Some book news. Operation Zigzag, book one in my Eve’s War Heroines of SOE series, is currently number one on the Amazon genre charts.
Clara Bow’s nineteenth movie was Lawful Cheater aka The Lawful Cheaters, a silent crime drama. Clara played Molly Burns, a young woman jailed for “indiscreet behaviour”. Produced during the spring of 1925, the movie was released on July 17, 1925.
The critics were not impressed with this offbeat crime drama, calling it “slight and trite” and “cheaply produced”. The “sole redeeming factor” was Clara Bow. At one point, Molly Burns appeared in male drag, which was “fun to watch”. However, The British Board of Film Censors did not have a sense of humour – they banned the film.
A transcribed page from my 9 x great grandfather John Bevan’s journal. He talks of his friend, William Penn, and the prospect of emigrating to Pennsylvania in 1683. John thought it would take some time for the settlement to establish itself. However, his wife Barbara Aubrey persuaded him because she thought it would be a good environment to bring up their children “amongst sober people”.
A transcribed page from my 9 x great grandfather John Bevan’s journal. He and his family have settled in Pennsylvania. Four of his children have married and had children of their own. However, in 1704, twenty-one years after settling in Pennsylvania, John had the urge to return to Wales. His wife, Barbara Aubrey, “could not be easy to stay behind me.” So, John, Barbara and their daughter Barbara returned to Wales.
In this entry from my 9 x great grandfather John Bevan’s journal he talks about his journey from Pennsylvania to his estate in Wales. The weather was stormy and pirates looted a number of vessels. He was going to transfer to a vessel bound for Bristol, but a storm prevented the transfer. Later, that vessel “was taken” so John, his wife and daughter had a lucky escape.
Anniversaries
My 4 x great grandfather Daniel Hopkin died on 11 February 1864, in South Cornelly, Glamorgan. An agricultural labour, Daniel was baptised on 4 March 1781 in the Church of St Tydfil, Llysworney, Glamorgan. He married Annie Lewis on 10 May 1812 in St James’ Church, Pyle (pictured). The couple had four children, including my 3 x great grandmother Mary Hopkin. Daniel died three months after his wife Anne died. Maybe after fifty-one years of marriage her passing was too much for him to bear.
Clara Bow Quotes: “At times, Hollywood had been like a godmother, giving me joy and happiness. At other times it had turned like a vicious old hag, threatening to claw me apart, body and soul.”
As ever, thank you for your interest and support.
Hannah xxx
For Authors
#1 for value with 565,000 readers, The Fussy Librarian has helped my books to reach #1 on 36 occasions.
Clara Bow’s eighteenth movie was Eve’s Lover, produced during the early months of 1925 and released on 6 July, 1925. Clara played Rena D’Arcy. This was one of Clara’s ‘loan-out’ movies. She was not the lead actress in this movie, yet her image featured on the lobby cards. Another example of how Clara upstaged everyone, regardless of her status in any given movie.
Anniversaries
Born this week, 3 February 1813, in Margam, Wales, my 3 x great grandmother Ann David. Out of wedlock, Ann gave birth to a son, Evan Lewis. In 1847, Ann married a widower, David Jones and they produced two daughters, Mary and Ann. Mary died, aged 70, in an asylum, while Ann married my 2 x great grandfather, William Howe. In the 1880s, their son, and my great grandfather, William Howe acknowledged Evan Lewis as a member of the family by recording his name in the family Bible, pictured.
From ‘Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania’, mention of my 9 x great grandmother Barbara Aubrey (1637 – 1710) and her connection, through the Herberts, to the nobility and royalty.
Cowbridge, Wales, 1835 a little after my 9 x great grandmother Barbara Aubrey’s time, but I’m sure this landscape would have been familiar to her.
Philadelphia Quaker Monthly Meeting Records, c1730.
The opening paragraphs pay tribute to my 9 x great grandfather John Bevan while the remainder of the page is the first part of the transcription of his diary. John explains how he converted to Quakerism while the introduction states: “John Bevan…a good man…having deserved to have his name transmitted to posterity for his holy life and conversation.”
