Dr Macros' Hugh Quality Movie Scans

"Here's where you'll find very high quality scans of famous screen stars and their movies, mostly from the 1940's and earlier. We've scanned 8 x 10 glossy studio and publicity photos, and the resulting full-size pictures are presented for your viewing and downloading pleasure—all free."

Very high quality indeed. And very large too. The full size pics are too large to fit onto your screen, but if you save them to your desktop and resize them with your favorite image viewer (like I did to post Lon Chaney), you can use them for your wallpaper or other projects.

You'll find tons of pics here and if you have a favorite classic film star, you'll probably find him, or her.

ELIZABETH SHORT --THE BLACK DAHLIA

WHO KILLED THE BLACK DAHLIA?

The Tragic Life & Death of Elizabeth Short

"The investigation into the Black Dahlia’s murder was the highest profile crime in Hollywood of the 1940’s. The police were constantly harassed by the newspapers and the public for results. Hundreds of suspects were questioned. Because it was considered a sex crime, the usual suspects and perverts were rounded up and interrogated. Beth’s friends and acquaintances were questioned as the detectives tried to reconstruct her final days and hours. Every lead that seemed hopeful ended up leading nowhere and the cops were further hampered by the lunatics and crazed confessions that were still pouring in."

An unsolved murder mystery from the 40s, the Black Dahlia case, still causes much speculation and new books that claim to solve it. I recently saw a re-run of a documentary* on her, that told the story of a man who suspects his own father, Dr. George Hodel, of being the killer.

An interseting tale that will probably never be solved.

Other resources:

*CBS news documentary

FBI files

Crime Library

Black Dahlia Solution

Black Dahlia Info

The Lux Radio Theaters' Snow White

"The Lux Radio Theater, Producer Cecil B. DeMille, and Walt Didney present Snow White."

"This is truly a Rare Masterpiece rarely heard for over 60 years!"

Here's another Oldtime Radio classic for the young at heart. Your choice to stream or download.

American Antiquarian Society

"The American Antiquarian Society (AAS) is both a learned society and national research library of pre-twentieth century American history and culture. Our mission is to collect, preserve, and make available for study the printed record of what is now the United States of America from first European settlement through the year 1876. As a learned society, we offer a wide variety of programs for diverse audiences including: professional scholars, pre-collegiate, undergraduate and graduate level students and educators, professional artists and writers, genealogists, and the general public."

Soul Legend Wilson Pickett Dies At 64

"Soul/R&B legend Wilson Pickett died of a heart attack today (Jan. 19) at a hospital near his Virginia home, according to a spokesperson. He was 64."

"Born in Pratville, Ala., Pickett moved to Detroit as a teen and joined the Falcons, singing on their 1962 hit "I Found a Love." By 1965, he had signed a solo deal with Atlantic, scoring a No. 21 pop hit with "In the Midnight Hour," which he co-wrote with legendary sessions musician Steve Cropper."

"A slew of late '60s R&B/soul hits followed, including "Land of 1,000 Dances," "Funky Broadway," "634-5789," "She's Lookin' Good" and "Mustang Sally." As the '70s dawned, Pickett scored three consecutive top 20 pop singles with "Engine Number 9," "Don't Let the Green Grass Fool You" and "Don't Knock My Love Pt. 1."

Man, I still have some of his vinyls (collecting dust). Brings back memories. Sorry he's gone.

The Public Domain Podcast

"Great works read out loud in a weekly podcast. Authors include Mark Twain, Jules Verne, Edgar Allen Poe and many others. The website also includes links to public domain resources & topics of interest to literary and audiobook fans."

Now here's a blogger after my own heart! It's dedicated solely to audio files you can listen to anywhere. Posts aren't made on a daily basis, but that doesn't matter to me. If you don't see something you like in his posts, make sure to follow his off-site side-bar links. The list may be sparse at this time, but they're quality.

If you like listening to literature, this is worth bookmarking.

Iraqi History Page

"It might be obvious for everyone that in order to establish a correct understanding of the situation in a certain country, you need to acquire a proper knowledge of the history of that country. Thus, I tried to collect as much information as possible about the Iraqi history. The main objective was to provide a historical profile of Iraq that is both short and satisfying at the same time."

