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Donster

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Everything posted by Donster

  1. 39 again eh? Have a great birthday HF!
  2. Child Directed Traffic at JFK Airport; FAA Probes Not very smart of this kids father.
  3. Donster

    Wednesday

    Morning. Sunny again today. Snow is slowly melting, which is a good thing, but flood worries are still high. As of yesterday, 91 straight days of high temp below 40F. Currently 12F with -1F windchill, and a forecast high temp of 36F.
  4. Emerson Electric Ad - February 1943 1940: The Russian launch a massive offensive and bring Viipuri under direct attack. This brings home to the Finns the fact that they cannot resist for must longer against the overwhelming force that the Russians are now deploying. 1940: Italy protests to Britain over proposed ban on Italian imports of German coal. *Ann Sheridan 1941: Moscow denounces the Axis rule in Bulgaria. 1942: RAF Bomber Command, under its new C-in-C, Air Vice Marshal Harris, attacks the Renault plant in the Paris suburb of Billancourt. Of the 235 RAF planes that took off, only 1 failed to return. The new navigation device, GEE wasn't used, although the target was marked with flares for the first time and serious damage done to production facilities, although many French workers were killed. However, this successful raid was a much needed morale boost for the bomber crews. On this same night, the Lancaster bomber makes its operational debut, laying mines of the French port of Brest. Ann Sheridan 1942: Vichy announces that 'official' German figures put the number of French arrested in 1941 at 5,390 and executions at more than 250. 1942: General Chiang Kai-shek meets General Wavell in Burma. Ann Sheridan 1943: 173 Londoners are killed in panic crush at Bethnal Green tube station when a new AA weapon noise is heard for the first time. 1943: Russians take Rzhev, over 100 miles to the west of Moscow. Ann Sheridan 1944: German attacks cease at Anzio after loss of 3,500 men and 30 Panzer's in four days. 1944: British civilian casualties now total 50,324 dead, with military deaths at 50,103. 1944: Under pressure from the Western Allies to withdraw all remaining Spanish troops from the Eastern front, the Franco government orders members of the so-called “Blue Legion,” attached to the German 121st Infantry Division, to return home and outlaws service by Spanish citizens with the Axis forces. Nevertheless, a handful of fanatically anti-Communist Spaniards defy orders and volunteer for service with the Waffen SS, some of them fighting suicidally to the end in the ruins of Berlin. Ann Sheridan 1944: The allies announce that Russia is to get a third of Italian fleet, or equivalent in British and American warships. 1944: Japanese counter-attacks on Los Negros fail. 1945: Units of the Canadian First Army capture Xanten on the lower Rhine in the battle of the Reichswald. The US First Army captures Krefeld. Ann Sheridan 1945: 100 Luftwaffe night-fighters attack 27 RAF airfields, in what is the last night intrusion raid of the war. 22 RAF aircraft were destroyed for 6 German. 1945: The fighting ends in Manila. Japanese resistance ends in Meiktila. 1945: Finland declares war on the Axis. Ann Sheridan *Clara Lou Sheridan was born February 21, 1915, in Denton, Texas, to an automobile mechanic and his homemaker wife. The youngest of five children, she grew up in a normal childhood environment. She was a self-described tomboy and was very athletic, and played on the girls basketball team for North Texas State Teacher's College, where she was planning to enter the teaching field. Her sister thought her beautiful enough to send in a picture of Ann in a bathing suit to Paramount Studios. The "Search for Beauty" contest carried, as the prize, a screen test and a bit part in a movie. She won and was signed to a