Born Today March 22: Matt Snyder

Seen here with actress Beatriz Michelena in Salomy Jane (1914).

1835-1917

Early film actor Matt B. Snyder was born on this date.  At this time, his place of birth is not known, but it is likely to have been somewhere in the northeastern United States, as he served in the US Navy during the Civil War.  How he got his start in acting is also not known, but by at least the 1890's he was acting on the stage.  He performed mostly with his wife, both on Broadway and on tours.  His first appearance in the film came quite late in his life in 1913.  He played a police inspector in The Cub Reporter's Temptation.  He enjoyed a major role in Herbert Brenon's 1913 rendition of Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  The last film that he is listed as acting in was The Garden Of Allah (1916); but apparently a civil war drama shot before this film--The Crisis--was released after Synder's death (a copy of this film reportedly survives in the Library of Congress).  Matt Snyder died on the 17th of January in 1917; at the time of his death, at 81, he was listed as the oldest person in the movie industry.  Though he died in San Francisco, California, no details as to his burial seemed to have survived.  

Poster for the 1913 film of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Snyder played the father in this adaptation.

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Born Today March 21: Modest Mussorgsky (Not So Silent Edition)

1839-1881

Russian composer Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky was born on this date in Karevo, Russian Empire.  The place of his birth is located about 400 KM/250 miles south of St. Petersburg.  His family claimed that they were descended from the first Ruthenian ruler Rurik; basically, a kind of royal Viking ancestry, who seems to have been some sort of Slavic viking established chieftain.  There were, at the time of his birth, a very wealthy, land-owning family with broad influence and acknowledged serious noble ancestry.  There are several theories about his surname (all of which are explored in the Wikipedia link below), with questions about how seriously the family took to the various spellings of the name.  They were certainly a very proud lot.  Modest's mother was a trained pianist, and she began to teach the instrument to him at the age of six.  Reportedly, by the age of nine he was an extremely accomplished player.  At the age of 10 years, he and his brother were taken to St. Petersburg to study at the very exclusive German language St. Peter's School.  There, he continued his piano studies; at the age of 12 published as self-penned compositional polka, which his father paid for.   Despite his obvious talent for composition at an early age, the family, because of their position in society, intended both of their sons to follow a military career.  He was sent off to a military school at the age of 13; reportedly a brutal environment that lead to difficulties, including, possibly, the beginnings of his serious struggle with drink; yet he was still able to indulge his passion for music there.  He did graduate and in 1856, when he was 17,  he formally entered the army and made the acquaintance of A. Borodin, who was 22 at the time.  They were both serving at a military hospital; Borodin had already become aware of the talent Mussorgsky possessed.  Ever the student of German, but equally proud of his ancient Slavic ancestry, he was a keen admirer of composers from both backgrounds.  He did, though suffer from the tendency to be overtly influenced, even "ruled" by teachers who were conductors/composers of his time.  He seemed also to suffer from the romanticizing of generational ideas.  Through his life, he was never truly a person who supported himself with his musical work, and never became a "true" career composer.  He, through almost all of his adult life, was a civil servant; a civil servant of high rank, but not a self supporting artist.  He apparently was a very heavy lifelong alcoholic and developed some type of seizure disorder.  He was also apparently given to serious bouts of depression as well.  Complications from his heavy drinking, and what may have been other physical problems that went undiagnosed, lead to his seriously premature death on the 28th of March 1881 at the age of 42, exactly one week after his birthday.  He died in a St. Petersburg hospital; the same at which his portrait had been painted only a week or so prior to his death.  He was buried in the Tikhvin Cemetery in St. Petersburg.  In regards to this cemetery, it is reported that when the Soviet government wished on construct a square in front of the famous cemetery, the area contained graves that they never actually moved.  It is rumored that they only moved the headstones and not the bodies.  Supposedly Mussorgsky's burial was amongst them.  If this is true, his actual grave site lies beneath a modern bus stop.  In regards to film, the first real credit of his music being used came in 1929 in the not so silent and partially lost Dark Red Roses.  In the year 2000, his "Pictures At An Exhibition" was used as part of the restored release of the 1913 epic The Last Days Of Pompeii.  Curiously, the same piece was used in the lost and found cult horror classic White Zombie (1932) starring Bela Lugosi.  The most recent use released of his music came in the music heavy comedy drama Mozart In The Jungle; with Murder, I Wrote, an Indian production, yet to be released.  

Modest Mussorgsky's eleaborate grave marker--most likley defret of a body in St. Petersburg.

