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Once you saw her, you would not forget her. Despite her age and weight, she became one of the top box office draws of the sound era. She was 14 when she joined a theater group and she went on to work on stage and in light opera. By 1892, she was on Broadway and she later became a star comedienne on the vaudeville circuit. In 1910, she had a hit with 'Tillie's Nightmare' which Mack Sennett adapted to film as Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914) with Charles Chaplin. Marie took top billing over a young Chaplin, but her film career never took off and by 1918, she was out of films and out of work. Her role in the chorus girls' strike of 1917 had her blacklisted from the theaters. In 1927, MGM screenwriter Frances Marion got her a small part in The Joy Girl (1927) and then a co-starring lead with Polly Moran in The Callahans and the Murphys (1927) (which was abruptly withdrawn from circulation thanks to objections of Irish-American groups over its depiction of gin-guzzling Irish). Her career stalled and the 59-year old actress found herself no longer in demand. In the late 1920s she had been largely forgotten and reduced to near-poverty. Despite her last film being a financial disaster, Irving Thalberg, somewhat incredibly, sensed her potential was determined to re-build her into a star. It was a slow return in films but her popularity continued to grow. But it was sound that made her a star again. Anna Christie (1930) was the movie where Garbo talks, but everyone noticed Marie as Marthy. In an era of Harlow, Garbo and Crawford, it was homely old Marie Dressler that won the coveted exhibitor's poll as the most popular actress for three consecutive years. In another film from the same year, Min and Bill (1930) she received a best actress Oscar for her dramatic performance. She received another Academy Award nomination for Emma (1932). She had more success with Dinner at Eight (1933) and Tugboat Annie (1933). In 1934, cancer claimed her life.

Born Rasmus Karl Therkelsen Gottlieb in Copenhagen, Denmark, on October 12, 1886 the future Karl Dane had a rough childhood. His father was an alcoholic and spendthrift. At a young age his parents divorced. To escape his unhappy home he took a great interest in the arts, particularly puppeteering (something popular in Denmark at the time). Dane apprenticed as a machinist during his teenage years.

In 1910 he met and fell in love with Carla Dagmar Hagen. They had two children together: Ejlert Carl and Ingeborg Helene. Dane was restless all his life. War broke out, and Denmark was hit with major unemployment. Hoping to support his family (and find new adventures) Dane immigrated to America in 1916 with the intent to send for his family once he could afford to.

Dane was miserable and lonely, compounded by the fact his wife soon asked for a divorce. He worked various odd jobs (mostly as a mechanic and carpenter) and lived in various states.

Hearing of the good money in flickers Dane tried his luck. By 1917 he was given a small extra role at Vitagraph. Though his scene ended up on the cutting room floor Dane continued to seek a film career. With the outbreak of War in the US Dane found luck, being cast as the evil Hun in many Anti Kaiser films including To Hell with the Kaiser! (1918), Wolves of Kultur (1918), and My Four Years in Germany (1918). Dane was very successful in such roles. Possibly to avoid anti German sentiment it was at this time he changed his name to the less provocative sounding 'Dane' (after well...being a Dane).

By 1918 Dane had grown disillusioned with Hollywood and had fallen in love with a Swedish woman named Helen Benson. Benson strongly disapproved of his acting so Dane quit and took up chicken farming. The pair married and Benson became pregnant in 1923. However she died in childbirth as did the child, a baby girl. Dane was devastated. Terribly lonely Dane quickly married telephone operator Emma Sawyer. The marriage only lasted 6 months.

During this unfortunate time Dane ran into old friend Charles Hutchison who convinced him to try acting again. This proved very lucky as Dane was chosen by King Vidor for the role of Slim in The Big Parade (1925). The film would be a major success and go on to be one of the best selling silents of all time (ironic considering Dane's previous Hun roles, it was an anti war film).

Dane was signed by MGM for a salary of $150 per week, which would eventually rise to $1,500 weekly. His family back in Denmark spotted him and they reconnected, though Dane would never see his children again. Dane so had many key roles in major movies including many Lillian Gish and John Gilbert films (such as La Bohème (1926) and The Scarlet Letter (1926)).

