Timelines for year 1940
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Pictured on the 1¢ US postage stamp in the Famous American/Poets series, issued 16 February 1940.
Dabbs Greer
In the 1940s, he was an instructor at the famous Pasadena Playhouse and was also their Dean of Men.
Dick Merrill
Sadly, he and his wife Toby both outlived their sons. Their first son died of crib death in 1940. Their youngest son Ricky was murdered in their Miami home in August, 1982 while the Merrills were living in Virginia. Ricky was facing a prison term for marijuana smuggling in Louisiana and given the fact that a co-defendant survived an attempt on his life the previous June, his murder was undoubtedly a contract hit. His new Jeep Scrambler was found parked at Miami International Airport four days later. The facts surrounding his 41-year old son's death were initially withheld from him, but he eventually discovered the truth. An aviation pioneer, iconic Eastern Airlines hero and a true southern gentleman, he died the following October. Dick and Toby were survived by Ricky's two daughters; their son's murder is still unsolved.
Jane Bryan
Warner Bros. friend Bette Davis married her second husband, Arthur Farnsworth, at Jane and her husband's Arizona ranch in 1940.
Richard Lane
In the early 1940s, while working at Paramount Pictures, Dick Lane watched as television genius Klaus Landsberg worked on the studio's experimental TV station, W6XYZ. On January 22, 1947, KTLA became the first commercial TV station west of the Mississippi and Dick was one its first on-camera personalities. On the Spade Cooley Show, he wore cowboy chaps and became known as "Leather Britches", accentuating each Chevrolet commercial by slapping the fender.
Lynn Merrick
Selected a "Baby Star" by the Motion Picture Publicists Association in 1940, then is dubbed "Zoom Girl" by the sailors in the torpedo shop at San Diego Naval Air Station during WWII.
Sean Nelson
Sean is the great-grandson of actor/writer Frank Craven, star of Our Town (1940) and screenwriter of Sons of the Desert (1933).
Lee J. Cobb
Was a good friend with screenwriter Alvah Bessie, a Communist Party member who was one of the Hollywood 10, until Cobb refused to lend him $500 in the late 1940s. Bessie had been ruined financially by legal fees connected to his appeals of his contempt citation issued by the House Un-American Activities Commission (HUAC). Bessie and other members of the Hollywood 10 braved the Committee's inquisition into communists and fellow-travelers in the film industry by refusing to cooperate. When Cobb told him that $500 wouldn't solve his problems, their friendship was over. Cobb later turned out with hundreds of sympathizers of the Hollywood 10 to show their support for the members who were flying to Washington, D.C. for their trials on charges of contempt of Congress levied by HUAC. Later, Cobb would be a friendly witness before HUAC, naming names of fellow former communists and leftists from his Group Theater days in New York in the 1930s.
Dr. Seuss
During the early 1940s, he was a political cartoonist for PM, a daily News York newspaper that was noted for its left-wing politics, superior production quality and the fact that it carried no advertising. A book of his political cartoons was published a few years ago.
Wrote and drew political cartoons in the 1940's.
Barbara Bel Geddes
Graduated from Andrewbrook, an all-girls French convent school, in Tarrytown, New York, in 1940.
Hugh Brannum
Played bass in the orchestra accompanying 'Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians' on the radio in the 1940s and 1950s. Originated stories about "Li'l Orly, " a farm kid, that were played on the radio show and recorded.
Johnny Mercer
He adopted Norma Claire Barnes in April, 1940 and renamed her Amanda "Mandy" Mercer. She had been born May 12, 1939. Paul Whiteman's wife arranged the adoption.
Circa 1940, he wrecked his car, breaking his wife's jaw. After it healed, it was distorted and made her face appear different.
Bob Feller
Only pitcher to throw a no-hitter on Opening Day (16 April 1940)
Won 1940 American League Triple Crown. Led American League in ERA (2.61), Wins (27), Hits Allowed per 9 innings pitched (6.88), Strikeouts per 9 innings pitched (7.33), Games (43), Innings Pitched (320 1/3), Strikeouts (261), Games Started (37), Complete Games (31), Shutouts (4) and Batters Faced (1,304).
Penny Edwards
Once romantically involved with Ronald Reagan in the late 1940s between his marriages to Jane Wyman and Nancy Davis. She was 16 years younger than Reagan and her religious upbringing eventually stopped the relationship.
David Stephens
Nephew of Harry Garrison, owner of Harry's Lunch in Tucumcari, New Mexico, in the 1940s and 1950s, immortalized in song as "Two Gun Harry From Tucumcari" by 'Dorothy Shay'.