Donster
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Morning all. 80F under clear skies. Sunshine and clouds mixed. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High of 93F. A bit cooler tonight with possible thunderstorms and a low of 69F.
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United Aircraft Corporation Ad - June 1942
1940: Householders in possession of Anderson shelters must by law have them up and earthed by today.
1940: The French government of Premier Reynaud leaves Paris for Tours. German forces capture Rheims.
*Audrey Totter
1940: Italian aircraft bomb Malta.
1940: Paris prepares for siege as the Luftwaffe pounds the city. The RAF attacks Turin and Genoa with 36 Whitley bombers.
1940: RAF attack German ships in Trondheim harbour, Norway.
Audrey Totter
1940: Australia and New Zealand declare war on Italy.
1940: South Africa declares war on Italy. RAF bomb airfields and petrol dumps in Italian East Africa and Libya. British armoured cars cross into Libya from Egypt and ambush a number of Italian trucks near Fort Capuzzo. Italian aircraft bomb Aden and Port Sudan.
Audrey Totter
1942: U-boats begin laying mines off Boston, Delaware and Chesapeake Bay.
1942: The court-martial of a German army captain Michael Kitzelmann ends in Orel. Kitzelmann, who won an Iron Cross Second Class for bravery, has spoken out against atrocities being committed on the eastern front. "If these criminals should win," he has told his fellow officers, "I would have no wish to live any longer." Kitzelmann's wish is granted. He is shot by a firing squad that day.
1942: The United States and the Soviet Union signed a lend lease agreement to aid the Soviet war effort.
1942: Simultaneous British convoys set sail for Malta from Gibraltar and Alexandria. The Gibraltar convoy (codenamed ' Harpoon'), consisted of 5 freighters and a US tanker. It was initially escorted by a battleship, 2 aircraft carrier, 3 cruisers and 8 destroyers and was later reinforced by an anti-aircraft cruiser and 9 destroyers. The Alexandria convoy (codenamed 'Vigorous'), had eleven freighters and was escorted by 7 light cruisers and 26 destroyers.
Audrey Totter
1943: Operation 'Corkscrew', the invasion of Pantelleria meets little resistance after a 20-day aerial bombardment of the island.
1943: The US 8th Air Force raids the German naval base at Wilhelmshaven (200 B-17s), while the RAF attacks Münster and Düsseldorf.
1945: SEAC estimate that 108,240 Japanese have been killed in Burma since February 1944.
Audrey Totter
*One is certainly hard-pressed to think of another true "bad girl" representative so closely identifiable with film noir than hard-looking blonde actress Audrey Totter. While she remained a "B"-tier actress for most her career, she was a "A" quality actress and one of filmdom's most intriguing ladies. She always managed to set her self apart even in the most standard of programming.
Born Audrey Mary Totter to an Austrian father and Swedish mother on December 20, 1918, in Joliet, Illinois, she treaded lightly on stage ("The Copperhead," "My Sister Eileen") and initially earned notice on the Chicago and New York radio airwaves in the late 1930s before "going Hollywood." MGM developed an interest in her and put her on its payroll in 1944. Still appearing on radio (including the sitcom "Meet Millie"), she made her film bow as, of course, a "bad girl" in "Main Street After Dark" (1945). That same year the studio usurped her vocal talents to torment poor Phyllis Thaxter in "Bewitched" (1945). Her voice was prominent again as an unseen phone operator in "Ziegfeld Follies" (1945). Audrey played one of her rare pure-heart roles in "The Cockeyed Miracle" (1946). At this point she began to establish herself in the exciting "film noir" market.
Audrey Totter
Among the certified classics she participated in were "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (1946) in which she had a small role as John Garfield's blonde floozie pick-up. Things brightened up considerably with "Lady in the Lake" (1947) co-starring Robert Montgomery as detective Philip Marlowe. The film was not well received and is now better remembered for its interesting subjective camera technique. Audrey's first hit as a femme fatale co-star came on loanout to Warner Bros. In "The Unsuspected" (1947), she cemented her dubious reputation in "B" noir as a trampy, gold-digging niece married to alcoholic Hurd Hatfield. She then went on a truly enviable roll with "High Wall" (1947), as a psychiatrist to patient Robert Taylor, "The Saxon Charm" (1948) with Montgomery (again) and Susan Hayward, "Alias Nick Beal" (1949) as a loosely-moraled "Girl Friday" to Ray Milland, the boxing film "The Set-Up" (1949) as the beleaguered wife of washed-up boxer Robert Ryan, "Any Number Can Play" (1949) with Clark Gable and as a two-timing spouse in "Tension" (1949) with Richard Basehart.
Although the studio groomed Audrey to become a top star, it was not to be. Perhaps because she was too good at being bad. The 1950s film scene softened considerably and MGM began focusing on family-styled comedy and drama. Audrey's tough-talking dames were no longer a commodity and MGM soon dropped her in 1951. She signed for a time with Columbia Pictures and 20th Century Fox as well but her era had come and gone. Film offers began to evaporate. At around this time she married Leo Fred, a doctor, and instead began focusing on marriage and family. Leo Fred, would go on to become the Assistant Dean of Medicine at UCLA.
Audrey Totter
TV gave her career a slight boost in the 1960s and 1970s, including regular roles in "Cimarron City" (1958) and "Our Man Higgins" (1962) as a suburban mom opposite Stanley Holloway's British butler. After a period of semi-retirement, she came back to TV to replace Jayne Meadows in the popular television series "Medical Center" (1969) starring Chad Everett and James Daly. She played Nurse Wilcox, a recurring role, for four seasons (1972-1976). The 70-year-old Totter retired after a 1987 guest role on "Murder, She Wrote." Her husband died in 1995. Totter died of a stroke on December 12, 2013, eight days before her 96th birthday.
Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Ad - June 1944
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Morning all. 75F under clear skies with a dew point of 69F. Hot and humid today, isolated storms possible. High of 92F.
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Curtiss Wright Ad - June 1944
1940: The remaining troops of the Norwegian Army (6th Division) surrender, after Norway surrenders unconditionally.
1940: Italy declares war on Britain and France, effective from the 11th June 1940.
*Elaine Riley
1940: President Roosevelt condemns Germany and Italy and promises material aid to both Britain and France
1941: British advance breaks through Vichy opposition in Syria.
Elaine Riley - Yank Pin-up Girl - 6 October 1944
1942: Prague radio announces the extermination of Lidice, a village of about 2,000. All the men were shot and women sent to concentration camps. All buildings are razed to the ground as a reprisal for Heydrich killing.
1942: Another German offensive in the East begins as two German armies of 33 division, five of them Panzer, attack from Kharkov on the Volchansk Front, a massive assault that will roll on until the 26th,scattering the Russian forces ahead of them.
Elaine Riley
1942: Panzer Army Afrika finally captures Bir Hacheim, a strongpoint fiercely defended by Foreign Legionnaire's of the Free French Forces. The British Eighth Army is pushed towards the Egyptian border.
United-Carr Fastener Corporation Ad - June 1944
1943: A coordinated air offensive is begun, with the US 8th Air Force, flying precision bombing missions by day and RAF Bomber Command, flying area saturation missions by night, against major German cities.
Elaine Riley
1944: German counterattacks against Allied invasion forces are unsuccessful for lack of armoured reserves in the area. Troops of the 2nd SS Panzer Division 'Das Reich' massacre the inhabitants of Oradour-sur-Glane in France.
1945: The Australian 9th Division makes two landings in Brunei Bay, Borneo.
