Donster

Morning all. 41F under cloudy skies. Isolated rain or snow possible today. Highs will be about 20 degrees below seasonal normals the next couple days. A cold front moving through today may produce an isolated rain or snow shower in the area, though impacts are expected to be minimal. High today of 43F.

American Locomotive Ad - April 1943 1940: 'State of Siege' is extended to the whole of Netherlands. 1941: London receives another heavy pounding by the Luftwaffe. *Linda Christian 1941: A Brigade from the British 10th Indian Division land at Basra in southern Iraq. 1941: The Germans attack south through Greece on a wide front. The Greek Government agrees that British forces should be evacuated. General Wilson plans to make a strong stand at Thermopylae, to cover the withdrawal of his troops to ports in the Peloponnese. Linda Christian 1942: Resistance on Cebu Island ends as the US-Filipino garrison surrenders to the Japanese. 1943: During World War II, tens of thousands of Jews living in the Warsaw Ghetto began a valiant but futile battle against Nazi forces. Assoc. of American RailRoads Ad - April 1943 1945: The British Second Army reaches the Elbe and launches an attack on Bremen. The U.S. First Army captures Leipzig and Halle, 50 miles South of Magdeburg. On the eve of Hitler's 56th birthday, Dr. Goebbels exhorts the nation and predicts that in spite of all misfortunes Germany will yet prevail, that the "perverse coalition between Bolshevism and Plutocracy" is about to break up, and that it is Adolf Hitler ("Our Hitler!") who will still turn back the tide and save Europe, as he has thus far, from falling into the clutches of the Kremlin. 1945: The 1st Belorussian Front finally breaks through the German defenses on the Seelow heights, despite heavy losses in men and tanks (over 400 in two days) and races towards Berlin. 1945: U.S. troops encounter very stiff resistance by the Japanese at 'Bloody Ridge' on Ie Island. Linda Christian **Born Blanca Rosa Welter in Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico, her father was an executive with an important oil company and the future Linda Christian followed him from country to country: South Africa, Romania, Germany, France, Switzerland, England, Palestine. This was beneficial in that the little girl - a very good pupil at school - was eventually able to speak seven different foreign languages. She also turned into a shapely young lady who won a beauty contest. She started studying medicine in Palestine but had to be repatriated to the USA due to the international situation. She landed in Los Angeles and naturally considered a movie career there. She studied drama but got nothing but minor parts for years. She really became famous when she married Tyrone Power and her career somewhat improved. But it is scandal more than her film roles that long made her a favorite of the media, of the celebrity press rather than of specialized movie magazines. In her youth Christian's only aspiration was to become a physician. After she graduated from secondary school she had a fortuitous meeting with her screen idol Errol Flynn, and was persuaded by him to give up her hopes of joining the medical profession, move to Hollywood, and pursue an acting career. Not long after arriving in Hollywood she was spotted by Louis B. Mayer's secretary at a fashion show in Beverly Hills. He offered, and she accepted, a seven year contract with MGM. She made her film debut in the 1944 musical comedy "Up In Arms", co-starring Danny Kaye and Dinah Shore. This movie also happened to be Danny Kaye's own first film. This film was followed by "Holiday In Mexico" in 1946, "Captain From Castile" in 1947, and what was perhaps her best-known film, 1948's "Tarzan and the Mermaids". Linda Christian Linda Christian's fame, however, is derived largely from having wed (and divorced) the popular movie actor Tyrone Power. She and Power are the parents of actress Taryn Power and singer Romina Power, one half of the famous Italian singing duo Al Bano & Romina Power. Christian was later also briefly married to the Rome-based British actor (and movie heartthrob) Edmund Purdom. Several times Christian and Power were offered the opportunity to work together, but for various reasons each offer was refused or rescinded. The most notable opportunity to co-star with one another came in 1953, when they were offered leading roles in "From Here to Eternity". Power didn't wish to do the film, rejected the offer, and the roles went to Donna Reed and Montgomery Clift, winning Donna Reed an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Christian's autobiography, Linda, was published in 1962. Linda Christian died on July 22, 2011 in Palm Desert, California, at the age of 87. Lockheed Ad - April 1943

Morning all. 43F under cloudy skies. Partly cloudy skies late morning throughout the rest of the day with relatively light westerly winds and a high of 60F.

