Byte Sized Biographies…

Fletcher Christian And William Bligh are permanently linked to the Mutiny on the Bounty. Here is the true story of this infamous incident. Wreck of the HMS Pandora The Pandora, towing a launch constructed by the mutineers during their stint on Tahiti, reached the vicinity of the Great Barrier Reef in late August. Whether he was careless or stupidly sailing in the dark, Edwards struck a reef on the 29th, the collision so severe that the ship took on four feet of water in five minutes.  Throughout the night, desperate efforts were made to save the vessel and three of the men classified by Bligh as blameless in the mutiny, Coleman, McIntosh and Norman were let out of the enclosure.  They helped with attempts to pump water out of the ship to no avail.  The other trapped mutineers, hearing sounds of the crew abandoning ship, attempted to get out of their manacles and screamed for help.  Only the last minute personal intervention of a crew member allowed any of the remaining eleven prisoners to escape.  Fletcher Christian’s son, Thursday October Christian The two ships, the HMS Briton and the HMS Tagus, were searching for the American ship USS Essex.  This American raider, not to be confused with the whaler Essex of Moby Dick fame, was in the process of terrorizing British merchant and whaling ships in the region to the extent that the Royal Navy was forced to deploy several warships to put a stop to this War of 1812 US rampage.  On September 17, 1814, as the two ships and their captains Sit Thomas Staines and Philip Pipon puzzled over the unidentified rock in front of them, they could see some natives launching their canoes into the surf.  Like Folger before them, they were stunned when the canoe pulled alongside the boat and an occupant who turned out to be Thursday October Christian, now 24 years old, hailed them in English.  He and another teenager, George Young, the son of Bounty mutineer, Edward Young came on board and were asked to join the officers for a meal. Dressed in minimal Polynesian garb, Fletcher Christian’s son further astonished and ingratiated himself by breaking into Christian prayer before dinner was served. Pitcairn Island It is believed that in Bligh’s library, Christian stumbled upon a 1773 journal written by English naval explorer Philip Carteret which gave the location of an obscure island, Pitcairn Island.  Almost four months after leaving Tahiti, the Bounty arrived at the supposed location of Pitcairn but there was nothing there.  Figuring that Carteret may have made a navigational error, Christian sailed along the same latitude, assuming that the longitude was incorrect.  Within days, the rocky, frequently inaccessible and uninhabited island was sighted, on January 15, 1790, approximately 190 miles east of Carteret’s faulty designation. The epic remake of The Mutiny Of The Bounty, a notorious box office flop The replica of the Bounty, built for the 1962 film, it sank off of North Carolina, during Hurricane Sandy

In his sixty year career, Alfred Hitchcock established himself as one of the most important cultural figures of the 20th century Publicity photo for The Birds, early sixties. A photo of Hitchcock, early in his career Hitchcock broke into show business by getting a job with the newly arrived motion picture studio Famous Players-Lasky British Producers, a venture associated with Paramount Pictures.  He was to design the captions that accompanied the action in the studio’s silent films.  Initially, a part time employee, Hitchcock worked hard, keeping his day job at Henley’s but eventually landing full time at Famous Players Lasky in 1921. Peter Lorre, The Man Who Knew Too Much Hitchcock spent the next few years directing and producing various dramas, thrillers and even a musical revue before his 1934 effort, The Man Who Knew Too Much.  Possessing the same title as his subsequent 1956 effort with Doris Day and Jimmy Stewart, the film has a similar plot involving kidnapping, political assassination and criminal intrigue.  It also cast Peter Lorre, having recently fled Germany after his great success in the Fritz Lang classic, “M.”  Lorre, who was Jewish and was uncomfortable with Hitler’s acquisition of political power, barely spoke English and ingratiated himself with the director by anticipating when Hitchcock, already a budding raconteur, would finish a story, laughing noisily despite not understanding a word of the anecdote.  For the part, the Hungarian born actor had to learn his lines phonetically.  Lorre’s mysteriously interesting face was featured on the film’s poster and “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” was received with great acclaim and popularity, reaffirming Hitchcock as a major figure in British cinema. Alma Hitchcock, Joan Harrison, and Hitchcock’s daughter, Patricia Hitchcock was headed to greener pastures in the United States.  Sailing on the Queen Mary on March 1, 1939 with his family, his personal secretary, Joan Harrison, two servants and two dogs, he and his wife were eager to leave.  They believed that Hitchcock had accomplished everything he could possibly achieve in Britain and Hollywood allowed him much greater opportunity.  He could afford his entourage, having signed a five-picture deal with David O. Selznick, with a guaranteed $50,000 salary for his first picture, Rebecca.  Olivier and Fontaine in Rebecca                                                                                           If Hitchcock’s personality included a desire for complete control, he certainly met his match in David O. Selznick.  