Year 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday in the Gregorian calendar. By January 1 of this year, every state in the entire world had adopted the Gregorian calendar, having abandoned the Julian calendar. __NOTOC__

Summary

This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a counter-revolution in Mexico. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, a British high court, ruled that Canadian women are persons in the ''Edwards v. Canada (Attorney General)'' case. The 1st Academy Awards for film were held in Los Angeles, while the Museum of Modern Art opened in New York City. The Peruvian Air Force was created.

In Asia, the Republic of China and the Soviet Union engaged in a minor conflict after the Chinese seized full control of the Manchurian Chinese Eastern Railway, which ended with a resumption of joint administration. In the Soviet Union, General Secretary Joseph Stalin expelled Leon Trotsky and adopted a policy of collectivization. The Grand Trunk Express began service in India. In the Middle East, rioting occurred between Muslims and Jews in Jerusalem over access to the Western Wall. Mohammed Nadir Shah became King of Afghanistan. Britain, Australia and New Zealand began a joint Antarctic Research Expedition. The centenary of Western Australia was celebrated.

In international affairs, the Kellogg-Briand Pact, a treaty renouncing war as an instrument of national policy, went into effect. In Europe, the Holy See and the Kingdom of Italy signed the Lateran Treaty. The Idionymon law was passed in Greece to outlaw political dissent. Spain hosted the Ibero-American Exposition which featured pavilions from Latin American countries. The BBC broadcasted a television transmission for the first time (see "1929 in television"). The German airship LZ 127 ''Graf Zeppelin'' flew around the world in 21 days.

Middle East, Asia, and Pacific Isles

On August 16 of this year the 1929 Palestine riots broke out between Palestinians and Jews over control of the Western Wall. The rioting, initiated in part when British police tore down a screen the Jews had constructed in front of the Wall, continued until the end of the month. In total, 133 Jews and 116 Palestinians were killed. Two of the more famous incidents occurring during these riots were the August 23 and August 24 1929 Hebron massacre, in which 65–68 Jews were killed by Palestinians and the remaining Jews are forced to leave Hebron. The Palestinians had been told that Jews were killing Palestinians. Jews would not return to Hebron until after the Six Day War in 1967. The other major clash was the 1929 Safed massacre, in which 18–20 Jews were killed by Palestinians in Safed in similar fashion. Elsewhere in the Middle East, Iraq took a big step toward gaining independence from the British. The Iraqi government had, since the end of World War I and the beginning of the British Mandate in the Middle East, constantly resisted British efforts to control or restrict them. In September, Britain announced that it would support Iraq's inclusion in the League of Nations, this signaled the beginning of the end of their direct control of the region.

Early in 1929, the Afghani leader King Amanullah lost power through revolution and civil war to Amir Habibullah II. Habibulah's rule, however, only lasted nine months. Nadir Shah replaced him in October, starting a line of monarchs which would last 40 years. In neighboring India, a general strike in Bombay continued throughout the year despite efforts by the British. On December 29, the All India Congress in Lahore declared Indian independence from Britain, something it had threatened to do if Britain did not grant India dominion status. China and Russia engaged in a minor conflict after China seized full control of the Manchurian Chinese Eastern Railway. Russia counterattacked and took the cities of Hailar and Manchouli before issuing an ultimatum demanding joint control of the railway to be reinstated. The Chinese agreed to the terms on November 26. The Japanese would later see this defeat as a sign of Chinese weakness, leading to their taking control of Manchuria. The Far East began to experience economic problems late in the year as the effects of the Great Depression began to spread. Southeast Asia was especially hard hit as its exports (spice, rubber, and other commodities) were more sensitive to economic problems. In the Pacific, on December 28 – "Black Saturday" in Samoa – New Zealand colonial police killed 11 unarmed demonstrators, an event which led the Mau movement to demand independence for Samoa. In that year, the Fascist government took control of the authorization of all textbooks, all secondary school teachers were required to take an oath of loyalty to Fascism, and children began to be taught that they owed the same loyalty to Fascism as they did to God. On February 11, Mussolini signed the Lateran Treaty, making Vatican City a sovereign state. On July 25, Pope Pius XI emerged from the Vatican and entered St. Peter's square in a huge procession witnessed by about 250,000 persons, thus ending nearly 60 years of papal self-imprisonment within the Vatican. Italy used the diplomatic prestige associated with this successful agreement to adopt a more aggressive foreign policy. Germany experienced a major turning point in this year due to the economic crash. The country had experienced prosperity under the government of the Weimar Republic until foreign investors withdrew their German interests. This began the crumbling of the Republican government in favor of Nazism. In 1929, the number of unemployed reached three million. On July 27, the Geneva Convention, held in Switzerland, addressed the treatment of prisoners of war in response to problems encountered during World War I.

On May 31, the British general election returned a hung parliament yet again, with the Liberals in position to determine who would have power. These elections were known as the "Flapper" elections due to the fact that it was the first British election in which women under 30 could vote. A week after the vote, on June 7 the Conservatives conceded power rather than ally with the Liberals. Ramsay MacDonald founded a new Labour government the next day. 1929 is regarded as a turning point by French historians, who point out that it was last year in which prosperity was felt before the effects of the Great Depression. The Third Republic had been in power since before World War I. On July 24 French prime minister Raymond Poincaré resigned for medical reasons; he was succeeded by Aristide Briand. Briand adopted a foreign policy of both peace and defensive fortification. The Kellogg-Briand Pact, renouncing war as an instrument of foreign policy, went into effect in this year (it was first signed in Paris in 1928 by most leading world powers). The French began work on the Maginot line in this year, as a defense against a possible German attack, and on September 5 Briand presented a plan for the ''United States of Europe''. On October 22 Briand was replaced as Prime Minister by Andre Tardieu. Primo de Rivera's dictatorship in Spain experienced growing dissatisfaction among students and academics, as well as businessmen who blamed the government for recent economic woes. Many called for a fascist regime, like that in Italy.

Eastern

In May, Joseph Stalin consolidated his power in the Soviet Union by sending Leon Trotsky into exile. The only country that would grant Trotsky asylum was Turkey, in return for his help in their civil war. He and his family left the USSR aboard ship on February 12. Stalin then turned on his former political ally, Nikolai Bukharin, who was the last real threat to his power. By the end of the year Bukharin had been defeated. Once Stalin was in power, he turned his former support for Lenin's New Economic Policy into opposition. In November, Stalin declared that it "The Year of the Great Breakthrough" and stated that the country would focus on industrial programs as well as on collectivizing the grain supply. He hoped to surpass the West not only in agriculture, but in industry. Millions of Soviet farmers were removed from their private farms, their property was collected, and they were moved to state-owned farms. Stalin also emphasized in 1929 a campaign demonizing Kulaks as a plague on society. Kulak property was taken and they were deported by cattle train to areas of frozen tundra.

The timber market in Finland began to decline in 1929 due to the Great Depression, as well as the Soviet Union's entrance into the market. Financial and political problems culminated in the birth of the fascist Lapua Movement on November 23 in a demonstration in Lapua. The movement's stated aim was Finnish democracy and anti-communism. The Finnish legislature received heavy pressure to remove basic rights from Communist groups. Politics in Lithuania was also very heated, as President Voldemaras was unpopular in some quarters, and survived an assassination attempt in Kaunas. Later, while attending a meeting of the League of Nations, he was ousted in a coup by President Smetona, who made himself dictator. Upon Voldemaras' removal from office, Geležinis Vilkas went underground and received aid and encouragement in its activities from Germany. Yugoslavia was renamed the "Kingdom of Yugoslavia" as King Alexander sought to unite the Balkans under his rule. The state's new Monarchy replaced the old parliament, which had been dominated by Serbs.

North America

In October 1929, the British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council overturned a ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada that women could not be members of the legislature. This case, which came to be known as the Persons Case, had important ramifications not just for women's rights but also because in overturning the case, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council engendered a radical change in the Canadian judicial approach to the Canadian constitution, an approach that has come to be known as the "living tree doctrine". The five women who initiated the case are known in Canada as the Famous Five. In November, the 1929 Grand Banks earthquake occurred off the south coast of Newfoundland in the Atlantic Ocean. It registered as a Richter magnitude 7.2 submarine earthquake centered on Grand Banks, broke 12 submarine transatlantic telegraph cables and triggered a tsunami that destroyed many south coast communities in the Burin Peninsula area, killing 28 (as of 1997, Canada's most lethal earthquake).

The Mexican Cristero War continued in 1929 as clerical forces attempted an assassination of the provisional president in a train bombing in February. The attempt failed. Plutarco Calles, at the center of power for the anti-clerics, continued to gather power in Mexico City. His government was considered an enemy to more conservative Mexicans who held to traditional forms of government and more religious control. Calles founded the National Revolutionary Party early in the year to increase his power; a party which was, ironically, seen by foreigners as fascist and which was in opposition to the Mexican Right. A special election was held in this year, which Jose Vasconselos lost to Ortiz Rubio. By this time, the war had ended. The last group of rebels was defeated on June 4, and in the same month US Ambassador Dwight Morrow initiated talks between parties. On June 21 an agreement was brokered ending the Cristero War. On June 27, church bells rang and mass was held publicly for the first time in three years. However, the agreement favored the government heavily, as Priests were required to register with the government and religion was banned from schools.

The major event of the year for the United states was the stock market crash on Wall Street, which was to have international effects. On September 3, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) peaked at 381.17, a height it would not reach again until November 1954. Then, from October 24 – October 29, stock prices suffered three multi-digit percentage drops, wiping out more than $30 billion from the New York Stock Exchange (10 times greater than the annual budget of the federal government). On December 3 U.S. President Herbert Hoover announced to the U.S. Congress that the worst effects of the recent stock market crash were behind the nation, and that the American people had regained faith in the economy.