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Born Today March 20: Ovid

BC43-AD17

Classical Roman poet Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) was born on this day in the year BC 43 in Sulmo, Italy, Roman Empire, just one year after the murder of Julius Caesar. His birthplace is located in a valley east of Rome.  He was born into a an important and influential equestrian family.  He was later educated in rhetoric in Rome; with his father wishing him study the law.  When his brother died at the age of 20, Ovid abruptly abandoned the study of law and started traveling.  He went to Athens, "Asia Minor" (what is today Turkey) and wound up in Sicily.  During this time, he held several minor public posts.  Around the year 29 BC, he decided to dedicate his life to the writing of poetry.  It is a matter of record that he gave his first public recitation in the year 25 BC, when he was 18 years of age; he became an instant success.  He gained the patronage of Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus.  Along with Horace and Virgil, he is often listed as one the top three canonical Roman writers.  Where he differs from them, is in that he wrote much more about his own personal life.  This is how we know as much as we do about his exile later in life.  In the year 8 AD, Emperor Augustus single handily banished Ovid to Tomis on the Black Sea (it is now known as Constanta, and is the oldest continuously inhabited town in modern day Romania).  No one is completely sure what prompted this; Ovid himself wrote curiously that is was "a poem and mistake," and that his crime was worse than murder.  What is known for sure, it that his granddaughter's husband was executed around this same time for a conspiracy against the Emperor; and that she and and adopted grandchild of Ovid's were also exiled at this time.  It would seem that Ovid may have had some knowledge of this conspiracy; or at least the Emperor thought he did.  In exile, he continued to write, though the event had a profound impact on his writing style.  Only a handful of films have been made utilizing his poems as source material; but the first of these dates from the year 1918.  Il mistero di Galatea, was a full length feature, filmed on location in Rome.  It would take some 49 years to make another film based on his work.  The Spanish film Acteón was released in 1967.  Almost half of the films made from his poems were released after the turn of the millennium, with the latest coming in 2014 with Metamorphoses, a French film. It is thought that Ovid died in Tomis in either the year AD 17 or AD 18, that would have made him between the ages of 58 to 60, depending on the date--the precise time is year is not known.  There are some reports that he may have died in Britain, or possibly even Vienna, but these are not reliable.  Obviously with no precise date or location of his death, his funerary rites are equally unknown.

Memorial statue to Ovid in Romania

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Born Today March 19: Józef Korzeniowski

1797-1863

Polish writer Józef Korzeniowski (not to be confused with Joseph Conrad AKA Jozef Konrad Korzeniowski, who is no relation) was born on this date in Brody, Galicia, Habsburg Monarchy (now located in Ukraine).  Though he was schooled in science, he is largely also regarded as one of the creators of romantic drama. He  would go on to teach literature as a university professor. His work is considered to be deeply philosophical.  He also was deeply religious--a devout Catholic; this lead to his romantic writings wading into notions of injustice and revenge, juxtaposing them with his belief that the only true way to combat these were through Christianity and "moral science."  This had the effect of rendering a good deal of his work into the genre of dark romanticism.  He is also considered to be the founder of positivistic novella, a precursor to the psychological novel.  Only two films have ever been made using his work as source material, both of them produced in Poland, and one of those came in 1915 with Karpaccy górale.  The other is Mistrz tanca--a short horror film--and was released in 1969.  He died on the 17th of September in Dresden, where he had moved to just prior to his passing.  He was 66 years old. He is buried in the Powazki Cemetery in Warsaw Poland.

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Born Today March 18: Friedrich Hebbel

1813-1863

Christian Friedrich Hebbel, German dramatist and poet, was born on this date in Wesselburen.  He was the son of a bricklayer.  He showed a very early talent for composing poetry, and even managed to get some of them published in local newspapers.  This emboldened him to send a small volume of his work to then famed journalist Amalie Schoppe, who found them impressive enough to become his patron, which, in turn, allowed him to attend the University of Hamburg.  After one year there, he went to Heidelberg to study law, but soon abandoned that to attend the University of Munich, where is specialized in literature, philosophy and history.  In 1840, he finished his first play, a tragedy entitled Judith, it was published the following year.  He would produce several more plays in the years to come.  During this time, he had been given a travelling studentship by King Christian VIII, and he spent time in both Italy and Paris, France.  On his way back to his native Germany, he stopped in the Austrian capital of Vienna, where he was persuaded to remain.  He married a wealthy actress there for money only.  This firmly established both his place in the arts and in society.  He became one of the most respected playwrights of his time both in Austria and back in Germany.  In regards to film, the first film to use one of his plays for a story came in 1914:  Maria Magdalena was produced in his home country.  It as remade again in 1920 under the title Maria Magdalene in 1920.  The last film in the silent era to use his work as source material came in 1924 with Mother and Child.  The first full sound film that used his work for a screenplay was a remake of Mother and Child in 1934.  The most recent use of his writings for source material for a film came was in 2011 with Gioia Osthoff Demovideo, which was produced in his adopted country of Austria.  Hebbel died at the tragically young age of 50 in Vienna on the 13th of December.  He is buried there in the Matzliensdorf Protestant Cemetery.