Kodak Ad - April 1943 1940: British submarine Starlet sunk off Norway. 1940: Germans advance further north of Oslo. More British troops are landed at Aandalesnes in Norway with the plan of co-operating with the British and French troops already at Namsos to surround and then retake Trondheim. However, the Norwegian commander, General Ruge persuaded the Aandalesnes force, to move south in order to give support to his troops still holding out at Lillehammer. *Mary Castle 1941: Britain warns that if Cairo is bombed, then the RAF will attack Rome. 1941: The German 12th Army forces a crossing of the river Aliakmon between the Greek First Army and the British forces. Athens is placed under martial law. Greek Prime Minister, Alexandros Korizis commits suicide. Mary Castle 1942: The entire US eastern seaboard is ordered to black-out its lights at night, in an attempt to reduce the success of the U-boats at night. 1942: Colonel James H. Doolittle leads 16 US Army B25 bombers from the carrier Hornet in first ever air raid on Japan. They took of from the carrier Hornet, about 750 miles east of Tokyo. Escort fighters were provided by the carrier Enterprise. Bombs were dropped on Tokyo, Kobe, Yokohama, Nagoya and Yokosuka. Only one aircraft was damaged during the raid, although all 16 were lost on crash landings in China. The material damage inflicted by the raid was minimal, although the damage to Japanese prestige was considerable and gave the allies a boost when their fortunes in the Pacific were at a low ebb. WATCH VIDEO 1942: The Headquarters of the southwest Pacific theatre are established in Melbourne. Mary Castle 1943: The German 17th Army begins its attacks to eliminate the Russian beachhead at Novorossiysk, but fails and gives up on the 23rd April. 1943: U.S. code breakers pinpoint the location of Japanese Admiral Yamamoto flying in a Japanese bomber near Bougainville in the Solomon Islands. "Operation Vengeance" is conceived to locate and shoot down Yamamoto. Eighteen P-38 fighters from the U.S. Army's 339th Fighter Squadron of the 347th Fighter Group, Thirteenth Air Force, was given the mission. Their P-38G aircraft, equipped with drop tanks, would have the range to intercept and engage. (MORE INFO) Kodak Ad - April 1944 1944: The Foreign Office bans all coded messages from foreign embassies and says that diplomatic bags are to be censored. Only the fighting allies are to be excluded from the ban. 1944: The Russians take Balaclava. Mary Castle 1944: The first reinforcements for the British garrison at Kohima begin to arrive. Japanese forces launch a new offensive in central China. 1945: The Ruhr pocket is finally annihilated, with 317,000 Germans being captured, including 29 generals. The U.S. Ninth Army takes Magdeburg. The U.S. First Army enters Düsseldorf. General De Lattre's French troops link up at Freudenstadt behind the Black Forest. The British Second Army captures ülzen and Lüneburg. The US Third Army captures Nürnberg advancing units across the German/Czechoslovakian frontier. Mary Castle 1945: Between Stettin and Schwedt the 2nd Belorussian front breaks through the Oder defenses, pressuring Army Group Weichsel even more. The 1st Ukrainian Front captures Forst on the Neisse river. North of Frankfurt, while the 1st Belorussian Front continues its attack to take the Seelow Heights, gradually wearing down the vastly outnumbered German defenders. 1945: The British Fourteenth Army in central Burma captures the Chaulk oil centre on the Irrawaddy. 1945: Famed American war correspondent Ernie Pyle, 44, was killed by Japanese gunfire on the Pacific island of Ie Shima, off Okinawa. Mary Castle *Castle was born as Mary Ann Noblett on Jan 22, 1931 in Pampa, Texas. Her mother was one-sixteenth Quapaw Indian. Castle's Noblett ancestors originally settled in the Appalachian Mountains of Georgia and North Carolina. She was a third cousin of actress Irene Noblette Ryan, known for her role as Daisy Moses, a.k.a. Granny Clampett, of CBS's hit comedy, The Beverly Hillbillies. Mary and Irene descended from Noblets who were Quaker immigrants to Pennsylvania from Ireland. This family were originally a long line of Norman lords known as Noblet and Noblette, traced back to their ancestor's days of service under William the Conqueror in 1066. Religious persecution as Hugenots drove this Noblet line from Normandy about 1700. The Nobletts moved to Fort Worth, Texas, then Phillips, subsequently a ghost town in Hutchinson County, Texas, prior to relocating to Long Beach, California. At the age of nine, Castle was stricken with pneumonia. Her brother, Erby Noblett, Jr. (19271992), taught her trick riding and later became a police officer in Long Beach. In 1946, Castle gave birth to an out-of-wedlock daughter in Los Angeles. In 1955, the then eight-year-old child was reportedly seriously ill in a Long Beach hospital. At nineteen, Castle was a model for a bathing suit company. A studio scout became interested in her after seeing her photograph in a magazine. In August 1950, she was dubbed the "lady who looks more like Hayworth than Hayworth does." Her first contract was said to have been granted solely on the basis that the red-haired Castle indeed resembled Hayworth. Harry Cohn, boss of Columbia Pictures, was said to have envisioned Castle as a replacement for Hayworth, who had married Prince Aly Khan and was rearing a family. Castles's first credited role was as Flo in the 1950 film "The Tougher They Come". In 1951, she appeared as Toni Eaton in "Prairie Roundup", as Rita Bagley in Gene Autry's "Texans Never Cry", as Elizabeth Leeds in "When the Redskins Rode", and as Gloria Lydendecker in "Criminal Lawyer". Her first television appearance occurred in 1952 as Marcia Thorne in the episode "One Angle Too Many" of the detective series "Racket Squad". In 1953, she appeared as Jane Brown in "The Lawless Breed" and as Yvonne Durante in "Three Steps to the Gallows". She then appeared in twenty-six of the thirty-nine episodes of "Stories of the Century", the first western to win an Emmy Award. The series focuses upon the capture of such western outlaws as Billy the Kid, the Dalton Brothers, the Younger Brothers, and Sam Bass. Castle left the series and was replaced by Kristine Miller. Mary Castle In 1956, she appeared on "The Bob Cummings Show", also known as "Love That Bob", in the episode "The Trouble with Henry". In 1957, she guest starred in an unnamed role on ABC's "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet", as Enid Shaw in "The Case of the Baited Hook" on CBS's "Perry Mason", and as Alice Wilson in "Test of Courage" of ABC's "Cheyenne", starring Clint Walker. She appeared too in Frank Lovejoy's detective series, "Meet McGraw". In 1959, she appeared on Rex Allen's "Frontier Doctor" syndicated series. In 1960, Castle appeared as Marianne in the episode "The Chinese Pendant" of CBS's crime drama "Tightrope" starring Mike Connors. Castle's last television appearance was as an unnamed saloon girl in the 1962 episode "Collie's Free" of James Arness's long-running CBS western "Gunsmoke". She had also appeared as Cora Dufrayne in the 1953 Audie Murphy film also entitled "Gunsmoke". In September 1957, Castle was arrested for public intoxication after she allegedly attempted to kick and bite two deputy sheriffs, John Aiken and K.H. Smiley, in Hollywood. The officers said that they found Castle fighting with her first husband in a parked car while her ten-year-old daughter cried in the back seat. On September 14, 1959, Castle was revived by artificial respiration and taken to Malibu Emergency Hospital after being found lifeless and nearly nude on the beach in Malibu, Florida, after a gay midnight swim. She had been overcome after two different plunges into the surf. She and a friend, Carol Erickson, arrived from Houston, Texas, and decided to escape the heat wave. A bartender from their hotel, Roy Yiurria, went along with them for the dip. He claims he pulled her from the surf when he thought she was drowning, and when he returned after calling officers, he found her back in the water. The press reports she wore only panties and a bra and had to be rescued by a bartender. On October 28, 1959, she was arrested again and fined for drunkenness. A month later on November 26, she tries to hang herself in jail after being booked as a drunk in Beverly Hills, California. She twisted her dress into a noose and attached one end to a cell door and placed the other end around her neck. She is found in a semi-conscious state. She is revived and released on $105 bail. The police say she fought, bit, kicked, hit, and swore at officers when they arrested her as a drunk in an automobile at night. She claims she had been drinking heavily because she was despondent over divorce troubles. Castle was involved romantically with several men, including the then young actor Richard Long. She ultimately had three short-lived marriages. From 1957-1958, she was wed to William France Minchen (December 5, 1930 August 3, 1997), who used the stage name William Grant. They soon divorced, and he remarried. He died at the age of sixty-six in Sugar Land, near Houston, Texas. Castle was married from 1960-1961 to Wayne Cote (January 2, 1931-January 22, 2000), of Agoura Hills in Los Angeles County, who died twenty days after his 69th birthday and on the day which would have been Castle's 69th birthday. Castle and her third husband, Erwin A. Frezza, location unknown, were wed fro 1971-1972. Castle spent her later years in Lodi in San Joaquin County, California. She died of lung cancer at the age of sixty-seven on April 29, 1998 in Palm Springs, California. At the end she had only one quarter of one lung to breathe from. Kodak Ad - April 1944

Morning all. 45F under partly cloudy skies. Cool, quiet, and mostly cloudy today. High of 58F.