contract at the age of 19. Her first film was the prize: a bit role in Wagon Wheels (1934). Performing under her real name of Clara Lou, she appeared in 12 more films that year, most designed to showcase her beauty along with other starlets that Paramount had signed. Twelve more bit parts followed in 1935. The following year, she left Paramount and signed with Warner Brothers, where more of the same followed. It wasn't until 1938 that Clara Lou, now Ann, landed a role with substance as Laury Ferguson in Angels with Dirty Faces (1938). Known as the "Oomph Girl," a nickname she detested, she became one of the most glamorous women in Hollywood. Rex Harrison said of her, "I was struck by her extraordinary magnetism and directness," and noted that he liked her "distinctive quality of earthiness that never transcends to blatant sexiness." Her beauty made her a favorite pin-up, along with Betty Grable. She grew into a leading star who could adapt to any role. She was put into a lot of comedies, many of which were quite forgettable, but the public loved her, and critics began to take notice of her after terrific performances in Torrid Zone (1940) and as the saucy waitress who marries George Raft in They Drive by Night (1940). She was also singled out for another standout performance in Kings Row (1942) with future politician Ronald Reagan. She starred with Cary Grant in Howard Hawks screwball comedy I Was a Male War Bride (1949). As she entered the 1950s, however, her career went into a decline. She was aging -- as was sadly evident in her last film, the turgid Woman and the Hunter (1957) -- and a crop of younger actresses coming up meant her services were no longer in demand. She moved to New York and took whatever acting jobs she could find, whether on stage or TV. Most soap opera fans may remember her in "Another World" (1964), but she is best remembered by TV audiences as Henrietta Hanks in the western comedy "Pistols 'n' Petticoats" (1966). She didn't get to live out her series' first season. Her career was taking off again, but the success was short-lived. Ann died on January 21, 1967, in San Fernando Valley, California, of esophageal and liver cancer. She had been a chain cigarette smoker for years; Cagney remarked in his autobiography that when the cancer struck, "she didn't have a chance." She was 51. Trivia: Height: 5' 5½" (1.66 m) Measurements: 36-25-35 1/2 Was named Max Factor's "Girl of the Year" for 1939. Was used as a body double (hands, legs, shoulders) while at Paramount. Warner Bros. was eager to portray Ann as a "Girl about town," so her contract demanded that she hit the nightclubs at least three times a week. Sheridan married three times, including a marriage lasting one year to fellow Warners actor, George Brent, but had no children. In her will, she asked that her cremated remains be placed in a columbarium at a cemetery in Los Angeles. Her biographer Karen McHale discovered that the actress' instructions had not been followed and arranged to have her final wishes fulfilled. Hollywood Forever Cemetery donated a niche and held a dignified service (presided over by her cousin, the Rev. Sallie Watson) on February 21, 2005 - which would have been her 90th birthday.
  5. The latest headlines... EA's Internationally Acclaimed Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Hits Retail Stores Day One Patch For Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Reviews Command & Conquer 4 Trailer Covers Pre-Order Bonus Mission Infinity Ward Heads Axed? Supreme Commander 2 Now Available in North America via Steam Ignition Entertainment Announces Blacklight: Tango Down Just Cause 2 Adds Support for Latest NVIDIA Technologies NVIDIA GeForce 196.75 WHQL Drivers Released Review: AMD 890GX Edition Chipset Just Announced Hardware for 2 March 2010 "I'm knackered...find the news yourself. Oh...uh...over at COMBATSIM.COM."
  6. Donster