John inherited a “considerable estate”. However, his brothers were unprovided for. When he came of age, John portioned his land and gave his brothers “a helpful subsistence in this world”.
The second page of the Philadelphia Quaker Monthly Meeting Records, c1730, details how my 9 x great grandfather John Bevan was excommunicated for his Quaker beliefs, how his wife Barbara “who sincerely loved her husband” gave the priest a “piece of her mind”, and how John’s friends were arrested at his house and imprisoned for fourteen weeks for their Quaker beliefs.
My latest article for the Seaside News, about Mary Pickford, appears on page 35 of the magazine.
Clara Bow Quotes: “When I was approached on the matter of paying money to keep statements about me from appearing in print, I was dumbfounded. What in the world could be said about me that already had not been printed? I had done nothing. I knew the statements to be entire fabrications. But what could I do? There was only one thing I could do and retain my self-respect. That was – fight.”
As ever, thank you for your interest and support.
Hannah xxx
For Authors
#1 for value with 565,000 readers, The Fussy Librarian has helped my books to reach #1 on 36 occasions.
Clara Bow’s fourteenth movie was Black Lightning. The movie, produced during the Fall of 1924 and released on December 8, 1924, starred Thunder the Marvel Dog, supported by Clara Bow and “An All Star Cast”.
Thunder the Marvel Dog was a male German Shepherd that appeared in movies between 1923 and 1927. During this era, he had plenty of canine ‘rivals’ including Peter the Great, Napoleon, Rex, Strongheart and, more famously, Rin Tin Tin.
Clara loved dogs. However, the plot of this movie was convoluted and, given her ambitious, she could not have been happy as a support player to a dog. Greater days lay ahead, but at this stage of her career Clara was certainly paying her dues as she made her way in Hollywood.
Frances Gifford’s acting career blossomed in the 1930s and 1940s. Her breakthrough arrived in 1941 when she was cast as Nyoka in Jungle Girl, a fifteen-chapter movie serial. The serial was successful. However, tragedy struck on December 31, 1947 when Frances was seriously injured in a car accident. She attempted a comeback, but sadly that accident effectively ended her career.
Sister of actress Mary Pickford, Lottie Pickford (June 9, 1893 – December 9, 1936) also appeared in motion pictures, although her main passion in life was partying.
Lottie’s first starring role arrived in 1914 in The House of Bondage. She played a prostitute, in stark contrast to her sister Mary’s image as “America’s Sweetheart”.
In 1915 Lottie appeared in The Diamond from the Sky, a silent adventure serial of thirty chapters. The serial was jeopardized when Lottie became pregnant, an incident that placed her on an unofficial Hollywood blacklist for a short time.
Lottie was a socialite who loved to party. Indeed, her parties were notorious all-night affairs that featured an abundance of alcohol, drugs and nudity. This hedonistic lifestyle took its toll and cut short the life of a woman who, despite her socialite status, was regarded as down to earth, friendly and unpretentious.
Tallulah Bankhead (January 31, 1903 – December 12, 1968) amassed nearly 300 film, stage, television and radio roles during her career. Her main forte was the stage – she was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1972.
A hedonist who loved men, women, cigarettes, drugs and alcohol, Tallulah rebelled against her family, prominent conservatives, by supporting the civil rights movement. She also helped families escape persecution during the Spanish Civil War and World War Two.
Marion Davies (January 3, 1897 – September 22, 1961) ran away from a convent to become a chorus girl, a performer in the Ziegfeld Follies and an actress. While performing in the 1916 Follies, nineteen-year-old Marion met fifty-three-year-old newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst. She became his mistress and he promoted her career, often to her detriment.
Throughout her life, Marion was mistakenly associated with the character of Susan Alexander Kane in Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane. Susan was a singer who lacked talent. However, Welles himself said that Marion was a talented actress, and that he did not base Susan on Marion.
My latest article for the Seaside News appears on page 34 of the magazine.
