Tuesday, November 25, 1924. Radio station test, USS Los Angeles commissioned, Chaplin marries a second teenager.

US radio stations stood silent between 10:00 and 11:00, EST, for international broadcasting tests.  Radio broadcasts from the UK, France and Spain were heard as far west as the American Midwest.

The USS Los Angeles was commissioned.

Lita Grey (Lillita Louise MacMurray), actress, age 16, married Charlie Chaplin, age 35.  She was pregnant.  Grey was his second wife, and it was the second time he's married a teenager, Mildred Harris of Cheyenne Wyoming being 17 when they wed following a pregnancy scare.

Had the couple not married, Chaplin faced the possibility of being arrested for statutory rape.

They would have two children during their troubled marriage.

She'd go on to have three more marriages before dying in 1995 at the age of 87.

Last edition:

Monday, November 24, 1924. Australopithecus africanus

Labels: 1920s, 1924, Australopithecus africanus, Chinese Warlord Era, Evolutionary Biology, Japanese Empire, Korea, Republic of China, South Africa

In Memoriam. David Harris.

Actor David Harris, best known for his role as "Cochise" in The Warriors, has passed away at age 75 from cancer.  Fans of war movies will recall he had the role as Pvt. Smalls, a major character, in A Soldier's Story.

Friday, October 17, 1924. Media Event.

Calvin Coolidge hosted a breakfast at the White House for Broadway actors.  Al Jolson, Ed Wynn, John Drew Jr., Raymond Hitchcock, Charlotte Greenwood and Francine Larrimore were in attendance.

It was the first such media event in U.S. Presidential politics and was calculated to counteract Coolidge's dour personality.

Last edition:

Thursday, October 16, 1924. See See Rider.

Labels: 1920s, 1924, 1925, 1930s, 1932, Adolf Hitler, Austria, Beer Hall Putsch, German Weimar Republic, Germany, Music, The Blues

Wednesday, October 11, 1944. To Have and Have Not.

A Hungarian delegation signed a ceasefire agreement in Moscow agreeing to abandon territory gained since 1937 and to declare war on Germany.  Hungary was enduring turmoil in its government over this general topic.

The obscure Tuvan People's Republic was absorbed by the Soviet Union.

The U.S. Army Air Force bombed Okinawa.

To Have and Have Not premiered.  It was Lauren Bacall's premier film.

Last edition:

Tuesday, October 10, 1944. The murder of the Romani children.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Auschwitz, Austria (Vienna), Gypsies, Imperial Japanese Navy, Italian partisans, Italian Social Republic, Nazi Germany, Okinawa, The Holocaust, U.S. Navy

Saturday, September 26, 1964. Gilligan's Island

Gilligan's Island premiered on CBS.

Bob Denver, who had previously been portrayed as a beatnik, played the title role.  He'd been previously known for The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.  All of the actors in the short run series ended up typecast, in cluding the talented Alan Hale, Jr.

UPI critic Rick Dubrow commented:  "It is impossible that a more inept, moronic or humorless show has ever appeared on the home tube."

As a kid, I'd often watch the show, already in syndication, when I got home from school.

Rebels in the Congo rounded up of all foreigners trapped in Stanleyville and Paulis.

The "High National Council" was installed to function as the legislature for South Vietnam.

Last edition:

Friday, September 25, 1964. Gomer Pyle, USMC.

Labels: 1960s, 1964, El Paso Texas, Lyndon B. Johnson, Mozambique, Oklahoma, Portuguese Mozambique, television, Texas, United States Marine Corps, Vietnam War

Tuesday, September 16, 1924. RBI record.

Jim Bottomley of the St. Louis Jim Cardinals set a major league baseball record for RBIs in a single game with 12, during a 17–3 win over the Brooklyn Robins. In 1993 the record was tied, but it has never been beaten.

Bottomly would retire from baseball in 1938 and go on to raise Hereford cattle in Missouri as well as being a radio announcer.  HE scouted for the Cubs starting in 1957 and managed their Class D minor league Appalachian League club.  He died in 1959 at age 59.