Chevrolet Ad - April 1943 1940: Royal Navy Heavy cruiser "Suffolk" bombards installations at Stavanger, but on her return is badly damaged by Ju-88 bombers and barely makes Scapa Flow with her stern awash. 1941: Yugoslavia surrenders, with the Wehrmacht taking 334,000 prisoners. King Peter of Yugoslavia is flown to Athens and then on to London by the RAF. *Anne Jeffreys 1942: The RAF makes a daylight raid against Augsburg in southern Germany with 14 Lancaster bombers. The raid is pressed home with great gallantry, with squadron leader J.D. Nettleton being awarded the VC. However, 7 aircraft are lost, which convinces Air Marshal Harris that daylight raids by heavy bombers were too costly. 1943: Germans find buried polish officers at Katyn Wood. Anne Jeffreys 1943: The U.S. War Manpower Commission orders 27 million workers in industries deemed essential to the war effort not to leave their positions for any reason. 1944: Amid rumors in the allied press that he is dead or is locked in an insane asylum, Hitler appears, but does not speak at the funeral in Munich of Gauleiter Adolf Wagner. It is the first time Hitler has shown himself publicly since his speech to the "Old Fighters" the previous November. Anne Jeffreys 1945: The battle for Berlin escalates a breakthrough is made by the 1st Ukrainian front. However, the 1st Belorussian Fronts offensive against Berlin is stalled by tenacious German resistance on the Seelow Heights, 2 miles West of the Oder, with great losses of troops and tanks for the Russians. The situation for the German 6th SS Panzer Army in Austria is now critical at St.Polten. The Russians occupies Wilhelmsburg. Anne Jeffreys *The ever-lovely, poised and vivacious blonde Anne Jeffreys was born Anne Carmichael on January 26, 1923 in 1923 in Goldsboro, North Carolina. Firmly managed by her mother, she trained in voice at a fairly early age and received her first break in the entertainment field after signing with the John Robert Powers agency in New York as a junior model. In the interim, she prepared herself for an operatic career and made her debut in a production of "La Boheme" in 1940. The following year, however, Anne won a role in the musical review "Fun for the Money" that was to be staged in Hollywood. This, in turn, led to her first movie role in the tuneful Rodgers & Hart adaptation of "I Married an Angel" (1942) starring her singing idols Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald in their last cinematic pairing. Put under contract respectively by Republic then RKO studios, Anne was utilized as a plucky heroine in a flux of 40s "B" westerns and crimers opposite such stalwarts as Robert Mitchum and Randolph Scott. Also among her roles was the part of Tess Trueheart in the "Dick Tracy" series with Morgan Conway as the steel-jawed hero, and a co-star role opposite Frank Sinatra in the war-era musical "Step Lively" (1944). None of these, however, were able to propel her into the "A" ranks and her film career quickly dissipated by the end of the 40s. In the meantime, Anne continued to prod her vocal skills with symphonic and stage appearances including "Tosca" at the Brooklyn Opera House, Kurt Weill's "Street Scene" and the Broadway musical "My Romance". Actress Anne Jeffreys poses in the aptly named "Co-bra," a brassiere made from skin of the hooded King Cobra snake. Jeffreys told reporters the skin was sent to her from an American GI stationed in Burma (uncredited press photo dated February 15, 1944). Divorced in 1949, Anne met handsome actor Robert Sterling during an extended run (887 performances) of "Kiss Me Kate" on Broadway. She and Sterling married in 1951 and had three sons. In an attempt to revive their flagging careers, the singing couple toured nighteries and hotels in the early 1950s with a highly successful club act. This led to them being cast as sly, engagingly cavalier spirits in the classic "Topper" (1953) sitcom. Anne played Marion Kirby ("the ghostess with the mostest") alongside Sterling's dapper husband George. Successfully, undertaking the ectoplasmic roles originated on film by Constance Bennett and Cary Grant, the two were an absolute hit as the party-hearty ghosts who reclaim their home to the dismay of current owner Leo G. Carroll. Anne and Robert weren't able to recreate that same kind of magic when they subsequently co-starred in the short-lived series "Love That Jill" (1958). In the 1960s Anne semi-retired to raise her family, but occasionally took on musical leads ("Camelot", "The King and I") both on Broadway and in regional productions. She later returned full time to TV and became known for her chic, gregarious, sometimes double-dealing matrons on soap operas ("Bright Promise" (1969) and "General Hospital" (1972)). She was nominated for a Golden Globe award for her supporting work in "The Delphi Bureau" (1972) adventure series, and appeared occasionally as the mother of David Hasselhoff on "Baywatch" (1989). Anne retired from acting in 2015. Jeffreys died on September 27, 2017 at her home in Los Angeles at the age of 94. Chevrolet Ad - April 1945

I do hope Stans is able to escape on his own. We could try to launch a rescue mission, but that would put CSIM way over our Cdn$3.45 budget. Maybe we could get Elon Musk to finance the mission and let us use one of his SpaceX space crafts.

Morning all. 44F under Cloudy skies. Clouds stick around for much of the day, but temperatures should warm a few degrees back into the low to mid 50s. A weak system will pass through late Friday giving the chance for showers. Any rain will be scattered and light. High of 57F.

