Friday, March 26, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Bonnie Parker's hideout
The shootout that catapulted Bonnie & Clyde to stardom happened right here in Missouri. Bonnie Parker and her man, Clyde Barrow were staying in a loft apartment at 3347 1/2 Oak Ridge Drive in Joplin with Buck & Blanche Barrow & W.D. Jones. The gang lived in the apartment for only about 3 weeks in 1933, but during that time were conspicuous enough to attract attention from the law.
On April 13th, two policemen were shot & killed while trying to serve a warrant to the group for suspected bootlegging. The gang members escaped with only a few scrapes, but had to leave to quick they left behind all their belongings: including poems written by Bonnie and rolls of film that finally put faces to the infamous "Bonnie and Clyde."
Today you can rent their hideout for a night or just drive by and see it at the corner of E 34th Street and Oak Ridge Drive.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
“. . . I improvised, crazed by the music. . . . Even my teeth and eyes burned with fever. Each time I leaped I seemed to touch the sky and when I regained earth it seemed to be mine alone.”
Josephine Baker only spent the first 15 years of her life in Missouri but she is one of the most well known women to have spent time in the state. She was born in St. Louis, dirt poor, and as a teen attracted attention for her street dancing which landed her in several vaudville shows. She was soon swept off to New York and became a part of the Harlem Rennaisance, dancing as a chorus girl in numerous broadway plays.
Josephine Baker came from extremely humble beginnings and yet developed the confidence and skills to achieve anything she set her mind to. She went against the grain of main stream society - not only in her performances (appearing nude), but also in her efforts to fight for civil rights (forcing integration by refusing to perform for segregated audiences). Baker did all sorts of interesting things: spied on the Nazis, adopted a dozen children, lived in a castle.
She's got a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame at 6501 Delmar, and is included in the Hall of Famous Missourians in Jefferson City.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Every woman who votes has Virginia Minor to thank for it. She launched the Woman Suffrage Association of Missouri in 1867, and five years later became a part of a nation-wide throwdown about women's rights. She first attempted to register to vote and when denied, her husband sued the St. Louis register of voters on her behalf (did you think women could file a lawsuit? Nope). Based on rights outlined in the 14th Amendment, she claimed it was illegal to deny her the right to vote because she was a native-born, free, white citizen of the United States & the State of Missouri over the age of 21. The case was first heard at the Old Courthouse in St. Louis, and eventually went all the way to the US Supreme Court, who ruled that suffrage was not coextensive with citizenship. Although she lost the lawsuit, she was still really tough for trying to shake things up. 
Her grave is in Bellefontaine Cemetery in Block 51, Lot 1623. And while you're there, don't forget to stomp on the grave of Smith Gant, just across the road in block 33, lot 2824, who represented the voting commissioner in Ms. Minor's Lawsuit. Sunday, February 21, 2010
From Humansville to Hollywood
Zoe Akins wrote a play in the early 1950s called The Greeks Had a Word For It. In 1953, it was adapted for the screen as, How to Marry a Millionaire. Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable and Lauran Bacall starred in the film, and it made Marilyn Monroe popular. Zoe Akins's time in Hollywood came at the culmination of her career, a career where she competed with men playwrights, but was still able to attain a measure of success.
She was born in Humansville in 1886 and went to school at Hosmer Hall (an all girls school in St. Louis) where she studied theater and drama. Writing was her main interest and she wrote over 40 plays, 18 were produced on Broadway. In 1935 she received a Pulitzer Prize for drama for her adaption of The Old Maid.
She passed away in Los Angeles, California in 1958. Check out this book about her life's work.
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