Byte Sized Biographies…

Part Hank Williams and part Spinal Tap, fifty years after his death, Gram Parsons’ influence on popular music can be heard every day. Gram Parsons’ Nudie suit Country Music Hall of Fame Whatever discipline that drove Parsons and Hillman to compose the music that appeared  on their first album completely disappeared once they had to perform live.  Most observers of their early LA club dates described them as under rehearsed, sloppy and with some members, frequently Gram, under the influence.  The band did themselves no favors when they appeared at the Whiskey, performing so poorly that the upper echelon of A and M walked out in disgust in the middle of the Burrito’s performance. Emmylou Harris in the seventies For his first solo album, he came up with the idea of hiring Elvis Presley’s Las Vegas backing band, which he did, paying musicians like Glen D. Hardin and James Burton out of his own pocket when Warner Brothers refused their steep rates.  Much of the record consists of duets with Emmylou Harris.  With rehearsals taking place at Phil Kaufman’s house, a surreal place furnished with strange antiques and vintage junk, the process was predictably slow moving.  Eventually, Gram got it together and got the album recorded.  Called “GP” with a cover photo of Gram sitting in the lobby of the Chateau Marmont, the album’s release prompted kind words from the critics but not much of a popular reaction. Emmy Lou Harris, 2012 Gram couldn’t afford the Elvis musicians for the tour and the assembled band was so weak that the lead guitar player was fired after only one show.  Kaufman frequently had to separate the two, husband and wife sitting as far away as possible.  But there were high points; Jock Bartley, who eventually became part of the successful group Firefall was a competent replacement.  In Houston, EmmyLou Harris met and performed with Linda Ronstadt for the first time.  On Long Island, a performance on radio station WLIR was eventually released in 1983 as a live album of great quality that holds up well almost fifty years later. But it was the same story for the solo album, positive reviews but lackluster sales.   Keith Richards, 1976 Whatever interest Gram had in his own music was completely undermined by acting practically as a groupie around the Stones.  When he began to emulate the Stones onstage in both wardrobe and theatrics, it especially irritated Chris Hillman.  Mick Jagger also began to see Parsons as a detriment, another distraction that kept Keith Richards from focusing on the business of music.  Room Eight, Joshua Tree Inn, the room where Gram Parsons died  

The creator of 1984 and Animal Farm lived a life that was as original and strange as the books themselves. George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair was born in Motihari, Bihar, India on June 25, 1903.  He would not assume the pen name of George Orwell until the age of 30.  Blair was the son of an English civil servant father and a mother who was the daughter of a French colonial entrepreneur operating in Burma. Passport photo en route to Burma Even today, the catalyst for Eric Blair’s employment in Burma remains unclear.  Classmates do recall an interest in the region and his father’s career in India and his mother’s connection to Burma most likely made him aware of such a position.  But for an alumnus of Eton to apply for such a position was literally unprecedented.  Perhaps he was attempting to blot out a failed romance, perhaps it was a feeling that he had little alternative, but in October of 1922, Eric Blair, aged 19, set sail for what was then known as Rangoon. Orwell’s wife, Eileen Blair Through his stint at the bookstore, Orwell did expand his social circle and at a party in March of 1935, he met his future wife, Eileen O’Shaughnessy, a graduate student completing her masters in psychology at the University College London.  Having studied at Oxford and at one time an aspiring academic, Eileen had a love of literature and intellectual firepower that George Orwell immediately found very attractive.  Although he quickly began to discuss marriage, he also confessed that he was so broke, he couldn’t even afford an engagement ring.  He would also continue sleeping with other girlfriends from his bookshop employment days, even after his eventual proposal.  “The Stores,” today, in Wallington Orwell did not want to return to London and instead decided to rent a cottage in the hamlet of Wallington, only 35 miles north of the capital but rural and isolated from any public transportation.  Orwell was thrilled with the bucolic setting which was perfect for a writer and he was eager to plant a fruit and vegetable garden, tend to the hens and goats that came with the place, reopen the country store that had recently closed and quickly finish his latest project.  The house was nicknamed “The Stores,” from its occasional status as a grocery.  However, the out of the way location meant that his fiancé Eileen would have to abandon any plans she had to begin a career as a child psychologist. Orwell , with his son Richard Despite their desire to have children, George and Eileen had never been able to conceive a child.  In 1944, they decided to adopt and through Eileen’s sister were able to acquire a three- week-old boy who they named Richard.   

