborated with singer-songwriter Michel Berger.

Gall married Berger, on 22 June 1976. He died of a heart attack in 1992, at age 44. 

As a farewell to her career, a documentary movie was shot in 2001, France Gall par France Gall and millions watched the documentary when it was broadcast on French television that year. Gall staged and appeared in the 2007 France 2 documentary, Tous pour la musique, marking the 15th anniversary of Berger’s death.

The Final Footprint

Gall is entombed in Cimetière de Montmartre in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. Other notable final footprints at Montmartre include; Hector Berlioz, Dalida, Edgar Degas, Alexandre Dumas, fils, Marie Duplessis, Théophile Gautier, Gustave Moreau, Jeanne Moreau, Henri Murger, Jacques Offenbach, Stendhal, François Truffaut, Horace Vernet, and Alfred de Vigny.

On this day in 2020, musician, songwriter, author, drummer and primary lyricist of the rock band Rush, The Professor, Neil Peart died of glioblastoma in Santa Monica, California at the age of 67. Born Neil Ellwood Peart on September 12, 1952 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. His drumming was renowned for its technical proficiency and his live performances for their exacting nature and stamina.

Peart grew up in Port Dalhousie (now part of St. Catharines). During adolescence, he floated between regional bands in pursuit of a career as a full-time drummer. After a discouraging stint in England to concentrate on his music, Peart returned home, where he joined Rush, a Toronto band, in mid-1974, six years after its formation. They released nineteen studio albums, with ten exceeding a million copies sold in the United States. He drew his early inspiration from drummers Keith Moon, Ginger Baker, and John Bonham, players who were at the forefront of the British hard rock scene. As time passed, he began to emulate jazz and big band musicians Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich. In 1994, Peart became a friend and pupil of jazz instructor Freddie Gruber. It was during this time that Peart decided to revamp his playing style by incorporating jazz and swing components.

In addition to serving as Rush’s primary lyricist, Peart published several memoirs about his travels. His lyrics for Rush addressed universal themes and diverse subjects including science fiction, fantasy, and philosophy, as well as secular, humanitarian, and libertarian themes. Peart wrote a total of seven nonfiction books focused on his travels and personal stories.

The Final Footprint

He had been diagnosed three and a half years earlier, and his illness was a closely guarded secret in Peart’s inner circle until his death. His family made the announcement on January 10.

From the official Rush website:

It is with broken hearts and the deepest sadness that we must share the terrible news that on Tuesday our friend, soul brother and band mate of over 45 years, Neil, has lost his incredibly brave three and a half year battle with brain cancer (Glioblastoma). We ask that friends, fans and media alike understandably respect the family’s need for privacy and peace at this extremely painful and difficult time. Those wishing to express their condolences can choose a cancer research group or charity of their choice and make a donation in Neil’s name.

Peart was cremated.

#RIP #OTD in 2021 film director (Coal Miner’s Daughter, Gorillas in the Mist, Nell, James Bond film The World Is Not Enough, Enigma, Amazing Grace, Gorky Park) Michael Apted died at his home in Los Angeles aged 79.

#RIP #OTD in 2021 professional baseball pitcher and Hall of Fame manager (2x World Series Champion with the Los Angeles Dodgers) Tommy Lasorda died from a heart attack in Fullerton, California, aged 93. Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, California next to his son

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Day in History 6 January – Louis Braille – Teddy Roosevelt – Ida Tarbell – Victor Fleming – Dizzy Gillespie – Rudolf Nureyev – Lou Rawls – Peter Bogdanovich – Sidney Poitier

Posted on 29 JanamSat, 06 Jan 2024 00:45:00 -06002024-01-06T00:45:00-06:0012 2011 by MacGregor

#RIP #OTD in 1852 educator and inventor of the braille reading and writing system, Louis Braille died from tuberculosis in the infirmary at the Royal Institution, Paris, aged 43. His hands buried in Coupvray, remainer of his body in the Panthéon, Paris

