Born Today August 18: Emperor Franz Joseph

 

1830-1916 

[apologies...again, this time not for my mistakes (which I make a lot of 😀), but for Google blogger issues with spelling. I did not mean a misspelling of curious to be "translated" as copious and so on]

Emperor Franz Joseph of the Habsburgs (Hapsburg) was born Franz Joseph Karl von Habsbug-Lothringen (of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine) in Vienna, of the Austrian Empire. There is little point of going into any sort of history here (and as always, I have provided links below, and in the body of this post, for curious reading for the curious), but suffice to say that Franz Joseph was the next to the last Emperor of Austria and was the longest serving ruler of Austria/Hungary (he ranks among the longest reigning monarchs--at 68 years--in history). He was the grandson of the last Holy Roman Emperor Francis II.  During his life a number of deaths of his family members were brought about as a result as political unrest and the desire for independence both in eastern Europe and in the New World. These deaths included, his wife Empress Elisabeth who was stabbed to death by a disgruntled Italian assassin, anarchist Luigi Lucheni, looking for a different royal altogether; and the execution of the his brother Maximilian  in Mexico by that country's first indigenous president Benito Juárez.  And, of course, the most famous of them all, the death of his nephew and heir-presumtive Archduke Franz Ferdinand at the hands of a Bosnian Serb assassin Gavrilo Princip in June of 1914, the event that caused the alliance cascade that would bring on World War I (not to mention the suicide of his son and heir in what is known as The Mayerling incident).  Franz Joseph outlived them all.  During his lifetime, and as an old man,  he appeared in 10 short films and/or newsreels from 1896 through 1914.  The first of these was the short film produced in Hungary entitled Emperor Franz Joseph Opening the Millenial Exhibition in 1896; the film was shot by Arnold Sziklay, who is considered to by the very first filmmaker in Hungary.  The first film of the Emperor made in Germany came two years later with the meeting of three monarchs, Franz Joseph, Kaiser Wilhelm II and King Albert of Saxony -- the little film was produced Messters Projektion. Three films were made of him at various activities in 1902, two of them by the American company Edison Manufacturing; the other was a production of the German arm of The Mutoscope & Biograph company.  All of the other films were produced as actual newsreels by Páthe Frères as part of their Páthe Weekly reels--he appeared (in a least two with soon to be murdered nephew) in reels No. 29, 30 and 35 in 1913 and reel No. 48 in 1914, which was the last time that he would be filmed during his lifetime. The Emperor died at the age of 86 on the 21st of November after contracting pneumonia a week prior. He was interred at the Imperial Crypt [Kaisergruft], famously located at the Capuchin Church in Vienna, laid to rest in a elevated tomb between to his murdered wife and tragic son.  He was succeeded to the throne by his grandnephew Charles (Karl) who only reigned until 1918.   

[Source: David Conway (Find A Grave)]

(Source: Frantisek Zboray (Find A Grave)]

Wikipedia

Encyclopedia Britannica   

More About The Imperial Crypt 

Find A Grave entry 

House of Habsburg

Born Today June 15: Daniel M. Ransdell

[source: United States Senate Historical Office]

1842-1912

Another historical figure that has an entry here due to their happenstance appearance in an early "actuality" by Edison & Co. Daniel M. Ransdell was born on this day, probably in or somewhere near Indianapolis, Indiana. He certainly grew up on a farm there; the son of a local Baptist minister who schooled his children so well from an early age, that by the time the younger Ransdell was a teen, he was teaching classes himself in a number of local schools. He later attended Franklin College, though his education there was abruptly ended by his insistence on joining the Union Army at the outbreak of the Civil War (his family was unusual in their general opposition to Lincoln and his decision to follow the path to conflict to end the secessionist impasse [owing to their geographical locality]--his father was apparently a staunch Democrat and fiercely disagreed with Lincoln's approach to the conflict and his Republican party). Ransdell lost an arm in the Union advance on Atlanta, and was lucky to come away with his life.  After the war he resumed both teaching and his education. This is when politics entered his life. He was a protege of Benjamin Harrison, who would become the 23rd President of the United States--and by this time, a member of Lincoln's Republican party. Harrison had a great use for Ransdell, who genuinely seemed to have affection for the rather "cold" Harrison. He was certainly able to gather people to Harrison's side; and it is a bit doubtful that without Ransdell, Harrison would have made it all the way to the White House (Ransdell was one of the persons present at Harrison's death bed--he had also served as best man at Harrison's second marriage ceremony).  Nonetheless, it was because of Harrison that Ransdell eventually made into the United States Senate as it's 14th Sergeant at Arms (read more about that here) in 1900. Ransdell was sworn in on the 1st of February. He served in that capacity until his death twelve years later in 1912. The one and only film ("actuality" as Edison and team had coined them--we call them short documentaries today) that Ransdell appeared in came in 1901: President McKinley Taking The Oath.  (This film has made an appearance here before under the entry on Chief Justice Melville Fuller, who is administering the oath to McKinley.) As mentioned, Ransdell died while still serving as Senate Sergeant at Arms at the age of 70 on the 28th of November. There is no information on his burial. 

U.S. Senate Site Bio

U. S. Senate Site Serg.-at-Arms History & information

IMDb

Born Today April 6: Lorrin A. Cooke

1831-1902

Lorrin Alanson Cooke, future 57th Governor of Connecticut, was born on this day in New Marlborough, MA. He was educated in Connecticut and was a teacher in Norfolk before becoming a politician.  He was also, from the age of nineteen, a gentleman farmer and a member of the local agricultural society. It is within the society that he got his first taste of running for office, when he was elected president of the society at a relatively young age.  He served in a number of community jobs and elected positions, including state senator and Lt. Governor before becoming governor in 1897. He was in office only two years, leaving on the 4th of January in 1899. During this time, he was the subject of one Edison film (in the form of an early newsreel): Governor Cook and Staff, Connecticut in 1897 (note the Edison Co's misspelling of his last name). The film was made/directed by James H. White, who was head of the Edison production department from 1896 through 1902.  Cooke lived just 3 1/2 years after he left the governor's mansion, dying at the age of 71 in Winstead, Conn. on the 12th of August 1902. He is buried, with his two wives, at the Colebrook Center Cemetery in the Connecticut town of the same name. As with all historical figures, please follow the links posted below if you are interested in learning more about their lives, accomplishments, and why they were of interest as subjects of early film.

Wikipedia

Museum Of Connecticut History

National Governor's Association

Find A Grave Entry

IMDb