The creator of Animal Farm and 1984 lived a life as original and strange as the books themselves. Barnhill, Orwell’s hideaway in Scotland Wanting to escape the distractions of London, in September of 1945, Orwell first travelled to Jura, a remote island in the Southwest corner of Scotland.  Once there he stumbled upon Barnhill, a remote and unoccupied farmhouse that he immediately leased from its owner. Barnhill, from a distance by Ken Craig Unreachable by car, without electricity or telephone, over eight miles from any inhabited village, daily life in this dwelling was challenging.  But for Orwell, much like his rural existence at the Stores, the solitude and abundant wildlife and rugged beauty was the perfect antidote for the oppressive environment in London. Animal Farm, first edition cover Orwell got word in August that Animal Farm had not only sold 50,000 copies in the US, but was also now a book-of-the-month club selection, generating an additional 400,000 in sales.  In 1946, only Dr. Spock would sell more books.  Sonia Brownell Blair Orwell Orwell was already up to other romantic intrigue.  He had met a much younger and beautiful Sonia Brownell when she was an editor at Horizon.  Never one for subtlety, he had already proposed to her previously, basically saying that even if she found him unappealing, he wasn’t going to live much longer. Eric Blair, aka George Orwell As an infamous non-believer it was initially difficult to find a cemetery that would accept the writer’s remains until influential friends interceded and had him interred at All Saints Church, Sutton Courtenay, Berkshire.  Strangely perverse, even to the end, Orwell had requested that he be buried in the nearest convenient cemetery according to the rites of the Church of England.

The true story of eight nazi spies who landed on American shores via U-Boat at the height of WWII George Dasch, FBI mugshot George John Dasch was born on February 7, 1903 in Speyer, Germany, the fifth of thirteen children.  His mother, a social worker and quite influential at critical moments of his life, implored him at the age of thirteen to enter a seminary in preparation for the Catholic priesthood.  Dasch was expelled a year later and then served briefly in the German Army at the conclusion of World War I, lying about his age to facilitate enlistment.  Post war occupation by American troops resulted in Dasch’s fascination with emigrating to the United States and his employment on the docks of Hamburg allowed him to eventually stow away on a merchant ship bound for Philadelphia.  There, he avoided detection and blended into the neighborhood, getting a menial job within days of his arrival in October of 1922.  Determining that he might have more success within the large German ex-pat community in New York, Dasch quickly headed north.  The eight saboteurs: top, left to right, Dasch, Burger, Heinck, Quirin. Bottom, left to right, Kerling, Thiel, Neubauer, Haupt All eight men were outfitted with American style civilian clothes, fake identity papers and presented with eight wooden crates containing waterproof stainless steel receptacles packed tightly with plastic explosives, detonators, and timers.  Dasch and Kerlin as team leaders were given additional training in invisible ink composition and composed handkerchiefs covertly containing contact names for reliable friends and relatives in the US.  Dasch and Kerlin were also each given approximately 85,000 dollars.  Walter Kappe, 1936 American mug shot Upon arrival, Dasch was confined to a hotel with other newly arrived German nationals where he was rigorously interviewed by officials intent on determining the exact motivation for his return.  Among these interviewers was a man named Walter Kappe, who grilled Dasch in English to assess how well the he spoke the language.  After Dasch lied to him about employment in an import-export company and demonstrated language proficiency, Kappe gave him his card, indicating that he was an editor of a magazine and encouraged him to interview for a position.  Dasch was polite, but was anxious to visit his family and explore other less nebulous options via family connections.  Wilhelm Canaris Hitler no longer had to worry about that consequence, and he began to berate Abwehr chief Wilhelm Canaris, to implement the Fuehrer’s concept of a massive covert attack on America, both destroying American industrial capability and fomenting a home grown fifth column of resistance within the German-American community. Erwin Lahousen Canaris and the head of the Abwehr II section, Erwin Von Lahousen, began to cast about for an appropriate individual to supervise this covert scheme.  Walter Kappe, having spent many years in the US and possessing an understanding of the German ex-pat community was a logical choice.  Kappe, eager to settle scores against a country that ultimately rejected him, enthusiastically accepted the assignment.  Perhaps, Canaris and von Lahousen, secretly anti-Nazi and two of several eventual leaders of the ill-fated German military resistance to Hitler, were subtly trying to derail the operation from the top down.  Amagansett Coast Guard Station Jennett was convinced and prepared a response, notifying the off-duty commander of the outpost, chief boatswain’s mate Warren Barnes, who showed up within minutes.  Jennett issued rifles to the seven other men in the Coast Guard station, all so inexperienced that he had to give them a quick tutorial on their safe usage.  Calls were also placed to the off duty senior officer at the Amagansett station who contacted Coast Guard intelligence in New York City. Coast Guardsman John Cullen John Cullen, ran back to his outpost as quickly as possible, returning in approximately five minutes.  Waking up his fellow guardsman, he began yelling about Germans on the beach.  His commanding officer, Boatswain’s Mate Second Class Carl Jennett, was an experienced seaman who initially suspected that Cullen was the victim of an overeager imagination. J. Edgar Hoover in the thirties J. Edgar Hoover was immediately notified of the mysterious landing and he acted predictably.  As FDR had already designated the FBI to lead any domestic sabotage investigations, the first thing the FBI did was confiscate any materials recovered from the beach by the Coast Guard.  An FBI team of explosive experts was already examining and cataloguing the Nazi cache of demolition materials.  Because the neurotically suspicious FBI director had received information via the Coast Guard, he first wished to verify if in fact he was dealing with Nazis or something less sinister, like alcohol smugglers from Canada who used remote parts of Long Island to run untaxed liquor into the country.  Amagansett LIRR train station By then, the four saboteurs were nowhere near Amagansett, although their exit from eastern Long Island contained some precarious moments.  Dasch was vaguely familiar with the area and recognized the general location of Amagansett from his days living in New York, but he still had no clear direction for the village or railroad depot.  The men were savvy enough to get away from the beach as quickly as possible and still under the cover of darkness, they were able to quickly access the main road in the area, the Montauk Highway.  Wandering in a northerly direction and careful to avoid any homes or brightly lit areas, they were especially alarmed by the sound of the U-boat diesel engines they heard as they stealthily tried to extricate themselves from the beach vicinity.  When a large campground forced them to walk in a circuitous manner, they stumbled over some railroad tracks.  Dasch correctly headed west and within a mile they reached the Amagansett train station.  At five o’clock on a Saturday morning, it was locked and deserted.  All four men got rid of any wet clothes and tried to make themselves as presentable as possible.  At six AM, the station opened and Dasch bought four tickets to New York, the first train leaving at 6:59.  The four men were the only passengers to board at Amagansett and within minutes they were rapidly leaving the Hamptons behind, incredibly relieved to have successfully completed one of the most challenging parts of their mission.  Heinck even shook Dasch’s hand, acknowledging his leadership in guiding them out of danger.