On this day in 1919, author, politician, soldier, Colonel in the U.S. Army, 33rd Governor of New York, 25th Vice President of the United States, 26th President of the United States, Nobel Peace Prize and Medal of Honor recipient, Teddy Roosevelt, died in his sleep at his home, Sagamore Hill in Oyster Bay, New York from a pulmonary embolism at the age of 60.  Born Theodore Roosevelt on 27 October 1858, in a four-story brownstone at 28 East 20th Street, in the modern-day Gramercy section of New York City.  The Roosevelt family is of Dutch origin.  His brother Elliott would be the father of future First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.  He and Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd POTUS were cousins.  Their grandfather was Nicholas Roosevelt.  Roosevelt graduated from Harvard.  He was an avid reader and a firm believer in physical fitness.  The argument can be made that Roosevelt changed the nation’s political system by permanently placing the presidency at center stage and making character as important as the issues.  History and legend have been kind to him.  His friend, historian Henry Adams, proclaimed, “Roosevelt, more than any other living man ….showed the singular primitive quality that belongs to ultimate matter – the quality that mediaeval theology assigned to God – he was pure act.”  Historians typically rank Roosevelt among the top presidents.  Roosevelt was married twice; Alice Hathaway Lee (1880 – 1884 her death) and Edith Kermit Carow (1886 – 1919 his death).  My favorite TR quote is; “Speak softly and carry a big stick.”  Those that know me recognize that as one of my defining traits. 

The Final Footprint – Upon receiving word of his death, his son Archie telegraphed his siblings simply, “The old lion is dead.”  Woodrow Wilson‘s vice president, Thomas R. Marshall, said that “Death had to take Roosevelt sleeping, for if he had been awake, there would have been a fight.”  In addition to sisters Corinne and Bamie and his wife Edith, Roosevelt was survived by five children and eight grandchildren at the time of his death.  He is interred in the Roosevelt Private Estate in Youngs Memorial Cemetery, Oyster Bay with his second wife Edith.  The estate is marked by a large upright granite marker inscribed with their names and birth and death dates.  His grave is marked by a bronze on granite foot marker inscribed with his name and birth and death dates and; MEDAL OF HONOR LIEUT COLONEL US ARMY SPANISH AMERICAN WAR.  Roosevelt was included with George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln at the Mount Rushmore Memorial near Keystone, North Dakota, designed in 1927 with the approval of Republican President Calvin Coolidge.  Roosevelt’s legacy includes several other important commemorations. The United States Navy named two ships for Roosevelt: the USS Theodore Roosevelt (SSBN-600), a submarine that was in commission from 1961 to 1982; and the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), an aircraft carrier that has been on active duty in the Atlantic Fleet since 1986.  Hundreds of schools and streets have been named in Roosevelt’s honor.  The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles is named after him, as is the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City.  Perhaps Roosevelt’s most lasting popular legacy, however, is the stuffed toy bears—teddy bears—named after him following an incident on a hunting trip in Mississippi in 1902.  Roosevelt famously ordered the mercy killing of a wounded black bear.  After a national cartoonist illustrated the President with a bear, a toy maker heard the story and asked Roosevelt if he could use his name on a toy bear.  Roosevelt approved and the teddy bear was born.  Bears and later bear cubs became closely associated with Roosevelt in political cartoons thereafter.

#RIP #OTD in 1944 writer (The History of the Standard Oil Company), investigative journalist, biographer and lecturer, Ida Tarbell died of pneumonia at Bridgeport Hospital in Bridgeport, Connecticut, aged 86. Woodlawn Cemetery, Titusville, Pennsylvania

#RIP #OTD in 1949 film director (Gone with the Winde, The Wizard of Oz), cinematographer, and producer, Victor Fleming died from a heart attack in Cottonwood, Arizona, aged 59. Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Dizzy_Gillespie01On this day in 1993, jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, Dizzy Gillespie died from pancreatic cancer in Englewood, New Jersey at the age of 75.  Born John Birks Gillespie on 21 October 1917 in Cheraw, South Carolina.  In my opinon Gillespie’s had an important influence on jazz and was one of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time.  Gillespie was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser and added layers of harmonic complexity previously unknown in jazz.  His beret and horn-rimmed spectacles, his scat singing, his bent horn, pouched cheeks and his light-hearted personality were essential in popularizing bebop.  In the 1940s Gillespie, together with Charlie Parker, became a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz.  Gillespie was married to Lorraine Willis (1940 – 1993 his death). 

