May 24, 2013
John Wayne (born Marion Morrison) was an American film actor, director and producer. An Academy Award-winner, Wayne was among the top box office draws for three decades. An enduring American icon, he epitomized rugged masculinity and is famous for his demeanor, including his distinctive calm voice, walk and height. Wayne was born in Winterset, Iowa but grew up in the greater Los Angeles area. His role as the Ringo Kid in John Ford’s breakthrough Stagecoach (1939) made him an instant superstar. Wayne would go on to star in more than 160 movies, primarily typecast in Western films. Among his most acclaimed films are The Quiet Man (1952), The Searchers (1956), Rio Bravo (1959) and True Grit (1969). Wayne was on born on May 26, 1907.
May 6, 2013
George Orson Welles was an American actor, director, writer and producer who worked extensively in theater, radio and film. He is best remembered for his innovative work in all three media, most notably Caesar (1937), a groundbreaking Broadway adaption of Julius Caesar and the debut of the Mercury Theatre; The War of the Worlds (1938), one of the most famous broadcasts in the history of radio and supposed cause of widespread panic; and Citizen Kane (1941), which is consistently ranked as one of the all-time greatest films. Welles is regularly voted the greatest film director of all time in surveys of directors and critics alike. He was born on this day in 1915.
May 1, 2013
Groucho Marx was an American comedian and film and television star. He was known for his quick wit and is widely considered one of the best comedians of the modern era. His distinctive appearance, carried over from his days in vaudeville, included slapstick quirks such as an exaggerated stooped posture, glasses, cigar, and a thick greasepaint mustache and eyebrows. Marx made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers. He also had a successful solo career, most notably as the host of the radio and television game show You Bet Your Life. The famous “Groucho glasses” are a one-piece novelty disguise consisting of horn-rimmed glasses, large plastic nose, bushy eyebrows and mustache.
April 16, 2013
Charlie Chaplin was a British comic actor and filmmaker who rose to fame in the silent era. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona “the Tramp.” A legendary figure in film history, Chaplin’s career spanned more than 75 years, from a child in the Victorian era to close to his death at the age of 88. Raised in London, his childhood was defined by poverty and hardship. At 19, Chaplin was signed to the prestigious Fred Karno company, which took him to America. By 1918, he was one of the most famous men in the world. In 1919, Chaplin co-founded the distribution company United Artists, giving him complete control over his films, which included The Gold Rush (1925), City Lights (1931), Modern Times (1936) and The Great Dictator (1940). He was born on this day in 1889.
March 27, 2013
Quentin Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. He is best known for Pulp Fiction (1994), a neo-noir crime film widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time. Tarantino’s work, which often employs nonlinear storylines and satirical violence, includes Reservoir Dogs (1992), Kill Bill (2003, 2004) and Inglourious Basterds (2009). His most recent and highest grossing film is Django Unchained (2012). Tarantino has received many industry awards, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globes and two BAFTAs. He was born on this day in 1963.
March 22, 2013
Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, producer and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 films in a career spanning 57 years. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, Kurosawa directed approximately one film per year, including a number of highly regarded films such as Rashomon (1950), Ikiru (1952), Seven Samurai (1954) and Yojimbo (1961). In 1990, he accepted the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement. He was born on March 23, 1910.
March 20, 2013
Spike Lee is an American film director, producer, writer and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983. As a director, he is best known for Do the Right Thing (1989). Lee’s movies have examined race relations, colorism in the black community, urban crime and poverty. He has won an Emmy Award and received two Academy Award nominations. As a superfan of the New York Knicks (and the Yankees), Lee is often seen courtside at Madison Square Garden. He was born on this day in 1957.
P.S. Happy Spring Equinox!
March 15, 2013
David Cronenberg is a Canadian filmmaker, screenwriter and actor. He is one of the principal originators of what is commonly known as the body horror genre. This style of filmmaking explores people’s fears of bodily transformation and infection. In the first half of his career, Cronenberg explored these psychological themes mostly through horror and science fiction. Notable works include Videodrome (1983), The Fly (1986), eXistenZ (1999), A History of Violence (2005) and Eastern Promises (2007). Cronenberg was born on this day in 1943.