The director’s adaptation and script outline for Rebecca, that also contained as always contributions from his wife, was summarily rejected with any attempts at including characteristic humor deemed inappropriate.  In one of his famously lengthy and detailed memos, the producer stated in the first sentence that “he was shocked and disappointed beyond words,” and declared that the film must be a completely faithful rendition of the novel with a focus on retaining its serious tone.  He also made it quite clear that the final version of the film would be his and his alone.  An additional headache was Laurence Olivier, so miffed that his wife Vivien Leigh wasn’t cast in the film that he took it out on the eventual female lead Joan Fontaine.  If there wasn’t enough tension on the set, the beginning of World War II in Europe coincided with the first week of shooting.  The production was a predictable struggle of wills, Hitchcock sticking to his style of only shooting scenes from an angle or perspective he ultimately would use in a final edit and Selznick wanting vastly more material to select during the editing process.  Clearly, it was not a creatively happy marriage.  But, probably as a tribute to both men’s ability, the resulting film was a commercial success and the Best Picture of 1940.  Fontaine’s performance was academy nominated for Best Actress, the twenty-two year old probably benefiting from the director’s domineering demeanor. Selznick and Hitchcock One aspect of the production of Rebecca that prevented any permanent damage to Hitchcock’s business relationship with Selznick was the producer’s preoccupation with the lead up to and release of Gone With The Wind.  Selznick also anticipated a profitable gambit to make money on his contract with the director without having to immediately produce another picture.  He loaned Hitchcock to independent producer Walter Wanger at a fee of $5,000 a week while he only had to pay Hitchcock $2500.  A compulsive gambler, methamphetamine addict and profligate spender, Selznick was perpetually strapped for cash.  He could also keep the director at arms-length while the two figured out how to work together in the future.  Raymond Burr as the murderer in the climactic scene of Rear Window. Note resemblance to Selznick Hitchcock began filming Rear Window in November, 1953, only weeks after completing Dial M for Murder.  His enthusiasm combined with his established crew of technical associates handling wardrobe, script supervision, music soundtrack, sound technicians and a stage set so large Hitchcock frequently needed a walkie-talkie to communicate with his cast produced a remarkable effort.  Although this was a complex project, it went as smoothly as any Hitchcock production, Hitch even enjoying the practical joke of having Raymond Burr, the film’s villain made up to look exactly like David O. Selznick.  Box office was sensational and the critical response transcended the usual Hitchcock accolades. Robert Walker as Bruno Antony Robert Walker’s Bruno Antony pushed the limits in a Hitchcock film, strangling his victim onscreen and employing a nasty malevolence unlike any previous Hitchcock character.  His borderline personality is underlined by a Hitchcock designed tie embellished with closed-clawed lobsters and a garishly over-the-top smoking jacket that screams twisted among other things.  In selecting Walker, Hitchcock made a curious casting choice relative to his former colleague David O Selznick.  Walker was deeply upset by the 1943 collapse of his marriage to Jennifer Jones.   Jones’ affair with Selznick was the worst kept secret in Hollywood and Jones left Walker while both were performing in a 1943 Selznick produced film. Her subsequent marriage to the much more powerful producer depressed and humiliated Walker.  When cast in Strangers On A Train, the actor had spent the previous year in a mental hospital battling alcoholism and a psychiatric disorder. Perhaps Hitchcock sensed that to achieve a realistic portrayal of a an individual with a tenuous grip on sanity, he needed to use someone truly familiar with such mania.  Walker’s portrayal of an intensely destructive personality enhances the film’s climax which utilizes an amusement park merry-go-round that goes flying out of control graphically hurling debris into a cloud of onlookers.  That Hitchcock accomplished this by blowing up a toy carousel and enlarging the result does not diminish the sense of realistically violent destruction. Doris Day, sings Que Sera, Sera in the 1955 remake of The Man who Knew Too Much In 1955, With Grace Kelly intent on bigger things, Hitchcock was forced to find another actress for his next film, a remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much, a project that the director had envisioned for many years.  Characteristically, possibly because he would not be the center of attention, Hitchcock eventually turned down an invitation to one of the most high profile events of the decade, the marriage of Grace Kelly to Prince Rainer of Monaco.  Instead Hitch focused on his next project.  A combo of international intrigue, politics and domestic drama, the film meanders for close to two hours but has enough suspense, scenic visuals and plot twists to establish it as theatrically successful.  Considered a cut below some of the other Paramount efforts, the film still holds up today as memorable, especially the Academy Award winning song Que Sera, Sera written especially for the film and presented by Doris Day. 