Dane's career continued to rise with a role as Ramadan in The Son of the Sheik (1926) with Rudolph Valentino and Bardelys the Magnificent (1926). with John Gilbert. In 1927 Dane paired with British actor George K. Arthur to form the comedic duo Dane & Arthur. The pair were quite successful with Dane usually playing the slow witted Scandinavian.

Contrary to popular and hugely inaccurate Hollywood Babylon lore Dane did decently in talkies. His English was a bit shaky but his accent was understandable and suited his type and look perfectly. He would go on to have roles in many films between 1928 and 1930.

By 1928 Dane began to burn too brightly. He worked too hard and became ill and severely fatigued (almost dying of pneumonia at one point). He began a relationship with crazed Russian Thais Valdemar (contrary to what she claimed they never married). In 1930 Dane's roles had grown smaller and he soon lost his contract. Dane suffered a nervous break down the same year.

After recovering in 1931 Dane and Arthur reunited for an 8 month vaudeville tour which did very well and led to another film contract. However by 1932 this too had ended as writers couldn't think up enough clever scenarios for Dane. He made one final film, the 3 hour serial The Whispering Shadow (1933) which starred a new actor named Bela Lugosi (incredibly it took only 12 days to shoot). Dane had a small yet key role in the serial, ending his film career with a wonderful yet underrated performance.

Dane made major investments in mining in 1931 and 1933. However his business partner was crooked and Dane soon lost all the money he had made in films. Now impoverished Dane went from one menial job to another, always losing them in some cruel and unfair way. One such job was as a waiter at a café. The owner fired Dane soon after when he discovered a former movie star turned waiter did not draw in customers. MGM also refused to rehire Dane as even a carpenter or an extra despite his skills. Yes he did own a hot dog stand, no he didn't operate it in front of the MGM gates. That was a Kenneth Anger invention.

Days before his death Dane was returning to his apartment when he was pick-pocketed of all the money he had in the world: $18. On the eve of April 14th, 1934 Dane's friend (and possible girlfriend though the evidence is sketchy) Frances Leake arrived at his apartment to take him to a movie, hoping to lift his spirits. Unable to enter she had the landlady open the door. The duo discovered Dane slumped in his chair, a revolver at his side. He had left a note by a scrapbook of his publicity clippings, "To Frances and all my friends---Goodbye." He was 47.

Dane's body was held hoping his relatives could be found in Denmark. The Danish community of Hollywood was livid and insisted he be given a proper and dignified burial. At their urging MGM paid for a funeral. Dane was buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Prince Randian was born in the Demarara district, British Guyana in 1871, the child of British Indian slaves. Born with tetra-amelia syndrome (the lacking of all four limbs), little is known about his early life or how he was discovered, but it seems his incredible adaptability did not go unnoticed. Reputedly, he was brought to the United States by P.T. Barnum in 1889 at the age of 18, performing as an "oddity" or "freak" at dime shows, museums and primarily at Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York

For his act, Randian was billed as "the human caterpillar who crawls on his belly like a reptile." He wore a one-piece wool garment that fit tightly over his body, giving him the appearance of a caterpillar, snake or potato. He was efficient at moving from place to place by wriggling his hips and shoulders in a snake-like motion. He would demonstrate his astonishing ability to fend for himself regardless of his handicap. He would shave himself by securing a razor in a wooden block, paint with a brush or write with a pen by using his lips, and most famously, roll and light his own cigarette in his only film appearance, Freaks (1932) (1932). Randian was also said to have been a skilled carpenter, using his mouth and shoulders to manipulate his tools, and he kept all of the props and materials used in his act in a wooden box that he reportedly constructed, painted and installed a lock by himself using a saw, knife and hammer. "Someday," he used to say, "I'll build myself a house."

Randian could speak English, German and French in addition to Hindi, his native language. He married early in life to a Hindu woman known only as Princess Sarah, who remained devoted to him throughout his long 45-year career in the sideshow. The couple had four daughters, plus a son who later became his manager. They settled at 174 Water Street in Paterson, New Jersey.

Prince Randian died of a heart attack at 7:00 PM on December 19, 1934, shortly after his comeback performance at Sam Wagner's 14th Street Museum in New York. He was 63 years old.

Lowell Sherman was one of the early cinema's first major stars who successfully made the transition from actor to director. Born in either 1885 or 1888, his parents were John Wm. Sherman, a theatrical producer (1855-1924), and Julia Gray Sherman, an actress and daughter of actress Kate Gray.

In 1905 Lowell embarked on his first real stage work in New York and his first film work took place in 1914. From the start, he proved to be a respected actor who played the roles of the playboy and villain very well. He directed early films for Greta Garbo and Katharine Hepburn, married three times and attended the 1921 party at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco that scandalously ended the career of Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle. Sherman died of pneumonia in December 1934.

Elvira and Jenny Lee Snow, also known as the Snow Twins, were born in Georgia, but they were often advertised in their sideshow act as being from the Yucatan of Mexico and sometimes from Australia. (Some reports state that they were not actually twins at all). Reputedly, Elvira's birthdate was March 2, 1901, and Jenny Lee was said to be 12 years younger, but as is the history of circus sideshow acts, the fact can vary dramatically.

They both suffered from microcephaly, characterized by abnormally small craniums, which in the language of the sideshow gave rise to the term "pinhead." Like most other microcephalics, they had severe mental limitations and were said to have the mental capacity of toddlers, requiring constant watching and care. Essentially rented from their families, they were based at the World Circus Sideshow at Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York in the late 1920's into the 1940's. They were variously known as Zip and Pip, Pip and Flip, Pippo and Zippo and other similar names, and at one time, they were managed by their brother, Cliff. Their only film appearance was in Tod Browning's Freaks (1932), along with another microcephalic, Schlitzie.

Jenny Lee passed away in 1934, and Elvira in 1976.

Dorothy Dell was born to Elbert and Lillan Goff in Hattiesburg, Mississippi on January 30, 1915. She won the most beautiful baby in Hattiesburg beauty contest when she was thirteen months old. She lived in New Orleans from the age of ten. She attended the Sophie Wright High School for girls. Winning the Miss New Orleans title, when she was fifteen, she went on a Fanchon and Marco vaudeville tour for six months. She got a job with the Ziegfield Follies of 1931 when she arrived in New York City. She sang a solo, "Was I Drunk?", in the production. All of her films at Paramount were released in 1934. She died that year in an automobile accident on June 8, 1934, She had left an all-night party at an inn in Altadena and was going to Pasadena in the wee hours when the car left the highway, hit a telephone pole, bounced off a palm tree and hit a boulder. Miss Dell was killed instantly. Her date, Dr. Carl Wagner, who was driving, died several hours later.

Jean Vigo had bad health since he was a child. Son of anarchist militant Miguel Almareyda, he also never really recovered from his father's mysterious death in jail when he was 12. Abandoned by his mother, he passed from boarding school to boarding school. Aged 23, through meetings with people involved in the movies, he started working in the cinema, then bought a camera and shot his first film, a short documentary, À Propos de Nice (1930) then, two years later, Taris (1931) (aka Taris champion de natation). These two very personal works frighten the producers, and it lasted two years before someone showed some interest in his project of a children movie. This would be his masterpiece, Zero for Conduct (1933) (aka Zero for Conduct), a subversive despiction of an authoritarian boarding school, which directly came from Vigo's memories. The film is straightaway censored for its "anti-French spirit." In despair, he nevertheless shot L'Atalante (1934), a romantic and realistic story of a young couple beginning their life together in a barge. He died just afterward of septicemy. His work would not be recognized before 1945. This accursed filmmaker is now admired for his poetic realism.

Lilyan Tashman was born on October 23, 1896 in Brooklyn, New York to Rose (Cook) from Germany and Morris Tashman from Bialystock, Poland. After toying with stage work, Lilyan made her film debut with Experience (1921), followed the next year by Head Over Heels (1922) (this was at a time when some studios and their performers were turning out one film per week. She had no other offers for 1923, but her constant rounds of the casting offices finally did some good. In 1924 she appeared in no fewer than 6 films. For a while she averaged 7 films per year. She was one of relatively few performers who easily made the transition to the sound era, In 1934 she finished filming Frankie and Johnnie (1936) and went into a New York City hospital to have some tumors removed; she died there on March 21, 1934 at age 37. The film was released two years after her death.

Robert Brower was born on 14 July 1850 in Point Pleasant, New York, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Little Minister (1921), Vanity Fair (1915) and How Mrs. Murray Saved the American Army (1911). He died on 8 December 1934 in West Hollywood, California, USA.