The Final Footprint – Gillespie is interred in an unmarked grave next to his mother in the Flushing Cemetery, Queens, New York.  Gillespie had two funerals.  One was a Bahá’í funeral at his request, at which his closest friends and colleagues attended.  The second was at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York open to the public.  Fellow jazz legend, Louis Armstrong is also interred at Flushing Cemetery.

On this day in 1993, ballet and contemporary dancer and choreographer, Lord of the Dance, Rudolf Nureyev died from AIDS complications at the hospital Notre Dame du Perpétuel Secours in Levallois-Perret, at the age of 54. Born Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev on 17 March 1938 on a Trans-Siberian train near Irkutsk, Siberia, Soviet Union. He was director of the Paris Opera Ballet from 1983 to 1989 and its chief choreographer until October 1992. In my opinion, Nureyev is the greatest male ballet dancer of his generation.

In addition, Nureyev was an accomplished choreographer. He produced his own interpretations of numerous classical works, including Swan Lake, Giselle, and La Bayadère.

Nureyev had his early career with the Mariinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg. He defected from the Soviet Union to the West in 1961, despite KGB efforts to stop him. This was the first defection of a Soviet artist during the Cold War and it created an international sensation.

He went on to dance with The Royal Ballet in London and from 1983 to 1989 served as director of the Paris Opera Ballet.

The Final Footprint

His funeral was held in the marble foyer of the Paris Garnier Opera House. Many paid tributes to his brilliance as a dancer. One such tribute came from Oleg Vinogradov of the Mariinsky Ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia, stating: “What Nureyev did in the west, he could never have done here.”

Nureyev’s grave, at a Russian cemetery in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois near Paris, features a tomb draped in a mosaic of an oriental carpet. Nureyev was an avid collector of beautiful carpets and antique textiles. As his coffin was lowered into the ground, music from the last act of Giselle was played and his ballet shoes were cast into the grave along with white lilies.

On this day in 2006, singer, songwriter, actor, voice actor, and record producer Lou Rawls died from lung cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 72. Born Louis Allen Rawls on December 1, 1933 in Rawls released more than 60 albums, sold more than 40 million records, and had numerous charting singles, most notably his song “You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine”. He worked as a film, television, and voice actor. He was also a three-time Grammy-winner, all for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.

Rawls’s first marriage was in the spring of 1968, in Princeton, New Jersey. Sidney Poitier was his best man, and the reception was held at Westminster Choir College. In 2003 Rawls married Nina Inman.

The Final Footprint

Rawls is entombed at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills). Other notable final footprints at Hollywood Hills include; Gene Autry, Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, David Carradine, Scatman Crothers, Bette Davis, Sandra Dee, Ronnie James Dio, Michael Clarke Duncan, Carrie Fisher, Bobby Fuller, Andy Gibb, Michael Hutchence, Jill Ireland, Al Jarreau, Buster Keaton, Lemmy Kilmister, Jack LaLanne, Nicolette Larson, Liberace, Strother Martin, Jayne Meadows, Brittany Murphy, Ricky Nelson, Bill Paxton, Brock Peters, Freddie Prinze,  Debbie Reynolds, Telly Savalas, Lee Van Cleef, and Paul Walker.

