My very dear Sarah,

At the onset of the Civil War when the men went off to fight letters to home came with frequency. Both sides figured the war would last a few months at most, not the four long years that it did. Men would write their wives and sweethearts about the harrows of battle to the serene beauty of places they had never seen. One letter that resonates through history is that of Sullivan Ballou.

Sullivan was born March 28, 1829. He was 32 when the south fired on Fort Sumter and starting the war. (While skirmishes like the slave uprising led by John Brown happened prior to Ft. Sumter, the attack is considered the season opener war) Sullivan was an educated man who dedicated his life to public service having been elected as clerk of the Rhode Island House of Representatives as well as passing the Rhode Island bar.

When the war started in 1861, Sullivan immediately enlisted to be part of the Union Cause.
He wrote a letter to his wife Sarah on July 14, 1861. Ballou's letter is filled with love and longing, pathos and fierce pride in his country.

"Sarah my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country come over me like a strong wind and bears me unresistibly on with all these chains to the battle field"

Ballou seemed to know his death was coming but I doubted he knew it was coming so quickly. Sullivan Ballou died at the first Battle of Bull Run July21, 1861. A mere 7 days after writing his letter to Sarah. He never had a chance to mail it. Sarah would ultimately receive the letter, along with other more upbeat ones, at a later date. This particular letter was among the personal affects Governor William Sprague, The Boy Governor of Rhode Island, traveled to Virginia to retrieve.

 "Oh Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you..."

In fact, Sullivan Ballou will be with us all forever more.

He's here, the Phantom of the Opera...

When I was writing my short story "Casting Couch" I based one of my characters on the great Lon Chaney - loosely of course. (Be forewarned, it's a dirty like sex romp. You have been cautioned) Chaney was known as the Man of a Thousand Faces and was a pioneer in the field of movie make-up. However this blog isn't about him...per se. It is about Soundstage 28 on the Universal Studios Backlot. I know what you're thinking, why the heck did you mention Chaney if you're going to talk about a soundstage. Well, I'll tell you, my little blog loves. You see Soundstage 28 is where they filmed The Phantom of the Opera. The 1925 Lon Chaney version of the classic LeRoux tale.

The soundstage is still known as 28 but also carries the name The Phantom Stage mainly because the much of the 1925 set still resides inside....and so does the ghost of Lon Chaney.

Prior to the construction of soundstage 28, Hollywood soundstages basically consisted of a raised platform built outside with a muslin covering which could be pulled over the set to defuse glare. (Muslin is a semi-porous fabric that allows some light to shine through. It is used still for flats for theatrical and film productions because paint adheres well to it and it is relatively inexpensive to buy in bulk. I'm a nerdy theatre girl. Give me a break) The Phantom stage was truly one of the first of its kind and the precursor to the modern soundstage. (Not the green screen soundstages but I digress) When Universal announced The Phantom, the biggest problem they had was the building an entire replica of the Paris Opera house. So the construction department built the very first steel and concrete soundstage to house the thing. It has since been renovated for talkies.

The chandelier the Phantom drops on the unsuspecting audience was an exact replica of the one in Paris. It weighed 16,000 pounds and measure 40 feet in diameter. Universal executives were a little weary about something so expensive being brought to a crashing disaster (not to mention the 3000 extras seated below the monstrosity) so the cameraman, Charles Van Enger, had an idea to film the fixture being pulled back up to the ceiling and then reversing it in editing. Viola. The Phantom kills a bunch of people and the 1920s ladies swoon at the carnage...and Chaney's scarey Phantom make-up.

The chandelier stood on the soundstage until 1965 when Alfred Hitchcock had it taken down and placed in storage. (It was in the way of his filming 'Torn Curtain) It has since disappeared. Seriously a 16,000 pound light fixture vanished. It might have been lost in the fire that swept through the studio or perhaps it was cannibalized for parts. We'll never know. It's not like it is something you can slip in your pocket and sell on EBay without anyone knowing.

However, the seating of the Paris Opera house interior still stands as does the staircase that Lon Chaney appears on as the Red Death. Rumors abound that Chaney's ghost can be seen running through the catwalks high about the soundstage or even on the bus stop that used to stand just a few feet outside the doors. If Chaney is there it seems the best place for his spirit to call home as he immortalized the Phantom as no other actor has done.

Next time you take the backlot tour at Universal make sure to ask your guide about Soundstage 28. I've no doubt they'll be happy to share a ghost story or two about the historic building. And who knows...you might just catch a glimpse of the Phantom.

The Skull that would be king...

So I know it has been awhile since I last blogged. I’ve been busy and I’m lazy. There. I said it. Sue me. Anyway, I’m back.

I’m going to take the first blog of 2013 to branch out a bit from the usual American History fare I’ve been feeding you all.  In fact for the rest of the year we will be bouncing around the globe with fun topics. Our first is Richard III.

