-
Recent Posts
- Serving UW for 70 years: A Brief History of Wyoming Hall
- Thanksgiving with Ozzie and Harriet Nelson
- The “Peculiar Vibrations” of the Sweetwater County Seat
- ‘Plopped Down in the Middle of That’: Indian Board School Life Documented in the Warm Valley Historical Project
- Meet Grande Dame Guignol at the American Heritage Center
Archives
Categories
Subscribe
Email Subscription
Join 132 other subscribers
Tag Archives: popular culture
Exhibit at the American Heritage Center honors Barbara Stanwyck, 1907-1990
The astounding and legendary life and career of Barbara Stanwyck began in Brooklyn, New York. The youngest of 5 children born to common laborers, Stanwyck was originally known as ‘Ruby Stevens.’ She became orphaned by the age of 4. After … Continue reading
Celebrating Black History Month: The June Vanleer Williams Story
African-American journalist and editor June Vanleer Williams is not necessarily well-known, but what a rich life she led. Williams was an actress, a casting director, a journalist, a playwright, a poet, and an active member in Karamu House, which is the … Continue reading
Posted in African American history, Authors and literature, Current events, found in the archive, Journalism, Motion picture actors and actresses, motion picture history, popular culture, Uncategorized, Under-documented communities, women's history
Tagged Entertainment industry, popular culture, today in history
Leave a comment
David Brown and Steven Spielberg: Through Thick and Thin
Film producer David Brown (1916-2010) began his career in 1951 heading the story department at Twentieth Century Fox. His success began early through his involvement with The Robe, an American Biblical epic film that received an Oscar nomination for Best … Continue reading
Carl Stalling, Music Animator
A chance meeting in the early 1920s at a Missouri movie theater led to some of the most beloved cartoons ever created. Carl Stalling was improvising on the organ while accompanying a silent film. A young Walt Disney was in … Continue reading
Mary O’Hara: “My Heart is in Wyoming”
Could successful screenwriter and socialite Mary O’Hara exchange her glitzy lifestyle for that of a Wyoming ranch wife? Her friends didn’t think so. But by 1930 Mary had hit her mid-forties and was fed up with her gilded life. She … Continue reading
Comics Have Research Value!
Comic book writer Stan Lee turns 95 today, and he’s still at work. Providing evidence to all his decades of work in the comic book industry, and its expansion to other entertainment media such as film and television, is the … Continue reading
Posted in Comic book history, motion picture history, popular culture, Uncategorized
Tagged popular culture, today in history
1 Comment
Brassy Barbara Stanwyck and Pre-Code Hollywood
In 1934, the Hays Code began to be strictly enforced in Hollywood to clean up alleged indecency in movies. All evil-doers had to meet their just rewards. What spurred the prudish policing? Hardboiled flicks like Baby Face. This 1933 film had … Continue reading
Terror in the Theater – Fifties Fears
Science fiction films of the 1950s commonly expressed several themes: fear of technology leading to unintended consequences; invasion of the planet by aliens; and the effects of atomic radiation. Because science fiction movies were not constrained by reality, more imaginative … Continue reading
Posted in Cold War, Fantasy, Horror, motion picture history, Politics, science fiction, Uncategorized
Tagged Entertainment industry, popular culture
2 Comments
In Memoriam: Dick Moore, September 12, 1925 – September 7, 2015
Born John Richard Moore, Jr., “Dickie” made his silver screen debut at eleven months old when he portrayed the infant Francois Villon (fifteenth-century poet and scoundrel) in the silent film The Beloved Rogue (1927). Cast for his resemblance to the … Continue reading
Jacques Kapralik and the Art of Film Promotion
The American Heritage Center is fortunate to hold the papers and artwork of Jacques Kapralik. Kapralik was a commercial artist and caricaturist whose art was used in the promotion of motion pictures throughout Hollywood’s Golden Era of the 1930s-1950s. Born … Continue reading