#22nd October 1919

[umbreonlatias]

Character Birthdays!

Moonshine was born September 14th 1919, she's 104 in 2024!

Alabaster was born November 20th 1919. he's 104 in 2024!

(VERY old, but mons can have long lifespans, they're not gonna die though- no one will but me and maybe those that share my birthday- cuz' I can't update from the grave ha ha!

Immortal I guess- *Shrug*)

Sparx was born June 27th 1950, he's 73 in 2024!

Azura and Inari were born December-25-1952, they're 71 in human years. 

(My Mom's Birthday too!)

Destiny was born October 18th 1955, she's 68 in 2024!

Napalm was born June 13th 1970, he's 53 in 2024!

Flurry was born January 12th 1976, he's 48 in 2024!

Carrie was born August 15th 1977, she's 46 in 2024!

Lola, Ezzie, Ace, Katie and I all share a birthday on March 22 1996.  they are all 28 in 2024!

Scarlet was born May 22nd 1998- she's 25 in 2024!

(My older brother's birthday! I made her younger than Lola for a change of pace!)

Mystery was born April 10th 2010- she's 14 in 2024!

[elegantzombielite]

"All one’s life as a young woman one is on show, a focus of attention, people notice you. You set yourself up to be noticed and admired. And then, not expecting it, you become middle-aged and anonymous. No one notices you. You achieve a wonderful freedom. It’s a positive thing. You can move about unnoticed and invisible."

Doris Lessing, novelist, poet, playwright, Nobel laureate (22nd October 1919-2013)

[greatworldwar2]

• 44th Rifle Division (Soviet Union)

The 44th Kievskaya of the Red Banner Rifle Division or 44th Kievskaya for short, was an elite military formation of the Soviet Union during the Winter War and Second world war. The unit is also famous for being the one of the first military formations out of which was formed the short-lived Soviet Ukrainian Army (1918–1919).

It was formed by the order no.6 of the Communist Party (Bolshevik) of Ukraine on September 22nd, 1918, as the 1st Insurgent Division along with the 2nd Insurgent Division. The 1st Insurgent Division was formed out of insurgent squads of Tarashcha and Novgorod-Sieversky uyezds. The chief of division (nachdiv) was appointed N.Krapivyansky and the chief of staff S.Petrikovsky (Petrenko). By the end of September the Division grew to 6700 bayonets, 450 sabers, 14 [artillery] guns, and from 10 to 18 machine guns "Maxim", 5 to 6 Colt, 20 to 30 Lewis. Because of that, selected regiments were reorganized into brigades. However, the name for the units were nominal as the brigade's headquarters were never formed, and functions of kombrigs were performed by the regimental commanders (colonel). Around that time at the divisional headquarters a security company was formed out of some 700 soldiers. That new unit was planned to be transformed into the 5th Regiment and used as a reserve. Also the 4th Insurgent Regiment was recommissioned as the 6th Insurgent Regiment (commander T.Chernyak) and along with the 1st Regiment of Red Cossacks was soon transferred to the 2nd Insurgent Division. In their places, were created the 3rd Insurgent Regiment, later called Novgorod-Sieversky (T.Chernyak) and the 4th Insurgent Nezhyn Regiment (P.Nesmeyan) transformed out the security company.

During the preparations for an assault on Kharkiv during the brief Soviet-Ukrainian war, most of the division, however, refused to obey orders except for the Red Cossacks and the 4th Insurgent Nezhyn Regiment. For that the divisional commander N.Krapivyansky was dismissed and court martialed. I Lokatosh was appointed the new chief of division and I. Panafidin the political commissar. The name of the division also changed to the Special Insurgent Division (order of Military Council of Kursk direction group of forces of November 21, 1918) as well as its formation consisting now only out of two brigades. The 44th Rifle Division participated in the Soviet invasion of Poland in autumn 1939. Later, during the Finno-Russian Winter War, the division was sent to the Finnish front as reinforcement for the Soviet 163rd Rifle Division which had attempted to advance into central Finland and become surrounded after capturing the town of Suomussalmi and was suffering heavy casualties. The 163rd Division, which was running short of food, was almost completely annihilated in combat with the Finnish 9th Infantry Division before the 44th Rifle Division could reach its position. With no ski troops, the 44th Rifle Division was completely road bound in the deep snow. The Finns, mounted on skis, and carrying superior arms (submachineguns), were able to break the route of march of the 44th Division on the road leading to Suomussalmi. By breaking the division into pieces along the road, after Finnish radio intelligence had confirmed that the whole division had entered the Raate road, the Finns were able to annihilate the entire unit. According to Robert Edwards, the division's Commander A. Vinogradev managed to escape, but later, on the orders of Stalin's emissary, Lev Mekhlis, he was shot for incompetence following a sham trial. Of the 44th Division's 17,000 troops, 1000 were captured and 700 escaped. The rest died.

The division was recreated after its destruction and part of 13th Rifle Corps, 12th Army, Kiev Special Military District in June 1941. 'Captured Soviet Generals' says that the division commander, Major General S.A. Tkachenko, was captured by the Germans. The division was immediately caught up in conflict and suffered heavy losses. By July 21st, 1941 the division was already short of shtat (establishment or Table of Organization and Equipment) by over 4,000 soldiers, 199 cargo trucks, and over 3,000 rifles and carbines. Divisional morale fell despite some small victories. Ultimately the division was wiped out in combat near the village of Podvyskoe in the Kirovograd and Uman region. The division was recreated at Leningrad in October 1941. It fought in northern Russia and Kurland with the 54th Army of Volkhov Front in January 1944 and the 67th Army of the Leningrad Front in May 1945. During the later stages of the war the division took part in assisting tank brigades as part of Operation: Bagration.

It was briefly reactivated after the war from 1955 at Uralsk in Uralsk Oblast, from the 270th Rifle Division. It was redesignated the 44th Motor Rifle Division on 4 June 1957. In January 1958 it became part of the Turkestan Military District with the dissolution of the South Ural Military District. The division disbanded on 1 March 1959. The 44th Rifle Division has lived on in games like Steel Division 2 as a playable battle group.

[outoftowninac]

HE AND SHE / THE HERFORDS

1911-12 / 1917 / 1919-1920

He and She is a play in three acts by Rachel Crothers. Written in 1909, it was first produced in 1911, then again in 1912 under the title The Herfords, but did not appear on Broadway until late 1919 reverting to the title He and She.  

‘He and She’ is about a husband and wife who are both trying to have careers as sculptors. They both submit work to a competition, and the wife wins over the the husband, which he does not take well. The wife ultimately decides to leave her work in order to take care of her teenage daughter who is having issues.

The play was given a reading in Carruthers hometown of Bloomington IL in the summer of 1911. 

The first staging of the play premiered in Albany New York in mid-November 1911. From there, it moved to Poli’s Theatre in Meriden CT.  

The play was scheduled to tour, with no Broadway aspirations, but by the end of the year, star Viola Allen was cast to take the role (She) originated by Emma Dunn. With Allen, the play now had the requisite prestige and an opening at Broadway’s Maxine Elliott’s Theatre was rumored imminent. 

Just after the first of the year, the play was reported to be back in rehearsal at Daly’s Theatre in NYC produced by Liebler & Co. 

By January 9th the play was headed to the Plymouth, not Maxine Elliott’s. This is when the title was changed to The Herfords, after the surnames of the he and she of the previous title. 

By January 22nd, The Herfords had been diverted to Boston, opening on March 1, 1912.  It then moved on to tour in other cities, as far afield as Oregon.  

By the end of 1912, Crothers had moved onto to new plays: Young Wisdom, and Ourselves, both of which reached Broadway, placing He and She / The Herefords in cold storage. Broadway saw three more Crothers plays before He and She resurfaced in mid 1917.  

On June 25, 1917, the "new” production premiered in Atlantic City at Nixon’s Apollo Theatre on the Boardwalk. It was produced by Harris and Cohen and starred Effie Shannon and Maclyn Arbuckle in the title roles. Several New York managers pronounced it “a fine success.” Cohan and Harris placed the play back in rehearsals with thoughts of an October Broadway opening. In early August Maclyn Arbuckle suddenly withdrew from the cast, taking an opportunity to perform with William Faversham in Shaw’s Misalliance. 

Maclyn made a shrewd move because the Crothers play on Broadway in October was titled Mother Carey’s Chickens, not He and She.  In November 1917 a new Crothers play premiered in Atlantic City titled Once Upon a Time. It, too, moved to Broadway and once again, He and She fell by the wayside.

In June 1919, the play resurfaced again - Crothers’ resume considerably bolstered. She now wished to act as well as write. Interestingly, the play had already been released for stock and amateur performances some time earlier.

At the start of the 1919-20 season the Shuberts announced their intention to produce He and She for Broadway, calling it a “new play.” In this production, Crothers herself took the role of Mrs. Herford (aka She), and Cyril Keightley played Mr. Herford (He), with film star Faire Binney in the mix.  The role of Mrs. Herford was supposedly based on Carruthers’ mother. The play launched a pre-Broadway tryout tour in Baltimore in June 1919. 

On its way to Broadway, the play stopped (again) in Atlantic City at the Globe Theatre on the Boardwalk on February 9, 1920.  It moved immediately (24 hours later), to Broadway. 

He and She (finally) opened on Broadway on February 12, 1920 at the Little Theatre (now the Hayes) 240 West 44th Street, Broadway’s smallest and most intimate venue

“Miss Crothers herself played pert of the artist's wife. Under strain of being author and leading lady too she was visibly nervous. In her quieter scenes she was excellent but when was called upon to played the tenser moments she played hard and hammered her lines with rather disturbing vehemence. Cyril Keightley gave an excellent performance, but the rest of the cast was not very good.” ~ HEYWOOD BRAUN

“The authoress acts well, although in the more exciting moments she is crude and overplays."  ~ BROOKLYN TIMES UNION

” The staleness of some of the sentiments might justify the rumor of the play's age, but It would not have been enlivening at any period.” ~ THE SUN & NEW YORK HERALD

“’He and She' seems peopled less with folks than with embodied points of view, and the play seems less a dramatic story than a symposium." ~ ALEXANDER WOOLCOT

On March 21, 1920, Crothers wrote a letter to the editor of The Tribune to take issue with the manipulation of an interview she gave with the newspaper. She claimed the author characterized her unfairly and manipulated her words about the New York critics. 

He and She closed on Broadway after just 28 performances. Crothers continued to write and direct on Broadway until 1943, scoring more than a dozen more new plays but she never acted on Broadway again. 

[alwaysmarilynmonroe]

Today is a very special day, it’s Marilyn’s Birthday! Can you believe that if she were still alive,  Marilyn would have been turning 94 years old today – just two months younger than the Queen herself! With each year I always try and write a special post about this amazing woman, who has helped me so much and achieved more than anyone could have imagined in her 36 years. Therefore, I decided to write 94 facts about the Birthday Girl – some you may know, some you may not, all in the hope that genuine things will be learnt and the real Marilyn will be more understood and appreciated.

Gladys and baby Norma Jeane spend some quality time together on the beach in 1929.

Little Norma Jeane, aged seven, in 1933.

Norma Jeane photographed by David Conover whilst working at the Radio Plane Munitions Factory in either the Fall of 1944 or Spring of 1945.

Norma Jeane by Andre de Dienes in late 1945.

Marilyn by Richard Miller in 1946.

Marilyn on Tobey Beach by Andre de Dienes on July 23rd 1949.

Marilyn by Ed Clark in Griffith Park in August 1950.

Marilyn attends a Party in Ray Anthony’s home, organized by 20th Century Fox on August 3rd 1952.

Marilyn filming The Seven Year Itch on location in New York City by Sam Shaw on September 13th 1954.

Marilyn by Milton Greene on January 28th 1955.

Marilyn by Cecil Beaton on February 22nd 1956. This was her favourite photo of herself.

Marilyn attending the Premiere of The Prince In The Showgirl at the Radio City Music Hall on June 13th 1957.

Marilyn by Carl Perutz on June 16th 1958.

Marilyn by Philippe Halsman for LIFE Magazine in October 1959.

Marilyn attends a Benefit for The Actors Studio at the Roseland Dance City on March 13th 1961.

Marilyn on Santa Monica Beach for Cosmopolitan Magazine by George Barris on July 1st 1962.

______________________________________________________________________________

1.  Stood at a height of 5’5½”

2.  Born in the charity ward of the Los Angeles County Hospital at 9:30 AM on June 1st 1926.

3.  Married three times;

– Jim Dougherty: (June 19th 1942 – September 13th 1946) – Joe Dimaggio: (January 14th 1954 – 31st October 1955) (Temporary divorce granted on October 27th 1954) – Arthur Miller: (June 29th 1956 – January 20th 1961).

4. Suffered two confirmed miscarriages; an ectopic pregnancy on August 1st 1957 and miscarriage in December 16th 1958.

5. Suffered with endometriosis very badly, so much so that she had a clause in her contract which stated she would be unable to work whilst menstruating.

6. Starred in 30 films – her last being uncompleted.

7. Favourite of her own performances was as Angela Phinlay in The Asphalt Jungle (1950)

8. Winner of three Golden Globes; two for World Film Favourite – Female in 1954 and 1962 and one for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical for her performance as Sugar Kane in Some Like It Hot (1959) in 1960.

9. Her idol was the first Platinum Blonde Bombshell, Jean Harlow.

10. Amassed a collection of over 400 books in her library, ranging from Russian Literature to Psychology.

11. Favourite perfume was Chanel No.5

12. Had two half siblings; Robert “Jackie” Baker (1918 – 1933) and Bernice Miracle (1919) – the former she would never have the chance to meet and Bernice was not informed about Marilyn until she was 19 years old.

13. Former Actor and 20th Century Fox Studio Executive, Ben Lyon created the name Marilyn Monroe in December 1946 – Marilyn after fellow Actress, Marilyn Miller and Monroe after Marilyn’s mother’s maiden name. Ironically enough, Ben starred with Jean Harlow, in her breakout movie, Hell’s Angels (1930).

14. Legally changed her name to Marilyn Monroe ten years later, on February 23rd 1956.

15. Attended The Actors Studio.

16. Third woman to start her own Film Production Company – the first being Lois Weber in 1917 and the second being Mary Pickford in 1919.