Betty Joan Perske, known on the screen as Lauren Bacall, was born in the Bronx.

Both of her parents were of Eastern European Jewish ancestry, with her mother having been born in Romania.  Her mother had adopted the maiden name of Bacall, that she later adopted as a screen name.  Her parents divorced when she was five, and she no longer saw her father.  She uniformly came across as a highly intelligent, graceful, figure on the screen.

She married Humphrey Bogart in 1947 when she was 20 and he was 45.  It was his fourth, and last, marriage. She'd marry Jason Robards after Bogart's death, but her second marriage would end in divorce.

Last edition:

Sunday, September 14, 1924. Most Valuable Player.

Labels: 1920s, 1924, 1924 at the Movies, Alaska, baseball, Crime, Movies, Personalities, police

In Memoriam, James Earl Jones.

One of the most monumental actors of the second half of the 20th Century, and one of the most memorable voices of all times, James Earl Jones died at age 93 yesterday.

A lot has been written about Jones over the past day, and so we won't go back into most of it.  Born to actor Robert Earl Jones, whom he closely resembled in appearance and voice, and Ruth, he mostly grew up outside of the presence of his father who left the family shortly after he was born.  He mostly grew up on the farm of his maternal grandparents in Michigan.  After high school he started off towards a career in medicine but realized it wasn't for him and switched to drama, graduating from the University of Michigan in 1955.  He participated in ROTC while a university student and had expected to deploy to the Korean War, but it ended shortly after he graduated.  He attended Ranger school, something very difficult to graduate from and frankly making him an unusually large graduate of a program which tends to favor smaller men.  While in the Army, he converted to Catholicism.

His first film appearance was in Dr. Strangelove in 1964.  His last was in 2021 in Coming 2 America.  He had various monumental roles in between, including famously being the voice of Darth Vader and Terrence Mann in Field of Dreams.

Thursday, August 28, 1924. The August Uprising.

Georgians rebelled against the Soviet Union in the August Uprising.

The certificate of identity for actress Anna May Wong, born Wong Liu Tsong (黃柳霜), (from Reddit's "100 Years Ago Today, and also on Wikipedia).

Famous as a Chinese American actress, she was a native of Los Angeles.  She died in 1961 at age 56 of a heart attack after a period of ill health.

Last edition:

Wednesday, August 27, 1924. Color photos over the wire.

Labels: 1918-1919 Paris Peace Conference, 1920s, 1924, 1930s, 1939, German Weimar Republic, It was because of World War One, Lighter than air aircraft, Photography, technology, Telegraph, U.S. Navy

Friday, August 11, 1944. Third Army crosses the Loire.

The Third Army crossed the Loire.  Hitler refused a request by Field Marshal Kluge to withdraw from positions at Mortain.  Local commanders began withdrawing anyway.

The Red Army started an offensive south of Lake Peipus and advanced up to 15 miles on the first day.

200 soldiers at F. E. Warren were used as "military actors" for Hollywood combat sequences.  (Wyoming State Historical Society Calendar).

Last edition:

Thursday, August 10, 1944. Stiffening German resistance in the East, Advancing in the West, Pacific victory.

Labels: Army, Battle of Narva, boats and ships, British Army, Eastern Front, Estonia, France, Guam, July 20 Plot, Normandy, Normandy Breakout, Royal Navy, Tartu Offensive, United States Marine Corps, World War Two

Sunday, July 30, 1944. Landing at Sansapor.

US forces landed near Sansapor, Dutch New Guinea.

It's easy to forget how late in the war, in relative terms, the fighting in New Guinea was actively occurring.  Roosevelt, Nimitz and MacArthur had just met in Hawaii on whether to invade the Philippines or Formosa, and yet here's a landing in Dutch New Guinea.  The actions closed the back door to Japanese air power.

Tinian town was taken on Tinian. Actor Lee Powell, who had joined the Marine Corps, died on the island on that day, but from drinking an improvised alcoholic beverage that contained Methanol during a celebration of the battle's end.