Chrysler Ad - April 1944 1940: British and French troops make landings at Namsos. Further British troops are landed in the Faeroe Islands. 1941: London suffers through the heaviest blitz of the war. Parliament buildings and St. Paul's Cathedral suffer damage, and more than 2,250 fires are touched off by incendiary bombs. *Ida Lupino 1941: The first American "Lend-Lease" food aid shipments arrive in Britain. 1942: An official inquiry into British bombing policy is setup under Mr. Justice Singleton. This was the result of a debate between Churchill's two top scientific advisors, Lord Cherwell and Sir Henry Tizard. Cherwell, supported by the Air Ministry, drew up a list of 58 German cities and towns whose destruction would knock Germany out of the war. Tizard argued that less emphasis should be put on the bombing of Germany and more on using the aircraft in the Battle of the Atlantic. Ida Lupino 1942: King George VI awards the George Cross to Malta, after more than 2,000 air raids. 1942: Japanese Imperial GHQ Naval Order No.18 is issued. This orders Admiral Yamamoto, C-in-C of the Japanese Combined Fleet to draw up plans for Operation 'Mi', the capture of Midway and the Aleutian Island, a plan that had originally been suggested by Admiral Yamamoto during March. The Japanese make landings on Panay Island. The US aircraft carrier Lexington, sets sail from Pearl Harbor, with orders to link up with the Yorktown in the Tonga Islands and then head, under the command of Admiral Fletcher to the Coral Sea. Ida Lupino 1943: The Royal Navy's Destroyer Pakenham and two Italian destroyers are sunk in naval engagements in Sicilian Channel. 1944: Yalta in the Crimea is captured by the Russians. Ida Lupino 1944: Three Japanese blow up a 300ft suspension bridge on the Silchar track. 1944: The destroyer USS Laffey survives horrific damage from attacks by 22 Japanese aircraft off Okinawa. Ida Lupino 1945: In northern Holland the Canadians take Harlingen, 50 miles Northeast of Amsterdam and occupies Leeuwarden and Groningen. The US First Army captures Solingen and Wuppertal; Americans enter Nuremberg. 1945: Soviet troops begin their final attack on Berlin. Ida Lupino 1945: Hitler issues the last Order of the Day to the Eastern Front, saying 'He who gives orders to retreat . . . is to be shot on the spot' as the 1st Belorussian Front and the 1st Ukrainian Front start the final offensive on Berlin from along the Oder-Neisse line. 1945: Off the Hela peninsula in the Baltic, the German liner Goya is torpedoed by a Russian submarine, killing 6,500 wounded soldiers and refugees. Ida Lupino 1945: The British take Taungup in Southwest Burma, thereby depriving the Japanese of their last coastal supply base. 1945: U.S. landings begin on Ie-shima Island and three airfields are taken. Ida Lupino *Ida was born on February 4, 1914, Camberwell, London, England to a show business family. In 1933, her mother brought Ida with her to an audition and Ida got the part her mother wanted. The picture was "Her First Affaire" (1932). Ida, a bleached blonde, came to Hollywood in 1934 and played small and insignificant parts. "Peter Ibbetson" (1935) was one of her few noteworthy movies and it was not until "The Light That Failed" (1939) that she got a chance to get better parts. In most of her movies, she was cast as the hard, but sympathetic woman from the wrong side of the tracks. In "The Sea Wolf" (1941) and "High Sierra" (1941), she played the part magnificently. It has been said that no one could do hard-luck dames the way Lupino could do them. She played tough, knowing characters who held their own against some of the biggest leading men of the day - Humphrey Bogart, Ronald Colman, John Garfield and Edward G. Robinson. She made a handful of films during the forties playing different characters ranging from "Pillow to Post" (1945), where she played a traveling saleswoman to the tough nightclub singer in "The Man I Love" (1947). But good roles for women were hard to get and there were many young actresses and established stars competing for those roles. She left Warner Brothers in 1947 and became a freelance actress. When better roles did not materialize, Ida stepped behind the camera as a director, writer and producer. Her first directing job came when director Elmer Clifton fell ill on a script that she co-wrote "Not Wanted" (1949). Ida had joked that as an actress, she was the poor man's Bette Davis. Now, she said that as a director, she became the poor man's Don Siegel. The films that she wrote, or directed, or appeared in during the fifties were mostly inexpensive melodramas. She later turned to Television where she directed episodes in shows such as "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", "The Twilight Zone", "Have Gun - Will Travel", "The Donna Reed Show", "Gilligan's Island", "77 Sunset Strip", "The Investigators", 'The Ghost & Mrs. Muir", "The Rifleman", "Batman", "Sam Benedict", "Bonanza", "The Untouchables", "The Fugitive"," Columbo", and "Bewitched". In the seventies, she did guest appearances on various television show and small parts in a few movies. Ida Lupino died from a stroke while she was undergoing treatments for colon cancer in Los Angeles in August 1995, at the age of 77. TRIVIA... Nickname: Little Scout Height: 5' 4" Her daughter was born on April 23, 1952. She only weighed 4 pounds and almost died. Lupino was married and divorced three times: * Louis Hayward, actor (November 1938 - May 11, 1945)* Collier Young, producer (1948 - 1951) * Howard Duff, actor (October 1951 - 1984), with whom she had a daughter, Bridget Duff (b. April 23, 1952) Westinghouse Ad - April 1945

Morning all. 38F under partly cloudy skies. The wind will back off a bit today, to around 10-15 MPH. High of 50F.

