Byte Sized Biographies…

Benedict Arnold is the ultimate American traitor, his life was actually much more complicated

The eternal Free Bird, Ronnie Van Zant Ronald Wayne Van Zant was born on January 15, 1948.  His father Lacey, was a long haul trucker and his mother Marion, nicknamed “Sister”, was a part time doughnut shop employee and the fundamental caregiver of the family’s six children.  Even as a young person, Ronnie had ambitions to escape the lower middle class enclave he grew up in which was literally known as “Shantytown.” Typically, warmup bands … Continue reading Ronnie Van Zant, Fallen Free Bird (Part One) →

Ronnie Van Zant, the eternal Free Bird Heading into the recording studio, Skynyrd added two important elements to the band.  Ed King met Skynyrd when they were the warmup band for The Strawberry Alarm Clock.  King had written this group’s top ten one hit wonder “Incense and Peppermint,” and jumped at the chance to be the third guitar in Skynyrd’s unique three lead guitar makeup. Ed King would eventually be replaced by the brother of … Continue reading Ronnie Van Zant, Fallen Free Bird (Part Two) →

W. C. Fields, Hollywood Legend W. C. Fields was born William Claude Dukenfield on January 29, 1880 in Darby, Pennsylvania.  His parents, James and Kate, were English immigrants of modest means, his mother a homemaker and his father appropriately enough at the time of his son’s birth, an innkeeper and bartender. Fields scraped together some money, relocated and made the rounds of the numerous NY agents and bookers that funneled entertainers to the hundreds of … Continue reading WC Fields, Hollywood Comedy Pioneer (Part One) →

W. C. Fields, Hollywood Legend To much excitement, it was announced that Fields would next team up with Mae West.  One of America’s biggest stars in the mid-thirties, West, now aged 43, had also recently been cut loose by Paramount after her popularity waned.  Months would pass before a script and director would be selected, the result of Fields’ cantankerous and territorial approach to his participation.  Surprisingly, the two actors were able to co-exist and … Continue reading WC Fields, Hollywood Comedy Pioneer (Part Two) →

The Chicago Black Sox and the Scandal Surrounding the 1919 World Series Almost one hundred years after the Black Sox scandal, the legend of Shoeless Joe Jackson, created by disingenuous journalists and burnished by Hollywood, lives on in the American imagination.  An illiterate mill hand, a country boy who escaped small town poverty and obscurity as a baseball savant, Jackson is perceived as tragically victimized by wealthy owners and slickered by hustlers and cheats who … Continue reading The Chicago Black Sox and the 1919 World Series Fix (Part One) →

The Chicago Black Sox and the scandal surrounding the 1919 World Series “Regardless of the verdict of juries, no player that throws a ballgame; no player that undertakes or promises to throw a ballgame; no player that sits in a conference with a bunch of crooked players and gamblers where the ways and means of throwing games are planned and discussed and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever play professional baseball.” Today, … Continue reading The Chicago Black Sox And The 1919 World Series Fix (Part Two) →

DB Cooper, the man behind the most notorious airplane hijacking in American history On November 24, 1971, a man walked up to the Northwest Orient ticket counter at the Portland, Oregon International Airport.  After waiting on line for a few moments, he paid $20 dollars in cash for a ticket for Flight 305 to Seattle, a scheduled 30 minute trip leaving at 2:50 PM. He gave his name as “Dan Cooper” for the purposes of … Continue reading DB Cooper, and the Only Unsolved Air Hijack in US History (Part One) →

DB Cooper, the man responsible for the most notorious air hijacking in US history. On Thanksgiving morning, A Portland FBI investigator involved in the case, Ralph Himmelsbach, took it upon himself to use his own single engine plane to fly over the area where it is believed that Cooper might have bailed out.  He spends much of Thanksgiving Day flying back and forth over Vector 23, the route that flight 305 took through the area, … Continue reading DB Cooper, and the Only Unsolved Air Hijack in US History (Part Two) →

Robert E. Lee, Valiant Hero or Misguided Traitor? Robert E. Lee was born on January 19, 1807.  He was the son of Henry Lee III and Anne Carter, Henry and Ann’s fifth child. Lee was initially assigned to assist in the construction of a fort on the Savannah River, 12 miles from the city of Savannah, Georgia itself.  But construction was unsuccessful and it would be sixteen years before Fort Pulaski was completed.  Long before … Continue reading Robert E. Lee, Stuck in the MIddle (Part 1) →