If they were still alive today....

...these folks would be celebrating their birthday:


The legendary trumpeter Bix Beiderbecke would be 108.  Acclaimed by many jazz aficionados as the greatest trumpet player of all time, he set the bar for other jazz trumpeters that followed.  He burned himself out far too soon, dying in Queens, New York at the age of 28, caught in a downward spiral of chronic alcoholism.  Here he is, playing with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, along with Bing Crosby and the Rhythm Boys---one of Bing's earliest popular recordings:






Silent film star "Broncho Billy" Anderson was born 131 years ago today.  He was the very first "cowboy" film star, starring in one of the first popular films, The Great Train Robbery, in 1903.  He retired from films in 1920, but lived to see his 90th birthday in 1971...long enough to see his films revived and to enjoy a small bit of renewed popularity.



Popular character actor Barry Fitzgerald was born in Dublin 123 years ago.  He most famously played Father Fitzgibbon opposite Bing Crosby in Going My Way.  He is, to this day, the only actor ever nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting actor...for the same role in the same film.  He won the supporting honors (Bing won Best Actor).  He accidently chopped the statuette's head off while practicing his golf swing!


Film actor/director Raoul Walsh would be 124.  His acting career ended in 1928, when he lost an eye in a traffic accident; but it cemented his career as one of Hollywood's greatest directors. Some of his greatest films are What Price Glory?, High Sierra, White Heat and The Big Trail (John Wayne's first starring feature).


"The other Gish sister," Dorothy Gish would be 113.  Her older sister, Lillian, was far more famous and popular, but Dorothy made several memorable films of her own.  They were very close, and are, in fact, buried side-by-side at New York's St. Bartholomew's Church on Park Avenue.


Cute and perky child star Anissa Jones would be 53, had she not overdosed on cocaine, PCP, quaaludes and Seconal at the age of 18.  She's remembered as "Buffy" from the 60's TV show, Family Affair.  The coroner handling her autopsy said it was one of the worst cases of drug intoxication he'd ever seen.  She is still held up as one of the worst-case examples of "child stars gone tragically wrong".
"Ah one-ah..ah two-ah..."...bandleader Lawrence Welk would be 108.  His television show, which ran from the 1950's through the 1980's, is still regularly (and quite popularly) shown in reruns.  He definitely had a vision and created a "champagne world" all his own.  Watching the shows today, one wonders if, in fact, it might have been beamed in from another planet somewhere.


"The Princess of Jazz," Ramona (she only went by her first name) would be 102.  Billed as "Ramona and her Grand Piano," she broke ground as one of the first well-known female instrumentalists.  She played and sang with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra in the 1930's and made many popular recordings.  Her mellow, mellifluous voice is very pleasing to listen to and sounds very "contemporary," somehow.  Here's a nice montage of some of her film appearances, assembled by my good pal, Peter Mintun: