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- Art Department
- Writer
The archetypal "Renaissance Man," Leonardo da Vinci was one of the greatest scientific minds as well as one of the greatest visual artists the human race has ever produced. The illegitimate son of a wealthy Florentine notary, Piero da Vinci, and a peasant woman named Caterina, Leonardo was born in Tuscany on April 15, 1452, in Anchiano, a town near Vinci, which is in the proximity of Florence.
When he was about 17 years old, Leonardo was apprenticed as a garzone or studio boy to the workshop of the Renaissance master Andrea Verrocchio, the leading Florentine painter and artist of his day. From roughly 1469 to 1476, Leonardo acquired a variety of skills during his apprenticeship at Verrocchio's workshop, including painting altarpieces and panel pictures and making large sculptures in bronze and marble. In 1472, he joined the painters' guild, and six years later, he became an independent master. His first commission was in 1478, to paint an altarpiece for the Palazzo Vecchio's chapel. The painting was never executed. Florence's Monastery of San Donato a Scopeto commissioned Leonardo's first large painting in 1481. 'The Adoration of the Magi' was left unfinished when Leonardo left Florence for Milan approximately a year later, to work for Duke Lodovico Sforza as court artist and as an engineer.
Leonardo had written the Duke of Milan touting his skills as a military engineer. In his letter, Leonardo claimed that he could build portable bridges, manufacture cannon, and build ships and war machines, including armored vehicles and catapults. He also told the Duke he could sculpt in bronze, clay and marble. He worked for the Duke of Milan for almost 18 years, painting portraits, designing festivals, and planning to sculpt a massive equestrian monument to honor the Duke's father. In addition to serving the duke as an architect and working for him as a military engineer, Leonardo assisted the mathematician Luca Pacioli in the celebrated work Divina Proportione.
Leonardo's interest in science began to flourish in Milan, and as a civil and military engineer, he delved into the field of mechanics. His scientific research also embraced anatomy, biology, mathematics, and physics. It was during this period that he finished "The Last Supper," which along with the "Mona Lisa," is his most significant masterpiece.
France captured Milan in 1499, and Leonardo moved to Mantua and then to Venice to seek employment. By April 1500, he had returned to Florence, though two years later, he left to work for Cesare Borgia, the Duke of Romagna, in a military capacity. The son of Pope Alexander VI, Borgia served his father as his general in-chief. Leonardo. as the duke's chief architect and engineer, supervised construction on forts in the Papal states in central Italy.
Back in Florence in 1503, Leonardo served on the art commission of artists that determined the proper placing of Michelangelo's sculpture 'David.' Florence was at war with Pisa, and Leonardo served the city-state as a military engineer while continuing his scientific research. Leonardo began to design a painting for the great hall of the Palazzo Vecchio to commemorate the Battle of Anghiari, a Florentine victory over Pisa. While Leonardo produced a full-size sketch in 1505, he never executed the wall painting. During his second residency in Florence, Leonardo painted the portrait 'La Giocondane,' more famously known as Mona Lisa. Leonardo apparently was quite fond of the completed work, as it accompanied him on all of his subsequent travels.
Arguably the most famous painting in the world, the Mona Lisa is a bravura technical performance. The innovative Leonardo exhibits his mastery of chiaroscuro, the technique of modeling and defining form through contrasts of light and shadow, and sfumato, the technique of using subtle transitions between areas of color. The Mona Lisa, like many of his paintings, features a landscape background utilizing atmospheric perspective. Leonardo was one of the first painters to introduce atmospheric perspective into art, and his work influenced the High Renaissance Florentine masters, including Raphael. He also was a major influence on the artistic development of Correggio.
Returning to Milan in June 1506, at the invitation of French governor Charles d'Amboise, Leonardo went to work for the French court, which with King Louis XII of France, was residing in the Italian city. Except for a sojourn back in Florence in the period 1507-08, Leonardo stayed in Milan for seven years, though he returned to Florence often to visit his half-brothers and -siters and to manage his inheritance. In 1507, Leonardo went was named court painter to King Louis XII.
In Milan, he worked on engineering projects and on the planning of an equestrian statue to honor Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, the French military commander of Milan. The statue was never realized. During this Milan stay, scientific research became paramount. He applied his artistic gifts toward scientific illustration. In addition to his study of anatomy, he studied the stratification of rocks and researched the principles behind light, the flow of water, and the growth of plants. Leonardo's method was to draw and describe things by first approaching the surface before delving in to the underlying structure. He was interested in exactly describing the appearance of natural things in order to analyze their functioning. Similar to his artistic innovations, Leonardo's scientific theories were based on careful observation, precisely documented. He also made sketches of mechanical devices for the transmission of energy.
