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- Aristotle was born on 12 February 384 in Stagira, Chalcidian League. He died in 322 in Euboea, Macedonian Empire.
- Cotton Mather FRS (February 12, 1663 - February 13, 1728) was a New England Puritan clergyman and a prolific writer. Educated at Harvard College, in 1685 he joined his father Increase as minister of the Congregationalist Old North Meeting House of Boston, where he continued to preach for the rest of his life. A major intellectual and public figure in English-speaking colonial America, Cotton Mather helped lead the successful revolt of 1689 against Sir Edmund Andros, the governor imposed on New England by King James II. Mather's subsequent involvement in the Salem witch trials of 1692-1693, which he defended in the book Wonders of the Invisible World (1693), attracted intense controversy in his own day and has negatively affected his historical reputation. As a historian of colonial New England, Mather is noted for his Magnalia Christi Americana (1702).
- Friedrich de La Motte was born on 12 February 1777 in Brandenburg an der Havel, Brandenburg, Prussia, Holy Roman Empire [now Germany]. He was a writer, known for Nixenzauber (1918), Undine (1916) and Undine (1912). He died on 23 January 1843 in Berlin, Prussia [now Germany].
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Abraham Lincoln was an American politician from Kentucky. He was the second presidential candidate of the then-new Republican Party, following John Charles Frémont (1813 - 1890). He served as President of the United States from 1861 to 1865, during the American Civil War. He was assassinated in April 1865, the first of four American presidents to be assassinated during their term in office.
In February 1809, Lincoln was born in a one-room log cabin, located on the Sinking Spring Farm . The Farm itself was located near the modern city of Hodgenville, Kentucky, which was incorporated in 1836. Lincoln was the second child born to the illiterate farmer Thomas Lincoln (1778-1851) and his first wife Nancy Hanks (1784-1818). Both of his parents were born in Virginia.
Lincoln was a namesake grandson of Captain Abraham Lincoln (1744 - 1786), a military veteran of the American Revolutionary War. The senior Abraham was born in Pennsylvania, and settled in the areas of modern Kentucky in 1781. He was shot by an unnamed Native American in May 1786, while working in his field. The Lincoln family were descendants of Samuel Lincoln (1622 - 1690), an English weaver who had settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1637.
Lincoln's father Thomas bought or leased various farms in Kentucky, but lost most of his land in court disputes over property titles. In 1816, the Lincoln family settled in Indiana, which at the time had a more reliable and surveying system. Indiana was a "free-state", having abolished slave-holding in 1816. This suited Thomas' religious beliefs. He had joined the Separate Baptists, a religious group which forbade its members to own slaves.
In October 1818, Lincoln's mother Nancy died due to milk sickness. She had ingested milk cow containing the poison tremetol. She was 34-years-old at the time of her death. Lincoln was only 9-years-old at the time. The boy's primary caregiver for a while was his older sister Sarah Lincoln (1807 - 1828), who took over most household duties.
In December 1819, Lincoln's father married his second wife Sarah Bush (1788 - 1869). She was a widow, with three children of her own from a previous marriage. Lincoln grew close to his stepmother, and started calling her mother. By that time, Lincoln was old enough to start working in the farm. He reportedly never liked the physical labor, and his family regarded him as particularly lazy.
Lincoln received little formal schooling, relying on brief tutoring by itinerant teachers. He learned to read at the age of 7, but was not trained to write for several years. However, he became a bibliophile and spend most of his free time "reading, scribbling, writing, ciphering, writing Poetry, etc" He was largely self-educated, reading on a variety of topics.
As a teenager, Lincoln was "tall, strong, and athletic". He was trained in the "catch-as-catch-can" style of wrestling, a grappling style, and had a career as an amateur wrestler. He earned his reputation in the sport by defeating the leader of "the Clary's Grove Boys", a local gang of troublemakers.
In 1830, the Lincoln family moved to Macon County, Illinois. By that time, Lincoln was 21-years-old, legally entering adulthood. His relationship with his father Thomas became difficult, as young Lincoln craved for financial independence. In 1831, Thomas and most of his family settled in a new homestead, located in Coles County, Illinois. Lincoln decided not to follow them, and started living on his own. He settled for a few years in New Salem, Illinois.
In 1831, Lincoln and his partner Denton Offutt purchased a general store in New Salem. Lincoln gained a reputation of honesty, when he realized that he had accidentally overcharged a customer and voluntarily returned the money to him. By 1832, the general store had failed. The partnership was dissolved.
Also In 1832, Lincoln stood as a candidate for the Illinois General Assembly. He was an unlikely candidate, as he was rather poor and lacked political connections. He received 277 votes, nearly every vote in the village of New Salem. He lost the election as he was unknown outside this village.
In the early 1830s, Lincoln worked as New Salem's postmaster, and then as county surveyor. He aspired to become a lawyer, and read law on his own. He extensively studied legal texts in order to qualify. He later claimed that he was entirely self-taught. In 1834, Lincoln sought election to the Illinois General Assembly again. This time, he stood as a candidate for the powerful Whig Party and won the election. He served four terms in the General Assembly.
Lincoln's first known romantic relationship involved Ann Rutledge (1813 - 1835), a local woman who was reputedly engaged to another man. Rutledge died in August 1835, during a typhoid epidemic. She was only 22-years-old at the time of her death. Lincoln became severely depressed following her death. Biographers think that he wrote the poem "The Suicide's Soliloquy"(1838), to record his own suicidal thoughts during this period.
In 1836, Lincoln was admitted to the Illinois bar, and moved to Springfield Illinois to practice law. He started his career as a lawyer by practicing law under experienced lawyer John Todd Stuart (1807 - 1885), who happened to be a long-time friend of Lincoln. Lincoln gained a reputation as a formidable trial lawyer in cases involving cross-examinations.
In his political career in the 1830s, Lincoln championed the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, which connected the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. He later served as a Canal Commissioner. He voted to expand suffrage to all white males, not only white landowners. He adopted a "free soil" policy, vocally opposing both slavery and abolitionism. He favored the plan of the Whig party leader Henry Clay (1777 - 1852) to use freedmen in the colonization of Liberia.