17. First had her hair bleached in January 1946 at the Frank & Joseph Salon by Beautician Sylvia Barnhart, originally intended for a Shampoo Advert.

18. Contrary to popular belief, she was technically a natural blonde, not a redhead or brunette. She was born with platinum hair and was very fair until just before her teen years. Her sister described her with having dark blonde hair upon their first meeting in 1944.

19. Another myth debunked – she had blue eyes, not brown.

20. Was one of the few women in the 1950s to use weights when exercising.

21. Wore jeans before it was considered acceptable for women.

22. Her famous mole was real – albeit skin coloured, so she emphasized it using a brown eye pencil.

23. Was a Step-Mother in two of her three marriages to three children – Joe Dimaggio Jr. and Bobby and Jane Miller.

24. Found out she landed the lead role in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) on her 26th Birthday.

25. Another huge myth dispelled – only actually met President Kennedy four times from 1961 – 1962. Three of them were at public events, with the last being her performance at Madison Square Garden. One of them was at Bing Crosby’s Palm Spring house with various people, so at most (which again, is very unlikely) they had a one night stand – nothing more and nothing less.

26. Was the first Playboy Cover Girl, although she did not actually pose for them, nor give permission for them to be used. Hugh Hefner bought the photograph from a Chicago Calendar Company for $500 and the two never met.

27. Speaking of Playboy, the photo was taken by Photographer Tom Kelley on May 27th 1951 and Marilyn made a total of $50 for the photo shoot. The most famous photo then went on to cause a national sensation after being sold to the Calendar Baumgarth Company and became known as, “Golden Dreams“.

28. In 1955 it was estimated that over four million copies of the Calendar had been sold.

29. Favourite singers were Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald. 

30. Attended the Academy Awards Ceremony only once on March 29th 1951 and presented the award for “Best Sound Recording” to Thomas Moulton for All About Eve (1951) which she also starred in.

31. Performed ten shows over four days to over 100,000 soldiers and marines in Korea in February 1954 – she actually ended up catching pneumonia because it was so cold.

32. Was one of the few Stars who had Director Approval in their Contracts. Some of the names included were, John Huston, Elia Kazan, Alfred Hitchcock, George Stevens, William Wyler, Joshua Logan and Sir Carol Reed.

33. Was pregnant during the filming of Some Like It Hot (1959) – filming finished on November 7th 1958 and she miscarried the following month on December 16th.

34. Featured on the cover of LIFE Magazine seven times during her lifetime;

– April 7th 1952 – May 25th 1953 – July 8th 1957 (International Edition) – April 20th 1959 – November 9th 1959 – August 15th 1960 – June 22nd 1962

35. Favourite bevarage was Dom Perignon 1953 Champagne.

36. By the time of her death, her films had grossed over $200 million, when adjusted for inflation that is the equivalent of $2 billion in 2019.

37. Designer, William Travilla dressed Marilyn for seven of her films, two (*) of them received Oscar Nominations in, “Best Costume/Design, Color“;

– Monkey Business (1952) – Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) – How To Marry A Millionaire (1953) * – River Of No Return (1954) – There’s No Business Like Show Business (1954) * – The Seven Year Itch (1955) – Bus Stop (1956)

38. Spent 21 months of her childhood at the Los Angeles Orphanage, from September 13th 1935 until June 7th 1937.

39. Was one of the first Stars to speak out about child abuse, with her story appearing in movie magazines as early as 1954.

40. Fostered by her grandmother’s neighbours, Ida and Albert Bolender, for the first seven years of her life.

41. Lived in England for four months, during the period of filming for The Prince and The Showgirl (1957) from July 14th 1956 – November 20th 1956.

42. Her Production Company, Marilyn Monroe Productions produced only one film, The Prince and The Showgirl (1957) based on Terrance Rattigan’s play, The Sleeping Prince.

43. Was photographed by Earl Theisen in October 1952 wearing a potato sack dress after being criticized by the press for her outfit choice at The Henrietta Awards in January 1952. A journalist wrote that Marilyn was “insignificant and vulgar“and “even in a potato bag, it would have been more elegant.“

44. Was a huge supporter of LGBT+ rights, saying the following quote about fellow actor and friend, Montgomery Clift to journalist W.J. Weatherby in 1960,

“I was remembering Monty Clift. People who aren’t fit to open the door for him sneer at his homosexuality. What do they know about it? Labels–people love putting labels on each other. Then they feel safe. People tried to make me into a lesbian. I laughed. No sex is wrong if there’s love in it.”

45. Her measurements were listed as the following by her Dressmakers; 35-22-35 and 36-24-24 by The Blue Book  Modelling Agency. For the majority of her life she weighed between 117-120 pounds, with her weight fluctuating around 15 pounds, during and after her pregnancies (1957-1960), although her waist never ventured past 28.5 inches and her dress size today would be a UK Size 6-8 and a US Size 2-4 as she was a vintage Size 12.

46. Her famous white halter dress from The Seven Year Itch (1955) sold for $4.6 million ($5.6 million including auction fees) on June 18th 2011, which was owned by Debbie Reynolds. The “Happy Birthday Mr. President Dress” originally held the record for the most expensive dress, when it was sold on October 27th 1999 for $1.26 million. It then went on to be resold for $4.8 million on November 17th 2016, thus regaining it’s original achievement.

47. Was discovered by Photographer, David Conover, whilst working in The Radio Plane Munitions Factory in the Fall of 1944 or Spring of 1945, depending on sources.

48. Now known as the, “Me Too” movement, Marilyn was one of the first Stars to speak out on the, “Hollywood Wolves” in a 1953 article for Motion Picture Magazine entitled, “Wolves I Have Known”. The most famous incident being with the Head of Columbia Studios, Harry Cohn, who requested Marilyn join him on his yacht for a weekend away in Catalina Island. Marilyn asked if his wife would be joining them, which, as you can imagine – did not go down well and her contract was not renewed with the Studio. Marilyn made only one film with Columbia during her six month contract, this being Ladies Of The Chorus (1948) which was shot in just ten days!

49. Loved animals dearly and adopted a variety of pets over the years. These included a basset hound called Hugo and parakeets, Clyde, Bobo and Butch with Husband Arthur Miller.  A number of cats including a persian breed called Mitsou in 1955 and Sugar Finney in 1959. Her most famous pet was gifted to her in March or April of 1961 by friend, Frank Sinatra, a little white maltese named Maf. His full name was Mafia Honey, as a humorous reference to Sinatra’s alleged connections to the Mob. After Marilyn’s death, Maf went to live with Frank Sinatra’s secretary, Gloria Lovell.

50. The book she was reading at the time of her death was Harper Lee’s, To Kill A Mocking Bird.

51. One of the movies she starred in was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and won, this being All About Eve (1950) at The 23rd Academy Awards on March 29th 1951. It ended up being nominated for 14 Oscars, a record at the time and has only been matched by Titanic (1997) and La La Land (2016).

52. Her first magazine cover was photographed by Andre de Dienes in December 1945 for Family Circle, released on April 26th 1946.

53. Joined The William Morris Agency on December 7th 1948.

54. Was right handed, not left as often believed.

55. Third Husband Arthur Miller wrote the screenplay for Marilyn’s last completed film, The Misfits (1961) which was originally written as a short story for Esquire Magazine in 1957. After the tragic ectopic pregnancy Marilyn endured in August of 1957, friend and Photographer, Sam Shaw suggested to Miller he alter his short story specifically for her. Ironically the making of this film culminated in their divorce and Marilyn stating,

“He could have written me anything and he comes up with this. If that’s what he thinks of me then I’m not for him and he’s not for me.” 56. Was Author, Truman Capote’s original choice for the role of Holly Golightly in Breakfast At Tiffany’s (1961) however, she was advised to turn it down by her Acting Coach, Paula Strasberg, who did not think the role of a prostitute would be good for her image. Writer George Axelrod, who wrote the Screenplay for Bus Stop (1956) and the play, The Seven Year Itch, ironically ended up being the Screenwriter for this movie.

Capote said this regarding Marilyn,

“I had seen her in a film and thought she would be perfect for the part. Holly had to have something touching about her . . . unfinished. Marilyn had that.”

57. Second Husband Joe Dimaggio had The Parisian Florists deliver red roses on Marilyn’s grave twice a week, for twenty years, from August 1962 until September 1982. Marilyn had told him how William Powell used to do this for Jean Harlow after her death and he reportedly vowed to do the same after their Wedding Ceremony. After the 20 years he then donated to a children’s charity, as he thought it would be a nice way to honour her memory. They also created the flower arrangements for her casket at her funeral.

58. The following five Directors directed Marilyn in more than one movie;

– John Huston; The Asphalt Jungle (1950) and The Misfits (1961) – Richard Sale;  A Ticket To Tomahawk (1950) and Let’s Make It Legal (1951) – Howard Hawks; Monkey Business (1952) and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) – Billy Wilder; The Seven Year Itch (1955) and Some Like It Hot (1959) – George Cukor; Let’s Make Love (1960) and Something’s Got To Give (1962)

59. Was an illegitimate child, which unfortunately was attached with a lot of stigma in the 1920s. Her mother, Gladys, listed her then husband Edward Mortenson on the Birth Certificate, although it is commonly accepted that her real father was Charles Stanley Gifford, as Gladys left Edward on May 26th 1925. Gladys had an affair with him, which ended when she announced her pregnancy and he never acknowledged or met Marilyn, although she tried multiple times over the years to speak with him. 

60. Stayed in a number of foster homes during her childhood,

– George and Emma Atkinson; February 1934 – September 1934 – Enid and Sam Knebelcamp; Fall of 1934 – Harvey and Elsie Giffen; January 1935 – March 1935 – Grace and “Doc” Goddard; April 1935 – September 1935 and June 1937 – November 1937 and end of 1940 – February 1942 – Ida Martin; November 1937 – August 1938 – “Aunt Ana” Lower; August 1938  – End of 1940 and February 1942 

61. Had her hand and footprints immortalized in cement at Graumans Chinese Theatre on June 26th 1953, with Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) co-star, Jane Russell. Marilyn would place a rhinestone in the dot of the letter “i” as a reference to her character, “Lorelei Lee” but it was sadly stolen. This was an incredibly special moment for her, as she often talked about placing her hands and feet in the many prints there, when she spent her weekends at the Theatre as a child, especially in 1933 and 1934.

“When I was younger, I used to go to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and try to fit my foot in the prints in the cement there. And I’d say “Oh, oh, my foots too big. I guess that’s out.” I did have a funny feeling later when I finally put my foot down into that wet cement, I sure knew what it really meant to me, anything’s possible, almost.”

62. The famous gold lamé dress worn in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and designed by William Travilla, was deemed too risqué by the censors. Unfortunately for fans, this meant that the musical number, “Down Boy” was cut from the film and we only glimpse a few seconds of the dress from behind, on screen.

63. Due to the censors, the original, “Diamond’s Are A Girl’s Best Friend” costume was changed to the now iconic pink dress with black bow. Originally it was to be a diamond encrusted two piece, which was extremely daring for the then Motion Picture Hays Code.

64. Loved Erno Lazlo Skin Cream, Vaseline and Nivea Moisturizer.

65. Had she completed Something’s Got To Give (1962), Marilyn would have been the first Star in a major Motion Picture to appear nude on film. As she passed before it was completed the achievement went to fellow Blonde Bombshell, Jayne Mansfield in, Promises! Promises (1963).

66. Met Queen Elizabeth II in England at the Empire Theater in Leicester Square whilst attending the Premiere of, “The Battle Of The River Plate“ on October 29th 1956.

67. The Misfits (1961) was both Marilyn and Clark Gable’s last completed films. Clark died 12 days after filming finished, on November 16th 1960. The film was released on Clark’s would be 60th Birthday, February 1st 1961 and Marilyn passed 18 months later.

68. As Marilyn died before the completion of Something’s Got To Give (1962) it ended up being remade with Doris Day and James Garner, entitled, Move Over Darling! (1963). The film was originally intended to be a remake of, My Favourite Wife (1940) which starred Cary Grant.

69. Signed a recording contract with RCA Records on September 1st 1953. One of her songs from River of No Return (1954) entitled, “File My Claim” sold 75,000 copies in its first three weeks of release.

70. Was admitted to the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic on February 10th 1961 by her then Psychiatrist, Marianne Kris. Originally thought to be for rest and rehabilitation, following her divorce from Arthur Miller and the strain of filming The Misfits. However, Marilyn was placed on the security ring and held against her will. Thankfully, she was able to contact ex Husband, Joe Dimaggio, who stated he would, “Take the hospital apart brick by brick” if she was not released and after three days of emotional trauma, she left.

71. Visited the following Countries;

– Canada – (July – August 1953) – Japan (February 1954) – Korea (Feburary 1954) – England (July – November 1956) – Jamaica (January 1957) – Mexico (February 1962)

72. Purchased her only home, 12305 Fifth Helena Drive on February 8th 1962, where she would tragically pass just under 6 months later.

73. The home had the following tile located on the front paving entrance saying, “cursum perficio” meaning, “my journey ends here.” The title is still there to this day.

74. Her final interview was published in LIFE Magazine on August 3rd 1962 and was written by Richard Meryman.

75. Aside from her millions of fans, had a staunch group of supporters affectionately known as, “The Monroe Six” who followed Marilyn around New York during her time there. Their nickname for Marilyn was, “Mazzie” and they became so acquainted that Marilyn actually once invited them for a picnic at her home.

76. First married at just sixteen years old, this was to avoid returning to the Orphanage she had spent almost two years in as a child.

77. Supported numerous charity events, most famously riding a pink elephant in Madison Square Garden, to support the Arthritis and Rheumatic Affections Association on March 30th 1955.

78. Left 25% of her Estate to her then Psychiatrist, Marianne Kris and 75% to mentor and friend, Lee Strasberg. For reference, her Will was last updated on January 1961 – a month before she entered the Payne Whitney Hospital on the advice of Marianne Kris.

79. At the time of it’s release, The Misfits (1961) turned out to be the most expensive black and white movie ever made, costing a budget of $4 million dollars.

80. The Premiere of The Seven Year Itch was held on her 29th Birthday, on June 1st 1955, she attended with ex Husband, Joe Dimaggio.

