Another Famous Birthday!

complements of grandnationaltrailer.com

Today is the birthday of J.R.R Tolkien. (Wonder what J.R.R. stands for? John Ronald Reuel!). Tolkien was born in South Africa by English parents. (Is there a trend here: Tolkien, Kipling…?) When Tolkien was three, his mother took him and his older brother back to England for a visit, but while they were away from their father, he died of rheumatic fever. His mother, Mabel, also died young, when Tolkien was 12. Both boys were raised by Father Francis Xavier Morgan, per their mother’s request. He married Edith Mary Bratt in 1916. They had four children – 4 boys and a girl. Tolkien wrote The Hobbit in 1937 and The Lord of the Rings in 1949 – both a little thick at times, but wonderful stories non-the-less. Ronald – as apparently he was called – died in 1971 at the age of 82.

Rudyard Kipling

from Borne and Shephard 1892

Rudyard Kipling was born on this day in 1865. He died in 1936 of a gastric ulcer. Rudyard was born in Bombay, India but was sent to England at the age of five to study along with his sister. He married an American by the name of Caroline Starr Balestier in 1892- the daughter of a writer and publishing agent he worked with on the novel Naulahka. Kipling is best known for his 2 Jungle Book stories, Just so Stories, and The Man Who Would Be King. He lived in Connecticut for a time and his home is still there and used as a rental home, with some of it’s original funishings!

This is from his poem, Mandalay (1890)

By the old Moulmein Pagoda, lookin’ lazy at the sea, There’s a Burma girl a-settin’, and I know she thinks o’ me; For the wind is in the palm-trees, and the temple-bells they say: “Come you back, you British soldier; come you back to Mandalay!”

 Come you back to Mandalay,

Where the old Flotilla lay:

Can’t you ‘ear their paddles chunkin’ from Rangoon to Mandalay?

On the road to Mandalay,

  Where the flyin’-fishes play,

   An’ the dawn comes up like thunder outer China ‘crost the Bay!

Radio City Music Hall

Here’s a bit of trivia for you – on this date in 1932 Radio City Music Hall opened it’s doors. It was built by J.D. Rockefeller Jr who originally intended to build an opera house in that location but the Great Depression changed his mind. It’s an elegant Art Deco theater with 5,931 seats and touts the largest theater pipe organ with 4,410 pipes (that’s a lot of wind!). The building was renovated and re-opened in 1980 – thank goodness! In 1933 the much copied and skilled Rockettes first graced that stage with its famous Christmas program. I’ve seen it, and it is very impressive, even more so in the amazing surroundings. It’s a must see for anyone visiting New York.

from austonpost.org

Wise Words from Woodrow Wilson (say that fast 3 times!)

“I not only use all the brains that I have but all that I can borrow.”

Woodrow Wilson

from dkosepedia.com

Now that is a smart man!

(1856-1924 )-Our 28th President, who brought us through WWI. He held this office from 1913 to 1921. After WWI he helped negotiate a peace treaty which included a plan for the League of Nations – which the US initially rejected. He received a Nobel Prize for his efforts.

Cauldron anyone?

compliments of parasolparty.wordpress.com

Double, double, toil and trouble;

Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

William Shakespeare

Okay Shakespeare lovers, where does this come from?

Edelweiss

On this day in 1959 Oscar Hammerstein started work on Edelweiss, for the Sound of music. Who doesn’t like Edelweiss, especially sung by Christopher Plummer. Check this link to hear him sing to the clean and wholesome family of his!

from lyricsdog.eu

Catcher in the Rye

“If you  really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is  where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were  occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of  crap, but I don’tfeel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff  bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two  hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them.”

Nice!

These are the opening lines of Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, published July 16th, 1951. It was Salinger’s most famous novel and became #1 on the New York Times best seller list after just two weeks. Salinger was born in January of 1919 and died January 2010 at the age of 91. He also wrote Nine Stories – 1953, Franny and Zooey – 1961, Raise High the Roof Beam and Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (a couple of novellas published together) -1963, and his last published work was another novella, published in the New Yorker in 1965: Hapworth 16: 1924.

I’ll have to read it again. It’s been a while.

Book Trivia

The Great Gatsby

On April10th, 1925 F. Scott Fitzgerld’s book, The Great Gatsby, was first published.  Fitzgerld’s preferred title for the work was Trimalchio in West Egg, but the publisher wouldn’t agree.  Under the Red, White, and Blue was also a possibility or Gold-Hatted Gatsby, but those too, were discarded. Initially, it didn’t sell well. I can understand. It’s not a very upbeat story. I have not read the book, only seen the movie. It is now on my list to read.