In 1839, Lincoln became romantically interested in Mary Todd (1818 - 1882), a daughter of the wealthy businessman Robert Smith Todd (1791-1849). They were engaged in 1840, and were married in 1842. They had four sons. Mary had a higher social standing than Lincoln, being part of the gentry in Springfield, Illinois. She had reputedly rejected several suitors. Her most notable suitor before Lincoln was the successful lawyer Stephen Arnold Douglas (1813 -1861).
In 1842, Lincoln's last term in the Illinois General Assembly ended. In 1843, he sought the Whig nomination for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. He lost the nomination to John Jay Hardin (1810 - 1847), but convinced party officials to not renominate Hardin in the next election. Lincoln won the Whig nomination in 1846, and went on to win the election. He served as a congressman from 1847 to 1849. During this time, Lincoln was the only Whig in the Illinois delegation.
During his term in congress, Lincoln proposed a bill to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, and to compensate slave owners for the loss of property. The bill failed to gain sufficient support, even from his own party. Lincoln spoke out against the country's involvement in the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), warning that the price of glory would be "showers of blood".
Lincoln did not seek renomination to Congress in the 1848 election, honoring a 1846 pledge to serve a single term. He supported Zachary Taylor's campaign to win the Whig nomination for the presidency. When Taylor won the presidential election, Lincoln expected political favors from the new president. Taylor offered to Lincoln an appointment as secretary or governor of the Oregon Territory, which was at that time a stronghold of the Democratic Party. Lincoln declined the offer, as it would require him to abandon his legal career in Illinois. He resumed life as a lawyer.
During the 1850s, Lincoln was one of Illinois' leading lawyers. He appeared before the Illinois Supreme Court in 175 cases, and was the sole counsel in 51 of these cases. He solidified his reputation as a defense lawyer in two murder trials. In the trial of Duff Armstrong (1833-1899), Lincoln was able to prove that a key eyewitness was actually lying about what he had seen. Lincoln found that the witness stood at too great a distance in nighttime conditions to have seen anything. In the trial of Simeon Quinn "Peachy" Harrison (a cousin of Lincoln), Lincoln was able to convince a judge that the dying declaration of the murder victim should not be excluded as hearsay, That declaration was that the victim had actively provoked Harrison into attacking, helping the defense's case.
In 1854, Lincoln resumed his active participation in political life by speaking out against the controversial Kansas-Nebraska Act, a law that repealing the Missouri Compromise (1820), and would allow for the expansion of slavery to the new territories of Kansas and Nebraska. The Whig Party split in two due to its factions' different reactions to the new law. The Party's anti-slavery faction helped establish the new Republican Party, which also attracted anti-slavery politicians from the Free Soil Party, the Liberty Party, and the Democratic Party.
In 1854, Lincoln stood as a Whig candidate to the United States Senate. He was not able to secure the election, but managed to convince his supporters to vote for Lyman Trumbull (1813 - 1896), an anti-slavery Democrat with similar views to their own. Trumbull won the election. In 1856, Lincoln formally joined the Republican Party. At the June 1856 Republican National Convention, Lincoln was one of the candidates for the party's nomination for Vice President of the United States. Lincoln received 110 votes, finishing second among the candidates. The vice-presidential nomination was instead won by William Lewis Dayton (1807 - 1864).
In 1858, Lincoln stood as a Republican candidate for the United States Senate. His opponent was Stephen Arnold Douglas, a leading Democrat politician. The Senate campaign featured seven debates between Lincoln and Douglas, which attracted nationwide attention. The candidates argued extensively over the legal and moral status of slavery in the United States. In this elections, the Republican Party won the popular vote, but the Democratic Party won more seats. The legislature re-appointed Douglas to the Senate. But Lincoln had become nationally famous, and he was often mentioned by the press as a likely presidential candidate.
In 1860, Lincoln received early endorsements as a presidential candidate. In the 1860 Republican National Convention, he secured the party's nomination. His most significant rival for the nomination was William Henry Seward (1801-1872), who finished second among the various candidates. Only Lincoln and Seward received over 50 votes from delegates. The party's nomination for vice president was secured by Hannibal Hamlin (1809 - 1891), a former Democrat who had opposed slavery for most of his career.
In the 1860 United States presidential election, the Democratic Party was split into two rival factions, which nominated different candidates. In the election, Lincoln received 1,866,452 votes, or 39.8% of the popular vote. In the electoral college, he received 180 votes, winning the election. Lincoln every one of the free Northern states, plus California and Oregon in the recently annexed Western United States. He received no votes at all in 10 of the 15 slave states.
Lincoln started his presidency in March 1861. By that time, 7 states had already seceded from the Union in reaction to his victory (in chronological order: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas). The American Civil War started in April 1861 with the Battle of Fort Sumter, a bombardment of a Union fort located near Charleston, South Carolina. On April 15, Lincoln called on the states to send a total of 75,000 volunteer troops to recapture forts, protect Washington, and "preserve the Union". In Baltimore rioting crowds started attacking Union forces. Lincoln suspended the right of habeas corpus in select areas, allowing the government forces to confine people without formal trials. Thousands of suspected Confederate sympathizers were confined.
Lincoln soon established his executive control over the Union's war effort, and helped shape its military strategy, He expanded his war powers, and exercising "unprecedented authority" over the country. He had the full support of the Republican-controlled Congress, as well as popular support in states loyal to the Union. His political opposition consisted of two different factions, the Copperheads and the Radical Republicans. The Copperheads were a faction of the Democratic Party which demanded a compromise on the matter of slavery, and a peace settlement with the Confederates. The Radical Republicans were a faction of the Republican Party which demanded the "permanent eradication of slavery", and rejected any ideas concerning compromises with slave-owners.
In September 1862, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared the emancipation of slaves in 10 Confederate states. The Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863. By the spring of 1863, Lincoln had started recruiting "black troops" in massive numbers. By the end of the year, 20 regiments of African Americans from the Mississippi Valley had been recruited by the Union.