81. Laid to rest at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery on August 8th 1962 at 1:00 PM, with friend and mentor Lee Strasberg delivering the Eulogy. 

82. Although so often associated with diamonds, actually wasn’t that fond of jewellery stating, “People always ask me if I believe diamonds are a girl’s best friend. Frankly, I don’t.” 

83. Spent her 36th Birthday filming Something’s Got To Give (1962) and then attending a Charity Event for muscular dystrophy at the Chavez Ravin Dodger Stadium, which also happened to be her last public appearance.

84. Whilst recovering in hospital from an appendectomy in April 1952, Marilyn asked long time Makeup Artist and friend, Allan “Whitey” Snyder to do her makeup, should she pass before him. She gave him a gold money clip with the inscription, “Whitey Dear, while I’m still warm, Marilyn” and he did fulfill this promise to her.

85. Converted to Judaism for third husband, Arthur Miller on July 1st 1956.

86. Despite appearing in 30 films, she only actually dies in one, that being her breakout movie, Niagara (1953) where her character Rose Loomis, is strangled by her Husband George, played by Joseph Cotten.

87. Moved to New York City in 1955 and attended The Actors Studio, after breaking her Film Contract with 20th Century Fox. This was for a number of reasons, mainly years of low pay, unsatisfactory scripts and lack of creative control. A new contract would finally be reinstated on December 31st.

88. Repurchased a white Baby Grand Piano that her mother, Gladys, owned during their time living together in 1933. After Marilyn passed it would then be sold at the Christies Auction of her Estate in 1999 to none other than, Mariah Carey for $632,500.

89. Wore long hair pieces in River of No Return (1954) and a medium length wig in The Misfits (1961). The first I can only assume was due to the time period and setting of a Western and the second was due to the bleach damage her hair had suffered. After the filming in 1960, she wore the wig a couple of times in public events and then reverted back to her normal hair.

90. Like all students, it was tradition to perform in front of each other in The Actors Studio and on February 17th 1955, Marilyn acted out a scene from “Anna Christie” with Maureen Stapleton. Although it was an unwritten rule that students were not meant to applaud one another, an eruption of cheers and clapping happened after Marilyn had finished.

“Everybody who saw that says that it was not only the best work Marilyn ever did, it was some of the best work ever seen at Studio, and certainly the best interpretation of Anna Christie anybody ever saw. She achieved real greatness in that scene.”

– Actor Ellen Burstyn, on recalling Marilyn’s performance.

91. Used the pseudonym, “Zelda Zonk“, when trying to remain incognito.

92. Marilyn’s mother, Gladys Baker, suffered from Paranoid Schizophrenia and after various stays in institutions, was declared insane on January 15th 1935, when Marilyn was just 8 years old. After 10 years she was released and managed to retain various cleaning jobs and had developed an intense interest in Christian Science. However, by 1951 she was back in various institutions and would stay in the Rockhaven Sanitarium until 1967. Even after death, Marilyn continued to cover her mother’s care payments and Gladys would go on to outlive her for 22 years.

93. Favourite photograph of herself was taken by Cecil Beaton on February 22nd 1956.

94. Last professional photos were taken by Bert Stern, famously known as “The Last Sitting” for Vogue Magazine on June 23rd, July 10th and 12th 1962. Allan Grant took the LIFE Magazine interview pictures in her home, on July 4th and 9th 1962. Whilst George Barris took his photos for Cosmopolitan Magazine, the previous weekend on the 29th and 30th of June, until July 1st 1962. ______________________________________________________________________________

To those of you who took the time to read through all 3000+ words, thank you! It truly means more to me than you know and I really hope it’s shed some light on the truly special person Marilyn was and made you hold a good thought for her on her big day.

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Happy 94th Birthday Marilyn! Today is a very special day, it's Marilyn's Birthday! Can you believe that if she were still alive,  Marilyn would have been turning 94 years old today - just two months younger than the Queen herself!

[finita--la--commedia]

... your letters are always rich to the taste. A charming one has just arrived this morning, & pulled me out of a morass of gloom in which I was floundering.

Iris Murdoch (1919-1999), in a letter to Frank Thompson (1918-1889) October 22nd [1943] in: “Iris Murdoch, a Writer At War. Letters and Diaries, 1939-1945″

[gtccollectionstories]

Olympic Connections!

With the Olympics from Tokyo dominating the news at present, it may be a surprise to learn that there was an Olympian in the Kay-Shuttleworth family – he was Charles Symonds Leaf (1895-1947), the only son of Walter and Charlotte Leaf.

This photograph was taken at the front door of Barbon Manor on 22nd August 1917, when Catherine Kay Shuttleworth (Rachel’s youngest sister) was married to Charles Leaf.  All three daughters were married at St Bartholomew’s, in Barbon.

L-R (back) Eustace Hills; Lady Blanche; Sir Ughtred; Charlotte Leaf (face hidden); Walter Leaf; Ughtred James; unknown man; Nina James

L-R (front)  Elizabeth & Catherine Hills (Eustace’s daughters from his first marriage); Coleridge Hills; Catherine and Charles; Janet James; Kitty Leaf; Peggy Fort; Angela James; Col B R James, Rachel KS

(Photograph courtesy of the Newbery family.)

The Burnley Express reported on 25th August, 1917:-

“Owing to the death of both of Lord Shuttleworth’s sons in the service of their country within the past six months, the marriage was a quiet one…. The bride, who was given away by her father, wore a gold and white brocade mediaeval dress and pearl girdle, and a beautiful Brussels lace veil lent by her mother. Her jewels were a watch given by the bridegroom, and pearl and diamond ornaments given by her mother. She had no bridesmaids, but was attended by her sister the Hon. Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth, who was dressed in pale mauve satin and silver, with a large grey velvet hat.  Lady Shuttleworth was handsomely dressed in purple, and the bride’s sisters, the Hon. Mrs. James and the Hon. Mrs. Hills wore grey.  The Girl Guides from the Lunesdale district, for which the bride had been Commissioner, formed a guard of honour outside the church.  The best man was Cadet Ughtred H. R. James (cousin of the bride)”

Another family photograph of the day (below) shows Nina Hills (the second Kay-Shuttleworth sister) with her camera. She was a very keen photographer, and as she does not appear on the first one, it is probably safe to assume that Nina was behind the camera! On her left, Kitty Leaf (Charles Leaf’s sister) and Nina James and Ughtred James (Angela’s oldest children) also have their Box Brownies at the ready to record the event.

L-R: Kitty Leaf; Nina James; Ughtred James; Nina Hills; Coleridge Hills; Catherine Hills

(Photograph courtesy of the Newbery family.)

1917 had been a tragic year for the Shuttleworth family, with the deaths of both sons. Lawrence, the eldest and the heir, was killed in action on Vimy Ridge on 30th March and  Edward (Ted) died in a motorcycle accident on July 1st , when returning to camp after visiting his wife and newborn son. This double bereavement obviously had a major impact on all the family, including Catherine, who must have decided (like many wartime brides) that a short engagement was best.  She recorded in her Year Book, just twelve days after Ted’s death:-

July 13th I am engaged to be married to Charles Symonds Leaf at Heatherside house near Camberley.  He comes with me to Ted’s funeral at Barbon.

July 20th Shop London. Meet C.S.L. Barbon 26th

Aug 22nd We are married in the Barbon church & have 3 days honeymoon in the Lakes before he is recalled to Clipstone Camp.

However, Charles was not a complete stranger - his mother, Charlotte (née Symonds) was the daughter of John Addington Symonds and Catherine North, who was the half sister of Catherine’s paternal grandmother, Janet Kay Shuttleworth, the heiress to Gawthorpe.  Charlotte Leaf and Sir Ughtred considered themselves to be cousins.

Unlike Catherine’s brothers, Charles did survive WW1, but not unscathed.  

He was a Lieutenant in the Buffs and served in Mesopotamia in 1916, where he became very ill with dysentery and malaria. Whilst he was at home on convalescent leave, he visited the Kay- Shuttleworths at Barbon with his mother, and obviously made an impression on Catherine, as the visit is duly  recorded in her Year Book and they became engaged the following summer.  

In 1917, Charles left his regiment and joined the Machine Gun Corps.  According to his father, he was in the trenches at Passchendale. Then in March 1918, Catherine recorded that he was in hospital in Manchester with shell shock, and again in June for “electric treatment”.  His father wrote in a letter dated 6 October, 1918:  “My son is practically out of the War; he is still in hospital, but has been offered a course of forestry – 6 months at Cambridge, and another 6 months practical work.  It will, I believe, be the best remedy for his shattered nerves”

Charles also started sailing, as part of his recovery, at first on the Norfolk Broads in 1919. The first boat he owned in 1922, was called “Kitten”, which surely must have been because Catherine was known as “Kitty” within the family?  Another of his later boats was also called “Catherine”. Catherine’s Year Book in the 1920s and 30s is full of regattas and sailing trips, and Charles became a very skilled and experienced sailor.  

Then in 1936, he represented Britain in the Olympic Games, and won the gold medal in his boat “Lalage” in the 6 metre class at Kiel.

References:

Catherine Kay-Shuttleworth’s Year Book (courtesy of V Harkin)

“Walter Leaf (1852-1927): Some Chapters of Autobiography.”  With a Memoir by Charlotte M Leaf;  John Murray, 1932.

Jane H

[today-in-wwi]

Democrats Nominate James Cox For President, FDR for Vice President

The Democratic National Convention in progress in San Francisco.

July 6 1920, San Francisco--A few weeks after the Republicans’, the Democrats convened their national convention in San Francisco on June 28.  Just like the Republicans, the Democrats had no clear nominee going into the convention, and had three major contenders.  The first was William McAdoo, Wilson’s Treasury Secretary until December 1918, and also his son-in-law from May 1914.  The second was Wilson’s Attorney General, A. Mitchell Palmer, who had tried to make a name for himself as a crusader against anarchists and Bolsheviks after his house was bombed by an anarchist in June 1919.  The Palmer Raids of November 1919 and January 1920 arrested thousands of suspected anarchists and communists, and deported over 500 of them, among them Emma Goldman.  Palmer’s star had faded somewhat since his prognostications (informed by intelligence from J. Edgar Hoover) of attacks and unrest on May Day 1920 proved to be unfounded. The third was James Cox, the Governor of Ohio.  Also running were New York Governor Al Smith (who would receive the 1928 nomination), Ambassador to the UK John W. Davis (who would receive the 1924 nomination), along with other hopefuls and favorite sons.

Not directly running, but waiting in the wings, were two giants of the Democratic Party.  William Jennings Bryan hoped to be nominated for a fourth time, and President Wilson believed that an unprecedented third term could be necessary to secure America’s entry into the League of Nations, despite all evidence to the contrary and his continuing infirmity since his stroke.  While Wilson did not enter the race directly, his refusal to rule himself out left his son-in-law, McAdoo, in an awkward position, thus preventing McAdoo from taking active steps to secure the nomination.

Bryan attempted to lead a fight for the platform, but was repeatedly checked.  A proposed plank to adopt the Treaty of Versailles with reservations, along with a Constitutional amendment to reduce the necessary Senate vote for treaty ratification to a simple majority, was rejected; the delegates were loyal to Wilson’s position on this matter.  Another proposal, a “bone-dry” plank on Prohibition (which had already been in force since January), was similarly defeated.

The balloting for the Presidential nomination began on July 2.  After the second ballot, McAdoo led with 289 votes (out of a total of 1097), with Palmer close behind with 264, followed by Cox with 149 and Al Smith with 101 (90 of which were from New York).  As the Democrats required a two-thirds majority to pick a nominee, no candidate was even close.  Another twenty ballots were held on July 3.  Cox had a major surge on the seventh ballot as Smith and other favorite sons dropped out of contention and many New York and New Jersey delegates switched to him; the totals were then 384 McAdoo, 295.5 Cox, and 267 Palmer.  On the twelfth ballot, Cox took the overall lead (404-375.5-201), but hit a peak of 468.5 delegates on the 15th ballot and made no additional progress until the convention recessed just before midnight after the 22nd ballot.

Wilson’s man at the convention, Secretary of State Colby (Lansing having been sacked in February for supposed disloyalty), hoped the deadlock would lead to an opportunity for Wilson, who was still beloved among the delegates in San Francisco.  At the right moment, a motion to suspend the rules and nominate Wilson by acclamation might just pass.  He had been warned off such a plan by DNC leadership, but after 22 ballots thought the opportunity might soon present itself.  A journalist warned Wilson’s private secretary, Joe Tumulty, however.  Tumulty, who had been busy hiding the President’s condition since October, was decidedly opposed to his renomination, and warned Edith Wilson that such a motion was unlikely to succeed and that the President would be humiliated and perhaps blamed for the deadlocked convention.  Colby backed down, and the balloting resumed on July 5.  McAdoo retook the lead on the 30th ballot, and still held it when the convention recessed briefly after the 36th ballot.

After the 38th ballot, Palmer released his delegates and Cox once again had the lead.  However, it still took until the 43rd ballot for Cox to secure a majority, and then finally on the 44th ballot Cox, at 1:39 AM on July 6, was nominated by acclamation once it was clear he had secured two-thirds support.  The next morning, after Cox was consulted, former Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Delano Roosevelt was chosen as the Vice Presidential nominee.  Charismatic, young (this was several years before his polio), from the critical state of New York, and with an ideal last name, Roosevelt was quickly approved by an exhausted convention.

Sources include: Patricia O’Toole, The Moralist.

[chiseler]

The Second Most Dangerous Anarchist in America

{NOTE: September 16th, 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the Wall Street bombing, an event which the city, for some reason, refuses to commemorate.}

A little after two on the afternoon of April 15th, 1920, the paymaster of one of the two shoe factories in Braintree, MA, together with a security guard, decided in a change of pace to simply walk that week’s payroll the few blocks from the office to the factory. The payroll, a little over $15,000 in cash, was divided between two strongboxes, each carried by one of the men. Along the way, and in front of over fifty eyewitnesses, a gang of five men, strangers to the small town, gunned down the paymaster and the guard, grabbed the strongboxes, hopped into an idling blue Buick, and sped away. The Buick, later determined to have been stolen a few weeks earlier, was a fancy model with curtained windows, plenty of chrome, and fat tires.