One of the most famous bank robbers in history, he was born John Herbert Dillinger on June 22, 1903, to a grocery store owner named John Wilson Dillinger and his wife Mollie (the family also included an older sister, Audrey). By all accounts the Dillingers were a normal "all-American" family, but the normality was broken when John was three and his mother passed away (her death has been ascribed to a variety of causes, but the best guess is that she died of pneumonia). With his mother gone and his sister getting married and moving out a few years later, John was left alone with his father, who was caring but not very affectionate. In that kind of environment young John, a naturally rambunctious boy, began to rebel and get into all sorts of mischief, including shoplifting, vandalism and even stealing coal from train cars and selling it to neighbors. In order to curb his son's wild behavior, as well as to fulfill his own need for companionship, John Sr. married Elizabeth Fields and moved the family back to her hometown of Mooresville, IN, but the change of scenery did little to deter John's behavior. He was still in and out of trouble, and by the time he was 16 he had dropped out of high school and taken a job at a machine shop. Even as a young adult, though, John was irresponsible and in 1921 he was caught by a policeman in Indianpolis trying to steal a car. He managed to elude the officer in a foot pursuit, fled home and joined the Navy. He was assigned to the U.S.S. Utah (a ship that would later be sunk by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor). Unable to stay out of trouble even in the Navy, he soon deserted and returned home, and not long afterwards in 1924 he married Beryl Hovius and took another job. He was a neglectful and sometimes abusive husband and an absentee worker, and hooked up with an ex-con named Ed Singleton. They hatched a plan to mug an elderly grocer named Frank Morgan, who was known to carry his weekly cash and receipts with him to the bank after his store closed on Saturday night. The plan was for John to rob the old man at gunpoint on the street and hop into a getaway car driven by Singleton, which was parked at a nearby curb. However, when John confronted Morgan, the old man fought back, knocking the gun out of John's hand and causing it to fire. Thinking he had accidentally shot the old man (which he hadn't), John fled to the pre-arranged getaway spot, only to find that Singleton wasn't there. He fled on foot but was caught two days later. The incident aroused public indignation, and after a trial and conviction, the judge gave John 10 years for assault with a deadly weapon (he had tried pistol-whipping the old man) and 20 years for attempted robbery, despite the fact that this was John's first crime and he had pleaded guilty and confessed freely to the crime. Embittered, Dillinger vowed revenge.

He was sent to Indiana's Pendleton Reformatory, where he hooked up with experienced thieves Harry Pierpont and Homer Van Meter. There John learned a little bit about crime. In 1929 Beryl divorced him and he was denied parole. He was later transferred to the reformatory at Michigan City, where he was reunited with the recently transferred Pierpont and Van Meter and introduced to Charles Makley, Russell Clark and John "Red" Hamilton, all professional robbers. While John learned the art of bank robbery, the cons groomed him to help plan their escape from prison. In May of 1933 he used the fact that his stepmother Lizzy was dying as a reason to ask for parole, which was granted. He hung around his family farm enough to help his father for a while and to make a positive impression on the townsfolk before embarking on his life of crime. He hooked up with a group of petty thieves who were associated with his jailhouse buddy Pierpoint and pulled off a string of grocery-store heists before robbing his first bank in Daleville, IN, in July of 1933 (his take was $3,500). He then embarked on a series of bank robberies in Indiana and Ohio, using the proceeds to buy guns and bribe key guards at the Michigan City prison in order to help his friends Pierpoine and Van Meter escape. The escape went off without a hitch in September of 1933. Pierpoint and Van Meter got away scot-free, but Dillinger was captured by police in an Ohio boarding house and taken to Lima to be held in the local jail. Learning of Dillinger's capture, Pierpont and the others (minus Van Meter, who struck out on his own after the escape) broke John out, killing an elderly deputy sheriff in the process. Reunited, the full-strength gang was one of the most efficient and professional of the era due to their careful planning and execution of robberies, their tactic of avoiding confrontations with police and their calm and respectful manner towards their victims, which earned the gang the moniker "The Gentleman Bandits" and turned handsome and dashing ringleader Dillinger into a household name.