Lincoln ran for re-election in the 1864 United States presidential election. He united the main factions of the Republican Party and the War Democrats (a pro-Union faction of the Democratic Party) into a coalition known as Union Party. The remaining factions of the Democratic Party made the mistake of nominating retired general George Brinton McClellan (1826 - 1885) as their presidential candidate. McClellan held a grudge against Lincoln, but rejected any ideas concerning peace with the Confederates. Meaning that the Copperheads could see little difference between him and Lincoln.
Lincoln won the presidential election with 2,218,388 votes, representing 55.0% of the popular vote. 78% of Union soldiers. voted fort him, as they did not want a compromise to end the War. Lincoln won 212 electoral votes, and had the support of 22 out of the Union's 25 states. His new vice-president was Andrew Johnson (1808 - 1875), a prominent War Democrat.
In 1865, the Union seemed to be winning the American Civil War. On April 14, 1865, Lincoln and his wife attended Ford's Theatre in Washington D.C. They wanted to see a performance of the then-popular British play "Our American Cousin" (1858) by Tom Taylor (1817 - 1880). During the performance, Lincoln was assassinated by the well-known actor John Wilkes Booth (1838 - 1865). Booth was a Confederate sympathizer, and hoped to turn the tide of the War. Lincoln was 56-years-old at the time of his death.
Lincoln's corpse was returned for burial to Springfield, Illinois, where he had lived for decades. On May 4, 1865, Lincoln was interred at the Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield. The Lincoln Tomb later became a state historic site. His wife and three of their four sons were later buried there as well.
Historians tend to rank Lincoln among the top Presidents of the United States. Due to his violent death, he came to be regarded as "a national martyr". Several political factions trace their origins to Lincoln's ideas and policies. He has been described as "a classical liberal" of the 19th-century, and is well-regarded for his policies favoring trade and business.- Charles Robert Darwin FRS FRGS FLS FZS (12 February 1809 - 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist and biologist, best known for his contributions to evolutionary biology.His proposition that all species of life have descended from a common ancestor is now widely accepted and considered a fundamental concept in science. In a joint publication with Alfred Russel Wallace, he introduced his scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding. Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history, and he was honored by burial in Westminster Abbey.
- Otto Ludwig was born on 12 February 1813 in Eisfeld, Saxe-Hildburghausen [now Thuringia, Germany]. He was a writer, known for Zwischen Tod und Leben (1919), Between Heaven and Earth (1934) and Brüder (1923). He was married to Emilie Winkler. He died on 25 February 1865 in Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony [now Saxony, Germany].
- George Meredith was born on 12 February 1828 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, UK. He was a writer, known for Diana of the Crossways (1922), Matinee Theatre (1955) and The Ordeal of Richard Feverel (1964). He was married to Marie Vulliamy and Mary Ellen Nicolls. He died on 18 May 1909 in Box Hill, Surrey, England, UK.
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Gaston Méliès was born on 12 February 1852 in Paris, France. He was a producer and director, known for The Prisoner's Story (1912), Hinemoa (1913) and Captured by Aboriginals (1913). He died on 9 April 1915 in Ajaccio, Corsica, France.- George Traill was born on 12 February 1853 in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, UK. He was an actor, known for Wuthering Heights (1920), Towards the Light (1918) and Angel Esquire (1919). He died in 1929 in St. Pancras, London, England, UK.
- Jacob Adler, the legendary "Great Eagle"' ("adler" is the German word for "eagle") of the Yiddish theater, was one of the great American stage actors, ranking with Edwin Booth, John Barrymore and Marlon Brando. Adler also is famous as the patriarch of an acting dynasty that stretched over 100 years from the late 19th century to the 21st and was essential to the evolution of the American theater from melodrama to a new heights of realism and seriousness. Adler's life story not only elucidates the Golden Age of the Yiddish theater but is a testament to the survival of a culture in a world where many elements threatened to extirpate it.
Adler was born in Odessa in Imperal Russia on February 12, 1855 and was stricken with the theatrical bug as a teenager. He joined a Yiddish theatrical company, the Rosenberg Troupe, in the 1870s. The Rosenberg Troupe was one of three Yiddish theatrical companies in Russia, the other two being Goldfaden's Troupe and Sheikevitch's Troupe. During his theatrical apprenticeship with Rosenberg, Jacob Adler proved himself to be an outstanding actor and a superb dancer but a bust as a balladeer. His poor singing thus cut off the lucrative operetta field for him. He compensated by becoming a great actor.
Adler gained experience as a member of the Rosenberg Troupe, touring Imperial Russia and putting on shows in Yiddish speaking communities. His first wife, Sonia Oberlander, was a member of the troupe. Adler was mentored by the eponymous head of the Troupe.
Jacob Adler became famous in the Polish and Russian Yiddish communities by playing the title role in Karl Gutzkow's drama, "Uriel de Acosta". Acosta (1585-1640) was a marrano (a Christianized Jew of medieval Spain) who fought for enlightenment in the Jewish community of Holland, which was under Spanish suzerainty. The play was hugely popular, but the popularity of the Yiddish theater and its tackling of serious, didactic fare rather than melodramas and musicals beloved by the masses made it suspect as a subversive influence.
The "modern" Yiddish theater can be seen as evolving out of the Haskala (Jewish Enlightenment) rather than from the religious Purimspiel. The unenlightened and viciously anti-semitic Russian oligarchy launched a series of pogroms in the 1880's that almost wiped out Jewish culture in Russia. Jews started emigrating from Russia en masse, with whole villages sometimes uprooting and leaving for more hospitable climes such as North America. Jewish culture was dealt a further blow when Czar Alexander III issued a ukase banning the Yiddish theater. Jacob Adler had no choice but to leave Russia; he emigrated to England at the end of November 1883.
Adler caught on as an actor with 'Dramatic Clubs'. In London, the Odessa-born Adler had a hit with the play "The Odessa Beggar." He had an even bigger hit in Schiller's "The Robber," which brought him international fame. However, after six years in England, Adler decided to emigrate to the United States of America, moving to the great melting pot that was New York City. In his memoirs (written in Yiddish), Adler recalled that "...when I came to America in 1889, I was already known by the proud name 'Nesher Hagadol' ('The Great Eagle') and was an actor famous throughout the Yiddish theatrical world."