Literature, arts, and entertainment

Literature of the time reflected the memories many harbored of the horrors of World War I. A major seller was ''All Quiet on the Western Front'' by Erich Maria Remarque. Remarque was a German who had fought in the war at age eighteen and been wounded in the Third Battle of Ypres. He stated that he intended the book to tell the story "of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by the war." Another 1929 book reflecting on World War I was Ernest Hemingway's ''A Farewell to Arms'', as well as ''Goodbye to All That'' by Robert Graves. In lighter media, a few stars of the comic industry made their debut, including Tintin, a comic book character created by Hergé, who would appear in over 200 million comic books in 60 languages. ''Popeye'', another comic strip character created by Elzie Crisler Segar, also appeared in this year. Within the film industry on May 16 the 1st Academy Awards were presented at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, California, with ''Wings'' winning Best Picture. Also in this year ''Hallelujah!'' became the first Hollywood film to contain an entirely black cast, and ''Atlantic'', a German film about the Titanic, was the first sound-on-film movie, signaling the beginning of the end for silent films.

The arts were in the midst of the Modernist movement, as Pablo Picasso painted two cubist works, ''Woman in a Garden'' and ''Nude in an Armchair'', during this year. The surrealist painters Salvador Dalí and René Magritte completed several works, including ''The First Days of Spring'' and ''The Treachery of Images''. On November 7 in New York City, the Museum of Modern Art opened to the public. The latest in modern architecture was also represented by the likes of the Barcelona Pavilion in Spain and the Royal York Hotel in Toronto, at its completion the tallest building in the British Empire.

Science and technology

The year saw several advances in technology and exploration. On June 27 the first public demonstration of color TV was held by H. E. Ives and his colleagues at Bell Telephone Laboratories in New York. The first images were a bouquet of roses and an American flag. A mechanical system was used to transmit 50-line color television images between New York and Washington. By November, Vladimir Zworykin had taken out the first patent for color television. On November 29, Bernt Balchen, U.S. Admiral Richard Byrd, Captain Ashley McKinley, and Harold June, became the first to fly over the South Pole. Within the year, Britain, Australia and New Zealand began a joint Antarctic Research Expedition, and the German airship ''Graf Zeppelin'' began a round-the-world flight (ended August 29). This year Ernst Schwarz describes Bonobo (''Pan paniscus'') as a different species from chimpanzee (''Pan troglodites''), both very closely phylogenetically related to human beings.

Events

January

January 1

* The U.S. Army Air Corps airplane ''?'' begins a six-day non-stop endurance flight over Southern California using aerial refueling.

* The British Columbian municipalities of Point Grey and South Vancouver are amalgamated into Vancouver.

January 6

* 6 January Dictatorship: King Alexander of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes suspends his country's constitution.

* The Albanian missionary sister Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, later known as Mother Teresa, arrives in Calcutta from Ireland to begin her work among India's poorest and sickest.

January 15 – ''Annales d'histoire économique et sociale'' begins publication in France.

January 29 – ''All Quiet on the Western Front'' (''Im Westen nichts Neues''), by Erich Maria Remarque, is published in book form.

February

February 9 – The Litvinov Protocol is signed in Moscow among the USSR, Poland, Estonia, Romania and Latvia.

February 11 – Italy and the Vatican sign the Lateran Treaty.

February 14 – St. Valentine's Day Massacre: Seven gangsters, rivals of Al Capone, are murdered in Chicago.

February 26 – The Grand Teton National Park is established by Congress.

March

March 2 – The longest bridge in the world, the San Francisco Bay Toll-Bridge, opens.

March 3 – A revolt by Generals José Gonzalo Escobar and Jesús María Aguirre fails in Mexico.

March 4 – Herbert Hoover is inaugurated as the 31st President of the United States, succeeding Calvin Coolidge. His Vice President, Charles Curtis, became the first person with non-European ancestry to reach such a high office.

March 28 – Japanese forces withdraw from Shandong province to their garrison in Tsingtao bringing an end to the Jinan Incident.

April

April 3 – Persia signs the Litvinov Protocol.

May

May – The Wickersham Commission begins its investigation of alcohol prohibition in the U.S.

May 16 – The 1st Academy Awards are presented at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, California, with ''Wings'' winning Best Picture.

May 31 – The British general election returns a hung parliament yet again; the Liberals will determine who has power.

June

June 1 – The 1st Conference of the Communist Parties of Latin America is held in Buenos Aires.

June 3 – The Treaty of Lima settles a border dispute between Peru and Chile.

June 7 – The Lateran Treaty, making Vatican City a sovereign state, is ratified.

June 8 – Ramsay MacDonald founds a new Labour government.

June 21 – An agreement brokered by U.S. Ambassador Dwight Whitney Morrow ends the Cristero War in Mexico.

June 27 – The first public demonstration of color TV is held, by H. E. Ives and his colleagues at Bell Telephone Laboratories in New York. The first images are a bouquet of roses and an American flag. A mechanical system is used to transmit 50-line color television images between New York and Washington.

July

July 11 – In Russia, a secret decree of the Sovnarkom creates the backbone of the Gulag system.

July 24

* French prime minister Raymond Poincaré resigns; he is succeeded by Aristide Briand.

* The Kellogg-Briand Pact, renouncing war as an instrument of foreign policy, goes into effect (it was first signed in Paris on August 27, 1928 by most leading world powers).

July 25 – Pope Pius XI emerges from the Vatican and enters St. Peter's square in a huge procession witnessed by about 250,000 persons, thus ending nearly 60 years of papal self-imprisonment within the Vatican.

July 27

* Red Crescent adopted as an additional LORCS emblem.

* The Geneva Convention addresses the treatment of prisoners of war.

August

August 16 – The 1929 Palestine riots breaks out between Palestinians and Jews and continues until the end of the month. In total, 133 Jews and 116 Palestinians are killed.

August 23 and August 24 – The 1929 Hebron massacre, in which 65–68 Jews are killed by Palestinians and the remaining Jews are forced to leave Hebron.

August 29 – The 1929 Safed massacre, in which 18–20 Jews are killed by Palestinians in Safed.

August 31 – The Young Plan, which set the total World War I reparations owed by Germany at US$26,350,000,000 to be paid over a period of 58½ years, is finalized.

September

September 3 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) peaks at 381.17, a height it would not reach again until November 1954.

September 5 – Aristide Briand presents his plan for the ''United States of Europe''.

September 17 – A coup ousts Augustinas Voldemaras in Lithuania; the new president is Antanas Smetona.

September 30 – Fritz von Opel pilots the first rocket-powered aircraft, the Opel RAK.1, in front of a large crowd in Frankfurt am Main.

October

October 18 – Women are announced to be persons by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in Britain. Women can be appointed to the Canadian Senate, an achievement by five Canadian women called the Famous Five.

October 22 – The government of Aristide Briand falls in France.

October 24 – October 29 – Wall Street Crash of 1929: Three multi-digit percentage drops wipe out more than $30 billion from the New York Stock Exchange (10 times greater than the annual budget of the federal government).

October 25 – Former U.S. Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall is convicted of bribery for his role in the Teapot Dome scandal, becoming the first Presidential cabinet member to go to prison for actions in office.

November

November – Vladimir Zworykin takes out the first patent for color television.

November 1

* An annular solar eclipse is seen on Atlantic Ocean and Africa.

Conscription in Australia ends.

November 7 – In New York City, the Museum of Modern Art opens to the public.

November 18 – 1929 Grand Banks earthquake

November 29 – Bernt Balchen, U.S. Admiral Richard Byrd, Captain Ashley McKinley, and Harold June, become the first to fly over the South Pole.

December

December 28 – "Black Saturday" in Samoa: New Zealand colonial police kill 11 unarmed demonstrators, an event which leads the Mau movement to demand independence for Samoa.

December 29 – The All India Congress in Lahore demands Indian independence.

Births

January–April

January 1

* Raymond Chow, Hong Kong film producer

* Joseph Lombardo, American mafioso

* Haruo Nakajima, Japanese actor

January 3

* Sergio Leone, Italian director

* Ernst Mahle, Brazilian composer

January 5 – Wilbert Harrison, American singer

January 7 – Terry Moore, American actress

January 8 – Saeed Jaffrey, Indian actor

January 9 – Brian Friel, Irish dramatist

January 12 – Alasdair MacIntyre, Scottish-born American philosopher

January 15 – Martin Luther King Jr., American civil rights leader, Nobel laureate (d. 1968)

January 17

* Eilaine Roth, American female professional baseball player

* Elaine Roth, American female professional baseball player (d. 2007)

January 20 – Arte Johnson, American actor

January 23 – John Charles Polanyi, Canadian chemist, Nobel laureate

January 25 – Benny Golson, American jazz musician

January 31

* Rudolf Mössbauer, German physicist, Nobel laureate

* Jean Simmons, English actress (d. 2010)

February 2 – Věra Chytilová, Czech director

February 4 – Jerry Adler, American actor

February 6 – Sixten Jernberg, Swedish cross-country skier

February 10 – Hallgeir Brenden, Norwegian cross-country skier (d. 2007)

February 15

* Graham Hill, English race car driver (d. 1975)

* James Schlesinger, American politician

February 17 – Patricia Routledge, English actress

February 18 – Len Deighton, British author

February 24 – Zdzislaw Beksinski, Polish surrealist painter (d. 2005)

March 1 – Georgi Markov, Bulgarian dissident (d. 1978)

March 8 – Hebe Camargo, Brazilian television presenter, actress and singer

March 13 – Peter Breck, American actor and former drama teacher

March 19 – Miquel Martí i Pol, Catalan poet (d. 2003)

March 23 – Sir Roger Bannister, British athlete

March 27 – Rita Briggs, American female professional baseball player (d. 1994)

March 29 – Lennart Meri, former President of Estonia (d. 2006)

April 1 – Jane Powell, American actress

April 3 – Poul Schlüter, Danish politician

April 5 – Ivar Giaever, Norwegian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

April 10 – Max von Sydow, Swedish actor

April 14 – Chadli Bendjedid, former President of Algeria

April 22 – Michael Atiyah, British-Lebanese mathematician

May–August

May 1 – Ralf Dahrendorf, Anglo-German sociologist (d. 2009)

May 2 – Édouard Balladur, French Prime Minister

May 4

* Audrey Hepburn, British actress (d. 1993)

* Ronald Golias, Brazilian comedian and actor (d. 2005)

May 5 – Ilene Woods, American singer and actress (d. 2010)

May 6 – Paul Lauterbur, American chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 2007)

May 8 – Miyoshi Umeki, Japanese singer and actress (''The Courtship of Eddie's Father'') (d. 2007)

May 10 – Betty Foss, American female professional baseball player (d. 1998)

May 11 – Margaret Kerry, American actress

May 12 – Sam Nujoma, first President of Namibia

May 20 – Ahmed Hamdi, Egyptian soldier, that fought in Yom Kippur (d. 1973)

May 21 – Alice Drummond, American actress

June 3 – Werner Arber, Swiss microbiologist, Nobel laureate

June 6 – Milton Glaser, American graphic designer, illustrator and teacher.