"Here you will find breif information about the different stages of the Historical development in Iraq, from the oldest known traces of the early human populations in this part of the world until the recent days in a chronological order."

Those "recent days" only reach as far as the Iran-Iraq War, so it doesn't include any info about the current situation, which is just fine with me.

Edgar Allan Poe

Like Poe? You can read him here. I've never been too much into poetry, but after growing up loving the Hammer Films adaptations of some of his works, I naturally had to check out the source. I've been into 'Dark' poetry ever since.

As an added bonus, I'm posting a download link for an audio version of one of his poems from Project Gutenberg to:
'Alone', by Edgar Allen Poe (MP3)

The Golden Age of travel Posters

"Speed, style and grace — these epitomize the Golden Age of travel in its simplest form."

"The 1920’s and 1930’s ushered in an unprecedented era of travel to exotic and romantic destinations. And nowhere was this more clearly expressed than in the travel posters of that time. The Los Angeles Public Library ’s collection of travel posters perfectly captures this era. With this exhibition, the Library shares its bounty with the public for the first time."

The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire

"At 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906 the rocks snapped six to nine miles below the surface of the earth. The land was torn apart from Shelter Cove in Humboldt County to Hollister in San Benito County. The epicenter was located on the San Andreas Fault at the boundary of San Francisco and San Mateo counties. The magnitude 7.8 earthquake, lasting forty to sixty-five seconds, was not the strongest ever experienced in California, or for that matter, in the United States. But it was the closest to a major population center. Fortunately, people were at home in bed and not on crowded city streets or in offices and schools."

And so it began. One of the worst disasters in American history took place almost one hundred years ago. This site documents that event with photos and personal accounts from the survivers.

After so many of us having been the victims of natures' wrath in this past year, here's a look back to a time when there were few of what we consider to be modern conveniences. Back when there were no helicopters or airplanes to aide in the relief effort. Only the rich had a few motor cars. No interstate transportation or communications systems as we know them today. No TV or radio to pass the word. It wasn't easy, but they survived, rebuilt, and prospered. So shall we.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Newspaper Articles Archive

"Newspaper articles about Martin Luther King, Jr. tell the story of an African-American minister whose strong hope for social change never swerved his belief in nonviolence. During the American civil rights movement in the 1950's and 1960's, King encouraged nonviolent methods to protest segregation such as boycotts of city buses that gave preferential treatment to whites, sit-ins at lunch counters that refused to serve African Americans and mass rallies to draw attention to the civil rights cause."

A little late in the day now, I wanted to post this earlier. I don't have many readers yet, because this blog is still new, so I guess I wasn't in much of a hurry because of that, but at least I'm not too late.

Anyway, this is a good site if you want to get a litte ways past current media hype on King, and take a look at what was said about him when he was still alive. You can get search results of articles that open in Adobes' reader, so you'll have to have that

Lisa's Nostalgia Cafe

Travel Back In Time!

Relive the fads, fashions, music & entertainment of decades gone by.

Tons of stuff here to rummage through. It covers a hundred years of memories, up through the '90s. For the most part, this is a portal that nicely categorizes links to other sites. The ones I tried worked, but I can't vouch for all. I'll probably post some of the sites I found here sometime in the future. I enjoyed my stay, and I hope you will too.

The History and Geography of Inventions

Ever wonder about when something was invented? This site just might tell you what you want to know. It's very basic, with minimal information on each item, such as where and when, and that's about it. Not good for research or anything like that, but it could just settle a bar bet.

Oscar Winner Shelley Winters Dies at 85

"Shelley Winters, the forceful, outspoken star who graduated from blond bombshell parts to dramas, winning Academy Awards as supporting actress in "The Diary of Anne Frank" and "A Patch of Blue," has died. She was 85."

"Winters died of heart failure early Saturday at The Rehabilitation Centre of Beverly Hills, her publicist Dale Olson said. She was hospitalized in October after suffering a heart attack."

Images of Shelly