    Tuesday

    Guten Tag, Shotziez. Zunny und 15F vith zhe highen temp here on zhe Eaztern Front of 35F.
  7. Talon Slide Fastner Ad - February 1943 1940: British India liner Domala bombed in English Channel, killing 100 people. 1941: The RAF launches a heavy raid against Cologne. 1941: Germany Twelfth Army moves into Bulgaria. Great Britain breaks off diplomatic relations with Bulgaria. *Nan Wynn 1942: Churchill declares that the Tirpitz is 'the most important naval vessel in the situation today' and believes her destruction would 'profoundly affect the course of the war'. 1942: General Wavell reassumes post as C-in-C India and Burma. Burma is now cut off from the Southwest Pacific. 1942: The Dutch take supreme command of all allied forces in Southwest Pacific. Nan Wynn 1943: The center of Berlin is bombed by the RAF. Some 900 tons of bombs are dropped in a half hour. 1943: Germans begin a withdrawal from Tunisia, Africa. 1943: The Battle of the Bismarck Sea opens Northeast of New Guinea. A Japanese convoy is attacked by USAAF B25 bombers, which sink 12 ships. Nan Wynn 1945: The RAF launches a heavy attack (300 bombers) against Mannheim, causing a devastating firestorm. 1945: Armored spearheads of the US Ninth Army reach the Rhine near Neuss. The U.S. Third Army captures Trier on the Moselle. 1945: After 14 days of fierce fighting, the 503rd Regimental Combat Team - the "Rock Force" - raised the American Flag in the presence of General MacArthur at the Topside Barracks on Corregidor in the Philippines. Nan Wynn *Nan Wynn was an American big-band singer and actress. Born on May 8, 1915 in Wheeling, West Virginia, Wynn recorded with many well-known orchestras, including those of Teddy Wilson, Freddie Rich, Raymond Scott and Hal Kemp. Wynn appeared in many films, usually as a nightclub singer, with a starring role opposite William Lundigan in the 1941 film a Shot in the Dark (1941), as well as appearances in other such films as Million Dollar Baby (1941), Princess O’Rourke (1943) and Intrigue (1947). Wynn is perhaps best-known for dubbing Rita Hayworth’s singing voice in several of her films, including My Gal Sal (1942) and You Were Never Lovelier (1942). She appeared in Billy Rose’s 1944 Broadway musical production the Seven Lively Arts. Wynn married producer, writer, and director Cy Howard, but the marriage ended in divorce. They had one daughter, Jaime. Wynn died of cancer on March 21, 1971 in Santa Monica, California, aged 55.
  8. Donster

    Monday

    And I thought I was a mean motherfu...
  9. The latest headlines... Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Launch Trailer Kicks It Into High Gear Just Cause 2 Vehicle Upgrade Video Silent Hunter 5: Battle of the Atlantic Variety Trailer and Screens BioShock 2 v1.002 Patch Splinter Cell: Conviction - 3 Multiplayer Trailers Rise of Prussia Pre-order Launches with Trailer Ironclads: Schleswig War 1864 Announced Review: Scythe Grand Kama Cross SCKC-2000 CPU Cooler Just Announced Hardware for 1 March 2010 "Start out this new month of March with the latest Gaming & Hardware News at COMBATSIM.COM!"
  10. Donster

    Monday

    You got your bell bottoms on and Disco shoes on Neddie? Dating a girl named Sunny? Or maybe Saffron, Moon Unit, Sky or Dharma? And I agree with you on the neutering of virus programmers, except I would nail their bag to a stump and push 'em over backwards.. Oh and neutering hippies would be a good idea too.
  11. To which flight sim/game do you refer sntsfn68?
  12. Donster

    Noir Town

    Most excellent as always Jim! Except for the "use Donnie as a twit" parts.
  13. Donster

