19. An Unbelieveable End to the 1920s

Bessie Coleman

I remember that several celebrities died that year—1926—but Mim’s father stayed this side of the grave. The ace pilot Bessie Coleman was killed when she fell out of a plane her mechanic was flying. The art world lost Claude Monet and Mary Cassatt. Harry Houdini died on Halloween, a suitable date for a magician, don’t you think?

The death that caused the biggest sensation in 1926 was of Rudolph Valentino. What an attractive man he was—only 31 years old, just a year older than Mim...