The true story of eight nazi spies who landed on American shores via U-Boat at the height of WWII. Typical German U-Boat By the time the Dasch group was loaded on to U-202, Walter Kappe was seemingly glad to be rid of everybody.  Although the U-Boat captain Hans-Heinz Linder asked the group to join him in his quarters for a toast to the newcomers, Kappe stayed merely long enough to wish everyone well and then quickly bolted. Attorney General Francis Biddle By the time the Dasch group was loaded on to U-202, Walter Kappe was seemingly glad to be rid of everybody.  Although the U-Boat captain Hans-Heinz Linder asked the group to join him in his quarters for a toast to the newcomers, Kappe stayed merely long enough to wish everyone well and then quickly bolted. Mugshot of Herbie Haupt’s father, Hans Haupt Herbie’s mother, Erna Haupt Hedy Engemann Marie Kerling Chief Justice Harlan Stone  

Martyr and Saint, Savior of France, National Icon, All by the Age of Nineteen Joan of Arc Joan of Arc was born sometime in January of 1412, the date of the sixth is traditionally mentioned.  Her parents, Jacques and Isabelle, were farmers who modestly tended a fifty acre plot in the village of Domremy.  This tiny town was located in a remote area of Lorraine, a region loyal to the French monarchy but surrounded by territory controlled by the Duke of Burgundy Joan, entering Orleans After six months of siege and with the fate of the kingdom of France hanging in the balance, a 17 year old girl freed Orleans in just four days of fighting, destroying the English myth of invulnerability.  This news spread across France and throughout Europe, proof that The Maiden was the instrument of the almighty.  Joan of Arc, Paris, Rue de Rivoli Clearly, the next military objective for the French army should have been the liberation of Paris, the largest city in France and most prestigious in Europe.  But, at this critical juncture, the English dangled a truce in front of Charles, who sent his court chamberlain George de la Tremoille, to negotiate with the Duke of Burgundy.  Joan of Arc, Bastille Day

