chronicleofthe20thcentury-blog

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Wild West Legend, Buffalo Bill dies. (1917 News)

On January 10 1917 one of the most colourful characters of the Wild West died, William Cody at the age of 71. William was an army scout during the Sioux  Wars and later won the contract to supply meat to the workers building the Kansas City Railroad.

So skilled was he with a rifle that in 18 months he had killed 4,820 buffalo, hence his sobriquet Buffalo Bill.

From 1883 he had toured the US and Europe with his popular and thrilling Wild West Show, in turn winning the friendship of European royalty. Among his show's many attractions were Chief Sitting Bull and "sharpshooting" Annie Oakley, but the biggest crowed puller was always it's owner, Buffalo Bill Cody.

.A. 

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1916 News

To be honest, I don't recall anything overly exciting that took place in 1916, so I am going to skip this year.. Sorry : )

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Forever England: One man's legacy - Rupert Brooke (1915 News)

The death of the poet Rupert Brooke was mourned by all who saw him as the typical romantic hero of his generation. Brooke was en route to the Dardanelles when he died of blood poisoning from a mosquito bite at the age of just 28.

He wrote:

THE SOLDIER

If I should die, think only this of me: That there's some corner of a foreign field That is for ever England. There shall be In that rich earth a richer dust concealed; A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam, A body of England's, breathing English air, Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away, A pulse in the eternal mind, no less Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given; Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day; And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,

In hearts at peace, under an English heaven. 

.A.

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The Famous Christmas Truce of 1914 (1914 News)

In the midst of heated battle during World War I, there was a brief moment of true “Peace on earth and good will toward man”. What follows is an incredible story of how the Spirit of Christmas overpowered, albeit temporarily, the hostilities of war. During World War I, in the winter of 1914, on the battlefields of Flanders, one of the most unusual events in all of human history took place. The Germans had been in a fierce battle with the British and French. Both sides were dug in safe and muddy man-made trenches six to eight feet deep that seemed to stretch forever.

 On Christmas Eve, German troops began decorating the area around their trenches in the region of Ypres, Belgium, for Christmas. They began by placing candles on trees, and then continued the celebration by singing Christmas carols, most notably “Stille Nacht” (Silent Night). The Germans then asked the British to join in. At this point, one very defiant Tommy shouted: “We'd rather die then sing German.” To which a German joked aloud: "It would kill us if you did".

 A spontaneous truce resulted. Soldiers left their trenches, meeting in the middle to shake hands.

Along many parts of the line the truce was spurred on with the arrival of more Christmas trees – Tannenbaum on the German side. The sight was small pines, decorated with candles and strung along the German parapets, captured the Tommies' imagination and prompted them to reciprocate with expressions of goodwill.

The two sides continued by shouting Christmas greetings to each other. Soon thereafter, there were calls for visits across the "No Man's Land" where small gifts were exchanged — whisky, jam, cigars, chocolate and other small items. The artillery fell silent as the soldiers exchanged their gifts and some of them addresses, as they drank together.

The truce also allowed a breathing spell where recently-fallen soldiers could be brought back behind their lines by burial parties. Proper burials took place as soldiers from both sides mourned the dead together and paid their respects. At one funeral in No Man's Land, soldiers from both sides gathered and read a passage from the 23rd Psalm:

“The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures...Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”

In describing the following Christmas Day, a German soldier recorded in his diary: 

“The English brought a soccer ball from the trenches, and pretty soon a lively game ensued. How marvellously wonderful, yet how strange it was. The English officers felt the same way about it. Thus Christmas, the celebration of Love, managed to bring mortal enemies together as friends for a time.” 

.A.

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ARTS: Death of JCW, giant of the theatre (1913 News)

One of the greatest all-rounders of the theatre, James Cassius Williamson, died in Paris on July 6 1913. American-born Williamson, the son of a doctor of Irish descent and a mother of Scottish ancestry, became an actor at just 16 years of age and enjoyed considerable success, particularly in comedy.

In 1874, at the age of 29, he and his wife bought to Australia the appropriately named comedy play Struck Oil, which ran for 80 nights in Melbourne alone and launched Williamson's career as a manager. During the next 30 years he introduced the Australian public to many famous names, including Sarah Bernhardt and Nellie Melba.

