Born Today March 27: Henri Murger

1822-1861

French writer Henri Murger, given name Louis-Henri, was born on this date in Paris, France.   His father was a native Savoyard who had moved to Paris, where he worked two jobs: one as a tailor and the other as a janitor for an apartment building.  Young Henri's education was very fragmented, owed to the family's poverty.  He, in fact, left school at the age of 15 to work.  He toiled at a variety of menial occupations, before landing work in a lawyer's office.  While working there, he began to write poetry.  These were circulated, and that brought him to the attention of writer Étienne de Jouy, who in turn secured him a position in the home of Russian nobleman who was living in Paris at the time.  This allowed him to began a full-fledged literary career; this was some time around the year 1841.  He began writing poetic essays, but soon found that in order to actually make a living by writing, he'd have to broaden his genres; he began writing prose with such speed, as he put "at the rate of 80 francs an acre."  He also spent time editing a fashion newspaper; and he edited a paper for the millinery (or hat) trade.  He then decided to change his name in bid to gain more attention, first adopting "Henry Mürger," then dropping the umlaut.  All of his work from this change on are published under the name "Henry Murger."  Though, he did eventually find success, it took some time and was fleeting.  He was part of a group of writers who dubbed themselves "the water drinkers," because they were too poor to afford wine.  While he found success from a number of works during his lifetime, he is best remembered today for just one work:  Scénes de la vie bohéme.  If this looks  familiar, it is because it was the source material for 4 operas and one Broadway musical Rent, including the very famous Puccini opera La Bohéme.  Six films were made from his work in the silent era; all but one was based bohéme.  The first was released in 1912 with La Bohéme, a French production.  The only film produced from works other than Bohéme also came in 1912; The Kind Old Man, also a French production, was based on one of his plays.  The first English language film produced from his work was the U.S. produced La vie de Bohéme in 1916.  In 1926, MGM produced a lavish version of Bohéme, starring Lillian Gish and directed by King Vidor; it's IMDb page can be found here.  The first film produced in the sound era using his work for source material, came in 1935 with the British production Mimi, starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr.  The most recent film using his work is La Bohéme, Oper in vier Bildern, a made for television film broadcast in 2012.  Murger spent the last ten years of his life in financial trouble and increasingly ill health.  In serious decline, he died in  Paris hospital the 28th of January 1861 at only 38 years of age.  The French government paid for his funeral, which attended by over 250 "luminaries."  He is buried in Montmartre Cemetery there.

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Born Today January 28 (Not So Silent Edition): Sam McDaniel

1886-1962

Born Samuel Rufus McDaniel in Wichita, Kansas; he was the older brother of actresses Hattie McDaniel and Etta McDaniel--in addition, he had 10 other siblings (13 children in all).  The family was born to former slaves; his (their) father, Henry, had fought in the Civil War on behalf of the U.S. (i.e.:  "The North"); and his (their) mother, Susan, was a very accomplished gospel singer.  In 1900, the family moved to Fort Collins, Colorado, but didn't stay there long; they then relocated to Denver.  While there, Sam attended and graduated from Denver East High School; and was an active participant in the family's traveling minstrel show--the brain child of an older brother Otis.  After Otis' death in 1916, the troupe began to lose money and cohesiveness; they disbanded.  Sam went on to found his own jazz group, with his long time girlfriend Roberta Hyson as lead vocalist and him on piano.  The toured toured heavily, and mostly exclusively, on the vaudeville circuit during most of the 1920's.  Though many sources list his entry into movie as being 1931, the year he moved to Hollywood; he was actually in two films, one of which he had name recognition in: this was in the year 1929.  Both films, however, were early forms of talkies and musicals.  The first film he was in turned out to be rather a doozy; King Vidor's dramatic musical Hallelujah, which was filmed entirely on location in various places in Arkansas and Memphis, Tenn.  McDaniel's role of Adam went uncredited (as did half the of the cast!), but he was in a film, non-the-less that would go on to be nominated for an Oscar.  His sister Hattie, is very, very famous for being the first African-American not only to be nominated individually for an Oscar, but to also go on and win it.  It was for her 1939 role in Gone With The Wind; she won for the best actress in a supporting role category.  Sam's first film credit also came in 1929, in the musical short Brown Gravy; it was produced by the Christie Film Company.  McDaniel went on to have a prolific acting career and also found work and some celebrity on the radio in the 1930's, where he was able to get one of his sister's a spot as well.  He acted in over 210 films and later on in television episodes combined,;although, sadly, because of his race, he was relegated in most cases to bit parts in stereo-type roles, such as:  doorman, servant, butler, porter, dining car waiter, etc.  Even more sadly, many of his roles simply went uncredited.  For example his last role, which came in 1960, in Michael Curtiz's epic The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, he played a servant, and the role went uncredited.  He lost his life to a battle with throat cancer on the 24th of September in 1962.  He is buried in Valhalla Memorial Park in North Hollywood.  

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