Vivian Vance, circa 1930, public domain July 26, 1909 - Vivian Vance: "When I Die, There Will Be People Who Send Ethel Mertz Flowers." Vivian Vance's most famous character, Ethel Mertz, was a less-than-prosperous landlady of an East 68th Street Manhattan brownstone owned … [Read more...]
#BornThisDay: Artist, Thomas Eakins
Self-Portrait, 1902, National Academy Museum, NY, public domain July 25, 1844– Thomas Cowperthaite Eakins: "I have never discovered that the nude could be studied in any way except the way I have adopted. All the muscles must be pointed out. To do this all the drapery … [Read more...]
#QueerQuote: “Fate Sucks. I Swear.” – Gus Van Sant, spoken by Matt Dillon as Bob in “Drugstore Cowboy” (1989)
Original Japanese Poster In early spring 1989, if I had been somewhat clairvoyant while on the set of the film Drugstore Cowboy, I would have realized that in the 21st century I would be living in Portland, Oregon, in fact, residing in a house just a mile from where we were … [Read more...]
#BornThisDay: British Writer, E.F. Benson
July 24, 1867 - Edward Frederic Benson: He Deceived Me By Telling The Truth. He was an English writer and archaeologist. Writing as E.F. Benson, he is a literary figure from a forgotten age who still retains a cult following for his charmingly sharp-eyed novels. His books … [Read more...]
#BornThisDay: Pooped Pope, Julius III
Painter unknown July 23, 1487 - Pope Julius III The Cathedral of Sienna is one of my favorite structures, certainly my favorite House of the Holy. A medieval church, the alternating bands of dark and light marble that make the cathedral's façade are so striking and they … [Read more...]
#BornThisDay: “America The Beautiful” Writer, Katharine Lee Bates
18887, public domain July 22, 1859 - Katharine Lee Bates When the irrepressible Mormon Tabernacle Choir did their version of America The Beautiful at the mango-hued president's inauguration in 2017, I couldn't stop thinking how the song's lyricist would have been appalled … [Read more...]
#BornThisDay – Writer, Ernest Hemingway
July 21, 1899 - Ernest Hemingway: "I love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I'm awake." I haven't read any Hemingway in decades. In young, handsome, dynamic, delicious professor Daniel Roberto's American Literature 101 class in the autumn of 1972, I was so … [Read more...]
Horrifying Details Emerge in Meth Death Trial of Ed Buck
Trial evidence this week outlines the horrifying details in the trial of Ed Buck, who recorded at least 1,500 times he used meth, often with vulnerable young black men forced to wear humiliating costumes and endure racial slurs. Two of the men died in Buck's apartment. Los … [Read more...]
#BornThisDay: Natalie Wood
Photo from Columbia Pictures via YouTube July 20, 1938 – Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko: The only time a woman really succeeds in changing a man is when he is a baby. The pallbearers at her funeral included: Fred Astaire, Rock Hudson, Elia … [Read more...]
#BornThisDay: Actor, Lupe Vélez
Via YouTube July 19, 1908 - Lupe Vélez Mexican Spitfire is not a term for Latin bondage porn; you're thinking of Mexican Hayride. Mexican Spitfire is used to describe Lupe Vélez in a series of seven films released by the RKO Pictures between 1940 and 1943 starring Vélez and … [Read more...]
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 474
- Next Page »