#RIP #OTD in 2022 director (The Last Picture Show,  What’s Up, Doc?, Paper Moon, Saint Jack, They All Laughed, Mask), writer, actor, Peter Bogdanovich died from complications of Parkinson’s disease at his home in Los Angeles, aged 82. Westwood Memorial Park, Westwood, California

#RIP #OTD in 2022 Bahamian and American actor (The Defiant Ones, Lilies of the Field, To Sir, with Love, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, In the Heat of the Night), film director, diplomat Sidney Poitier died at his home in Beverly Hills, California, aged 94. Cremation

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Day in History 5 January – Edward the Confessor – Catherine de’ Medici – Tina Modotti – Mistinguett – Charles Mingus – Sonny Bono

Posted on 29 JanamFri, 05 Jan 2024 00:54:00 -06002024-01-05T00:54:00-06:0012 2011 by MacGregor

On this day in 1066, Anglo-Saxon king of England and saint, Edward the Confessor, died in London at the apporoximate age of 62.  Born c. 1003 in Islip, Oxfordshire, England, the son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy.  Edward’s reign began in 1042 on the death of his half brother Harthacanut; the king of Denmark and England was the son of Cnut the Great and Emma of Normandy, Edward’s mother.  His reign restored the rule of the House of Wessex after the period of Danish rule since Cnut had conquered England in 1016 but marked the continuing disintegration of royal power in England and the advancing power of the earls.  Edward married Edith of Wessex but the union was childless.  When Edward died in 1066 he had no son to take over the throne and conflict arose as three men claimed the throne of England.  His nearest heir would have been his great nephew Edgar Ætheling who was 14 at the time.  Edward made a deathbed bestowal of the crown on Harold Godwinson, the brother of Queen Edith.  The Viking king, Harald III of Norway based a claim to the throne of England on an agreement supposedly made by Magnus and Harthacnut, which stated that if either died, the other would inherit the deceased’s throne and lands.  When Harthacnut died, Magnus assumed the crown of Denmark, but did not press his claim on England, allowing Edward to take the throne.  William, Duke of Normandy (William the Conqueror), whose great aunt Emma was Edward’s mother, claimed that Edward promised him the throne upon Edward’s death.  The resulting conflict led to the Norman Conquest and the subsequent influence of Norman-French culture on England.  Osbert de Clare, a monk of Westminster, represented Edward as a holy man, reported to have performed several miracles and to have healed people by his touch.  Edward had a stone abbey built at Westminster Abbey which became the traditional place for English and British royalty coronations and burials. 

The Final Footprint – Edward is entombed in the Chapel of St. Edward the Confessor located behind the sanctuary in Westminster Abbey. Osbert went to Rome to advocate the cause for Edward to be declared a saint, successfully securing his canonization by Pope Alexander III in 1161.  Edward is commemorated on 13 October by the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of England and other Anglican Churches.  He is regarded as the patron saint of kings, difficult marriages, and separated spouses.  From the reign of Henry II of England to 1348, he was considered the patron saint of England.  During the reign of Edward III of England he was replaced in this role by Saint George, though Edward has remained the patron saint of the British Royal Family.Other notable Final Footprints at Westminster include; Robert Browning, Lord Byron, Geoffrey Chaucer, Oliver Cromwell, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Edward The Confessor, Elizabeth I, George II, George Friederic Handel, James I (James VI of Scotland), Samuel Johnson, Ben Jonson, Charles II, Edward III, Edward VI, Henry III, Henry V, Henry VII, Richard II, Rudyard Kipling, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Milton, Sir Isaac Newton, Laurence Olivier, Henry Purcell, Mary I, Mary II, Mary Queen of Scots, Thomas Shadwell, Lord Alfred Tennyson, Dylan Thomas, and William III. 

