( I apologize for incomplete entries. All of a sudden the Instagram and Facebook posts, from which I copy and paste to generate this blog, have topped being as easy to search.)
Person.
British author Aldous Huxley died on November 22, 1963 at age 69. I'm guessing his death didn't get a lot of attention at the time due to another event in Dallas that day. Huxley wrote nearly 50 books and was considered one of the top intellectuals/philosophers of his day. His most famous novel is one of my top favorite novels, the dystopian Brave New World.
Huxley was the third son of a writer and schoolmaster Leonard Huxley and his wife Julia. Leonard was the grandson of famous thinker and zoologist Thomas Huxley, and Julia was the niece of poet Matthew Arnold and sister of a novelist who wrote as Mrs. Humphrey Ward. He naturally developed loves for both science and literature. A temporary eye condition forced him to give up on a career in medicine, so he studied English literature at Oxford after he recovered most of his sight.
He began to write seriously in his 20s. Brave New World was his fifth book. In 1937, he and his wife and son moved to California, and he became a screenwriter. He used much of his income to help Jewish and leftist refugees escape Nazi Germany. Among other films, he wrote the movie adaptations of Marie Curie, Pride and Prejudice, and Jane Eyre. He wrote a script for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, but Disney didn't use it.
In 1953, he first used the psychedelic drug mescaline and became an advocate of the psychedelic drug experience. After trying LSD, he became an associate if Dr. Timothy Leary, but they parted ways when Huxley decided that Leary was too find of personal publicity.
He died of laryngeal cancer, but his death and that of C.S. Lewis, were overshadowed by the JFK assassination on the same day.
Place.
British author Aldous Huxley died on November 22, 1963 at age 69. I'm guessing his death didn't get a lot of attention at the time due to another event in Dallas that day. Huxley wrote nearly 50 books and was considered one of the top intellectuals/philosophers of his day. His most famous novel is one of my top favorite novels, the dystopian Brave New World.
Brave New World is set in 2450 AD, in a dystopian world. Most of the novel’s events take place in England. Huxley uses familiar English landmarks to help his readers decode the future he has imagined. Charing Cross Station in London has become the “Charing T Tower,” because Christian crosses have been replaced by the “T” of Ford’s Model T car, while train stations have been replaced by towers which launch intercontinental rockets. The novel’s other major location is the “Savage Reservation” in New Mexico. The Savage Reservation is an area where the technologies of the World State have not been introduced. The “savages” still give birth, believe in gods and endure physical pain and emotional suffering. The people and customs of the Savage Reservation are modeled loosely on the traditions of Zuñi Native Americans. The setting of the Reservation allows the novel to contrast all historical societies— from the Neolithic era to Huxley’s own— with the society of the World State.
Thing.
British author Aldous Huxley died on November 22, 1963 at age 69. I'm guessing his death didn't get a lot of attention at the time due to another event in Dallas that day. Huxley wrote nearly 50 books and was considered one of the top intellectuals/philosophers of his day. His most famous novel is one of my top favorite novels, the dystopian Brave New World.
In Brave New World, Soma is a drug that is handed out for free to all the citizens of the World State. In small doses, soma makes people feel good. In large doses, it creates pleasant hallucinations and a sense of timelessness. The citizens of the World State are encouraged to take soma by “hypnopaedic” sayings like “A gram is better than a damn.” When they experience strong negative emotions, citizens take a soma “holiday” to distract them from the unpleasant feelings. John sees soma as a tool of social control. He says that taking soma makes the citizens of the World State “slaves.”
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Person.
British novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter Roald Dahl died in November 23, 1990. Born in 1916 in Cardiff Wales to Norwegian immigrants, he has been called the greatest children's book writer of the 20th century. More than 250 million of his books have been sold. Titles like Matilda, The Witches, James and the Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, are all classics.
In 1934, he went to work for Shell Oil in Africa, and joined the Royal Air Force in Dar -es-Salaam Tanzania in 1939. He served as a fighter pilot in Africa and Greece before injuries sent him home in late 1941. He then became assistant air attache at the British embassy in Washington, and entered the world of espionage, reporting information directly to PM Churchill, especially intelligence about FDR to "help Winston to get on with" the President.
He was inspired to write by a meeting with novelist CS Forester during the war, and he started enjoying publishing success almost immediately, writing for both children and adults.
He married actress Patricia Neal in 1953, and he started writing movie and TV screenplays and seeing his own works adapted. They divorced in 1983. He died of a rare blood cancer in 1990 at age 74.
Place.
British novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter Roald Dahl died in November 23, 1990. Born in 1916 in Cardiff Wales to Norwegian immigrants, he has been called the greatest children's book writer of the 20th century. More than 250 million of his books have been sold. Titles like Matilda, The Witches, James and the Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, are all classics.