Elaine Riley
*Elaine Riley was born on January 15, 1923 in East Liverpool, Ohio. The brunette actress entered Hollywood in 1943 as an extra for the RKO Pictures, debuting in Higher and Higher. She left her job as secretary to the managing director of WINS radio in New York City to pursue her career in movies.
In 1946, she signed with Paramount Studios, where she became a recurring leading lady for Hopalong Cassidy. She worked with stars such as Charles Laughton, Tim Holt and Gene Autry.
She retired from acting in 1960, having more than 70 credits to her name. In 2004, Elaine Riley won the Golden Boot Awards, which honour actors, actresses, and crew members who have made significant contributions to the genre of Western television and movies. She died on December 7, 2015, aged 98.
Curtiss Wright Ad - June 1944
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Morning all. 75F under clear skies with a 69F dew point. Partly cloudy this afternoon with a isolated thunderstorm possible. Winds out of the E at 5-10 mph. High of 90F.
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Cadillac Ad - June 1944
1940: German forces advancing South from the Somme capture Rouen on the Seine. The British 51st Highland Division and part of the French 10th Army withdraw towards St-Valery-en-Caux, hoping to be evacuated to England.
1941: Fire Service Council established in Britain, with 1,400 local brigades being merged in to 32 regional ones.
*Lynn Merrick
1941: British advance 40 miles into southern Syria and the Lebanon capturing Tyre in the process.
1941: Italian casualties for May announced as 1,948 killed, 5,204 wounded and 27,292 missing.
Lynn Merrick
1942: Heydrich lies in state in Berlin. Himmler calls him, 'a noble, honest and decent human being'.
1942: The Japanese high command announces that "The Midway Occupation operations have been temporarily postponed."
Lynn Merrick
1943: Tito is wounded during a German air attack.
Chevrolet Ad - June 1945
1944: U.S. forces advancing from Utah Beach capture St. Mere-Eglise and cut the crucial road and rail links on the Cherbourg peninsula. Rommel puts all German forces in Normandy onto the defensive.
1944: The RAF fly from French airfields for first time since 1940.
Lynn Merrick
1944: The U.S. Fifth Army is now 50 miles Northwest of Rome.
1944: The Russians launch a heavy assault on the Finnish forces in the Karelian Isthmus to the North of Leningrad, in an attempt to force them out of war.
Lynn Merrick
1945: Japanese Premier Kantaro Suzuki announces Japan will fight to the very end rather than accept unconditional surrender.
1945: The Japanese on Okinawa's Oroku peninsula are reported as trapped.
1945: Tokyo radio says that 4.93m Japanese have been displaced by the bombing in the last three months.
Lynn Merrick
*Lynn Merrick, born Marilyn Llewelling on November 19, 1919 was an actress from Fort Worth, Texas, and a B-Western heroine of the 1940s. In 1940, Merrick was one of thirteen women selected by the Motion Picture Publicists Association as a "Baby Star" ("Meet the Stars #2: Baby Stars" 1941) (as Marilyn Merrick), a selection process which was meant to highlight the most promising new film stars. This event where eight directors and eighteen former Wampas (Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers) stars act as judges in choosing 1941's crop of future stars. The chosen lucky thirteen were formally introduced at a coming-out party, known as the Frolic, an event covered by the media much like today's Academy Award ceremonies.
She was "Marilyn Merrick" during her earliest film work, but that was changed to "Lynn Merrick". Her first film work as "Marilyn Merrick" was in "'Til We Meet Again" (1940) and the last in "Ragtime Cowboy Joe" (1940). Perhaps she became Lynn at the time - or soon after - she connected with Republic Pictures.
Lynn Merrick
Merrick made the bulk of her films during the 1940's, starring in 22 feature films for Republic Pictures. Sixteen of those films were Don Barry westerns. Her first Barry film was "Two Gun Sheriff" (1941), and her last was "Fugitive from Sonora " (1943). She later worked for Columbia Pictures, where she starred in several films alongside actors Richard Dix, Chester Morris, and Warner Baxter, starting with the film "Dangerous Blondes" (1943) and ending in the film "I Love Trouble" (1948).
By 1947 she, for all practical purposes, had retired from acting. Her final film was actually in 1954, titled "Escape from Terror" starring and directed by Jackie Coogan. She had no known roles between 1947 and 1954, and none following 1954. During her career spanning 1940 to 1947, she starred in 45 films. She was married and divorced twice. Her first marriage was to actor Conrad Nagel, and her second was to producer Robert Goelet Jr. She had no children. She died on March 25th, 2007, at her home in West Palm Beach, Florida.
TRIVIA:
Is dubbed "Zoom Girl" by the sailors in the torpedo shop at San Diego Naval Air Station during WWII.
First husband, Conrad Nagel was well over 20 years older than she when the couple married. Her second husband, Robert Goelet Jr. was a year younger. Both marriages ended in divorce. She had no children.
Attempted suicide with pills in March of 1950 but the incident, triggered by domestic troubles, appeared more of a cry for help.
When she and fortune heir Robert Goelet Jr. married in 1949, his countess mother, Donna Fernanda di Villa Rosa, the Princess Riabouchinsky of Florence, disinherited him.
Following her acting career, Merrick would go on to work in the fashion industry and serve as an executive field director for the Barbizon School of Modeling from 1967 to 1974. In later years she worked in sales at department stores in both California and Florida.
Pontiac Ad - June 1945
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Morning all. 77F under clear skies. A mostly clear start today, then turning partly to mostly cloudy once again. Chance of thunderstorms this afternoon. High of 84F.
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Bendix Aviation Ad - June 1944
1940: The British aircraft carrier Glorious is sunk by the German heavy battle cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, Southwest of Narvik.
1940: The evacuation of British and French troops (24,000 men) from Narvik and Harstad is completed. A Norwegian delegation negotiates with the Germans for a peace treaty.
*Linda Stirling
1941: RAF launch biggest bombing raid yet on Germany with 360 aircraft.
1941: British, Commonwealth and Free French forces invade Syria and the Lebanon ('Operation Explorer') with air and naval support. The British offer Syria independence in an effort to stimulate Syrian revolt against their Vichy rulers. Vichy France protests vigorously at these British proposals.
Linda Stirling
1942: Fifteen Poles, including 12 women are publicly hanged in Poznan. The bodies left hanging for 48 hours as a warning.
1944: The U.S. Fifth Army continues its drive North in Italy, taking Civita Castellana.
Linda Stirling
1945: SHAEF reveal the details of the German plans to exterminate all Jews in Europe by the summer 1946.
Linda Stirling
*Born Louise Schultz on October 11, 1921 in Long Beach, California, Linda Stirling was a popular action star of serials in the 1940s. She studied music, dance, and drama as a child and received a scholarship to a Hollywood acting school. But she arrived in Hollywood to discover the school had closed, and she took a job as a showgirl at the Earl Carroll Theatre in Hollywood. She modeled in fashion advertisements and one ad led to a screen test. She was cast as a model in "The Powers Girl" (1943), but more importantly, she was again spotted in an advertisement, this time by executives of Republic Studios, who were looking for a beautiful but athletic woman to star in their upcoming serial, "The Tiger Woman" (1944). Despite having no experience in the kind of stunts and athletics that would be required, Stirling was able to convince not only the executives but ace stuntman Yakima Canutt of her capability. She won the role and a contract from Republic, and played hard-riding and -fighting heroines in numerous serials, Westerns, and low-budget adventure films over the next three or four years. She married a screenwriter for Republic, Sloan Nibley in 1946 and shortly thereafter retired from movies. She made a few guest appearances on television in the 1950s, such as "The Adventures of Kit Carson" (1954-1955), "The Man Behind the Badge" (1955), "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" (1956) and "The Real McCoys" (1959). After he career as an actress ended, and her children had grown, Stirling enrolled at UCLA, eventually earning a BFA, an MA, and finally a PhD in English literature at the age of 50.