Along with Giuliano de'Medici, the brother of Pope Leo X, Leonardo moved to Rome in 1514. Enjoying the patronage of Pope Leo X, he lived in the Palazzo Belvedere in the Vatican and was mostly concerned with scientific experimentation. In 1516, he left Italy and moved to France to become the architectural adviser of King Francis I, an admirer of his work. Leonardo lived at the Château de Cloux, near Amboise, France, where he died on May 2, 1519 at at the age of 67.- Émile Souvestre was born on 15 April 1806 in Morlaix, Finistère, France. He was a writer, known for Stiffelio (2012). He was married to Anne Papot and Cécile Ballot-Beaupré. He died on 5 July 1854 in Paris, France.
- Wilhelm Busch was a German painter, poet and satirist, best known for his drawings that were accompanied by wise, satiric, doggerel verse. His Bilderbogen (pictorial broadsheets) are considered to be precursors of the comic strip.
In 1859, after study at academies in Duesseldorf, Antwerp, and Munich, Busch began to contribute comic sketches series to Fliegende Blätter and Münchener Bilderbogen, published in Munich. These were followed by his continuous pictorial narratives (bilderposse) short verse-texts. These included his most famous work Max und Moritz and Der heilige Antonius von Padua, Die fromme Helene, Hans Huckebein, Dideldum!, and Herr und Frau Knopp.
By 1910 over half a million copies of Max und Moritz and his works had been translated into over 200 languages.
In Germany, Busch's work continues in popularity and his writings are widely quoted in German-speaking countries. His style has been copied by innumerable artists. - Born Robert Leroy Parker in Beaver, Utah, in 1866, the outlaw later to become famous as Butch Cassidy (he took the name Butch because he was once a butcher and the name Cassidy in honor of a local rancher who had befriended him as a youth) started his criminal career at an early age, stealing livestock when he was just a teenager. He soon left the Beaver area and hooked up with other rustlers and thieves, eventually forming a gang known as The Wild Bunch, which included such well known desperadoes as The Sundance Kid and Harvey Logan. The gang began robbing banks, payrolls and trains all over Colorado and Utah, and became so proficient at it that the Pinkerton Detective Agency was hired to run them down, and in addition a $4000 bounty (a huge sum at the time) was placed on their heads. The gang soon broke up and Cassidy and his partner The Sundance Kid headed to Mexico. Even that wasn't far enough, however, as both the Pinkerton detectives and professional bounty hunters were soon in Mexico looking for them, so they fled to Argentina, where they set up shop--under assumed names--as cattle ranchers. The ruse worked for a while until one night The Sundance Kid, under the influence of too much alcohol, began to brag about the many robberies they had gotten away with. A few days later a bank in a nearby town was robbed by two English-speaking bandits, and suspicion immediately fell upon the two, who were forced to pull up stakes and flee again. They wound up in Chile, and though they made several attempts to settle down and give up their lives of crime, circumstances dictated otherwise. They eventually crossed into Bolivia with plans to rob a bank in the small town of San Vicente. A hotel worker, having heard that the police were on the lookout for two English-speaking bank robbers, became suspicious of the pair and informed the local police chief. The chief and two of his men approached them in a restaurant, whereupon the Sundance Kid opened fire, killing one of the officers. The two gunmen fled and the police requested help from an army cavalry regiment that happened to be in town, and the soldiers and police soon trapped Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in a small house, where, after an all-night siege and gun battle, the two were found dead the next morning of gunshot wounds. Although rumors have surfaced over the years claiming that the pair actually escaped the battle and returned to the US, so far no real evidence has surfaced to conclusively prove that story.
- John Denis was born on 15 April 1913 in Brentford, Middlesex, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Long Way Home (1960). He died on 15 April 1913 in London, England, UK.
- Jan Sten was born on 15 April 1871 in Warsaw, Warsaw Governorate, Congress Poland, Russian Empire [now Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland]. Jan was married to Stella Maria Brunner. Jan died on 5 December 1913 in Kraków, Galicia, Austro-Hungarian Empire [now Kraków, Malopolskie, Poland].