Goodyear Ad - April 1942 1940: British troops land at Harstad in the Lofoten Islands, opposite Narvik, Norway. Quisling government resigns in Oslo; 'Administrative Council' takes control. 1940: British unemployment falls to 973,000, lowest figure since 1920. *Jane Greer 1941: The Luftwaffe keeps up its air offensive by attacking Belfast. 1941: The Admiralty assumes operational control of RAF Coastal Command. Jane Greer 1941: German troops occupy Sarajevo in Yugoslavia. Jane Greer 1942: The French resistance attacks the German HQ at Arras with hand grenades. 1942: During its darkest hours, the people of Malta is awarded the George Cross for "heroism and devotion" by King George VI. This was in recognition of the way in which the Maltese people had stood up to more than 2,000 bombing raids and constant shortages over the past twelve month. 1942: The British begin to destroy the oil wells at Yenangyuang. The 1st Burma Division with the help of the 38th Chinese Division, manages to extricate itself from a pocket south of Yenangyuang, before being completely surrounded. Jane Greer 1944: The Red Army recaptures Tarnopol in the southern Ukraine. 1945: President Franklin D. Roosevelt is buried on the grounds of his Hyde Park home. Jane Greer 1945: The Canadian First Army reaches the coast in northern Holland and captures Arnhem in the South. The US First Army captures Leuna and Merseburg in Saxony, while the French First Army captures Kehl and Offenburg on the upper Rhine. 1945: The 3rd Ukrainian front occupies Radkesburg during its offensive against the industrial area of Mührisch-Ostrau in Moravia. The 2nd Ukrainian front attacks towards Brno in Czechoslovakia. 1945: British & Canadian troops liberate Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp and free approximately 40,000 prisoners. It is reported that "both inside and outside the huts was a carpet of dead bodies, human excreta, rags and filth." Jane Greer *The five-foot five Greer began life as Bettejane Greer in Washington, D.C on September 9, 1924. In 1940, aged 15, Greer suffered from a facial palsy, which paralyzed the left side of her face. She recovered, but it is speculated that the condition contributed to her "patented look" and "a calm, quizzical gaze and an enigmatic expression that would later lead RKO to promote her as 'the woman with the Mona Lisa smile'." She claimed that the facial exercises used to overcome the paralysis taught her how to convey human emotion. A beauty-contest winner and professional model from her teens, Greer began her show business career as a big band singer. Howard Hughes spotted Greer modeling on the cover of Life magazine of June 8, 1942 and sent her to Hollywood to become an actress. She married Rudy Vallee, her senior by 22 years, in 1943. Hughes lent out the actress to RKO to star in many films, including "Dick Tracy" (1945), "Out of the Past" (1947), "They Won't Believe Me" (1947), and the comedy/suspense film "The Big Steal" (1949), alongside "Out of the Past" co-star Robert Mitchum. Hughes refused to let her work for a time; when she finally began film acting again, she appeared in "You're in the Navy Now" (1951), "The Prisoner of Zenda" (1952), "Run for the Sun" (1956), and "The Man of a Thousand Faces" (1957). In 1984, she was cast in "Against All Odds", a remake of "Out of the Past", as the mother of the character she had played in 1947. Noteworthy roles in television included guest appearances on episodes of numerous shows over the decades, such as "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", "Bonanza", "Quincy, M.E.", "Murder, She Wrote", and a 1975 gig with Peter Falk and Robert Vaughn in an episode of "Columbo" titled "Troubled Waters". She even got to make fun of "Out of the Past" in a parody with Robert Mitchum on TV's "Saturday Night Live" in 1987. Greer joined the casts of "Falcon Crest" in 1984, and "Twin Peaks" in 1990, in recurring roles. Jane Greer married Rudy Vallee in 1943, but they divorced the following year. She remarried in 1947, to Edward Lasker (1912-1997), a Los Angeles lawyer and businessman, with whom she had three children. Her son Lawrence Lasker is a movie producer who has co-produced several films, including "WarGames" (1983) and "Sneakers" (1992). Edward Lasker had been an owner/breeder of thoroughbred racehorses since 1929, and Greer also became an owner of race horses under her own name. Among her graded stakes race wins were the 1966 Withers and Jim Dandy Stakes and the 1967 Fall Highweight Handicap with the colt Indulto. Greer died of cancer at the age of 76 on August 24, 2001 in Los Angeles, California. TRIVIA: Measurements: 35-25 1/2-36 Has a twin brother, Don. Quickly married crooner Rudy Vallee after fleeing a possessed Howard Hughes, who discovered her on a WWII poster and kept her virtually a prisoner during her first few months. An enraged Hughes pressured her and ruined the marriage. She returned to Hughes and her contract. She is of Scottish royal descent. Born in Washington, D.C. to Charles Dean McLean Greer, Jr. Her grandfather, Charles, Sr., according to the Biographical Directory of the Tennessee General Assembly was a representative of Shelby County, TN in the state House from 1899-1901 and in the state Senate 1901-1903 as speaker. Greer street in Memphis, TN is named after Charles Sr. Was on the cover of Life magazine on June 8, 1942 and June 2, 1947. It was this 1942 issue of Life that caught the eye of Howard Hughes and started her Hollywood career. Goodyear Ad - April 1944

Herr Fink, you will see that the morning post is properly titled Tuesday. You are the one who has lost his mind. You cannot reprogram me or Stans. He will soon turn the tables on you NWO morons.

Morning all. 34F under clear skies. Chilly weather continues this week and today may very well be the coldest of the bunch. High today of 46F.

Martin Aircraft Ad - April 1943 1940: German Minesweeper M6 sinks RN submarine Tarpon. 1941: The first German attacks against Tobruk are repulsed by the Australians. *Diana Dors 1941: Germans break through new Greek front line. The Greek Army of Epirus withdraws from Albania. 1942: Laval returns to power in Vichy as the 'Chief of Government with special powers'. Thirty five hostages shot in Paris. Diana Dors 1943: Stalin's son Jacob dies at a POW camp. The Russian 14th Army repulses a German attack to the Southeast of Leningrad. 1943: Lieutenant General William J. Slim takes over command in Arakan. 1944: First transports of Jews from Athens to Auschwitz, totaling 5,200 persons. Diana Dors 1945: U.S. troops split the Ruhr Pocket in two at Hagen. Glider troops capture the ex-German Chancellor von Papen at a hunting-lodge near Stockhausen along with three generals. The French launch a final assault on the trapped German garrison at Bordeaux. The British Second Army reaches the outskirts of Bremen, while the US Third Army captures Gera and Bayreuth. The Canadian First Army assumes military control of the Netherlands where German forces are now trapped in the Atlantic wall fortifications along the coastline. 1945: The British Eighth Army captures Bastia bridge intact, while Hitler rejects an appeal for a German withdrawal to the Po river. 1945: The Germans announce that Army Group Weichsel under General Henrici, is being heavily engaged by the Russians at Frankfurt an der Oder. Diana Dors 1945: Yamethin falls to the British 4th Corps in the 'Race for Rangoon'. 1945: American B-29 bombers damage the Imperial Palace during firebombing raid over Tokyo. Diana Dors *Diana Dors was promoted as "The English Marilyn Monroe". She had the blonde hair and the curves but in fact she began her career long before Marilyn and Diana could act better as well. Diana Dors was born Diana Mary Fluck on October 23, 1931 at the Haven Nursing Home in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. Diana and her mother both nearly died from the traumatic birth. Because of the trauma, her mother lavished on Diana, anything and everything she wanted. Clothes, toys, and dance lessons were the order of the day. Diana's love of films came when her mother took her to the local movies theaters. The actresses on the screen caught Diana's attention and she said, herself, that from the age of three she wanted to be an actress. She was educated in the finest private schools, much to the chagrin of her father. Apparently, he thought private education was a waste of money. Physically, Diana grew up fast. At 12 years old, she looked and acted much older than what she was. Much of this was due to the actresses she studied on the silver screen and Diana wanted to emulate them. Diana wanted nothing more than to go to the United States and Hollywood to have a chance to make her place in film history. After placing well in a local beauty contest, Diana was offered a part in a thespian group. She was thirteen. The following year Diana enrolled in an acting school to hone her acting skills. She was the youngest in her class. Her first fling at the camera was in "The Shop at Sly Corner" in 1947. Diana didn't care that it was a small, uncredited part. She was on film and at the age of 16, that's all that mattered. That was quickly followed by "Dancing with Crime" (1947) which consisted nothing more than a walk-on role. Up until this time, Diana had pretended to be 17 years old. If the producers knew her true age, they, probably wouldn't have let her test for the part. Since she looked and acted older this was no problem. 1948 dawned bright for Diana. She appeared in no less than six films for the silver screen. Some were uncredited and some had some meat to the roles. The best of the lot was the role of Charlotte in the classic, "Oliver Twist". Throughout the fifties she appeared in more films and became more popular in Britain. Diana was a pleasant version of Marilyn Monroe who had taken the US by storm. Now Britain had their own version. She continued to play sexy sirens and filled the British theaters. Diana really came into her own as an actress. She was more than a woman who exuded her sexy side. She was a very fine actress as her films showed. As the sixties turned into the seventies, she began to play more mature roles with an effectiveness that was hard to match. Films such as "Craze" (1973), Three for All (1975), and "The Amorous Milkman" (1975) dotted her resume. After filming "Steaming" in 1982, Diana was diagnosed with cancer. It was too much for her to overcome. The British were saddened when word came of her death on May 4, 1984 in Berkshire, England, UK. She was just 53 years old. "Steaming" was released the following year. TRIVIA: Measurements: 36 1/2D-24-35 Nicknames The Siren of Swindon Hurricane in Mink Dorsy Spouse Alan Lake (23 November 1968 - 4 May 1984) (her death) 1 child Richard Dawson (12 April 1959 - 1966) (divorced) 2 children Dennis Hamilton (3 July 1951 - 31 January 1959) (his death; they had begun divorce proceedings in 1958) In 1974, she contracted meningitis but miraculously survived. 8 years later she was diagnosed as having cancer from which she died in 1984. Featured on the cover of The Beatles' album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (1967) Her third and last husband, Alan Lake, committed suicide five months after her death. At age twenty she was the youngest registered owner of a Rolls Royce in the country. In 1981 appears as the "Fairy Godmother" in the Adam Ant music video for "Prince Charming". Diana Dors Personal Quotes "The only sex symbol Britain has produced since Lady Godiva." "I said to this priest: 'Am I expected to believe that if I went out and had an affair that God was really going to be upset? Okay, thou shalt not kill... steal... but thou shalt not commit adultery? If no one is any the wiser, what the hell difference does it make?' He was lovely. He told me the Commandments were laid down for a lot of guys living in the desert." "They asked me to change my name. I suppose they were afraid that if my real name Diana Fluck was in lights and one of the lights blew..." According to Dors's autobiography, she was once asked and readily agreed to open a fête (festival) in her home town of Swindon, England. Prior to the festivities, Dors lunched with the local vicar, during which she informed him that her real name was Diana Fluck. The vicar became somewhat worried about his planned speech. After lunch, they arrived at the fête at the appointed time. The vicar, totally unnerved about mispronouncing "Fluck", introduced Diana with these immortal words: "Ladies and Gentlemen, it is with great pleasure that I introduce to you our star guest. We all love her, especially as she is our local girl. I therefore feel it right to introduce her by her real name; Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome the very lovely Miss Diana Clunt." Martin Aircraft Ad - April 1944