Two days later, on April 17th, two men on horseback discovered the car abandoned in the woods along the western edges of Bridgewater, just a couple miles south of Braintree. Much thinner tire tracks leading away from the scene were assumed to belong to the car into which the killers piled after ditching the Buick.

Bridgwater’s police chief, Michael Stewart, was a cigar-chomping, two-fisted type who’d been raised in Boston. Despite being the son of Irish immigrants, Stewart harbored a deep distrust of more recent immigrants from Germany, Poland, and Italy, especially the political types, suspecting them of being responsible for most of the crime in the region. He was proud to have been able to turn over six bona-fide Reds living in Bridgewater during the Palmer raids of the previous year.

Upon hearing about the Braintree killing, Stewart was reminded of a similar attempted heist in Bridgewater four months earlier on Christmas Eve. Again a shoe factory payroll had been targeted by a group of armed men in a getaway car. That time, however, they were thwarted when the truck containing the payroll crashed, and the would-be thieves were blocked by a passing trolley. Frustrated, they hopped back into the getaway car, another fancy, recently stolen model, and fled empty-handed.

During his abortive investigation into the failed heist, Stewart had been pointed to a ramshackle two-story house in the woods. Locals referred to it as Puffer’s Place, and believed it was home to a group of Italian anarchists. Those who’d heard of Puffer’s Place had no idea what went on there, but if it was full of anarchists, you knew it couldn’t be good. It sounded like a promising lead—Stewart was convinced Italian anarchists were responsible for the job—but he wasn’t able to find the shack, and gave up on the investigation.

All that changed a day after the Braintree attack, when Stewart received a call from the immigration bureau asking after  one Feruccio Coacci, a known anarchist who lived in the area and was scheduled for deportation.

Coacci, who’d been living with his wife and a housemate at Puffer’s Place, was quickly tracked down and deported on the 19th. In fact, after weeks of delays and excuses, he insisted on being deported on the 19th. Upon learning Coacci had coincidentally worked at both targeted shoe factories, and just as coincidentally failed to show up for work the day of both heists, Stewart became suspicious. On Tuesday the 20th, he headed back out to Puffer’s Place with another investigator.

They were met at the door by a small, funny-looking man who introduced himself as Mike Boda. Bona invited them in, showed them around, and answered their questions. He even showed them his revolver. Coacci, he said, had some friends who were anarchists and very bad men, but he had nothing to do with them himself.

When they were done looking around the cluttered house, Bona led them to the dilapidated car barn out back, explaining his car, a clunky 1914 Overland, was in the shop to get its magneto repaired. Although Overlands had very thin tires, there were also fatter tire tracks on the garage’s dirt floor. Buda explained this away by telling the officers he sometimes pulled in at a funny angle.

Satisfied, Stewart thanked Mr. Voda for his time and cooperation, and left.

Realizing later what a horrible mistake he’d made, that the tire tracks were just the clue he needed, Stewart rushed back to Puffer’s Place the next morning, arriving on the front stoop about twenty seconds after Bona slipped out the back door and vanished. By the next day, when Stewart stopped by again hoping to find Buda, Puffer’s Place had been cleaned out.

A few people at the time described him as resembling a clown without makeup. He was short and balding, with a great bulbous nose poised above a black mustache. But Mario Buda was not a man known for his rollicking sense of humor. Those who knew him said he was quiet, serious, enigmatic and a little arrogant. Still, there was something of the clown about him. At least he took his slapstick very, very seriously. Instead of cream pies or seltzer bottles, however, he leaned more toward dynamite. Now, a century after his most famous performance, he’s become the stuff of myth, both in anarchist and law enforcement circles.

Buda was born on October 13th, 1884 in Savignano sul Rubicone, Italy, a region known at the time as a hotbed of anarchist thinking.

In 1907, after a few minor scrapes with the law and an increasing sense he’d never be able to make a go of it in Savignano, a then-23-year-old Buda sailed to America. Although already an avowed anarchist, Buda had also apprenticed as a shoemaker, a skill he hoped might come in  handy in the land of plenty. It didn’t, and after working a series of menial jobs, starving and getting nowhere for two years, he returned to Italy in 1911. In 1913, he decided to give America another shot, this time settling in Boston and finding work at (depending on the account) a shoe factory, a hat factory or, together with his brother, a shop that sold cleaning supplies. That same year he became friends with another shoemaker named Nicola Sacco, whom he met when both took part in a protest at a nearby textile factory. Along with being a shoemaker, Sacco was also an anarchist, a follower of Luigi Galleani. In the pages of his magazine, Cronaca Sovversiva,  Galleani advocated what he called The Propaganda of the Deed, which called for the violent annihilation  of all government institutions through a relentless program of bombings and assassinations. Although the magazine never had more than 5,000 subscribers, it was considered the most influential anarchist periodical in America, while Justice Department insiders had labeled Galleani himself, who lived in Barre, Vermont, the country’s most dangerous anarchist.

Buda began attending local Galleanisti meetings where, sometime around 1916, he also met a fish peddler named Bartolomeo Vanzetti. He would later cite Sacco and Vanzetti as two of his best friends in the world.

The image of the swarthy, bomb-tossing anarchist in a long dark coat and low-slung hat solidly entered the American popular consciousness in 1919 (see below), but anarchist bombings across the country were not that uncommon prior to 1919, and in fact can be traced back to at least the Haymarket Square bombing of 1886. Still, there’s something so simple, even comforting and Romantic, in attributing all these incidents to a single figure, a lone super villain with a taste for black powder. Apart from a few scattered basic facts, precious little is known about Buda. He gave no speeches, left no writings, never married, played things very close to the chest, yet still seemed to be everywhere in the country at once. Over the past century this mysterious little man with the big nose has become as prime a candidate as anyone for supervillain status.

So this is where the speculation begins, most of it based on hindsight which itself is based on speculation.

On New Years Day, 1916, a security guard at the Massachusetts State house discovered a wicker suitcase packed with dynamite in the building’s basement, but was able to dispose of it before it went off. The following day another bomb planted in nearby Woburn was a bit more successful, detonating inside a factory belonging to The New England Manufacturing Company. No one was hurt, but the building suffered extensive damage. Was Buda involved in either incident? It’s unknown, and in fact it’s fairly unlikely, but in recent years armchair radical historians have been including them as possible early examples of Buda’s handiwork.

Seven months later on July 22nd, as America began prepping to dive into World War I, cities across the country staged what were called Preparedness Day parades to express public support for the military. Radical and labor groups assailed the idea, not only because they saw it merely as a cheap excuse for large businesses to angle their way into fat government contracts, but also because part of what was termed preparedness was the institution of a new military draft which would mostly, if not exclusively, affect the working class.

The parade in San Francisco, which attracted an estimated 50,000 marchers, was thrown into chaos when a suitcase packed with dynamite and left on the sidewalk exploded. Ten people were killed, and another forty were sent to the hospital with serious injuries. Suspicion immediately focused on socialists, labor groups, subversives and other radicals. The local chamber of commerce and business leaders, happy to cooperate with the police, compiled a list of known labor agitators who’d been involved in recent strikes. They passed the list over to the cops, who started rounding up Reds. In the end Warren Billings and Tom Mooney, both of them low-level labor activists, were charged with the bombing. Both men had solid alibis, both had been out of town that day, but thanks to the testimony of one well-coached prosecution witness, Billings got life, and Mooney was sentenced to death.

In the uproar that followed, Billings and Mooney became poster boys, early martyrs for the labor movement, but, twenty years later, received full pardons. That still left the question, who built and planted the crude bomb? Assuming it was the work of anarchists and not German saboteurs, every notable anarchist in the country—beginning with Emma Goldman—fell under suspicion, with the smart money leaning toward Boda. There exists no evidence linking him to the explosion, but there was no evidence linking anyone to the explosion, so whose to say it wasn’t a Buda job?  The case remains unsolved to this day.

Later in 1916—and this we do know—Buda was arrested at a Boston anti-militarism protest that turned violent. At his hearing, like so many anarchists at the time, he refused to take the oath on a Bible, and was sentenced to five months in jail for contempt. Upon his release in early 1917, and hoping to avoid that newly-instituted draft, he reconnected with Sacco and Vanzetti and the trio spirited away to join a growing collective of Italian anarchists living in Monterey, Mexico.  

There, Buda worked in a laundry and—here we’re back to speculation—may have spent his free time honing his bomb-making skills. What evidence there is to support this idea came later in 1917.

On November 9th, a Milwaukee, WI-based Italian evangelical minister, fed up with these slacker anarchists giving speeches badmouthing America when the country was at war, held a loyalty rally in front of the city’s anarchist headquarters. A fight broke out, the police were called, and in the end two anarchists were shot and killed. In retaliation, a group of ten anarchists, Buda among them, left Mexico and returned to the States with a mission. On the night of November 23rd, they left a bag containing a bomb in the basement of the offending evangelical church. Before it detonated, however, it was discovered by a janitor, who brought it to the local police station.

That’s where it exploded, killing nine cops and one civilian. Although several anarchists, including Buda, were rounded up and questioned, there was no solid evidence against any of them, and they were all released. No charges were ever filed. Today the Milwaukee blast is generally accepted without question as a Buda operation.

Buda, who upon his return from Mexico adopted the pseudonym Mike Boda, moved back to Massachusetts in early 1918. His precise whereabouts and doings over the course of the next two years remain foggy, though a few people think they know what he might’ve been up to.

On the afternoon of April 29th, 1919, a small package wrapped in brown paper arrived in the mail at the home of Georgia senator Thomas W. Hardwick. Hardwick wasn’t home, so his housekeeper brought the box inside and, together with Hardwick’s wife, set about opening it at the kitchen table.

The package turned out to be a novelty sampler from Gimbel’s. Or so the box claimed, anyway. When the housekeeper tore open the flap marked “OPEN,” she unwittingly released a spring that allowed a small vial of acid to spill on three blasting caps, which detonated the stick of dynamite packed in the wooden box. The explosion blew off the housekeeper’s hands and left Hardwick’s wife badly burned and lacerated.

That same day, an identical package arrived at the home of Rayme Weston Finch, a Bureau of Investigation agent with the Justice Department. One of Finch’s staffers took the initiative and opened the curious package, but ignoring the clearly-marked instructions, opened it from the wrong end. The acid vial merely tumbled out onto the table, and the bomb didn’t detonate.

After these two incidents, law enforcement departments, the post office and the media all began posting nationwide warnings about any similar packages. Even before word started to spread, a sharp-eyed postal clerk in New York had already set aside over a dozen identical packages for lack of postage. A total of thirty-six bombs had been mailed around the end of April, apparently in the hope they would be received and opened on May Day. Scanning the list of those politicians, judges, law enforcement officials, wealthy businessmen and newspaper editors who’d been targeted—including  J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Attorney general A. Mitchell Palmer—gave investigators a reasonably clear insight into the motivations of the Mad Bomber.

In a paranoid frenzy following the Bolshevik Revolution, city, state, and federal governments passed a series of sweeping anti-immigrant and anti-sedition laws, making it all but illegal to be an outspoken socialist, communist or anarchist, especially if you also happened to be Italian. All those people slated to receive mail bombs had either supported or enforced the legislation. Fisk, for instance, lead a raid on the offices of Cronaca Sovversiva in 1918, arresting three Galleanisti. Hardwick, meanwhile, had sponsored legislation aimed at crushing the labor movement and driving Left-leaning immigrants (mostly Italians) out of the country.

Two thoughts at this point. First, if Boda built the bombs in question, and if it was his idea to disguise an exploding box as a “Gimbel’s Novelty Sampler,” then he clearly had a much wackier sense of humor than most people realize. And second, again if Boda was responsible for the bombs used in the April campaign, they represented a marked leap forward in design. The earlier bombs attributed to him had been crude devices, just bundles of dynamite with primitive timing mechanisms, while these mail bombs were sophisticated and intricate. So who knows? Maybe he really had honed his skills during those months in Mexico.

On June 2nd, as federal investigators were still trying to narrow down their list of suspects for April’s mail bombs, eight much more powerful bombs, once again targeting judges, politicians and Attorney General Palmer, were detonated simultaneously in cities across the country. Bombs went off in Pittsburgh, Washington, New York and Chicago. Along with being packed with metallic shrapnel, each of the devices also contained a leaflet which read:

War, Class war, and you were the first to wage it under the cover of the powerful institutions you call order, in the darkness of your laws. There will have to be bloodshed; we will not dodge; there will have to be murder: we will kill, because it is necessary; there will have to be destruction; we will destroy to rid the world of your tyrannical institutions.

The flyers had been signed “The American Anarchist Fighters.”

This time there were two casualties. One was a night watchman, the other the former editor of Cronaca Sovversiva, who was in the process of depositing a 25-pound bomb on Palmer’s front steps when it prematurely exploded. The bomb demolished the front of the house, but Palmer, who was at home with his family at the time, was in a back room and remained unharmed. The bomber, meanwhile, was scattered in small pieces all over the genteel Washington, D.C. neighborhood.

Combined with the flyers, when the bomber was eventually identified as a Galleanista the feds had all the evidence they needed to deport Luigi Galleani back to Italy. But that was only the beginning of Attorney General Palmer’s revenge.

Although no one was ever arrested or charged for the bombing campaign, toward the end of 1919, the Attorney General, a long-time hardliner when it came to immigration, Sedition, labor unions an radicalism, launched what came to be known as The Palmer Raids. Cops across the country (including Police Chief Stewart in Bridgwater) rounded up roughly 10,000 suspected anarchists, communists and socialists, most of them Italian. In the end over 500 were deported. Meanwhile, American intellectuals whose own political views edged into the pink found themselves subject to federal and local suspicion and persecution. While the Palmer raids only lasted a few months, the first Red Scare would linger much longer.

Sacco and Vanzetti

On the evening of May 5th, 1920, two weeks after Mike Boda slipped away from Police Chief Michael Stewart, word began to spread the cops were going to start rounding up local radicals in their as yet fruitless search for the men responsible for the Braintree and Bridgwater crimes. Members of the local Galleanisti cell, including Sacco, Vanzetti, and Boda, decided it might be wise to quickly dispose of any stray dynamite and anarchist literature anyone might have laying around their homes. It was also decided the best and most efficient way to do this would be by car. Boda had the only available car, and though it was still in the shop, it was ready to be picked up. Boda, Sacco, Vanzetti and another friend made their way to the mechanic’s house about nine, but when the mechanic and his wife made a hamfisted attempt to stall them, it became clear something was afoot.  Boda  correctly smelled a set-up, and told the mechanic he’d come to pick up his car the next morning instead. The four men quickly left, splitting up as they did so.