Linda Stirling
With her degree in hand, Stirling began a new career as a teacher of college English and Drama in the 1960s at Glendale College in Glendale, California between 1967 and 1990. In her later life, Stirling sought to distance herself in the classroom from her Hollywood past, but still remained active on the film convention circuit until the last years of her life. She also appeared in a 1990 documentary on Republic Pictures, the studio where she did the bulk of her work; her husband, Sloan Nibley, who wrote many of her films, died the same year. She was widowed in 1990 and died of cancer in Studio City, Los Angeles, California on July 20, 1997.
TRIVIA:
Height: 5' 7" (1.70 m)
Mother of Christopher Nibley and Timothy Nibley.
Cousin of actor Harris Yulin and Gwen Welles.
B.F. Goodrich Ad - June 1945
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6 minutes ago, The Dude said:
Mixed weather here.
If I go out for an extended walk today, I'll need to pack shorts, a sweater, sunscreen, a raincoat and maybe even a stout hat because there could be a hail storm.
If I decide to drive West toward the mountains, I'll need winter boots because they may get a whopping 15 inches of snow today.
Typical psychotic weather for this time of year.
I think I would just stay home!
Oh uh morning all. 77F under clear skies with a 67F dew point. Partly to mostly cloudy, humidity up a bit. A slight chance of a thunderstorm this afternoon. Light S winds at 5-10 mph. High of 86F.
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Ethyl Corporation Ad - June 1944
1940: Allied troops fall back on Bresles front, 60 miles north of Paris.
1940: French bomb Berlin.
1940: King Haakon VII and the Norwegian government leave Tromsö for England.
*Kerry Vaughn
1941: The first of five heavy night raids by the RAF begins on Brest as Prinz Eugen shelters there.
1942: General Erich von Manstein hurls his troops in the grand assault on the besieged port of Sevastopol in a two-pronged assault. The Soviets resist fanatically in excellent fortifications. The Germans gain ground but take heavy casualties, and have to bring in reinforcements to take the city. However, the continuous German attacks wear down the defenders ammunition supplies, which must be brought in by sea through a tight German blockade maintained by the Luftwaffe, E-boats, and Italian midget submarines.
7th War Bond Drive - Cheesbrough Ad - June 1945
1942: All Jews over six are forced to wear the 'Star of David' in Occupied France.
1942: The Japanese make landings on Attu and Kiska Islands in the Aleutian Islands.
1942: The US carrier Yorktown, having been damaged on the 4th June, is torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine whilst enroute to Pearl Harbor for repairs.
Kerry Vaughn
1944: British troops liberate Bayeux, five miles inland from the Normandy coast. All beachheads are reported as established.
1944: The British 2nd Division is now only 55 miles from Imphal.
1944: Mokmer airfield on Biak is captured by U.S. troops.
Marlyn Gladstone, Shirley Johnson, Evalene Bankston, Lorraine Clark and Kerry Vaughn
1944: The Americans take Civitavecchia on the western coast of Italy.
1945: King Haakon VII returns to Norway, on the fifth anniversary of his leaving the country.
1945: The first allied cargo ship for three years enters Wewak Harbour, in New Guinea.
Kerry Vaughn
*Kerry Vaughn was born on January 27, 1929 in Houston, Texas. Early in 1944 when producer Walter Wanger is looking for "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" for his upcoming "Salome Where She Danced", she is chosen as one of the seven Salome Girls. In January 1945, Kerry Vaughn is among seven starlets selected as the "best bets" for screen stardom in 1945. The others are Karen Randle, Daun Kennedy, Kathleen O'Malley, Barbara Bates, Poni Adams, and Joan Trent. On May 2nd, 1950 she marries 24-year-old singer Tony Fontane. She co-stars with Joan Shawlee in the film "Prehistoric Women" (1950). Kerry would appear in 13 films during her career, but 11 appearances were uncredited. In 1951 Kerry accompanies her husband on tour with with "Showboat" in Australia and Europe. On their return to the US, the Fontanes settle in Canoga Park, California. In January 1952, her daughter, Kerry Char'ae, is born in Los Angeles. On September 3, 1957 her husband is involved in a nearly fatal automobile accident in the San Fernando Valley where he's initially declared dead, but he miraculously recovers. Both she and Tony commit their lives and their careers to Christ and become gospel singers. Later in 1963, the Fontanes produce the autobiographic The Tony Fontane Story, featuring Tony, Kerry, and daughter Char'ae Fontane. Kerry becomes the widow of Fontane, who dies on June 30, 1974 at age 48 in Los Angeles of prostate cancer. Kerry Vaughn Fontane, dies at age 69 in Nashville, Tennessee, of cancer on November 20, 1996. Kerry's daughter, Char "Kaci" Fontane would go on to guest appearances on several popular TV shows during the 1970s, including "Love, American Style", "Barnaby Jones", and "The Love Boat". One of her most memorable performances was as a prostitute in the 1978 ABC television miniseries, "Pearl". She had a small role in the 1989 action film "The Punisher", which starred Dolph Lundgren and Louis Gossett, Jr. She also appeared Broadway in several productions, including "Grease". Char Fontane died at age 55 on April 1, 2007, in Marietta, Georgia from breast cancer.
Ethyl Corporation Ad - June 1945
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13 hours ago, Stans said:
EVGA's quality sure seems to have tanked. First, their power supply in my new computer failed after only 16 days, now one of the two fans in their AIO radiator has stopped spinning. Might swap those out for some ugly Noctua fans. If it had not been for an unprecedented computer component shortage, I would have picked my own parts and built another computer. My last build was running just fine after something like 13 years of daily use.
That sucks Stans. Hopefully the fan will be your last issue with your new system.
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Morning all. 69F under clear skies with 72% humidity. Intervals of clouds and sunshine today. Winds SW at 10-15 mph. High of 89F.
Today is the 77th Anniversary of D-Day. Say a prayer for all those died and those who fought that day.
Never forget!
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Oldsmobile Ad - June 1942
1940: Production of hundreds of household goods banned in Britain. All Germans and Austrians living in UK ordered to surrender their wireless sets.
1940: Air raids along many parts of East Coast of England.
*Irene Manning - YANK Pin Up Girl (Date Unknown)
1940: U-46 sinks the British armed merchant cruiser Carinthia off the west coast of Ireland.
1940: German tanks in groups of 200 300 break through French line in two places on Somme front and Rommel's 7th Panzer Division advancing to the West of Amiens, penetrates 20 miles into French territory. During these breakthrough's the Germans suffer heavy losses at Amiens and Petonne.
Irene Manning
1941: Hitler issues a directive for the implementation of the Kommissarbefehl (Commissar Order) which calls for the summary execution of all Soviet political commissars attached to the Red Army. This order is tacitly disobeyed by most German army and corps commanders who deem it contrary to German military custom and tradition.
1941: Act authorizing acquisition of idle foreign merchant ships by the US is approved.
Irene Manning
1942: A German bomb, undiscovered for 13 months explodes. 19 people are killed, more than 50 injured and 300 families made homeless.
1942: German troops execute every male in the Czech village of Lidice (Bohemia) and then set fire to village in response to Heydrich's death.