From the fall of 1933 and into the winter, the gang robbed banks in Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and Wisconsin, using Chicago as a base of operations. While living there, John fell for a party girl named Evelyn "Billie" Frechette, who would become his lifelong companion. In December of 1933 the gang decided to take a break from the "heat" caused by law enforcement and went on vacation in Miami. In January of 1934 they decided to temporarily split up, with Pierpont, Clark and Makley heading for Tucson, AZ, and Dillinger and "Red" Hamilton heading back to Chicago. It was there that John committed his one and only murder. During the robbery of the East Chicago (Indiana) bank, an alarm went off, and the arrival of police forced Dillinger and Hamilton to take hostages to escape. As they were leaving the bank, a patrolman named Patrick O'Malley fired at the exposed Dillinger, only to have his bullets bounce of the bandit's bulletproof vest. In a fit of anger, Dillinger--carrying a Thompson submachine gun--shot and killed O'Malley. The resulting gun battle with other officers resulted in Hamilton being wounded before the pair managed to escape. Once Red was tucked away in a safe house where he could get medical aid, Dillinger reunited with the others in Tucson. Unbeknownst to Dillinger, however, Tucson police had taken notice of Pierpont, Makley and Clark, whose fancy clothes, flashy girlfriends and heavy suitcases (which carried their guns and robbery proceeds) aroused their suspicion. When police discovered their true identities they quickly arrested the gang, and when Dillinger arrived in Tucson he was arrested, too. Extradited back to Indiana to stand trial for the murder of Officer O'Malley, Dillinger was found guilty at a lengthy trial (in which his defense was that he wasn't in Chicago at the time), sentenced to death and returned to Michigan City Prison, where he was placed on Death Row. However, in transit to Michigan City he was held overnight at a jail in Crown Point, IN, where he pulled off one of the great jailbreaks of all time by carving a "pistol" out of a bar of soap and coloring it black with shoe polish, fooling his jailers into thinking it was a real gun (adding insult to injury, he escaped in the town sheriff's personal car). Although the fake gun story may be apocryphal, it was a fact that the most notorious criminal in America was on the loose again.

Reuniting with Van Meter and Hamilton, and joining forces with the infamous Baby Face Nelson (born Lester Gillis) and his gang, the new "Super Gang"--as the press had dubbed them--robbed banks in Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa. This time, though, they were dealing with more than local police. Since their robbery spree had crossed state lines--a federal offense--they were now subject to pursuit by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Despite the fact that every lawman in the country was looking for him and that his picture was on every magazine and newspaper, John defied the logic of "laying low" by making a surprise visit to his father and relatives during a Sunday gathering at the family farm while FBI agents had the place under surveillance (he even posed for a now-famous photo in which he laughed and held a tommy gun in one hand and a wooden gun in the other). Eventually settling in St. Paul, MN, the gang laid low between heists until the FBI found them in early April of 1934. Dillinger, his girlfriend Billie and Van Meter had to shoot their way out of an apartment building to escape FBI agents, who had shown up acting on a tip. Two days later gang member Eddie Green was shot and killed by the FBI. Not long after that the agents struck again, this time nabbing Billie at a bar where John was supposed to meet an underworld contact, not knowing the contact was setting him up for capture by the FBI. Dillinger knew that they finally had to "lay law" and arranged with an underworld contact of Baby Face Nelson to stay at a resort lodge in Wisconsin called Little Bohemia, which was owned by a former Chicago saloonkeeper. The man, despite initial reservations about having the gang stay at his facility, raised no objections. However, his wife wasn't as accommodating. She managed to slip a letter out of town to the FBI agent in charge of the Chicago office, Melvin Purvis. On April 22, 1934, Purvis and a squad of agents and local cops descended on the lodge. When the lodge owner's dogs began barking, the startled officers, believing they'd been discovered, rushed the house at the same moment three locals were driving away after having eaten at the restaurant. Believing them to be fleeing gang members, Purvis ordered agents to fire at their oncoming car. One man was killed and his two friends were wounded. Meanwhile, Dillinger, Nelson and the others escaped. Before getting out of the area Nelson, cornered by agents at a nearby lodge, shot his way out of the trap, killing one FBI agent and a local police officer.