In his sixty year career, Alfred Hitchcock established himself as one of the most important cultural figures of the 20th century. Robert Walker and Farley Granger in Strangers on a Train   Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly in Rear Window   Grace Kelly, publicity photo for Rear Window Vertigo movie poster   With Kim Novak on the set of Vertigo   Cary Grant, North by Northwest   Eva Marie Saint, North by Northwest   Hitchcock at Mount Rushmore   Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren on the set of Marnie   Tippi Hedren and Rod Taylor in The Birds   Hitchcock never won an Academy Award but did receive the Academy’s Lifetime Achievement award in 1968  

Although he never robbed a bank or a train, never fought a traditional duel and didn’t drink, Billy the Kid remains one of America’s most notorious outlaws. The only authenticated photo of Billy the Kid, taken in 1880 Over one hundred films have portrayed him in various scenarios ranging from predictable western themes to plots even involving Count Dracula.  He is the subject of music composed by the likes of Aaron Copland, Bob Dylan and Billy Joel.  Dead at the age of twenty-one, the Kid’s exploits were national news in his own lifetime, despite the reality that he was essentially a nineteenth century gang member, who merely possessed a penchant for dramatic and occasionally violent escape. John Tunstall Tunstall’s father was a successful merchant with interests in Canada and his son emigrated to the southwestern US, believing that the rapidly growing area had unlimited economic potential.  Settling in Lincoln County, Tunstall, only 22, partnered with Alexander McSween, a Canadian lawyer and former employee of The House.  Together they opened up a business and bank in Lincoln that competed directly with Dolan and Murphy.  This newly established entity’s other partner was John Chisum, one of the wealthiest ranchers in the southwest.  His herd of cattle numbered over 100,000 and ranged over New Mexico property that covered over 150 miles.  Tunstall offered cheaper prices and ethical business practices to the citizens of Lincoln and by early 1878, the House was headed for economic ruin. Alexander McSween A lawyer, Alexander McSween, became involved in complicated litigation over proceeds of a life insurance policy that he eventually obtained for his client.  But, because this money involved one of Dolan’s business partners, McSween did not want to release it, presuming that Dolan would eventually gain control of the cash.  This resulted in one of the heirs filing both criminal and civil charges of embezzlement against McSween.  This matter was litigated in the nearby town of Mesilla and while McSween was able to postpone any criminal charges, he left the proceeding before being informed that the judge had issued a writ attaching his property for the sum of 10,000 dollars.  Dolan, also present in Mesilla, quickly returned to Lincoln ahead of McSween and had Brady the Sheriff form a posse and occupy McSween and Tunstall’s property. Sheriff William Brady For years, two merchants, Lawrence Murphy and James Dolan, operated a large store in the center of Lincoln, New Mexico.  This establishment was a monopoly that gouged the locals for basic necessities and clothing and was known negatively as “The House.”  Dolan and Murphy, Civil War veterans, also used their military contacts to provide beef for nearby military installations, a trade marked by shady practices and stolen cattle.  Any local residents who even thought of competing were intimidated by The House’s known connections, not only to Jesse Evans and The Boys but even to the County Sheriff, William Brady. One of two Billy the Kid headstones in Fort Sumner, New Mexico In 2004, a legal fight over an attempt to exhume the bodies of both Billy the Kid and his mother went nowhere, stoking even more rumors that the purported grave of Billy the Kid is actually empty, a secret the town fathers would just as soon you not know.  The graveyard, Pete Maxwell’s house and much of Fort Sumner was rearranged when the Pecos River decided to alter its course over time.  However, the town cemetery today contains not one but two markers devoted to Billy the Kid, both additions installed long after his original burial.

