by Peter Cates George Raft Having for so long equated actor George Raft (1901-1980) with his role as the Saint Valentine’s Day killer/bootlegger Spats Columbo in the 1958 comedy Some Like It Hot, I found it interesting to see him in a good guy role in the 1952 film noir Loan Shark. He portrays a […]
by Peter Cates Calvin Coolidge The 30th President Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933) had the kind of wife in the former First Lady Grace Goodhue Coolidge (1879-1957) who was a rarity when it came to truly being on the same page as her husband. She catered to just about every whim in him possible, although Cal had […]
by Peter Cates Sarah Orne Jewett South Berwick native Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909) advised younger writers to “Write about what you know!” Aroostook County native Helen Hamlin (1917-2004) once commented on the fascination of one’s childhood for so many: “It is only natural that a person’s childhood environment should always remain the most glamorous and […]
by Peter Cates Warren G. Harding The 29th former President Warren Gamaliel Harding (1865-1923) was born November 2, 1865, in Blooming Grove, Ohio, the son and oldest of 8 children of George Tryon Harding (1843-1928) and his wife, the former Phoebe Dickerson (1843-1910). The father was basically a jack of all trades, including farmer, teacher, […]
by Peter Cates Maine Novelist Ruth Moore Maine novelist Ruth Moore (1903-1989) was born on Gott’s Island, spent several years as an adult out of state, and published the very successful novel Spoonhandle in 1946, which was adapted for the 1948 movie Deep Waters; the money enabled her to move back to Maine for the […]
by Peter Cates Thomas Woodrow Wilson The 28th president, Thomas Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), had been a professor of history and president of Princeton University before being lured into New Jersey Democratic party politics, and he soon found out that he enjoyed politics a lot . In the three-way race of 1912, Taft and Roosevelt split […]
by Peter Cates Ray Charles My first experience of Ray Charles (1930-2004) was as a kid in the early ‘60s watching Dick Clark’s American Bandstand in which the singer made an appearance singing his megahit Georgia on My Mind. I remember being struck by his combination of calm stage presence with consummate timing and delivery. […]
by Peter Cates William Howard Taft The 27th former President William Howard Taft (1857-1930) had what might be considered the closest friendship possible with his predecessor Theodore Roosevelt. They more than frequently visited with each other, advised each other, encouraged each other, even rebuked each other. Under Roosevelt, Taft served as Governor/General of the newly-annexed […]
by Peter Cates Adam Had Four Sons Amazon Prime has a large array of vintage films that I have been lately bingeing on and I recently viewed a few choice ones: 1941’s Adam Had Four Sons starred Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982), Warner Baxter (1888-1951), Fay Wray (1907-2004), Richard Denning (1914-1998), and Susan Hayward (1917-1975). The story […]
by Peter Cates Theodore Roosevelt As the 25th former President William McKinley was slowly dying in a bed chamber, in Buffalo, New York, of a gangrenous infection from Leon Czolgosz’s bullet, Vice-President Teddy Roosevelt (1858-1919) was still vacationing with his family high up in the Adirondacks 400 miles due northeast in the Empire State, but […]