Got you cup of tea ready? Or maybe a cup of hot cider to celebrate the holiday season? Let’s dive into some newspapers and see what kind of characters we see today. Enjoy!
Miriam Hopkins, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, New York), December 17, 1933
Miriam Hopkins was a beautiful, versatile, and talented actress on both stage and screen. Ellen Miriam Hopkins was born on October 18, 1902 in Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia. She was raised in Alabama, Mexico (briefly), and New York. Starting out as a chorus girl at the age of 20, she acted in many Broadway plays, including playing the lead role in Owen Davis’ (1874-1956) Jezebel from late 1933 to early 1934. When a film of Jezebel was to be made in 1937, Miriam was not chosen to play the role that she had originated on Broadway. That role went to Bette Davis (1908-1989). Miriam was hurt and disappointed about being passed up to play the part, thus starting a feud between the gifted actresses. Oh, and the movie studio publicized the hell out of the feud (because of course they did). Despite this setback, Miriam had a pretty steady career, on Broadway, the big screen, and is considered a television pioneer. She even has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for film and one for television. She died on October 9, 1972 in New York City at the age of 69 (nine days before her 70th birthday). and is buried in Oak City Cemetery in Bainbridge, Decatur County, Georgia.
Driver Killed By Runaway Horse, Syracuse Herald Journal (Syracuse, New York), April 22, 1931
Juda “Julius” Machcin (1869-1931) immigrated to America with his wife, Rose (1869-1950) and several of his children on November 20, 1923. The sailed from Le Havre, France on the SS Suffren and landed at Ellis Island in the New York Harbor. Julius and Rose were the parents to at least five children. Sometime after his arrival in the United States, he took on a more angelized name of Jacob “Joe” Martin. He worked as a self-employed junk dealer and his family lived at 824 1/2 South McBride Street, Syracuse, Onondaga County, New York (There is a medical facility at that location now.) The scene of the accident, the 100 block of Hall Ave., Syracuse, is a residential neighborhood and appears to be the same in 1931. After the accident, Jacob was transported to Syracuse General Hospital at 116 East Castle Street, Syracuse. There is an assisted living facility in that hospital now. Jacob was in the Ahavath Achim Cemetery in Syracuse. His wife was buried next to him when she died in 1950.
May Robson, Perrysburg Journal (Perrysburg, Ohio), April 10, 1914
Learn about May Robson, the Australian -born American-based acting legend, after the next image.
May Robson Advertisement, Perrysburg Journal (Perrysburg, Ohio), April 10, 1914
May Robison, the stage name of Mary Jeanette Robison, was born to Henry (died 1860) and Julia (Schlesinger) (1824-1914)Robison on April 19, 1858 in Moama, New South Wales, Australia. May grew up in Australia and England. She didn’t try to make it on the stage until 1883. After that, she found out that she was a natural and enjoyed it. Acting in more than three dozen silent and sound films and performing in more than 25 stage productions (not to mention her traveling shows), May made a name for herself as a reliable, funny, and talented actress. In 1933, May became the first Australian and the earliest-born person (she was 75 years old at the time) to be nominated for an Academy Award with the film Lady for a Day. Unfortunately, she didn’t win. She lost to Katherine Hepburn (1907-2003) for her performance in Morning Glory. This was at the 6th Academy Awards on March 16, 1934. The awards show was held at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles and hosted by Will Rogers (1879-1935.)
After appearing in many stage performances, May established her own touring company 1911. It was with this company that May made her April 12-15, 1914 show dates in Toledo, Lucas County, Ohio. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Inflation Calculator (their calculator is here http://tinyurl.com/3yzv9zh3), 25 cents in 1914 is equivalent to $7.56. And that’s for the nosebleed seats!
OK, so what happened to May? Well, May had married Charles Leveson Gore in 1875 and they had three children, two of which died at early age.. After Charles died and May had established her stage career, May married Augustus Homer Brown (1860-1920). May was still acting in films when she died at her home in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles County, California at the age of 84. Her remains were cremated and her cremated remains were buried next to her second husband, Augustus at Flushing Cemetery, Flushing, Queens County, New York. May had an amazing career and most of her films still survive. If anyone has ever seen any of her films, please let us know what you thought of them in the comments below.
Sharp Shoe Store Advertisement, Oklahoma City Town Topics (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma), November 28, 1914
OK, serious question: how the hell could those women’s shoes be comfortable to wear? If you know how, please leave a comment in the comments section below. They do not look comfortable at all.
The building that once housed the Sharp Shoe Store no longer exists and was replaced many years ago by the Myriad Convention Center (now called the Prairie Surf Studios, which is a film studio and was were some of the scenes of the 2023 movie Killers of the Flower Moon were filmed.
Patsy Cline, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cowboy Copas, Randy Hughes, Nashville Banner (Nashville, Tennessee, March 6, 1963
This had to be the Country Music version of “The Day the Music Died.” The three chart-toppers and their pilot died on March 5, 1963 in Benton County, Tennessee near the city of Camden when the plane in which they were traveling experienced low-visibly conditions and the pilot lost control of the airplane.
Lost in the tragedy were: the bold contralto voiced Virginia Patterson (Hensley) Dick (professionally known as Patsy Cline) (1932-1963); Harold Franklin “Hawkshaw” Hawkins (aka “Eleven Yards of Personality”, due to his height and outgoing personality) (1921-1963); Lloyd Estel “Cowboy” Copas (1913-1963), who was starting to see a resurgence in his singing career; and the pilot of the Piper PA-24 Comanche aircraft, Ramsey Dorris “Randy” Hughes (1928-1963). Hughes was also Patsy Cline’s manager and the son-in-law of Cowboy Copas.
We remember them today as a fine group of singers, musicians, and business people.
Miss Viola Dana: Queen of the Nevada Round-Up, The Elko Independent (Elko, Nevada), June 11, 1921
Viola Dana (born Virginia Flugrath; 1897-1987) was an American actress in the silent film age. Her two sisters, known as Edna Flugrath (1892-1966 )and Shirley Mason (born Leonie Flugrath; 1901-1979), were also silent film actresses. Viola also did a short stint on Broadway. Unfortunately, most of the numerous films that she was in are now lost. By the time she made her final film appearance in 1933, she had appeared in over 100 films. She worked hard for about 20 years and then retired when she was 36 years old. Good for her.
In July of 1921, Viola was the Queen of the Nevada Round-Up (now called the Reno Rodeo) in Reno, Washoe County, Nevada. She was the second Miss Reno ever crowned at the event.
She died on July 3, 1987 and her cremated remains are inurned at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.
We have come to the end of this installment and hope that you have enjoyed reading it as much as we did creating it. You may have noticed that this post is shorter than usual. Well, long story short, we are getting ready for the holidays. Thank you for your support this past year and let’s make next year even more memorable for history everywhere! Here’s to you and yours and we hope that your holiday is filled with peace, love, and warmth. We will see you fine folks again after the New Year! Enjoy!
During our genealogical research, CMS Research & Genealogy comes across many stories that have nothing to do with our current project. We have tons of them and will be sharing them all with you on this blog. All the more reason to come back and visit us again!
December 22, 2023
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