My 5 x great grandmother Hannah David was born in Llantrisant, Glamorgan in 1757. She married James Morgan on 9 November 1776 in Llantrisant. Thomas Morgan, their first child, of twelve, arrived ten months later. In the 1700s, on average a woman gave birth to eight children so, maybe, the excessive strain of giving birth to twelve children contributed to Hannah’s death in 1802, aged 45. However, there was more to Hannah’s life than motherhood. Read on…
When my 5 x great grandmother Hannah David wasn’t pregnant or nursing one of her twelve children, she was helping her husband James Morgan to run the Swan Inn in Llantrisant.
William Aubrey of Llanwynno owned the property from 1767 until 1801. Hannah’s branch of our family tree connects with the influential and well-to-do Aubreys, so it’s likely that she became the landlady of the Swan through this family connection.
📸 The Swan Inn (Llantrisant.net)
One of the largest inns in the town, the Swan stood near Zozobabel Chapel on Swan Street. Taliesin Morgan’s 1898 history of Llantrisant referred to the Swan Inn as the venue for a number of eisteddfodau held by the Cymreigyddion Society. As such, the inn was a hotbed for promoting Welsh literature, poetry and music.
🧭 Location of the Swan Inn
In the fourth quarter of the 18th century my ancestor’s inn must have been the place to be, a venue reverberating with music and dancing, a place to listen to poems and stories. Hannah must have heard some tales. Maybe she told one or two herself. Maybe I can trace my love of stories to her.
***
Clara Bow Quotes: “Something every girl who goes into motion pictures must learn…if you do make a success of your work, your name is of public interest and where a girl in non-professional may be allowed certain liberties, a screen player is allowed none without attendant publicity.”
Intertitle #15
As ever, thank you for your interest and support.
Hannah xxx
For Authors
#1 for value with 565,000 readers, The Fussy Librarian has helped my books to reach #1 on 36 occasions.
Fonts can suggest an atmosphere and sense of time. With Tula, my novel about an actress, I’m looking to invoke the 1920s, so I’m experimenting with Snell Roundhand and American Typewriter.
Brooklyn Bridge is a location in chapter two of Tula. She goes there to deliver a parcel for her father and notices a cameraman filming. While she’s engrossed in the filming, someone steals the parcel.
At the time of its opening, on May 24, 1883, Brooklyn Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world with a span of 1,595.5 feet.
🖼 Chromolithography of the “Great East River Suspension Bridge” by Currier and Ives, 1883.
Was Clara Bow a good actress? On a human level, this question is irrelevant – Clara dragged herself out of abject poverty and pursued her dream; that’s all that matters. On an artistic level, it would be nice to answer the question, so here’s my opinion.
First, what other people said about Clara’s acting ability. Fellow actress Louise Brooks: “She was absolutely sensational in the United States … in Dancing Mothers … she just swept the country … I know I saw her … and I thought … wonderful.”
In 1981, producer Budd Schulberg described Clara as “an easy winner of the dumbbell award” who “couldn’t act.” Furthermore, he compared her to a puppy that his father B. P. Schulberg had trained to become Lassie.
Director Victor Fleming compared Clara to a Stradivarius violin: “Touch her, and she responded with genius.” Another director, William Wellman said, “Movie stardom isn’t acting ability – it’s personality and temperament … I once directed Clara Bow (Wings). She was mad and crazy, but WHAT a personality!”
While Grace Kingsley of the Los Angeles Times said; “Don’t miss Wine. It’s a thoroughly refreshing draught … there are only about five actresses who give me a real thrill on the screen – and Clara is nearly five of them.”
Clara Bow in Stars of the Photoplay, 1924
Clara Bow didn’t require direction: she required background about a particular scene, then a wise director would light the set and allow her to go with the flow. She understood character, and how to convey that character to an audience, not en block, but with subtle asides that would convey different messages to males and females, to those who would love her character, and to those who would disapprove. The net result: (nearly) everyone loved her performances.