    Monday

    Morning. 25F with a high of 35F! We haven't be above 40F since December 1st, 2009. Through Thursday past, it had been above freezing just two days in February in Cedar Rapids. Its been about 5 degrees colder than usual in, and nearly twice as snowy this winter. Climatologists say that this was Iowas 21st coldest winter of 138 for which good data exists. It was also the snowiest winter statewide since 1978-79. Global warming my ass. Oh and to add, Lottie was out of town for the weekend, took her laptop and used the hotels Wi-Fi to browse the 'net. She picked up the "Antivirus 2009" malware. It has taken over her laptop. Finally got it to shut down, then able to reboot in safe mode. Ran Malwarebytes and am currently running a scan with ClamWin Portable AV with a thumb drive.
  14. American Locomotive Ad - February 1943 1940: The US secretary of state, Sumner Wells arrives in Berlin at the start of a peace tour of the belligerent countries. 1940: The Soviet Unions peace ultimatum to Finland expires. *Lynne Baggett 1941: Bulgaria finally joins the Tripartite pact after the discovery of a planned pro-British coup. 1941: Italian civilian rations are halved in order to allow food exports to Germany. 1941: Himmler makes his first visit to Auschwitz, during which he orders Kommandant Höss to begin massive expansion, including a new compound to be built at nearby Birkenau that can hold 100,000 prisoners. 1941: The 11th African Division begins a lighting pursuit of the retreating Italian forces north from Mogadishu, towards the Ogaden Plateau. Lynne Baggett 1942: A US Hudson of squadron VP-82 which is based at Argentia, Newfoundland sinks U-656 off Cape Race. 1942: The heavy cruiser USS Houston and light cruiser HMAS Perth, along with 1 British, 1 Dutch and 2 US destroyers, fleeing from the debacle at the Battle of Java Sea, surprise an IJN landing force at Bantam Bay near the Sundra Strait, and are sunk by torpedoes and gunfire. The Japanese force, comprising 2 heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, 9 destroyers, and various transports, manage to sink a minesweeper and a transport of their own, and seriously damage 3 more transports, through the unprecedented firing of 87 torpedoes. Lynne Baggett 1943: The British RAF conducts strategic bombing raids on all European railway lines. 1943: The Russians announce that new offensive to the South of Leningrad and led by Timoshenko, 'has made considerable gains'. German troops begin the evacuation of the Rzhev area. 1943: In New York, American Jews hold a mass rally at Madison Square Garden to pressure the U.S. government into helping the Jews of Europe. Lynne Baggett 1944: Wing Commander John Cunningham, now on 20 ‘kills’, gets the 2nd bar to his DSO, the first pilot to receive this triple honour. 1944: Both German and Russian forces in the Baltic region go on the defensive. 1944: The 'Chindits' cross the Chindwin in Burma. Lynne Baggett 1945: The US Ninth Army captures München-Gladbach and Rheydt west of the Rhine. 1945: Units of Army group Centre recapture Lauban in lower Silesia. 1945: A U.S. submarine sinks a Japanese merchant ship loaded with supplies for Allied POWs, resulting in a court martial for the captain of the submarine, since the ship had been granted safe passage by the U.S. government. Lynne Baggett *Lynne Baggett was born on May 10, 1923 in Wichita, Kansas. Better known for her volatile marriage to film producer Sam Spiegel than for her many walk-ons in World War II films, brunette Lynne Baggett played a waitress in Mildred Pierce (1945). She played many other waitresses, hostesses, nurses, and chorus girls but her screen time was invariably brief. Her marriage to Spiegel lasted from 1948 to 1955 but was fraught with newspaper headlines. On the night/early morning of July 6/7 1954 Lynne is on her way home from a party given by British actor Arthur Treacher, the car she is driving slams into a station wagon filled with boys returning from summer camp. Four are injured; one, nine-year-old Los Angeles boy Joel Watnick, is killed. Lynne fails to report the accident, and after a two-day search she’s brought in for questioning by the police. Her car is traced to actor George Tobias. He tells the police he had loaned the car to Lynne the day of the crash. Witnesses say they saw a woman get out of the car after the crash, look at the boy and then drive off. On July 9th, 1954 as Lynn Spiegel, she is arrested in Los Angeles. She says "I’m very sorry. I'm not permitted to talk on instructions from my attorney." Her car is found at a Tarzana automobile repair. Her $10,000 bail is reduced, and finally she is released on $5,250 bond. Spiegel, who is staying at the Connaught Hotel in London, immediately arranges her $5,000 bail. July 10th, 