In the Big Town, The Great Eagle starred in various Yiddish theaters on Second Avenue in the Bowery, the "Jewish Broadway." There were hundreds of thousands of Jews in the New York Metropolitan Area in the Gay Nineties, and many spoke Yiddish as their first or only language. The theater was their major entertainment form in an era in which there was no radio, let alone television. It was not unusual for an impoverished Jewish family to spend half of its week's wages wrestled from laboring in Lower East Side sweatshops at a night at the theater. Adler was successful enough to be able to open his own theater in the Bowery, the Union Theater on Broadway and Eighth Street. (He also later opened the National in the same area.)
Adler focused on producing dramatic plays as he was not successful in operettas and had a didactic bent. He wanted the theater to be socially significant rather than remain just a vehicle for vulgar entertainment like the melodramas beloved by the Jewish denizens of the Lower East Side. Adler linked up with playwright Jacob Gordin and revolutionized the Yiddish Theater, and, a generation later, American theater as a whole.
Gordin wrote "Sibina", "The Wild Man", and "The Yiddish King Lear", Adler's greatest triumph. First assaying the role in November 1891, King Lear brought Adler even greater fame and solidified his reputation a great actor. Sara Heine Adler, his second wife, said of the night he first took the stage as Lear: "He was not an actor that night, but a force."
The great success of Ader in Gordin's Lear represented the incorporation of the world classical canon into the American (and international) Yiddish theater. It also meant that "better" or more high-brow theater targeting the Yiddish-speaking Jewish audience could thrive. It had been an axiom that the 'Shund' tradition of Jewish Broadway, a focus on sensational melodrama, was the vehicle for success as it attracted the Jewish masses. The undisputed champion of the 'Shund' tradition was Boris Thomashefsky, who had mocked "The Great Eagle" as he had been more financially successful with his cheap melodramas than Adler was with his more prestigious theatrical offerings.
However, with King Lear, Adler had not only an artistic triumph but a great financial success. Jacob Adler had made the "Jewish Broadway" safe for "better theater." A similar process would happen in the 1930s and 1940s when the Group Theatre, a company that included two of his children and which had roots in the quality Yiddish theater Adler had pioneered, would revolutionize the Great White Way of Old Broadway itself with a socially conscious "better theater". Jacob's daughter Stella Adler, the Yiddish- and Group Theatre-affiliated actress who became a premier acting coach in the US, said about her father's success with The Yiddish King Lear that "The whole profession caught fire. Good theater apparently could 'make it'... Every actor wanted to play Gordin. Every actor wanted to play the classics, and the people came."
Adler achieved even greater success when, in 1903, he trod the boards on Broadway as Shylock in a production of Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice." He had another supreme triumph, humanizing a character that until then had been a one-dimensional, stereotypical villain, nearly always played by a gentile in a red fright wig.
In 1910, Adler made his first and only feature film for the Selig movie studio, "Michael Strogoff" an adaptation of Jules Verne's adventure story directed by J. Searle Dawley. The movie was one of the first full-length adaptations of a Verne work. "Michael Strogoff" was a first rate production with lavish production values, which were unusual for a movie from the Selig studio, but which bears testimony to the fame and respect Adler engendered. The film was notable for its climax, which entailed the burning of a Siberian city.
Adler' wrote his memoirs in Yiddish, which were published in the Yiddish-language socialist newspaper 'Die Varheit' ('The Truth') from 1916-19. Adler fell ill in 1922, and though he recovered, his illness had aged him and sapped his powers. When he returned to front his theater before the adoring crowds, putting back on the grease-paint to play in Gordin's drama "The Stranger", he was a success, but had clearly lost the stamina necessary for the stage. He died on April 1, 1926 in New York City, aged 81.
His second wife Sara Heine Adler, herself a great actress who regaled a young Marlon Brando with tales of her late husband and his acting philosophy that had a great influence on the tyro thespian, died in 1953. They had brought into being an acting dynasty, most notable in the successes of their son, Luther, and their daughter, Stella. Stella's grandson David Oppenheim is an actor who runs the influential acting school she founded.
Jacob Adler's legacy was to effect the transformation of the Yiddish Theater into quality theater. His son Luther and daughter Stella, as members of the Group Theatre, an organization with roots firmly planted in the Yiddish theater, helped do the same to Broadway in the 1930s. He also helped influence a new generation of actors who came to prominence in the 1920s and 1930s, most notably Paul Muni, who started in the Yiddish theater, which largely died out even before the Holocaust due to assimilation, the decline of Yiddish as a living language among American Jews, and the competition posed by radio and movies as a new form of cheap entertainment.
The nearly 70-year-old Adler, in the last chapter of his memoirs, explained the significance of the Yiddish theater and its enduring legacy: "Only dipped in blood and lit with tears of a living witness can the world understand how, with our blood, with our nerves, with the tears of our sleepless nights, we built the theater that stands today as a testament to our people." - Nikolay Sinelnikov was born on 12 February 1855. He was an actor, known for Put v Damask (1927). He died on 19 April 1939.
- Marie von Buelow was born on 12 February 1857. She was an actress, known for Eugen Onegin (1919), Das Tagebuch einer Verlorenen (1918) and Emerald of Death (1919). She died on 30 August 1941 in Berlin, Germany.
- Charles Schaeffer was born on 12 February 1863 in New York, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Man Power (1927), The Pride of the Legion (1932) and Ridin' Luck (1927). He died on 5 February 1939 in Hollywood, California, USA.
- Infanta Eulalia was born on 12 February 1864 in Madrid, Spain. She was married to Antonio Maria Luis Felipe Juan Florencio de Orleans y Borbón. She died on 8 March 1958 in Irun, Spain.