A shrewd judge of artists and plays, Williamson was a versatile actor and competent director and became one of the most powerful entrepreneurs in the British Empire. He established his company, J C Williamson Ltd in 1911, only 2 years before his death at the age of 67.

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Cocaine could produce "race of fiends" (1912 News)

Cocaine, known to us as a street drug, had been condemned in 1912 by American surgeons that had met in New York as an unnecessary and dangerous anaesthetic. Cocaine was said to be the worst of all the anaesthetics, one doctor said it would produce "a race of fiends". But it was hoped that soon none of these types of anaesthetics would have to be used.

Nitrous oxide gas had been recommended instead, as it did not produce unpleasant after effects and it was not poisonous. A prize was offered for the design of a machine that would deliver such gas.

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Terrible loss of life as the Titanic sinks (1912 News)

.April 15 1912.

More than 1,500 of the 2,340 passengers and crew of the Titanic drowned in the icy waters of the North Atlantic in the early hours of the morning in the worst ever disaster at sea. This truly amazing ship, the pride of the White Star fleet, proclaimed unsinkable because of it's 16 watertight compartments, sank within hours of hitting an iceberg.

The survivors of the Titantic watched helplessly as the giant ship slid beneath the waves with all her lights still blazing. Among the survivors was wireless operator, Harold Bride, who had had to swim for his life. Harold said "The ship was tilting gradually onto her nose, just like a duck that goes for a drive. I had only one thing on my mind, to get away from the suction. The band was still playing." he went on, "I guess they went down with the ship".

Three millionaires got away in the first life boat, but others acted heroically. Colonel John Jacob Astor helped his own new bride and many other women and children into the boats, but remained on board until the end. Some wives chose to die with their husbands, rather then be saved alone.

One of the most fortunate of the survivors was Colonel Archibald Gracie, who actually went down with the ship clinging to the rail but miraculously lived to tell the tale. "When the Titanic plunged down I was swirled around for what seemed like an interminable time. Eventually I came to the surface to find a sea of tangled wreckage."

The Titanic, on her maiden voyage to New York, was speeding through an ice field, hoping to win the Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic crossing, but she never made it.

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Leonardo's Lisa is lifted from Louvre (1911 News)

On August 22 1911 the unthinkable happened. Someone had stolen the Mona Lisa, to the horror of Paris and the art world. 

The thief slipped into the Louvre during the night and took of with Leonardo de Vinci's masterpiece. The acutely embarrassed curators of the Louvre claimed that only a madman would have pinched a picture so well known he could not hope to sell it, but this did not explain how the museum's most keenly-guarded attraction just vanished. This, like Mona Lisa's smile remained an enigma.

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The first movie made in Hollywood (1910 News)

D W Griffith's film "In Old California" was released on March 10 1910. It was the first film to be made in Hollywood, formally known as Hollywoodland, near Los Angeles in southern California. It told of a Spanish maiden's liaison with a future Governor of California.

Hollywood, with it's wide variety of landscapes, proved to be a popular venue for the large number of film companies that were moving into the Los Angeles area.

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ARTS: Russian ballet transforms dance (1909 News)

Ballet had been revolutionised by the season of the Ballets Russes, presented in Paris by Serge Diaghilev. The technical brilliance of the Russian dancers, led by Vaslav Nijinsky and Anna Pavlova, had electrified French audiences with the Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor and Les Sylphiders.

The choreography by Michel Fokine went far beyond the vocabulary of classic steps and stresses for the male dancers role. Nijinsky defied gravity in his airborne leaps. Critics had described him as "the power of youth, drunk with rhythm, terrifying in his muscular energy".

Just as sensational as the dancing, was the costumes, designed by Leon Bakst and Alexandre Benois, which amazed fashion people by their boldness.

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Lily Brayton, Oscar Asche stage triumph (1909 News)

Shakespeare's tragedy, Othello, returned to the Melbourne stage in 1909 after a break so long that the play was almost new to the present generation. Oscar Asche and Lily Brayton  attained the high water mark of dramatic illusion in the Theatre Royal production. No one of the calibre of Mr Asche had played Othello in this country before 1909 for at least a quarter-century.

Whether his Othello was as Shakespeare intended, is open for question, but his performance was both distinguished and individualistic. He arrested attention, not by reason or any subtlety or intuition, but because of his force and directness. Much could have also been written on Miss Brayton Desdemona, she made a heroine that any dramatist would been delighted in. 