June 4 – Karolos Papoulias, President of Greece

June 12 – Anne Frank, German-born diarist and Holocaust victim (d. 1945)

June 20 – Anne Weale, British writer (d. 2007)

July 1 – Gerald Edelman, American biologist, Nobel laureate

July 2 – Imelda Marcos, First Lady of the Philippines

July 9 – King Hassan II of Morocco (d. 1999)

July 11 – David Kelly (actor), Irish actor

July 19 – Alice Pollitt, American female professional baseball player

July 22 – U. A. Fanthorpe, British poet (d. 2009)

July 26 – Joseph Jackson, Father of the Jackson Family

July 28 – Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, American First Lady (d. 1994)

August 8 – Ronnie Biggs, British robber

August 24 – Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader, Nobel laureate (d. 2004)

August 27 – Ralph T. Coe, American art historian of Native American art

September–December

September 5 – Bob Newhart, American comedian and actor

September 10 – Arnold Palmer, American golfer

September 15 – Murray Gell-Mann, American physicist, Nobel laureate

September 16 – Maxine Kline, American female professional baseball player

September 19 – Mel Stewart, African-American actor (d. 2002)

September 21 – Sandor Kocsis, Hungarian football player (d. 1979)

September 22 – Hédi Váradi, Hungarian actress (d. 1987)

September 25 – Barbara Walters, American journalist

September 28 – Lata Mangeshkar, Indian singer

October 2 – Moses Gunn, African-American actor (d. 1993)

October 13 – Walasse Ting, Chinese-American painter (d. 2010)

October 22 – Lev Yashin, Russian footballer (d. 1990)

October 24 – Clifford Rose, British classical actor

November 2

* Richard E. Taylor, American physicist, Nobel laureate

* Rachel Ames, American actress

November 7 – Eric R. Kandel, Austrian-born neuroscientist, Nobel laureate

November 9 – Imre Kertesz, Hungarian writer, Nobel laureate

November 12 – Grace Patricia Kelly, American actress and Princess of Monaco (d. 1982)

November 13– Fred Phelps, American Pastor (Westboro Baptist Church)

November 24 – Franciszek Kokot, nephrologist

November 30 – Dick Clark, American television entertainer

December 9 – Bob Hawke, twenty-third Prime Minister of Australia

December 16 – Nicholas Courtney, British actor (d. 2011)

December 29 – Susie Garrett, American actress and sister of Marla Gibbs (d. 2002)

Deaths

January–June

January 5

* Marc McDermott, Australian-American actor (b. 1881)

* Nikolai Nikolaevich Romanov, Grand Duke of Russia (b. 1856)

January 13 – Wyatt Earp, American gunfighter (b. 1848)

January 30 – La Goulue, French dancer (b. 1866)

February 6 – Maria Christina of Austria, Queen Regent of Spain (b. 1858)

February 11 – Johann II, Prince of Liechtenstein (b. 1840)

February 12 – Lillie Langtry, British singer and actress (b. 1853)

February 14 – Thomas Burke, American sprinter (b. 1875)

February 18 – William Russell, American actor (b. 1884)

February 24 – Frank Keenan, American actor (b. 1858)

February 27 – Briton Hadden, co-founder of ''Time Magazine''. (b. 1898)

March 1 – Royal H. Weller, American politician (b. 1881)

March 2 – Sir Edward Hobart Seymour, British admiral (b. 1840)

March 5 – David Dunbar Buick, Scottish-American inventor

March 12 – Asa Griggs Candler, American businessman and politician (b. 1851)

March 15 – Pinetop Smith, American blues pianist (b. 1904)

March 18 – William P. Cronan, Naval Governor of Guam (b. 1879)

March 20 – Ferdinand Foch, French commander of Allied forces in World War I (b. 1851)

April 4

* Karl Benz, German automotive pioneer (b. 1844)

* William Michael Crose, United States Navy Commander and the seventh Naval Governor of American Samoa (b. 1867)

April 22 – Henry Lerolle, French painter (b. 1848)

April 24 – Caroline Rémy, French feminist (b. 1855)

May 21 – Archibald Primrose, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1847)

June 8 – Bliss Carman, Canadian poet (b. 1861)

June 11 – William Dickson Boyce, American entrepreneur and founder of the Boy Scouts of America (b. 1858)

June 16 – Bramwell Booth, General of The Salvation Army (b. 1856)

June 26 – Amandus Adamson, Estonian sculptor (b. 1855)

June 28 – Edward Carpenter, English poet (b. 1844)

July–December

July 2 – Gladys Brockwell, American actress (b. 1893)

July 3 – Dustin Farnum, American actor (b. 1874)

July 12 – Robert Henri, American painter (b. 1865)

July 15 – Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Austrian writer (b. 1874)

August – Mary MacLane, Canadian feminist writer (b. 1881)

August 3

* Thorstein Veblen, Norwegian-American economist (b. 1857)

* Emil Berliner, German-born inventor (b. 1851)

August 5 – Millicent Fawcett, British suffragist and feminist (b. 1847)

August 19 – Sergei Diaghilev, Russian ballet impresario (b. 1872)

August 26 – Sir Ernest Satow, British diplomat and scholar (b. 1843)

August 27 – Herman Potočnik Noordung, Slovenian rocket engineer (b. 1892)

September 2 – Paul Leni, German filmmaker (b. 1885)

September 12 – Rainis, Latvian poet and playwright (b. 1865)

September 23 – Richard Adolf Zsigmondy, Austrian-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)

September 24 – Mahidol Adulyadej, Thai doctor (b. 1892)

September 29 – Tanaka Giichi, 26th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1863)

October 1 – Antoine Bourdelle, French sculptor (b. 1861)

October 3

* Jeanne Eagels, American actress (b. 1890)

* Gustav Stresemann, Chancellor of Germany, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1878)

October 28 – Bernhard von Bülow, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1849)

October 29 – Emily Robin, English Madame

November 6 – Prince Maximilian of Baden, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1867)

November 17 – Herman Hollerith, American businessman and inventor (b. 1860)

November 24

* Georges Clemenceau, Premier of France (b. 1841)

* Raymond Hitchcock, British actor (b. 1865)

December 10 – Harry Crosby, American publisher and poet (b. 1898)

December 20 – Émile Loubet, 8th President of France (b. 1838)

December 29 – Wilhelm Maybach, German automobile designer (b. 1846)

Nobel Prizes

Physics – Prince Louis-Victor Pierre Raymond de Broglie

Chemistry – Arthur Harden, Hans Karl August Simon von Euler-Chelpin

Physiology or Medicine – Christiaan Eijkman, Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins

Literature – Thomas Mann

Peace – Frank Billings Kellogg

References

The 1930s Timeline: 1929 — from American Studies Programs at The University of Virginia

af:1929 am:1929 እ.ኤ.አ. ang:1929 ar:ملحق:1929 an:1929 frp:1929 ast:1929 gn:1929 av:1929 az:1929 bn:১৯২৯ zh-min-nan:1929 nî map-bms:1929 be:1929 be-x-old:1929 bh:१९२९ bcl:1929 bs:1929 br:1929 bg:1929 ca:1929 cv:1929 cs:1929 cbk-zam:1929 co:1929 cy:1929 da:1929 de:1929 et:1929 el:1929 myv:1929 ие es:1929 eo:1929 eu:1929 fa:۱۹۲۹ (میلادی) hif:1929 fo:1929 fr:1929 fy:1929 ga:1929 gv:1929 gd:1929 gl:1929 gan:1929年 xal:1929 җил ko:1929년 hy:1929 hi:१९२९ hr:1929. io:1929 ilo:1929 bpy:মারি ১৯২৯ id:1929 ia:1929 os:1929-æм аз is:1929 it:1929 he:1929 jv:1929 kn:೧೯೨೯ pam:1929 krc:1929 джыл ka:1929 csb:1929 kk:1929 kw:1929 sw:1929 kv:1929 во ht:1929 (almanak gregoryen) ku:1929 la:1929 lv:1929. gads lb:1929 lt:1929 m. lij:1929 li:1929 lmo:1929 hu:1929 mk:1929 mg:1929 ml:1929 mi:1929 mr:इ.स. १९२९ arz:1929 ms:1929 nah:1929 nl:1929 nds-nl:1929 ne:१९२९ new:ई सं १९२९ ja:1929年 nap:1929 no:1929 nn:1929 nrm:1929 nov:1929 oc:1929 mhr:1929 uz:1929 pa:੧੯੨੯ pi:१९२९ pnb:1929 pap:1929 tpi:1929 nds:1929 pl:1929 pt:1929 ty:1929 ksh:Joohr 1929 ro:1929 qu:1929 rue:1929 ru:1929 год sah:1929 se:1929 sq:1929 scn:1929 simple:1929 sk:1929 sl:1929 ckb:١٩٢٩ sr:1929 sh:1929 su:1929 fi:1929 sv:1929 tl:1929 ta:1929 tt:1929 ел te:1929 tet:1929 th:พ.ศ. 2472 tr:1929 tk:1929 udm:1929 ар uk:1929 ur:1929ء vec:1929 vi:1929 vo:1929 fiu-vro:1929 wa:1929 vls:1929 war:1929 yi:1929 yo:1929 zh-yue:1929年 diq:1929 bat-smg:1929 zh:1929年

Coordinates	40°37′29″N73°57′8″N
Name	Tara Oram
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Tara Oram
Birth date	April 28, 1984
Origin	Hare Bay, NL
Instrument	Vocals, guitar
Genre	Country
Occupation	Singer
Years active	2003 - present
Label	Open Road
Website	www.taraoram.com
Past members	}}

Tara Oram (born 28 April 1984 in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador) is a Canadian country music recording artist and a top six finalist on the fifth season of Canadian Idol in 2007. In March 2009 Oram received an ECMA for Country Recording of the Year Award.