March 7, 2013
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and editor who did most of his work as an expatriate in the United Kingdom. He is regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. Many of Kubrick’s films broke new ground in cinematography. His masterpieces include the science-fiction 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), the dystopian A Clockwork Orange (1971) and the psychological horror The Shining (1980). Kubrick died on this day in 1999 at the age of 70.
February 22, 2013
Luis Buñuel was a Spanish filmmaker who worked in Spain, Mexico and France. When Buñuel died at age 83, his obituary in The New York Times called him “an iconoclast, moralist and revolutionary who was a leader of avant-garde surrealism in his youth and a dominant international movie director half a century later.” Often associated with the Surrealist movement of the 1920s, Buñuel created acclaimed films in six decades, from the 1920s through the 1970s. Still, he is perhaps best known for his first film, Un Chien Andalou (1929), a 16-minute silent short made with Salvador Dalí. Buñuel was born on this day in 1900.
February 21, 2013
Chuck Palahniuk is an American novelist and freelance journalist, who describes his work as transgressional fiction. He is best known as the author of the award-winning novel Fight Club (1996), which was made into a feature film. Beginning with Lullaby (2003), the style of his novels has shifted to satirical horror. Palahniuk has had 13 novels and two nonfiction books published, the most recent being Invisible Monsters Remix (2012), a restructured and updated version of his 1999 novel. He maintains homes in the states of Oregon and Washington. Palahniuk was born on this day in 1962.
February 15, 2013
Matt Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, producer, animator and voice actor. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell (1977-2012) as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons (1989-present) and Futurama (1999-2003, 2008-present). Groening has won 12 Primetime Emmy Awards, 10 for The Simpsons and two for Futurama. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 14, 2012. Groening was born in Portland, Oregon on this day in 1954.
P.S. Given his Oregon roots, it is widely believed that Groening named the setting of The Simpsons after Springfield, Oregon (which is next to Eugene, home of the Oregon Ducks), despite his comments to the contrary.
Frederick W. Voedisch – No. 606
Frederick William Voedisch was an American Civil War soldier, manufacturer and artist. He was born to German parents in Watertown, WI in 1832. In 1862, Frederick enlisted as a private in the 20th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment for the Union Army at age 29 and was quickly promoted to a noncommissioned officer, third sergeant (moving from Company A to Company E). However, after the conclusion of hostilities in 1865, he was curiously discharged as a private. The Military History of Wisconsin details the hard times Frederick and his company endured. Following the war, he returned to his wife in Dodge County, WI. In 1883, Frederick received the title to 160 acres of land in Fergus Falls, MN. In 1885, he moved his family farther west to North Dakota. Frederick applied for his Civil War pension in 1886 and died in the Dakotas in 1891 at age 59. He was survived by his German-immigrant wife Mary Catherine Runkle and their children John, Dela and Alfred.
Frederick W. Voedisch is my great-great-great-grandfather. Before Heidi and I went to Europe last year, I created an Ancestry.com account and input a binder of genealogical data to create an online family tree. I did this primarily to share information with my cousins in Italy about their American relatives. You can imagine my surprise when I was contacted by a Civil War reenactor who owns Frederick’s Civil War rifle. The Springfield musket he owns was identified because the initials FWV are artfully engraved into the stock and there was only one Wisconsin soldier with those initials on the Civil War roster. After the war, Frederick probably returned home with his musket and had the barrel reamed slightly larger to turn it into a 20-gauge shotgun, making it a handy item on a farm. But by the time he moved west, cartridge guns had become common, and so he left his rather obsolete musket in Wisconsin. Now, in 2013, Frederick’s musket remains in Wisconsin in its original condition (other than the slight reaming of the inside of the barrel). The lock works and it even includes its ramrod. I was amazed to learn so much about an object once carried by my 3rd-great-grandfather. Frederick’s daughter Dela is my great-great-grandmother.