I really want to talk about Richard III since he has playing a big part in the news lately. Or at least the nerd-ville news I read. You see Richard III, the main character in Shakespeare’s play of the same name, was the last English king to die in battle. He was also the only English king to die on English soil since Harold in 1066. (1066 being the Norman Invasion for those who are keeping score. That was the year William the Conqueror – or William the Bastard – claimed the English throne for his own. Side note, never refer to William as conqueror outside the Tower of London. This will cause your tour guide to threaten to get a beefeater and have you jailed. True story.) However, his body was never found. Until now.

In the last year a group of historians and archaeologists conducted a dig in Greyfriars, Leicester discovers a skeleton in a parking garage. No fooling, a parking garage.  At the time they only speculated that if could be Richard. The skull had a large fracture mark on the back of the head which would have been consistent with the battle wound record has having been sustained by Richard in the Battle of Bosworth Field as well as an arrow in the back.  The skeleton also suffered from severe scoliosis which coincides with claims that Richard was hunchbacked. Some historians don’t believe was actually hunchbacked like he is portrayed throughout history. They believe it was a rumor started by his enemies that has since been turned into fact. When Shakespeare writes it into a play then of course everyone will believe it. The original Elizabethan rumor mill.  

DNA testing has confirmed that the skeleton does in fact belong to Richard III. So, my dear blog readers, how will this change how we view the king looked on as evil by history? I’m not sure the find will really make that much different in how we see Richard as a historical figure. (I mean really. How many of you have heard of him outside of Shakespeare or The Goodbye Girl?) Americans equate him with “My horse, my horse, a kingdom for my horse” if we even think of him at all. (In my opinion at least) What I think it will change is how we see Richard portrayed on film and in the theatre. Shakespeare’s play makes him out to a villain on par with Iago or Aaron. He has become more real because now we can see his bones. The University of Leicester may very well take the skull and do that cool facial reconstruction so we can even see what Richard looked like. Then we can finally see  the man whose “And thus I clothe my naked villainy with odd, old ends stol'n out of holy writ, and seem a saint, when most I play the devil.” face and look into the eyes  of a king.

For more cool info go over to the University of Leicester’s website.  They have set up a whole page about the find with pictures of the bones and the skull and other cool stuff.

Lincoln....

This is a public service announcement from the Mistress of History...GO SEE LINCOLN!

I saw the film this last week with a friend. I cried. I was in awe. You have before my friends, a living history. It was beautiful. Perhaps the most beautiful film I've seen in a good long while (And I know film, kiddos.)

Thus ends this public service announcement. We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog station.

Black Friday Blog Hop!

It's Black Friday!

  Time for prizes and fun and sharing! So in my book 'THE HOODED MAN" we see the spirit of giving, sort of, when our plunky Marian a.k.a Robin Hood gives stolen gold to the needy people of Nottingham. Today I will play Robin Hood much as Marian did in the book and give one lucky blog reader a present for Black Friday!  One lucky commentor will win a copy of THE HOODED MAN or my upcoming 1Night Stand story, BETTING IN A GOD, from Decadent Publishing. All you have to do is answer one simple trivia question and leave it in the comments section of the blog.  

 Your mission, maninis, should you choose to accept it, is to answer the following question. Which American Hero figure is most closely related and modeled after Robin Hood? The winner will receive their choice of THE HOODED MAN or BETTING ON A GOD(coming soon) Make sure to check out all the other great Decadent Authors and their blogs today for more amazing prizes and fun!  The link below is the gateway to all the other blogs that are waiting for you.  http://www.markofthestars.com/wp/?page_id=10037 Have a wonderful Black Friday and Happy reading!

 

A Day of Thanksgiving

Today ushers in another Thanksgiving. Though we may be scattered, for example my family and I are in various parts of the United States today - separate from each other, we still find the means to be with one another. The age of technology has made that possible.

Now we all know, or we think we know, how Thanksgiving came about. But do you know how it became an actual day of celebration? How about I tell you...because you know from all the previous blogs that I love to do that. History junkie that I am.

In 1789, October 3 to be precise, President George Washington (Now I know you all know who he is) proclaimed that Nov 26th would be a day "set aside to give sincere thanks and gratitude" and so we celebrated our very first Thanksgiving. On October 3 1863 (There's that day again) President Abraham Lincoln gave a proclamation stating that Thanksgiving would be celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, thus making it a National holiday. Think about it. We are in the midst of a bloody civil war and the President asks people to put aside their differences and celebrated a single day of thanks in the face of all that terrifying death and destruction. And they do.