Brought up in the silent era, Clara knew how to convey emotions through facial expressions, particularly through her eyes. Her glances were worth a page of dialogue, while her ability to cry on demand was legendary.
My opinion: Clara Bow was a great emotional actress. She knew how to get inside a character, how to portray a character, and how to connect with an audience. I agree with Victor Fleming – on the silver screen, Clara Bow responded with genius.
***
Continuing my research into Eva Marie Saint’s ancestry using public records. I’m looking to answer two questions: was Eva’s talent the result of nurture, or nature? And why am I drawn to her as an actress? Can I find the answers to these questions in her roots?
Eva Marie’s grandfather was John Q Saint, a postmaster from Indiana, living in Iowa in 1900. What did the Q stand for? This document provides the answer, and a whole lot more.
The Q in John’s name stood for Quincy. Furthermore, his parents were Jonathan and Emily, and they were Quakers.
John Quincy Saint
Event Type:
Birth
Birth Date:
19 Dec 1847
Birth Date on Image:
19 1847 Twelfth
Birth Place:
Henry, Indiana
Father:
Jonathan Saint
Mother:
Emily Saint
Monthly Meeting:
Duck Creek Monthly Meeting
Yearly Meeting:
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting
Meeting State:
Indiana
Meeting County:
Henry
So, my next task is to discover more about Jonathan and identify when his family became Quakers – did they join a Quaker community in America, or were they persecuted Quakers in Britain, seeking a new home?
***
Sleight of Hand, Series 1, Episode 15 of The Rockford Files is different to all previous episodes. The main reason for the difference is Sleight of Hand was based on a novel, Thin Air by Howard Browne.
This episode is Rockford noir with little in the way of humour. Rockford becomes seriously aggressive on a couple of occasions too, both justified.
In long-running series, writers are always looking for new angles for their characters, so it’s easy to understand why the Rockford writers were drawn to this story, but did it work as an episode of The Rockford Files?
I reckon the radical nature of this story would divide fans. Some would recognise that the story was built on an interesting premise – a baffling disappearance – while others would appreciate that the story was written for a different main character, a married man.
Georgian London established itself as a place for fashionable living with new streets and squares in Westminster, plus plush palaces for entrepreneurs and aristocrats. It fashioned a society based on exploitation and profit. It became a city without a soul.
Through the Bank of England, the Royal Exchange and a network of coffee houses, fortunes were made – and lost. Money, stocks and shares were king. However, the financial pie is of limited size, and for every big time winner there were scores of big time losers. For every palace, scores of slums blighted the city, and ruined peoples’ lives.
Two new bridges across the Thames linked the north and south of London. The city spread into the countryside. Houses sprang up. The landscape altered beyond all recognition.
Workshops and manufacturing centres fed the need for essentials, and luxury goods. Breweries quenched thirsts – alcohol was safer to drink than London water – while artisans displayed their skills in pottery and porcelain production, in clock and watchmaking, in furniture making, and in silk weaving.
London was a cosmopolitan place. But, as someone might have said at the time, “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”
Westminster Bridge, depicted by Joseph Farrington, 1789. 🖼 Wikipedia.
Roy Clarke was born on 1 June 1925. A winger, he played professional football for Cardiff City, Manchester City, Stockport County and Wales.
A natural sportsman at school, Roy served his country during the Second World War as a coal miner, digging the ‘black gold’ that kept British industry going, which in turn kept the war effort alive.
In 1942, Roy signed for Cardiff City as an amateur. When league football resumed in 1945, he turned professional.
Cardiff City won promotion from Division Three (South) in 1946 – 47. In May of 1947, Roy signed for Second Division Manchester City for a fee £12,000.
At that time, Manchester City secured promotion to the First Division. This meant that Roy achieved the unusual feat of playing in three different divisions in consecutive matches.
Roy secured a regular place in the Manchester City team. Over the next decade he made 349 league appearances scoring 73 goals. He was also an FA Cup winner in 1956. During that match his friend, Manchester City goalkeeper Bert Trautmann, broke his neck, but played on.