Early life

Oram was born in Gander, Newfoundland but moved frequently during her early years. Oram first moved to the Malton area of Mississauga, Ontario when she was 10 years old, and later to Brampton, where she attended Bramalea Secondary School.

Career

Aged 16 Oram was signed to indie label Wellcraft Music Group and released her first country music single called, "More Than I Dreamed" which was her first top 50 hit. She later toured with a local agency called Performerz, which allowed her to sing in theatres, malls and festivals throughout Ontario. When 19 Oram joined her first real band, Big Catch. The band played the bar/club circuit and corporate events around Ontario for the better part of four years, performing a mix of country, top 40, rock, R’n B and retro. In 2007, Oram auditioned for the hit show Canadian Idol, earning a 6th place finish on the hit reality show. The next year, Oram signed her first major record deal with Open Road/Universal Music Canada and also appeared on reality TV series called, "The Tara Diaries" on CMT. CMT filmed a Christmas special she hosted, "The Night Before Christmas". In October 2008, Oram's first show as a signed artist was opening for her Idol, Marty Stuart in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

In 2009, CMT and YTV Oram appeared a celebrity judge on the TV series, "Karaoke Star Junior".

On July 10, 2010, Oram was the opening act for Taylor Swift and performed at the second annual Cavendish Beach Music Festival in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, singing to a crowd of more than 35,000 people.

Awards/Nominations

Oram received nominations for the 2009 East Coast Music Awards in the categories Female Solo Recording of the Year and Video of the Year, and won in the Country Recording of the Year award. She also received a CRMA (Canadian Radio Music Award) nomination as Best New Group/Solo Artist. On February 2, 2009 Oram was nominated for a Juno Award in the Country Recording of the Year category. Oram won the 2009 CCMA Rising Star award. She was also nominated for Rising Star, Female Artist of the Year and Video of the Year.

Discography

Albums

Title	Details
! scope="row"		* Release date: October 7, 2008	* Label: Open Road Recordings
! scope="row"		* Release date: July 19, 2011	* Label: Open Road Recordings

Singles

Year	Single	Peak positions	Album
		! width="65"
	"Fly Girl"
"538 Stars"
	"Go to Bed Angry"
"Living the Dream"
	"1929"
"Kiss Me When I Fall"

Music videos

! Year	Video	! Director
	"Fly Girl"
"538 Stars"
2009	"Go to Bed Angry"
2011	"1929"	Margaret Malandruccolo

See also

Canadian Idol

Season 5 Recap of Canadian Idol

References

External links

Tara Oram Official Website

Tara Oram's Facebook Page

Tara Oram's YouTube Channel

Tara Oram's Management Company

Tara Oram's Official MySpace

Category:1984 births Category:Living people Category:Canadian Idol participants Category:Canadian country singers Category:Open Road Recordings artists Category:People from Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador

Coordinates	40°37′29″N73°57′8″N
name	Bessie Smith
background	solo_singer
born	April 15, 1894 Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States
died	September 26, 1937 Clarksdale, Mississippi, United States
instrument	Vocals
genre	Blues, Jazz
occupation	Singer
years active	1912–1937
label	Columbia
notable instruments	}}

Bessie Smith (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937) was an American blues singer.

Sometimes referred to as The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s. She is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era and, along with Louis Armstrong, a major influence on subsequent jazz vocalists.

Life

The 1900 census indicates that Bessie Smith was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee in July 1892. However, the 1910 census recorded her birthday as April 15, 1894, a date that appears on all subsequent documents and was observed by the entire Smith family. Census data also contributes to controversy about the size of her family. The 1870 and 1880 censuses report three older half-siblings, while later interviews with Smith's family and contemporaries did not include these individuals among her siblings.

Bessie Smith was the daughter of Laura (née Owens) and William Smith. William Smith was a laborer and part-time Baptist preacher (he was listed in the 1870 census as a "minister of the gospel", in Moulton, Lawrence, Alabama.) He died before his daughter could remember him. By the time she was nine, she had lost her mother and a brother as well. Her older sister Viola took charge of caring for her siblings.

To earn money for their impoverished household, Bessie Smith and her brother Andrew began busking on the streets of Chattanooga as a duo: she singing and dancing, he accompanying her on guitar. Their favorite location was in front of the White Elephant Saloon at Thirteenth and Elm streets in the heart of the city's African-American community.

In 1904, her oldest brother, Clarence, covertly left home by joining a small traveling troupe owned by Moses Stokes. "If Bessie had been old enough, she would have gone with him," said Clarence's widow, Maud. "That's why he left without telling her, but Clarence told me she was ready, even then. Of course, she was only a child."

In 1912, Clarence returned to Chattanooga with the Stokes troupe. He arranged for its managers, Lonnie and Cora Fisher, to give Smith an audition. She was hired as a dancer rather than a singer, because the company also included the then unknown singer, Ma Rainey. Smith eventually moved on to performing in various chorus lines, making the "81" Theater in Atlanta her home base. There were times when she worked in shows on the black-owned T.O.B.A Theater Owners Booking Association circuit. She would rise to become its biggest star after signing with Columbia Records.

By 1923, when she began her recording career, Smith had taken up residence in Philadelphia. There she met and fell in love with Jack Gee, a security guard whom she married on June 7, 1923, just as her first record was released. During the marriage—a stormy one, with infidelity on both sides—Smith became the highest paid black entertainer of the day, heading her own shows, which sometimes featured as many as 40 troupers, and touring in her own railroad car. Gee was impressed by the money, but never adjusted to show business life, or to Smith's bisexuality. In 1929, when she learned of his affair with another singer, Gertrude Saunders, Bessie Smith ended the relationship, although neither of them sought a divorce.

Smith eventually found a common-law husband in an old friend, Richard Morgan, who was Lionel Hampton's uncle and the antithesis of her husband. She stayed with him until her death.

Career

All contemporary accounts indicate that while Rainey did not teach Smith to sing, she probably helped her develop a stage presence. Smith began forming her own act around 1913, at Atlanta's "81" Theater. By 1920, Smith had established a reputation in the South and along the Eastern Seaboard.

In 1920, sales figures for "Crazy Blues," an Okeh Records recording by singer Mamie Smith (no relation) pointed to a new market. The recording industry had not directed its product to blacks, but the success of the record led to a search for female blues singers. Bessie Smith was signed by Columbia Records in 1923 and her first session for Columbia was February 15, 1923. For most of 1923, her records were issued on Columbia's regular A- series; when the label decided to establish a "race records" series, Smith's "Cemetery Blues" (September 26, 1923) was the first issued.

She scored a big hit with her first release, a coupling of "Gulf Coast Blues" and "Downhearted Blues", which its composer Alberta Hunter had already turned into a hit on the Paramount label. Smith became a headliner on the black T.O.B.A. circuit and rose to become its top attraction in the 1920s. Working a heavy theater schedule during the winter months and doing tent tours the rest of the year (eventually traveling in her own railroad car), Smith became the highest-paid black entertainer of her day. Columbia nicknamed her "Queen of the Blues," but a PR-minded press soon upgraded her title to "Empress".

She made some 160 recordings for Columbia, often accompanied by the finest musicians of the day, most notably Louis Armstrong, James P. Johnson, Joe Smith, Charlie Green and Fletcher Henderson.

Broadway

Smith's career was cut short by a combination of the Great Depression (which all but put the recording industry out of business) and the advent of "talkies", which spelled the end for vaudeville. She never stopped performing, however. While the days of elaborate vaudeville shows were over, Smith continued touring and occasionally singing in clubs. In 1929, she appeared in a Broadway flop called ''Pansy,'' a musical in which top critics said she was the only asset.

Film

In 1929, Smith made her only film appearance, starring in a two-reeler titled ''St. Louis Blues'', based on W. C. Handy's song of the same name. In the film, directed by Dudley Murphy and shot in Astoria, she sings the title song accompanied by members of Fletcher Henderson's orchestra, the Hall Johnson Choir, pianist James P. Johnson and a string section — a musical environment radically different from any found on her recordings.

Swing era

In 1933, John Hammond, who also mentored Billie Holiday, asked Smith to record four sides for Okeh (which had been acquired by Columbia Records in 1925). He claimed to have found her in semi-obscurity, working as a hostess in a speakeasy on Philadelphia's Ridge Avenue. Bessie Smith worked at Art's Cafe on Ridge Avenue, but not as a hostess and not until the summer of 1936. In 1933, when she made the Okeh sides, Bessie was still touring. Hammond was known for his selective memory and gratuitous embellishments.

Bessie Smith was paid a non-royalty fee of $37.50 for each selection and these Okeh sides, which were her last recordings. Made November 24, 1933, they serve as a hint of the transformation she made in her performances as she shifted her blues artistry into something that fit the "swing era". The relatively modern accompaniment is notable. The band included such swing era musicians as trombonist Jack Teagarden, trumpeter Frankie Newton, tenor saxophonist Chu Berry, pianist Buck Washington, guitarist Bobby Johnson, and bassist Billy Taylor. Benny Goodman, who happened to be recording with Ethel Waters in the adjoining studio, dropped by and is barely audible on one selection. Hammond was not entirely pleased with the results, preferring to have Smith revisit her old blues groove. Her "Take Me For A Buggy Ride" and "Gimme a Pigfoot" continue to be ranked among her most popular recordings.

Death

On September 26, 1937, Smith was critically injured in a car accident while traveling along U.S. Route 61 between Memphis, Tennessee, and Clarksdale, Mississippi. Her lover, Richard Morgan, was driving and, probably mesmerized by the long stretch of straight road, misjudged the speed of a slow-moving truck ahead of him. Tire marks at the scene suggested that Morgan tried to avoid the truck by driving around its left side, but he hit the rear of the truck side-on at high speed. The tailgate of the truck sheared off the wooden roof of Smith's old Packard. Smith, who was in the passenger seat, probably with her right arm or elbow out the window, took the full brunt of the impact. Morgan escaped without injuries.

The first people on the scene were a Memphis surgeon, Dr. Hugh Smith (no relation), and his fishing partner Henry Broughton. In the early 1970s, Dr. Smith gave a detailed account of his experience to Bessie's biographer Chris Albertson. This is the most reliable eyewitness testimony about the events surrounding Bessie Smith's death.

