Posts Tagged Famous People

Original Title: “First flight, 120 feet in 12 seconds, 10:35 a.m.; Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.” Photo Credit: Library of Congress

On December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright tested out their Wright Flyer I near Kill Devil Hills by Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The photo above is of the first successfully powered, heavier-than-air aircraft with a pilot aboard. Orville acted as the pilot while Wilbur ran at the wingtip to balance it. The starting rail, wing-rest and a coil box are visible, these were necessary for flight preparation. The camera was preset by Orville with John T. Daniels charged with squeezing the rubber bulb which tripped the shutter.

The structure of the Wright Flyer was made out of spruce and ash with muslin coverings. There were fabric pockets sewn inside to help the aircraft “float.” Powered by a four-cylinder engine created by the brothers, the Wright Flyer proved to be strong, flexible and light.

In order to fly the aircraft, the pilot laid on their stomach with their head forward while their left hand operated the elevator control. Attached to the pilot’s hips was a cradle that pulled wires – warped the wings and turned the rudder. To steer, the pilot would move their hips from side to side. The brothers patented their “wing warping” technique (a system for lateral control of a fixed-wing machine).

On it’s first flight, the aircraft took off and flew for 12 seconds and landed with a distance of 120 feet.  They flew the Wright Flyer I four times that day, with the brothers alternating as pilot. Of the four flights, the longest lasted 59 seconds with a distance of 852 feet with Wilbur as the pilot.

After the last flight, those present discussed Wilbur’s long flight. A gust of wind lifted up the Wright Flyer and it went crashing across the sand. It was severely damaged and would never be flown again. However, the Wright brothers accomplished what they set out to do. They demonstrated that basic techniques could in fact fly heavier-than-air aircrafts. The Smithsonian nicley summarized the Wright brothers famous 1903 flight:

Their seminal accomplishment encompassed not only the breakthrough first flight of an airplane, but also the equally important achievement of establishing the foundation of aeronautical engineering.

Distant view of the Wright airplane just after landing, taken from the starting point, with wing-rest in center of picture and launching rail at right. This flight, the fourth and final of December 17, 1903, was the longest: 852 feet covered in 59 seconds. Photo Credit: Library of Congress

Smithsonian, 1903 Wright Flyer – Milestone of Flight.
Smithsonian, 1903 Wright Flyer – Object Collection.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on the Isle of Wight, England – photographed by Julia Margaret Cameron in 1868. (Source)

“The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.”

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

There are many valid points made about “unplugging” oneself from various social media. While I am not on Facebook near as much as I use to be, I can’t say the same for Pinterest. However for History By Zim that is not always a bad thing…

Without it how could I come across this gem?

Woman as clocks. Photo Credit: Old Hollywood

A quick Google search stated that this 1930 photo was a dance segment in Cecil B. DeMille’s “Madam Satan” – I have not seen the movie so I can not discuss the reasoning behind the dancing clocks. But I did also find this:

Image Credit: Triple Canopy

You’re welcome.

President Reagan presents Mother Teresa with the Medal of Freedom at a White House Ceremony, 1985. Photo Credit: Ronald Reagan Presidential Library/Source

“Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.”

- Mother Teresa

Samuel J. Seymour was five-years-old when he went to see Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theater. He saw a man jump on the balcony and was afraid the man might have hurt himself. The man was John Wilkes Booth, he jumped onto the stage after assassinating President Lincoln. This is Seymour on the February 9, 1956 episode of “I’ve Got a Secret.” The host was Garry Moore and the panelists included Bill Cullen, Jayne Meadows, Henry Morgan, and Lucille Ball. Seymour died two months later, 63 days after his game show appearance, on April 12, 1956. He was the last surviving person who had been present at Lincoln’s assassination.

In the article, “I saw Lincoln shot” by Samuel J. Seymour as told to Frances Spatz Leighton, Seymour recounted the fateful night.

All of a sudden a shot rang out – a shot that always will be remembered – and someone in the President’s box screamed. I saw Lincoln slumped forward in his seat. People started milling around and I thought there’d been another accident when one man seemed to tumble over the balcony rail and land on the stage.

“Hurry, hurry, let’s go help the poor man who fell down,” I begged.

But by that time John Wilkes Booth, the assassin, had picked himself up and was running for dear life. . . .

Only a few people noticed the running man, but pandemonium broke loose in the theater, with everyone shouting:

“Lincoln’s shot! The President’s dead!”

Snapshot of Seymour’s article. Photo Credit: The Milwaukee Sentienel

Click here for a closer view of the article.

Photograph taken by Frances Benjamin Johnston in 1906. Photo Credit: Library of Congress

“When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.”

- George Washington Carver, an American scientist, botanist and inventor.