A statewide alert was issued for the gang, and not long afterwards Dillinger, Van Meter and gang member Red Hamilton ran a roadblock in Minneapolis. Dillinger and Van Meter escaped without injury, but Hamilton was shot and killed. A few weeks later gang member Tommy Carroll died in a shootout with police in Iowa. For the next several weeks the gang laid low and avoided each other, with only Dillinger and Van Meter running together. Eventually the two outlaws were so afraid of being spotted that they went to an underworld doctor in Chicago to have plastic surgery performed to change their face. The doctor botched the operation--an associate commented that they looked like they had been mauled by rabid dogs--the two were convinced that they would no longer be easily recognized. Out of desperation what was left of the original gang--Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Van Meter, along with Nelson's associates Johnny Chase and "Fatso" Negri, robbed a bank in South Bend, IN, on June 30, 1934. It would be the last heist for any of them. They had hoped the haul would be enough to finance an escape to Canada or Mexico, but it was only enough to keep them in hiding or on the run from ever-closing lawmen--the FBI had just declared Dillinger "America's First Public Enemy #1". While the others hit the road, John settled in Chicago, living under the alias of "Jimmy Lawrence, a clerk for the Chicago Board of Trade" in a boarding house owned by bordello madam Anna Sage, an illegal immigrant from Romania. Dilliner even began dating one of Anna's girls, Polly Hamilton. However, if he thought he was safe and secure, he was wrong. Sage, whose real name was Ana Cumpanas, was facing deportation by the INS for her numerous prostitution arrests. Desperate to stay in America, she called the FBI and made a deal: She'd set up Dillinger to be arrested and the FBI would intercede on her behalf with Immigrfation and Naturalization Service (INS) officials. Purvis agreed to the terms. On the evening of July 22, 1934, Anna called Purvis and told him that she, Polly Hamilton and Dillinger would be going to see a movie at the nearby Biograph Theater (Manhattan Melodrama (1934), with William Powell and Clark Gable). Purvis assembled a squad and headed to the theater. On that sweltering summer night, Purvis and his assistant, Sam Cowley, positioned agents around the theater with Purvis stationed by the door to alert the other agents by lighting a cigar upon seeing Sage (they didn't know what Dillinger looked like after his surgery). When the movie let out, Purvis spotted Anna, whose orange dress looked red under the lights of the awning--thus giving birth to the "Woman In Red" --and lit his cigar. Two nearby FBI agents muscled their way through the crowd of exiting patrons. Just as they were coming up behind Dillinger, he spotted them and made a run for it. Seeing him desperately groping for a gun in his pants pocket, the two agents opened fire. Mortally wounded, Dillinger stumbled forward and fell face down in the mouth of a nearby alley while Polly Hamilton, who may not have known who "Jimmy" really was, screamed hysterically. Only 31 years old, the infamous John Dillinger was dead.

Even in death, however, Dillinger still managed to captivate the nation. When the news hit the radio waves, friends called friends saying, "Did you hear what happened?". Newspapers carrying the story were instantly sold out. His corpse was taken to The Alexian Brothers Hospital in Chicago, who put it on display for several days so people could come in and look at the slain outlaw like he was an art exhibit. Finally his body was returned to his father, who buried his notorious son in the local cemetery in Mooresville, Indiana. Before the dirt was shoveled onto John's coffin, cement was poured in to prevent treasure seekers from robbing Dillinger's grave.

John Dillinger continues to fascinate the public, with his good looks, cocky attitude, daring robberies and fantastic escapes. He has been immortalized in folk songs, books, television and movies. He has gone down in history as one of the most famous criminals who has ever lived.

Bonnie Parker was born on 1 October 1910 in Rowena, Texas, USA. She was married to Roy Thornton. She died on 23 May 1934 in Gibsland, Louisiana, USA.

This dark-haired, suave American-born matinée idol of French ancestry abandoned a medical career after receiving favorable reviews for his performance in a school play at McGill University in Montreal.

He then went on to study drama at the Stanhope Wheatcroft School of Acting in New York, toured in Vaudeville and with stock companies before performing at the Winter Garden with his own troupe of players.

Cody's first appearance on screen was in short films with the Balboa Amusement Company. He then worked for Thomas H. Ince and Mack Sennett, advancing to full-length features by 1917, initially playing villains.

As his popularity soared, he gravitated to starring roles as amusing rogues and debonair bon vivants in dramas and light comedies, often with a continental background.