This event took place on June 6, 1944, and was reported in The New York Times the following day:
1944: Before dawn, the Allied Expeditionary Force of British, American, Canadian, Polish, and Free French troops begins Operation Overlord, the long-awaited invasion of France. After an intensive naval and aerial bombardment, the first wave of 5 divisions (156,115 men) are landed at designated beaches in Normandy named Sword, Juno, Gold, Omaha and Utah. This is preceded by the British 6th Airborne Division which lands near Caen and some 12,000 paratroopers of the US 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions which are dropped on the Cotentin peninsula. These forces are supported by 1,213 warships, including 7 battleships and 23 cruisers, 1,600 auxiliary ships, and 4,126 landing craft, as well as massive British and American air support, which fly's 14,674 sorties that day. Opposing them in their bunkers and on the beaches are 5 German infantry divisions with about 50,000 men and 100 tanks and assault guns. Despite some heavy casualties, especially by the American's on Omaha Beach, the German defenders, stunned and surprised by the massive onslaught, are progressively overwhelmed, and most of the allied objectives are reached and secured by nightfall. There is very little opposition from the Luftwaffe or Kriegsmarine.
Irene Manning
1944: The West Point Class of 1944, which includes John S.D. Eisenhower, son of the Allied commander in chief, graduates as the Allied landings are in progress in France. Young Eisenhower is immediately whisked to his father's headquarters in England, but his request to command a rifle platoon is turned down because of the risk that he might fall into enemy hands. Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy, who was effectively functioning as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (a position that would not be formally created until after the war), visits his hometown of Hampton, Iowa on a well-publicized "sentimental journey" to see relatives and old friends. It is part of the deception effort to convince the Germans that the invasion of Europe would not take place while such an important officer was out of Washington.
Irene Manning
1944: The Royal Navy loses the Destroyers Wrestler and Svenner, which was Norwegian.
1944: The French take Tivoli in Italy.
Motorola Radio Ad - June 1944
1945: The Anniversary of D-Day, sees Eisenhower order a holiday for troops in Europe. Allied casualties from D-Day to VE-Day were 776,967 of which 141,590 killed.
1945: Naha airbase on Okinawa is now being used to hit Japan.
Irene Manning
*Irene Manning was born Inez Harvuot on July 17, 1912 in Cincinnati, Ohio in a family of 5 siblings. Her family loved to go on outdoor picnics where the featured activity was group singing. This family environment helped Irene to develop a keen interest in singing at a very early age. Her sisters later complained that little Irene would sing in her sleep, keeping them awake.
While performing with an all-girl USO show in England, Irene was asked to perform with bandleader Glenn Miller shortly before his death in 1944. Miller was involved in making swing records to be broadcast into Nazi Germany as part of the American Broadcasting System in Europe or ABSIE. Because she had been a light opera star prior to World War II and was fluent in singing in German, she was asked to sing some American pop tunes which had been translated into German vocals. Her sides were some of the last records made by Glenn Miller, prior to being lost on an ill-fated flight to Paris over the English Channel in December 1944.
Glenn Miller & Irene Manning - November 1944
She is probably best remembered as diva "Fay Templeton" in "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (1942) opposite James Cagney. In this film, Irene has a scene in which she has to simultaneously act, sing the song, "Mary," and play the piano all in the same take. This coordination of multiple talents takes concentration and is very difficult to complete live. Few Hollywood talents have ever executed these skills as well as Irene Manning, who was also a master sight reading musician.
Also briefly known as Hope Manning during her first films, as she broke into the Republic Studio system in 1936. Her first film placed her as the lead actress in a western, "The Old Corral," opposite Gene Autry. (A young actor, named Dick Weston, later to be known as Roy Rogers, also appeared as a bad guy in this film.) Irene once said in gest that "she had left light opera for a horse opera." Of note, "The Old Corral" was the only Gene Autry film that ever received a "three star rating," and it has been voted the most favorite Autry movie by the Gene Autry Fan Club, partly in response to Irene's sophistication and vocal talent.
By the early 1940s, Irene was employed in the Warner Bros studio system as a contract actress and singer. She was featured in "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (1942), "The Big Shot" (1942) opposite Humphrey Bogart, "Spy Ship" (1942) with Craig Stevens, the "Desert Song" (1943) with Dennis Morgan, and "Shine On Harvest Moon" (1944), co-starring Jack Carson, in addition to offering added glamour in "The Doughgirls" (1944) with Ann Sheridan and Alexis Smith and "Escape in the Desert" (1945) featuring Philip Dorn.
Her contract was picked up by MGM to place her singing skills as a threat to Jeanette MacDonald, who was giving MGM fits over Jeanette's difficult demands. In private Irene, claimed that she was a better singer. Singing comparisons between Irene Manning and Jeanette MacDonald clearly indicate that Irene's assessment of her skills is correct. The problem between Jeannette and MGM subsided, and Irene's contract was dropped without any appearances in a MGM film.
In all, Irene Manning made a dozen films. Although her film career is short, many of her film appearances are notable. In the "Old Corral" she gets to kiss Gene Autry (a rare event). "Yankee Doodle Dandy" is listed as one of the top 100 films of all time. "The Big Shot" is the second rated gangster movie of all time. In "Spy Ship," Irene plays the role of a female villain who collaborates with the Japanese military, not exactly a popular role during World War II. Probably the best reason to see the film is Keye Luke's brief appearance as a Japanese cultural envoy, Hiru. Yes, you guessed it, Hiru also is a spy. Keye Luke is most famous for playing the part of Master Po in the American TV Series "Kung Fu" with David Carradine from 1972-1975.
Irene Manning
Irene Manning is not known to be related to the late opera singer Clifford Harvuot.
The musical stage took priority in the second half of the 1940s with "The Day Before Spring" on Broadway and both "DuBarry Was a Lady" and "Serenade" in London. She remained in England and appeared on her own BBC TV show, "An American in England" until 1951, when she returned to the United States for TV and nightclub work. Eventually she retired to teach acting and voice.
She died aged 91 from congestive heart failure at her home on May 28, 2004 in San Carlos, California.
TRIVIA:
Toured with her own four-woman USO unit, performing for the Air Force and various hospital throughout England.
Toured with Bob Hope during WWII.
Irene married five times and was survived by her five stepchildren from her fifth (and final) marriage to space engineer and Lockheed executive Maxwell Hunter II, who died in 2001.
Oldsmobile Ad - June 1944
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Morning all. 73F under clear skies. Summerlike weather is here for an extended stay, thanks to increased heat and humidity. Plenty of sunshine today. Winds out of the SW at 10-20 mph. High of 91F.
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Mobilgas Ad - June 1944
1940: Home Defense commander Ironside announces the creation of the 'lronsides', small groups of highly mobile, armed men for defense against parachutists.
1940: The Germans begin 'Operation Red', the 'Battle of France' with 119 divisions, including 10 Panzer division's. Army Group B, with 50 divisions, opens the offensive against the French left wing which is anchored along the Somme for 120 miles, in fortified positions known as the Weygand Line, just 100 miles from Paris. Charles de Gaulle is appointed as French Under Secretary of State for War.
1940: Hauptmann. Mölders, leader of III/JG 53 and Germany's top air ace (25 kills) is shot down near Compiegne and taken prisoner.
*June Vincent
1941: US House Appropriations committee introduces largest Army expenditure bill since the First World War at S10,000 million.
1941: Secret transfer of 4000 Marines to Iceland.
June Vincent
1941: Over 100 German divisions have now been deployed along Germany's frontier with the Soviet Union.
1941: Germans say 15,000 prisoners taken in Crete. British later say 12,970 unaccounted for.
June Vincent
1942: USA declares war on Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania and warns Japan that she will retaliate in kind if gas is used.