Morning all. 40F under clear skies. Increasing cloudiness with gusty NW winds. High of 49F.

Studebaker Ad - April 1944 1940: British Naval forces, this time supported by the Battleship HMS Warspite, again engage the German naval forces located at Narvik in the Jössing Fjord. This, the 2nd Battle of Narvik, results in the sinking of 8 German destroyers and a U-boat whose surviving crews join Gebirgsjäger units that are defending isolated Narvik. 1941: German forces launch an attack against the Greek and British positions near Mt. Olympus. The Italian 11th Army in Albania begins to push the Greek Army back. *Sandra Dorne 1941: German troops capture Belgrade, Yugoslavia. 1941: German advance spearheads capture Sollum. Rommel receives orders from Berlin that he is to consolidate on the Egyptian frontier and concentrate of capturing Tobruk. Only then will he be allowed to push into Egypt. The result of this order is that Rommel decides to rest his exhausted troops and wait until the 15th Panzer Division arrives at the end of May before making a major assault against Tobruk. 1941: Japan and Russia sign a 5 year non-aggression pact, which all but removes any military threat to its northern borders. Sandra Dorne 1942: The US destroyer USN Roper, sinks U-85 south of Norfolk, Virginia. This is the first success of the war by a US warship against a U-boat. 1942: Fighting continues on Cebu Island, as the US-Filipino garrison withdraws in to the hills. Sandra Dorne 1944: Simferopol, Feodosiya and Eupatoria in the Crimea fall to Red Army. 1944: British troops retake Nanshigum Hill. Sandra Dorne 1945: A local truce is declared near Celle so that the British Second Army can take over the notorious Belsen concentration camp. The U.S. Ninth Army clears the Duisberg Pocket. The US Third Army captures Erfurt and Weimar. 1945: Troops of the Russian 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian front capture Vienna. Delco-Remy Ad - April 1944 1945: The Chinese launch a new offensive in Honan and Hupeh provinces of Central China. 1945: The U.S. Fleet begins the pre-invasion bombardment of Ie Island in the Pacific. Sandra Dorne *Sandra Dorne (real name Joanna Smith) was born on June 19, 1925 in Keighley, Yorkshire, England. The British platinum blonde with leads in 1950s, later in supporting roles, but always with special 'presence'. The Husky-voiced, "blonde bombshell" was a popular pinup early in her career. Appeared in some 35 films, many teleplays, specialized in mystery, suspense and horror titles. Who better to play the slatternly Suky Tawdry in Peter Brooks' 1952 film version of "The Beggar's Opera" than British "blonde bombshell" Sandra Dorne? Though never as famous as such sex symbol contemporaries as Diana Dors and Marilyn Monroe, Dorne worked steadily in films well into the late '80s, nearly always cast as trollops, good-time girls, and "other women." In the later stages of her film career, she was seen in such heavy-breathing melodramas as "The Devil Doll" (1964) and "All Coppers Are?" (1972). As she got older the film work dried up she still found work and acted mainly in British Television appearing in such series as "Z Cars", "The Avengers" and "The Third Man". Sandra Dorne was married to actor Patrick Holt. Sandra died on December 25, 1992 (aged 68) in Westminster, London, England. Studebaker Ad - April 1945

Morning all. 44F under partly cloudy skies. Today will be a welcome return to sunshine, but it’ll also be quite windy with gusts to 40 MPH possible. High of 56F.