[via Salon]

[Zim's Note: The article is a bit long but definitively worth the read if you like Johnny Cash and/or Native American topics.]

The untold story of Johnny Cash, protest singer and Native American activist, and his feud with the music industry

By Antonino D’Ambrosio, Sunday, Nov 8, 2009

Johnny Cash touring Wounded Knee with the descendants of those who survived the 1890 massacre in December of 1968.

In July 1972, musician Johnny Cash sat opposite President Richard Nixon in the White House’s Blue Room. As a horde of media huddled a few feet away, the country music superstar had come to discuss prison reform with the self-anointed leader of America’s “silent majority.” “Johnny, would you be willing to play a few songs for us,” Nixon asked Cash. “I like Merle Haggard’s ‘Okie From Muskogee’ and Guy Drake’s ‘Welfare Cadillac.’” The architect of the GOP’s Southern strategy was asking for two famous expressions of white working-class resentment.

“I don’t know those songs,” replied Cash, “but I got a few of my own I can play for you.” Dressed in his trademark black suit, his jet-black hair a little longer than usual, Cash draped the strap of his Martin guitar over his right shoulder and played three songs, all of them decidedly to the left of “Okie From Muskogee.” With the nation still mired in Vietnam, Cash had far more than prison reform on his mind. Nixon listened with a frozen smile to the singer’s rendition of the explicitly antiwar “What Is Truth?” and “Man in Black” (“Each week we lose a hundred fine young men”) and to a folk protest song about the plight of Native Americans called “The Ballad of Ira Hayes.” It was a daring confrontation with a president who was popular with Cash’s fans and about to sweep to a crushing reelection victory, but a glimpse of how Cash saw himself — a foe of hypocrisy, an ally of the downtrodden. An American protest singer, in short, as much as a country music legend.

(more…)

[Zim's Note: I came across a mugshot of Frank Sinatra and it got me thinking. Lately music and mugshots just seem to go hand-in-hand, I wondered if it was always this way. I stumbled across the following mugshots of famous musicians, there are far more but I decided to just post a few of the more famous ones. I labeled the post "vintage" so all of these are before 1980.]

All photos and captions via The Smoking Gun

Mister Rogers with Bill Bixby (left) and Lou Ferrigno (right as the Hulk) Photo Credit: Universal/Mental Floss

In the February 6, 1980 episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Mister Rogers meets The Incredible Hulk. If you are shocked to hear the words “Mister Rogers” and “The Incredible Hulk” in the same sentence, join the club. In the episode, aptly called ”Mister Rogers’ Talks About Superheros,” Mister Rogers visits the set of The Incredible Hulk to talk about make-believe and expressing one’s feelings. Since the Hulk is a great example of “expressing one’s feelings,” I guess it makes sense…

The Neighborhood Archives

(Source)

“You just can’t beat the person who never gives up.”

- Babe Ruth

(Image via Barnes & Noble)

History By Zim was contacted by Smithsonian Books (they publish material in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institute) to see if I was interested in doing a book review/feature on an upcoming release. The book, The Smithsonian Book of Presidential Trivia, seemed to be right in History By Zim’s wheelhouse. Because of that reason, as well as the Smithsonian connection, I immediately agreed. However, I should state that as excited as I am about this, I made a point of looking through the book as unbiased as I can be. 

The Smithsonian Book of Presidential Trivia
AMY PASTAN
Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Books, 2012
240 pp. $12.95/$15.95 CAN
ISBN: 978-1-58834-325-3

Cover:

Book covers are one of the main selling points of a book, they help set the mood for what the reader can expect. President Theodore Roosevelt’s enthusiastic smile is just one of the many faces and objects popping out of the White House roof. The seemingly random array of things assures the reader that this book is full of all things presidents. Since random trivia play a large role in History By Zim, this is a very good sign.

Standard information dominates the back cover and reads on the textbook side.* It’s important to mention that it states that the book is “[f]ully updated with presidential information to 2013.”

Book Structure:

Coming in around 240 pages, The Smithsonian Book of Presidential Trivia  is substantial enough to appease presidential history experts but not too long to scare off the average history buff.

A short forward by Marc Pachter (Director Emeritus, National Portrait Gallery and Interim Director, National Museum of American History) details the perception of the presidency and how the presidency is as an iconic symbol of the country.

Divided into eleven chapters, The Smithsonian Book of Presidential Trivia deals with every part of the presidency from political campaigns to life in the White House to particular low moments for some. Chapter Eleven, “The Quotable President,” gives quips and soundbites from those who held the nation’s highest office.

Following the chapters is a helpful presidential timeline that lists the order of presidents, their birth/death, term years and vice presidents.