Boda went into hiding in East Boston, but on their way home on the trolley that night, Sacco and Vanzetti were picked up by a cop who considered them suspicious characters. The pistols they were carrying and all the anarchist pamphlets in their respective homes only strengthened Stewart’s belief he had two of the killers in custody.

While keeping a very low profile in Boston, Boda closely followed the growing case against his two friends in the local papers.  On September 11th, 1920, Sacco and Vanzetti were officially indicted on first-degree murder charges.

Five days later, a little before noon on September 16th, as the sidewalk began to fill with the lunch hour crowds, a man drove his old horse and cart down Wall Street, coming to a stop outside the corporate headquarters of the J.P. Morgan bank, just down the street from the Stock Exchange. The man, whom nobody would later recall seeing, climbed down, tied up the horse, and  strolled away, one would like to imagine with his hands in his pockets and whistling a casual tune. Nobody paid much attention to the horse and cart, a common sight around New York at the time. Besides, everyone was too focused on lunch and that afternoon’s business meetings.

At a minute after twelve, the hundred pounds of dynamite packed in the cart exploded, sending nails and 500 pounds of iron sash weights ripping into the junior executives, bank tellers, secretaries, stock brokers and office boys who filled the streets. Cars were tossed around like cheap toys, trolleys a block away were blown off the tracks and windows throughout the financial district were shattered, as a fiery mushroom cloud arose above the gaping hole where the horse and cart once sat.

The streets and sidewalks were littered with broken glass, bleeding bodies, and parts of bodies as an eerie silence fell over the area. Then the screaming began.. In the end, thirty-eight people were killed, with another 300 hospitalized.  

William Flynn, director of the Bureau of Investigation, insisted on handling the case himself, ordering the immediate arrest of any known anarchists and, for good measure, the IWW’s Big Bill Haywood, who was in Chicago at the time of the bombing. Along with Haywood, eleven anarchists from the New York area were arrested, but all were soon released for lack of evidence.

Although a $100,000 reward was offered for information leading to an arrest, Flynn only had two clues to work with.

One was a handful of flyers discovered by a mailman in the minutes before the bomb went off. In prude red letters on yellow paper, the flyers read:

“Remember we will not tolerate any longer. Free the political prisoners or it will be sure  death for all of you.”

It was signed by “American Anarchist Fighters,” the same group behind the 1919 bombings.

The other was a blacksmith from Little Italy who told police that a day before the bombing, a short, balding Sicilian came into his shop to either (depending on the telling):

1. Rent an old horse and cart.

2. Rent a horse to pull a cart,

Or 3. Have his old horse, who was already pulling a cart, fitted with new shoes.

Flynn didn’t have much to go on, and his investigation went nowhere. In retrospect, he would later insist he knew from the start his primary suspect was Mario Buda, but Buda was never brought in, never questioned, and no charges were ever filed against him.

Buda, meanwhile, still going under the name Mike Boda, slipped off to Providence, and by the end of the month was on his way back to Savignano where, despite ongoing political activity and occasional trouble with the police (including a five-year exile), he would spend the rest of his days as a quiet and serious shoemaker. He died on June 1st, 1963.

According to Buda’s nephew, in 1955 his uncle confessed to him that he had indeed built and delivered the Wall Street bomb, though it’s unclear if he confessed to any of the other bombings attributed to him. It’s also unclear if Buda, eight years before his death, clarified to his nephew whether the Wall Street bombing was done in reaction to the indictment of his friends, as a final Puck You to Attorney General Palmer—or, hell, merely as a kick in the balls to the whole damn capitalist system. We’ll likely never know. To this day, the shrapnel pockmarks from the bomb can still be seen on the facades of several financial district buildings, and the case remains open.

Buda was, without question, a shadowy and slippery character. Over the years he’s taken on the aura of a Dr. Mabuse or Professor Moriarity. And who knows? Maybe he really was a mad anarchist genius. After all, no clues were ever left behind at the scenes of the bombings attributed to him, so there’s no saying he wasn’t responsible for all of them and more. Maybe he really was that good. I’d like to believe so.

by Jim Knipfel

[seachranaidhe]

Máire Drumm murdered in her hospital bed.

On 28th October 1976, 28 years ago, Sinn Féin Vice President Máire Drumm was shot dead in her hospital bed. Máire Drumm (née McAteer), was born in the townland of Killeen, South Armagh, on 22 October 1919 to a staunchly republican family. Máire’s mother had been active in the Tan War and the Civil War. In 1940, Máire joined Sinn Féin in Dublin. In 1942, she moved to Belfast, which became her…

[greatworldwar2]

• Philippe Pétain

Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Pétain generally known as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain, was a French general officer who attained the position of Marshal of France at the end of World War I, during which he became known as Le Lion de Verdun (The Lion of Verdun). In collaboration with Nazi Germany, he then served as the Chief of State of Vichy France from 1940 to 1944.

Pétain was born in Cauchy-à-la-Tour (in the Pas-de-Calais département in Northern France) in 1856. His great-uncle, a Catholic priest, Father Abbe Lefebvre (1771-1866), had served in Napoleon's Grande Armée and told the young Philippe tales of war and adventure of his campaigns from the peninsulas of Italy to the Alps in Switzerland. Highly impressed by the tales told by his uncle, his destiny was from then on determined by the army. After World War I Pétain married his former girlfriend, Eugénie Hardon (1877–1962), on September 14th, 1920; they remained married until the end of Pétain's life. Pétain joined the French Army in 1876 and attended the St Cyr Military Academy in 1887 and the École Supérieure de Guerre (army war college) in Paris. Between 1878 and 1899, he served in various garrisons with different battalions of the Chasseurs à pied, the elite light infantry of the French Army.

Pétain's career progressed slowly, as he rejected the French Army philosophy of the furious infantry assault, arguing instead that "firepower kills". His views were later proved to be correct during the First World War. He was promoted to captain in 1890 and major in 1900. Unlike many French officers, he served mainly in mainland France, never French Indochina or any of the African colonies, although he participated in the Rif campaign in Morocco. Pétain would never receive the rank of general as by the time of 1914 he was already nearing retirement age. Pétain led his brigade at the Battle of Guise. At the end of August 1914 he was quickly promoted to brigadier-general and given command of the 6th Division in time for the First Battle of the Marne. Pétain commanded the Second Army at the start of the Battle of Verdun in February 1916. During the battle, he was promoted to Commander of Army Group Centre, which contained a total of 52 divisions. Because of his high prestige as a soldier's soldier and success in combat, Pétain served briefly as Army Chief of Staff ,from the end of April 1917. After the war ended Pétain was made Marshal of France on November 21st, 1918.

Pétain ended the war regarded "without a doubt, the most accomplished defensive tactician of any army" and "one of France's greatest military heroes" and was presented with his baton of Marshal of France at a public ceremony at Metz by President Raymond Poincaré in December 1918. He was summoned to be present at the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28th, 1919. His job as Commander-in-Chief came to an end with peace and demobilisation. in January 1920, was appointed Vice-Chairman of the revived Conseil supérieur de la Guerre (Supreme War Council). This was France's highest military position. Shortly after the war, Pétain had placed before the government plans for a large tank and air force but "at the meeting of the Conseil supérieur de la Défense Nationale in March 1920 the Finance Minister, François-Marsal, announced that although Pétain's proposals were excellent they were unaffordable". In 1928 Pétain had supported the creation of an independent air force removed from the control of the army, and on February 9th,1931, following his retirement as Vice-Chairman of the Supreme War Council, he was appointed Inspector-General of Air Defence.

Political unease was sweeping the country, and on February 6th, 1934 the Paris police fired on a group of far-right rioters outside the Chamber of Deputies. Pétain was invited, on February 8th, to join the new French cabinet as Minister of War, which he only reluctantly accepted after many representations. He improved the recruitment programme for specialists, and lengthened the training period by reducing leave entitlements. Some argue that Pétain, as France's most senior soldier after Foch's death, should bear some responsibility for the poor state of French weaponry preparation before World War II. But Pétain was only one of many military and other men on a very large committee responsible for national defence, and interwar governments frequently cut military budgets. Pétain had been made, briefly, Minister of War in 1934. Yet his short period of total responsibility could not reverse 15 years of inactivity and constant cutbacks.

In March 1939 Pétain became the French ambassador to Spain. When World War II began in September, Pétain turned down an offer of a position in the French government. However on May 18th, 1940, after Germany invaded France, Pétain joined the new government of Paul Reynaud. Reynaud hoped that the hero of Verdun might instill a renewed spirit of resistance and patriotism in the French Army. On May 26th, the invading Germans pushed back the French Army. General Maxime Weygand expressed his fury at British retreats and the unfulfilled promise of British fighter aircraft. He and Pétain regarded the military situation as hopeless. On June 5th, following the fall of Dunkirk, there was a Cabinet reshuffle, and Prime Minister Reynaud brought the newly promoted Brigadier-General de Gaulle. On June 10th, 1940, the government left Paris for Tours. Weygand, the Commander -in -Chief, now declared that "the fighting had become meaningless". He, Baudouin, and several members of the government were already set on an armistice.

Upon learning of France's surrender, the British prime minister Churchill told the French they should consider "guerrilla warfare". Pétain then replied that it would mean the destruction of the country. On June 12th, after a second session of the conference, the cabinet met and Weygand again called for an armistice. He referred to the danger of military and civil disorder and the possibility of a Communist uprising in Paris. Pétain and Minister of Information Prouvost urged the cabinet to hear Weygand out because "he was the only one really to know what was happening". Pétain strongly supported Weygand’s demand for an armistice and read out a draft proposal to the cabinet where he spoke of "the need to stay in France, to prepare a national revival, and to share the sufferings of our people". The government moved to Bordeaux, where French governments had fled German invasions in 1870 and 1914, on June 14th. Parliament, both senate and chamber, were also at Bordeaux and immersed themselves in the armistice debate. Reynaud declared his resignation as Prime Minister on June 16th, and felt he had little choice but to appoint Pétain in his place.

A new Cabinet with Pétain as head of government was formed. General de Gaulle, no longer in the Cabinet, had arrived in London on the 17th and made a call for resistance from there, on the 18th, with no legal authority whatsoever from his government, a call that was heeded by comparatively few. Cabinet and Parliament still argued between themselves on the question of whether or not to retreat to North Africa. On June 22nd, France signed an armistice at Compiègne with Germany that gave Germany control over the north and west of the country, including Paris and all of the Atlantic coastline, but left the rest, around two-fifths of France's prewar territory, unoccupied. Paris remained the de jure capital. On June 29th, the French Government moved to Clermont-Ferrand. The Chamber of Deputies and Senate, meeting together as a "Congrès", held an emergency meeting on July 10th, to ratify the armistice. The new Vichy government immediately used its new powers to order harsh measures, including the dismissal of republican civil servants, the installation of exceptional jurisdictions, the proclamation of antisemitic laws, and the imprisonment of opponents and foreign refugees. Censorship was imposed, and freedom of expression and thought were effectively abolished with the reinstatement of the crime of "felony of opinion."

Pétain championed a rural, Catholic France that spurned internationalism. As a retired military commander, he ran the country on military lines. He and his government collaborated with Germany in the years after the armistice. Pétain's government was nevertheless internationally recognised, notably by the U.S., at least until the German occupation of the rest of France. Neither Pétain nor his successive deputies, Laval, Pierre-Étienne Flandin, or Admiral François Darlan, gave significant resistance to requests by the Germans to indirectly aid the Axis Powers. However, when Hitler met Pétain at Montoire in October 1940 to discuss the French government's role in the new European Order, the Marshal "listened to Hitler in silence. Not once did he offer a sympathetic word for Germany." French government became increasingly fearful of the British and took the initiative to collaborate with the occupiers. Pétain accepted the government's creation of a collaborationist armed militia (the Milice) under the command of Joseph Darnand, who, along with German forces, led a campaign of repression against the French resistance. Pétain's government acquiesced to the Axis forces demands for large supplies of manufactured goods and foodstuffs, and also ordered French troops in France's colonial empire (in Dakar, Syria, Madagascar, Oran and Morocco) to defend sovereign French territory against any aggressors, Allied or otherwise.

On November 11th, 1942, German forces invaded the unoccupied zone of Southern France in response to the Allies' Operation Torch landings in North Africa. Although the French government nominally remained in existence, civilian administration of almost all France being under it, Pétain became nothing more than a figurehead, as the Germans had negated the pretence of an "independent" government at Vichy. Pétain however remained popular and engaged in a series of visits around France as late as 1944. Following the liberation of France, in September 1944 Pétain and other members of the French cabinet at Vichy were relocated by the Germans to the Sigmaringen enclave in Germany, where they became a government-in-exile until April 1945. Pétain, however, having been forced to leave France, refused to participate in this government. On April 5th, 1945, Pétain wrote a note to Hitler expressing his wish to return to France. No reply ever came. However, on his birthday almost three weeks later, he was taken to the Swiss border. Two days later he crossed the French frontier.

The provisional government, headed by De Gaulle, placed Pétain on trial for treason, which took place from July to August 1945. Dressed in the uniform of a Marshal of France, Pétain remained silent through most of the proceedings. De Gaulle himself later criticised the trial, stating, "Too often, the discussions took on the appearance of a partisan trial, sometimes even a settling of accounts, when the whole affair should have been treated only from the standpoint of national defence and independence." De Gaulle himself later criticised the trial, stating, "Too often, the discussions took on the appearance of a partisan trial, sometimes even a settling of accounts, when the whole affair should have been treated only from the standpoint of national defence and independence." After his conviction, the Court stripped Pétain of all military ranks and honours save for the one distinction of Marshal of France. Over the following years Pétain's lawyers and many foreign governments and dignitaries, including Queen Mary and the Duke of Windsor, appealed to successive French governments for Pétain's release, but given the unstable state of Fourth Republic politics no government was willing to risk unpopularity by releasing him. Although Pétain had still been in good health for his age at the time of his imprisonment, by late 1947 his memory lapses were worsening and he was beginning to suffer from incontinence, sometimes soiling himself in front of visitors and sometimes no longer recognising his wife. By May, Pétain required constant nursing care, and he was often suffering from hallucinations, e.g. that he was commanding armies in battle, or that naked women were dancing around his room. By the end of 1949, Pétain was completely senile.