RCA Ad - April 1944 1940: Norway announces German control of Kristiansand, Stavanger, Bergen and Trondheim in the 'south, Narvik in the north. 1941: US troops land in Greenland. *Peggy Knudsen 1941: Greek and British forces fall back to the Mount Olympus line in Greece. 1941: The Yugoslav capital Belgrade, surrenders. Peggy Knudsen 1941: German armoured units complete the encirclement of Tobruk and push on up the coast road towards the Egyptian frontier. 1942: Both German and Russian forces pause for breath after an extremely difficult winter (temperatures dropped to a nippy Minus 30C). The Russians have outrun their supply lines and exhausted their supply store of tanks and guns, which has allowed the initiative to slip back to the Germans. However, the Germans are aware that they can no longer take Moscow with a knockout blow and so choose another alternative. They intend to drive southward as part of a "grand pincer" movement through the Caucasus to link up with Rommel's Afrika Corps, which will solve their oil problems, disable the Russian economy, and menace the Middle East. Peggy Knudsen 1942: Japanese troops capture Migyaungye in Burma, which exposes the western flank of 1st Burma Corps at put the oilfields at Yenangyuang under threat. 1943: German radio announces that 4,150 Polish officers that were deported by the Russian authorities in 1940 have been found in mass graves near Smolensk. Peggy Knudsen 1943: The Eighth Army take Sousse, to the East of Kairan and claim that 20,000 axis prisoners have been taken in Tunisia since the 20th March. 1944: Hitler authorizes a withdrawal of 230,000 German and Romanian troops to the fortress of Sevastopol. However, this is four days too late and the delay results in many unnecessary losses. Peggy Knudsen 1944: Finland rejects the heavy Russian demands for the ending of the war. 1944: The U.S. Twentieth Air Force is activated to begin the strategic bombing of Japan. 1945: President Roosevelt dies suddenly at Warm Springs in Georgia, aged 63. Harry Truman is sworn in as 32nd President of the United States. 1945: The U.S. Ninth Army crosses the Elbe, taking Brunswick. The U.S. Third Army takes Erfurt. French troops take Baden-Baden on the southern flank. The U.S. 6th Armoured Division overruns Buchenwald concentration camp. The British Second Army captures Celle 60 miles to the South of Hamburg. Peggy Knudsen 1945: A German war communiqué confesses that Königsberg did surrender and announces the death penalty for the fortresses commander, General Lasch. 1945: In Yugoslavia the Germans evacuate Zenica. Peggy Knudsen *Born Margaret Ann Knudsen on April 22, 1923 in Duluth, Minnesota. A tough-looking, blonde Warner Bros. starlet of the mid-'40s, Peggy Knudsen made an auspicious screen debut as Mona Mars in the noir classic "The Big Sleep" (1946). Although a mere bit -- one scene, a couple of lines of dialogue -- the character was much discussed prior to actually appearing in the film and demanded an actress who could match the buildup. The pivotal scene, in which protagonist Humphrey Bogart finds himself at a disadvantage in gangster Eddie Mars' coastal hideaway, had originally been filmed in 1944 with Pat Clarke in the role of Mrs. Mars. But when negative previews necessitated scenes to be added or re-shot, director Howard Hawks replaced Miss Clarke with Knudsen, a much more vibrant presence who made her few moments count. It should have been a major breakthrough for the actress but Warner Bros. missed the opportunity and instead assigned her standard "other woman" roles opposite Erroll Flynn in the marital comedy "Never Say Goodbye" (1946) and Ronald Reagan in the horse breeding drama "Stallion Road" (1947). 20th Century Fox borrowed her for a couple of B-movies, in one of which, "Trouble Preferred" (1948), she was top-billed as a policewoman in training, but they were too inexpensive to have much impact. Missing out on stardom, she went on to appear in supporting roles through the 1950s, both in feature films and on television, retiring after a guest spot on "Texas John Slaughter" (1961). In the 1950s and '60s, Knudsen appeared in guest starring roles on several television shows including "The Millionaire", "Perry Mason", and "Pete and Gladys". After appearing in an episode of "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" in 1965, Knudsen retired from acting. The victim of a crippling arthritic condition that eventually necessitated five operations, Knudsen was reportedly cared for by lifelong friend Actress Jennifer Jones. On July 11, 1980, she died of cancer in Encino, California Grandmother of John Orloff, Emmy-nominated writer of HBO's "Band of Brothers" (2001) and the film "A Mighty Heart" (2007), and Greg Orloff. Shell Aviation Fuel Ad - April 1944

The Emperor is a druggie! The Emperor is a druggie! How are those hypos of bull semen mixed with cocaine and methamphetamines' doing for you eh Wrinkles? They didn't do Hitler much good. Hopefully you will overdose soon.

Morning all. 45F under cloudy skies. Scattered showers early, breezy. High of 57F.

Western Electric Ad - April 1943 1940: Royal Navy sub Spearfish puts pocket battleship Lutzow out of action for a year. 1940: King Haakon of Norway appeals to all Norwegians to fight. RAF raid Stavanger airfield on Norway's west coast. *Patricia Medina 1941: U.S. begins neutrality patrols in the Atlantic. 1941: German bombers blitz Coventry, England. Patricia Medina 1942: Sixteen colleges in the Midwest, including Ohio State, the University of Minnesota, and Iowa State, announces they will accept any Japanese-American students who are forced to transfer from universities on the West Coast. 1942: The Russians try to land troops near Eupatoria in Krim, but are stopped dead by the Germans. Progress continues as German relieve forces push nearer the surrounded Kholm garrison. 1942: Detachment 101 of the OSS, a guerrilla force, is activated in Burma. Patricia Medina 1943: The British First Army takes Kalrouan, 100 miles South of Tunis. 1944: A U.S. Delegate hands the Swiss a cheque for $1m as reparations for the accidental bombing of Schaffhausen. 1944: An RAF Mosquito raid, hits the Gestapo HQ in the Hague. Patricia Medina 1944: Russian troops capture Kerch in the Crimea. While units of the 4th Ukrainian Front liberate Dsjankoi. 1944: The majority of New Britain is now held by the Allies. Patricia Medina 1945: The U.S. Third Army takes the historic town of Weimar. The British Second Army takes Celle, 30 miles Northeast of Hanover, cutting the road to Hamburg. The U.S. Ninth Army capture Essen, Bochum and Goslar in the Harz Mountains. The U.S. Seventh Army reaches Schweinfurt, 80 miles to the East of Frankfurt. 1945: The Russians now reaches the centre of Vienna, capturing the parliament and townhall buildings. Patricia Medina *Patricia Paz Maria Medina was born on July 19, 1920 in Liverpool, England to a Spanish father and English mother. She began acting as a teenager late in the 1930s. She worked her way up to leading roles in the mid-1940s, whereupon she was requested to come to Hollywood. Medina's most notable films are "The Three Musketeers" (1948), "Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion" (1950), with Donald O'Conner in "Francis" (The Talking Mule - 1950), "Fortunes of Captain Blood" (1950). In "Fortunes of Captain Blood" she up with the British and dashing Louis Hayward, with whom she successfully co-starred in a total of four films, including "The Lady and the Bandit" (1951), "Lady in the Iron Mask" (1952) and "Captain Pirate" (1952). Darkly beautiful, Medina was often typecast in period melodrama films such as "The Black Knight". Two standouts, though, were William Witney's "Stranger at My Door" (1956), and Orson Welles' companion piece to Citizen Kane, "Mr. Arkadin" (1955), a follow-up to "The Third Man", based on the radio series "The Lives of Harry Lime" (1951-1952). She was prolific during the 1950s but her film career petered out at the end of the decade. She took part in four episodes of Walt Disney's "Zorro" (1958) as Margarita (The Gay Caballero). She later returned to the screen in Robert Aldrich's adaptation of the lesbian-themed drama, "The Killing of Sister George" in 1968. She and her husband, actor Joseph Cotten, starred together on tour in several plays, and on Broadway, in the murder mystery "Calculated Risk". Her appearances on television include an episode of "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" entitled "See the Monkey Dance" (original air date November 9, 1964). Medina died at age 92 on 28 April 2012, from natural causes at the Barlow Respiratory Hospital in Los Angeles, California. She is interred at Blandford Cemetery in Petersburg, Virginia, USA, beside Joseph Cotten. Western Electric Ad - April 1945

The New World Order twits are fantasizing again.