Catherine-de-mediciOn this day in 1589, Italian noblewoman, as the wife of King Henry II, the Queen of France from 1547 until 1559, Catherine de’ Medici died at the age of sixty-nine, probably from pleurisy the Royal Château of Blois, Loir-et-Cher department, Loire Valley, France.  Born in Florence, Republic of Florence, as Caterina Maria Romula di Lorenzo de’ Medici.  The Medici family were at the time the de facto rulers of Florence: originally bankers, they came to great wealth and power by bankrolling the monarchies of Europe.  The Medici produced four Popes of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo X (1513–1521), Pope Clement VII (1523–1534), Pope Pius IV (1559–1565), and Pope Leo XI (1605); two regent queens of France, Catherine and Marie (1600–1610); and, in 1531, the family became hereditary Dukes of Florence. Catherine’s father, Lorenzo II de’ Medici, was made Duke of Urbino by his uncle Pope Leo X.  Her mother, Madeleine de la Tour d’Auvergne, the Countess of Boulogne, was from one of the most prominent and ancient French noble families; this prestigious maternal heritage was of benefit to her future marriage to a fils de France.  As the mother of three sons who became kings of France during her lifetime she had extensive influence in the political life of France.  For a time she ruled France as its regent.  In 1533, at the age of fourteen, Caterina married Henry, second son of King Francis I and Queen Claude of France.  Throughout his reign, Henry excluded Catherine from participating in state affairs and instead showered favours on his chief mistress, Diane de Poitiers, who wielded much influence over him.  Henry’s death thrust Catherine into the political arena as mother of the frail fifteen-year-old King Francis II.  When he died in 1560, she became regent on behalf of her ten-year-old son King Charles IX and was granted sweeping powers.  After Charles died in 1574, Catherine played a key role in the reign of her third son, Henry III.  Catherine’s three sons reigned in an age of almost constant civil and religious war in France.  The problems facing the monarchy were complex and daunting.  At first, Catherine compromised and made concessions to the rebelling Protestants, or Huguenots, as they became known.  She failed, however, to grasp the theological issues that drove their movement.  Later, she resorted in frustration and anger to hard-line policies against them.  In return, she came to be blamed for the excessive persecutions carried out under her sons’ rule, in particular for the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre of 1572, in which thousands of Huguenots were killed in Paris and throughout France.  Some historians have excused Catherine from blame for the worst decisions of the crown, though evidence for her ruthlessness can be found in her letters.  In practice, her authority was always limited by the effects of the civil wars.  Her policies, therefore, may be seen as desperate measures to keep the Valois monarchy on the throne at all costs, and her patronage of the arts as an attempt to glorify a monarchy whose prestige was in steep decline.  Without Catherine, it is unlikely that her sons would have remained in power.  The years in which they reigned have been called “the age of Catherine de’ Medici”.  According to one of her biographers Mark Strage, Catherine was the most powerful woman in sixteenth-century Europe.  Catherine_de_Medicis_Henri_II_gisants_basilique-Saint-Denis

The Final Footprint – Because Paris was held by enemies of the crown, Catherine had to be buried at Blois.  Diane, daughter of Henry II and Philippa Duci, later had her body moved to Saint-Denis basilica.  In 1793, a revolutionary mob tossed her bones into a mass grave with those of the other kings and queens.  Eight months after Catherine’s burial, Jacques Clément stabbed Henry III to death.  At the time, Henry was besieging Paris with the King of Navarre, who would succeed him as Henry IV of France.  Henry III’s assassination ended nearly three centuries of Valois rule and brought the Bourbon dynasty into power.  The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Denis is a large medieval abbey church in the city of Saint-Denis, now a northern suburb of Paris.  The building is of unique importance historically and architecturally, as its choir completed in 1144 is considered to be the first Gothic church ever built.  The abbey is where the kings of France and their families were buried for centuries and is therefore often referred to as the “royal necropolis of France”.  All but three of the monarchs of France from the 10th century until 1789 have their remains here.  Other notable final footprints at St. Denis include: Clovis I (465–511), Childebert I (496–558), Arégonde (c.515–c.573), Fredegonde (Wife of Chilperic I of Neustria) (?–597), Dagobert I (603–639), Clovis II (635–657), Charles Martel (686–741), Pippin the Younger (714–768) and his wife Bertrada of Laon (726–783), Carloman I King of the Franks (c.751–771), Charles the Bald (823–877) (his brass monument was melted down during the Revolution) and his wife, Ermentrude of Orléans (823–869), Carloman (866–884), Robert II the Pious (972–1031) and Constance of Arles (c. 986–1032), Henry I (1008–1060), Louis VI (1081–1137), Louis VII (1120–1180) and Constance of Castile (1141–1160), Philip II Augustus (1180–1223), Louis IX (1214-1270), Charles I of Naples (1226–1285), king of the Two Sicilies (1266–85), Philip III the Bold (1245–1285), Philip IV the Fair (1268–1314) and his mother Isabella of Aragon (1247–1271), Leo V of Armenia (1342–1393), Louis XII of France (1462–1515), Francis I (1494–1547), Henry II (1519–1559), Francis II (1544–1560), Charles IX (1550–1574) (no monument), Henry III (1551–1589), also King of Poland (heart burial monument), Henry IV (1553–1610) and Marie de’ Medici, Louis XIII (1601–1643), Louis XIV (1638–1715), Louis XV (1710–1774), Louis XVI (1754–1793) and Marie Antoinette (1755–1793), Louis XVII (1785–1795) (only his heart; his body was dumped into a mass grave), and Louis XVIII (1755–1824).