After stopping at the accident scene, Dr. Smith examined Bessie Smith, who was lying in the middle of the road with obviously severe injuries. He estimated she had lost about a half-pint of blood, and immediately noted a major traumatic injury to her right arm; it had been almost completely severed at the elbow. But Dr. Smith was emphatic that this arm injury alone did not cause her death. Although the light was poor, he observed only minor head injuries. He attributed her death to extensive and severe crush injuries to the entire right side of her body, consistent with a "sideswipe" collision.

Broughton and Dr. Smith moved the singer to the shoulder of the road. Dr. Smith dressed her arm injury with a clean handkerchief and asked Broughton to go to a house about 500 feet off the road to call an ambulance.

By the time Broughton returned, about 25 minutes had elapsed since the accident and Bessie Smith was in shock. Time passed with no sign of the ambulance, so Dr. Smith suggested that they take her into Clarksdale in his car. He and Broughton had almost finished clearing the back seat when they heard the sound of a car approaching at high speed. Dr. Smith flashed his lights in warning, but the oncoming car failed to stop and plowed into the doctor's car at full speed. It sent his car careening into Bessie Smith's overturned Packard, completely wrecking it. The oncoming car ricocheted off Dr. Smith's car into the ditch on the right, barely missing Broughton and Bessie Smith.

The young couple in the new car did not have life-threatening injuries. Two ambulances arrived on the scene from Clarksdale; one from the black hospital, summoned by Mr. Broughton, the other from the white hospital, acting on a report from the truck driver, who had not seen the accident victims.

Bessie Smith was taken to Clarksdale's Afro-American Hospital where her right arm was amputated. She died that morning without regaining consciousness. After Smith's death, an often repeated but now discredited story emerged about the circumstances; namely, that she had died as a result of having been refused admission to a "whites only" hospital in Clarksdale. Jazz writer/producer John Hammond gave this account in an article in the November 1937 issue of ''Down Beat'' magazine. The circumstances of Smith's death and the rumor promoted by Hammond formed the basis for Edward Albee's 1959 one-act play ''The Death of Bessie Smith''.

"The Bessie Smith ambulance would ''not'' have gone to a white hospital, you can forget that." Dr. Smith told Albertson. "Down in the Deep South cotton country, no ambulance driver, or white driver, would even have thought of putting a colored person off in a hospital for white folks."

Smith's funeral was held in Philadelphia on Monday, October 4, 1937. Her body was originally laid out at Upshur's funeral home. As word of her death spread through Philadelphia's black community, the body had to be moved to the O.V. Catto Elks Lodge to accommodate the estimated 10,000 mourners who filed past her coffin on Sunday, October 3. Contemporary newspapers reported that her funeral was attended by about seven thousand people. Far fewer mourners attended the burial at Mount Lawn Cemetery, in nearby Sharon Hill. Gee thwarted all efforts to purchase a stone for his estranged wife, once or twice pocketing money raised for that purpose.

The grave remained unmarked until August 7, 1970, when a tombstone—paid for by singer Janis Joplin and Juanita Green, who as a child had done housework for Smith—was erected.

Dory Previn wrote a song of Janis Joplin and the tombstone called ''Stone for Bessie Smith'' on her album ''Mythical Kings & Iguanas''.

The Afro-American Hospital, now the Riverside Hotel in Clarksdale, was the site of the dedication of the fourth historic marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail.

Selective awards and recognitions

Grammy Hall of Fame

Recordings of Bessie Smith were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. This special Grammy Award was established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least 25 years old and that have "qualitative or historical significance."

{| class=wikitable |- | colspan="5" style="text-align:center;"| Bessie Smith: Grammy Hall of Fame Award |- ! Year Recorded ! Title ! Genre ! Label ! Year Inducted |- align=center | 1923 | "Downhearted Blues" | Blues (Single) | Columbia | 2006 |- align=center | 1925 | "St. Louis Blues" | Jazz (Single) | Columbia | 1993 |- align=center | 1928 | "Empty Bed Blues" | Blues (Single) | Columbia | 1983 |}

National Recording Registry

In 2002 Smith's recording of the single, "Downhearted Blues", was included by the National Recording Preservation Board in the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry. The board selects songs on an annual basis that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

"Downhearted Blues" was included in the list of ''Songs of the Century'' by the Recording Industry of America and the National Endowment for the Arts in 2001. It is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the 500 songs that shaped rock 'n' roll.

Inductions

{| class=wikitable |- | colspan="5" style="text-align:center;"| |- ! Year Inducted ! Category ! Notes |- align=center | 2008 | Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame | Jazz at Lincoln Center, NYC |- align=center | 1989 | Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award |- align=center | 1989 | Rock and Roll Hall of Fame | "Early influences" |- align=center | 1981 | Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame |- align=center | 1980 | Blues Hall of Fame |}

U.S. Postage Stamp

{| class=wikitable |- | colspan="4" style="text-align:center;"| |- ! Year Issued ! Stamp ! USA |- align=center | 1994 | 29 cents Commemorative stamp | U.S. Postal Stamps |}

Digital remastering

Technical faults in the majority of her original gramophone recordings—especially variations in recording speed, which raised or lowered the apparent pitch of her voice, misrepresented the "light and shade" of her phrasing, interpretation and delivery. They altered the apparent key of her performances (sometimes raised or lowered by as much as a semitone.) The fact that the "centre hole" in some of the master recordings had not been in the true middle of the master disc meant that there were wide variations in tone, pitch, key and phrasing, as commercially released records revolved around the spindle.

Given those historic limitations, the current digitally remastered versions of her work deliver significant, very positive differences in the sound quality of Smith's performances. Some critics believe that the American Columbia Records compact disc releases are somewhat inferior to subsequent transfers made by the late John R.T. Davies for Frog Records.

Popular culture

The 1948 short story "Blue Melody" by J.D. Salinger and the 1959 play ''The Death of Bessie Smith'' by Edward Albee both deal with Smith's death.

References

Further reading

Albertson, Chris, Liner notes, ''Bessie Smith: The Complete Recordings, Volumes 1 - 5'', Sony Music Entertainment, 1991.

Albertson, Chris, ''Bessie (Revised and Expanded Edition)'', Yale University Press (New Haven), 2003. ISBN 0-300-09902-9.

Brooks, Edward, ''The Bessie Smith Companion: A Critical and Detailed Appreciation of the Recordings'', Da Capo Press (New York), 1982. ISBN 0-306-76202-1.

Davis, Angela Y., ''Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday'', Pantheon Books (New York), 1998. ISBN 0-679-45005-X.

Eberhardt, Clifford, ''Out of Chattanooga'', Ebco (Chattanooga), 1994.

Feinstein, Elaine, ''Bessie Smith'', Viking (New York), 1985, ISBN 0-670-80642-0.

Grimes, Sara, ''Backwaterblues: In Search of Bessie Smith'', Rose Island Pub. (Amherst), 2000, ISBN 0-9707089-0-4.

Kay, Jackie, ''Bessie Smith'', Absolute (New York), 1997. ISBN 1-899791-55-8.

Manera, Alexandria, ''Bessie Smith'', Raintree (Chicago), 2003. ISBN 0-7398-6875-6.

Martin, Florence, ''Bessie Smith'', Editions du Limon (Paris), 1994. ISBN 2-907224-31-X.

Oliver, Paul, ''Bessie Smith'', Cassell (London), 1959.

Palmer, Tony, ''All You Need is Love: The Story of Popular Music'', Grossman Publishers/Viking Press (New York), 1976. ISBN 0-670-11448-0.

Welding, Pete; Byron, Tony (eds.), ''Bluesland: Portraits of Twelve Major American Blues Masters'', Dutton (New York), 1991. ISBN 0-525-93375-1.

External links

Interview with Bessie Smith biographer Chris Albertson

Bessie Smith at Find A Grave Memorial

Category:1894 births Category:1937 deaths Category:African American female singers Category:American blues singers Category:American buskers Category:Bisexual musicians Category:Blues Hall of Fame inductees Category:Road accident deaths in Mississippi Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:LGBT African Americans Category:LGBT musicians from the United States Category:People from Chattanooga, Tennessee Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Vaudeville performers Category:Classic female blues singers

an:Bessie Smith ca:Bessie Smith cy:Bessie Smith de:Bessie Smith es:Bessie Smith eo:Bessie Smith fa:بسی اسمیت fr:Bessie Smith ga:Bessie Smith gl:Bessie Smith hr:Bessie Smith io:Bessie Smith it:Bessie Smith he:בסי סמית hu:Bessie Smith nl:Bessie Smith ja:ベッシー・スミス no:Bessie Smith oc:Bessie Smith pl:Bessie Smith pt:Bessie Smith ru:Смит, Бесси simple:Bessie Smith sk:Bessie Smithová sr:Беси Смит sh:Bessie Smith fi:Bessie Smith sv:Bessie Smith tl:Bessie Smith uk:Бессі Сміт

Coordinates	40°37′29″N73°57′8″N
name	Rudy Vallée
background	solo_singer
birth name	Hubert Prior Vallée
born	July 28, 1901Island Pond, Vermont, U.S.
died	July 03, 1986North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
alma mater	Yale
instrument	Saxophone
occupation	Singer, actor, bandleader, entertainer
years active	1924–1984
label	RCA Victor
website	www.rudyvallee.com }}

Rudy Vallée (July 28, 1901 – July 3, 1986) was an American singer, actor, bandleader, and entertainer.

Early life

Born Hubert Prior Vallée in Island Pond, Vermont, the son of Charles Alphonse and Catherine Lynch Vallée. Both of his parents were born and raised in Vermont, but their parents were immigrants; the Vallées being of French Canadian origin from neighboring Quebec, while the Lynches were from Ireland. Vallée grew up in Westbrook, Maine.

Career

Having played drums in his high school band, Vallée played clarinet and saxophone in various bands around New England in his youth. In 1917, he decided to enlist for World War I, but was discharged when the Navy authorities found out that he was only 15. He enlisted in Portland, Maine on March 29, 1917, under the false birthdate of July 28, 1899. He was discharged at the Naval Training Station, Newport, Rhode Island, on May 17, 1917 with 41 days of active service. From 1924 through 1925, he played with the Savoy Havana Band at the Savoy Hotel in London, where his fellow band-members discouraged his attempts to become a vocalist. He then returned to the United States to obtain a degree in Philosophy from Yale and to form his own band, "Rudy Vallée and the Connecticut Yankees." With this band, which featured two violins, two saxophones, a piano, a banjo and drums, he started taking vocals (supposedly reluctantly at first). He had a rather thin, wavering tenor voice and seemed more at home singing sweet ballads than attempting vocals on jazz numbers. However, his singing, together with his suave manner and handsome boyish looks, attracted great attention, especially from young women. Vallée was given a recording contract and in 1928, he started performing on the radio.