He never robbed a bank or a train and never fought a traditional duel but Billy the Kid remains one of America’s most notorious outlaws. Sheriff Pat Garrett Garrett was an acquaintance of Billy the Kid, he had even tended bar in Fort Sumner’s most popular saloon.  6’ 6”, and powerfully built, Garrett ran as an alternative to the current lawlessness in Northern New Mexico.  Federal authorities were also intent on cracking down on rampant counterfeiting through the efforts of Treasury Agent Azariah Wild, transferred to New Mexico from New Orleans.  Wild eventually deputized Garrett, as well as other locals, including Bob Olinger, to aid him in the pursuit of individuals believed involved in this scam, including Billy the Kid.  In late 1880, robbery of the US Mail wagon in the Fort Sumner area was tied to the Kid as well.  This behavior shredded the tolerance of many Fort Sumner area residents, who increasingly viewed Billy the Kid as a lawless menace, necessitating apprehension.  His notoriety was discussed in the region’s newspapers, infamy that was eventually written up in the New York Sun, the first publication to designate him with the nickname, “Billy the Kid.” General Lew Wallace, during the Civil War President Rutherford B Hayes replaced Governor Axtell with Civil War General Lew Wallace, a bureaucratic and military jack of all trades who immediately issued a general pardon to those not indicted as well as a proclamation to allow the military to vanquish “insurrection.”  This allowed soldiers greater leeway to intercede in the civil disputes that gripped Lincoln County.  Deputy Bob Ollinger As Bob Olinger opened the gate at the side of the structure, he heard a voice coming from the nearest window on the second floor.  Looking up, the last thing he ever saw was Billy the Kid holding Olinger’s own gun, the shotgun that the deputy repeatedly taunted Billy with.  Billy the Kid poked the weapon out of the window and after greeting his jailer by simply stating “Hello, Bob,” he pulled the triggers on both barrels.  Olinger was killed instantly by the massive blast. Lincoln County Courthouse Arriving in Lincoln on April 21, Billy the Kid was lodged not in the notoriously insecure town jail but in the newly designated county courthouse, the building formerly housing the Dolan-Murphy store run by The House.  Shackled and handcuffed, Billy was to be under constant guard in a room next to Pat Garrett’s office.  The second of two grave markers for Billy the Kid in Fort Sumner, New Mexico

After her rejection by the State Department, Virginia Hall became the most decorated American female civilian during World War II. Virginia Hall Virginia Hall, was savvy enough to anticipate the occupation of Vichy France and only days before the Germans stormed into the region, she made a daring escape by foot over fifty miles of the snowy, rugged Pyrenees Mountains.  In Virginia’s case it actually was one foot, her other limb having been amputated at the knee after a hunting accident in her youth. But Virginia Hall’s exploits in France were far from over and she eventually returned to the continent as one of the first recruits of the famed American OSS becoming the most decorated civilian female of World War II. Robert Alesch In early August of 1942, a new courier appeared at the offices of the French doctor who was a link in the chain that communicated with Resistance members in Paris.  Because he came with microfiche that was sure to contain valuable intelligence, knew the passwords and identifiers associated with other couriers from his Parisian network and was dressed in the robes of a priest, he was initially accepted as genuine.  He also knew one of Virginia Hall’s pseudonyms, Marie Monin and he asked for the money that she typically doled out to support activities throughout France.  Because he had not told anyone of his arrival, he was informed that the money was not available presently, but he could wait until it was available.  Instead, he replied that he would return in a week.  It was three weeks before he showed up again, but this time he was insistent that he meet with “Marie” personally.  Summoned to the doctor’s office from her nearby location, Virginia was immediately put off by the newcomer’s German accented French and his immediate request for a wireless radio.  Although he brought a personal letter of introduction from the previous courier and his arrival coincided with this individual’s request to be replaced, Virginia remained wary of the man who introduced himself as the Abbe Robert Alesch. Pierre Laval, with SS officers, 1943 One of Petain’s ministers, Pierre Laval, exploited the General’s incipient senility by filling the vacuum at the head of the Vichy Government.  Convinced that Nazi Germany would win World War II, he decided to ingratiate himself with the Nazi’s by constructing a harsh and repressive regime.  French authorities conscripted French citizens by the millions for German slave labor and eventually cooperated with the roundup of Jews for transport to the death camps of Poland. Virginia Hall, later in life, on her farm There she and her husband would live a quiet life, her health deteriorating until she was virtually incapacitated by her amputated limb, most of her time spent at home, reading and no doubt reflecting on her multifaceted service and career.  Her health necessitated hospitalization on many occasions and she passed away on July 8, 1982.  Her husband died five years later.        

