2 February marks the date that dancer, actor, and choreographer Gene Kelly died in 1996. Born in Pittsburgh, his maternal grandfather was an immigrant from Derry, Northern Ireland. He entered Pennsylvania State College as a …
Arts
Monkey Shines
28 January marks the debut of J. Fred Muggs on NBC’s ‘TODAY’ Show. Concerned over falling ratings, the network introduced the French Cameroon born chimp, Muggs, in 1953 as a mascot for the program in …
Sing All About It
It was on 24 January, in 2014, that folk singer Pete Seeger, died. In the late 1930’s, Seeger got start by assisting Alan Lomax in archiving American folk songs for the Library of Congress. Seeger …
Gypsy Jazz
23 January marks the birthday of Django Reinhardt, a Belgium-born French guitarist and composer of Romani ethnicity. Reinhardt is regarded as one of the greatest guitar players of all time; he was the first important …
The Russian Swan
8 January marks the birthday of Galina Ulanova, in St. Petersburg Russia, in 1910. In 1944 she became the Prima Ballerina of the Bolshoi Ballet. In the USSR she was awarded the Stalin Prize in …
A True Romantic
11 December marks the birthday of French Romantic composer Hector Berlioz. Berlioz was born in France at La Côte-Saint-André in the département of Isère, near Grenoble. His father, Louis Berlioz, a respected provincial physician and …
The Savior of East Harlem
On 10 December, 1902, Vito Marcantonio was born to an Italian mother and Italian American father in the impoverished ghetto of East Harlem, New York City. He attended the public schools there, and eventually graduated …
Balladeer
It was 4 December, 2009, that singer Liam Clancy, died in Cork, Ireland , at the age of 74. Clancy was the youngest and last surviving member of the influential folk group, The Clancy Brothers, …
Keep the Faith, Baby!
29 November marks the birthday of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. in 1908. His parents were of mixed race with African and European ancestry. They had ancestors who were classified as mulatto in 19th-century censuses. Powell …
From the Islands to the Fields
24 November marks the birthday of writer and activist, Carlos Bulosan. Bulosan left for America in 1930 at age 17, in the hope of finding salvation from economic depression. He would never again see his …