Vallée became the most prominent and, arguably, the first of a new style of popular singer, the crooner. Previously, popular singers needed strong projecting voices to fill theaters in the days before the electric microphone. Crooners had soft voices that were well suited to the intimacy of the new medium of the radio. Vallée's trombone-like vocal phrasing on "Deep Night" would inspire later crooners such as Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Perry Como to model their voices on jazz instruments.

Vallée also became what was perhaps the first complete example of the 20th century mass media pop star. Flappers mobbed him wherever he went. His live appearances were usually sold out, and even if his singing could hardly be heard in those venues not yet equipped with the new electronic microphones, his screaming female fans went home happy if they had caught sight of his lips through the opening of the trademark megaphone he sang through.

In 1929, Vallée made his first feature film, ''The Vagabond Lover'' for RKO Radio. His first films were made to cash in on his singing popularity. Despite Vallée's rather wooden initial performances, his acting greatly improved in the late 1930s and 1940s. Also in 1929, Vallée began hosting ''The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour'', a very popular radio show at the time.

Vallée's recording career began in 1928 recording for Columbia Records' cheap labels (Harmony, Velvet Tone, and Diva). He signed to Victor in February 1929 and remained with them through to late 1931, leaving after a heated dispute with company executives over title selections. He then recorded for the short-lived, but extremely popular "Hit of the Week" label (which sold records laminated onto cardboard). In August 1932, he signed with Columbia and stayed with them through 1933; he returned to Victor in June 1933. His records were issued on Victor's new budget label, Bluebird, until November 1933 when he was moved up to the full-priced Victor label. He stayed with Victor until signing with ARC in 1936, who released his records on their Perfect, Melotone, Conqueror and Romeo labels until 1937 when he returned to Victor.

Vallée continued hosting popular radio variety shows through the 1930s and 1940s. ''The Royal Gelatin Hour'' featured various film performers of the era, such as Fay Wray and Richard Cromwell in dramatic skits.

Along with his group, The Connecticut Yankees, Vallée's best known popular recordings included: "The Stein Song" (aka University of Maine fighting song) in 1929 and "Vieni, Vieni" in the latter 1930s. Vallée sang fluently in three Mediterranean languages, and always varied the keys, thus paving the way for later pop crooners such as Dean Martin, Andy Williams and Vic Damone. Another memorable rendition of his is "Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries", in which he imitates Willie Howard's voice in the final chorus. One of his record hits was "The Drunkard Song," popularly known as "There Is a Tavern in the Town." Vallée couldn't stop laughing for the last couple of verses- supposedly he struggled to keep a straight face at the corny lyrics, and the band members egged him on. He managed a second take reasonably well. The "laughing" version was so infectious, however, that Victor released both takes.

Vallée's last hit song was the 1943 reissue of the melancholy ballad "As Time Goes By", popularized in the feature film ''Casablanca'' in 1943 (Due to the mid-1940s recording ban, Victor reissued the version he had recorded 15 years earlier.) During World War II, Vallée enlisted in the Coast Guard to help direct the 11th district Coast Guard band as a Chief Petty Officer. Eventually he was promoted to Lieutenant and led the 40 piece band to great success. In 1944 he was placed on the inactive list and he returned to radio.

When Vallée took his contractual vacations from his national radio show in 1937, he insisted his sponsor hire Louis Armstrong as his substitute (this was the first instance of an African-American fronting a national radio program). Vallée also wrote the introduction for Armstrong's 1936 book ''Swing That Music''.

In 1937 Vallée attended Suffolk University Law School in Boston, Massachusetts.

Vallée acted in a number of Hollywood films starting with "The Vagabond Lover" in 1929. His earliest films showed him rather stiff and unemotional. He improved during the 1930s, and by the time he began working with Preston Sturges in the 1940s he had become a successful comedic supporting player. He appeared opposite Claudette Colbert in the 1942 Preston Sturges screwball comedy ''The Palm Beach Story''. Other films in which he appeared include ''I Remember Mama'', ''Unfaithfully Yours'' and ''The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer''.

In 1955, Vallée was featured in ''Gentlemen Marry Brunettes,'' co-starring Jane Russell, Alan Young, and Jeanne Crain. The production was filmed on location in Paris. The film was based on the Anita Loos novel that was a sequel to her acclaimed ''Gentlemen Prefer Blondes''. ''Gentlemen Marry Brunettes'' was popular throughout Europe at the time and was released in France as ''A Paris Pour les Quatre'' ''("Paris for the Four"),'' and in Belgium as ''Tevieren Te Parijs.''

In 1971 he made a television appearance as a vindictive surgeon in the Night Gallery episode "Marmalade Wine."

In middle age, Vallée's voice matured into a robust baritone. He performed on Broadway as J.B. Biggley in the musical ''How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'' and reprised the role in the film version of the show. He appeared in the campy 1960s ''Batman'' television show as the character "Lord Marmaduke Fogg". He toured with a one-man theater show into the 1980s. He occasionally opened for The Village People.

Rudy Vallee's song compositions included "Oh! Ma-Ma! (The Butcher Boy)" in 1938, recorded by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra, "Deep Night", which was recorded by Duke Ellington and his Orchestra, "If You Haven't Got a Girl", "Violets", "Where To", "Will You Remember Me?", "We'll Never Get Drunk Any More", "Sweet Summer Breeze", "Actions Speak Louder Than Words", "Ask Not", "Forgive Me", "Charlie Cadet", "Somewhere In Your Heart", "You Took Me Out Of This World", "Old Man Harlem" with Hoagy Carmichael, which was recorded by the Dorsey Brothers band, "I'm Just a Vagabond Lover", and "Betty Co-Ed".

In 1967 Rudy Vallee recorded a new record album. Called "Hi-Ho Everybody" it was produced by Snuff Garrett and Ed Silvers for Dot Records on its Viva label; arranged by Al Capps. The engineers were Dave Hassinger and Henry Leroy. Included on the album were songs: "Winchester Cathedral", "Michelle", "My Blue Heaven", "Sweet Heart of Sigma Chi", "Who Likes Good Pop Music?", "Bluebird", "Who", "Lady Godiva", "Mame", The Wiffenpoof Song", "Strangers in The Night", and "One of Those Songs".

Personal life

Vallée was married briefly to actress Jane Greer, but that ended in divorce in 1944. His previous marriage to Leonie Cauchois was annulled and the one to Fay Webb ended in divorce. After divorcing Jane Greer, he married Eleanor Norris in 1946, who wrote a memoir, ''My Vagabond Lover''. Their marriage lasted until his death in 1986.

Always loyal to Yale University. He never forgot his Maine roots, and maintained an estate at Kezar Lake in Maine.

Death

Vallée died of cancer at his home on July 3, 1986. He is interred in St. Hyacinth's Cemetery, in Westbrook, Maine.

Selected filmography

Film
! Year	! Film	! Role	! Notes
1929	''Glorifying the American Girl''	Himself
1932	''The Musical Doctor''	Dr. Vallee
1934	''George White's Scandals''	Jimmy Martin
1935	''Sweet Music''	Skip Houston
1938	''Gold Diggers in Paris''	Terry Moore	Alternative title: ''The Gay Impostors''
1939		Roger Maxwell
1941	''Time Out for Rhythm''	Daniel "Danny" Collins
1942	''The Palm Beach Story''	John D. Hackensacker III
1943	''Happy Go Lucky''	Alfred Monroe
1945	''Man Alive''	Gordon Tolliver
1946	''The Fabulous Suzanne''	Hendrick Courtney, Jr.
	''The Sin of Harold Diddlebock''	Lynn Sargent	Alternative title: ''Mad Wednesday''
''The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer''	Tommy	Alternative title: ''Bachelor Knight''
	''I Remember Mama''	Dr. Johnson
''Unfaithfully Yours''	August Henshler
	''Mother Is a Freshman''	John Heaslip	Alternative title: ''Mother Knows Best''
''The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend''	Charles Hingleman
''Father was a Fullback''	Mr. Roger "Jess" Jessup
''My Dear Secretary''	Charles Harris
1950	''The Admiral Was a Lady''	Peter Pedigrew (Jukebox king)
1954	''Ricochet Romance''	Worthington Higgenmacher
1955	''Gentlemen Marry Brunettes''	Himself
1957	''The Helen Morgan Story''	Himself	Alternative titles: ''Both Ends of the Candle''''Why Was I Born?''
1967		J.B. Biggley
	''Live a Little, Love a Little''	Louis Penlow
''The Night They Raided Minsky's''	Narrator
1975	''Sunburst''	Proprietor	Alternative title: ''Slashed Dreams''
1976	''Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood''	Autograph Hound
Television
! Year	! Title	! Role	! Notes
1956–1957	''December Bride''	Himself	2 episodes
1957	''The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour''	Himself	1 episode
1967		Lord Marmaduke Fogg	3 episodes
1969	''Petticoat Junction''	Herbert A. Smith	1 episode
1970	''Here's Lucy''	Himself	1 episode
1971	''Night Gallery''	Dr. Francis Deeking	1 episode
1971–1972	''Alias Smith and Jones''	Winford Fletcher	2 episodes
1976		Alvin Winer	1 episode
1979	''CHiPs''	Arthur Forbinger	1 episode
1984		Elderly Con	1 episode

See also

Vallee Family House, a house listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Westbrook, Maine

Notes

External links

Rudy Vallee Official Website

Rudy Vallee Collection at the American Radio Archive located at the Thousand Oaks Library

Media

Rudy Vallee interviewed by Mike Wallace on ''The Mike Wallace Interview'' February 22, 1958

''The Royal Desserts Hour'' with Rudy Vallée (May 5, 1938) (one hour in)

Category:1920s American radio programs Category:American music radio programs Category:American bandleaders Category:American crooners Category:American film actors Category:American male singers Category:American pop singers Category:American people of French-Canadian descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:Traditional pop music singers Category:RCA Victor artists Category:Musicians from Vermont Category:Yale University alumni Category:1901 births Category:1986 deaths Category:People from Essex County, Vermont Category:People from Westbrook, Maine

es:Rudy Vallee fr:Rudy Vallee sv:Rudy Vallée

Coordinates	40°37′29″N73°57′8″N
name	Mary Pickford
birth name	Gladys Marie Smith
birth date	April 08, 1892
birth place	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
death date	May 29, 1979
death place	Santa Monica, California, U.S. Interred: Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California
spouse
years active	1905–1933
occupation	Actress }}

Mary Pickford (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979) was a Canadian-born motion picture actress, co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Known as "America's Sweetheart," "Little Mary" and "The girl with the curls," she was one of the Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood and a significant figure in the development of film acting.