Martyr and Saint, Savior of France, National Icon, All by the Age of Nineteen Joan of Arc, under interrogation Among the more driven individuals attempting to pry Joan out of the grasp of de Luxembourg was Pierre Cauchon, the Bishop of Beauvais.  Cauchon was a former Dean of the University of Paris, a chaplain to the Duke of Burgundy, as well as an ambitious and calculating high-ranking cleric.  Compiegne was in the diocese of Beauvais and Cauchon reasoned that any ecclesistical proceeding should be handled by himself.  Cauchon also understood that whoever succeeded in convicting and punishing Joan would establish himself prominently in the Roman Catholic hierarchy.  Cauchon additionally had a personal axe to grind as it was Joan’s incursion into Rhiems and the territory around Beauvais that had chased pro-English figures like Gauchon out of the area.  For the moment, he had relocated to Rouen, which was also the location of the administration of the English occupiers. Remnant of Bouvreuil, Rouen Hearing rumors of such a transaction, Joan attempted to escape from her rooftop cell in the keep of de Luxembourg’s fortress at Beaurevoir.  From an estimated seventy feet in the air, Joan attempted to tie together pieces of bedding and cloth.  During the process these tore, sending her to the completely uncushioned ground below.  Most likely unconscious for two days, she eventually regained her vitality.  Possibly her escape was actually a suicide attempt but to admit such an inclination was again a grave blasphemy. Joan of Arc, Vieux Marche, Rouen Joan was dragged to the fourth and highest platform and chained and bound to the stake by the official executioner.  Later, he would complain that the stake was so high he could not apply the customary rope around the victim’s neck to employ strangulation, a merciful alternative to actual burning.  The condemned was wearing a gray, sleeveless garment that stretched below her knees.  On her head, a crude crown with the words “Heretic, relapse, apostate, idolater.”  Around her neck a small, wooden crucifix, fashioned for her at the last moment.  A sympathetic priest, assigned to comfort her in her last minutes returned to her vicinity with a tall crucifix that he had retrieved from a nearby church.  Joan shouted to him, the din from the jeering crowd rising with each passing minute.  “Hold it before my eyes so I can see it until the last!!” Cauchon’s obscured burial site today, Lisieux Pierre Gauchon did not live to observe these developments.  He died of a heart attack at Rouen in December of 1442, still enjoying prominence and comfort under the protection of the English. Joan of Arc statue, near stake location, Rouen, France  

The true story of the television scandal that shocked America. Charles Van Doren and Herb Stempel during their climactic game The showdown between the two men continued on December 5, 1956, Stempel having accumulated 66,500 dollars.  The first show again resulted in a 21-21 tie.  The tension built as the dashing college educator tried to pull off the upset, but in the fourth game Herb Stempel pulled out to a 16-0 lead and seemed on the brink of successfully moving on.  21 had an interesting wrinkle in which contestants were asked after the second round of questions if they wished to stop the game.  Because they were in a soundproofed booth they did not know their opponent’s score and were instructed not to discuss specifics when their microphones and headsets were turned backed on. Herb Stempel as he appeared in 21 His appearance on 21 should have been a life changing event and a stepping stone to prominence and further achievement.  But for a variety of reasons, it hadn’t turned out that way.  Stempel’s background was the complete inverse of Charles Van Doren.  An only child and a three year old when his father died, Stempel was raised by his mother who left him alone in their Bronx tenement while she worked during the day.  An excellent student with a 170 IQ, Stempel did graduate from the academically demanding Bronx High School of Science.  Like many Americans, he joined the Army in 1942 and remained in the military for eight years, eventually working in military intelligence.  He finally left the service in 1952 to enroll at the City College of NY.  While a student, Stempel survived on money provided by a trust fund set up for his wife, Toby, the daughter of a successful hosiery manufacturer.  Vivian Nearing, Jack Barry and Charles Van Doren on the set of 21 Charles Van Doren finally met his match in Vivian Nearing, an attorney and the wife of a contestant that Van Doren already had defeated.  He was tripped up on a question involving obscure current ruling monarchs, failing to identify King Baudoin of Belgium.  But, along the way, Charles Van Doren became an overnight celebrity.  He won $128,000 on the program and appeared on the cover of the February 11, 1957 edition of Time Magazine with an accompanying glowing profile His appearance and popularity was so impressive that in April of 1957, he was offered a three year contract by NBC at fifty thousand dollars a year. The Van Doren family Van Doren was a telegenic, well spoken, sophisticated scion of one of the most intellectual families in America.  Despite some misgivings, especially from his fiancé, he agreed to appear.  Although he did not even own a television, he soon found himself on the soundstage of the program, initially to observe several shows from the wings and eventually to compete against Stempel, still the current champion.  Jack Barry’s introduction was inaccurate but certainly impressive: “He teaches music at Columbia University, and was a student at Cambridge University, in England . . . and his hobby is playing the piano in chamber-music groups.” Barry also referred specifically to Van Doren’s father and his literary stature and background.  Richard Goodwin The film Quiz Show focuses on the efforts of one person, Richard Goodwin, played by Rob Morrow, a congressional investigator whose supposed efforts singlehandedly brought the Quiz show scandal to public attention and congressional oversight.  In fact, long before Congress or Goodwin got involved, New York newspapers and the Manhattan District Attorney’s office were already investigating rumors and allegations swirling around several quiz show productions.  