He was a noted wit and much sought-after as a speaker at Hollywood parties. Though slightly encumbered by his rather pronounced French accent, Cody had just begun to make an impact in early talkies, when he unexpectedly died in his sleep due to heart disease.

His first spouse was the famous silent screen comedienne Mabel Normand, who also died prematurely. Their short, rather unhappy union had reputedly been the result of a practical joke.

Gustav Holst was born on 21 September 1874 in Pittville, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, UK. He was a composer and writer, known for Knowing (2009), The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) and The Vast of Night (2019). He was married to Isobel Harrison. He died on 25 May 1934 in Ealing, Middlesex, London, England, UK.

Emma Littlefield was born on 12 January 1881 in New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for The Best Man (1916), He Got His (1918) and Some Professor (1918). She was married to Victor Moore. She died on 23 June 1934 in Farmingdale, New York, USA.

Beginning his career at age 13 as a stagehand for D.W. Griffith, George W. Hill worked his way up through cinematography and screenwriting to finally begin directing films in the early 1920s. His later films took on a stark, brutally realistic atmosphere and were renowned for their effective use of shadows in the lighting as in The Big House (1930), considered to be his masterpiece. He was found dead in his beach house in 1934, victim of an apparent suicide.

Clyde Barrow was born on 24 March 1909 in Telico, Texas, USA. He died on 23 May 1934 in Gibsland, Louisiana, USA.

Marie Curie was born on 7 November 1867 in Warsaw, Poland, Russian Empire [now Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland]. She was married to Pierre Curie. She died on 4 July 1934 in Sancellemoz, Haute-Savoie, France.

Lester Joseph Gillis, aka "Baby Face Nelson", began his crime career at an early age in a street gang in the Chicago slums. He was given the nickname "Baby Face" by his gang members because he looked much younger than he actually was (14). His specialties were car theft, bootlegging and armed robbery. He spent several years in prison on auto theft and bank robbery charges. In 1932, while being returned to prison from a trial for another bank robbery, he escaped custody and fled to California, where he hooked up with a bootlegging gang. Nelson traveled among California, Indiana and Minnesota, becoming involved in several murders.

In 1934 he returned to the Chicago area, where he hooked up with a gang led by the infamous John Dillinger. Later that year the FBI learned that Nelson, his wife and other members of the Dillinger gang were staying at a resort lodge in northern Wisconsin. They surrounded the lodge, but in the ensuing gun battle Nelson, Dillinger and other gangsters escaped. Nelson broke into a nearby house and took its occupants hostage. When FBI agents and local police checked the house, Nelson opened fire, killing one of the agents, then escaped. Not long afterward the Dillinger gang, including Nelson, robbed a bank in South Bend, IN, killing a police officer. Later, in Chicago, Nelson killed two police officers who happened upon a meeting of the gang. On 6/22/34 Dillinger was shot dead by FBI agents in Chicago, and Nelson and the rest of the gang fled to California, but returned to Chicago a short time later. The FBI received a tip that he had been seen driving a stolen car near Barrington, IL, and sent two agents to investigate. The agents spotted the car with Nelson and a fellow gang member, Paul Chase, and a running gun battle ensued. By the time it was over the two FBI agents had been killed and Nelson, mortally wounded, was driven away by his accomplice. He died that night. His body was left near a cemetery, where it was found the next morning.

Alec B. Francis was born on 2 December 1867 in London, England, UK. He was an actor and director, known for Oliver Twist (1933), Thank You (1925) and The Circle (1925). He was married to Lucy Francis (nee Bowers) 1862 - 1953. He died on 6 July 1934 in Hollywood, California, USA.

Russ Columbo was born on 14 January 1908 in Camden, New Jersey, USA. He was an actor and composer, known for Raging Bull (1980), Magic in the Moonlight (2014) and Wake Up and Dream (1934). He died on 2 September 1934 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Viva Birkett was born on 14 February 1887 in Exeter, Devon, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Trilby (1914) and The Life of Lord Byron (1922). She was married to Philip Merivale. She died on 26 June 1934 in London, England, UK.

