Today is the 125th birthday of the silent film actress Barbara La Marr. She had more life in her less than thirty years alive than most people do in eighty. The world is a better place because she was in it and still feels the loss that she has left.

Today is the 112th birthday of the actress Vivian Vance.  She didn’t make Lucy funny, she made her funnier.  She was the point of reference, the voice of reason, the control group with which we were able to judge just how crazy Lucy was.  She was doing what we would be doing if we were in the scene:  questioning and cautioning, but eventually being persuaded to join in the scheme.  The world is a better place because she was in it and still feels the loss that she has left.

Today is the 93rd birthday of the film director Stanley Kubrick.  You know and love his films, I specifically love 2001 and The Shining, but Clockwork Orange is great, and, and…  His vision and direction gave us something different and very interesting. The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.

Today is the 127th birthday of the author, Aldous Huxley.  I first started reading his books at Interlochen Center for the Arts the summer of 1989.  The library was in a stone building, cool in temperature and cool in aesthetics.  That summer, I read Brave New World and Brave New World Revisited.  I was transported.  Later, I read somewhere that his writing has inspired a lot of people that I find to be visionaries, it was great to understand a bit more of their inspirational foundations.  The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.

Today is the 80th birthday of Emmett Till. His lynching and his mother’s decision to have an open casket funeral, thus exposing the extent of the damages to her 14 year old son, was one of the major catalysts for the Civil Rights Movement. The story is in the headlines even now. The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.

"My Sister Death" - CBS Radio Mystery Theater - July 25, 1974

Plot:  A twisted and humorous tale about a woman's attempts to drive her sister to madness.

Today is the 124th birthday of aviatrix Amelia Earhart.  Mystery surrounding her last trip exists to this day, with theories and evidence leading to the belief that she survived the on an island well off her intended course.  The world is a better place because she was in it and still feels the loss that she has left.

Today is the 121st birthday of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald. Even as I type, I can identify several biographies on my bookshelf where she is either the main subject or a key player. I can see a paperback copy of her only published novel Save Me The Waltz and an entire set of novels written by her husband. Today, I learned that she went to school with Tallulah Bankhead. Two women I admire being childhood friends makes me feel consistent. The world is a better place because she was in it and still feels the loss that she has left.

"Adam's Astral Self" - CBS Radio Mystery Theater - July 23, 1974

Plot:  The ability to project his spiritual self to other places while asleep annoys Adam Farr's wife to no end. When she finally leaves him, he comes up with the perfect plan to woo her.

Today is the 132nd birthday of the film director James Whale. He directed several of the original Frankenstein films and Sir Ian McKellen played him in a movie about him. That is a hell of a mark to leave. The world is a better place because he was in it and still feels the loss that he has left.