From Wikipedia:
From 1929, when he was 13, Dahl attended Repton School in Derbyshire. Dahl disliked the hazing and described an environment of ritual cruelty and status domination, with younger boys having to act as personal servants for older boys, frequently subject to terrible beatings. His biographer Donald Sturrock described these violent experiences in Dahl's early life. Dahl expresses some of these darker experiences in his writings, which is also marked by his hatred of cruelty and corporal punishment.
According to Dahl's autobiography, Boy: Tales of Childhood, a friend named Michael was viciously caned by the school headmaster. Writing in that same book, Dahl reflected: "All through my school life I was appalled by the fact that masters and senior boys were allowed literally to wound other boys, and sometimes quite severely... I couldn’t get over it. I never have got over it." Dahl said the incident caused him to "have doubts about religion and even about God".
Thing.
British novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter Roald Dahl died in November 23, 1990. Born in 1916 in Cardiff Wales to Norwegian immigrants, he has been called the greatest children's book writer of the 20th century. More than 250 million of his books have been sold. Titles like Matilda, The Witches, James and the Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, are all classics.
In 1960, Dahl 's son Theo was hit by a taxicab and developed hydrocephalus as a result,fluid buildup on the brain that had to be relieved by a shunt. Dahl worked with an engineer friend with whom he built and flew model airplanes and a neurosurgeon to develop a new and improved cerebral shunt that helped thousands of patients. It's called the Wade-Dahl-Till valve.
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Person.
Dale Carnegie was born on November 24, 1888 in Missouri (died 1955).
Born to an impoverished farming family, he developed a keen interest in public speaking and debate in high school, and he discovered the Chatauqua movement, a popular bureau of entertainers and lecturers on various topics who drew huge rural audiences in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
After high school, he became a hugely successful traveling salesman but quit to become a lecturer. Thinking they might help his lectures, he took acting classes. While living in the YMCA in New York City, he got the idea to teach a public speaking class. It was a hit, and improvising his class lectures led him to shape and develop what be ame The Carnegie course in self-development. He used his people skills, honed as a salesman and actor, to write How To Win Friends and Influence People, one of the biggest selling self-help books in history. New editions are still published and sold today.
Place.
Dale Carnegie was born on November 24, 1888 in Missouri (died 1955).
Born to an impoverished farming family, he developed a keen interest in public speaking and debate in high school, and he discovered the Chatauqua movement, a popular bureau of entertainers and lecturers on various topics who drew huge rural audiences in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Thing
Dale Carnegie was born on November 24, 1888 in Missouri (died 1955). Carnegie famously wrote How to Win Friends and Influence People, which has sold millions of copies.
Since his death, new updated editions have been published, and the Dale Carnegie Institute continues to provide seminars on improving organizational and corporate cultures and leadership. Basically, Carnegie's original method involved common sense advice like listening actively, taking an interest in the person with whom you're speaking, and offering compliments and positive feedback.
Great chapter in Jess McHugh's Americanon about Dale Carnegie.
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Person.
On November 25, 1949, "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" entered the music charts.
Robert L. May created the character in 1939 as an assignment for department store chain Montgomery Ward. The company had been buying and giving away coloring books for years, and they figured they could save money by developing their own. May chose reindeer because his daughter lived reindeer. He went through several names before settling in Rudolph - including Rollo and Reginald. For the story, he thought about his childhood, saying he was treated like Rudolph by other kids.
In 1949, May's brother-in-law wrote the song, and singing cowboy star Gene Autry recorded it, hitting number one and selling millions. It remained the second top selling single of all time until the 1980s.
Autry (1907-1998) was born in Texas and went on to be America's top singing cowboy, appearing in 93 films, hosting his own radio and TV shows, owner of a TV station and several radio stations, and owner of the California Angels baseball team from 1961 to 1997. He also owned a great deal of California property. He's considered one of the most important pioneers of country music.
Place.
On November 25, 1949, "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" entered the music charts.
Robert L. May created the character in 1939 as an assignment for department store chain Montgomery Ward. The company had been buying and giving away coloring books for years, and they figured they could save money by developing their own. May chose reindeer because his daughter lived reindeer. He went through several names before settling in Rudolph - including Rollo and Reginald. For the story, he thought about his childhood, saying he was treated like Rudolph by other kids.
Rudolph not only lives in books, songs, and believed animated TV specials, but he also lives in comic books and two separate Viewmaster reel sets released in 1950 and 1955. Now, that's an example of two of my childhood favorites combined.
Thing.
On November 25, 1949, "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" entered the music charts.