Because her international fame was triggered by moving images, she is a watershed figure in the history of modern celebrity. And as one of silent film's most important performers and producers, her contract demands were central to shaping the Hollywood industry. In consideration of her contributions to American cinema, the American Film Institute named Pickford 24th among the greatest female stars of all time.

Early life

Mary Pickford was born Gladys Marie Smith in Toronto, Ontario. Her father, John Charles Smith, was the son of English Methodist immigrants, and worked a variety of odd jobs. Her mother, Charlotte Hennessy, was Irish Catholic. She had two younger siblings, Jack and Lottie Pickford, who would also become actors. To please the relatives, Pickford's mother baptized her in both the Methodist and Catholic churches (and used the opportunity to change her middle name to "Mary"). She was raised Roman Catholic after her alcoholic father left his family in 1895. He died three years later of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Hennessy, who had worked as a seamstress throughout the separation, began taking in boarders. Through one of these lodgers, the seven-year-old Pickford won a big part at Toronto's Princess Theatre in a stock company production of ''The Silver King''. She subsequently acted in many melodramas with the Valentine Company in Toronto, capped by the starring role of Little Eva in their production of ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'', the most popular play of the 19th century.

Career

Early years

By the early 1900s, acting had become a family enterprise. Pickford, her mother and two younger siblings toured the United States by rail in third-rate companies and plays. After six impoverished years, Pickford allowed one more summer to land a leading role on Broadway, planning to quit acting if she failed. In 1906 ''Mary'', ''Lottie'' and ''Jack'' supported the great Irish American singer Chauncey Olcott on Broadway in the play ''Edmund Burke''. Mary finally landed a supporting role in a 1907 Broadway play, ''The Warrens of Virginia''. The play was written by William C. deMille, whose brother, the then-unknown Cecil B. DeMille, also appeared in the cast. David Belasco, the producer of the play, insisted that Gladys Smith assume the stage name Mary Pickford. After completing the Broadway run and touring the play, however, Pickford was once again out of work.

On April 19, 1909, the Biograph Company director D. W. Griffith screen-tested her at the company's New York studio for a role in the nickelodeon film ''Pippa Passes''. The role went to someone else but Griffith was immediately taken with Pickford. She quickly grasped that movie acting was simpler than the stylized stage acting of the day.

Most Biograph actors earned $5 a day but, after Pickford's single day in the studio, Griffith agreed to pay her $10 a day against a guarantee of $40 a week. Pickford, like all actors at Biograph, played both bit parts and leading roles, playing mothers, ingenues, spurned women, spitfires, slaves, native Americans, and a prostitute. As Pickford said of her success at Biograph: "I played scrubwomen and secretaries and women of all nationalities... I decided that if I could get into as many pictures as possible, I'd become known, and there would be a demand for my work." Pickford appeared in 51 films in 1909 — almost one a week. She also introduced her friend Florence La Badie to D. W. Griffith, which launched La Badie's successful film acting career.

In January 1910, Pickford traveled with a Biograph crew to Los Angeles. Many other companies wintered on the West Coast, escaping the weak light and short days that hampered winter shooting in the East. Pickford added to her 1909 Biographs (''Sweet and Twenty'', ''They Would Elope,'' and ''To Save Her Soul'', to name a few) with films from California. Actors were not listed in the credits in Griffith's company. Audiences nonetheless noticed and identified Pickford within weeks of her first film appearance. Exhibitors in turn capitalized on her popularity by advertising on sandwich boards that a film featuring "The Girl with the Golden Curls," "Blondilocks" or "The Biograph Girl" was inside. Pickford left Biograph in December 1910 and spent 1911 starring in films at Carl Laemmle's Independent Moving Pictures Company (IMP). IMP was absorbed into Universal Pictures in 1912, along with Majestic. Unhappy with their creative standards, she returned to work with Griffith in 1912. Some of her best performances were in films such as ''Friends'', ''The Mender of Nets'', ''Just Like a Woman'', and ''The Female of the Species''. That year Pickford also introduced Dorothy and Lillian Gish (both friends from her days touring melodrama) to Griffith. Both became major silent stars, in comedy and tragedy respectively.

Pickford made her last Biograph picture, ''The New York Hat,'' in late 1912 and returned to Broadway in the David Belasco production of ''A Good Little Devil.'' The experience was the major turning point in her career. Pickford, who had always hoped to conquer the Broadway stage, discovered how deeply she missed film acting.

In 1913, she decided to work exclusively in film. In 1912, Adolph Zukor had formed Famous Players in Famous Plays – later Famous Players-Lasky and then Paramount Pictures – one of the first American feature film companies. Pickford left the stage to join his roster of stars. Zukor believed film's potential lay in recording theatrical players in replicas of their most famous stage roles and productions. Zukor first filmed Pickford in a silent version of ''A Good Little Devil.'' The film, produced in 1913, showed the play's Broadway actors reciting every line of dialogue, resulting in a stiff film that Pickford later called "one of the worst [features] I ever made...it was deadly." Zukor agreed; he held the film back from distribution for a year.

Pickford's work in material written for the camera by that time had attracted a strong following. Comedy-dramas like ''In the Bishop's Carriage'' (1913), ''Caprice'' (1913), and especially ''Hearts Adrift'' (1914) made her irresistible to moviegoers. ''Hearts Adrift'' was so popular that Pickford asked for the first of her many publicized pay raises based on the profits and reviews. The film also marked the first time Pickford’s name was put above the title on movie marquees. ''Tess of the Storm Country'' was released five weeks later. Brownlow observes that the movie “sent her career into orbit and made her the most popular actress in America, if not the world.”

Her appeal was summed up two years later by the February 1916 issue of ''Photoplay'' as "luminous tenderness in a steel band of gutter ferocity". Only Charlie Chaplin—who reportedly slightly surpassed Pickford's popularity in 1916—had a similarly spellbinding pull with critics and the audience. Each enjoyed a level of fame far exceeding that of other actors.

Throughout the 1910s and 1920s, Pickford was believed to be the most famous woman in the world, or, as a silent-film journalist described her, "the best known woman who has ever lived, the woman who was known to more people and loved by more people than any other woman that has been in all history." Pickford's closest female rival at this time at the box office and with the public was 31-year-old Marguerite Clark. She also came from stage acting and had a girlish/whimsical charm to which audiences responded.

Stardom

Throughout her career, Pickford starred in 52 features. In 1916, Pickford signed a new contract with Zukor that granted her full authority over production of the films in which she starred, and a record-breaking salary of $500 a week. Occasionally, she played a child, in films like ''The Poor Little Rich Girl'' (1917), ''Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm'' (1917), and ''Daddy-Long-Legs'' (1919). Pickford's fans were devoted to these "Little Girl" roles, but they were not typical of her career.

In August 1918, Pickford's contract expired and when refusing Zukor's terms for a renewal, she was offered $250,000 to leave the motion picture business. Pickford turned him down and went to First National who agreed to her terms.

In 1919, Pickford — along with D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, and Douglas Fairbanks — formed the independent film production company United Artists. Through United Artists, Pickford continued to produce and perform in her own movies; she could also distribute them the way she chose.

In 1920, Pickford's film ''Pollyanna'' grossed around $1,100,000. The following year, Pickford's film ''Little Lord Fauntleroy'' would also be a success, Pickford's hair had become a symbol of female virtue, and cutting it was front-page news in ''The New York Times'' and other papers. ''Coquette'' was a success and won her an Academy Award for Best Actress, but the public failed to respond to her in the more sophisticated roles.

Like most movie stars of the silent era, Pickford found her career fading as talkies became more popular among audiences. Her next film, ''The Taming of The Shrew'', was a disaster at the box office. In her late thirties, Pickford was unable to play the children, teenage spitfires and feisty young women so adored by her fans, nor could she play the soignée heroines of early sound.

In 1933, Pickford underwent a Technicolor screen test for a animated/live action film version of Alice in Wonderland, but Walt Disney discarded the project when Paramount released its own version of the book. Only one Technicolor "still" of her screen test still exists.

Pickford retired from acting in 1933. She continued to produce films for others, including ''Sleep, My Love'' (1948) with Claudette Colbert and ''Love Happy'' (1949) with the Marx Brothers.

The film industry

Pickford used her stature in the movie industry to promote a variety of causes. During World War I, she promoted the sale of Liberty Bonds, through an exhausting series of fund-raising speeches that kicked off in Washington, D.C., where she sold bonds alongside Charles Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Theda Bara, and Marie Dressler. Five days later she spoke on Wall Street to an estimated 50,000 people. Though Canadian-born, she was a powerful symbol of Americana, kissing the American flag for cameras and auctioning one of her world-famous curls for $15,000. In a single speech in Chicago she sold an estimated five million dollars' worth of bonds. She was christened the U.S. Navy's official "Little Sister"; the Army named two cannons after her and made her an honorary colonel.

At the end of World War I, Pickford conceived of the Motion Picture Relief Fund, an organization to help financially needy actors. Leftover funds from her work selling Liberty Bonds were put toward its creation, and in 1921, the Motion Picture Relief Fund (MPRF) was officially incorporated, with Joseph Schenck voted its first president and Mary Pickford as its vice president. In 1932, Pickford spearheaded the "Payroll Pledge Program," a payroll-deduction plan for studio workers who gave one half of one percent of their earnings to the MPRF. As a result, in 1940 the Fund was able to purchase the land and build the Motion Picture Country House and Hospital.