The true story of the television scandal that shocked America. Charles Van Doren, 1959 On November 2, 1959, at 10 AM, Charles Van Doren and his attorney Carl Rubino entered the caucus room where the House Subcommittee hearings investigating potential game show corruption were conducted.  He had spent the previous evening accompanied by his wife and father at what must have been a very surreal dinner party at the home of Dick Goodwin, as this event was also attended by prosecutor Joseph Stone. District Attorney Frank Hogan Investigator Stone understood the potential volatility of the situation and he immediately personally briefed his boss, the District Attorney.  Frank Hogan was also skeptical of Stempel but for an additional reason.  He was a prominent alumnus of Columbia University, knew Professor Mark Van Doren personally and had even met Charles Van Doren.  He found it hard to believe that someone of the younger Van Doren’s background was capable of such duplicity but, at a formal news conference on August 28, Hogan did acknowledge that both Dotto and 21 were under investigation.  However, he also added that as yet the allegations were still unproven. Richard Goodwin, a high level White House staff member during both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Richard Goodwin quickly resigned from his subcommittee position and went to work for the Kennedy presidential campaign.   Herbert Stempel, later years Herb Stempel remained in an apartment not far from where he lived in Forest Hills, NY, in 1959, his phone number publicly accessible.  He lived well into his nineties, long retired from the Department of Transportation, Stempel and said he always knew when the film “Quiz Show” appeared on television.  Invariably, frequently in the middle of the night, his phone rang and the caller asked “What film won the award for best picture of 1955?”  Stempel always answered Marty, wished the caller a good evening and hung up the telephone.  He passed away on April 7, 2020, aged 93  

Homeless at age 19, in one of the poorest cities of the Third World, Bob Marley eventually created what Time Magazine called, “The greatest album of the Twentieth Century.  Bob Marley, Dublin, Ireland, 1980 Robert Nesta Marley was born in Nine Mile, Jamaica on February 6, 1945 to Cedella Editha Malcolm and Norval Sinclair Marley.  Marley’s mother, a Jamaican of African descent was 18 years old.  His father, a Caucasian of British ancestry was 60.  Although Norval Marley has been described as a sea captain, British army officer and even quartermaster he was in fact a laborer and construction worker who never saw military action.  He lived and worked in Britain, Africa and the Caribbean and was employed as an overseer of the subdivision of the rural area around Nine Mile in the Jamaican province of St. Anne.    At the time of Bob Marley’s birth, Nine Mile had neither electricity or running water.  Peter Tosh Literally around the corner, on Third Street, a successful musician by the name of Joe Higgs routinely ran practice sessions with locals he deemed talented enough.  There, Bob and Bunny met another aspiring crooner named Winston Hubert McIntosh, eventually known as Peter Tosh, and Higgs decided the trio had something special.  Bunny Livingston, aka, “Bunny Wailer” One of Bob’s childhood friends in Nine Mile was nine year old Neville O’Reilly Livingston.  Neville was nicknamed “Bunny” and eventually would become an important part of Marley’s musical prominence but would eventually leave Nine Mile and move to Kingston with his father, Thaddeus “Toddy”Livingston. Rita Marley Finally, Bob Marley became so fed up with the situation that he decided that he would join his mother in Wilmington, Delaware.  He hoped to find work and save enough money to bankroll the Wailers own production and recording efforts allowing the musicians to retain control over the profits.  Before leaving, perhaps to reassure her, Bob made the decision to marry his longtime girlfriend, Rita.  He promised to return and the official wedding on February 10, 1966 underlined his commitment.