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Laurence Cowen was born on 12 February 1865 in Hull, England, UK. Laurence was a writer and director, known for It Is for England! (1916), Wake Up! Or, a Dream of Tomorrow (1914) and The World, the Flesh, the Devil (1932). Laurence was married to Helene Eugenie Alexandra Gingold. Laurence died on 7 October 1942 in Hampstead, London, England, UK.- Writer
- Soundtrack
Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer was born on 12 February 1865 in Ludzmierz, Galicia, Austria-Hungary [now Ludzmierz, Malopolskie, Poland]. He was a writer, known for Romans panny Opolskiej (1928), Legenda Tatr (1995) and Mysliwy (1974). He died on 18 January 1940 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland.- Ladislav Nádasi Jége was born on 12 February 1866 in Dolný Kubín, Austrian Empire [now Slovakia]. Ladislav Nádasi was a writer, known for Cesta zivotom (1984), Tri svadby (1979) and Zbytocné trápenia (1991). Ladislav Nádasi died on 2 July 1940 in Dolný Kubín, Slovenský stát [now Slovakia].
- William Faversham was born in London on February 12, 1868. After attending Hill-Martin College, he served for a short time in a cavalry regiment in Warwickshire. He made his stage debut on November 19, 1885, in a London vaudeville theater. Two years later, he came to New York, making his American debut on January 17, 1887, in "Pen and Ink." In 1893, he joined Charles Frohman's Empire Theatre Company and remained with the group for eight years. On August 19, 1901, he received star billing, playing Don Caesar in "A Royal Rival." His status rose, and during 1905-1907, he toured the United States in "The Squaw Man," which earned him a small fortune. He later appeared in many Shakespearean productions, playing Romeo opposite Maude Adams as Juliet. He made a handful of silent films, but with the advent of younger actors, his status as a matinee idol slowly faded. On July 20, 1925, Faversham married his third wife, Edith Campbell, at his estate in Huntington, Long Island. But in 1927, he filed for bankruptcy, and despite several attempts to recoup his previous fortunes, he never succeeded, although he did continue to work. In 1929, he toured in Australia, appearing in several plays. In 1931 he joined the Chicago Civic Shakespeare Society, appearing in such plays as "Hamlet" and "The Merchant of Venice." He founded a drama school in 1932, but it was short-lived. Faversham's final stage appearance was in 1934, as Jeeter Lester in "Tobacco Road." That same year, he returned to Hollywood, appearing in a few films before retiring in 1937. He then entered the Percy C. Williams home, a retreat on Long Island for aged actors. Ironically, the home was not far from Faversham's former estate. Faversham insisted he work for his keep, so he tended a garden. He died of a coronary embolism on April 7, 1940. He was buried in the Huntington Rural Cemetery in Bay Shore, next to his second wife, Julie Opp. Faversham's first wife was Marian Merwin. He had two sons with Julie Opp: Philip, an actor, and William Jr.
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Marie Lloyd was born on 12 February 1870 in Hoxton, London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Marie Lloyd's Little Joke (1909), Marie Lloyd at Home and Bunkered (1913) and Timeshift (2002). She was married to Bernard Dillon, Alexander Hurley and Percy Courteney. She died on 7 October 1922 in Golders Green, London, England, UK.- Director
- Actor
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Willy Grunwald was born on 12 February 1870 in Hannover, Germany. He was a director and actor, known for Die Vase der Semirames (1918), Nach dem Gesetz (1919) and Frau Lenes Scheidung (1917). He died on 8 May 1945 in Berlin, Germany.- Louie Pounds was a late-Victorian actress and singer. She is perhaps most famous for appearing with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company between 1899 and 1903 and a mezzo-soprano chorister, later taking the principal roles of Kate in "The Pirates of Penzance" and the eponymous role in "Iolanthe". Her brother was Courtice Pounds, who was Principal Tenor with the D'Oyly Carte. Her sisters Lily, Nancy and Rosy also sang with the company.
- Actor
- Director
Oscar Stribolt was born on 12 February 1873 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was an actor and director, known for En tro og villig Pige (1917), Det spøger i Villaen (1918) and Et nydeligt Trekløver (1918). He died on 27 May 1927 in Copenhagen, Denmark.- Additional Crew
Barnum Brown was born on 12 February 1873 in Carbondale, Kansas, USA. Barnum died on 5 February 1963 in New York City, New York, USA.- Emil Szomory was born on 12 February 1874 in Budapest, Hungary. Emil was a writer, known for Böském (1914). Emil died in 1944 in Auschwitz Concentration Camp, Poland.
- Charles Cozens Spencer was born on 12 February 1874 in Hunston, Sussex, England, UK. Charles Cozens was a producer and director, known for The Shepherd of the Southern Cross (1914), The Life and Adventures of John Vane, the Australian Bushranger (1910) and Captain Starlight, or Gentleman of the Road (1911). Charles Cozens was married to Mary Stuart Huntley. Charles Cozens died on 10 September 1930 in Chilco, British Columbia, Canada.
- Auguste Perret was born on 12 February 1874 in Ixelles, Belgium. He died on 25 February 1954 in Paris, France.
- Welford Beaton was born on 12 February 1874 in Orillia, Ontario, Canada. Welford was a writer, known for The Speeding Venus (1926). Welford died on 10 December 1951 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Julius Czonský was born on 12 February 1875 in Milevsko, Austria-Hungary [now Czech Republic]. He was an actor, known for Cikáni (1922) and Osálená komtesa Zuzana (1918). He died on 9 October 1930 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic].
- Frederick Burt was born on 12 February 1876 in Onarga, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for The Royal Bed (1931), Shadow of the Law (1930) and The Eyes of the World (1930). He was married to Helen Ware. He died on 2 October 1943 in Twentynine Palms, California, USA.
- Sarah began acting at age 17 in Otis Skinner's acting company. In 1898, she appeared in the play A Soldier of Fortune, in New York City. She toured around the United States in Skinner's acting company for more than a decade. In 1915, she appeared in the silent movie Jordan is a Hard Road with Dorothy Gish. In 1916, Sarah played Portia in a benefit performance of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, with actors Tyrone Powers and Douglas Fairbanks,Sr. and others. In 1919, Sarah acted in another silent movie, Fool's Gold.
