You guys are really piquing my interest in Clara Bow.
As for Adolphe Menjou:
He was probably the most well-dressed man in Hollywood. And the actor who could do any genre. How could he portray a befuddled father with four beautiful daughters, the oldest being Rita Hayworth AND a general who would put soldiers before a firing squad who wouldn't risk getting killed in no-man's land. Wow.
ADOLPHE MENJOU FOR PRESIDENT!!! Yay!! Oh. Okay. Well...
Adolphe Menjou for TCM's "STAR OF THE MONTH." The man could do anything. He probably could have played Scarlett O'Hara!!
From the evolution of Homo sapiens to the exploration of space, the vast landscape of human history appears in J.M. Roberts's History of the World. Deftly written and evocatively illustrated, this book offers an outstanding one-volume survey of the major events, developments, and personalities of the known past.
In a truly remarkable work of compression and synthesis, Roberts sweeps through thousands of years of history, weaving the stories of empires, arts, religion, economics, and science into his lucid narrative. Beginning with the early hominids, he swiftly and authoritatively brings the story up through the emergence of Mesopotamian civilizations and ancient Egypt. Here, too, is comprehensive coverage of the Indian and Chinese civilizations ("For two and a half thousand years," he points out, "there has been a Chinese nation using a Chinese language"), as well as developments in Africa and South America. Aided by photographs of key archaelogical finds (such as monumental Egyptian statues, Peruvian medallions, and Celtic jewelry), Roberts clearly explains the early arts, engineering, and religion.
He also carefully ties in changing economics--such as trade routes and developments in agriculture and manufacturing--making clear their importance for the history of politics and changing societies. The story leaps ahead, through the Roman Empire, the explosive arrival of Islam, the rise and fall of samurai rule in Japan, the medieval kingdoms of sub-Saharan Africa, the Mongol conquests, and the early modern expansion of Europe across the globe. American independence, the French Revolution, the colonial empires, Japan's startling modernization, and the World Wars follow in turn, accompanied by discussions of scientific and technical breakthroughs.
With informative maps, photographs, and reproductions of important artwork (some in full color), Roberts clearly explains the impact of the key individuals and the major influences on history the world over, down to the era of an integrated global economy and the fall of the U.S.S.R. Vividly written and beautifull illustrated, History of the World offers the finest, most readable one-volume survey available today.
I highly recommend this book for College Students (If have one ... studying World History) to have as a reference material to use in class.
I've been reading Amazon recommends, they've discounted 60 books a day over the Christmas period. A very eceltic bunch
Wolf Hall is the first in a trilogy of books about the life of Thomas Cromwell.
The Limit is a book about Phil Hill and Baron Von Tripps who raced cars inthe 50s, a period of time when there were so many casualties amongst racing drivers that their survival rate was lower that Battle of Britain pilots.
Elizabeth Street a book based on a real family who migrated to New York from Scilla in Italy in the early 1900s and their terror at the hands of the Black Hand including a kidnapping of their daughter.
Anastasia and the Secret icon, a book made into a spy novel, which would have been far better presented as fact, which lays bear the claim for Anna Anderson being Anastasia and junks the DNA testing. Aparently even members of Prince Philip's family did not match his DNA and neither did his DNA match the finger of a prominent Romanov relative. Interesting but I'd love to read more. I guess the argument is that if any of the family survived then there could be a claim for the throne of Russia if things ever became unstable enough to warrant the monarchy returning and that the grave of the Romanovs was actually laid by Stalin in the 1940s to prove the massacre theory. I can't say I'm convinced but I do find myself wanting to believe that some of the family made it away from Ekaterinburg. I can see this being an area of reading I'll end up pursuing in future.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
I do like conspiracy theories although as I've got older I've been able to make my own mind up, when I was younger I'd be swayed by whatever I was reading. The people who are convinced that Anna Anderson was Anastasia also say that the sample provided by the American hospital does not match an earlier sample from her in Germany. It points to the Vatican being behind a coverup to get the family out, Anastasia going mad and escaping and putting in jeopardy the whole operation. She was never to meet her family again. I don't completely buy it, I just wish they did survive, the massacre was a pointless waste of a lives.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
But why cover it up? It makes no sense for her never to see her family either. At least to me.
I am reading Lincoln's speeches right now. What a brilliant, philosophical, and most of all logical mind he had. I tried to explain one of his speeches to someone, and somehow, what he said so logically and clearly, I muddled up and explained completely wrong. It shows you how brilliant a writer he was that when you try to explain his words, you can't. There are no better words for what he has to say.
JackFavell wrote:But why cover it up? It makes no sense for her never to see her family either. At least to me.
I am reading Lincoln's speeches right now. What a brilliant, philosophical, and most of all logical mind he had. I tried to explain one of his speeches to someone, and somehow, what he said so logically and clearly, I muddled up and explained completely wrong. It shows you how brilliant a writer he was that when you try to explain his words, you can't. There are no better words for what he has to say.
You are so right Jack!
Your ending ... "There are no better words for what he has to say" ... hits the bull-eye! Lincoln has one's of the best minds in that era and his views on everything has meaning and understanding. That's why I admire him so much.
I've done that too, when I've been so caught up with something I've read and tried to give Chris a synopsis and it's come across as so boring. I can appreciate well written or spoken words but can't replicate them myself.
The reason behind the coverup was to stop them bringing the Tsar back, if they were thought to be alive they would still be figureheads and potentially restored to the throne. They traded their lives for anonimity, I'm not sure I buy it, it would have to be explained better to me to have me completely convinced. The Vatican and other royal families and Lord Mountbatten supposedly knew and helped but why after all these years would they perpetuate a coverup which is what it would have to be. Prnice Phillip for example must know the truth and provide DNA samples to perpetuate the lie. I'd love to believe it and I hope it is true but it's wishful thinking I'm sure.
I've got caught up now in reading about Princess Noor Inayat Khan a female operative in SOE during the war. Now she's undercover in France I'm completely gripped, truth is stranger than fiction.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
