Lilian Harvey in Du Sollst Nicht stehlen, (1927.)
Lilian Harvey was born on January 19th, 1906 in London. Her mother was English and her father was German. When she was eight her family moved to Berlin shortly before the outbreak of WW1.

Her most successful film, 1931's "Der Kongress Tanzt"/"Le congres s'amuse"/"Congress Dances" led to a contract in Hollywood with the Fox Film Company. She dissolved this contract after a few pictures, walking out on a role that was filled by then-unknown Alice Faye and returning to UFA to be with director Paul Martin, with whom she was romantically involved. The Nazi regime had come to power in her absence and Lilian Harvey found it difficult to work under Goebbels.

She was instrumental in helping those persecuted by the Nazis escape until her film popularity waned and she was forced to escape as well. She eventually landed in the USA and spent most of WW2 in Los Angeles working as a volunteer nurse. She did theater work and continued to work on European stages after the war. She received war reparations in the early sixties and lived on the Riviera until her death on July 27th, 1968.

Bio:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0367613/bio

#history #movies #LilianHarvey

The Nefarious Plot to Steal Lincoln’s Corpse
In 1876 a two bit Irish gangster in Chicago named “Big Jim” Kennally was certainly in a bind. His gang’s most profitable venture was in counterfeiting, but recently their master engraver, Benjamin Boyd, had been caught and sentenced to ten years in prison. Without Boyd, his gang would be out of the counterfeiting business. To get his man back Kennally came up with a ransoming scheme that was the one of the weirdest kidnapping schemes in the history of kidnapping.

At Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois can be found the final resting place of the Lincoln family. There the corpse of Abraham Lincoln rested within the vaults of the large Lincoln family mausoleum. The cemetery had no security, no local police patrols, and the groundskeeper did not live on the premises. In fact Oak Ridge Cemetery was located two miles outside of Springfield in a very secluded area. Kennally’s scheme was to break into the Lincoln vault and steal Lincoln’s corpse. After burying the body in a secret location Kennally intended to use Lincoln as a bargaining chip for the release of Boyd, as well as a $200,000 cash ransom.

Kennally recruited two of his gang members, Terrence Mullen and Jack Hughes, as well as two outsiders, Lewis Swegels, who was a professional grave robber, and Billy Brown, who was the getaway driver. On the night of November 7th, 1876 the gang broke into the Lincoln mausoleum to steal Lincoln's corpse. The only thing locking the door to the mausoleum was a padlock, however none had any experience picking locks, so they cut open the lock with a file. Once in the tomb they pried open Lincoln’s marble sarcophagus. The thieves attached ropes to Lincoln’s coffin, but found that they could not lift the 500 pound coffin. Not only was the coffin made of cedar, but was lined with lead, a very heavy metal which was thought to preserve the corpse. As the befuddled thieves considered their options, Secret Service agents approached the tomb.

Little did the thieves realize, the outside man and graverobber, Lewis Swegels, was really a paid informant of the Secret Service. Beforehand he had notified the local Secret Service office of the planned body snatching. As the agents approached, one of the officers pistols accidentally discharged, causing the group of agents to take cover in preparation for a gun battle. This gave Jim Kennally and his gang enough time to make a getaway. The Secret Service, however, was led to their location in Chicago by Swegels, where they were all apprehended. All faced light charges, as there was few laws dealing with graverobbery at the time.

After the attempt to steal Lincoln’s corpse an organization called The Lincoln Guard of Honor was formed to protect the body. The coffin was kept in a secret location, first hidden under a pile of lumber, then buried under the mausoleum itself. Finally in 1900 the Lincoln tomb underwent a restoration and renovation project. In 1901 Lincoln and his family were re-interred in the tomb. To ensure that no one could steal his corpse again, Lincoln’s coffin was placed ten feet in the ground, surrounded by a steal cage, then encased a several tons of concrete. Today Lincoln’s corpse still rests peacefully at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois.

Story via USNews:
https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2007/06/24/a-plot-to-steal-lincolns-body

#history #civilwar #AbrahamLincoln

Five good friends
cca 1920.