1949,Sarah Truax wrote a memoir about her days as an actress, called A Woman of Parts: Memories of a Life on the Stage.
Sarah and her husband Charles Stanley Albert had one daughter, Drusilla Ruth Albert, born in 1909. - Louis Renault became interested in technology early on. In 1888, when he was just eleven years old, he installed an electric light in his room. At the age of 14, his father gave him an old engine, which he spent hours tinkering with. His technical interest outweighed that of school, which he left without taking his final exams. In 1896, the nineteen-year-old constructed a steam boiler for which he applied for a patent. Renault began his military service after school. There his enthusiasm for machines continued unabated. In 1898, Renault built its first car in a wooden shed in Boulogne-Billancourt near Paris. With the money he saved, he bought a used Dion-Bouton four-wheeler. He made fundamental changes to the vehicle.
In the end, Renault's first prototype, the Renault Type A, was released. Renault presented the Type A car on its 21st birthday in 1898. It was the world's first car with a 3-speed gearbox and direct drive by cardan shaft instead of chain drive. In the same year, together with his brothers Fernand and Marcel Renault, he founded the company that bears the family name and laid the foundation for what would later become the modern Renault car factory. The first Renault was equipped with a 270 cc engine and produced 1.75 hp. It could carry two people at a maximum speed of 50 kilometers per hour. Renault enlisted the financial help of his brothers, who supported him in founding and developing his car company. He designed a direct gear shift system, which he patented.
This technical innovation was soon used by other European and US car manufacturers. Thanks to his penchant for technical inventions, Renault obtained further patents, such as for the turbo compressor. The Renault engines were then used in racing cars driven by the brothers Louis and Marcel Renault. The vehicles proved to be fast and successful racing cars. In 1902, a Renault won the race from Paris to Vienna ahead of 138 competitors. The average speed was 60 kilometers per hour. The following year, 1903, Marcel Renault had a fatal accident. In 1905, Renault received the exclusive contract to build the Paris taxis. Production of trucks, buses and commercial vehicles began in 1906; Aircraft engines also followed in 1908.
In 1906, Renault founded its first foreign factory in New York; 1907 in Berlin. Fernand Renault died in 1909 at the age of 44. Renault now ran its company, which had expanded into an industrial company, according to Taylorism, i.e. a scientific management system named after its inventor Frederick Winslow Taylor. By 1910, Renault had become the largest European automobile manufacturer. The company manufactured weapons during the First World War. In 1918, Renault married his wife Christine, the daughter of a Paris notary. This union resulted in the only son named Jean-Louis. From 1919, Renault was France's largest private industrial company. For cost reasons and to remain competitive, Renault manufactured all of the car's parts itself.
In 1925, the 40 CV luxury sedan appeared. This was the first to have the trademark of the rhombus on the car radiator. The poor working conditions led to frequent strikes. In 1931, Renault founded the S.A.F.E steelworks. Under pressure from the Popular Front government, he introduced the 40-hour week in 1936. When German troops occupied Paris in 1940, Louis Renault was obliged to cooperate with Nazi Germany. The so-called "strength through joy car" caused great fascination at Renault. Renault therefore decided to work with Germany. This "tank affair" and a handshake with Adolf Hitler in Berlin in 1939 gave rise to accusations of collaboration. After the liberation of France, Renault was arrested and sentenced to death in 1944.
Due to the poor physical condition, the execution of the sentence was suspended.
Louis Renault died on October 24, 1944 in Paris. The exact circumstances of his death remained unclear and led to numerous speculations.
The family's immense private assets and the entire Renault company were expropriated and nationalized in 1945 under the name Régie Nationale des Usines Renault. In 1990, the group was converted into a stock corporation, with the French state remaining its sole shareholder. - Music Department
- Actor
- Writer
Songwriter ("I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now"), composer, actor, singer, producer, director and author. He was a boy soprano in vaudeville at age eleven, and toured in a stock-company production of "Little Eva". He wrote he Broadway and Chicago stage scores (also produced and directed) for "The Land of Nod", "The Time, the Place and the Girl", "The Girl Question", "A Stubborn Cinderella", "The Goddess of Liberty", and "The Prince of Tonight". He would also entertain in night clubs and theatres and on radio and elevision. Joining ASCAP in 1921, his chief musical collaborators were Frank Adams, Will Hough and Harold Orlob, and his other popular-song compositions include "Can't Get You Out of My Mind", "Hello, My Baby", "Goodbye, My Lady Love", "There's Nothing Like a Good Old Song", "Somewhere in France Is the Lily", "On a Saturday Night", "Love Me Litle, Love Me Long", "Montana", "Silver in Your Hair", "Whistle a Song", "On the Boulevard", "San Francisco Frizz", "An Echo of Her Smile", "I Don't Like Your Family", "Blow the Smoke Away", "What's the Use of Dreaming?", "Honeymoon", "When You First Kiss the Last Girl You Love", "Be Sweet to Me, Kid", "Tonight Will Never Come Again", and "Cross Your Heart".- Producer
- Production Manager
- Additional Crew
Lou Anger was born on 12 February 1878 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Lou was a producer and production manager, known for The Broncho Express (1924), Pony Express (1924) and The Misfit (1924). Lou was married to Sophye Bernhard (performer). Lou died on 21 May 1946 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Costume and Wardrobe Department
Larry Judge was born on 12 February 1878 in Kentucky, USA. Larry is known for Fog Island (1945) and Diamond Jim (1935). Larry died on 8 October 1951 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Director
- Writer
- Cinematographer
Urban Gad was born on 12 February 1879 in Korsør, Denmark. He was a director and writer, known for Das Feuer (1914), The Devil's Assistant (1913) and The Call of the Child (1914). He was married to Esther Burgert Westenhagen and Asta Nielsen. He died on 26 December 1947 in Copenhagen, Denmark.- Cinematographer
- Director
- Editor
Miguel Ruiz Moncada was born on 12 February 1879 in Queretaro, Queretaro, Mexico. He was a cinematographer and director, known for Carrera del gran premio (1934), Reconstrucción nacional (1917) and Amado Nervo, sus funerales (1919). He died on 9 March 1939 in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico.- Naum Rogozhin was born on 12 February 1879 in Voronezh, Russian Empire [now Russia]. He was an actor, known for Alexander Nevsky (1938), The Cigarette Girl of Mosselprom (1924) and Anya (1927). He died on 17 March 1955 in Leningrad, RSFSR, USSR [now St. Petersburg, Russia].