1942: Operation 'Birdsong' kicks off between Roslavl and Bryansk, as 5,000 German troops pursue 2,500 partisans. In four weeks, 1,198 partisans are killed, for the loss of 58 German dead. Even so, the Germans are not happy as "The partisans," a German officer reports, "continued their old tactic of evading, withdrawing into the forests, or moving in larger groups into the areas South and Southwest of the Roslavl-Bryansk highway and into the Kletnya area." Although no further partisan attacks are reported in the area, "mines continued to be planted" and several German vehicles damaged.
1942: SS report 97,000 persons have been "processed" in mobile gas vans.
June Vincent
1942: Germans besiege Sevastopol.
1942: The Eighth Army launches a counter-attack against the Afrika Korps forces that are inside the 'Cauldron. This is codenamed 'Aberdeen', but went disastrously wrong from the start, with an infantry tank brigade being destroyed in minefields and an Indian infantry brigade attacking the wrong positions. This left the remainder of the force, the 22nd Armoured Brigade to be repulsed easily by the untouched German defenses. British losses for this operation were 150 tanks, 133 guns and 6,000 troops. At this point in the battle, the British forces in the northern part of the Gazala line (1st South African and the remainder of the British 50th Division), were still in a strong position and so General Auchinleck and Lieutenant General Ritchie decide to hold the line facing south from the Knightsbridge defensive box to El Adem with the remainder of their infantry and tank forces and wait for Rommel's next move.
1942: During the early hours, Admiral Yamamoto orders the withdrawal of the Japanese invasion fleet and abandons his efforts to capture Midway. The US fleet loses contact with the Japanese later in the day. The US destroyer Hammam is torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine.
Delco-Remy Ad - June 1944
1943: Battle of Pantelleria-Island with airfield; 11,000 Italian troops; guns controlling access to Sicily. A six-day air bombardment forces the garrison to surrender without an invasion. This is also the first time the Tuskegee "Black Eagles" flew under Colonel Ben Davis.
1943: U-513 (Kptlt. Sohler) sinks 4 ships off the coast of Brazil.
June Vincent
1944: Eisenhower gives the go ahead order for the D-Day landings in 24 hours when Stagg predicts a clearing of weather. 10:15 p.m.: "Wound my heart with a monotonous languor"- BBC radio cue for the French Resistance. 10:30 p.m.: 101st Screaming Eagles finish their takeoff (822 C-47's). Ike visits airfield: "Good luck to you tonight soldier."
1944: The first mission by B-29 Superfortress bombers occurs as 77 planes bomb Japanese railway facilities at Bangkok, Thailand.
June Vincent
1945: Moscow Radio announces the award of the highest Russian honour, the 'Order of Victory', to Montgomery and Eisenhower.
1945: The four allied powers sign a declaration on the defeat of Germany, which divides the country into four zones.
June Vincent
*Born Dorothy June Smith on July 17, 1920 in Harrod, Ohio, Vincent began her career in film in the early 1940s. The blond actress entered the movie business in 1940. Occasionally a leading lady, as in Abbott & Costello's "Here Come the Co-eds" (1945), Vincent was more effectively cast as an ice-princess "other woman." After a string of progressively uninteresting film parts, she received a shot in the arm career wise when she began accepting television roles, rapidly establishing herself as an versatile character actress; TV Guide, taking into consideration the number of times that the on-screen Vincent tried to steal away somebody's husband or boyfriend, referred to her as "Television's Favorite Homewrecker." June Vincent made her final TV appearances in the mid-1970s. June died on November 20, 2008 (aged 88) in Aurora, Colorado. She is survived by her three children.
Martin Aircraft Ad - June 1944
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Morning all. 70F under clear skies. Intervals of clouds and sunshine. Winds out of the SW at 10-15 mph. High of 90F. Last day of low humidity.
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Allison Aircraft Engine Ad - June 1942
1940: Churchill tells Commons 'We shall fight on the beaches, in the fields, in the streets and in the hills. We shall never surrender.'
1940: Holiday camps are banned within 10 miles of east and south-east coasts of England and Isle of Wight.
*Lillian Porter
1940: German troops enter Dunkirk, taking 40,000 French prisoners and huge quantities of abandoned equipment, including 84,000 vehicles, 2,500 guns and 650,000 tons of supplies and ammunition.
1940: French planes attack Munich and Frankfurt as reprisals for Paris bombing.
Lillian Porter
1941: Luftwaffe bombers carry out a night raid on the port of Alexandria in Egypt, killing 100 people. The Egyptian Cabinet resigns.
1942: Heydrich dies of his wounds.
1942: Hitler flies to Finland to meet with the Finnish head of state, Marshal Mannerheim.
Burma Shave Ad - June 1944
1942: At 4.30am aircraft of Admiral Nagumo's 1st Carrier Striking Force makes strikes against Midway. However, the American garrison received prior warning of this from a spotter aircraft. This raid fails to sufficiently neutralise US airpower on Midway and so Nagumo orders a second attack against Midway. However, his aircraft are in the middle of being rearmed with torpedoes for a strike against the US carriers, should they be spotted. The Admirals orders mean that the Japanese aircraft must first replace their torpedoes with bombs, before another strike against Midway can take place. At 8.20am Japanese reconnaissance aircraft reported sighting the American carriers and at 8.55am warned that US torpedo aircraft had been launched and were on their way towards the Japanese fleet. While this is going on, the Japanese aircraft which had been sent out on the second strike against Midway, begin to return and by 9am had all been landed. Crews were now swarming round the aircraft with fuel hoses and bomb racks in a desperate attempt to get them ready for a strike against the American Carriers. At 9.30am the torpedo bombers from the Hornet and Enterprise found the the Japanese carriers, but by 9.36am they had all been shot down. The Hornet's and Enterprise's dive-bombers failed to find the Japanese carriers and so turned for home, although many ran out of fuel on the way. A similar fate was suffered by all the fighters on this mission. The torpedo bombers of the Yorktown now found and attacked the Japanese carriers, but with the same result as the previous attacks and by 10am it all seemed to be over and Admiral Nagumo could prepare for his counter strike in what seemed total safety. However, because his fighters had been drawn down to sea level to deal with the Yorktown's torpedo-bombers, the sky above the Japanese carriers was left temporarily exposed to attack. At 10.25am a lost dive-bomber group from the Enterprise stumbled upon the undefended Japanese carriers. The 37 Dauntless dive-bombers plunged down in to the attack. With their decks cluttered with aircraft in the throws of being re-armed and refuelled, the Japanese carriers were in serious danger. Admiral Nagumo's flagship, the Akagi was the first to be hit and a bomb started a fire in the torpedo store. This fire was so fierce that the Admiral had to abandon the Akagi and shift his flag to a destroyer. The carrier Kaga was hit next by four bombs, which set ablaze the ships aviation fuel and forced her also to be abandoned. The Soryu was hit as well, this time by 3 bombs. These started a fire on deck amongst the parked aircraft and also caused her engines to stop. In just five 5 minutes 3 Japanese carriers had been put out of action, but the agony was not yet over. At noon an American submarine found the stricken Soryu and sank her by torpedo. The Hiryu, which so far was undamaged, was ordered to withdraw at speed from the area in order to save herself. During her withdrawal the Hiryu managed to launch two strikes against the Yorktown at noon and 2.40pm, which caused severe damage to the Yorktown. At 3.30pm Admiral Yamamoto gave the order for the Akagi to be scuttled by torpedo as it had not been possible to save her. By 5pm the Kaga had also succumbed to her wounds and sank. At the same time the Hiryu's luck ran out when she was spotted and attacked by dive-bombers from the Enterprise. Hit by four bombs, the Hiryu was set on fire from stem to stern and had to be scuttled by her crew. Farther north, aircraft from the Japanese 2nd Carrier Strike Force bomb Dutch harbor in the Aleutians as planned, damaging the islands fuel tanks and a US ship. US efforts to locate this force are unsuccessful (Battle Footage).
