Humphrey Bogart in ‘Sahara’: A Brief Review
A few nights ago I decided on a whim to look for any Humphrey Bogart film I’d never seen. I landed on Sahara, a 1943 war film that was Bogart’s …..
Posts tagged: World War II
Marlene Dietrich and Champagne: She Didn’t Quite Say That
Here’s a story about Hollywood legend Marlene Dietrich, Champagne, and a bad quote. The actress liked her sparkles, that much is clear. A supposed Marlene Dietrich quote about Champagne is …..
George Patton’s Widow Put a Deadly Hawaiian Curse on his Mistress
“May the Great Worm gnaw your vitals, and may your bones rot joint by little joint!” Here’s a wild story about General George Patton, hard-driving hero (and cancelled-in-his-own-time villain) of …..
Black History Month: How African-American GIs of WWII Fought for Democracy Abroad and Then at Home
When war broke out, black Americans fought in segregated units to serve their country. The breath of freedom they experienced in Europe flamed the fight for equality when they returned home.
Anne Frank May Not Have Been Betrayed After All
For years the question has been: Who betrayed Anne Frank? Nobody has ever known for sure how the Frank family was discovered in their upstairs hideaway in Amsterdam in August of …..
James A. Logan: Pilot, War Hero and Somerville Worthy
Just in time for the Fourth of July, let us salute pilot and patriot James A. Logan of Somerville, Massachusetts. Winner of the Purple Heart and the Distinguished Flying Cross …..
‘I’ll Be Home for Christmas’ Is the Shortest, Saddest and Best Christmas Song of All Time
The 1943 Bing Crosby hit is still playing (and paying off) over 70 years later.
All America is an Insane Asylum
Poet Ezra Pound said “All America is an insane asylum,” after being released from an American insane asylum in 1958.
World Goes Nuts Over Bad Jerry Lewis Movie
Yes, it’s redundant to say “bad Jerry Lewis” movie, but footage of his famously bad clown-in-a-concentration camp movie has been released. That is, footage from the making of it.
Hitchcock’s Story in Pictures for LIFE Magazine
Alfred Hitchcock “directs” this series of photos in 1942, telling the wartime story, “Have You Heard,” a bit of Allied propaganda whose message is “loose lips sink ships.”
Archduke Ferdinand, Animal Killer
Spiegel Online reports on a newly-published diary by Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the man whose assassination sparked World War I. He killed a lot of animals. A lot of animals.
Tojo Trivia! They Drilled ‘Remember Pearl Harbor’ Into His Dentures
The strange story of the false teeth made for Tojo as he awaited trial for war crimes.
WWII Soldier Who Saved Tojo for Execution Has Died at 93
Lt. John J. Wilpers, Jr. captured the former prime minister and saved his life — so he could be executed for war crimes three years later.
Dorie Miller Biography: New!
One of the first American war heroes of World War II was an African-American named Doris Miller. Heard of him?
Channeling Churchill
When historian William Manchester died before finishing his massive bio of Winston Churchill, a novice stepped into the breach.
No Orwell Statue for the BBC
There will be no statue of George Orwell at the headquarters of the BBC. Because he was too far left?
Four Men, Five Stars: The Admirals Who Won the Sea in World War II
A new biography of four of the old salts who led the U.S. Navy into battle in the Big One.
Tito Doing Stuff
Former Yugoslavian dictator Tito has a Tumblr! See sample photos here!
Obituary of the Day: Raymond Aubrac, French Resistance Hero
Aubrac and his wife helped fight the Nazis in the south of France during World War II.
Pappy Boyington Was Born 99 Years Ago
If he’d waited a few days he could have been born on December 7th, Pearl Harbor Day. Which would have been fitting.
Fighting Nazis and Body Odor
This soldier is home on furlough, probably resting from fighting Nazis. But now he’s found an evil as bad as Hitler, right there under our own arms.
Welcome to the New Who2!
Launch the landing craft: It’s D-Day for Who2!
Benito Mussolini, Unhappy Birthday to You
Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was born on this day in 1883. He caused plenty of havoc in the next 61 years. Benito Mussolini tends to be the Forgotten Fascist these …..
LIFE: Eva Braun’s Private Photos
Like me, you were probably just wondering, “how come I’ve never seen Adolf Hitler’s girlfriend in blackface?”
J.D. Salinger, War Hero
Something I didn’t know about J.D. Salinger: It’s hard to think of an American writer who had more combat
experience. He landed on Utah Beach on D-Day. Slawenski reports that of
the 3,080 members of Salinger’s regiment who landed with him on June 6,
1944, only 1,130 survived three weeks later.
Ernest Borgnine, From ‘Eternity’ to Here (PHOTOS)
Ernest Borgnine was given a lifetime achievement award at the 2011 Screen Actors Guild Awards last night.
Pearl Harbor Day Tribute: Chester Nimitz
Here’s a December 7th salute to Admiral Chester Nimitz.After the disaster of Pearl Harbor in 1941 (disaster for American forces, that is), Nimitz was the man appointed by President Franklin Roosevelt to take over the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet and clean up the mess.
There’ll Always Be an England!
Could these men look any more British?
Was John Wayne a Draft Dodger in World War II? Not Exactly but Yes, Pretty Much
“Here for the first time is the first hard evidence that [John] Wayne volunteered for potentially dangerous service with the equivalent of today’s C.I.A., and the papers are not out of someone’s attic, but official government documents.”That’s the latest public defense of the World War II travails of John Wayne, courtesy of the politically conservative site Big Hollywood.