Eric Hanson's Blog, page 23
May 26, 2009
Mysteries
I couldn't fit everything or everyone into A Book of Ages. I left out interesting people whose significance was hard to explain in a short paragraph. I also left out events I couldn't pin down. Today is Miles Davis's birthday; he was born in 1926. Charlie Parker is in the book, so are Dave Brubeck, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, but no Miles.
The book is about changes and inspirations: Pete Townshend breaking his first guitar, Bob Dylan going electric, Duke
The book is about changes and inspirations: Pete Townshend breaking his first guitar, Bob Dylan going electric, Duke
May 25, 2009
Memorial Day
I associate Memorial Day with the small town parade of my childhood. Old men in carefully preserved uniforms. Small flags at the cemetery. It wasn't until I'd grown older that I realized what was on the minds of those old men in uniform. They'd grown old while comrades of theirs had not. What would those other lives have been like if events had turned out differently? Roles reversed. It's the kind of speculation the other bystanders are incapable of. They say crisis pulls all of history into a s
May 22, 2009
Inventor of Dreams
Americans adore their own mythology. Maybe it's because we're still young enough as a country. The biggest manufacturer of that mythology is and was the movie business, which was a far more energetic and prolific creative force earlier on, during the Studio Era. The era, to take two examples, of Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz. Both pictures are fundamental to how America imagines itself. Both were made in one year, 1939, by one film director who hardly anybody remembers today: Victor Fl
Book Signing at St. Olaf
I'll be signing books at St. Olaf College for a couple of hours tomorrow. Saturday, May 23, Buntrock Commons, midday. Hope to see you there.
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May 21, 2009
Elementary, My Dear Watson
These are words never uttered by Sherlock Holmes, at least not as written by Arthur Conan Doyle. He did say it onstage and Basil Rathbone said it quite a few times onscreen. Sherlock Holmes has been portrayed by more than 70 actors in over 200 films. Two new ones arrive in theaters this summer.
Today is the birthday of Arthur Conan Doyle who created Sherlock Holmes. He was born in 1859, grew up in Edinburgh and eventually went to medical school there, studying under a remarkable man named Joseph
Today is the birthday of Arthur Conan Doyle who created Sherlock Holmes. He was born in 1859, grew up in Edinburgh and eventually went to medical school there, studying under a remarkable man named Joseph
May 20, 2009
Atlantic Crossings
On May 20, 1927, at 7:53 in the morning, Charles Lindbergh took off from an airfield on Long Island, New York, headed east. He was alone, except for 450 gallons of gasoline, a Wright Whirlwind J-5C radial engine, coffee and sandwiches. The fabric-covered Spirit of St. Louis had no radio, no navigation equipment and no forward window for him to see where he was going. Lindbergh was 25. The flight to Paris took him 33 1/2 hours. When he arrived at Le Bourget Field he was greeted by a crowd estimat
May 18, 2009
Hope I Die 'fore I Get Old
It's the birthday of Pete Townshend, the lead guitarist of The Who, writer of operas, smasher of guitars, editor of books, born in 1945. He wasn't as handsome as bandmate Roger Daltrey or contemporaries Lennon and McCartney, or as sexually perplexing and magnetic as Mick Jagger. He was simply an angry working bloke with a mean guitar. Still is. Nowadays he is also an important fundraiser for the hard of hearing.
Rock stars are interesting to chronicle because their lives are one long battle agai
Rock stars are interesting to chronicle because their lives are one long battle agai
May 17, 2009
Marrying Well
On this day in 1152 Eleanor of Aquitaine married Henry, the Duke of Normandy and soon-to-be King of England. It was her second marriage. Until six weeks earlier she'd been married to the King of France. Two of her sons with Henry II would become Kings of England too.
Richard I and John were difficult offspring, fighting between themselves and with their parents. Eleanor and Henry were played in the 1968 film by Katharine Hepburn and Peter O'Toole. For those of you keeping score, that's Queen of
Richard I and John were difficult offspring, fighting between themselves and with their parents. Eleanor and Henry were played in the 1968 film by Katharine Hepburn and Peter O'Toole. For those of you keeping score, that's Queen of
Bulls and Bears
The New York Stock Exchange was formed on this day in 1792. Located on Wall Street, the stock exchange became a place of wild ups and downs, frequent panics and frauds. It remained so until 1934 when FDR formed the S.E.C. Since then the American economy has enjoyed a steady, mildly fluctuating prosperity, with no great panics and only occasional frauds, unless you consider Market Capitalism a fraud. Roosevelt put Joseph Kennedy, one of the greatest of Wall Street's buccaneers, in charge of clean
May 14, 2009
No Place Like Home
It's the birthday of L. Frank Baum, born on this day in 1856. His life was a mixture of failure and temporary success, with stretches spent writing plays, newspapering, selling door to door and running a shop, until 1900 when he sat down and wrote a book for children. He was 44. The book was called The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
There's an interesting story about the making of the 1939 movie. Frank Morgan, who played the Wizard, Professor Marvel and several other parts, was outfitted with a frock c
There's an interesting story about the making of the 1939 movie. Frank Morgan, who played the Wizard, Professor Marvel and several other parts, was outfitted with a frock c