#RIP #OTD in 1942 photographer, model (for Edward Weston, Diego Rivera), actor, and revolutionary political activist, Tina Modotti died from congestive heart failure in Mexico City, aged 45. Panteón de Dolores in Mexico City

#RIP #OTD in 1956 actress and singer (“Mon Homme”), at one time the highest-paid female entertainer in the world, Mistinguett died in Bougival, France, aged 82. Cimetière Enghien-les-Bains, Île-de-France, France

On this day in 1979,  jazz double bassist, pianist, composer and bandleader, The Angry Man of Jazz, Charles Mingus died from ALS in Cuernavaca, Mexico, at the age of 56. Born Charles Mingus Jr. on April 22, 1922 on the US Army base in Nogales, Arizona. A major proponent of collective improvisation, in my opinion, he is one of the greatest jazz musicians and composers in history. His career spanned three decades.

Mingus’ compositions continue to be played by contemporary musicians ranging from the repertory bands Mingus Big Band, Mingus Dynasty, and Mingus Orchestra, to the high school students who play the charts and compete in the Charles Mingus High School Competition. In 1993, The Library of Congress acquired Mingus’s collected papers—including scores, sound recordings, correspondence and photos—in what they described as “the most important acquisition of a manuscript collection relating to jazz in the Library’s history”.

The Final Footprint

His cremains were scattered in the Ganges River.

On this day in 1998, singer-songwriter, producer, actor, and politician Sonny Bono died in a skiing accident at Heavenly Mountain Resort near South Lake Tahoe, California, at the age of 62. Born Salvatore Phillip Bono on February 16, 1935 in Detroit. He came to fame in partnership with his second wife Cher, as the popular singing duo Sonny & Cher. He was mayor of Palm Springs, California from 1988 to 1992, and the Republican congressman for California’s 44th district from 1995 until his death in 1998.

The United States Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998, which extended the term of copyright by 20 years, was named in honor of Bono when it was passed by Congress nine months after his death. Mary Bono (Sonny’s last wife) had been one of the original sponsors of the legislation, commonly known as the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act.

Bono married his first wife, Donna Rankin, on November 3, 1954. They divorced in 1962. In 1964, Bono married Cher. In 1975 they divorced. Bono then married Susie Coelho in 1983, but divorced her within a year in 1984. He wed Mary Whitaker in 1986.

In 1996, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.

 

The Final Footprint

At Mary’s request Cher gave a eulogy at Sonny’s funeral. He was buried at Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City, California. The epitaph on Bono’s headstone reads AND THE BEAT GOES ON. Other notable final footprints at Desert Memorial include; Frederick Loewe, Frank Sinatra, and Jimmy Van Heusen.

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