1954 is ordered to appear for a preliminary hearing on manslaughter and hit-and-run driving charges. Tobias and her attorney, Sam Barchas, are with her. July 14th, 1954 is named in a $50,700 civil damage suit filed by Joel's mother, Mrs. Lillian Watnick. Other defendants include Spiegel and Tobias. July 17th, 1954 in her preliminary hearing at Los Angeles Municipal Court, two witnesses testify that her wagon was travelling 40 to 50 mph. Her attorney, Grant B. Cooper, moves unsuccessfully for dismissal of the manslaughter count she faces in addition to a felony hit-and-run charge. July 31st, 1954 is arraigned in Los Angeles Superior Court and ordered to return August 12 to enter a plea before Superior Judge Harold W. Schweitzer. August 18th, 1954 fails in an attempt to get a felony hit-and-run charge against her reduced to a lesser charge. October ? 1954 she and Cooper appear in court in Los Angeles. Her attorney says, "We will show that Miss Baggett did not intentionally leave the scene." October 19th, 1954 is convicted by a jury on a felony charge of hit-and-run driving but is acquitted of a second felony count of manslaughter. The first charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $6,000 fine. She claims she "blacked out" after the collision. October 29th, 1954 is acquitted of manslaughter and serves a 50-day sentence for hit-and-run. December 1st, 1954 is sentenced to 60-days in county jail and is placed on three years probation. Her driver's license is revoked for one year. Superior Judge Mildred Lillie comments: "I cannot accept her story of a blackout and the jury couldn't believe it, either. She was extremely rational soon after the accident, and from then until she was arrested two days later she used every resource at her command to get her car repaired and to conceal her identity." Her mother, Ruth Simmons / Baggett, faints in the courtroom and has to be comforted by her daughter. December 2nd, 1954 starts her 60-day sentence for hit-and-run driving at the Los Angeles County jail. January 20th 1955 is out of jail after 50 days - getting 10 days off for good behavior - and hugs her mother. "This was sort of my college. I learned so much about life." She spent her time in jail mopping floors, waiting on tables and washing dishes. Now she wants to return to the movies "if anyone will take me." Feb or March, 1955 has to pay almost $40,000 in litigation fees for a series of six civil suits, which are settled out of court. Feb and March, 1955 Spiegel’s friends, Walter Reisch and Bill Blowitz, look out for Lynne while Spiegel courts his third wife-to-be, beautiful 24-year-old Betty Benson. March 31st, 1955 her divorce becomes final. A marital settlement is made at the court in Santa Monica. Lynne will receive $25,000 on the spot and $66,000 in the coming months. She says: "He said I made him nervous and he asked me to leave." May 1955 Lynne rides around Beverly Hills on a bicycle. On June 7th, 1959 she takes an overdose of sleeping pills and is found in bed at her Beverly Hills home. Before losing consciousness, she called a telephone operator and asked for help. The police have to break down the locked door to rescue her. She is taken to a hospital where attendants say her condition is serious. On August 24th, 1959 Lynne is found by a friend in her apartment. She claims she was trapped six days under her foldaway bed without food or water. She slipped and fell halfway under the bed, hurt her back, and couldn't move or reach her telephone. She suffered a small face cut and had to be rescued by firemen. She's kept in hospital for treatment on malnutrition. She is partially paralyzed from drug addiction and diagnosed as a chronic depressed neurotic. As Lynne B. Spiegel, she is found dead at age 35 in her bed at her Hollywood apartment by Darlene Jones, her nurse. She is clad in a pink shorty nightgown and white panties. Released from a private sanitarium only six weeks ago and under a doctor's care for peripheral neuritis, she was paralyzed from her knees down and took an overdose of barbiturates. She had been dead about 12 hours. Darlene Jones tells police that the actress had asked her not to come to her Hollywood apartment until late Tuesday because "she wanted to get a lot of rest."
  15. Yes, with true amateur athletes vs the Soviet team of professionals. The Olympic team sports are now mostly all PAID professional players in hockey and basketball. To me, this isn't what the Olympic games were all about. Congrats to the Canadians victory today.
  16. Should be an interesting contest for sure. Is that the game where the girls run around in short skirts and sleeveless tops, boobies a bouncing, and carrying a funny stick with them while trying to hit a little white ball into a net?
  17. Donster