.A.

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ARTS: Girl has "my country" at heart (1908 News)

The London spectator published a poetic tribute to Australia in 1908 and local newspapers had been quick to follow the lead. Dorothea Mackellar, a Sydney woman, penned "Core of My Heart" in 1904, inspired by the breaking of a drought at Maitland in New South Wales. Mackellar was only 19 when she wrote of her love for "a sunburnt country", although she felt equally at home with her friends in London, Australia remains for her the "Core of my heart, my country"

In Britain, the musical event of the season had been Sir Edward Elgar's first symphony. Since its premiere in Manchester at the Free Trades Hall, it had proved so popular that there had been almost 100 performances. All his works have enjoyed wide appeal, including his "Pomp and Circumstance Marches", of which the fourth appeared in 1907. The first of them virtually became a new national anthem, Land of Hope and Glory, it was largely for this that he received a knighthood (honor for work well done).

Arnold Bennett's novel, "The Old Wives' Tale", which tells the story of two sisters, Constance and Sophia, was one of his finest, but the book of the year and still very much loved by many is the fantasy, Kenneth Grahame "The Wind and the Willows". 

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3D art shatters tradition, Picasso. (1907 News)

Even the avant garde painters were baffled by this piece, the painting of Pablo Picasso entitled "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. It broke all accepted rules of composition, perspective and truth to nature. The five figures (the subject is women in a house of ill-fame) are reduced to visual shorthand of dislocated shapes seen from different angles. Some of the demoiselles have masks resembling the African carvings that were shown in Paris in 1907. Some see in it the solid geometry that Paul Cezanne was seeking in nature, while others believed it to be nothing but a joke.

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Painter Paul Cezanne's hand is stilled (1906 News)

In August 1906 Paul Cezanne wrote to his son, "As an artist, I am developing a shaper appreciation for nature, but inside of myself it is still very difficult to grasp my own feelings".

Cezanne's efforts to be in touch with those feelings ended on October 22 1906. The great artist died in Aix en Provence, France, the very same place he was born 67 years before and the home he returned to in 1899. Cezanne spent his last years living alone and covering his canvases with scenes from nature.

In his early years Cezanne was influenced by Eugene Delacroix  and the old Italian masters, but it was Camille Pissarro who affected him the most and introduced him to Edouard Manet and to many of the other Impressionists. Cezanne never fell completely into their camp, preferring to work in Provence, trying to capture nature in still-life and landscapes.

He truly was an amazing artist.

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Ideas on the universe are questioned.. (1905 News)

Ideas about the universe that were accepted since Newton's time that were over two centuries prior to 1905 started being questioned in the light of a new theory proposed by a German physicist. According to "Theory of Relativity" of Albert Einstein there is no such thing as absolute time or absolute motion. Everything - even the order in which events happen - depends on the observer. The most striking theory I guess is that matter and energy are interconvertible, minute quantities of matter being equivalent to vast amounts of energy. Physicists speculate that radioactivity may arise through the conversion of mass energy.

In Einstein's universe, one absolute is the speed of light. Nothing can travel faster and curious things happen as it approached: Masses increase, distances contract.

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Jules Verne, father of science fiction dies (1905 News)

Jules Verne, inventor of the scientific novel, died in Amiens in France on March 24 1905 at the age of 77. Jules had delighted his fans for at least two generations with such grand adventure stories such as "Around the World in 80 Days" and "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea". Born in Nantes in February 1828, he went to study for the legal profession but began writing plays and librettos. His first big success came in 1863 with the novel "Five Weeks in a Balloon".

He never travelled but lived a very quiet and happy life in Amiens writing his two novels a year.

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ARTS: Peter Pan flies into young hearts (1904 News)

James Barrie's play, Peter Pan - or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, opened in 1904 at the Duke of York's, it was the unquestioned hit of the season. 

With Nina Boucicault as Peter and Gerald du Maurier as Captain Hook, it proved that the audiences of that day did in fact believe in fairies. 

One of the leading critics stated after the play: "A capital entertainment full of droll imaginings of such originality, tenderness and daring that no shade of doubt regarding its complete success was discerned at the fall of the curtains.

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