- Henry James was born 15 April 1843, to a wealthy family. He was born in New York, New York USA. His parents were Henry James Sr. and Mary Robertson Walsh; He had one brother William James (January 11 1842-August 26 1910) and one sister Alice James. When Henry James was a young boy he would enjoy reading the classics of English, American, German, French, and Russian literature. Also when he was a kid he and his family would travel back and forth to England and the United States of America. Henry James educated in New York City, London, Paris and Geneva.
He tried to strive for a higher education then he decided it was not for him and writing was his calling in life. (When Henry James was at the age of 19 he briefly attended Harvard Law School, but preferred reading literature to studying law). When Henry James hit the age of 21 he decided to write his first novel, A Tragedy of error. From that point on he started to write. He went on to write 23 more novels in his lifetime (this is a short list of the book's he wrote the Ambassadors, The Golden Bowl, The Portrait of a Lady, The American, Washington Square, The Bostonians, and The Wings of the Dove). Henry James also was an extraordinarily productive on top of all of his novels he wrote he published articles an, biography, autobiography, and criticism, and wrote plays (one of them being Guy Domville), some of which were performed during his lifetime with moderate success. Henry James also wrote a whole lot of short stories for either the local news or just for fun. He often wrote for the New York tribune. Henry James was a key stone writer of his time (He was one of the foremost literary figures of his time, leaving us an enormous body of novels, 'tales' (short stories), literary and art criticism, autobiography and travel writing). Throughout his life he was in love with his cousin, Mary Temple, but later in life while he was in London he became homosexual, the young man he started to wright was at the age of 27 and Henry James was at the age of 56. He also wrote another guy named, Howard Sturgis. They started to write back and forth and they started to have more emotion in the letters. He also started to write a woman named Lucy Clifford; But Henry James never got married in his lifetime. Henry James brother William James died when Henry James was at the age of 67; Henry James had a stroke on Dec 2nd of 1915. His health started to decline from then. He died in London in Feb. 28th of 1916. When he died he was not only a citizen for the United States of America but also a British subject. He was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium and his ashes are interred at Cambridge, Massachusetts. - Writer
- Soundtrack
Nikolai Gumilev was born on 15 April 1886 in Kronstadt, Russian Empire [now St. Petersburg, Russia]. He was a writer, known for Svidanie v teatre pepla (2000) and Golos (2012). He was married to Anna Akhmatova. He died on 25 August 1921 in Berngardowka, Petrograd Governorate, RSFSR [now Leningrad Oblast, Russia].- Actor
- Director
- Writer
The son of writer-theater producer-director-actor Hal Reid, Wallace was on stage by the age of four in the act with his parents. He spent most of his early years, not on the stage, but in private schools where he excelled in music and athletics. In 1910, his father went to the Chicago studio of "Selig Polyscope Company" and Wallace decided that he wanted to be a cameraman. However, with his athletic good looks, he was often put in front of the camera instead of behind - a situation that he disliked. His first film before the camera was The Phoenix (1910), where he played the role of the young reporter. Wallace preferred to be a cameraman, a writer, a director - anything but an actor. He took his fathers play "The Confession" to Vitagraph where he wanted to write and direct the film. Wallace ended up also acting in it. Starting with bit parts in various films, Wallace was eventually cast as the leading man to Florence Turner in numerous films. Wallace next moved on to "Reliance" where he acted, but also wrote screenplays. His next big move was to Hollywood, where he was hired by Universal director Otis Turner, as assistant director, second cameraman, gopher and scenario writer. It was what he was looking for, but he ended up back in front of the camera. At 20, Reid was an unknown assistant director. In 1913, Wallace married Dorothy Davenport, one of the stars that he both directed and starred with. Although only 17, Dorothy had spent a number of years on the stage before heading to the silver screen. The roles that Wallace played were getting bigger and bigger, but after appearing in over 100 films, he took a salary cut and a small part to work with D.W. Griffith on his milestone film The Birth of a Nation (1915). It was after this film that Jesse L. Lasky signed Wallace to a contract with "Famous Players" and he became a big star, but his dreams of directing and writing ended. An alcoholic for years, this situation worsened. His first film for "Famous Players" was The Chorus Lady (1915). Wallace went on to star in a series of pictures in which he represented all that was best of the ideal American. He had parts in over 60 more pictures including Intolerance (1916) and The Squaw Man's Son (1917). But it was the daredevil auto movies that he was most popular at. Flashing cars, dangerous roads and sometimes a race with a speeding locomotive thrilled and scared the public. His auto pictures included The Roaring Road (1919), Excuse My Dust (1920) and Double Speed (1920). When the U.S. entered World War I, Wallace was 25, six foot one and a crack shot. Even though he wanted to enlist, pressure was exerted on him not to. He was the rock on which "Famous Players" was built and his loss would have materially effect the company. He had a newborn son and was the sole support for his wife, his son, his mother, her mother, his father and also had to consider his status as a matinée idol.