    Sunday

    Morning. Sunny, 12F with -1F windchill. High temp today of 31F. March is coming in like a lamb, so you know what that means: no baaaaad weather in sight. At least until next weekend. But that also means that March will go out like a lion. So that usually means a crapload of snow at the end of the month.
  18. Nash Kelvinator Ad - February 1943 1940: Russian forces overrun the second line of Finnish defenses on the Karelian Isthmus. 1941: Vichy France reduces bread ration from 350g to 280g. ***Ella Raines 1941: British monthly civilian casualty figures tally at 789 killed and 1068 injured. 1941: British Commando's, having been left to hold Castelorizzo without out Naval support or reinforcement, are forced to evacuate when the Italians land troops on the Island. Ella Raines 1942: Japanese are only 50 miles north of Rangoon. 1942: Japanese land on Java. Ella Raines 1943: Nine Norwegian commandos successfully climb down the steep gorge on one side of the German ‘heavy water’ plant at Telemark and work their way up a 500 foot, almost sheer rock face to reach the plant on the other side of the gorge. Undetected, they gain entrance and successfully set and detonate their explosives, ruining the plant. All the commandos escaped safely, without taking or inflicting any casualties. 1943: A group of German wives of Jewish men begin to gather and protest in Berlin in order to try and stop the deportation of their husbands to concentrations camps. Ella Raines 1944: The Arabs protest to the U.S. over Senate statements about the creation of a Jewish State in Palestine. 1945: The US Ninth Army achieves a breakthrough near Erkelenz 30 miles to the West of Cologne, but loses 100 tanks in the process. 1945: The 2nd Belorussian Front captures Neustettin. The Red Army suspends all further offensive operations against the lines of Army Group Courland. Ella Raines 1945: The British Indian 4th Corps take Meiktila airfield in central Burma after an eight-day push from the Irrawaddy. 1945: U.S. Marines take Motoyama on Iwo Jima after a bloody battle. 1945: Corregidor is reported as clear of Japanese troops. Ella Raines *1936: The Japanese Army restores order in Tokyo and arrests officers involved in a coup. **1946: The U.S. Army declares that it will use V-2 rocket to test radar as an atomic rocket defense system. Ella Raines ***Born Ella Wallace Raines on August 6, 1920 in Snoqualmie Falls, Washington, Raines studied drama at the University of Washington and was appearing in a play there when she was seen by Howard Hawks. She became the first actor signed to the new production company he had formed with the actor Charles Boyer, "B-H Productions", and made her film debut in Corvette K-225 in 1943. She appeared in many A pictures very quickly, including Tall in the Saddle (1944) opposite John Wayne. She co-starred in many other films opposite such stars as Vincent Price, William Powell and Brian Donlevy (turning in a good performance as a spunky garage owner in director Arthur Lubin's underrated Impact (1949)). During 1954 she starred in her own television series Janet Dean, Registered Nurse. She also appeared in such television series as Robert Montgomery Presents, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Presents, Lights Out, Pulitzer Prize Playhouse and The Christophers. She retired from acting in 1957, but only one further acting appearance with a guest role in the series Matt Houston in 1984. Raines has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to motion pictures at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard, and for television at 6600 Hollywood Boulevard. Her second husband, Robin Olds, was a famous fighter pilot. Son of a World War I pilot, Olds was an ace (shot down 5 or more enemy aircraft) in WWII and 4 in Vietnam. They separated in 1975 and were divorced in 1976. Ella moved back to Hollywood and lived in Sherman Oaks, California until her death on May 30th, 1988 from cancer of the throat. She is survived by two daughters, Christina Eloise Olds of Vail, Colorado and Susan Olds Scott-Risner of North Bend, Washington and a granddaughter, Jennifer Newman of Santa Monica, CA.
  19. Not good. Hope Hawaii doesn't receive to much damage. Prayers to those in Chile who lost their lives and homes.
  20. Kermit Tyler, who was ultimately cleared of wrongdoing, has died at age 96, content he did all he could that morning. Still had to be hell going through your lifetime knowing that if you had acted on the report how it could have saved lives.
  21. Donster