Lillian Porter
1943: The House of Commons rejects any lifting of the economic blockade against occupied Europe.
1943: A Military coup takes place in Argentina, with the army occupying Buenos Aires.
1943: Luftwaffe bombers attack the massive Russian tank factory's at Gorki.
Lillian Porter
1944: Eisenhower postpones 'Operation Overlord', the allied invasion of France, for 24 hours because of rough seas in the English Channel.
1944: The RAF carries out heavy night raids against German coastal batteries and fortifications in Normandy.
1944: U-505, patrolling off Cape Blanco on the West African coast is forced to the surface by depth-charges from the U.S. destroyer escort Chatelain and is captured intact and towed to Bermuda by the escort carrier Guadalcanal. (More Info)
Walter Kidde Ad - June 1944
1944: The U.S. Fifth Army enters Rome.
1944: The first B29 (Superfortress) combat mission is made against the Bangkok railway.
1945: U.S. troops land on the Oriko peninsula of Okinawa.
Lillian Porter
*Lillian Mary Porter was born on February 24, 1917 in Alameda County, California, USA. Lillian "Mousie" Porter was a contract actress with 20th Century Fox. The name "Mousie" came about when Darrel F. Zanuck, the Fox mogul, quipped, "You're a cute little mouse." Indeed. Check out her every-camera-angle beauty and impeccable comedic timing in such Fox A-list gems as "Song of the Islands" (1942) starring Betty Grable and Victor Mature. Even with a scene-stealer like Jack Oakie, you can't take your eyes off Mousie. The nickname "Mousie" was a joke to those who knew Lillian because, though diminiutive in size, she was not "mousie" at all. Lillian appeared in 40 films (many uncredited) such as "A Yank in the R.A.F." (1941), "Footlight Serenade" (1942), and "Pin Up Girl" (1944). She also appeared in an episode of the TV series "Judge Roy Bean" in early 1956, along with her husband and stepdaughter Sandra Hayden. She retired after marrying Cowboy star Russell Hayden on July 11, 1946. Hayden, along with fellow cowboy actor Dick Curtis, helped develop Pioneertown, a western movie set location in Southern California that was used for many film and TV westerns. They remained married until his death in 1981, but apparently the union was childless, though Russell had a daughter, Sandra, who would also become an actress, from a previous marriage with actress Jan Clayton. One evening in September of 1956, Sandra was driving on Coldwater Canyon Road on her way from Jan Clayton's home to Russ and Mousie's. The actress was wearing her contact lenses and not her glasses, which family members later felt put her at risk for night driving. In the ensuing traffic accident, the young heiress to two fortunes died at the scene.
Lillian Porter died February 1, 1997, San Bernardino, California, several weeks before her 80th birthday from undisclosed causes.
Seaforth For Men Ad - June 1945
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Morning all. 62F under clear skies. Our warmup continues today. Sunshine and clouds mixed. Winds out of the SW at 5-10 mph. High of 83F.
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Ethyl Corporation Ad - June 1942
1940: All aliens and stateless persons living in Britain are forbidden to leave home between 10:30pm and 6am.
1940: Churchill orders the setting up of commando forces to be used for raiding occupied Europe.
*Julie Adams
1940: The last night of the Dunkirk evacuation sees 26,700 French soldiers lifted from the beaches. This brings the total rescued to 224,686 British, 121,445 French and Belgian troops. Most of the French opt to return to France to continue the fight. During the evacuation, 177 aircraft were lost (Germans lost 140 aircraft).
1940: Admiralty announce the loss of six destroyers, 24 small warships and participation of 222 British naval vessels and 665 other craft in Dunkirk operation. 226 vessels are sunk altogether.
Julie Adams
1940: 300 German planes bomb Paris inflicting around 900 casualties.
1940: British and French forces start to evacuate from Narvik in northern Norway.
Julie Adams
1941: Attlee memorandum approved 2,430,000 to 19,000 at Labour Party conference: 'A necessary prelude to a just peace is a total victory.'
1941: Ex-Kaiser Wilhelm II, dies in exile in Holland.
1941: New Iraqi government is formed.
Buick Ad - June 1942
1942: Task Force 16 (Spruance) and 17 (Fletcher) meet 350 miles north-east of Midway. Admiral Fletcher takes overall command of the joint task force, although the two would act separately. US land based aircraft from Midway spot the Japanese Transport Force about 600 miles from Midway. They launch attacks against this force, but without success. US reconnaissance aircraft spot the 2 carriers of the Japanese 2nd Carrier Striking Force, which were about 400 miles from Kiska in the Aleutians.
1943: The first fruits of victory reach British shops, Algerian wine.
Julie Adams
1944: Hitler allows Kesselring to withdraw from Rome, which has now been declared an 'Open City'.
1944: The Japanese rearguard at Kohima retreats, ending a 64 day battle.
Julie Adams
*Julie Adams (age 88-2015) was born Betty May Adams on October 17, 1926 in Waterloo, Iowa. Although born in the Hawkeye State, Julie Adams grew up in Arkansas and made her acting debut in a third grade play, "Hansel and Gretel". Deciding to become an actress, she moved to California, where she worked three days a week as a secretary (to support herself) and spent the remainder of her time taking speech lessons and making the rounds at the various studios' casting departments. Her first movie role was playing a starlet, appropriately enough, in Paramount's "Red, Hot and Blue" (1949), followed by a leading role in the Lippert Western "The Dalton Gang" (1949). Over a period of five weeks, she appeared in six more quickie Lippert Westerns. Adams' first big show biz break was at Universal, when she appeared in a screen test opposite All-American footballer Leon Hart, a Detroit Lions end. It was Hart who was being considered by the studio, but the gridiron star flopped while Universal execs flipped over Adams. The studio changed her first name from Betty to Julia (and later to Julie). Adams was featured as the bathing beauty Kay Lawrence in 1954's "Creature from the Black Lagoon".
Julie Adams
Later in her career, she played guest starring roles for television, including "12 O'Clock High", "The Gallant Men", "Maverick", "The F.B.I.", "The Big Valley", "The Man and the Challenge", "Mannix", "Cagney & Lacey", and as real estate agent "Eve Simpson" on "Murder, She Wrote". Most recent TV appearances are the shows "CSI: NY", "Cold Case", and "Lost".
Adams died on February 3, 2019 in Los Angeles, California, aged 92. She is survived by her two sons. Her cremains are buried at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Malvern, Arkansas.
TRIVIA:
Height: 5' 6" (1.68 m)
Measurements: 35-25-36
Universal publicity in the '50s claimed that her legs won an award as "the most perfectly symmetrical in the world" and that they were insured for $125,000.
Julie Adams was married to actor/director Ray Danton from 1954 until 1981; they had two sons: Steven Danton, an assistant director, and Mitchell Danton, an editor.
Buick Ad - June 1945
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Morning all. 60F under clear skies. Turning mostly cloudy. A stray shower of thunderstorm is possible. Winds out of the E at 5-10 mph. High of 78F.
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Dodge Ad - June 1943
1940: 26,200 British and French troops are evacuated from the beaches at Dunkirk today. Virtually all British soldiers have now been evacuated and so the remaining French troops have taken over the defense of the perimeter.
