Tag: Learn history through fiction by Ann S. Epstein Writer

In June 1948, the Palomar Observatory opened in San Diego. Construction of the 200-inch mirror for the Hale Telescope, named for its inventor George Ellery Hale, had begun in 1934. Edwin Powell Hubble, who in 1929 discovered that clouds of light in the night sky were from galaxies beyond the Milky Way, was the first astronomer to use the telescope. It remained the largest in the world until 1975, when the Russians built a bigger one. Discover more San Diego history in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

The Wizard of Oz was previewed in Kenosha and Oconomowoc, Wisconsin 80 years ago today, on August 12, 1939. MGM wanted to test how popular the movie, which begins and ends in Kansas, would be in the Midwest, and see whether its nearly $3 million investment in Technicolor would pay off. Recalls a 91-year-old woman who saw the premier as a preteen, “It was very impressive because we had never seen a color film before.” The Hollywood premiere was on August 15 at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. The New York City premiere was held at Loew’s Capitol Theatre on August 17, followed by a live performance with Judy Garland and her co-stars. The film opened nationwide on August 25, 1939, its official release date. Read more about the making of The Wizard of Oz and its “big” and “little” stars in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).

The 1911 Triangle Waist Company fire, which killed 146 workers, most of them immigrant women, led to major labor legislation. NYC’s Tammany Hall passed 60 of 64 laws recommended by the Factory Investigating Commission, created in response to the tragedy. The International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) fought for better sweatshop conditions, including a 54-hour work week, and the American Society of Safety Engineers was founded seven months later. Read more about the fire and the U.S. labor movement 100 years ago in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

At the beginning of WWI, under the 1914 “Defence of the Realm Act,” British pub hours were limited to 12-2:30 PM and 6:30-9:30 PM, so factory workers wouldn’t show up drunk after lunch or the next morning. These hours, widely disregarded outside London, were finally relaxed nationwide in the 1960s and 1970s. In the WWII era, pubs were gathering places for trade unions and sympathizers (albeit wary of communist influence). Many had football teams who played the regulars from other pubs at Sunday matches. Read more about old London in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).

The Mafia, a.k.a. the Mob, is rich in slang. Some examples: action (illicit profits); associate (someone who works for the Mafia but is not a “family member” or on the books); break (discipline someone by a demotion in rank); crumb (legitimate working man); going to the mattress (warring with a rival gang); goomah (mistress); goomba (term of affection & respect); vig or vigorish (% of a bet retained as income by the bookmaker). Read more about how the Mafia infiltrated Las Vegas with loot and lingo 100 years ago in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

Theater magnate Sid Grauman opened Grauman’s Egyptian Theater in 1922 on Hollywood Blvd. It was the site of the first Hollywood premiere, Robin Hood, with Douglas Fairbanks. In 1927, Grauman’s Chinese Theater opened farther west on Hollywood Blvd., where Cecil B. DeMille premiered King of Kings. The entrance is renowned for its elaborate pagoda, dragon, and two Ming Heaven dogs guarding the door. Jean Klossner (later dubbed Mr. Footprint) was hired to create a concrete forecourt to preserve the hand and footprints of stars. Sid Grauman got the idea when he accidentally stepped in wet cement during construction. Read more Hollywood and Los Angeles history in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).

After the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling, Topeka encountered little resistance to elementary school desegregation. Its middle schools had been integrated since 1941. The high school had been integrated from its 1871 inception and its sports teams since 1949. A new school board was voted in which moved quickly to integrate students, soon followed by teachers and principals. Unlike the South and many cities in the North, there were no demonstrations in Topeka. Nevertheless, throughout the country today, de facto segregation is reinforced by neighborhood housing patterns and school district boundaries. Read more about race relations in Topeka 100 years ago in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

After her success as the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 Hollywood classic The Wizard of Oz, Margaret Hamilton appeared in My Little Chickadee but had only minor film roles after that. She had a long-running radio career from 1944 to the 1950s on Ethel and Albert, where she played the scatter-brained Aunt Eva. In the 1960s and 1970s, Hamilton was a regular on the soap operas The Secret Storm and As the World Turns. She reprised her role as the Wicked Witch on Sesame Street in 1976, but parents complained that it scared their children, so the episode was never reshown. Read more about the making of Oz and the lives of its stars in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (see NOVELS).

The 1867-1868 great famine in Sweden combined with discontent from a repressive government made the American advertisement of land and freedom in Kansas particularly attractive to Swedes. They became the third-largest group of foreign-born citizens in the state, after Germans and Russians. Italians followed in 1871, coming to the coal-mining regions in SE Kansas. Read more about Topeka and Kansas history, and the immigrants who helped build the United States, in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).

Little People of America (LPA) is a nonprofit for people no taller than 4’10” and their families. It was started by Billy Barty in 1957, who called on people of short stature to meet in Reno, Nevada. The original gathering of 21 people grew into the organization. A newspaper reporter wrote, “The small people gathered here today are endowed with that good quality which takes them out of the realm of oddity into the realm of humanity.” LPA’s motto “Think Big” was established in the 1960s. Today LPA has over 6,000 members in 70 chapters across the U.S. and internationally and is politically active in the disabilities rights movement. Read more about Little People of America in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. (Alternative Book Press), a fictional biography of the actor who played the Munchkin Coroner in The Wizard of Oz (see NOVELS). Munchkin actors were called “midgets,” now considered a derogatory term.