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On the evening of August 2, 1923, Warren G. Harding, the 29th president of the United States, died suddenly in a room at the Palace Hotel in San Francsico. He was 57 years old. Harding was in the midst of a west coast trip, but he had taken ill as his train rolled through Seattle. Almost immediately, the rumors surrounding his passing began. There was no official cause of Harding's death. Some sources claim it was a fatal case of food poisoning; others claim it was a heart attack or a stroke. Despite his wife and his nurses being frequently in and out of the room, the time of Harding's death could not be pinned down any more specifically than between 7 and 7:30 p.m. Florence Harding had her husband's body embalmed and ready for a funeral train back to Washington within an hour of the president's death, thus no autopsy could be performed. (California had no mandatory autopsy laws at the time.) Although Harding was a perfect candidate for poor health--he was a heavy smoker and drinker, plagued by stress, who rarely exercised--there are those who think Mrs. Harding had something to do with her husband's demise. According to the conspiracy theorists, Mrs. Harding either wanted to spare Warrren G. the shame of the scandals about his administration that were soon to surface--or she took revenge over her hubby's numerous extra-marital trysts. Those who don't think anything was amiss point to Harding's declining health at the hands of a quack homeopathic physician and Harding's generally poor living habits. Maybe Harding himself sensed the end was near: Before leaving for the west coast, Harding had written a new will. He had also curiously sold the Marion (OH) Star, his hometown newspaper, which he had bought with the intent of running it after he retired from politics.
Tags:
Warren
Harding
death
scandal
Added: 25th January 2009
Views: 1813
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
 
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Erich Kaestner, believed to be the last surviving German First World War veteran, died on January 1, 2008 at the age of 107. While other countries have held--or plan to hold--state funerals for their last serviceman from the Great War, Kaestner's death went almost unnoticed in Germany. Several weeks went by before the media was alerted by a Wikipedia update. Curiously, the German government does not keep official records of its WWI and WWII veterans. In Kaestner's later years he often received autograph requests from Americans. He never answered them.
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Erich
Kaestner
Germany
First
World
War
Added: 1st April 2009
Views: 1354
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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DEVELOPING: Television pitchman Billy Mays — who built his fame by appearing on commercials and infomercials promoting household products and gadgets — died Sunday, FOX News confirms.
Mays was found unresponsive by his wife inside his Tampa, Fla., home at 7:45 a.m. on Sunday, according to the Tampa Police Department.
Police said there were no signs of forced entry to May's residence and foul play is not suspected. Authorities said an autopsy should be complete by Monday afternoon.
Mays, 50, was on board a US Airways flight that blew out its front tires as it landed at a Tampa airport on Saturday, MyFOXTampa.com reported.
"Although Billy lived a public life, we don't anticipate making any public statements over the next couple of days. Our family asks that you respect our privacy during these difficult times," Mays wife, Deborah, said in a statement on Sunday.
Tags:
Billy
Mays
Oxi
Clean
Infomercials
Commercials
Mays
Promotions,
Inc
Max
Appel
Home
Shopping
Network
OxiClean,
Orange
Glo,
Kaboom,
Engrave
It,
Handy
Switch,
iCan,
Mighty
Mendit,
Mighty
Putty
Added: 28th June 2009
Views: 1812
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Posted By: Steve |
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February 2, 2014 marked the hundredth anniversary of the release of Charlie Chaplin's first film--Making A Living. In this film made by Keystone Studios, Chaplin plays a swindler dressed in a long coat and top hat who sported a long mustache and a monocle. Chaplin's famous Little Tramp character would debut in his next fim, Kid Auto Races at Venice. He did, however, carry a cane and wear baggy pants in this one. Years later Chaplin said he was disappointed that his funniest scene in Making A Living was cut out of the film by actor/director Henry Lehrman, the other man in this photo. Film historians suspect Lehrman, who had a reputation for being self-centered, did not want to be upstaged by Chaplin. Within a short time Chaplin became so enormously popular that he demanded--and got--artistic control over all his films.