In 1958, Roy wound down his professional career at Stockport County. On the international stage, he won 22 caps for Wales.
After his retirement from football, Roy became the manager of the Manchester City social club. Along with his wife, Kathleen, he provided an environment for fans, management and players to forge closer bonds. The club ran for nearly 25 years.
***
Independent Press-Telegram, Long Beach, California, October 21, 1950. “Lady Stars Gain Height.”
Highest grossing film of 1920: Way Down East.
A silent romanticdrama, directed by D.W. Griffith and starring Lilian Gish, Way Down East is best remembered for its climatic scene in which Lillian Gish’s character, Anna, is rescued from doom on an icy river (pictured).
Way Down East was heavy censored. The Pennsylvania film board demanded over sixty cuts, rendering the story meaningless. The mock marriage and honeymoon between Lennox and Anna had to go, along with any hints of her pregnancy. Other cuts included scenes where society women smoked cigarettes and an intertitle, which featured the words “wild oats”.
Clara Bow Quotes: “When I was ten years old I knew what I wanted – to be a screen star was my idea of heaven. But what chance had I? My family was poor. We lived in a not too pleasing section of Brooklyn, and my only contact with the screen was an occasional visit to a neighbourhood theatre, paying my admission with pennies and nickels earned by taking care of neighbours’ children when not looking after my (sick) mother.”
As ever, thank you for your interest and support.
Hannah xxx
For Authors
#1 for value with 565,000 readers, The Fussy Librarian has helped my books to reach #1 on 32 occasions.
I’ve completed the basic outline for Tula, my novel about an actress finding fame in the 1920s, and losing her mind in the process. Sixty-eight chapters. I’ve written the prologue and chapter one. The prologue is Tula’s asylum admission form, with her doctor’s notes.
The form and notes are based on 1920s asylum records, and a record from my family archive – a Victorian aunt spent a number of years in an asylum. My youngest son, who hopes to become a psychologist, helped with my research. He also named the doctor, Dr Brooks.
Continuing my research into Eva Marie Saint’s ancestry using public records. I’m looking to answer two questions: was Eva’s talent the result of nurture, or nature? And why am I drawn to her as an actress? Can I find the answers to these questions in her roots?
I’ve traced the Saint family back to the 1900 US Federal Census, which reveals the following about the family:
John Q Saint
Age
52
Birth Date
Dec 1847
Birthplace
Indiana, USA
Home in 1900
Marshall, Marshall, Iowa
Ward of City
2nd
Street
North Fourth Street
House Number
410
Sheet Number
17
Number of Dwelling in Order of Visitation
412 322
Family Number
447
Race
White
Gender
Male
Relation to Head of House
Head
Marital Status
Married
Spouse’s Name
Lydia G Saint
Marriage Year
1870
Years Married
30
Father’s Birthplace
Indiana, USA
Mother’s Birthplace
Indiana, USA
Occupation
Post Master
Months Not Employed
0
Can Read
Yes
Can Write
Yes
Can Speak English
Yes
House Owned or Rented
Rent
Farm or House
So, Eva Marie’s grandfather was John Q Saint, a postmaster from Indiana, now living in Iowa. In 1900, John had been married to Lydia for thirty years, and they had three children living with them, including Eva’s father, John.
John Q Saint’s neighbours all had respectable professions, as insurance and real estate agents, clerks, etc. The Saints lived in a respectable neighbourhood and, it would seem, enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle.
John Q Saint’s parents were from Indiana, but before searching for them, I’d like to discover more about John Q including what the Q stood for – Quentin? Quincy? Quillan?
More next time.
***
An official in 1922 checking that swimsuits were no more than six inches above the knee. However, emboldened by the right to vote, and the crazes for dance, jazz, ragtime and blues, women were in the mood to throw away the tape measures and challenge authority in general.
Alvin ‘Shipwreck’ Kelly, 1893 – 1952, achieved fame in the 1920s and 1930s as a pole sitter. He calculated that he spent 20,613 hours sitting on flagpoles, including 210 hours in sub-freezing weather and 1,400 hours in the rain.