(Photo by Zim)

Content:

I have looked at my fair share of presidential trivia books for here and this one follows the standard Question and Answer format. However, that seems to be the only major similarity between them. This one varies because, not only do they tell you which president[s] is the answer to the question, they give more information about the person, event, object, etc…. in question. It is very helpful to have the additional information on hand and not just the president’s name.

Another big difference between The Smithsonian Book of Presidential Trivia and other related trivia books is that this one pairs questions with photographs of historic artifacts (from Smithsonian’s collections). There are 115 black-and-white photographs in the book.

The Smithsonian Book of Presidential Trivia includes trivia about some First Ladies and children of presidents as well. Hillary Clinton and Lucy Hayes are the most discussed First Ladies with about four to five mentions each.

The most discussed presidents include: Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt (without including mentions about wives and children). James Monroe, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Herbert Hoover and George H.W. Bush are the least mentioned with 2-3 entries (including mentions about wives and children).

Things I liked:

• Discussion on each trivia answer.
• Numerous photographs of objects from Smithsonian’s collections.
• Presidential Timeline at the end of the book.
• Includes trivia on some First Ladies and children.
• Many questions/answers I had never heard of before. For example: “Which president popularized the term “OK”?” or “Which president wore a ring containing a lock of Lincoln’s hair to his inauguration?”

Things I prefer to have:*

• An index at the end to where the reader could find information on a specific president. If you are looking for fun facts about Millard Fillmore you would have to page through over half of the book to find anything about him.
• Colored photographs of the physical objects from Smithsonian’s collections. I find that you can lose some of the details with black-and-white photographs.

Overall Impression:

I enjoyed reading through The Smithsonian Book of Presidential Trivia. It was put together very well. It had a little bit of something about everything and there were some things I had not known about. I would highly recommend this book to any history/trivia buff and even to general/presidential historians as well. The Smithsonian has a high reputation of preserving and sharing history, this book reflects that quality.

Where to find The Smithsonian Book of Presidential Trivia:

Here are a few places you can find the book (it will be released on January 1, 2013)
Amazon
Barnes & Nobles
Smithsonian Books (I assume it will be available here once it is released)

[* I should note that my copy is a proof copy and, therefore, I assume the final copies will vary slightly.]

(Source)

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”

- T.S. Eliot, Poet

Courtesy of Slate:

This fall brings us two high-profile biopics about American presidents: Spielberg’s epic Lincoln, out this Friday, and Hyde Park on Hudson, which stars Bill Murray as FDR. This got us wondering: Which presidents have been portrayed on the silver screen the most?

We went to IMDb and tallied every portrayal of an actual American president in the history of the movies—including direct-to-video releases, animated films, and shorts. The movie president didn’t have to appear as the president to be included: Ulysses S. Grant, for instance, has often been depicted in his pre-White House years, and William Henry Harrison has only ever been portrayed on screen as the governor of the Indiana Territory and as a U.S. Army General fighting American Indians. (Which is more than his grandson can boast: The part of Benjamin Harrison has been played just once, and it was uncredited.)

We did not, by the way, include cameos by presidents playing themselves, or the cinematic use of archival footage. An actor or voice-actor had to be playing the man to get counted. And we did not count television portrayals.

The results? Lincoln blows away his presidential peers, with nearly twice as many depictions as the father of our country, who comes in second. On the other end of the spectrum, John Tyler, James Buchanan, and Warren G. Harding have, as far as we can tell, never been portrayed on film (not counting the recent online short, “John Tyler: Getaway Driver”). There’s still hope for them, though, as William Howard Taft could explain, if he wasn’t dead: Taft had to wait almost a century before someone played him in 2005’s The Greatest Game Ever Played.

Aisha Harris, Natalie Matthews-Ramo and Katie Kilkenny, “Presidents in Movies: The All-Time Leader Board,” Slate.com, November 8, 2012.

Photo by Frank Gatteri. Courtesy of the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum, Independence, Missouri.

Harry S. Truman, the 33rd President of the United States, is known as just that – Harry S. Truman. Leading some to wonder what exactly the “S” stands for?!

Some presidents do not have a middle name (George Washington), a few actually went by their middle name instead (Woodrow Wilson’s first name was actually Thomas) while others’ middle names are well-known (Franklin Delano Roosevelt). Truman, however, was the only president whose middle name is only one letter. “S” is not short for anything. Instead, he was named after both of his grandfathers, Anderson Shippe Truman and Soloman Young. So the “S” honors both of them.

From a technical standpoint, the ”S” should stand alone without a period. But, according to the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum, Truman himself often signed his name with a period after the letter. And so, for continuity sake, it still is written that way.

Harry S. Truman Library and Museum – Photo & “S” Background