But Pickford's most profound influence (beyond her acting) was to help reshape the film industry itself. When she entered features, Hollywood believed that the movies' future lay in reproducing Broadway plays for a mass audience. Pickford, who entered feature film with two Broadway credits but a far greater following among fans of nickelodeon flickers, became the world's most popular actress in a matter of months. In response to her popularity, Hollywood rethought its vision of features as "canned theatre," and focused instead on actors and material that were uniquely suited to film, not stage performances.

An astute businesswoman, Pickford became her own producer within three years of her start in features. According to her Foundation, "she oversaw every aspect of the making of her films, from hiring talent and crew to overseeing the script, the shooting, the editing, to the final release and promotion of each project." Pickford first demanded (and received) these powers in 1916, when she was under contract to Adolph Zukor's Famous Players In Famous Plays (later Paramount). He also acquiesced to her refusal to participate in block-booking, the widespread practice of forcing an exhibitor to show a bad film of the studio's choosing in order to also show a Pickford film. In 1916, Pickford's films were distributed, singly, through a special distribution unit called Artcraft.

In 1919, she increased her power by co-founding United Artists (UA) with Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, and her soon-to-be husband, Douglas Fairbanks. Before UA's creation, Hollywood studios were vertically integrated, not only producing films but forming chains of theaters. Distributors (also part of the studios) then arranged for company productions to be shown in the company's movie venues. Filmmakers relied on the studios for bookings; in return they put up with what many considered creative interference. United Artists broke from this tradition. It was solely a distribution company, offering independent film producers access to its own screens as well as the rental of temporarily unbooked cinemas owned by other companies. Pickford and Fairbanks produced and shot their films after 1920 at the jointly owned Pickford-Fairbanks studio on Santa Monica Boulevard. The producers who signed with UA were true independents, producing, creating and controlling their work to an unprecedented degree. As a co-founder, as well as the producer and star of her own films, Pickford became the most powerful woman who has ever worked in Hollywood. By 1930, Pickford's career as an actress had greatly faded.

When she retired from acting in 1933, Pickford continued to produce films for United Artists, and she and Chaplin remained partners in the company for decades. Chaplin left the company in 1955, and Pickford followed suit in 1956, selling her remaining shares for three million dollars.

Personal life

Pickford was married three times. She first married Owen Moore (1886–1939), an Irish-born silent film actor, on January 7, 1911. It is believed she became pregnant by Moore in the early 1910s and had a miscarriage or an abortion. Some accounts suggest this led to her inability to have children. The couple had numerous marital problems, notably Moore's alcoholism, insecurity about living in the shadow of Pickford's fame, and bouts of domestic violence. The failure of her pregnancy may have exacerbated Moore's drinking problem. The couple lived apart for several years.

Pickford became secretly involved in a relationship with Douglas Fairbanks. They toured the US together in 1918 to promote Liberty Bond sales for the World War I effort. thumb|200px|right|Portrait circa 1921 Pickford divorced Moore on March 2, 1920, and married Fairbanks on March 28 of the same year. They went to Europe for their honeymoon; fans in London caused a riot trying to get to her. A similar incident occurred in Paris. The couple's triumphant return to Hollywood was witnessed by vast crowds who turned out to hail them at railway stations across the United States.

''The Mark of Zorro'' (1920) and a series of other swashbucklers gave the popular Fairbanks a more romantic, heroic image. Pickford continued to epitomize the virtuous but fiery girl next door. Even at private parties people instinctively stood up when Pickford entered a room; she and her husband were often referred to as "Hollywood royalty." Their international reputations were broad. Foreign heads of state and dignitaries who visited the White House often asked if they could also visit Pickfair, the couple's mansion in Beverly Hills.

Dinners at Pickfair included a number of notable guests. Charlie Chaplin, Fairbanks' best friend, was often present. Other guests included George Bernard Shaw, Albert Einstein, Elinor Glyn, Helen Keller, H. G. Wells, Lord Mountbatten, Fritz Kreisler, Amelia Earhart, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Noel Coward, Max Reinhardt, Baron Nishi, Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Austen Chamberlain, Sir Harry Lauder, and the Indian spiritual teacher Meher Baba. The public nature of Pickford's second marriage strained it to the breaking point. Both she and Fairbanks had little time off from producing and acting in their films. They were also constantly on display as America's unofficial ambassadors to the world, leading parades, cutting ribbons, and making speeches.

When their film careers both began to founder at the end of the silent era Fairbanks' restless nature prompted him to overseas travel (something which Pickford did not enjoy). When Fairbanks' romance with Sylvia, Lady Ashley became public in the early 1930s he and Pickford separated. They divorced January 10, 1936. Fairbanks' son by his first wife, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., claimed that his father and Pickford long regretted their inability to reconcile.

On June 24, 1937, Pickford married her third and last husband, actor and band leader Charles 'Buddy' Rogers. They adopted two children: Roxanne (born 1944, adopted 1944) and Ronald Charles (born 1937, adopted 1943, a.k.a. Ron Pickford Rogers). As a PBS ''American Experience'' documentary noted, Pickford's relationship with her children was tense. She criticized their physical imperfections, including Ronnie's small stature and Roxanne's crooked teeth. Both children later said that their mother was too self-absorbed to provide real maternal love. In 2003, Ronnie recalled that "Things didn't work out that much, you know. But I'll never forget her. I think that she was a good woman."

Later years

After retiring from the screen, Pickford developed alcoholism, the addiction that had afflicted her father. Other alcoholics in the family included her first husband Owen Moore, her mother Charlotte, and her younger siblings Lottie and Jack. Charlotte died of breast cancer in March 1928 after several operations. Within a few years, Lottie and Jack died of alcohol-related causes. These deaths, her divorce from Fairbanks, and the end of silent films left Pickford deeply depressed. Her relationship to her adopted children, Roxanne and Ronald, was turbulent at best. Pickford gradually became a recluse, remaining almost entirely at Pickfair, allowing visits only from Lillian Gish, her stepson Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and a few select others. In the mid-1960s, she often received visitors only by telephone, speaking to them from her bedroom. Buddy Rogers often gave guests tours of Pickfair, including views of a genuine western bar Pickford had bought for Douglas Fairbanks, and a portrait of Pickford in the drawing room. Painted at the height of her fame, it emphasizes her girlish beauty and spun-gold curls. A print of this image now hangs in the Library of Congress.

In addition to her Oscar as best actress for ''Coquette'' (1929), Mary Pickford received an Academy Honorary Award for a lifetime of achievements in 1976. The Academy sent a TV crew to her house to record her short statement of thanks. Facing the end of her days, Pickford petitioned the Canadian government to restore her Canadian citizenship, thinking it had been lost when she married Fairbanks in 1920. It was never lost and she became a dual Canadian-American citizen.

Death

Pickford died of cerebral hemorrhage on May 29, 1979, and was buried in the Garden of Memory of the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Buried alongside her in the Pickford private family plot are her mother Charlotte, her siblings Lottie and Jack Pickford, and the family of Elizabeth Watson, Charlotte's sister, who had helped raise Mary in Toronto.

Legacy

The Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study at 1313 Vine Street in Hollywood, constructed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, opened in 1948 as a radio and television studio facility. The Mary Pickford Theater at the Library of Congress is named in her honour. Mary Pickford Auditorium at Claremont McKenna College is named in her honor.

There is a first-run movie theatre in Cathedral City, California, called The Mary Pickford Theatre. The theater is a grand one with several screens and is built in the shape of a Spanish Cathedral, complete with bell tower and three-story lobby. The lobby contains a historic display with original artifacts belonging to Ms. Pickford and Buddy Rogers, her last husband. Among them are a rare and spectacular beaded gown she wore in the film "Dorothy Vernon at Haddon Hall" (1924) designed by Mitchell Leisen, her special Oscar and jewelry box.

The 1980 stage musical ''The Biograph Girl'' about the silent film era features the character of Pickford. In 2007, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences sued the estate of the deceased Buddy Rogers' second wife, Beverly Rogers, in order to stop the public sale of one of Pickford's Oscars.

A bust and historical plaque marks her birthplace in Toronto, now the site of the Hospital for Sick Children. The plaque was unveiled by her husband Buddy Rogers in 1973. The bust by artist Eino Gira was added ten years later. The family home had been demolished in 1943, and many of the bricks delivered to Pickford in California. Proceeds from the sale of the property were donated by Pickford to build a bungalow in East York, Ontario, then a suburb of Toronto. The bungalow was the first prize in a lottery in Toronto to benefit war charities, and Pickford herself unveiled the home on May 26, 1943.

She received a posthumous star on Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto in 1999. In 2006, along with fellow deceased Canadian stars Fay Wray, Lorne Greene and John Candy, Pickford was featured on a Canadian postage stamp. From January 2011 until July 2011, the Toronto International Film Festival is exhibiting a collection of Mary Pickford memorabilia in the Canadian Film Gallery of the TIFF Bell LightBox building. In February 2011, the Spadina Museum, a museum dedicated to the 1920s and 1930s era in Toronto, will stage performances of 'Sweetheart: The Mary Pickford Story.' The play is a one-woman musical based on the life and career of Pickford, and will use Pickford movies along with live performance.

Filmography

References

Further reading

Whitfield, Eileen ''Pickford: The Woman Who Made Hollywood'' (University Press of Kentucky, 1997) ISBN 0-8131-2045-4

ebook or online ''Preserving Pickford: The Mary Pickford Collection and the Library of Congress'' article in ''The Moving Image'', Volume 3, Number 1, Spring 2003

External links

About Mary Pickford, from the website of the Mary Pickford Institute for Film Education

Mary Pickford CBC Radio interview May 25, 1959

Footage of Mary Pickford with Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks in 1919

Category:Academy Honorary Award recipients Category:Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences founders Category:Actors from Toronto Category:American film actors Category:American silent film actors Category:Best Actress Academy Award winners Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) Category:American people of Canadian descent Category:Canadian Christian Scientists Category:Canadian expatriate actors in the United States Category:Canadian film actors Category:Canadian film producers Category:American Christian Scientists Category:Canadian Roman Catholics Category:American Roman Catholics Category:20th-century actors Category:Canadian silent film actors Category:Deaths from cerebral hemorrhage Category:American people of English descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:Women screenwriters Category:1892 births Category:1979 deaths

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