After her rejection by the State Department, Virginia Hall became the most decorated American female civilian of World War II Fake identity card for Virginia Hall Still, two weeks after Virginia’s return, it was her mother who accompanied her to a private ceremony in Washington, where Wild Bill Donovan formally presented her with the Distinguished Service Cross.  Donovan already knew that the OSS was about to be disbanded by President Truman, the organization victim of both politics as Donovan was a prominent Republican and undermining at the hands of J. Edgar Hoover.  Virginia got a paltry check for vacation pay, Paul and thousands of others were cut loose without a dime. Philippe Petain Petain was viewed as the country’s savior during World War I but at 83 years of age, he was nothing more than a German puppet.  His first act upon assuming control of the French government was to request an armistice which was officially signed on June 22, 1940.  Germany occupied sixty per cent of the country, including all territory bordering the Atlantic Ocean and the English Channel.  Petain was allowed to select the site of his administrative capital and he settled on the small tourist destination of Vichy.  A political conservative, Petain opposed what he considered the excesses of French Republican democracy.  What was left of the French government voted to abolish the French Republic and grant Petain virtually dictatorial powers. Petain and Hitler Many of the members of the Vichy government suffered retribution.  Pierre Laval and Henri Petain were condemned, although in light of his World War I heroics, Petain’s sentence was commuted to life.  He was confined to a small island off of Brittany, and upon his death in 1951 was unceremoniously buried there instead of the magnificent resting place previously prepared at Verdun, before the Marshal’s Nazi collaboration.  Laval was executed by firing squad. Painting of Virginia that hangs in the CIA Museum Within days she was on the move again to Cosnes-Sur-Loire, in central France, a territory with a willing populace but no armaments to engage in any sophisticated destruction.  Again, she was able to obtain a cover as an elderly shepherd, her radio coordinating weapons drops into the region.  It was the spring of 1944, France on edge as the country waited for the inevitable invasion from across the Channel. Wild Bill Donovan awards Virginia the DSC Two weeks after Virginia’s return, it was her mother who accompanied her to a private ceremony in Washington, where Wild Bill Donovan formally presented her with the Distinguished Service Cross.  Donovan already knew that the OSS was about to be disbanded by President Truman, the organization victim of both politics as Donovan was a prominent Republican and undermining at the hands of J. Edgar Hoover.  Virginia got a paltry check for vacation pay, Paul and thousands of others were cut loose without a dime.

On July 19, 1989, United Air Lines pilot Captain Al Haynes was confronted with a mechanical failure that threatened all 296 passengers aboard his flight, United 232. The response of Haynes and his crew and the ensuing landing provided one of the most remarkable stories in the history of commercial aviation. Captain Al Haynes, at a news conference the day after landing United Flight 232 On Wednesday, July 19, 1989, at approximately 1:09 PM Mountain Time, United Flight 232 took off from Denver’s Stapleton International Airport.  The flight was headed to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and was destined to continue to Philadelphia.  The crew of the plane was led by 57-year-old Captain Alfred “Al” Haynes, assisted by William (Bill) Records, 48, with flight engineer Dudley Dvorak, 51.  The three men had accrued close to seventy-thousand hours of flight time in their careers and Haynes especially was highly experienced at the controls of a McDonnell-Douglas DC-10, the aircraft making the flight.  The additional crew was made up of eight flight attendants, serving the 285 passengers on board, the plane near capacity. Jerry Schemmel When Flight 232 crashed, many people were killed but miraculously many more actually survived.  Only fifteen minutes from Sioux City, Jerry Schemmel, noticed a woman and her small child slipping into an empty seat directly in front of him.  A flight attendant was with them, perhaps she believed the mother and child might be safer in this location.  The flight attendant handed the woman several pillows to wrap around the infant, who looked to be about two years old.  Jerry watched as the child struggled to avoid his mother’s grip, eventually crawling to the top of his mother’s seat and smiling at Jerry, oblivious to the approaching danger.  Jerry noted the location of the emergency exit, literally just a few feet away and vowed to himself that he would help get the mother and her son to safety as quickly as possible. The actual flight path of United 232 Although a two-dimensional chart of the plane’s flight path thus far would indicate a crazy circular pattern, in truth the aircraft’s trajectory was more like that of a corkscrew which meant the plane was steadily losing altitude.  