He did volunteer his time to selling Liberty bonds and often opened his house to veterans. His films were financial successes, but in his personal life, he spent money like water. Wallace was a star who was worked continuously by the studio but disaster struck on a film site in Oregon. While making the film The Valley of the Giants (1919), Wallace was involved in a train crash and his injuries prevented him from finishing the film. Unwilling to stop the film, the studio sent the company doctor up to Oregon with a supply of morphine so that he would continue working and not feel the pain of his injury. After the picture was finished, he was needed to begin another so the studio kept supplying Wallace with morphine and he became hooked. Coupled with the alcohol, Wallace never had a chance and by 1922, he started entering a succession of hospitals and sanitariums as his health faded. Making his last film for the studio, Thirty Days (1922), Wallace was barely able to stand, let alone act. He died at the sanitarium, in Dorothy's arms, on the 18th day of January 1923 at the age of only 31. Wallace was the third major Paramount personality to be involved in scandal in 1922.- Agnes Emerson was born on 15 April 1897 in Denver, Colorado, USA. She was an actress, known for Wanted at Headquarters (1920) and John Needham's Double (1916). She died on 15 April 1925 in San Luis Obispo, California, USA.
- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Lincoln J. Carter was born on 15 April 1865 in Rochester, New York, USA. He was a writer and director, known for Chattanooga (1912), The Cyclone Rider (1924) and The Eleventh Hour (1923). He was married to Mrs. Mary L. Beane Whitmer and Louisa Maria Simms. He died on 13 July 1926 in Goshen, Indiana, USA.- Young Griffo was born on 15 April 1869 in Millers Point, City of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He was an actor, known for Young Griffo v. Battling Charles Barnett (1895). He died on 7 December 1927 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Jay Herman was born on 15 April 1891 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA. He was an actor, known for The Birth of a Man (1916), Pearls of Temptation (1915) and The Mesh of the Net (1915). He was married to Thelma Pritchard. He died on 20 February 1928 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA.
- Pol de Mont was born on 15 April 1857 in Wambeke, Flanders, Belgium. He was a writer, known for De verrijzenis van Ons Heer (1979). He died on 29 June 1931 in Berlin, Germany.
- Robert Livingston Beeckman was born on 15 April 1866 in New York City, New York, USA. He died on 20 January 1935 in Santa Barbara, California, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
At age 23, the year 1897, Herbert began a long experience of his career towards acting on the British Theater. During that time the theater was still owned by the eminent Thomas Alva Edison. As a classically trained British actor he began by acting in small parts on screen and off. Fans will probably remember his most as the ineffectual Dr. Seward in the classic Universal Pictures film Dracula (1931). In fact Herbert essayed the part both in the film and the stage. When the 1927 stage play of Dracula was released he played the very same role of Dr. Seward on the play, as did another British actor, Edward Van Sloan who played Professor Van Helsing both on the play and on screen. After many years with the British stage he moved on to play parts in Broadway. A very capable actor with his versatile tie and cultured masculinity. By the late 1930s, Herbert became an older gentlemen in his late fifties and continued both on stage and screen to play authoritative supporting roles mostly of which were film versions of classic literature novels and plays. By 1935, his career was tragically cut short of a heart attack. He died at sixty-one.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Richard Travers was born on 15 April 1885 in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. He was an actor and director, known for The Man Trail (1915), The Unholy Night (1929) and In the Palace of the King (1915). He was married to Violet Palmer, Lillian May Cattell aka May Franklin and Augusta West. He died on 20 April 1935 in San Pedro, California, USA.- Actress
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Bessie Smith was born on 15 April 1894 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA. She was an actress, known for Angel Heart (1987), Water for Elephants (2011) and Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004). She was married to Jack Gee. She died on 26 September 1937 in Clarksdale, Mississippi, USA.- Set Decorator
- Actor
- Writer
