Timelines for year 1908
Mary Pickford
Stage producer David Belasco gave Mary her stage name in 1908. Her real name, Gladys Marie Smith, wasn't right for an actress on his stage. "Gladys" didn't suit the diminutive actress, "Smith" was too common, "Marie" was too foreign. "Marie" became "Mary". "Pickford" was her mother's maiden name. Years later, a fan who traced her family tree found that the name "Mary Pickford" occurred several times in her mother's family going back to the 12th century,
Sigmund Freud
The father of psychoanalysis also laid the groundwork for the psychoanalytical societies of the world. In 1908, the Wednesday Psychological Society (as it was called), which met at Freud's home, was reconstituted as the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society - the first such society. When similar societies were formed in other cities of the world - they too held their meetings on Wednesday evenings!
David Lean
Both Lean's first wife, Isabel Lean (b. 1908) and his third, actress Ann Todd, were his first cousins.
Mabel Albertson
Her first husband Harold Austin Ripley (Wethersfield, Hartford Co., CT, 1908 - 1987) was the son of William Chauncey Ripley (b. Montague, Franklin Co., MA, 1879) and wife Ella May (b. 1882). They had a daughter Patricia Ripley, married, and a son George Howe Ripley.
Joe Jackson
Outfielder for Philadelphia Athletics (1908-1909), Cleveland Indians (1910-1915) and Chicago White Sox (1915-1920).
Joy Page
Daughter of Don Alvarado and actress Ann Boyar (1908-1990), the daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants.
D.W. Griffith
The Adventures of Dollie , a Biograph Company release, was his directorial debut in 1908.
Was hired as a first-time director in 1908 at the American Mutoscope & Biograph Co., when the chief director fell ill. Over the next two decades many of the biggest names of the silent screen would get their first movie jobs from Griffith and Biograph, including Mary Pickford, Mack Sennett, Blanche Sweet, Lionel Barrymore, Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish and Florence Lawrence. The company is still in existence and is the oldest movie company in America.
On August 17, 1908, the Biograph Company signed him to a contract at $50 per week plus a small royalty on each film.
Was hired as a first-time director in 1908 at the American Mutoscope & Biograph Co., when the chief director fell ill. Over the next two decades many of the biggest names of the silent screen would get their first movie jobs from Griffith and Biograph, including Mary Pickford, Mack Sennett, Blanche Sweet, Lionel Barrymore, Lillian Gish,Dorothy Gish and Florence Lawrence. The American Mutoscope and Biograph Company was active from 1895 to 1928. A new corporation with the same name was incorporated in California in 1991.
The Adventures of Dollie (1908), a Biograph Company release, was his directorial debut in 1908.
Bill Gates
His dad was friends with Wilbert Saunders, (1908-2006,) who founded World Concern with Jim McCoy. At first, the company started as a small business called Medicinces for Missions, then was renamed World Concern in 1973. Gates attended Wilbert Saunders' funeral.
Anna Pavlova
Ballet dancer with Sergei Diaghilev from 1908-1914. Then went on to form her own company.