1941: US statement of policy respecting French possessions in the Western Hemisphere.
1941: Hitler and Mussolini meet at the Brenner Pass on the German-Italian border to discuss the progress of the war.
*Irene Hervey
1941: Goring tells the Luftwaffe 'There is no unconquerable island'. The Ruhr industrial area bombed by RAF.
1941: Vichy publishes anti-Semitic legislation based on German laws. Jews banned from public office.
1941: A Greek government-in-exile is formed in Egypt.
Irene Hervey
1942: The RAF' launches it's second 1,000 bomber raid (although only 956 took off) and hits Essen, but due to the haze over the city, the results were minimal and the RAF lost 31 aircraft. Nevertheless, Churchill was highly impressed and sanctioned further raids on this scale.
1942: The Germans begin a five day bombardment, using all the artillery at their disposal, including super heavy siege artillery, against Sevastopol in order to soften up the defenses ready for the main assault.
Champion Spark Plugs Ad - June 1944
1943: The Red Air Force bombs Kiev and Roslavl, while the Luftwaffe bombs Kursk.
1943: Japanese forces are reported to be in full retreat on Yangtze.
Irene Hervey
1944: U.S. troops are now only 20 miles from Rome.
1944: The Bulgarian government seeks terms of surrender from the western allies.
1944: The first shuttle raid, operation 'Frantic' is made by 130 B-17s of the US 15th Air Force based at Tripoli. The raid attacks rail yards at Debrecen in Hungary and then flies on to Soviet airfields at Poltava in the Ukraine.
Irene Hervey
1944: Secret negotiations between the Romanian government of Marshal Antonescu and representatives of the Soviet Union begin in Stockholm, Sweden.
1944: The British 2nd Division begins its advance to relieve Imphal as the Japanese renew attacks on Bishenpur. The Chinese besiege Myitkyina, near the Chinese border in northern Burma.
Irene Hervey
*Born Beulah Irene Herwick on July 11, 1909 in Venice, California, Irene Hervey began her acting career after being introduced to a casting agent from MGM. After a successful screen test, she was signed by the studio and made her screen debut in the 1933 film "The Stranger's Return", opposite Lionel Barrymore. Though signed by MGM, Hervey was loaned out by the studio and appeared in several films including United Artists' "The Count of Monte Cristo" (1934) and "With Words and Music", released by Grand National Films, Inc..
In 1936, Hervey left MGM and signed with Universal Pictures. While at Universal, Hervey appeared in "The League of Frightened Men" (1937) and "Destry Rides Again" (1939) with Marlene Dietrich and James Stewart.
In 1943, Hervey was seriously injured in a car accident and was forced to retire from acting for five years.
Irene Hervey
Hervey returned to acting in 1948 with the film "Mickey", followed by "Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid". By the early 1950s, she began appearing in the new medium of the era; television. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, Hervey appeared in several television shows including "Richard Diamond, Private Detective" (1 episode, 1959), "Peter Gunn" (1 episode, 1961), Perry Mason (3 episodes, 1958-1963), "Hawaiian Eye" (2 episodes, 1961-1962) and "The Twilight Zone" (1964). In 1965, she landed a regular role on "The Young Marrieds", followed by a stint on the short lived series "Honey West" as the titular character's Aunt Meg.
In 1969, Hervey was nominated for an Emmy Award for her appearance on "My Three Sons". After roles in "Cactus Flower" and the 1971 film "Play Misty for Me" with Clint Eastwood, Hervey retired from acting. She took a job working at a travel agency in Sherman Oaks, California and briefly returned to acting in 1978 with a role in "Charlie's Angels". In 1981, she made her last onscreen appearance in the television movie "Goliath Awaits".
As a teenager, Hervey married her first husband William Fenderson in 1929 and had a daughter, Gail, before divorcing. In 1936, she met and married actor Allan Jones. The couple had a son, singer Jack Jones (famous for singing the theme song for the TV Series "The Love Boat"), before divorcing in 1957.
Irene Hervey died on December 20, 1998 of heart failure in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, aged 89.
Dodge Ad - June 1944
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Morning all. 55F under cloudy skies with fog. Partly cloudy this afternoon with winds out of the south at 5-10 mph. High of 74F.
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Packard Ad - June 1944
1940: All signposts which might be helpful to parachutists landing in Britain taken down. Unemployment in Britain falls 92,000 in May to 881,000, giving a total fall of 611,000 in a year.
1940: German onslaught continues at Dunkirk. General Lord Gort, C-in-C BEF, returns from Flander's with another 64,400 troops who were evacuated off the beaches this day. However, in future, the evacuation will only continue during the hours of darkness due to the high losses of warships to daylight air attacks.
*Frances Gifford
1940: British forces evacuate the Bodo area of Norway, 120 miles S-W of Narvik.
1940: The British destroyers Keith, Basilisk and Havant and the transport Scotia are sunk by Luftwaffe dive bombers, near Dunkirk.
1940: Luftwaffe raids industrial centres in the Rhone Valley from Lyons to Marseilles.
Frances Gifford
1941: Clothes rationing introduced in Britain.
1941: The Luftwaffe carries out a night raid (110 bombers) on Manchester.
1941: The heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen arrives in Brest.
Frances Gifford
1941: The evacuation of Crete is completed, with 17,000 British, Commonwealth and Greek troops being rescued, although the Australians lose more than half their contingent. Final figures for the British are 16,500 killed, wounded or captured, along with a large number of warships sunk or damaged, while the Germans lose about 6,200 men.
1941: Stukas sink the British cruiser Calcutta off Alexandria.
1941: British forces enter Baghdad and reinstate the Regent.
Frances Gifford
1942: America begins sending Lend-Lease materials to the Soviet Union. Convoy PQ-17.
1942: Mexico declares war on Germany, Italy and Japan.
1942: Himmler is put in charge of the German ARP system.
Frances Gifford
1942: The siege of Sevastopol by the 11th Army continues with a round-the-clock bombardment by heavy artillery and Luftwaffe bombers.
1942: Hitler arrives at Poltava, the HQ of Army Group South to approve Field Marshal von Bocks plan for the main offensive. A high level plan had been prepared to make the Russians believe that Moscow was still the objective, Goebbels organised leaks to this effect to the foreign press while Army Group Centre made overt preparations for an offensive under the cover-name of 'Kremlin'.
1942: Jews in Belgium, Croatia, Slovakia, Romania ordered to wear yellow stars.
1942: Rommel takes the fortified 'box' that is held by the British 150th Brigade in the Gazala defensive line and secures the 'Cauldron'. This enables him to get much needed supplies flowing. Rommel now turns the German 90th Light Division and the Italian Ariete Armoured Division against Bir Hacheim in an attempt to wipe out the Free French garrison which still holds out. He also distracts the British by sending the 21st Panzer Division northeast to operate nearer to Tobruk.
Packard Ad - June 1944
1943: Eden announces that Empire casualties in first three years of war are 92,089 killed, 226,719 missing, 88,294 wounded and 107,891 captured.
1943: The British actor Leslie Howard, flying back to Britain from a five-week lecture tour in Spain and Portugal boosting the Allied cause, is killed when his DC-3 airliner is shot down by German fighter planes over the Bay of Biscay. Although it came to be believed that the real target was Howard's manager, Alfred Chenhalls, who bore a passing resemblance to Winston Churchill, it now appears certain that Howard was the actual target. Alerted to Howard's presence in the Iberian Peninsula by German agents, Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels had ordered the plane shot down in order to silence the outspoken anti-Nazi actor.