Kelly married Frances Vivian Steele, an elevator operator, a match clearly made in heaven, or at least close to it.
Some social historians contend that sex was ‘invented’ in the 1960s. However, the rest of us know that it began in the 1920s when people started necking in automobiles, like the Austin 7, introduced in 1922.
Aura Lee, Farewell, Series 1, Episode 14 of The Rockford Files contains echoes of the pilot episode. Lindsay Wagner reprises her role as Sara Butler. Bill Mumy, who was Sara’s brother in the pilot, also appears, but as a different character.
Bill Mumy appears as Trask, an artist. Trask’s paintings are abstracts, to say the least. In a classic exchange, Rockford asks Trask if he requires a permit to sell his paintings (because they are so bad). Trask replies, “I told you, I paint what I feel.” Rockford: “You must not feel well.”
My honest opinion: the premise of this episode was excellent – a senator is involved in a hit-and-run accident, which leads to murder. The resolution though was a bit convoluted, explained in a brief conversation, rather than shown over several scenes.
Instead of the mystery, the writers of this episode decided to concentrate on Rockford and Sara’s relationship, which was fine because James Garner and Lindsay Wagner sparkled in their scenes.
Between 1700 and 1800 the population of London increased from 600,000 to over one million. The city established itself as the largest in the world, with commercial and military interests providing the bedrock.
London derived its energy from the free market, which basically meant ‘anything goes’. Services, goods and people – yes, people – could be bought without legislative restraint. Shipowners exploited the colonies while, at the other end of the scale, pickpockets sold gold watches. In eighteenth century London, these people were much of the same: steal from someone, then make a handsome profit.
Some people were offended by the scale of the greed. They compared London to a modern Babylon, devoid of morals and probity. However, writer James Boswell stated that his blood ‘thrilled with pleasure’ and that he regarded London as a city of happiness.
Maybe Boswell didn’t notice that, at its heart, London was still a medieval city without the capacity to deal with a huge rise in the population. In the eighteenth century, London became notorious for its high volume of prostitutes, it’s large numbers of feral children, and its disgruntled mobs.
Wise heads reasoned that such chaos could not continue, that the quest for ever-larger profits was unsustainable, that the city was in danger of spiralling out of control. The wise heads were proved right because by the fourth quarter of the century, revolution was in the air.
🖼 London from the east, 1751.
John Charles was born on 27 December 1931. He is regarded by many as Wales’ finest-ever footballer. Indeed, many rate him as Britain’s greatest all-round footballer.
During his glory years at Leeds United and Juventus, John excelled as a centre-forward and as a centre-back. He moved to Leeds United, in 1949, from his hometown club, Swansea Town. After a break for National Service, John was the Second Division’s top goalscorer in 1954.
As club captain in 1955, John led Leeds United to second place and promotion. The following season, Leeds finished eighth in the First Division while John was the division’s top goalscorer.
John’s qualities included strength, pace, technique and vision. Furthermore, he was a great header of a football and possessed a keen eye for goal.
John’s qualities attracted the attentions of Italian giants, Juventus. In his five seasons with Juventus, John won the Scudetto three times and the Coppa Italia twice.
In 1962, John returned to Leeds; moves to Roma and Cardiff City followed. He was never cautioned nor sent off during his entire career. Indeed, John’s respect for his opponents earned him the nickname Il Gigante Buono – The Gentle Giant.
John represented Wales over a period of fifteen years, from 1950 to 1965. In 1958, he was a member of the Wales World Cup squad. During that tournament, John scored in the 1 – 1 draw with Hungary.
Injury ruled John out of the quarter-final against Brazil. Wales lost 1 – 0. Who knows what would have happened if John had been fit to participate in that match.
Next week, more news about my new project, Tula, plus background information.
As ever, thank you for your interest and support.
Hannah xxx
For Authors
#1 for value with 565,000 readers, The Fussy Librarian has helped my books to reach #1 on 32 occasions.
Hannah Howe 