    Noir Town

    "No respect. I get no respect at all...." "I used to date a girl from Buffalo,". "Why can't I meet a girl with normal parents?" "I asked my wife 'is there somebody else?' She said, 'there MUST be.'" "Thank you Cedar Rapids...you've been a great audience. Make sure to tip your waitress and try the Kolaches and Goulash."
  22. Goodyear Aircraft Ad - February 1942 1941: The first encounter of the Afrika Korps and the British forces. **Leslie Brooks 1942: British Commandos raid a German radar station at Bruneval on the French coast. 1942: The Battle of the Java Sea begins and continues for three days, during which the Allies, under the command of the Dutch Admiral, Karel Doorman lose five cruisers and six destroyers, while the Japanese lose just 4 transports. Leslie Brooks 1943: USAAF bomber aircraft make their first raid on Germany. 1943: Jews working in Berlin armaments industry are sent to Auschwitz. Leslie Brooks 1944: About 60,000 Japanese are reported to be trapped in New Britain and New Ireland, in the South West Pacific. 1945: The US 8th Air Force launches another heavy attack against Berlin which devastates the center of the city. Leslie Brooks 1945: SHAEF reports that spectacular gains by the U.S. First and Ninth Armies on the Cologne Plain have been made. 1945: Under Russian pressure, the Romanian King, Michael I is forced to appoint a Communist government. Leslie Brooks *1933: The burning down of the Reichstag building in Berlin gives the Nazis the opportunity to suspend personal liberty with increased power. Leslie Brooks **Leslie Brooks was born Virginia Leslie Gettman in Lincoln, Nebraska on July 13th, 1922. In June of 1941 as Lorraine Gettman, she is one of six starlets widely advertised as "The Navy Blues Sextet," for Navy Blues. The six beauties, including Marguerite Chapman, Claire James, Peggy Diggins, Kay Aldridge, and Georgia Carroll, are sent to Honolulu for the world premiere, then return to the mainland to make a cross-country junket, starting in Dallas, Texas, and ending in New York City, where Sherman Billingsley gives them a well-publicized party at his famous Stork Club. As Lorraine Gettman began appearing in movie bit roles in 1941. In 1942 her Warner Bros. contract was sold to Columbia Pictures, goes from brunette to blonde, and becomes Leslie Brooks. In July 1942 she is cited Exhibit A by the California Models Guild in passing a resolution condemning the issuance of two girdles apiece as regular equipment to members of the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps. The Hollywood group says proper exercise and diet would give WAAC women hip lines like those of Leslie. In November 1943 a pinup in syndicated newspapers shows her pasting war savings stamps on Hitler's map of Europe. The headline reads "Stamping Out the Fuehrer." In February 1944 is heralded having the "most beautiful legs in America" by the Hosiery Designers of America. Brooks started landing more sizeable parts in such programs as Nine Girls (1944) and Cover Girl (1944). She was also seen to good advantage in Columbia's series films (The Whistler, Crime Doctor, et al.). Leslie Brooks retired from films in 1949. Her first husband, Donald Anthony Shay, was an actor and ex-marine. They married in Beverly Hills. He was 24; she was 22. Her daughter with Shay, Leslie Victoria, was born November 8, 1945 in Los Angeles. Brooks files for divorce from Shay in 1948. Brooks hits the news battling for custody of her two-and-a-half year-old daughter, Victoria, in court in Los Angeles. Her estranged husband, Shay, alleges his wife gave the child intoxicants at parties. His brother, Jack, testifies Victoria had "seven or eight swallows" from her mother's glass at a party and was "very cute and dizzy." Leslie denies this but admits giving the daughter an occasional sip of beer diluted in water. "Beer is not good for babies," Superior Judge Mildred L. Lillie tells her. Victoria's paternal grandmother, Mrs. Alice Shay, is given custody of the girl until Leslie hires a competent nurse housekeeper. Shay is directed to pay $350 monthly for support of his wife and child pending trial of the divorce suit. On November 11th, 1948 she is granted divorce from Shay in Los Angeles. Superior Judge Ingall W. Bull says about Shay: "This court has no doubt but that this is a case in which a worthless husband used the love of a mother for a child to extort money from the mother. Certainly the husband is guilty of a criminal conspiracy." The whereabouts of Shay and his 3-year-old daughter is unknown, his attorney says. A warrant is outstanding against Shay, charging he took the child last July when Leslie had custody pending the divorce trial. Bull gives Leslie an order for full custody of Victoria. She is also granted $100 a month child support, $200 a month alimony and title to all community property. On December 15th, 1949 receives her final divorce decree but still hasn't found her 4-year-old daughter. Her attorney says that Shay is believed to have taken the child to New Zealand. Shay also is missing. She then married actor Russ Vincent in 1950, whom she met while filming Blonde Ice in 1948. He will become a successful Hollywood land developer. The couple had 3 children. Daughter Dorena Marla born August 18, 1954; Daughter Gina L. born April 6, 1956; Daughter Darla R. born April 30, 1960 (all born in Los Angeles). At some point after her daughters were born, she went to live in Hawaii with her family. As Virginia L. Vincent, she now (as of 2009)lives with her family in Sherman Oaks, California.
  23. Morning. Heat wave. Currently 7F with only -8F windchill. Partly sunny with a high of 28F.
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