Rudolf Zák was born on 15 April 1897 in Lisov, Cechy, Austria-Hungary [now Czech Republic]. He was a set decorator and actor, known for Paní Morálka krácí mestem (1939), Nevinná (1939) and Bílá jachta ve Splitu (1939). He died on 26 November 1939 in Prague, Protektorát Cechy a Morava [now Czech Republic].- Casper Reardon was born to a vaudeville family in Little Falls, New York. At the age of five he trouped with his parents. His father, who was of Irish descent, presented him with a small Irish harp on his eighth birthday. His début as soloist was with the Philadelphia Orchestra, under the direction of Leopold Stokowski. As a result of winning a scholarship, he became one of the most brilliant pupils of the illustrious Carlos Salzedo at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. Graduating in 1926, he became first harpist of the Cincinnati Symphony under Fritz Reiner for five years, and head of the Harp Department at the Cincinnati Conservatory. Newspaperman Edwin H. Schloss wrote (July 19, 1939), 'In Cincinnati, some of Reardon's Southern pupils interested him in jazz and he fell in love with the music of W.C. Handy. He found the percussive harp to be as well suited to Gershwin as to Debussy and the rest is history, mostly made via radio.' On his own, Reardon devised a technique of playing 'jazz.' The precedent for jazz music on the harp had not been explored to a significant degree. It wasn't unusual for a dance orchestra to utilize the harp for texture. (The dance orchestras of Leonard Joy, Richard Himber, Victor Young and Raymond Paige used harp regularly.) Reardon thought the harp had more potential than the usual flourishes and interludes that were expected of him. When he became a regular feature on the powerful Cincinnati station WLW, he used the nom de radio "Arpeggio Glissando," so as to not shock his classical harp students. He moved to New York City in 1931 and immediately created a niche for himself and his instrument. On September 18, 1934, he recorded an unprecedented long harp solo on the Jack Teagarden recording of "Junk Man" for Brunswick Records. Although his name does not appear on the record, determined music lovers soon found out who the swing harpist was. By 1936 he recorded some dance records as Casper Reardon & His Orchestra, for Liberty Music Shop. He became known as the "Swing Harpist." He was immortalized as "Cousin Caspar" [sic] in Alice Faye's film You're a Sweetheart (1937). He was a regular on radio shows such as 'Saturday Night Swing Club' with the orchestra of Bunny Berigan, and was often featured by Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra. George Gershwin featured Reardon on his popular Feenamint broadcast in 1934. Casper Reardon met Dana Suesse in nineteen thirty-nine, through their friend, Gus Schirmer. Suesse told this writer, "Casper told me about having an engagement with the Philadelphia Symphony and wanted me to write something for him. At the time, Young Man with A Horn was a best selling novel." It seemed logical to create a concert piece called Young Man with A Harp. Alexander Smallens, who would always be remembered as the original conductor of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, conducted the concert at the Robin Hood Dell in 1939 Dana and Casper repeated their Young Man With A Harp on February 25, 1940 with Guy Fraser Harrison conducting the Rochester Civic Orchestra. The program was made up almost entirely of harp and orchestra pieces: Debussy, Couperin, Salzedo and Suesse. The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle (Norman Nairn) boasted there was a "pleasurable evening for a large audience which 'ate up' the swing music of Mr. Reardon. " After these favorable responses, Dana and Casper wanted to make a recording of their effort. What better place to try than their friend, Gus Schirmer, Jr. and his new recording studio. In 1940 Reardon performed with Suesse at a Cabinet Dinner for President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his family. Reardon became ill and died on March 8, 1941. He was 33 years old.
- Make-Up Department
Al Senator was born on 15 April 1898 in Bulgaria. He died on 5 May 1941 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Cinematographer
Mihailo Mihailovic was born on 15 April 1893 in Belgrade, Serbia. He was a cinematographer, known for Tragedija nase dece (1922), Doktor Tokerama (1923) and Greh alkohola (1923). He died on 20 February 1942 in Belgrade, Serbia, Yugoslavia.- Markéta Krausová was born on 15 April 1895 in Prague, Cechy, Austria-Hungary [now Czech Republik]. She was an actress, known for Král ulice (1935), První políbení (1935) and A Woman Who Knows What She Wants (1934). She died on 2 July 1942 in Concentration Camp Majdanek, Poland.
