The Story Of “The Wilhelm Scream”
Coming across weird, useless things like this, is what makes life fun.
When films need vocal sound effects, professional voice actors are frequently called in to a recording studio to create them.
For the Warner Bros. 1951 film “Distant Drums” the sound needed was “a man being bit by an alligator. ” Instead of the actor being “bit” by the alligator recording the scream of pain, someone else at the studio, did the screaming. Continue reading
There is a book called Woodlawn Remembers: Cemetery of American History by Edward F. Bergman (North County Books, 1988.) The book is mostly comprised of beautiful full page color and black & white photographs of monuments, tombstones and mausoleums with one page of text describing each person profiled. The cemetery is located in the northern part of the Bronx. Woodlawn is on my shortlist of recommendations of unusual places to go for New York visitors.
The book is fascinating to be sure. It covers many of the interesting and important historical figures at Woodlawn. 
But one story not mentioned, is the life and death of George Spencer Millet (misspelled as George Millitt by The New York Times in the story at the end of this article) who is interred at the cemetery.
Millet’s story is briefly recounted in Permanent New Yorkers A Biographical Guide To The Cemeteries of New York by Judi Culbertson and Tom Randall (Chelsea Green 1987.) This book contains photographs too, but has more detailed biographies than Woodlawn Remembers. Permanent New Yorkers also covers the entire New York area, not just focusing on the two most famous New York City cemeteries. Woodlawn and Greenwood. I highly recommend both of these out-of-print books.
It was February 15, 1909 and Millet was a good-looking boy. Because when the girls he worked with at The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company found out that it was his 15th birthday, they all insisted on giving him a kiss. Continue reading
The Vamp in a Classic Role
“The Vampire,” Theodosia Goodman otherwise known to the world as Theda Bara in her 1918 starring role The Forbidden Path with (I believe) Hugh Thompson, her co-star.
Theda Bara was one of the first sex symbols of the screen. Her name was supposedly an anagram of “Arab Death.” (that is completely fabricated along with many other “facts” of her life.) Bara became a star in 1915 as a “vampire” (not the blood sucking kind – a notorious woman who drives men wild with desire using her wiles and charm and wreaks havoc in their lives) in A Fool There Was. She cemented immortality in 1917 with her portrayal of the title role in Cleopatra. Bara was pretty much typecast as the vampire (later shortened to “vamp”) and her film career stalled by the end of 1919. She appeared in only three films in the 1920’s and never made any sound films, retiring in 1926. She died in Los Angeles in 1955 at the age of 69.
While some today would not necessarily consider Bara a beauty, there is definitely something very appealing about her. A naturalness that comes through. In a lot of ways she represents more real women of that age and much more than her modern Hollywood contemporaries of Angelina Jolie or Scarlett Johansson representing today’s woman.
Bara’s heavier legs and abdomen are shown in her movies and photos. Would modern lead actresses be permitted to display extra poundage in our hyper-perfect-looks media without being skewered a la Oprah or Kirstie Alley?
Some photos of Bara when she was at the height of her career:
Who Is This Man?
At my local library there is a used book store. Sometimes they get unusual items donated. This is one of them.
It is a framed, large format photograph of apparently someone famous from the literary world. The staff at the library book store has put a sign above the photo saying “Who is this literary man?” Four years have gone by and still no answer.
I got out my cell phone and took a photograph of the photo (hence the glare from the glass covering it.)
So I pose it to you the readers, is there anyone who recognizes this man? Please feel free to forward, so we can solve this literary mystery.
What is in the sky in this photograph?
Is this one of the earliest UFO photographs?
Catalina Island Circa 1900
I saw this magic lantern slide photograph for sale on eBay about 5 years ago and thought it was interesting enough to copy on to my computer, but not to bid on. It was identified as Santa Catalina Island at the turn-of-the-century and that was pretty much all there was to the description. The person selling it did mention there is a strange object in the photograph.
There certainly is.
First I do believe there are UFO’s. But let’s be clear – Unidentified Flying Objects. Not necessarily spacemen from other galaxies or strange visitors from other planets in flying saucers. I won’t eliminate the possibility, but I need better evidence.
There definitely is something in the right hand corner of the photo. For some strange reason I do not believe this photo is a hoax. It appears to be in the air. But, is it flying? Is it a blemish to the photo itself? Is it a reflection? Somebody threw their hat in the air? A cloud? Sunspot? Optical illusion? Or is it some sort of saucer-like spacecraft? Click on the photo and then click again to get an enlarged closer view.
Larger Image of Catalina Island UFO
I checked the newspaper archives from the Los Angeles Times from 1890-1915 and can find no mention of this event on Catalina Island where the photograph was supposedly taken. Continue reading
A Close-up Look At Hidden New York: No People, But Lots Of Abandoned Buildings, Neglected Structures And A Safe Haven To Birds.
Having lived in New York City my whole life, there are places that I have never visited by choice and others that I have never been to because they are off-limits. One of those off-limits places is North Brother Island, which is a small island just off the southern coast of the Bronx near the entrance to Long Island sound.
North Brother Island, if known by the general public at all, is famous for two reasons:
1- In 1904 the excursion boat General Slocum caught fire and was beached near the island. The fire took the lives of over 1,000 people, mostly women and children going on a church outing to Long Island. Heroic rescuers who worked on North Brother brought many of the victims to the shores of the island.
2- Mary Mallon a.k.a. Typhoid Mary who was a carrier of typhoid and spread disease and death in turn of the century New York. She was quarantined there until she died in 1938.
I am fascinated by abandoned structures. 
North Brother Island is chock full of history. Presented here is the link to the fabulous web site The Kingston Lounge which has done a phenomenal history and photo essay of the decaying remains on this forgotten section of New York City.
The 19.3 acre island is now controlled by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation and since its human abandonment in the 1970’s has become a bird sanctuary.
Here is Mia Kovacs in 1961, the only daughter of actress Edie Adams and television and movie star Ernie Kovacs. Mia is fast asleep on Edie’s lap. It is one of my favorite pictures. There is something especially touching about it. To me this captures a beautiful scene of the innocence of childhood.
Ernie Kovacs was one of the sharpest wits in Hollywood and his TV and film career was still flourishing when he was unfortunately killed in an automobile accident at the age of 42 on January 12, 1962 while on his way home from a party at Milton Berle’s house. His wife Edie was left a widow with an enormous tax bill and debts that Ernie had run up.
Rather than default, declare bankruptcy or accept money from friends, Edie worked and worked in television, on Broadway, commercials and in films such as It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World; Love With The Proper Stranger; The Best Man; Under The Yum Yum Tree; and others until the debts were paid off – nearly $500,000.
Mia Kovacs inherited talent from both of her parents. She was following in their footsteps and was beginning to work in the entertainment industry.
Tragically, in an eerie twist, on May 8, 1982 Mia Kovacs was driving with a friend on Mulholland Drive when she drifted onto the shoulder of the road. The car flipped, killing her instantly. She was 22.