1943: The allied 2nd Tactical Air Force is formed in UK.
Frances Gifford
1943: BdU (C-in-C U-boats) adopts a new policy of fighting back at Allied sub-hunting aircraft with the U-boats' own AA guns while crossing the Bay of Biscay on the surface. This tactic proves to be largely unsuccessful and is soon abandoned.
1943: The Red Air Force attacks German rear communications and airfields at Smolensk, Orel and Bryansk.
Frances Gifford
1944: The British Eighth Army captures Frosinone to the South East of Rome.
1945: Byrnes and Committee advise the President to drop the bomb.
1945: U.S. troops make new landings on Okinawa as forces from the East and West coasts link up South of Shuri.
Frances Gifford
*Mary Frances Gifford was born on December 7, 1920 in Long Beach, California and at the age of 16 had applied to UCLA School of Law with no intention of pursuing an acting career. With a friend, she visited the studios of Samuel Goldwyn to watch a film being made and while there was spotted by a talent scout who brought her to the attention of Goldwyn, who signed her for an acting contract. After only receiving minor roles, she moved to RKO where she was cast in several uncredited supporting roles in films of the late 1930s, including "Stage Door" (1937) starring Katharine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers.
In 1938 at the age of 18, she married character actor James Dunn and in 1939 landed her first leading role, in the low-budget "Mercy Plane", opposite her husband. A planned retirement was interrupted briefly when she played another uncredited role in James Stewart's break-out film "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939). She played several more minor roles before she was, in 1941, loaned to Republic Pictures and cast in the role which would arguably produce her most enduring fame: as the semi-clad, Nyoka in "Jungle Girl", a 15-chapter movie serial, based on the novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The role was the first time since Pearl White in the silent era that a female actor had played the lead in the movie serial genre. The following year, Republic made a sequel "Perils of Nyoka" but Gifford was no longer available and the heroine's part was played by Kay Aldridge. With Gifford's film career gaining momentum and Dunn's on the decline partly due to his battle with alcoholism, the marriage had failed by 1942. She left RKO for Paramount Pictures where she acted in several films including "The Glass Key" (1942). In 1943 she made another Tarzan type movie with Johnny Weissmuller in "Tarzan Triumphs" at RKO. That year she also left Paramount and moved to the prestigious Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio with the sponsorship of an MGM executive.
Frances Gifford
At MGM there was more success playing leading roles in such films as "Our Vines Have Tender Grapes" (1945) and "She Went to the Races" (1945) and the more notable "The Arnelo Affair" (1947). She also played in supporting roles including "Thrill of a Romance" (1945) with Esther Williams, and "Luxury Liner" (1948) with Jane Powell.
In 1948 Gifford was almost killed in a car accident, receiving severe head injuries, an event which sidelined her career and her health. She attempted a comeback in two early 1950s films, "Sky Commando" (1953) and "Riding High" (1950). However, during the 1950s her mental and physical health declined to the point where she was placed into Camarillo State Mental Hospital in 1958. She would spend almost the entire next 25 years in and out of various institutions.
In 1983 a journalist found her working in the Pasadena, California city library having apparently recovered. Gifford spent her final years in quiet obscurity and died of emphysema in a convalescent center in Pasadena on January 16, 1994 at the age of 73. Despite reports that she is the sister of football star Frank Gifford (also from southern California), the latter clearly indicates in his autobiography that his 'clan' consisted of a brother Waine and a sister Winona. Frances, evidently, was no relation.
Packard Ad - June 1945
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Morning all. 57F under cloudy skies. Cloudy early, followed by partial clearing. Winds out of the SSW at 5-10 mph. High of 73F. Tonight variably cloudy with scattered thunderstorms. Low around 50F.
Rest in Peace to all that gave the ultimate sacrifice.
Never forget!
This Day in WWII 12 June 1940 - 1945
in Ready Room
Posted
1940: General Sir Edmond Ironside, C-in-C of British Home Forces, completes plans for the defense of Britain against German invasion.
1940: On the orders from General Weygand, C-in-C of the French Army, the French forces opposing the advance of Army Group A withdraw to the South, offering little resistance. The Germans cross the River Marne, consolidate bridgehead South of the Seine and claim to have occupied Rheims. Four French divisions and most of the British 51st Highland Division is cut off and captured by Rommel at St. Valery-en-Caux.
1940: The Soviet Union issues an ultimatum to Lithuania, demanding that the Red Army be allowed to occupy the country.
1940: RAF bomb docks in Tobruk, Libya.
1940: Italian submarine Bagnolini sinks British cruiser Calypso south of Crete.
1941: The RAF raids the Ruhr, Rhineland and German ports in the first of 20 consecutive night raids.
1941: The German pocket battleship Lützow (formerly Deutschland) is attacked and damaged by RAF aircraft off the southern coast of Norway.
1942: Rommel, having now brought up tank reserves, could now muster 124 tanks against the 248 British tanks. He therefore attacked the British positions between Knightsbridge and El Adem, trapping much of the British armor.
1943: The RAF launches a heavy raid on Bochum in the Ruhr. The Luftwaffe carries out a night attack against Plymouth.
1943: King George VI lands in Morocco, only his second sanctioned visit of the war to forces overseas.
1944: U.S. troops fighting for Carentan, link up with British troops, thereby completing a solid line along a 50-mile battle front. So far, the allies have landed 326,000 men and 54,000 vehicles onto the Normandy beaches.
1944: Rosenberg orders operation 'Hay Action', the kidnapping of 40,000 Polish children aged ten to fourteen for slave labour in Germany.
1945: Eisenhower is awarded the Order of Merit and becomes the first U.S. recipient.
*Joy Hodges was born Frances Eloise Hodges in Des Moines, Iowa on January 22, 1915. At the age of eight, she became one half of the Bluebird Twins, performing across Iowa, and later at high school was part of a trio named the Crooning Co-eds. Often cited as the woman who helped future President of the United States Ronald Reagan get his first big break in film, actress Joy Hodges proved a formidable talent of stage and screen who also possessed a remarkable singing voice. After making an impression in such films as "To Beat the Band" (1935) and "The Family Next Door" (1939) Hodges sang with such big bands as those of Ozzie Nelson and Glenn Miller, and numerous Broadway roles were soon to follow. She appeared with Fred Astaire in "Follow the Fleet" (1936) and in 1937 was singing at Hollywood's Biltmore Bowl and in various Broadway musicals, including 'I'd Rather Be Right'. In 1946 she had the lead role in 'Nellie Bly', and as late as 1972 took over from Ruby Keeler in the Broadway revival of 'No, No, Nanette'.
Married three times, firstly to Gil Doorly from 1939 - 1941, then to Paul Helmund and finally, until his death, to Eugene Scheiss, she appeared frequently on stage, in films and on TV and radio. Her career began when she won a talent contest at the Paramount Theatre, and in 1935 she signed a 5-year contract with RKO.
She met Mr. Reagan in Des Moines, where he was an announcer and sportscaster and she sang on the radio station WHO. When Mr. Reagan was assigned to cover the Chicago Cubs' spring training on Catalina Island in 1937, he stopped in Hollywood to visit Miss Hodges and asked her advice about getting into acting. Advising Reagan to "ditch the glasses" if he wanted to become an actor, she subsequently set him up for a meeting that eventually lead to a contract with Warner Bros. Ronald Reagan kept in touch with Joy for over 60 years, and she was a frequent guest at the White House, where she once sat next to President Gorbachev at dinner. On January 19, 2003, Joy Hodges died of a stroke in Palm Desert, CA. She was 88.