- Writer
- Animation Department
Billy DeBeck was born on 15 April 1890 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was a writer, known for Private Snuffy Smith (1942), Hillbilly Blitzkrieg (1942) and Horsefeathers (1928). He was married to Mary Louise Dunne and Marian Louise Shields. He died on 11 November 1942 in New York City, New York, USA.- Johannes Lennø was born on 15 April 1884 in Aalborg, Denmark. He was an actor, known for Dødsbokseren (1926), Uniformens Magt (1915) and H.P. hænger paa 'en (1916). He was married to Ebba. He died on 21 January 1943.
- Adele Garavaglia was born on 15 April 1869 in Turin, Piedmont, Italy. She was an actress, known for Il fu Mattia Pascal (1937), Piccolo mondo antico (1941) and Ecco la radio! (1940). She was married to Ferruccio Garavaglia. She died on 11 March 1944 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.
- Art Director
Heinrich Kleys was born on 15 April 1863 in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. He was an art director, known for The Three Passions (1928). He died on 8 February 1945 in Munich, Germany.- Francisco Braga was born on 15 April 1868 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was a composer, known for Bandeirantes (1940). He died on 14 March 1945 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- Frank Conklin was born on 15 April 1886 in Atchison, Kansas, USA. He was an actor, known for Federal Man-Hunt (1938). He died on 6 June 1945 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Music Department
Väinö Raitio was born on 15 April 1891 in Sortavala, Grand Duchy of Finland. He is known for Suurkaupungin kasvot (2019). He was married to Hildur Pourun. He died on 10 September 1945 in Helsinki, Finland.- Music Department
Karl Alwin was born on 15 April 1891 in Königsberg, East-Prussia, Germany. He is known for Letzte Liebe (1935). He was married to Elisabeth Schumann. He died on 15 October 1945 in Mexico City, Mexico.- George McKay was born on 15 April 1884 in Minsk, Russian Empire [now Belarus]. He was an actor, known for Devil's Playground (1937), The Face Behind the Mask (1941) and Underground Agent (1942). He was married to Ottie Ardine. He died on 3 December 1945 in Hollywood, California, USA.
- Robert Clugston was born on 15 April 1889 in Elgin, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for The Hunting of the Hawk (1917), The Haunted Manor (1916) and Little Miss Nobody (1917). He was married to Edna Shanotuske and Irma Clugston. He died on 15 December 1946 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
- Harry C. Bradley was born on 15 April 1869 in San Francisco, California, USA. He was an actor, known for The House of Mystery (1934), Riding on Air (1937) and Heat Lightning (1934). He was married to Lottie Alter and Lurelle Lancing Waters. He died on 18 October 1947 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Sound Department
George Oschmann was born on 15 April 1889 in New York, USA. He is known for Love at First Sight (1929), Kitty (1929) and The Divorce Racket (1932). He died on 13 January 1948 in New York, USA.- Art Department
Armenian painter and draftsman. Born in Khorkom Van, Hayotz Dzore, a village in now Turkish Armenia. Emigrated to the USA in 1920, lived first in Boston and studied at Rhode Island School of Design, Providence Technical High School and the New School of Design, Boston. Changed his name from Vosdanig Manoog Adoian to Arshile Gorky. Moved in 1925 to New York and studied and taught at Grand Central Art School 1925-31. Painted pictures strongly influenced by Picasso. Friendships 1929-34 with Stuart Davis and from c. 1933 with De Kooning. First one man exhibition at the Mellon Galleries, 1934 Philadelphia. Worked 1935-39 on the WPA Federal Art Project as a mural painter. Developed an increasingly personal style from 1941-2, with hybrid biomorphic imagery and a more fluid handling of paint. Spent much time in the countryside from 1942, especially at Sherman, Connecticut. Died by suicide at Sherman after a succession of misfortunes, including a fire in his studio and being severely injured in a car accident.- Writer
- Soundtrack
Songwriter ("L' Amour, Toujours, L' Amour", "Dilly-Dally-O"), composer and author, educated at girls' schools. She wrote the Broadway stage librettos for "Glorianna" and "Lassie", and the librettos for "Marjolaine" and "Topsy and Eva". Joining ASCAP in 1935, her chief musical collaborators were Rudolf Friml and Hugo Felix. Her other popular-song compositions include "Chianti", "John and Priscilla", "When Brown Eyes Looked in Eyes of Blue" and "Read Between the Lines".- James J. Jeffries was the heavyweight champion of the world from 1899 to 1905 but he is best known to history for coming out of retirement to take on Jack Johnson, the first African American heavyweight champion in history, in what was called "The Fight of the Century". That fight ensured Jeffries' place in American history as Johnson is a significant figure in not only sports history but in the social history of the United States for his role as a mirror on and lighting rod for racism.