Morning all. 45F under cloudy skies. Gray, windy, with rain chances increasing through the day. High of 47F.

Pontiac Ad - April 1944 1938: Germany annexes Austria. 1940: Six British destroyers surprise ten German Destroyers in Narvik Fiord, in what becomes known as the 1st Battle of Narvik. Two German and two British Destroyers are sunk and the British Flotilla commander, Captain Warburton-Lee is killed. He is later awarded the Victoria Cross, posthumously. 1940: Denmark surrenders to the Germans. Bitter fighting as Germans advance north from Oslo. *Ramsay Ames 1941: U.S. troops occupy Greenland to prevent Nazi infiltration. 1941: Germans enter Zagreb, allowing Ante Pavelic, the Croatian Fascist leader, to return from Italian exile and proclaim the independent state of Croatia, with him as Poglavnik (leader). British forces under General Wilson withdraw from the Aliakmon line. 1941: The 9th Australian Division withdraws into Tobruk. 1942: The 78,000 captured men from Bataan begin a 65 mile march under the hot sun from Mariveles to San Fernando, with little food or water. This was to become known as the 'Bataan Death March'. The Japanese begin landing troops on Cebu Island, which has a combined US-Filipino garrison of 4,500 troops. 1942: British negotiations in India break down. 1942: The Soviet Ambassador to the USA gives a speech in Philadelphia demanding an immediate second front in Europe. Ramsay Ames - April 20, 1945 - Yank Magazine 1943: British forces take Sfax, 150 miles South of Tunis. 1943: USAAF bombers sink the Italian cruiser Trieste in raid on Sardinia. Ramsay Ames 1944: The RAF drop a record 3,600 tons over northern France. 1944: The Russians enter Odessa on Black Sea as German forces withdraw from the city to the west bank of the Dniester river. Ramsay Ames 1945: Churchill reveals British Empire casualty figures up to this point as 306,984 killed. Total casualties are 1,126,802, merchant navy losing 34,161 dead or captured. Civilians casualties are 59,793 killed and 84,749 injured. 1945: The German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer is sunk during a massive RAF raid on Kiel. 1945: The Canadian First Army continues its push North into Holland, taking Deventer, 30 miles North of Nijmegen. The British Second Army takes Wildenhausen, 20 miles Southwest of Bremen. The U.S. Ninth Army takes Hanover. Ramsay Ames 1945: The RAF attack Kiel, while the US 8th Air Force launches its heaviest raid to date (1,232 bombers) against Berlin. 1945: With the battle of Vienna ongoing, the German 6th SS Panzer Army succeeds in defeating fierce Russian attacks into the districts of Wiener Neustadt and to the West of Baden. The besieged Germans in Breslau continue to repel the repeated Russian attacks. A German war communiqué now declares that the resistance in Königsberg has ceased, but that no surrender has occurred. Ramsay Ames 1945: In their second attempt to take the Seelow Heights, near Berlin, the Red Army launches numerous attacks against the defending Germans. The Soviets gain one mile at the cost of 3,000 men killed and 368 tanks destroyed. 1945: Buchenwald Concentration Camp is liberated by the Allies. Ramsay Ames *Despite being one of the great exotic screen beauties of the early '40s, Ramsay Ames never broke out of leading roles in B-movies and supporting parts in A-films. She was born Ramsay Phillips on March 30, 1921 in Brooklyn, New York (her reported year of birth varies from 1921 to 1924, depending on the source), and was a student athlete (especially excelling as a swimmer) in high school. She attended the Walter Hillhouse School of Dance, specializing in Latin-style dance, and also took up singing, becoming the vocalist with a top rhumba band. She later became part of a dance team under the name Ramsay Del Rico, and appeared as a model at the Eastman Kodak-sponsored fashion show at the 1939 New York World's Fair. A back injury sidelined her from dancing and fate intervened: in the course of a trip to California to visit her mother, she had a chance meeting at the airport with Harry Cohn. He was the president of Columbia Pictures and the meeting resulted in a screen test and then her 1943 movie debut, "Two Senoritas From Chicago" (1943). From there she moved to Universal, where she was cast in key roles in movies such as "The Mummy's Ghost", in which she was the hapless modern victim of the ancient curse of Kharis the Mummy, and major supporting parts in pictures like "Calling Dr. Death" (1943), "Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves" (1944), and "Follow the Boys" (1944). With her dark good looks and statuesque, athletic yet attractive physique, Ames was ideal in portrayals of exotic roles, such as the Egyptian student in her Mummy movie and the French and Latin women she often got to play. She was also good in physically demanding action roles. During the mid-'40s, she made a pair of Cisco Kid movies with Gilbert Roland, "The Gay Cavalier" (1946) and "Beauty and the Bandit" (1946). In the first, Ames is credited in some sources with co-authoring one of the songs, and in the second, she brought a good deal of fire and humor to a script that, for the first half, resembled a cowboy version of "As You Like It". Ames had small roles in major movies like "Mildred Pierce" (1945) and the epic-length "Green Dolphin Street" (1947), but by the second half of the 1940s she was locked into B-features such as PRC's low-budget "Philo Vance Returns" (1947) and was also working at Republic in serials such as "The Black Widow" (1947) and "G-Men Never Forget" (1948). She gave up acting and Hollywood at the end of the 1940s and for many years lived in Spain, where she had her own television interview show and occasionally took acting roles in films produced in Europe. Her later movies included the features "Alexander the Great" (1956) and Carol Reed's 1963 thriller "The Running Man". She returned to the United States in the early '60s and was married to playwright Dale Wasserman, best known for Man of La Mancha, until their divorce in 1980. She died of lung cancer on March 30, 1998 in Santa Monica, California. Pontiac Ad - April 1945