On June 8th, 1951 President Auriol, informed that Pétain had little longer to live, commuted his sentence to confinement in hospital. Pétain died in a private home in Port-Joinville on the Île d'Yeu on July 23rd, 1951, at the age of 95. His sometime protégé Charles de Gaulle later wrote that Pétain’s life was "successively banal, then glorious, then deplorable, but never mediocre".

[dogsofwarrp]

our lifestyle and historical context posts will be broken down into two, as there’s a lot of information and we don’t want to overwhelm you. this is a lot of condensed information and of course we recommend, if you’re into that sort of thing, you go and google and read up about the war and the time period in question to broaden your knowledge.

this right here is our historical context post and our lifestyle post will be right around the corner. if you have any questions, or want any additional information that you can’t find for yourself, then please message us and we’ll try and answer any queries you might have!!!!

THE WAR

It all begins with a gunshot that is heard across the world. Or at least, that is what people say. On June 28th, 1914, Arch-Duke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist with ties to the rebel military group, The Black Hand. It is this event that rapidly sends Europe spiralling into war, drawing the rest of the world into one of the bloodiest and most devastating conflicts of all time; World War One.

Though Franz Ferdinand’s murder was the spark that lit the fuse of the First World War, tensions had been building in Europe for years. The four main powers of Europe - Britain, France, The German Empire and Austro-Hungary - had been stockpiling weapons for decades. France and Germany had a fractious relationship concerning the ownership of Alsace lLorraine, an area on the border between the two countries which had been a bone of contention for decades. Germany also had ambitions concerning its growing empire, which was increasingly causing frictions with the other colonial powers of Europe. In essence, the stage was set for a big conflict to take place by the turn of the 20th Century, though no one could guess at the total devastation that would reign across the world for over four years.

To give a brief summary of the events that followed Franz Ferdinand’s assassination, Austro-Hungary declared war on Serbia, whilst in the following couple of months, Germany declared war on France following a treaty with the Ottoman Empire (modern Turkey). As Germany began its invasion of France (known as the Schlieffen Plan) via Belgium in August 1914, Britain declared war on Germany due to a long standing protective obligation towards belgium. Things quickly escalated as Austro-Hungary, Germany’s long-standing ally, invaded Russia, the long standing ally of the British. Lines were drawn, and alliances were made; the Central Powers and the Allied Powers.

The Central Powers were made up of Austro-Hungary, Germany, Italy and the Ottoman empire. The Allied powers were made up of Great Britain, France, and the Russian Empire, late to be joined by the USA in April 1917.

The initial months of the war were not unusual; ground was gained and lost and regained as the German’s invasion plan became a botched effort in Northern France and Belgium. However, things changed as both the Allied and Central Powers settled into a relatively new kind of warfare; trench warfare. Wars, up until this point, had traditionally been fought with man and horsepower, with the cavalry being the main force for winning most battles. This war however, was the first example of industrialised warfare.

New technologies such as machine guns were used on a scale that had never been seen before, and vehicles such as tanks and aeroplanes were seen for the first time on the battlefield. This new mechanised way of fighting came at a huge human (and animal) cost. Battle tactics had yet to catch up with these new technologies, and as such, men and horses were pitted against machine guns. It doesn’t take a genius to know how that worked out.

From the start point of this site, December 1916, huge swathes of Europe are devastated by the war. Much of rural France, Belgium and Germany lie in ruins; a quagmire of mud, bodies and barbed wire. Russia is beginning to withdraw out of the war due to the rising conflict within its own borders; the communist revolution is about to go up like a powder keg. Meanwhile, after years of isolationist policy, the United States of America are considering entering into the fray. Things are becoming desperate on the Western Front. Many view this war as an Armageddon, the End of Days, and perhaps they’re right. This is the end of imperial Europe, and in 1917, the great super powers that had controlled the continents of Africa, Asia and Oceania from their ivory towers in London, Paris, Berlin and Vienna, are beginning to experience their first death throws.

The world would never be the same again.

MAJOR BATTLES

First Battle of Ypres. Western Front. October 19th-November 22nd 1914. Casualties: British (58,000), French (86,000), German (134,000).

Second Battle of Ypres. Western Front. April 22nd-May 25th 1915. Casualties: British (60,000), French (10,000), German (35,000).

Gallipoli. Turkey. April 25th 1915- January 19th 1916. Casualties: British (73,000), French (27,000), Ottoman Empire (250,000).

The Battle of Verdun. Western front. 21st February-18th December 1916. Casualties: French (377,000), German (337,000).

The Battle of Jutland. Sea battle. 31st May-1st June 1916. Casualties: British (6,784), German (3,058).

The Battle of the Somme. Western Front. 1st July-18th November 1916. Casualties: British (420,000), French (200,000), German (500,000).

The Brusilov Offensive. Eastern Front. 4th June-20th September 1916. Casualties: Russian (between 500,000 & 1 million), German (350,000), Austro-Hungary (600,000).

THE WORLD

The world is a very different place in 1917. Europe is made up of colonial super states, and much of africa, asia, south america and oceania is divided up between the empires of europe. Below are a series of maps to try and help you understand the geo-political state of the world in 1917.

WOMEN

In the years leading up to the Great War, women’s suffrage was one of the biggest issues of the day, not only for the half of the population it would directly affect, but in terms of the safety and national security of many countries across the globe.

Suffragettes, as these political campaigners were derisively dubbed by journalist Charles E. Hands in the London Daily Mail, were considered one of the greatest threats to the British public by 1914. Just as the great war was about to break out, the british public had been rocked by acts of terrorism, perpetrated by suffragette groups such as the women’s social and political union, led by one of the most famous suffragettes of all, Emmeline Pankhurst. The contents of letter boxes were burned, windows smashed, and bombs were detonated. As these female perpetrators were arrested and detained, many would employ the tactic of hunger strikes as a form of protest. Stunts were also employed at major events, most famously, Emily Wilding Davison’s attempt to pin a suffragette flag to the king’s horse at the Epsom Derby, which resulted in her accidental death as she pulled under the horse’s hooves. It was a scandal that the country had never truly experienced before.

Of course, the fight for women’s suffrage was a global struggle. New Zealand was in fact the first nation to give its women citizens equal voting rights as its men in 1893. However, it would take nations such as Great Britain, France, the USA and Germany another 20 to 40 years to give their female citizens equal suffrage; Britain in 1921, France in 1944, the USA in 1920, and Germany in 1918.

However, although the suffragette movement is associated with feminism, the suffragette’s feminism was problematic. In Britain, the suffragettes were mainly led by and consisted of upper-white middle class women. There was little intersectionality within the suffragette movement, and women who belonged to the lower classes or were women of colour were often forgotten about and left just as disenfranchised as they had ever been. Class, race and disability were of little concern to the suffragette movement.

UPRISINGS

In April 1916, the most significant Irish uprising in over a hundred years took place. This was the easter rising, an infamous rebellion which paved the way for irish independence from british rule in 1919.

Ireland had suffered under British occupation for hundreds of years. They had been devastated by Oliver Cromwell’s efforts to stamp out the country’s Catholicism in the 1600s; a campaign which is often viewed as a genocide. In the centuries that followed, there were enormous tensions between the native Catholic Irish, and the Protestant English and Scottish settlers.

In 1800, the Acts of Union united Ireland and Great Britain under British rule. Acts and laws that were introduced around this time prevented ownership of land by Irish Catholics, and many Catholics lived as tenants under Anglo-Irish Protestant landlords. Much of the Irish population were left impoverished and dependent on cheap crops that could be grown in poor, boggy ground. One of these crops were potatoes, and when a particularly virulent form of potato blight (a kind of fungal pest) ravaged its way through Europe, much of the Irish population were left without a primary food source. This resulted in one of the biggest disasters in Irish history, known as the great potato famine. Between 1845 and 1852, around a million people perished from starvation and a million more emigrated out of Ireland, many travelling to America for a better life. Ireland’s population fell by around 25% as a result of this disaster.

Hundreds of years of mistreatment, disenfranchisement and religious tensions had given rise to a number of different rebellions, but the Easter Rising was one of the most impacting. Organized by the seven man military council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the rebellion took advantage of the fact that Britain was preoccupied with the ongoing war in Europe. The rising began on Easter Monday, April 24th, lasting for seven days.

Key locations were seized in Dublin with the help of the Irish Volunteers and the Irishwomen’s Council, and an Irish Republic was declared. The british responded by sending in reinforcements and heavy artillery. Gunfights broke out in the streets, and the British eventually surrounded and bombarded the Irish strongholds with their superior artillery. Other parts of Ireland initiated attacks on British military strongholds including the Royal Irish Constabulary barracks in County Meath. However, the British eventually suppressed the rebellion, and martial law was implemented on the country as a result. 485 people were killed during the Rising, over half of which were Irish civilians who were mistaken for Irish nationalist rebels.

In the aftermath, 3,500 people were taken prisoner by the British, though many had no ties with the rebellion. 1,600 people were sent to internment camps and prisons across Britain. The Easter Rising was quashed, but tensions did not dissipate. In fact, the Easter Rising and subsequent response by the British stoked the fires of support for Irish independence across the Irish population.

The Easter Rising may have failed, but it had sparked the flames for Irish independence.

[mollyweedenfmp]

Skydiving/Parachuting is a sport or activity involving jumping from an aircraft and free falling through the air, to then control the speed of your descent by releasing a parachute. During free-fall one can perform acrobatic manoeuvres in the air. Andre-Jacques Garnerin, the inventor of the parachute performed the very first parachute jump on 22nd October 1797 by leaping from a height of 3,200 feet (980m) in Paris. Leslie Irvin then invented the Ripcord-operated parachute deployment over a century later in 1919, performing the very first free-fall jump. The military use this activity as a way to save aircrew from onboard emergencies and also as a method to insert soldiers to an area. After world war 2 Skydiving became very popular as soldiers discovered they enjoyed the experience. Nowadays it is still used by the military as well as civilians participating in competitions or recreational activities. People do die from the sport but it is overall a very safe activity. In the US the number of skydiving fatalities range between 20 to 30 people a year. Mid-air collisions do occur with other parachutists, these are called canopy collisions but can be avoided by seperation between when each person jumps. This is equal to roughly 1 in 135,000 skydives. According to current airspace rules it is illegal to jump through or into clouds, this is a responsability also held by the dropping aircraft. Skydivers can reach up to 110-140mph.

[pope-francis-quotes]

22nd Oct >> Pope Francis’ letter on the hundredth Anniversary of the promulgation of the Apostolic Letter ‘Maximum Illud’ 22nd October 2017

LETTERA DEL SANTO PADRE FRANCESCO

IN OCCASIONE DEL CENTENARIO DELLA PROMULGAZIONE

DELLA LETTERA APOSTOLICA "MAXIMUM ILLUD"

SULL'ATTIVITÀ SVOLTA DAI MISSIONARI NEL MONDO

To my Venerable Brother

Cardinal Fernando Filoni

Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples

On 30 November 2019, we will celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the promulgation of the Apostolic Letter Maximum Illud, with which Pope Benedict XV sought to give new impetus to the missionary task of proclaiming the Gospel. In 1919, in the wake of a tragic global conflict that he himself called a “useless slaughter,”[1] the Pope recognized the need for a more evangelical approach to missionary work in the world, so that it would be purified of any colonial overtones and kept far away from the nationalistic and expansionistic aims that had proved so disastrous. “The Church of God is universal; she is not alien to any people,”[2] he wrote, firmly calling for the rejection of any form of particular interest, inasmuch as the proclamation and the love of the Lord Jesus, spread by holiness of one’s life and good works, are the sole purpose of missionary activity. Benedict XV thus laid special emphasis on the missio ad gentes, employing the concepts and language of the time, in an effort to revive, particularly among the clergy, a sense of duty towards the missions.

That duty is a response to Jesus’ perennial command to “go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature” (Mk 16:15). Obeying this mandate of the Lord is not an option for the Church: in the words of the Second Vatican Council, it is her “essential task,”[3] for the Church is “missionary by nature.”[4] “Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity; she exists in order to evangelize.”[5] The Council went on to say that, if the Church is to remain faithful to herself and to preach Jesus crucified and risen for all, the living and merciful Saviour, then “prompted by the Holy Spirit, she must walk the same path Christ walked: a path of poverty and obedience, of service and self-sacrifice.”[6] In this way, she will effectively proclaim the Lord, “model of that redeemed humanity, imbued with brotherly love, sincerity and a peaceful spirit, to which all aspire.”[7]

What Pope Benedict XV so greatly desired almost a century ago, and the Council reiterated some fifty years ago, remains timely. Even now, as in the past, “the Church, sent by Christ to reveal and to communicate the love of God to all men and nations, is aware that there still remains an enormous missionary task for her to accomplish.”[8] In this regard, Saint John Paul II noted that “the mission of Christ the Redeemer, which is entrusted to the Church, is still very far from completion,” and indeed, “an overall view of the human race shows that this mission is still only beginning and that we must commit ourselves wholeheartedly to its service.”[9] As a result, in words that I would now draw once more to everyone’s attention, Saint John Paul exhorted the Church to undertake a “renewed missionary commitment”, in the conviction that missionary activity “renews the Church, revitalizes faith and Christian identity, and offers fresh enthusiasm and new incentive. Faith is strengthened when it is given to others! It is in commitment to the Church’s universal mission that the new evangelization of Christian peoples will find inspiration and support.”[10]

In my Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, drawing from the proceedings of the Thirteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which met to reflect on the new evangelization for the transmission of the Christian faith, I once more set this urgent summons before the whole Church. There I wrote, “John Paul II asked us to recognize that ‘there must be no lessening of the impetus to preach the Gospel’ to those who are far from Christ, ‘because this is the first task of the Church.’ Indeed, ‘today missionary activity still represents the greatest challenge for the Church’ and ‘the missionary task must remain foremost.’ What would happen if we were to take these words seriously? We would realize that missionary outreach is paradigmatic for all the Church’s activity.”[11]

I am convinced that this challenge remains as urgent as ever. “[It] has a programmatic significance and important consequences. I hope that all communities will devote the necessary effort to advancing along the path of a pastoral and missionary conversion that cannot leave things as they presently are. ‘Mere administration’ can no longer be enough. Throughout the world, let us be ‘permanently in a state of mission.’”[12] Let us not fear to undertake, with trust in God and great courage, “a missionary option capable of transforming everything, so that the Church’s customs, ways of doing things, times and schedules, language and structures can be suitably channeled for the evangelization of today’s world rather than for her self-preservation. The renewal of structures demanded by pastoral conversion can only be understood in this light: as part of an effort to make them more mission-oriented, to make ordinary pastoral activity on every level more inclusive and open, to inspire in pastoral workers a constant desire to go forth and in this way to elicit a positive response from all those whom Jesus summons to friendship with himself. As John Paul II told the Bishops of Oceania, ‘All renewal in the Church must have mission as its goal if it is not to fall prey to a kind of ecclesial introversion.’”[13]

The Apostolic Letter Maximum Illud called for transcending national boundaries and bearing witness, with prophetic spirit and evangelical boldness, to God’s saving will through the Church’s universal mission. May the approaching centenary of that Letter serve as an incentive to combat the recurring temptation lurking beneath every form of ecclesial introversion, self-referential retreat into comfort zones, pastoral pessimism and sterile nostalgia for the past. Instead, may we be open to the joyful newness of the Gospel. In these, our troubled times, rent by the tragedies of war and menaced by the baneful tendency to accentuate differences and to incite conflict, may the Good News that in Jesus forgiveness triumphs over sin, life defeats death and love conquers fear, be proclaimed to the world with renewed fervour, and instil trust and hope in everyone.