- American novelist Henry Sydnor Harrison was born in 1880 in Sewanee, Tennessee. His father, a doctor, was also professor of Greek and Latin at the University of the South. In 1885 the family moved to Brooklyn, NY, where Dr. Harrison had established his own private school, The Brooklyn Latin School. Henry graduated from New York's Columbia University in 1900, where he was the editor of the school newspaper and took part in productions of the Columbia Dramatic Society.
In 1902 Dr. Harrison died and the family moved to Richmond, VA. Henry took a job as a newspaper reporter, but hated it. He left that position soon afterwards and moved to Charleston, WV, where he basically holed up for six months and wrote a novel, "Queed", which was published in 1911. It sold quite well, as did its follow-up novel, "V.V.'s Eyes"; together the two sold over 400,000 copies. Soon Harrison found that editors and publishers were demanding that he publish his short stories--all of which had been roundly rejected when he first submitted them--and he did. Although his work was not met with particular critical enthusiasm--H.L. Mencken called Harrison "a merchant of mush"--they were popular with the reading public.
In 1930 Harrison went into a hospital in Atlantic City, NJ, to have an operation, and died four days later. He never married. - John L. Lewis was born in Iowa in 1880. His parents were Welsh immigrants, and his father got a job in the coal mines. He was soon blacklisted by mine owners for protesting the terrible working conditions under which miners labored for little pay and no benefits. Lewis dropped out of grammar school to go to work in the mines, and in 1906 he was appointed a delegate of the United Mine Workers union. In that capacity he traveled to dozens of mine operations around the country and got to see first-hand just how bad life for the average miner really was, and it was an image he carried with him for the rest of his life. In 1918 he became Vice President of the UMW, and two years later he was President. Mine owners who were used to intimidating and bullying timid union leaders--very often foreigners who were ill-educated and from countries where standing up to authority usually got you killed--got a big surprise when they had to deal with Lewis. He was not one to be bullied, took no guff from anyone, had a will of iron--once he staked out a position or a condition there was no power on earth that could move him from it--and he could go head to head with them on just about any issue and turn out to be even more knowledgeable about it than they were. His peak power came with the New Deal of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whom Lewis had strongly supported (on the other hand, he despised Roosevelt's VP, John Nance Garner, calling him an "evil old man").
In 1935 Lewis took the UMW out of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) group and started the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), mainly because he wanted to unionize unskilled labor and the AFL was only interested in the skilled trades. Lewis' efforts were quite successful, especially in Detroit, where after strikes and sit-down actions he managed to unionize many of Detroit's auto workers.
Lewis and Roosevelt split in 1938, when Lewis was in the midst of negotiations with the steel industry. He was expecting Roosevelt's help during the negotiations and didn't get it. Enraged, lhe put his union's backing behind Roosevelt's opponent in the next Presidential election, Wendell Willkie, promising that if Wilkie wasn't elected, he would resign as UMW president. Roosvelt won the 1940 election, and Lewis stepped down.
During World War II Lewis' union struck the coal mines several times, and Lewis even pulled his miners out of the pits altogether on several occasions. The government responded by taking over the mines and fining Lewis and the union more than $2 million for ignoring court orders to return to work.
Lewis retired as president of the UMW in 1959. The last few years of his tenure there were somewhat acrimonious, with several factions accusing him of "selling out" by agreeing to allow automation in the mines, but Lewis saw that the days of coal as a major energy source were ending. UMW membership was dropping as mines were consolidating and in some cases even closing, and oil, gas and even nuclear power had begun replacing coal in many industries.
His almost 40-year reign as president of the United Mine Workers union had resulted in vast improvements in the lives of mine workers. When he took over the union in 1920, the average pay of a miner was $6.00 a day. Miners who were injured at work were promptly fired and had to fend for themselves, there was no such thing as vacations, no sick pay, no pension, working conditions were atrocious--explosions and cave-ins killed and injured thousands of miners annually because companies would not spend money on adequate safety precautions--and workers had virtually no rights (the infamous "company store" system designed to keep workes permanently indebted to their employer originated in the mining industry). When Lewis left in 1960, the average wage had risen to more than $20 a day and miners had some of the best medical coverage, pension system and benefits of any industry in the country.
John L. Lewis died in Washington, DC, in 1989. - Actress
- Additional Crew
Anna Pavlovna Pavlova was born on February 12, 1881, in Ligovo, near St. Petersburg, Russia. She was an illegitimate daughter to parents of a Russian-Jewish background. Her real father was a wealthy businessman named Lazar Polyakov. Her mother, Lyubov Fedorovna Pavlova, was a poor peasant. Her mother's husband, Mathwey (Mathew) Pavlov, was a retired soldier, who died when Anna was only two years old. Although she was registered under the name of Pavlova, her father Lazar Polyakov took good care of young Anna and also paid for her tuition at the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg.
Young Anna Pavlova was raised by her grandmother at her villa in Ligovo, an upscale suburb of St. Petersburg. There she became acquainted with aristocratic society and attended ballet performances at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre. From a young age, Pavlova had a dream of becoming a ballerina but she was rejected at the age of eight and practiced at home for two years. At the age of 10 she auditioned again and was admitted by Marius Petipa to the ballet class at the Imperial Ballet school in St. Petersburg. There she practiced ballet routines for eight hours daily and also studied music, having perfect pitch. As a ballet student, Pavlova adopted a strict diet with emphasis on fish and vegetables and followed that diet throughout her life. She lived at the boarding school of the Imperial Ballet until her graduation at the age of 18. Tamara Karsavina and 'Matilda Kshesinskaya' were among her classmates. Pavlova made her debut on September 19, 1899 and worked with the Mariinsky Ballet from 1899 to 1907. She shared the role of Gizelle with 'Matilda Kshesinskaya'. Her partner and choreographer was Mikhail Fokin. He choreographed Pavlova's best known showpiece "The Dying Swan" on the music of Camille Saint-Saëns. In 1908, Sergei Diaghilev hired Pavlova and Mikhail Fokin for his "Ballets Russes" (Russian Seasons) in Paris and London.