He had played the Lone Ranger.

The Soviet Narva Offensive ended.

The US 1st Army seized Granville and entered Avranches.

Pvt. Sam Fever, of 324 E. 96th St., Brooklyn, N.Y., a member of an engineer unit, somewhere in France, plants a sign at a roadside indicating that the roadway has been cleared of mines as American troops roll forward in a great new offensive.

Cpl. David Halbert of Cleveland, Ohio, looks over a bunch of signs left by retreating Germans on the highway to Coutances, France. These signs tell what German units were here. 30 July, 1944.

Sections of German protestantism, which was not united, issued a declaration as it became clear that members of the German "Confessing Church" had participated in the July 20 plot.

Declaration of Loyalty by the German Protestant Church

Attempt on the Führer’s Life

With indignation and disgust, the German people turn away from the deed of July 20, which, in an hour requiring the utmost in unity, undertook to overthrow the Reich in turmoil of incalculable proportions by means of murder and treachery. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank the Almighty for the salvation of the leader and ask Him to continue to keep him under His protection. This request comes with a pledge of renewed loyalty and the resolution to submit ourselves even more earnestly than before to the relentless demands of this time, to which the Fuehrer is restlessly devoting himself entirely.

After the attempt on the life of the Führer, the German Protestant Church Chancellery and the Spiritual Council of the German Protestant Church expressed their gratitude to God for his gracious protection in telegrams of loyalty to the Führer. At the same time, the Spiritual Council of Confidence noted that on the Sunday after the assassination attempt, prayers for the Führer were said in Protestant services all over the Reich.

Source: Das Evangelische Deutschland. Kirchliche Rundschau für das Gesamtgebiet der Deutschen Evangelischen Kirche, Nr. 30-31/1944, p. 74.

The Confessing Church was a protestant movement that had resisted efforts to unify, and Nazify, German Lutheranism.  It's efforts were fairly successful in that goal.

The U-250 was sunk in the Gulf of Finland by the Soviet Navy.

Last edition:

Saturday, July 29, 1944. Guam, Tinian, Aitape and Normandy.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Army, Battle of Biak, Blog Mirror, Guam, Imperial Japanese Army, New Guinea, Normandy, Operation Cobra, Operation Overlord, Tinian, United States Marine Corps, World War Two

Friday, July 14, 1944. Bastille Day.

Mortar crew in action near St. Lo, July 14, 1944.

President Roosevelt addressed the French people on it being Bastille Day:

July 14, 1944

Once again I salute, on Bastille Day, the heroic people of France.

July 14 this year is different, for we hope that it is the last fourteenth of July that France will suffer under German occupation. With full confidence, I look forward that the French people on July 14, 1945, will celebrate their great national fete on French soil, liberated alike from the invader and from the puppets of Vichy.

For the great battle of liberation is now engaged. It is a battle resolutely waged by the American, British, and Canadian forces, together with the valiant fighters of the home French, who have already contributed so greatly to the success of the operations. At the same time gallant French fighting forces are carrying on the victorious struggle in Italy, joined in traditional unity with their comrades of the American Fifth Army and the British Eighth Army.

Here, on this side o.[ the Atlantic, the fourteenth of July, 1944, offers an equally great spectacle of the indissoluble unity and the deep friendship of the American and French peoples.

Together, the French and American peoples stand today, united as they have always been when the cause of freedom was endangered.

Together, we shall win, and France shall be free!

U.S. Navy frogman began to recon Guam.

The Red Army captured Pinsk.  Vilnius was fully occupied, and Operation Ostra Brama by the Polish Home Army concluded.  Internment of the Polish partisans would start on July 15.

Sarah Sundin's blog has some interesting entries today, including that Japan started conscripting women and girls down to age 12 for war work.

Today in World War II History—July 14, 1944

The funeral of Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. occured in France.

The funeral of General Ted Roosevelt, July 14, 1944

The commander of the 10th Armored Division, Maj. Gen. Paul Newgarded was killed when the airplane in which he was a passenger in the US went down in a violent storm.