Within minutes of the explosion, Dudley Dvorak contacted the nearest major traffic control operation in Minneapolis and requested the location of the closest airport to their current location.  Minneapolis informed him that their best option was Sioux City, Iowa, which they had already passed but was only about forty miles away.  A United Air Lines DC-10 The plane, with registration N1819U, was put into service by United in 1974.  Now fifteen years old, like most passenger jets, the DC-10’s engines, via maintenance, were a hodgepodge of various replacement parts installed over the life of the jet aircraft.  Unusual in its design, the DC-10 featured an engine on each wing as well another jet lodged in the tail.  Unfortunately, the McDonnell-Douglas aircraft, released in 1971, quickly became involved in several high-profile accidents that brought the model notoriety. American Airlines, Flight 191, May 25, 1979 On May 25, 1979, an American Air Lines flight crashed only several minutes upon takeoff from Chicago’s O’Hare Airport.  Its left engine disengaged from the wing and fell back onto the runway.  The plane, still airborne, climbed to an altitude of about three hundred feet, but loss of the left engine forced it to bank sharply to the left, practically perpendicular to the ground.  Damage to the plane’s left-wing steering mechanisms rendered it impossible to maintain. The aircraft crashed less than a mile from the airport, killing all 271 aboard as well as two employees at a nearby garage.  As the flight was destined for Los Angeles, the disaster received nationally prominent coverage and prompted the FAA to recommend halting the plane’s usage by international airlines and grounding all DC-10’s domestically.  Ultimately, the cause of the crash was determined to be faulty maintenance of the jet by American Airlines and the Dc-10 eventually returned to widespread use.   

On July 19, 1989, United Air Lines pilot Captain Al Haynes was confronted with a mechanical failure that threatened all 296 passengers aboard his flight, United Flight 232. The response of Haynes and his crew and the ensuing landing provided one of the most remarkable stories in the history of commercial aviation. The ruptured fan disc of Flight 232, found in an Alta, Iowa cornfield The NTSB and the FAA also immediately began an investigation as to what caused the catastrophic engine failure.  But, missing much of the fan disk that came from engine number 2, their investigation bordered on speculation until October 10 when an Alta, Iowa farmer named Janice Sorenson ran into two thirds of the enormous engine part while operating a combine in her corn field.  By then, General Electric was offering six figure rewards for any substantial recovery of parts from the damaged engine.  Weighing over four hundred pounds and partially submerged in the muddy field, the part still had some of the fan blades attached and GE paid Sorenson 116,000 dollars.  Days later most of the rest of the disc was found in another nearby corn field.  The runway after the crash of Flight 232 Captain Al Haynes, Flight Attendant Susan White, with President George H. W. Bush, The White House, September 7, 1989 But the professionalism and even heroism of the entire crew received national attention and plaudits culminating with a September, 1989 visit of all of the pilots and surviving flight attendants to the White House of George Herbert Walker Bush. Michaelson family being interviewed after the crash, Sabrina is the infant, lower left  Mark Michaelson, talked about how he and his wife and three children had survived the crash.  It was Michaelson’s daughter, 11 month old Sabrina Michaelson, who Jerry Schemmel rescued from the burning  aircraft.  After the interview, Michaelson and his family met Schemmel for the first time and after an emotional discussion, agreed to keep in touch.  Michael Matz and his family watching Barbaro win the 2006 Kentucky Derby One of the two men that Jerry Schemmel observed at one of the plane’s exits helping passengers escape was named Michael Matz.  Matz was a nationally prominent equestrian show jumping rider who eventually would medal in the Olympics and was selected to carry the American flag during the US team’s participation in the procession that concluded the 1996 Olympic games.  He concluded his illustrious show jumping career in 1998 and embarked on another pursuit, training thoroughbred racehorses.  Only eight years later Matz reached the pinnacle of the sport when he successfully trained Barbaro, the dominant winner of the 2006 Kentucky Derby.  Barbaro, winning 2006 Kentucky Derby Two weeks later, shortly after the start of the Preakness, Barbaro shattered many of the bones in his right rear leg.  Despite complicated surgery, extensive rehabilitation and Barbaro’s gallant will to survive, Matz had to make the agonizing decision to euthanize the animal on January 29, 2007, six months after the initial injury.  

