Gov. John Andrew, Republican of Massachusetts, strongly supported President Lincoln’s emancipation policies during the Civil War, and was instrumental in forming the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the black regiment depicted in the movie Glory, which starred Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman and Cary Elwes. Gov. Andrew was played in the movie by Alan North, perhaps best known for his role as Leslie Nielsen’s superior in the short-lived comedy series Police Squad!
Oscar winning actor Broderick Crawford was the son of actors Helen Broderick and Lester Crawford. While Lester was primarily a vaudeville star, Helen was a successful supporting actress in the 1930s, appearing as the wisecracking best friend of Ginger Rogers in a couple of Rogers/Astaire musicals.
Ginger is the name of the lead chicken and head plotter in the 2000 Aardman Animations escape-from-a-POW-camp spoof Chicken Run. Her voice was provided by Julia Sawalha, a British actress perhaps best known for her role as Saffron Monsoon in Absolutely Fabulous.
According to her fellow castaways Tina Louise was quite a primadonna on the set of Gilligan’s Island and mistakenly thought she was supposed to be the star of the series even though she wasn’t Gilligan. She skipped the sequel movies and rarely participated in reunions though she did appear in a cameo with the other 3 (then) surviving castaways on an episode of Roseanne; Louise played Roseanne, Bob Denver (in drag) played (Laurie Metcalfe’s role of) Jackie, Dawn Wells played (Sara Gilbert’s character) Darlene and Johnson played (the late Glenn Quinn’s character) Mark in a fantasy sequence.
From 1968 to 1970, Bob Denver and Herb Edelman were the title characters in the sitcom The Good Guys. Denver played Rufus Butterworth, who drove a 1930’s car that had been converted to a taxi. The vehicle was designed by George Barris, whose other work included the Batmobile and the truck that was “loaded up” when Jed and all his kin “moved to Beverly (Hills, that is)”.
Singer Loudon Wainwright III is part of an extended family of singer-songwriters. He married singer Kate McGarragle (who performed with her sister), and had two children with her, Rufus Wainwright and Martha Wainwright. After the marriage broke up, he married Suzzy Roche (of the Roches) and had a daughter Lucy Wainwright Roche. His sister, Sloan Wainwright, also performs as does her son, Sam McTavey.
Wainwright’s father, Loudon Wainwright II, was a successful writer for Life Magazine.
(BTW, I glad someone else remembers The Good Guys)
The Wainwright Building, a 10-story, red-brick office building in St. Louis, Missouri, is one of the first skyscrapers. It was built in 1890-91 and designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan.
Irene Adler was a New Jersey-born opera diva and femme fatale who outfoxed Sherlock Holmes in the early Conan Doyle short story, “A Scandal in Bohemia.” Holmes forever after admiringly referred to her, Dr. Watson recorded, as “the woman.” Holmesian scholars generally believe that she was loosely based on King Edward VII’s lover, Lillie Langtry.
Richard Adler and Jerry Ross were songwriters for two classic Broadway musicals: The Pajama Game and Damn Yankees. The team was different than most Broadway composers in that both men wrote both lyrics and music, and both musicals won Tony awards for Best Musical and Best Score. Ross died in 1955 at age 29, and Adler was not able to have another successful musical, though he became a successful writer of commercial jingles including “Let Hertz Put You in the Driver’s Seat.”
Ross Geller, Ph.D., played by David Schwimmer on the popular sitcom Friends, was a paleontologist who knew a lot more about dinosaurs than about women. His on-again, off-again relationship with Rachel Green, played by Jennifer Aniston, was often a centerpiece of the show.
Jennifer Aniston’s godfather was Telly Savalas, the best friend of her father, John Aniston, born Yannis Anastassakis, who played Victor Kiriakis on “Days of Our Lives”.
Telly Savalas played Lt. Theo Kojak, a New York City police detective with a fondness for lollipops. The character was introduced in the TV movie The Marcus-Nelson Murders, which was loosely based on the real-life murders of Emily Hoffert and Janice Wylie.
New York City was wracked by the Draft Riots of July 1863, after conscription was introduced to fill the ranks of the Union Army. Many of the rioters were Irish immigrants who resented what they saw as a war to free the slaves (who might then compete for their jobs). Dozens of black residents of the city were lynched before militia and Federal troops restored order.
Horatio Seymour, who was governor of New York during the Draft Riots, was the Democratic candidate for president in 1868. He lost to Ulysses S. Grant.
Grant is buried in Grant’s Tomb in New York City, as is his wife, Julia.
Ulysses S. Grant, born at Point Pleasant, Ohio, was noted both for his horsemanship and his drawing skills when he was a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. His grades were otherwise average, and when he graduated in 1843 he was ranked 21st in a class of 39.
At the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse (which is the name of the town, not the building) Lee was dressed in a beautifully made and neatly pressed uniform he kept strictly for special occasions. Grant was wearing a muddy private’s shirts due to having dirtied his own uniform in riding. If Lee was offended he did not say so. Upon leaving Lee pounded his fist into his hand three times, then rode off.
Although Lee’s surrender on April 9, 1865 is commonly considered to be the end of the Civil War, Lee only surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia. Other commanders included Gen. Joseph E. Johnston (surrendered two weeks after Lee), Lt. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston and Lt. Gen. E. Kirby Smith (surrendered in May). The final surrender, by Brig. Gen. Stand Watie, who didn’t surrender until June 23.
John C. Breckinridge, Confederate Secretary of War (for two months) and who was present at the surrender of Joseph Johnston to General Sherman, was the great-grandfather of John C. Breckinridge IV, a sometime drag queen better known as “Bunny” and best remembered today for appearing in the Ed Wood film Plan Nine from Outer Space. Though openly gay Bunny has a daughter and many grandchildren/great-grandchildren, most of whom live in France.
John Bunny was one the first American comic film stars, appearing in a series of short comedies, playing a henpecked husband, usually with Flora Finch. Moe Howard of the Three Stooges got his start in several John Bunny shorts in his early teens.