June 25, 2009 8:38 am
John Dillinger was paroled from Indiana State Prison in May 1933 after serving eight years for assault and battery and attempted robbery and launched a Midwest Crime Wave from June 1933 to June 1934.
June 3, 2009 8:07 am
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum just released the first volume of a projected seven-volume Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945. “They assumed the finished work would be massive, featuring a staggering 5,000 to 7,000 camps and ghettos. They underestimated by 15,000.”
Sample articles: Buchenwald/Halle, Early Camp/Hainewalde, and Early Camp/Hainichen.
January 23, 2008 12:12 pm
"'If Ranger Craig leads me to a freshly-dug open grave, I'm going to be very miffed,' I thought."
Andy Ihnatko goes on a behind-the-scenes tour of Alcatraz.
December 19, 2007 10:47 am
The Paradise Theater opened on Chicago’s West Side on September 14, 1928, and was billed as the world’s most beautiful theater for its stunning interior and exterior beauty.
November 26, 2007 4:09 pm
Plane Crazy [Wikipedia] was the first Mickey Mouse cartoon produced; it debuted on May 15, 1928. It was followed by The Gallopin’ Gaucho [Wikipedia], which had a sneak preview on August 28, 1928.
October 8, 2007 4:49 pm
At San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom on Thanksgiving 1976, The Band served turkey dinners to an audience of 5,000 and played Don’t Do It , Theme from The Last Waltz , Up on Cripple Creek , The Shape I’m In , Who Do You Love , It Makes No Difference , Such a Night , Helpless , Stage Fright , The Weight , The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down , Dry Your Eyes , Coyote , Mystery Train , Mannish Boy , Further on up the Road , Evangeline , Ophelia , Caravan , Forever Young , Baby Let Me Follow You Down , and I Shall Be Released with a ton of guests (listed in link titles).
September 1, 2007 9:46 am
The Concert in Central Park. On September 19, 1981, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel played these songs in a free concert for over 500,000 people: Mrs. Robinson, Homeward Bound, America, Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard, Scarborough Fair, April Come She Will, Wake Up Little Susie, Still Crazy After All These Years, American Tune, Late in the Evening, Slip Slidin’ Away, A Heart in New York, The Late Great Johnny Ace, Kodachrome/Maybellene, Bridge Over Troubled Water, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, The Boxer, Old Friends, Bookends, The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy), The Sound of Silence, and an encore of Late in the Evening.
July 31, 2007 8:59 am
An inside look at who jumps. Marin County Coroner Ken Holmes has released a study of 10 years of suicide jumps from the Golden Gate Bridge.
July 16, 2007 4:33 pm
Try a Little Tenderness. Otis Redding owns the song, but it’s had an interesting history. Ruth Etting, Bing Crosby [mp3], and Ted Lewis [Windows Media] recorded the song (with more lyrics) in the early ‘30s. An instrumental version was the opening theme for Dr. Strangelove. Tennessee Ernie Ford did the song on his variety show. And then there was Jack Webb’s deadpan Dragnet-style version [Amazon sample].
July 10, 2007 6:01 am
The Censored Eleven [IMDB] is a group of Warner Brothers cartoons that have been withheld from syndication because of their racial stereotypes: Hittin' the Trail to Hallelujah Land (1931; info), Sunday Go to Meetin' Time (1936; info), Clean Pastures (1937; info), Uncle Tom's Bungalow (1937), Jungle Jitters (1938), The Isle of Pingo Pongo (1938), All This and Rabbit Stew (1941; info), Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs (1943; info), Tin Pan Alley Cats (1943; info), Angel Puss (1944), and Goldilocks and the Jivin' Bears (1944).