In 1904, Anna Pavlova met Victor D'Andre, a French-Russian aristocrat, who loved her at once. D'Andre was a businessman in St. Petersburg. At one time he was accused of embezzlement and imprisoned. Pavlova bailed him out of prison, then paid all his debts and legal expenses. D'Andre and Pavlova privately married in 1911. Victor D'Andre became her impresario and they formed a touring ballet troupe. In 1912 Pavlova and D'Andre bought Ivy House, Golders Green in Hampstead, London, which was their home for the rest of her life. On her expensive estate Pavlova kept a pond with swans, alluding to her favourite role. At her home Pavlova established a dance school which catered to her touring troupe. Initially her troupe had only eight Russian dancers. Later, with the growing success and popularity of Anna Pavlova, her troupe grew to sixty dancers and staff, all managed by D'Andre.
Pavlova made her Metropolitan Opera House debut in 1910, and toured America and Europe before her brief final return to Russia. She made her last appearance in St. Petersburg in 1913 and spent the rest of her life on tour. Pavlova toured all over the world including Europe, Asia, North and Central America, and Australia. Pavlova was able to make eight to nine performances per week and had a great interest in performing for inexperienced audiences in remote rural areas around the world. Her performances in Mexico, India, Japan and Australia were legendary. She was overworked and exhausted by her late 40s, but still danced vigorously. She gave over four thousand ballet performances during the years between 1913-1930. In January of 1931, Pavlova contracted double pneumonia on a train to Haage and her condition deteriorated rapidly. Dying, she looked at her swan costume. She died on January 23, 1931, in Haage, Netherlands. Her remains were buried in the Novodevichy Convent Cemetery in Moscow, Russia.
Pavlova's infinite finesse, delicacy and emotional dimension were captured by artist Valentin Serov, who painted her famous 1909 life-size portrait. Pavlova is depicted in her favorite role as a white swan on a blue background.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Tom Chatterton was born on 12 February 1881 in Geneva, New York, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Drums of Fu Manchu (1940), A Soul Enslaved (1916) and Captain America (1944). He died on 17 August 1952 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Moritz Ruckhäberle was born on 12 February 1881 in Basel, Switzerland. He was an actor, known for Wie d'Warret würkt (1933). He was married to Elsa Schwob. He died on 17 October 1959 in Basel, Switzerland.
- Gucken Cederborg was born on 12 February 1881 in Oslo, Norway. She was an actress, known for Erotikon (1920), The Outlaw and His Wife (1918) and Gamla gatans karneval (1923). She was married to Torre Cederborg. She died in May 1932 in Stockholm, Sweden.
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Maurice Browne was born on 12 February 1881 in Reading, Berkshire, England, UK. He was a producer, known for The Improper Duchess (1936), Journey's End (1930) and White Secrets (1938). He was married to Ellen van Volkenberg. He died on 21 January 1955 in Torquay, Devon, England, UK.- Basil Foster was born on 12 February 1882 in Malvern, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Auction Mart (1920) and Radio Parade of 1935 (1934). He was married to Lilian F. Norton and Gwendoline Gertrude Brogden (actress). He died on 30 September 1959 in Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada.
- Otto Cermák was born on 12 February 1882 in Praha, Austria-Hungary. He was an actor, known for Sny na nedeli (1959), Zízen (1950) and Posel úsvitu (1951). He died on 13 August 1962 in Praha, Czechoslovakia.
- Born in Austria in 1883, Ludwig Stossel was an established theater presence (from age 17) in both his homeland and in Germany for decades, performing at one time or another for both Max Reinhardt and Otto Preminger. He made a handful of German silents beginning in 1926 and had moved with ease into sound pictures.
The Nazi invasion of Austria forced Stossel to emigrate to the United Kingdom in 1938. He rekindled his film career there but moved to America within a couple years. Many German and Austrian actors left their countries because of the Nazi takeover and emigrated to the US, winding up in Hollywood where they formed a sort of "colony", often being used in war-themed dramas to play either refugees or Nazi officers and officials. Stossel found a plethora of work that made use of his thick accent and benevolent countenance, his balding characters often accompanied by a monocle and handlebar mustache. He provided secondary but memorable foreign characters in such WWII classics as Casablanca (1942), Kings Row (1942), and the Lou Gehrig biopic The Pride of the Yankees (1942) as Gehrig's (Gary Cooper) father.
Firmly established in Hollywood, the amiable Stossel continued playing sweet and wise old souls throughout the remainder of his career. Particularly outstanding was his role as Albert Einstein in The Beginning or the End (1947). He also worked on TV in the 1950s and is perhaps best remembered for his long series of commercials for Italian Swiss Colony wine in which he played "that little old winemaker, me!" in Swiss costume. Married to actress Eleanore Stossel, he died in 1973 at age 89 in Beverly Hills, California. - Composer
- Soundtrack
Licinio Refice was born on 12 February 1883 in Patrica, Lazio, Italy. He was a composer, known for Bel Canto (2018). He died on 11 September 1954 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.- Lawrence Katzenberg was born on 12 February 1883 in California, USA. He was an actor, known for Rule G (1915). He died on 29 October 1924 in San Joaquin, California, USA.
- Mary Craig Sinclair was born on 12 February 1883 in Greenville, Mississippi, USA. Mary Craig was a producer, known for ¡Que viva Mexico! (1932), Thunder Over Mexico (1933) and Eisenstein in Mexico (1933). Mary Craig was married to Upton Sinclair. Mary Craig died on 26 April 1961 in Pasadena, California, USA.