Part Hank Williams and part Spinal Tap, Gram Parsons’ influence on popular music can be heard every day. Gram Parsons Fifty years after his death, Gram Parsons has achieved respect as an influence on many prominent musicians and is perceived as musically way ahead of his time.  The Byrds, Chris Hillman, left, Roger McGuinn, center For three years, beginning with their 1965 hits, one band, the Byrds, dominated the Los Angeles music scene.  What original music they produced was usually written by lead vocalist Gene Clark and the huge royalties generated by his writing credits, rankled the other band members, especially, David Crosby, whose personality could best be described as toxic.  After contributing the single “Eight Miles High,” Clark quit the band, officially over his fear of flying but also as a result of increasing tension within the group.  Crosby lasted longer, but his egomania and substance abuse resulted in his dismissal in late 1967.  The remaining original members, Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman were initially looking to hire sidemen, in drummer Kevin Kelley and Gram Parsons, Gram having the same business manager as Hillman.  That Parsons was contractually entangled with Lee Hazlewood, actually worked for the pre-existing Byrds as Gram could only remain on salary and not demand to be included as a full-fledged member of the band, important as the Byrds renewed a seven-year contract with Columbia Records in February, 1968. Chris Hillman, circa Flying Burrito Brothers Unpredictably, when Gram began looking for musicians for his own group he began speaking again with Chris Hillman.  Although it angered the other band members, the timing of Gram’s departure from the Byrds seemed almost prescient, based on subsequent events.  The group took tremendous criticism when they played to all white crowds in South Africa and attendance was sparse in any case.  The promoter stiffed them on fees and they returned to the States, broke, with Roger McGuinn making personnel changes designed to reestablish his complete control.  To Chris Hillman, Gram eventually appeared practically benign by comparison.  Reunited, they scoured the LA sessions scene and assembled a country oriented roster that even included a pedal steel guitar player, the legendary Sneaky Pete Kleinow.  Gram expropriated the Flying Burrito Brothers name with the blessing of his former ISB mates who had left LA and had never signed a recording contract.  Roger McGuinn, 1976 A subtle tug of war was now playing out between Roger McGuinn and Gram and Chris Hillman.  The latter were intent on heading full tilt in a country direction, McGuinn wanted to focus on past hits that centered on him as the leader of the band. Gram Parsons’ infamous Nudie suit, on display in the Country Music Hall of Fame To help build the band’s image as a new kind of country mixed with glam, Parsons came up with the idea to get the legendary Hollywood tailor Nudie Cohn to design suits for the band to wear on the cover.  Nudie Cohn born Nuta Kotlyarenko in Kiev, Russia, was a unique individual in his own right, a tailor who designed the outrageous outfits sported by country and western music stars of the 50’s and 60’s and actors like Roy Rogers and John Wayne.  Heavy on the bright colored satin and rhinestones, perhaps Nudie’s most famous creation was Elvis Presley’s gold lame suit that even Elvis thought was so over the top he eventually refused to wear the pants.  For the Flying Burrito Brothers album, entitled the Gilded Palace of Sin, Nudie was especially imaginative.  For Hillman, Parsons and the two other band members, Kleinow and bassist Chris Etheridge, he designed four very different outfits.  Kleinow got a black velvet shirt and pants with a gold pterodactyl on the front and a T-Rex on the back of the shirt, Etheridge had a white colored jacket and pants embroidered liberally with roses.  Chris Hillman’s outfit was neon blue, festooned with peacocks and a blazing sun on the back of his jacket.  Gram Parsons suit was white, flames paralleling his bell bottom pants, poppies on both pants pockets.  Red poppies are everywhere on the jacket, the torso emblazoned with marijuana leaves.  The sleeves feature identifiable pharmaceuticals, including Tuinals and Seconals and even a sugar cube.  Typically contradictory, the back features a large red crucifix with circular shafts of yellow and blue emanating from its center.  Today, this remarkable garment hangs in the Country Music Hall of Fame.