In the light of this, accepting the proposal of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, I hereby call for an Extraordinary Missionary Month to be celebrated in October 2019, with the aim of fostering an increased awareness of the missio ad gentes and taking up again with renewed fervour the missionary transformation of the Church’s life and pastoral activity. The Missionary Month of October 2018 can serve as a good preparation for this celebration by enabling all the faithful to take to heart the proclamation of the Gospel and to help their communities grow in missionary and evangelizing zeal. May the love for the Church’s mission, which is “a passion for Jesus and a passion for his people,”[14] grow ever stronger!

I entrust you, venerable Brother, the Congregation which you head, and the Pontifical Missionary Societies with the work of preparing for this event, especially by raising awareness among the particular Churches, the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, and among associations, movements, communities and other ecclesial bodies. May the Extraordinary Missionary Month prove an intense and fruitful occasion of grace, and promote initiatives and above all prayer, the soul of all missionary activity. May it likewise advance the preaching of the Gospel, biblical and theological reflection on the Church’s mission, works of Christian charity, and practical works of cooperation and solidarity between Churches, so that missionary zeal may revive and never be wanting among us.[15]

From the Vatican, 22 October 2017

XXIX Sunday of Ordinary Time

Memorial of Saint John Paul II

World Mission Sunday

Francis

[1] Letter to the Leaders of the Warring Peoples, 1 August 1917: AAS IX (1917), 421-423.

[2] Benedict XV, Apostolic Letter Maximum Illud, 30 November 1919: AAS 11 (1919), 445.

[3] Decree on the Missionary Activity of the Church Ad Gentes, 7 December 1965, 7: AAS 58 (1966), 955.

[4] Ibid., 2: AAS 58 (1966), 948.

[5] Paul VI, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, 8 December 1975, 14: AAS 68 (1976), 13.

[6] Decree Ad Gentes, 5: AAS 58 (1966), 952.

[7] Ibid., 8: AAS 58 (1966), 956-957.

[8] Ibid., 10: AAS 58 (1966), 959.

[9] Encyclical Letter Redemptoris Missio, 7 December 1990, 1: AAS 83 (1991), 249.

[10] Ibid., 2: AAS 83 (1991), 250-251.

[11] Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium 15: AAS 105 (2013), 1026.

[12]Ibid., 25: AAS 105 (2013), 1030.

[13]Ibid., 27: AAS 105 (2013), 1031.

[14]Ibid., 268: AAS 105 (2013), 1128.

[15] Ibid., 80: AAS 105 (2013), 1053.

.

[ourmusicmaker]

Charles Olden Bannister

Grandfather pictured at the Sir John Cass Technical Institute sometime after it opened for the first time in 1902.  He was a science teacher and behind him he has drawn a diagram of a Swedish Lancashire Hearth.  This was a process for turning pig iron into wrought iron.  The Swedes needed a cheap iron making process as they had no coal reserves so copied and improved upon the Lancashire Hearth.

Here’s an outline of his career.

Charles Olden Bannister died on 22nd February, 1955, at the age of 78.

He was educated at King Edward’s Grammar School, Stourbridge, and from 1891 to 1895 was employed in the chemical laboratory of Messrs. Albright and Wilson’s phosphorus works at Oldbury. He took the three-year course in metallurgy at the Royal School of Mines from 1896, obtaining a first-class Associateship of the School in 1899 and the Bessemer Medal and Prize. He then joined the staff of the Royal School of Mines as assistant instructor in assaying, and in 1901 gained an Honours Associateship in Metallurgy; he was awarded the Edward Matthey Prize for research work in 1902, and a Carnegie Scholarship of the Iron and Steel Institute in 1903.

Professor Bannister’s long teaching career began when he took up the appointment of lecturer in metallurgy at the Sir John Cass Technical Institute in October, 1903, but he conducted researches over a wide field for many years. He was made head of the Metallurgy Department of the Sir John Cass Technical Institute in 1907, and held that position until 1919.

From 1914 to 1920 he was consulting metallurgist to Messrs. Riley and Harbord, London, and was a war-time lecturer in metallurgy at the Royal School of Mines. He was awarded the Bessemer Premium of the Society of Engineers in 1919. He left London in 1920 when he was appointed Professor of Metallurgy in the University of Liverpool. He served as Dean of the Faculty of Engineering during the two periods 1924-1928 and 1935-1938. On his retirement from the Department of Metallurgy in 1941 he was made Emeritus Professor of the University.

Professor Bannister was the author of many technical papers, including the following contributions to the Transactions of the Institution: ‘A graphic method for computation of blast furnace charges’ (vol. 13, 1903-04); ‘The assay of auriferous tin-stone’ (vol. 15, 1905-06); ‘Cupellation experiments’: Part I (jointly with W.N. Stanley), ‘The thermal properties of cupels’ (vol. 18, 1908-09) and Part II (with G. Patchin), ‘A simple method for the detection of platinum metals in cupellation beads’ (vol. 23, 1913-14); ‘ On the theory of blast-roasting of galena’ (vol. 21, 1911-12) for which he was awarded ‘The Consolidated Gold Fields of South Africa, Limited’ Gold Medal; and, with W.M. Doyle, ‘Bismuth in copper; its effects, determination, and some experiments in its gaseous elimination’ (vol. 44, 1934-35). He was also contributor of the iron and steel section of Lunge and Kean’s Technical methods of chemical analysis, and was responsible for the revision of the 6th edition of Sexton’s Elementary textbook of metallurgy and of the 4th edition of Gowland’s Metallurgy of the nan-ferrous metals (1930).

Professor Bannister was elected an Associate Member of the Institution in 1906 and was transferred to Membership in 1908. He was an original member of the Institute of Metals, for many years a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chemistry, and a member of the Society of Chemical Industry, the Iron and Steel Institute, and the Institution of Metallurgists.

Vol. 64, Trans I.M.M. 1954-55, p. 642

[philatelicdatabase]

Airposts and their Stamps (1921)

This article is probably one of the first airmail articles, certainly of any length, to be published in a philatelic journal. It was first published in Stamp Collectors' Fortnightly (January, 1921) from a paper read by Major RS Archer, MC, as his Presidential Address before the Liverpool Junior Philatelic Society, October 11th, 1920.

The Wabash Railway Company in U.S.A. has recently taken off its fast mail train between Toledo and St. Louis, because it could not compete with its rival in the air. To one who has closely followed the rapid development of the aerial mail, this announcement causes little surprise. The increase in speed of the aeroplane over the train would in itself not affect the rail services, but this, added to the fact that the air line in question has maintained an efficiency of 92 percent for more than twelve months, has demonstrated the reliability of the aeroplane service. All the experiments prove that the universal use of the aeroplane for mail-carrying purposes is coming, and almost daily the papers chronicle the institution of new air lines. The collection of aerial post stamps thus becomes imperative to the up-to-date philatelist. One prophesies the not-far-distant date when the majority of the new stamps, certainly European, occupying the pages of our albums, till be those used in connection with the post conveyed by petrol-driven Mercuries. Tonight, time will only permit a short flight through the intensely fascinating history of the air mail, whilst I pilot you amongst the forty odd stamps which the past three and a half years have brought forth in this connection. The experience gained in the past War has, of course, been an invaluable help in the development of air services, and, curiously enough it was in wartime that the first airpost was instituted. It was necessary, during the Siege of Paris in 1870, to find a means of communication with the outer world, and, for this purpose, a balloon post was brought into being. The first ascent was made on 23rd September, 1870, and the services continued in almost daily use for four months, during which period 68 balloons were despatched, 60 landing on French or neutral territory, five being captured by the Germans, and three being lost at sea. Envelopes despatched in this manner give no indication of their mode of conveyance. However, it may be taken that any envelope or card bearing a postmark dated between 23rd September, 1870, and 28th January, 1871, was forwarded from Paris by balloon post - the first authoritative air mail. A connecting link between balloon and aeroplane posts took place in 1896, when a Mr. Fricker inaugurated a pigeon service between Great Barrier Island and Auckland N.Z., 66 miles apart, a post which continued for several years. Special triangular stamps were used for this service, depicting a pigeon in full flight, the denomination being 6d. (blue) and 1s. (red). The first aeroplane post in the world, however, took place on 18th February, 1911, at Allahabad, India, organised by Captain Windham. The letters were carried by aeroplane from the United Provinces Exhibition to a Post Office receiving-station in Allahabad, from which place they were despatched to any part of the world to which they were addressed. Over 6,000 letters and cards, thus posted, were franked by the Exhibition P.O. with a die, specially cut in the postal workshops at Aligarh, incorporating a design of an aeroplane, encircled by the inscription "Aerial Post, Allahabad Exhibition," together with the date of despatch. A nominal additional fee of six annas per letter or card was charged, which amount was handed, without deduction, as a donation to the new buildings of the Oxford and Cambridge Hostel at Allahabad. In honour of King George's Coronation this same Captain Windham was also the organiser of the first air post in the United Kingdom, which was flown between Hendon and Windsor on 9th September, 1911, and for a few following days. No special stamps were issued, but envelopes and postcards bearing a design of an aeroplane flying over Windsor Castle, with the winding Thames and St. Paul's Cathedral in the distance, were sold at 1s. and 6d. respectively. The postmark was worded "First United Kingdom Aerial Post," and the date; about 100,000 pieces of mail being carried by this service. U.S.A. was busy just about the same time, in 1911, experimenting with air mails, and this, coupled with the knowledge gained in the War, resulted in the establishment early in 1918, of an air line between New York and Washington, 218 miles apart. After the Armistice, lack of trains and engines led to an extension of this service to Cleveland and Chicago. This line now continues right on to San Francisco, by way of Omaha, Nebraska, Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Salt Lake City, Utah. The trip takes three days and is 2,651 miles in length, but results in letters reaching their destination 42 hours before the mail-train is due. Another air line runs between St. Louis, Chicago, and St. Paul, whilst numerous other towns are in process of being linked up by air. In the past twelve months over half a million pounds weight of mail matter has been airborne, and about £50,000 has been actually saved, as compared with the cost of transit by rail. On the 2nd of June, 1912, the Japanese postal authorities experimented with an air mail between Yokohama and Tokyo. A few letters are known to exist, whose envelopes bear the ordinary stamp and obliteration, with a special postmark, inscribed "Japanese Aerial Mail" and the Japanese equivalent for the date, but the attempt, being only experimental, was discontinued after the first day. From 1912 till 1917, aerial mails did not make much progress, but the reason which caused the inception of the air post, namely, war, was responsible for the re-opening of this means of communication. It happened that there was very serious congestion on the Italian railways in 1917, to relieve which an air mail was organised, on the 22nd May, between Rome and Turin. These cities are about 350 miles apart, the air space between them being bridged within four hours. In this connection. Italy achieved fame by being the first country to issue a stamp for use of its air mail, which took the form of an overprint on the 1903 "Inland Express Letter" stamp, 25c. rose, as follows :- ESPERIMENTO POSTA AEREA MAGGIO 1917 TORINO-ROMA - ROMA-TORINO

A month later, on 28th June, owing to the interference of Austrian submarines with Naples and Palermo, Sicily, mail steamers, a special seaplane service was inaugurated between these two places, which are 170 miles apart. The stamp used in this connection was the then unissued 40c. violet "Express Delivery" stamp, overprinted with the words IDROVOLANTE NAPOLl PALERMO NAPOLI 25 CENT 25

Another wartime air mail was brought into being on 30th March, 1918, by Austria, her planes carrying letters from Vienna to Kieff , with calls at Cracow and Lemberg. Three of the 1916 "Arms" type stamps were used, all being overprinted in block capitals with the formidable word "FLUGPOST", meaning "flying post."