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German Wikipedia (can be translated)

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Born Today March 17: Brigitte Helm

1906 (her grave marker states 1908)-1996

Famed early German actress Brigitte Helm was born on this date as Brigitte Eva Gisela Schittenhelm, to a Prussian military family (her father was an officer in the Prussian army).  She made her film debut in one of the most famous of silent films:  Fritz Lang's Metropolis in 1927.  She was cast in the lead as Maria/The Robot.  She worked steadily throughout the end of silent era, but was ambivalent about film acting and did not last long into the sound era.  She is a prime example of an actor, so loved for her work in silents, that just could not seem to make the successful transition to sound work.  Though her fame did allow for her casting in a very early German sound film in 1929 Alraune. It's not that she lacked for talent; she had that in spades--she just didn't care for the lifestyle.  Couple that with the rise of Hitler in her native country, and incurring the wrath of the Nazi party when you married her second husband, a wealthy Jewish industrialist (she was charged with "race defilement"); she was simply fed up with it all.  In 1935 she retired from acting and fled to Switzerland, where she remained until her death.  There she raised a family of 4 children. She reportedly would not speak at any time to any one about her days in the movie industry.  The last film that she voluntarily made was Ein idealer Gatte (1935); though she was featured in the 1978 short Wie im Traum.  Helm died on the 11 June 1996 is Ascona, Switzerland at the age of 90; her husband had preceded her in death by ten years.  She is buried in there in the Cimitero di Ascona, along with her husband, under her married name of Kunheim.

As The Robot in Metropolis (1927)

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      1908)

Born Today March 15: Camilo Castelo Branco

1825-1890

Portueguese writer Camilo Castelo Branco (Camilo Ferreira Botelho Castelo Branco, 1st Viscount de Correira Botelho) was born on this date in Lisbon.  He born out of wedlock and soon orphaned; he was taken in by three unmarried aunts, and was schooled by them at home. At the age of 13, he was enrolled in a Catholic seminary run near Vila Real, and educated there by priests; he soon showed a remarkable talent with the ancient languages of Greek and Latin and took to reading great Portuguese poets--though he ultimately proved an easily distracted and undisciplined student.  From the age of 17 until sometime in his early 20's, he studied medicine and theology.  From then, he spent a short time as a journalist in Lisbon and Oporto.  During this period of time, he wrote several works of a religious nature.  He also attended the episcopal seminary with the aim of becoming a priest.  He did take holy orders, but didn't remain a priest for very long.  He instead decided to devout his life to writing.  And that he did, becoming one of Portugal's most prolific writers of all time.  His works included plays, essays and novel.  He also wrote memoirs, one of which was about his time spent incarcerated (he was sent to prison twice in life, strangely, one of the crimes that he was convicted of was that of digging up the remains of his first wife).  In terms of film, 3 movies were made during the silent era utilizing his work for source material.  The first of these was Love Of Perdition which was a Brazilian production and was released in 1914; it was based on his novel Amor de Perdiçao.  In 1918 another Brazilian production company came out with Amor de Perdiçao. And finally, 1921 saw the release of the first Portuguese production of his work, again it was Love Of Perdition.  The first film using his material for a screenplay in the sound era came in 1943 with Ill-Fated Love, also produced in his native country.  The latest use of his work came with the television mini-series Mysteries of Lisbon in 2011; it was a joint Portugal/France production.  Branco was made Viscount in 1885 and when his health declined, he was given a government pension to live off of.  He suffered from syphilis which was causing him to slowly go blind.  He also suffered from a degenerative nerve disorder.  With his eyesight failing, he committed suicide by revolver on the 1st of June in 1890 at the age of 65.  He was living in Sao Miguel de Ciede at the time of his death. He did have three children by two marriages; at the time of his death, he reportedly had several grown grand-children and some 20 great grand-children. His is known to have been buried at the Lapa Cemetery in Oporto, a friend who died in 1899 requested to be buried beside or near him, but his grave within the burying place has apparently been lost.

Public monument to him in Vila Real Portugal

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Born Today March 15: Mrs. E. M. Kimball (nee) Pauline Garrette

Still used from The Little Minister (1913) showing her daughter Clara Kimball Young as a poster for the film. 