The 10th was still training in the US at the time.

Druze actress and singer Amal al-Atrash (آمال الأطرش) known by her stage name Asmahan (أسمهان) died in a tragic car wreck when the car in which she was a passenger crashed into the Suez Canal.  Her professional life had been spent in Egypt.

Last edition:

Thursday, July 13, 1944. Stuck in the Bocage.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Armor, Army, Blog Mirror, Clothing, German Wehrmacht, Lithuania, New Guinea, Normandy, Operation Bagration, Operation Overlord, Polish Home Army, Red Army, The Holocaust, World War Two

Friday, July 4, 1924. Hail Caesar

Caesar Cardini, Italian restaurateur living in Tijuana, Mexico, created the first Caesar Salad in response to being unprepared for the huge number of booze seeking American tourists/border crossers in his restaurant for the July 4, weekend.

A new Progressive Party, unrelated to the one that collapsed a decade prior, nominated Robert M. LaFollette as its Presidential candidate.

It was President Coolidge's birthday.

Actress Eva Marie Saint was born.

She is living still.

Last edition:

Thursday, July 3, 1924. Linking electricity.

Labels: 1920s, 1921, 1924, 1940, 1940s, Army, Citizens Military Training Camps, Electrical Power, Herbert Hoover, Military, panoramic, technology

Wednesday, June 7, 1944. D+1.

The British began Operation Perch, an attempt to encircle and take Caen, which had been a D-Day objective.  

Much has been made of this, with a large amount of criticism being levied by American historians, but the fact of the matter is that the British and Canadians had taken well over twice the amount of ground as the Americans on D-Day, while failing to take Caen, with the British drawing some of the best German forces in the region as a result.

The Battle of Bréville began with British Airborne entering the unoccupied town.

British and Canadian Airborne in Bréville.  The trooper closest to the camera is carrying a M1911 .45 ACP pistol.  The paratrooper on furthest right, as viewed, has a bayonet affixed to his Sten Gun.

The week-long battle would become one of the most important battles of the invasion of Normandy.

The British airborne phase of Overlord, Operation Tonga, concluded as a tactical success.

The 7th Corps advances towards Carentan and Montebourg in an effort to link up with the 82nd and 101st Airborne.   The 5th Corps advances towards Isigny and Bayeux.  The British 30th Corps cuts the Caen-Bayeux Road.

The 12th SS Panzer Division murdered 11 Canadian POWs in the beginning of what would be a series of atrocities.

And a picture from this day, which we featured earlier, with the text:

Something interesting to note.

 

Troops of the 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division going up the bluff at the E-1 draw in the Easy Red sector of Omaha Beach, Normandy, on June 7, 1944.

The first three soldiers, and the seventh and eighth, are carrying M1903 Springfield bolt action rifles.  The fourth's weapon isn't visible at all, and if he's carrying one, it's probably a sidearm.  The fifth one is carrying an M1 carbine, as is the sixth and seventh.

These men have the appearance of being infantrymen, but the lack of M1 Garands suggests they might be combat engineers. At any rate, this photo nicely illustrates how prevalent the M1903 still was during World War Two.

The second man was 18 years old Pvt Vincent Mullen, who would be killed in action a few days after this photograph was taken.

The Resistance pushed the Germans out of Bayuex and the British 50th Division takes it.

The 5th Army captured Bacciano and Civitavecchia.  The British 8th Army takes Subiaco.  The South African 6th Armored Division captures Civita Castellana.

Operation Hasty in Italy concluded with over 50% British casualties.

The US 41st Division captures Mokmer Airfield on Biak.

The Hayanami became the second Japanese ship lost in the Sibuto Passage to the USS Harder in two days.

Judy Garland divorced David Rose.  It was the second of his three marriages and the first of her five.

Last prior edition:

Tuesday, June 6, 1944. Operation Overlord

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Army, British Army, Canadian Army, Canadian Navy, Eastern Front, France, Italy, Normandy, Operation Houndstooth, Operation Overlord, Red Army, Romania, Royal Navy, U.S. Navy, World War Two