Jack Johnson was not the first black boxer Jeffries had fought. On his way up through the ranks he had fought and beaten such notables as Hank Griffin, whom Johnson had failed to beat in three fights, and Peter "Black Prince" Jackson, the Australian heavyweight champ who had fought future heavyweight champ 'Gentleman Jim (1942)" Corbett to a draw in 61 rounds in 1891. It was Jackson's first defeat in 13 years and he retired shortly after. His victory over the black boxer Bob Armstrong, the "King of the Battle Royal", won him a title shot with Bob Fitzsimmons, the Cornishman from New Zealand who had beaten 'Gentleman Jim (1942)" Corbett for the world's heavyweight title. Though Fitzsimmons was the favorite, the younger and heavier Jeffries knocked him out in the 11th round. Jeffries would later successfully defend his title against the top heavyweights, including Corbett, but he did not fight a black challenger.
Interestingly, the black light-heavyweight Sam Langford, who was denied a title shot by Jack Johnson, advertised he would take on any boxer in the world, except for Jim Jeffries. The left-handed Jeffries, in those first years of "scientific boxing" pioneered by Jem Mace and Corbett, fought from a crouch and was able to inflict and absorb terrific punishment. In a rematch with Fitzsimmons, the Cornishman had cut both of Jeffries' cheeks to the bone, opened up cuts over his eyes and broke his nose, and Jeffries still managed to knock him out. Jeffires broke the ribs of three of his opponents, including Gentleman Jim.
Jeffires had refused to fight Jack Johnson after he won the "World Colored Heavyweight Championship" in 1903. Blacks had not been allowed to fight for the heavyweight championship after James L. Sullivan, "The Boston Strong Boy, the bare-knuckle champion who refused a title match to Peter Jackson and "Old Chocolate" George Godfrey, a Canadian who had emigrated to Boston. By refusing to meet Johnson in a title match when he was champ, Jeffries kept the color bar in tact even though it already had been broken at a lower weight class. Joe Gans had become the first African American to win a title belt when he became lightweight champion in 1902, but when Johnson became the heavyweight champ in 1908 by beating Tommy Burns, racist white Americans were outraged. The hunt for "The Great White Hope" to reclaim the title for Caucasian America was on.
Uninterested in assuming "The Great white Hope" mantle, Jeffries was not an avowed racist and really did not want to fight any more. Like Rocky Marciano after him, he had retired as an undefeated champion. Unfortunately, he came back for more and forfeited his spotless record and Marciano remains the only undefeated heavyweight champion in history.
Jeffries was goaded into stepping back into the ring to face Johnson by such people as the writer Jack London. Sources say he was offered an unprecedented $120,000 (approximately $2.8 million in 2012 dollars) to fight Johnson. The former champ was out-of-shape and had to burn off 100 lbs. to get down to fighting trim. In their match up on the Fourth of July in Reno, Nevada, Johnson knocked him to the canvas twice, something that had never before happened in his illustrious his career. Jeffries' corner threw in the towel at the start of the 15th round to prevent the former champ from the humiliation of being knocked out.
Johnson won a $65,000 purse (approximately $1.5 million in 2012 dollars) in his title defense. News of his victory touched off celebrations among black folk across the country and sparked race riots in 50 cities in 25 states. ("Race riot" at the time meant a white-on-black conflict, "riots" that were initiated by lynching-minded whites.) Twenty-three African Americans and two whites perished in the riots, and hundreds more injured.
A movie made of the match, "Jeffries-Johnson World's Championship Boxing Contest, Held at Reno, Nevada, July 4, 1910 (1910)", received wide distribution, but many local politicians stepped in to ban the movie from being shown in their bailiwicks, lest there be more violence. Even former President Theodore Roosevelt, a sports enthusiast, came out against the distribution of the movie in particular and boxing movies in general. (T.R. was friendly to the aspirations of colored people; at the time, the Republican Party -- the Party of Abraham Lincoln -- was the political home of African Americans.) Congress banned the interstate transportation of boxing movies in 1912 (a ban not repealed until 1940).