Next up comes our man, FDR. In 1939 he moved the date to the third Thursday of the month of November, in an effort to lengthen the shopping season and to bolster the economy. This move sparked wide-spread debate and in 1941 Congress passed a joint resolution (that means both the House and the Senate agreed on the resolution...something that rarely happens today) and President Roosevelt signed it thus ensuring by law that Thanksgiving would be celebrated nationwide on the fourth Thursday in November. (Check out last year's Black Friday Blog post for a bit more info on this if you're so inclined.)

So, my dirty birdies, I give you a brief history of Thanksgiving. Remember there is always more to something then the simple story you've been told in your youth. You know what I mean...Pilgrims and Indians sitting down to a huge feast in harmony and peace (right before the Pilgrims hand the Indians blankets infested with small pox...OK I'll stop ranting and save that for another blog)

One final note, YouTube the Butterball hot line episode of The West Wing. You will thank me for it later.

Here is the text of Lincoln's Proclamation on Thanksgiving. Enjoy and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

A Proclamation. The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

Tear that Stonewall down!

The history of America is as varied as her people. The path that we have traveled to get us where we are today is long and has been pretty damn rocky. From the landing of the pilgrims to the re-election of our first African-American president, we have seen and accomplished more in our 390 some odd years then other countries have managed in their whole hallowed existences. (I’m including the stuff that happened all the way back to 1620 in that count by the way) But some of the potholes we hit on the road to get to right now may not be as well-known as they should be. So tonight we will talk about something that most of you probably have no idea ever happened. In fact, I had no idea what it was until I was watching an episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race (I love drag queens. Glitter and spandex and bitchy attitudes. I love it!!) We are going to talk about The Stonewall Riots of 1969. The first real outcry for equality in the LGBT community and unfortunately 43 years later it was not the last.

On June 28, 1969 in New York City, police raided a known gay bar called Stonewall Inn. The bar was located in Greenwich Village at 51 and 53 Christopher Street. Owned by the Genovese family (yes the mafia Genoveses) Stonewall began its life as a restaurant and nightclub. However in 1966, three members of the family invested $3,500 to turn the place into a hangout for the LGBT community in the neighborhood. (Mostly likely this change occurred because the mafia realized the money to be made from such an establishment, mainly because the surrounding neighborhood at the time had a large Gay community) The battle had just begun for Stonewall and its visitors.

There was no running water, no fire exits, and the toilets overran consistently. Once a week the police showed up for their payoff – an envelope full of cash. But still people came. Stonewall was the only gay club in town that allowed dancing and that was a big draw for its clientele. Police raids were frequent, happening about once a month, sometimes more. When the bar was raided the lights were turned on, customers lined up against the wall – criminal style – and their IDs were inspected. Any man found in drag was arrested on the spot. Women not wearing at least three pieces of female clothing were arrested.

At about one in the morning of June 28^th, four plainclothes officers, two unis, and a detective and a DI arrived at Stonewall and pushed open the doors, shouting “Police! We’re taking the place!” Earlier in the evening four undercover officers had entered Stonewall to “collect evidence.” The music was shut off and the lights turned on. Stonewall was packed that night with about 200 people enjoying their evenings. Everything was going according to the usual plan – i.e. line up for ID and gender check (I’m not kidding folks. Anyone dressed in drag was escorted to the women’s john where a female police officer checked her parts. Kind of degrading if you ask me.) The officers reportedly manhandled the patrons while doing searches in rough and degrading fashion. Now this is where it gets really ugly. No one exactly what caused the next part to happen…“There was no one thing that happened or one person, there was just…a flash of group, of mass anger.”

Police ejected and herded the customers outside, forming separate groups for those that were free to go and those to be placed in paddy wagons and taking into to station houses for booking. The crowd of customers began to fight back, shouting at the officers and throwing coins at them. (The coins symbolizing the massive payoffs gay clubs around NY had to hand out to police. Soon bottles, rocks, and other larger items were lobbed. The police retreated back into the bar, trashing the place and fighting against the crowd. A folk singer who had the misfortune of passing by the doorway at that exact moment was savagely beaten by police.  

Riot police were called in and they advanced down the street a la Roman turtle style. The crowd retreated but would not be stopped. They shouted and yelled taunts at them. The rioting and protests went on for five days. By the end of the violence many ended up in the hospital, a teenager had lost two fingers, and others had countless broken bones and bruises. This was the beginning of the battle for equality for all sexualities.

Stonewall has become an icon to the LGBT community and to the activists who continue to fight for equality to this day. Whether you are gay or straight or omnisexual, the battles that have been fought in the name of unity cross gender and subculture lines.

I wrote this blog as a straight ally to the LGBT cause. Equal Rights and Gender Equality are my generations Civil Rights movement. With any Civil Rights movement, we must know our history – the good and the bad – so we can learn from it and never let it happen again.

Side note: PBS produced a great film for their American Expericence segment called "Stonewall Uprising" You can watch it online here http://video.pbs.org/video/1889649613