Robert L. May created the character in 1939 as an assignment for department store chain Montgomery Ward. The company had been buying and giving away coloring books for years, and they figured they could save money by developing their own. May chose reindeer because his daughter lived reindeer. He went through several names before settling in Rudolph - including Rollo and Reginald. For the story, he thought about his childhood, saying he was treated like Rudolph by other kids.
In 2014, the US Post Office released Rudolph postage stamps.
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Person.
Alice in Wonderland, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in UK, was first published in America on November 26, 1865 by mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodson, aka Lewis Carroll. (1832-1898)
Dodgson was born into a conservative and high-church Anglican; most of his male ancestors were either army officers or Anglican clergyman. He went the academic route, studying and teaching at Oxford. Always physically slight, he had a pronounced stammer, yet it didn't prevent him from singing or speaking before audiences. Besides math, his passions were word play, poetry, and photography.
He became acquainted with a little girl named Alice Liddell (1852-1934), the daughter of the ecclesiastical dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and he became a close family friend. He entertained her with stories and poems that he made up, and he used her as a photographic model. It has been said that she inspired his character of Alice, but he always denied it. His photographs of Alice and other children have raised questions about the exact nature of his relationship with children which may never be resolved. Adult Alice married a cricketer, and they had three children, with both sons dying in WWI. Her husband's inheritance allowed her to become a noted society hostess and volunteer, but she had to sell her copy of an early manuscript of the book in order to maintain her home and lifestyle. It is now held by the British Library.
Place.
Alice in Wonderland, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in UK, was first published in America on November 26, 1865 by mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodson, aka Lewis Carroll. (1832-1898)
In December 1886, Carroll attended the West End musical version "Alice in Wonderland," the first live production of his Alice books, at the Prince of Wales Theatre. The Prince of Wales was established in 1884, named after the future Edward VII, was rebuilt in 1937, and extensively refurbished in 2004. Seating just over 1,000 patrons, the longest running show in theatre history is "Mamma Mia" from 2004 to 2012.
Thing.
Alice in Wonderland, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in UK, was first published in America on November 26, 1865 by mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodson, aka Lewis Carroll. (1832-1898)
Carroll was most definitely a "man of letters." He devised a system to keep a record of all the letters he sent and received in his life, and the total number noted exceeds 98,000. Several collections of his letters have been published.
He also kept 13 journal volumes during his life. Some time after his death, four whole volumes and several pages from other volumes went missing, and most historians assume that they were destroyed by his family. This, of course, has fueled speculation as to what those volumes and pages contained. Could they have contained writing about his alleged proposal to marry 11-year old Alice Liddell? There seems to have been a rupture in Carroll's relationship with the Liddell family around that time. Could they have contained writings about his penchant for photographing scantily clad young girls? Some historians have made claims that his interest was prurient, others disagree. In any case, there can really only be speculation unless some new primary sources are discovered.
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Person.
Fanny Kemble (1809-1893) was born in November 27 in London to one of Britain's most distinguished acting families. By the 19th century, theatrical careers were beginning to lose some of the social stigma attached for centuries, and some families, like the Kembles in the UK and the Booths in the US, enjoyed national and international recognition.
Educated in France, she wrote a favorably reviewed five-act play at age 18 and first took the stage herself at 20, as Juliet. Soon she was playing all of the classic female roles. In 1832, she accompanied her father on an American tour and met southern planter and political figure Pierce Butler in Philadelphia. They married in 1834, and she retired from the stage until after their divorce.
Butler owned several plantations and hundreds of enslaved people on the Georgia coast, just south of Darien, but he lived primarily in Philadelphia. In 1838, he decided to spend more time in Georgia, and Kemble insisted on going with him. She lived in Georgia for a year and wrote a journal of her life there. As an abolitionist, she was appalled by the reality of slavery, and she held nothing back in her journal. The brutality she witnessed, and Butler's marital infidelities, caused them to separate on their return to Philadelphia and divorce a decade later. As common in those days, Butler was awarded custody of their two daughters, and Kemble didn't see them again until they were 21.
Kemble's Journal became a major work of abolitionist literature, and it proved that abolitionists could be racists as well, and the vast majority were. It's also an important antebellum primary source detailing slavery an plantation life.
Place.
Fanny Kemble (1809-1893) was born in November 27 in London to one of Britain's most distinguished acting families. By the 19th century, theatrical careers were beginning to lose some of the social stigma attached for centuries, and some families, like the Kembles in the UK and the Booths in the US, enjoyed national and international recognition.
Educated in France, she wrote a favorably reviewed five-act play at age 18 and first took the stage herself at 20, as Juliet. Soon she was playing all of the classic female roles. In 1832, she accompanied her father on an American tour and met southern planter and political figure Pierce Butler in Philadelphia. They married in 1834, and she retired from the stage until after their divorce.
Butler owned several plantations and hundreds of enslaved people on the Georgia coast, just south of Darien, but he lived primarily in Philadelphia until 1838, when he took Kemble to Georgia. She stayed a year, but her journal capturing the brutality of slavery became a major abolitionist document, and the couple separated in 1839 and divorced a decade later.
Meanwhile, Butler squandered his $700,000 fortune ($25 million today), and, in order to avoid bankruptcy in 1859, he took 436 enslaved men, women, and children to the Ten Broeck racetrack just outside of Savannah where they were sold, without regard to family relationships, in what became the largest slave auction ever held on American soil. The event became known as "the Weeping Time," but it was an almost forgotten historical event until descendants of the enslaved people started researching and pushing for recognition in the early 2000s.
The auction was originally to be held on Johnson Square where the slave pens and slave broker's business was located, but the sale garnered national attention, and Johnson Square couldn't hold the expected number of buyers, so it was moved to the racetrack, two and a quarter miles from downtown.
Thing.
Fanny Kemble (1809-1893) was born in November 27 in London to one of Britain's most distinguished acting families. By the 19th century, theatrical careers were beginning to lose some of the social stigma attached for centuries, and some families, like the Kembles in the UK and the Booths in the US, enjoyed national and international recognition.
Educated in France, she wrote a favorably reviewed five-act play at age 18 and first took the stage herself at 20, as Juliet. Soon she was playing all of the classic female roles. In 1832, she accompanied her father on an American tour and met southern planter and political figure Pierce Butler in Philadelphia. They married in 1834, and she retired from the stage until after their divorce. Typical of outcomes of divorce at that time, Butler was awarded custody of their two daughters, Sarah and Frances, and Kemble didn't see them again until they turned 21.
Sarah married Owen Wister, and their son Owen Wister wrote The Virginian in 1902. Owen Jr. Sold the last of the Butler property on Georgia's Altamaha River in the 1920s. Sarah remained loyal to her mother. However, Frances took her father's side, and, in 1883, she published Ten Years on a Georgia Plantation, in which she defended her father and slavery, argued that the enslaved were better off enslaved than free, and refuted many of her mother's assertions in her Journal.
Person.
Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) was born in Barmen Germany on November 28. In 1848, he co-authored The Communist Manifesto with Karl Marx.
The wealthy Engels family owned large cotton textile mills, which his father hoped Friedrich would take over one day. Instead, Engels fell in with the Young Hegelians at the university and began studying the works of Georg Hegel. He began writing anonymous articles about poor living and working conditions among the factory working class. His political opinions and announcement of his atheism strained relations with his family.
In 1842, his father sent him to work in an Engels thread factory in Manchester England. There he took particular notice of the slums, child labor, and horrible working and living conditions, and he began corresponding with another German thinker that he had met in his way to Manchester, Karl Marx. This included several articles later published in German workers' journals.
In 1843, Marx fled to Paris to avoid arrest in Prussia, then to Brussels. Marx joined him at various times. In Brussels, they met up with other Germans who held communist beliefs. Inspired by the spirit of revolution that swept across Europe in 1848, they published a pamphlet to explain the basic theory of communism, The Communist Manifesto. Engels continued to write the rest of his life.
Place.
Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) was born in Barmen Germany on November 28. In 1848, he co-authored The Communist Manifesto with Karl Marx. The wealthy Engels family owned large cotton textile mills, which his father hoped Friedrich would take over one day.
Barmen is a former industrial metropolis of the region of Bergisches Land, Germany, which merged with four other towns in 1929 to form the city of Wuppertal. Barmen was a pioneering centre for both the early industrial revolution on the European mainland, and for the socialist movement and its theory. It was the location of one of the first concentration camps in Nazi Germany, KZ Wuppertal-Barmen, later better known as Kemna concentration camp.
(From Wikipedia)
Thing.
Dialectics.
Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) was born in Barmen Germany on November 28. In 1848, he co-authored The Communist Manifesto with Karl Marx. The wealthy Engels family owned large cotton textile mills, which his father hoped Friedrich would take over one day.
Instead, he became an admirer of German philosopher Georg Hegel who saw history and the universe moving forward in a dialectical fashion, meaning that advances come as the result of a conflict between two opposite forces. In a huge simplification of Hegelian thought, a society always has opposing forces acting upon it, causing conflict. Later philosophers used the terms thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. A thesis and antithesis meet head-on and the resulting product is a new thing, a synthesis, which then battles with a new opposing force to create a new product.
Marx and Engels applied dialectical materialism to explain the rise of communism as the result of historical conflicts over the centuries between those that control power and the economy and those rebelling against them, as laid out in this diagram.
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