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Charlie
Chaplin
Making
a
Living
Added: 3rd February 2014
Views: 1102
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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This is a clip from the 1934 Paramount film Little Miss Marker starring Shirley Temple. Shirley was newly under contract to 20th Century Fox in 1934, but she was loaned to Paramount for this film which turned out to be a big hit. It was a mistake 20CF would not make again. Despite Temple's winning presence, this is an adult film. The movie's plot revolves around bookie Sorrowful Jones (played by Adolphe Menjou) who accepts Marthy Jane (Temple) as security for a "marker"--gamblers' lingo for an IOU--to cover a $20 horse racing wager placed by her down-and-out father. When his horse loses, the father kills himself, so Jones and his gambling syndicate cronies are left in charge of Marthy. Here Shirley, who is not quite six years old, sings Laugh, You Son of a Gun. Dorothy Dell, the actress in this clip, died shortly after the film's release in an auto accident on June 8, 1934. Although Dell looked much older, she was only 19 years old.
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Shirley
Temple
Laugh
You
Son
of
a
Gun
Little
Miss
Marker
Added: 11th February 2014
Views: 2239
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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Can you name this Hall of Fame baseball player? Here's a hint: It is estimated that of all the Hall-of-Famers, he could sign his autograph the quickest.
Tags:
who
is
he
Added: 28th July 2009
Views: 959
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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The greatest mystery created by Agatha Christie wasn't in the plot of one of her novels. It was her odd 11-day disappearance in 1926 that has never been adequately explained. On December 3, 1926, the famous 36-year-old mystery novelist vanished from her home. Her car was found a short distance away. Inside it were some scattered personal belongings. Police initially feared Christie had committed suicide by drowning herself in a nearby natural pool. Others suspected she had been murdered by her philandering husband Roger. At one point some 15,000 volunteers were looking for her. Then, on December 14, Christie turned up safe and sound at a nearby spa/hotel where she had checked in under an assumed name. Several guests at the spa had recognized Christie from her newspaper photos, but she cheerfully denied being the missing author. Eventually a hotel employee summoned police who notified Mr. Christie. The couple went into seclusion for several weeks. Agatha had been suffering from depression following the death of her mother earlier that year. Her husband's barely concealed affair probably added to her mental strain. What was behind the 11-day absence? Some Christie fans think it was a publicity stunt or a form of revenge against Roger. Psychologists, however, theorize that the stressed Christie may have been in a 'fugue state'--a rare form of out-of-body amnesia where she could not recognize herself. Christie (shown here in a 1967 photo) lived until 1976, but she always refused to discuss her strange 1926 disappearance; her autobiography makes no mention of it. She and Roger divorced in 1928.
Tags:
Agatha
Christie
disappearance
Added: 15th September 2009
Views: 1586
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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In 1996, when plans were announced to erect a memorial to the late Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Washington, D.C., an emotionally charged controversy erupted: Should America's only four-term president be shown in a wheelchair? FDR had been crippled by polio as a 39-year-old in 1921--and he went to great lengths to conceal his condition for the rest of his life. Because of the stigma attached to disabilities at the time, the accommodating media of the day kept FDR's secret from the public. Most photos and newsreels of FDR show him seated behind a desk or in an automobile; FDR was seldom photgraphed in a wheelchair or standing with the help of leg braces. Thus, a passionate dispute arose about how to memorialize FDR. Should he be shown as he truly was or as the public remembered him? This photograph shows the result: In his statue, FDR is draped in a cloak, which presumably hides the wheelchair. This compromise did not suit many advocates for the disabled. A smaller statue of FDR, clearly in a wheelchair, was erected near the main memorial in 2001.
Tags:
FDR
memorial
controversy
wheelchair
Added: 11th October 2009
Views: 7434
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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