Like many pioneers, the work of 'Winsor McCay' has been largely superseded by successors such as Walt Disney and Max Fleischer but he more than earns a place in film history for being the American cinema's first great cartoon animator. He started out as a newspaper cartoonist, achieving a national reputation for his strips 'Little Nemo in Slumberland' and 'Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend'. Inspired by his son's flick-books, he spent four years and produced four thousand individual drawings in making his first animated cartoon 'Little Nemo', completing it in 1911. But his biggest cartoon success was 'Gertie the Dinosaur' (1913), which was the centrepiece of a vaudeville act in which the live McCay would interact with his cartoon character. For this, he single-handedly produced ten thousand individual drawings, laboriously re-drawing the background every time. It is often wrongly cited as the first animated cartoon, but it was certainly the first successful one, and influenced dozens of imitators. His 1918 production 'The Sinking of the Lusitania' was even more ambitious: comprising 25,000 drawings, it was the first feature-length American cartoon, and the second one made anywhere. He retired from film-making in the 1920s, but would subsequently describe himself as "the creator of animated cartoons". This honour, strictly speaking, belongs to the Frenchman Emile Cohl - but McCay was certainly the first to bring them to a wide audience.

Eugenie Besserer was born in Watertown, New York on Christmas Day of 1868. She was largely a silent film actress who made her debut in 1910's silent version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910). She was 42 at the time. For the most part Eugenie was a character actress, much in demand for filling in roles. Because of her willingness to take just about any role, Eugenie was able to be a part of films such as Enemies of Children (1923), The Millionaire Policeman (1926), The Jazz Singer (1927) (the first "talkie"), and A Royal Romance (1930). Her final film was 1933's To the Last Man (1933). Eugenie died of natural causes on May 28, 1934 in Los Angeles, California.

Edward Elgar was born on June 2, 1857, in Broadheath, near Worcester, where his father named William Elgar, was a music shop owner and a piano technician. Elgar was the fourth of six children. He was self-taught in all musical instruments, that were at his disposal in his father's shop, and he studied all the sheet music available in the shop.

Unrestricted by rules of "teaching", he remained highly original in developing his unique musical personality, that allowed him to surpass the other leading composers of his time. But having no teachers who would connect him into the entrenched musical establishment, it took all his genius, persistence and determination to advance through the rigid class structure of Victorian society. In 1889 Elgar married his student, Alice Roberts, daughter of the late General Sir Henry Roberts. She married beneath herself in opposition to her relatives. Alice played a vital role in Elgar's career by keeping a dogged faith in his genius.

Elgar was 42 when his "Enigma Variations" (1899) was premiered in London and brought him the first big success outside of his native Worcester. The performance of "The Dream of Gerontius" (1900) at the Rhine Festival in Dusseldorf earned him highest praise from Richard Strauss, who considered Elgar as the first English progressive musician.

The Coronation Ode "Land of Hope and Glory" came from his first "Pomp and Circumstance March" in D major (1901). Elgar prophesied: "I've got a tune that will knock'em-knock'em flat!... a tune like that comes once in a lifetime..." This piece became extremely popular and was later used in more than 30 films. In 1904 an all-Elgar festival was held at Covent Garden. In July of 1904, Elgar was knighted by King Edward VII.

Spending the winter of 1907-08 in Italy, Elgar composed the "Symphony No 1" in A flat. In just one year it had 100 performances all over Europe and in America, Australia and Russia, and was compared to the symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven. The "Symphony No 2" in E flat was written during 1909-1911. It was dedicated to the memory of King Edward VII and was considered by many the greatest of Elgar's symphonic works.

Elgar's incidental music for a children's play "The Starlight Express" (1915) and his patriotic "The Spirit of England" (1917) on the war poems by Laurence Binyon preceded his last great masterpiece, the elegiac "Cello Concerto" in E minor (1919). It was used as a main theme in Hilary and Jackie (1998).

The death of Alice Elgar in 1920 took away much of Elgar's inspiration and will to write music. He made a series of studio recordings of his works for HMV. In 1928 he was created Knight Commander of the Victorian Order (K.C.V.O.). In 1933 he recorded his "Violin Concerto" in B minor with then young Yehudi Menuhin and a few weeks later both flew to Paris for performances of this concerto. Elgar died on February 23, 1934 and was laid to rest beside his wife.

Phyllis Rankin was born on 31 August 1874 in New York, New York, USA. She was an actress. She was married to Harry Davenport and Henry Daniel Gibbs. She died on 17 November 1934 in Canton, Pennsylvania, USA.