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The Great Depression did not produce many happy stories, but the birth of the Dionne quintuplets near remote Callander, Ontario, Canada in 1934 was at least outwardly a feel-good news item of the decade. Five identical girls were born to Elzire Dionne on May 28, 1934. They were attended to by a country doctor, Roy Allan Dafoe. Never before had quintuplets survived infancy. The story turned sour when the quints were made wards of the Ontario government because of the financial straits of the Dionne family and other concerns. The provincial government built Quintland, a tourist attraction where the girls were put on public display for the numerous visitors who travelled the Trans-Canada Highway to northern Ontario to see them. Quintland served as a home for the girls who were cared for by nurses, as well as a museum and viewing area for the tourists. Eventually some three million tourists came to Quintland--as many as 6,000 each day at its peak. (There was no admission charge to see the quints, but the region reaped millions of dollars in revenues from hotels, restaurants, etc.) At one point, the quints were Canada's top tourist attraction, surpassing Niagara Falls. The quints were isolated from the outside world and even from their parents and other siblings. The Dionne parents staged years of legal challenges to regain custody of their estranged daughters. They finally succeeded in 1943. The three surviving quints were awarded a large cash settlement in the late 1990s by the Ontario government. Only two of the girls survive today.
Tags:
Dionne
quintuplets
Added: 4th May 2008
Views: 8102
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
 
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Most Canadians born after 1986 probably wouldn't recognize this bit of history: a one-dollar bill. Citing the high cost of paper money (an average bank note stays in circulation just 14 months before it has to be replaced), the Bank of Canada ceased production of the green bills in 1986. They were replaced by the much more durable $1 coins, commonly known as loonies because a loon is featured on them, that same year.
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Canadian
dollar
bills
Added: 14th June 2008
Views: 1325
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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After co-starring in Charlie Chaplin's film The Kid (1921), Jackie Coogan was one of America's first major child stars. Unfortunately, because there was no precedent for a child actor earning thousands of dollars, there were no laws to protect Coogan's financial interests. At the time, minors had absolutely no legal claims to their earnings--every penny belonged to one's parents. Coogan found this out the hard way, when, at age 21 in 1935, he discovered his earnings were almost all gone. Coogan was then put in the awkward position of having to sue his mother and his former agent to recover a small portion of wht he had earned. In response, Congress passed the Coogan Law to protect future child actors' earnings. Unfortunately, the original law contained too many loopholes, renedering it virtually ineffective. Revised versions over the years have been far more effective in protecting the earnings of minors.
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Jackie
Coogan
law
Added: 6th August 2008
Views: 1357
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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This coin didn't flip--it flopped! With great fanfare in 1979, the United States Treasury Department minted millions of $1 coins featuring a portrait of suffragette Susan B. Anthony on the obverse. Americans were used to dealing with dollar bills--which were still being produced--so the coins were largely shunned. Moreover, their size made them easily confused with quarters. The dollar was minted again in 1980 with little success. In 1981 it was minted solely for collectors' sets. The Susan B. Anthony dollar was reissued in 1999 to meet the demand of vending machines that required dollar coins for change, but they are still generally detested by the public.
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Susan
B
Anthony
dollar
coin
Added: 9th September 2008
Views: 1401
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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On February 11, 1990, Buster Douglas scored perhaps the biggest upset in sports history when he knocked out Mike Tyson in Tokyo to win the world heavyweight championship. Douglas was a 42-1 underdog. I sure wish I had placed a few dollars on Buster!
Tags:
Buster
Douglas
Mike
Tyson
boxing
Added: 25th August 2008
Views: 1656
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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I remember these from when I was really young in the 1970s. They had stickers and my brother had them all over his mirror. I recently viewed an auction on ebay where complete pack sets go for thousands of dollars.
Tags:
wacky
packs
topps
trading
card
sticker
Added: 1st September 2008
Views: 1447
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Posted By: LPROUD |
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At 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906 The San Francisco Bay area erupted as the earth unleashed her fury. The violent shocks punctuated the strong shaking which lasting nearly 60 seconds. The quake was felt from southern Oregon to south of Los Angeles and inland as far as central Nevada. The ground had ripped open for more than 270 miles along a great fault - the San Andreas rift. The quake lasted only a minute but caused the one of the worst natural disaster in the nation's history. The damages were estimated at $400,000,000 in 1906 dollars, That would translate to nearly 10 billion dollars today.
Photos
The Library of Congress
J. B. Macelwane archives, Saint Louis University
Richard Cawood
http://www.richardcawood.com/
Film Footage
1906 earthquake sequence from "San Francisco"
MGM
directed by W.S. Van Dyke
American Mutoscope and Biograph Company Films
courtesy of ROMANO-ARCHIVES
http://romanoarchives.altervista.org
Music
San Francisco
music lyrics by Gus Kahn, Bronislau Kaper, Walter Jurman
performed by
Jeanette MacDonald and the Fans at Candlestick Park 1989 world series during an emotional pre-game ceremony in the aftermath of the 1989 earthquake tragedy.
Rocket Boys
October Sky
Anne Frank
(Featuring Mini Ben-Ari)
Mark Isham
conceived and produced by
Dale Caruso
Tags:
San
Francsico
Earthquake
Fire
1906
Vintage
Photos
Films
Added: 25th September 2008
Views: 2017
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Posted By: dalecaruso |
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They were called Drivers, Greasers, Oilers, Pushers, Breakers, and Trappers. They salvaged coal from the slag heap, for10 cents for each hundred-pound sack or two dollars a ton. Boys as young as 8, working ten-hour days..
The Photography of Ben Shahn and Louis Wickes Hine
Library of Congress
shorpy.com
http://shorpy.com/
Music: Pete Seeger and The Civil War Soundtrack, Ken Burns producer
conceived and produced by: Dale Caruso
Tags:
Coal
Mining
Childern
Added: 26th September 2008
Views: 2074
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Posted By: dalecaruso |
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From 1948 through 1963, some 510 million American half dollars bearing the portrait of Benjamin Franklin were minted. They were replaced by Kennedy half dollars in 1964. I've never understood why half dollars fell out of favor as an everyday currency. To me they seem at least as practical as quarters.
Tags:
Benjamin
Franklin
coin
half
dollar
Added: 5th November 2008
Views: 5101
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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