"1.50 K 1.50'' was surcharged on the 2kr. (lilac) and "2.50 K 2.50" on the 3kr. (bistre), whilst the 4kr. (grey) was used without any surcharge. To the U.S.A. falls the honour of issuing the first distinctive air post stamp, which made its appearance on the 15th May, 1918, on the inauguration of the New York-Washington service. This stamp, which was recess-plate printed in carmine and blue, without watermark, at the Washington Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and is perforated 11, depicts a mail-carrying plane in flight. Over two million of these stamps were printed, out of which one lucky purchaser secured, over the P.O. counter, a sheet of 100 with the aeroplane inverted , the only sheet known to be printed in error. A Colonel Green eventually bought up the whole sheet, selling half of it, and retaining the remaining 50 in his own collection. These he had with him on hoard his steam yacht when it foundered in 1919, 43 of these stamps being so damaged as to be useless, which makes the error a very rare stamp. The air-mail fee was reduced on 15th July to 16 cents, and again in December, 1918 to 6 cents, for which stamps of these values were issued, yellow-green in the first instance, orange in the latter, the original design being retained. Since then the extra air-post fee has been abolished, and the ordinary mail fee of 2 cents, or 1d., an ounce is charged. It is not contemplated to issue a separate aerial mail stamp. On 4th July, 1918, the Hungarians experimented with an air mail, having Budapest as its starting point, and with various internal towns as destinations; but owing to the weather conditions and accidents to aviators, it was only in existence 20 days. Two of the 1916-17 stamps were surcharged as follows :- "1 K 50f. " on 75 filler (blue). "2 K 50f." on 2 krona (brown). the words "REPÜLÖ POSTA" being overprinted above the value, in red and blue respectively. This overprinting was carried out at the State Printing Works at Budapest, and is not remarkable for its good workmanship. This will be especially noticeable in the copy I show of the lower value, in which several letters are broken, whilst the "P" of "POSTA" has no top at all. It rather looks as if this stamp had taken part in one of the accidents which occurred. In October, 1920, an aerial mail was established, linking Hungary with other European countries, and the 1916-17 10kr. stamp was overprinted with the words "LEGI POSTA" and the new value, 3, 8, or 12 korona.

The air fairly hummed in 1919 with air post developments, and in all parts of the world aerial mails were instituted or carried out with this object in view. Early in the year an aeroplane post was started between Bombay and Karachi to expedite delivery of mail brought by steamers to Bombay. Public apathy and lack of support, however, caused the speedy discontinuance of this air line. Alexandria, Cairo, and Ismailia were linked together by air mail of 17th March, by "R.A.F." planes, which carried only official correspondence during the native disturbances, no special stamps or postmark being used. The envelopes, however, were marked with rubber stamp, "Aerial Post, E.E.F.", meaning "Egyptian Expeditionary Force". This service was discontinued as soon as conditions were normal. Switzerland was next in the field, or air, I should say, by the opening of a summer aerial post between Zurich and Lausanne, with calls at Berne and Neuchâtel, which took place on 28th April, 1919. The ordinary postage was charged, plus an air fee of 50c. For this latter purpose the current 50c. "Helvetia " type stamp was overprinted at the Federal Mint, Berne, with a design in red, showing the Swiss Military Air Force badge. Postmarks bearing the words "Schweiger Flugpost" were used, in addition to the ordinary express letter postmark. On the 5th May, 100,000 copies of the 35c. stamp of the 1906 issue of Tunis were ready for sale in connection with the air service which connected Gabés, Djerba, Zarzis, and Ben Gardane, as from that date. These stamps had been overprinted at the French Government Printing Works in Paris, and, in addition to the central overprint of the French aviator's badge, the air fee denomination of "30" centimes appeared on the stamp with the words "POSTE AÉRIENNE", the old value being obliterated by three bars. The stamp depicts the ruins of Hadrian's Aqueduct and, with its overprint, shows a true blending of the ancient with the modern. I wonder what Hadrian would say if he knew? This stamp has recently been replaced by a 30c. stamp of similar design, in blue and grey-green. We now come to the gallant, but unsuccessful attempt of Messrs. Hawker and Grieve to fly the Atlantic from Newfoundland to the United Kingdom. This took place on the 18th May, 1919, on a Sopwith machine, and resulted in the aeroplane falling into the sea, the two aviators with their mail being fortunately salved by a passing steamer. The mail reached the P.O. intact with the help of the British Fleet. The contents were undamaged, though in some cases wet, but none was in such condition as to prevent ultimate delivery. For the purposes of this mail 200 of the 3c. "Caribou" issue were overprinted at the Royal Gazette Office, St. John's (where all the other air-stamp overprints have been carried out), with the words "FIRST TRANSATLANTIC AIRPOST, April, 1919." - for the flight was expected to take place in April, though weather conditions were unfavourable until the following month. Of the 200 stamps, 18 were damaged and destroyed in the presence of the Auditor-General, 11 were used as presentation copies (one of which was sent to H.M. the King), and 95 were used and cancelled in the mail itself, leaving 76 still to be accounted for. These were sold at $25 each on behalf of the Marine Disaster Fund. and as only 182 of these stamps are known to exist, they are of great rarity. The first Trans-Atlantic Air Stamp was presented by the aviators, to be auctioned for the benefit of the Marine Disaster Fund. Lieut.-Col. E. S. Halford. of the Air Ministry, eventually bought the stamp for £210. Later in the month of May the air mail, ready for despatch by the Raynham-Martinsyde Atlantic flight, bore stamps of the 1c., 2c., 3c., and 24c. current "Caribou" series. These were overprinted as follows :-"1st Atlantic Airpost, Martinsyde-Raynham, Morgan". The cheers of the send-off had hardly died away before the plane crashed to earth to become a useless wreck, and the mail had to be despatched through the usual channels. The 15c. stamp of the 1897 (Jubilee) series, surcharged "Trans-Atlantic AIR POST, 1919. ONE DOLLAR" was now issued to prepay postage on letters sent by the Alcock-Whitten Brown flight to U.K. This non-stop flight commenced on 14th June, 1919, in a Vickers-Vimy machine, and by this means mail posted in Newfoundland on the early morning of 14th June was delivered in London on the night of the 17th-three days after leaving Newfoundland. The stamps were sold at $1 each, but the limited edition, was speedily bought up. 10,000 were surcharged in sheets of 25, making 400 sheets in all. In the overprinting errors hme crept in. Each sheet, therefore, contained 16 stamps normally overprinted; seven stamps with no comma after "POST"; one with an imperfect comma; and one without the full stop after "1919" and no comma after "POST". Thus it will be seen that of the 10,000 stamps issued, 6,400 were normally overprinted, 2,800 had no comma, 400 had an imperfect comma, and 400 had no stop or comma. It will be noticed that the block of four stamps, which I show, contains all four varieties - a rare combination. To celebrate an experimental air post between Puerto, Port Colombia, and Barranquila, 200 of the 1917 2c. Colombian stamps were overprinted locally with the inscription "1 en SERVICIO POSTAL AEREO 6-18-19" in five lines in black. Only one flight was made and the stamps were not accepted by the P.O. and were never cancelled by them. In October, 1920, an attempt was made to institute an air service between Cartagena and Barranquila, but owing to serious fatal accidents, this air mail has been indefinitely suspended. The contract for this service was given by the P.O. to a local firm, and letters carried through the air travelled at ordinary postage, plus 10c. per 15 grammes. Two thousand copies of a 10c oblong stamp were printed, depicting a vessel on the sea, with aeroplane above, and setting sun on the horizon. This was superseded by a set of seven values, issued privately by the air contractors, the design showing a map of the Colombian coast, with aeroplane in flight. To signalise the first air mail over the Rocky Mountains the envelopes of letters thus conveyed were franked with a special postmark bearing the words "1st B.C. Alberta Aerial Post." The mail in question was carried by plane, on August 5th, 1919, from Vancouver to Calgary, via Vernon and over the Great Divide to Lethbridge. On the return journey the pilot was forced to descend at Golden, and the letters were sent on by rail. Japan had made no serious attempt since its 1912 experiment to commence an air post, but with the intention of instituting regular flights between Tokyo and Osaka nearly 300 miles, stamps were issued for use on letters to be conveyed by the first air mail on October 3rd, 1919. These stamps were the current 1½ sen (blue) and the 3 sen (carmine), overprinted with the design of an aeroplane in red and black respectively. These two air stamps were on sale only at Head Post Offices on October 3rd, and in spite of elaborate precautions to prevent one person buying more than two stamps of each value, the entire issue of 40,000 overprinted stamps was sold out in a very short time. The weather played an important part in connection with this mail, and behaved so badly for day after day from October 4th, that the flight was abandoned for a further attempt (to the delight of the more superstitious Japanese and the letters sent by the usual method. The "King Albert Aerial Mail Service" was commenced early in January), 1920, in Belgian Congo. This service, which is carried out by seaplanes, embraces the whole of the Upper Congo River, and is flown in conjunction with the arrival of the Belgian mail steamers. In August last, four finely-drawn stamps, depicting scenes in the Congo with a seaplane above, made their appearance for use in this connection. The perforation is 12 and the values are :- 50c. orange and black. 1fr. violet and black. 2f blue and black. 5fr. green and black. By some unfortunate mistake, one which has caused the Belgian Government much annoyance, the word printed at the foot of each stamp, "Postluchtdienst," should have appeared as "Luchtpostdienst." As it stands the translation reads: "Service of the Postal Air," instead of "Postal Service of the Air." Of course, the printer may have been a man of imagination, and this was his way of prophesying that the air was soon to be so impregnated with correspondence as almost to describe the term "postal air." The air post instituted between Reval and Helsingfors in Estonia. was the direct outcome of the icebound nature of that country's coastline in the Gulf of Finland, which, at the time, permitted only a few Ships to arrive at Reval. Thus it happened that, on 7th February, 1920, three British-piloted planes left Reval with mail and reached Helsingfors in less than an hour later. Weather conditions prevented the return journey being made for over a week. The service, however, was continued until two months later, when, owing to a shortage of aeroplanes, only a very small proportion of the mail could be carried. Preference was given to diplomatic and Registered letters, ordinary being taken if there was room. The breaking up of the ice early in May permitted the re-opening of sea communication, and the air mail was discontinued. In March a five mark imperforate triangular stamp was issued for use on this mail, printed in yellow, blue and black, and showing an aeroplane in flight. The ordinary postage was charged in addition to the air fee. A Tientsin-Pekin aerial mail was inaugurated as a regular service on 7th May, 1920, with Handley-Page machines. Letters posted at 5 p.m. in Tientsin can now be delivered in Pekin three hours later. No special stamp has so far been issued, but the postmark reads: - "Chinese Post Office - despatched by aeroplane - Tientsin-Pekin." The Chinese Cabinet has now sanctioned the opening of an air service between Pekin and Shanghai, with three intermediate stations, and 80 landing grounds. Siam, a country whose airmen are so intrepid and so seemingly without nerves, has commenced in September an aerial post between Bangkok and Chantzboon, roughly 300 miles. The current 5 satangs stamps has been overprinted by hand-machine, with the Siamese emblematic bird, the garuda, under which appear four lines of native wording. When the London-Paris Airpost was opened to the general public on 10th November, 1919, the charge was excessive, viz, 2s. 6d. per ounce. The total number of letters sent on the first day after this charge was made totalled 315, whilst the aeroplanes ready for use had a capacity of 76,000 letters. Since then, however, steps have been taken to popularise the aerial mail, the chief of which has been the reduction of the air fee to 2d. per ounce, plus ordinary postage, whilst the express fee is 6d. an ounce. A blue label, inscribed "BY AIR MAIL," which can be obtained free from the Post Office, is the only outward and visible token on the left-hand corner of the envelope that it has travelled from England by aerial mail. The absence of this label, so long as the envelope is clearly marked as to its means of conveyance, will not debar the letter from being forwarded by air and delivered. In France, a label is attached to the envelope, depicting as its central design, the great French aviator, Guynemer. Besides the twice daily service to Paris and back, carried out by the Aircraft Transport and Travel Co., Ltd., recent air lines have linked together six countries, namely, England, Holland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. This service was inaugurated on 15th September, when a Danish-piloted de. Haviland plane left Copenhagen with the London mail and, travelling via Hamburg, reached Amsterdam, where the letters were transferred to the Handley-Page and Airco joint air service, and so to London. On the return journey, Queen Alexandra sent a basket of fruit to the Empress Dowager of Russia. The fruit left London a 3p.m. and was conveved to Her Majesty, outside Copenhagen, by 5 p.m. the following day. Last week a mail plane flew from Cricklewood, London, made a stop at Amsterdam, and arrived at Copenhagen in 5 hours 40 minutes, the distance being 520 miles. The London-Amsterdam service, instituted on 5th July, 1920, is carried out by the Handley-Page Transport Co., and the journey of 265 miles has been flown in 1 hour 50 minutes, or an average of 150 miles per hour. For use in connection with this inking up of countries, Sweden, at the end of September, issued three overprinted stamps, viz. :- 3 öre brown, Official, surcharged "LUFTPOST 10" 2 öre orange, Official, surcharged "LUFTPOST 20" 4 öre lilac, Official, surcharged "LUFTPOST 50" Envelopes bear a blue label, similar to that of Great Britain, but the word "LUFTPOST" is printed in red thereon. A provisional overprinting of the 1, 5, 10, 25, and 50c. current Spanish stamps with the words "CORREO AEREO," marked the opening of an aerial post between Seville and Larache, in Morocco; between Barcelona and Palma, Morocco; and between Malaga and Melilla, on April 4th. Only 20,000 sets were issued and these provisionals are to be superseded at an early date, by a distinctive series of air stamps, portraying the progress of aerial navigation. One of the latest countries to send mail through the air is the go-ahead State of Czecho-Slovakia. Three of the Hradschin series of stamps have been surcharged with new values, whilst a design of an aeroplane now forms the centre of the stamp. The 200 heller value is surcharged "14 KRONES," which is the ordinary postage plus air fee between Prague and Warsaw. The 500 heller bears a new value of 24 krones, for use between Prague and Paris, a 5½ hours' journey, carried out thrice weekly, travelling via Strashourg. The planes are sufficiently roomy to allow the carrying of passengers and goods. The 1,000 heller now takes the value of 28 krones, for use between Prague and London. On October 16th Danzig advertised its air mail by the issue of three provisionals. These stamps were the 40pf. Germans, already overprinted "DANZIG"; and further overprinted with new denominations, 40 and 60pf. and 1 mark, together with the design of an aeroplane on the two lower values and a winged posthorn on the 1 mark. From this brief survey, of the development of the aerial mail, it will be admitted, I think, that the prophecy contained in my opening remarks as to the coming of universal air posts, is well-founded - or well-aired, whichever is the correct term. Only a week or two ago the newspapers reported a combination of seven air transport firms, British, Danish, Dutch, Swedish, French, Roumanian, and German, with a view to completing a network of air lines that will shortly spread over the whole of North-West Europe. A new world to conquer has sprung up before the philatelist, one in which his imagination, initiative and foresight can play an important part, and I trust that my remarks this evening may prove of use to those whose flight of fancy take them into the ethereal realms of aerial philately. Read the full article