Jeffries retired back to his alfalfa farm in Burnbank, California but kept his hand in the fight game as a trainer and boxing promoter. He died in 1953 at the age of 77. - Actor
Frankie Farr was born on 15 April 1902 in Albany, New York, USA. He was an actor. He died on 20 March 1953 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Actor
Harry Jackson was born on 15 April 1896 in Nebraska, USA. He was a cinematographer and actor, known for Mother Wore Tights (1947), The Band Wagon (1953) and Get That Girl (1932). He died on 3 August 1953 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Nathalie Krause was born on 15 April 1884 in Copenhagen, Denmark. She was an actress, known for Had og Kærlighed (1917), Brændemærket (1913) and Lejla (1914). She was married to Adam Poulsen. She died on 1 September 1953.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
The American character actress, Florence Rabe, was the daughter of an antique store owner. She gained a degree in Mathematics from the University of Texas in 1906 and went on to a career in teaching and social work. She changed course after being persuaded by a friend to study law, and, passing her bar exam in 1914, practised for four years in San Antonio. When her parents died, she took over the business and travelled abroad extensively to acquire stock, all the while adding to her knowledge of foreign languages (she was, for instance, a fluent Spanish speaker). After the Wall Street crash of 1929, Florence sold the antique store and married Texan oilman William F. Jacoby. Jacoby eventually went bankrupt and the couple moved to California in the late 1930's, briefly becoming proprietors of a bakery.
At this time, Florence, a heavy-set woman of matronly appearance and well into her middle age, developed an interest in acting and auditioned for the part of Miss Bates in the Pasadena Playhouse production of Jane Austen's 'Emma'. This proved to be a momentous career choice. Her popularity became such, that she went on to leading roles with the same company, changing her name to Florence Bates as a nod to her perceived good fortune. In 1939, she screen tested for Alfred Hitchcock, who was sufficiently impressed to cast her as the demanding, imperious dowager Mrs. Edythe Van Hopper in Rebecca (1940). Her excellent performance was the first in a gallery of memorable characters: wealthy socialites, irritable, henpecking wives, hotel managers (The Moon and Sixpence (1942)), theatre owners (Tonight and Every Night (1945)) and unctuous, gossipy landladies (Portrait of Jennie (1948)). She was equally adept at comedy, appearing to great effect in Heaven Can Wait (1943) and Lullaby of Broadway (1951), with frequent co-star S.Z. Sakall, aka 'Cuddles'. She was enjoyably larger-than-life as Danny Kaye's prospective mother-in-law in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) and as Vera-Ellen's inebriated Russian dance teacher, Madame Dilyovska, in On the Town (1949). Bates even essayed a murderess in The Brasher Doubloon (1947). Destined never to win any awards, Florence Bates continued in films until her death in 1954. She was pre-deceased by her sister, her only daughter and her husband.- Art Director
- Writer
- Director
Dosio Koffler was born on 15 April 1892 in Cecova, Galicia, Austria-Hungary. He was an art director and writer, known for Kreuzzug des Weibes (1926), Caught in Berlin's Underworld (1927) and Rasputins Liebesabenteuer (1928). He died on 6 April 1955 in London, England, UK.- Concha Espina was born on 15 April 1877 in Santander, Cantabria, Spain. She was a writer, known for Broken Lives (1935), Guacho (1954) and La esfinge maragata (1950). She was married to Ramon de la Serna y Cueto. She died on 19 May 1955 in Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
- Actress
Flo Promis was born on 15 April 1884 in Pennsylvania, USA. She was an actress. She was married to ? Parry. She died on 23 April 1956 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Corrado Alvaro was born on 15 April 1895 in San Luca, Calabria, Italy. He was a writer, known for We the Living (1942), Tragic Hunt (1947) and Affairs of Maupassant (1935). He was married to Laura Babini. He died on 11 June 1956 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Eddie Garr was born on 15 April 1900 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for Obey the Law (1933), That's My Story! (1937) and Ladies of the Chorus (1948). He was married to Phyllis Garr. He died on 3 September 1956 in Burbank, California, USA.- Robert Walser was born on 15 April 1878 in Biel, Switzerland. He was a writer, known for Der Räuber, The Walk (2021) and The Year of Living Locked Up (2020). He died on 25 December 1956 in Herisau, Kanton Appenzell, Switzerland.
- Additional Crew
Michael D. Kadri was born on 15 April 1877 in Syria. He is known for The Mask of Dimitrios (1944). He died on 4 March 1957 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Art Department
Henry Kiefer was born on 15 April 1890 in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. Henry is known for Adventures Into Digital Comics (2006). Henry died on 10 May 1957 in Bronx, New York City, New York, USA.