What is the story behind this photo? Are they military doctors?
Who knows...anyways, I find the photo unusual and intriguing.

Photo via reddit.

#history #intriguingcreeps

Russian Special Corps of Gendarmes, circa 1890
The Special Corps of Gendarmes was the uniformed security police of the Imperial Russian Army in the Russian Empire during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Its main responsibilities were law enforcement and state security.

The responsibilities of the Gendarmes also included the execution of court orders, pursuit of fugitives, riot control, and detainment of "unusual" criminals. Gendarmes could also be assigned to assist local police and officials.

#history #police #gendarmes

A group of Victorians doing the cakewalk, c.1890.
A bit bizarre if you ask me ;)

Photo via The Sun
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3705836/victorians-having-a-laugh-in-photos/

#history #victorians

April 4 is reserved to Maya Angelou
“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

An acclaimed American poet, storyteller, activist, and autobiographer, Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri. Angelou has had a broad career as a singer, dancer, actress, composer, and Hollywood's first female black director, but is most famous as a writer, editor, essayist, playwright, and poet. As a civil rights activist, Angelou worked for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. She was also an educator and served as the Reynolds professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University.

Angelou’s most famous work, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), deals with her early years in Long Beach, St. Louis and Stamps, Arkansas, where she lived with her brother and paternal grandmother. In one of its most evocative (and controversial) moments, Angelou describes how she was first cuddled then raped by her mother's boyfriend when she was just seven years old. When the man was murdered by her uncles for his crime, Angelou felt responsible, and stopped talking. Angelou remained mute for five years, but developed a love for language. She read black authors like Langston Hughes, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Paul Lawrence Dunbar, as well as canonical works by William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, and Edgar Allan Poe.

When Angelou was twelve and a half, Mrs. Flowers, an educated black woman, finally got her to speak again. Mrs. Flowers, as Angelou recalled in her children’s book Mrs. Flowers: A Moment of Friendship (1986), emphasized the importance of the spoken word, explained the nature of and importance of education, and instilled in her a love of poetry.

Source:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/maya-angelou

Bio:
https://www.biography.com/people/maya-angelou-9185388

#history #MayaAngelou #amazingwomen

The physics of surfing ;)
California cca. 1970

#history #coolteachers

Today marks 100 years since the death of Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Debussy was a French composer and is considered one of the most important figures working within the field of impressionist music during the 20th century. He is best known for Clair De Lune – composed around 1890 and published in 1905. Its original name was Promenade Sentimentale and is the third movement of Suite Bergamasque, one of the most revered piano suites of Debussy.

The title comes from a poem published in 1869 by the poet Paul Verlaine. The poem speaks of “au calme clair de lune triste et beau” (the still moonlight sad and lovely). Debussy’s music was a turning point from the Romantic music that had dominated the 19th century to the music of the 20th century.

Bio:
http://www.musicsalesclassical.com/composer/long-bio/Claude-Debussy

Listen to Clair de Lune:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvFH_6DNRCY

#history #Debussy #classicalmusic

The Hindsgavl Dagger
In the Neolithic period the flint workers achieved very high technical standards. The magnificent dagger from Hindsgavl with its blade less than 1 cm thick is the finest example of the flint workers’ outstanding skills at the end of the Stone Age. It was found around 1876 on the island Fænø in the Little Belt. The dagger type is called a ‘fishtail dagger’ because of the fishtail-formed hilt. Pressure-flaked daggers mark the beginning of the end of the Stone Age, and are the reason why the period from 2400-1800 BC is called the Dagger Period.

Reference:
https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-neolithic-period/the-hindsgavl-dagger/

#history #ancienthistory #flint #knives #daggers #flintknife

RIP Stephen Hawking
Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.

World renowned physicist Stephen Hawking has died at the age of 76. He died peacefully at his home in Cambridge in the early hours of Wednesday, his family said. The Briton was known for his work with black holes and relativity, and wrote several popular science books including A Brief History of Time.

Article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/14/obituaries/stephen-hawking-dead.html
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43396008

#history #StephenHawking