1860-1919

Mother of famed silent actress Clara Kimball Young and wife to silent actor Edward Kimball, was born on this date in Chicago, IL.  It is widely reported that her maiden name was Garrette, though some sources has listed it as "Maddern."  She was an actress herself, and appeared in many films with her daughter, and her husband.  Her first appearance in a motion picture came in 1912 in Susie To Susanne, a dramatic short that did not feature any of her other family members.  The first film that she appeared in with her husband was her next film role in the Ralph Ince directed/Vitagraph produced short The Delayed Letter (1913).  Her very next film, referenced above, was The Little Minister (1913), this was the first film to feature both her husband and her daughter together with her, with Clara Kimball Young taking the starring role.  She continued to act in films through 1916, variously being credited as "Mrs. E. M. Kimball," "Mrs. Edward M. Kimball," "Mrs. Kimball," and "Pauline Kimball."  Her last film was The Feast Of Life (1916), another vehicle for her daughter--which is amongst the many films from silent era that have been lost. Pauline Kimball died at the age of 59 on the 11th of December in 1919. She is interred in the West Mausoleum at Grand View Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

A photograph believed to be of Pauline Garrette (or Maddern) Kimball

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Born Today March 14: Manuel Fernández Caballero

1835-1906

Threading the needle between composer and author, Spanish musician Manuel Fernández Cabellero was born on this date in Murcia, Spain.  He was a prolific writer of the Spanish performance form known as Zarzuelas.  These were a form of "low" opera that included spoken word segments.  Cabellero took them to a whole new level.  Adding in many more operatic forms, updating folk songs and having some high choreography written in the direction for his "operas."  Zarzuelas are regional by nature and often tell the story of a particular region or people from a particular region (remember that a large portion of the population in Spain do not actually speak Spanish as a first language, or even at all).  His compositions did to take on many elements of 20th century forms of these performances, which tended to rely much more heavily on folk-tunes and stories; yet his works were utterly unique in form, though not in subject matter.  It is known that he did spend some time in his youth in Cuba as a conductor of zarzuelas (the art form had spread to several Spanish colonies--from Cuba to the Philippines).  His film credits come mostly under the "composer" category, though he gets at least one credit for "writer;" in fact, he should be credited with both.  The nature of his compositions meant that they could be used successfully in silent film as easily as sound film, and that they were.  The first use of his material for a film came with La drapaire in 1925, a silent film produced by the Artistic Films of Valencia (my translation).  The next year saw the release of Gigantes y cabezudos.  Finally in 1927 came the release of Los aparecidos.  Al them silent films; all of them based on his Zarzuelas.  The first full sound film to use any of his work came in 1952 with De Madrid al cielo, which only used one song from one of this zarzuela compositions.  His writing credit came in the 1973 Los sobrinos del capitán Grant, as made for television film in Spain.  Gingantes was remade in 1969, again for Spanish television.  The most recent use of his work in a film came in 2004, with El dúo de la africana.  All of the films made from his work have been productions in his native Spain.  Caballero died at the age of 70 in the Spanish capital of Madrid on the 26th of February, shortly before his 71st.  I cannot find any information on his funerary rites or burial.  

Spanish stamp featuring the aged profile of Caballero

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Born Today March 13: Paul Fix

1901-1983

Character actor Paul Fix was born on the date in Dobbs Ferry, New York to German immigrant parents.  There is confusion about his birth name, some give it as Peter Paul Fix (though his World War I service record lists him a Paul Peter Fix); other seemingly less reliable sources, have his birth name as Paul Fix Morrison.  What ever the case, he would become a familiar face in westerns of all sort in the 1940's or 50's.  He would even go on to be the first doctor on the USS Enterprise in the pilot for the original Star Trek series.  He got his start in acting after returning from the Great War around 1920 in and around New York.  In the early 1920's, he moved to Los Angeles.  Fix first appeared on film in 1924 in the uncredited role of "bellhop" in the Paul Semon vehicle The Perfect Clown, a film that also featured Oliver Hardy.  His first credited role came in 1928 in the Fay Wray/Gary Cooper film The First Kiss.  He was also in the 1929 partial silent Lucky Star, with some talking sequences provided by Western Electric.  He would suffer through several uncredited roles in the early 1930's, before finding a home in early talking westerns.  The first full sound film he was in came in 1930 with a small uncredited role in Ladies Love Brutes.  By the mid-1950's he had gotten into television as well.  He is probably best known for his recurring role in the series The Rifleman.  He is also recognizable in the recurring role of a district attorney in Perry Mason.  He was also in a number a cult horror films through the years, from 1956's The Bad Seed to the hokey 1972 release Night Of The Lepus.  Fix died on the 14th of October in 1983 of renal (kidney) failure at the age 82 in Los Angeles.  He is buried, with his wife, in Woodlawn Cemetery in Santa Monica.

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