When Death Kick Starts a Career
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A poignant, unexpected or a tragic death of an artist — singer, actor, or author — often generates a fresh career appraisal. New attention, ironically, can translate into big profits that might not have ordinarily been forthcoming. The acidic quote that death is a “good career move” originated with the passing of Elvis Presley at […]
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The Dead Speak: Lost Graves, Identity Theft
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A mid-nineteenth historian, whose name is long lost, once remarked that the best way to understand a community is to go to the local cemetery. The true fabric of any society is written on the tombstones: long and short lives, triumph, tragedy, even missing chapters, it’s all there in one sprawling historical account. The most […]
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Carol Channing’s Cathedrals of Imagination
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It’s just been confirmed that on March 23, 2019, the McCallum Theater in Palm Desert, California will host a gala tribute to Carol Channing with a program of special performances and testimonials. The question is whether Channing, who died on January 15th at the age of 97 in the Palm Springs area, will have a […]
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St. Valentine’s Day and the Fall of Al Capone
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For very good reason, the gravestone is unremarkable. Not elegant, subtle or in any manner imposing. Otherwise, it would be more of a target for thieves than it already is. The simple grave in section 35 of Mt. Carmel Catholic Cemetery, fourteen miles west of downtown Chicago, south of the confluence of Dwight Eisenhower Expressway […]
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Words That Matter After Death
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“Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.” Those wry words from Groucho Marx resonate on many levels. In his typical incorporation of humor and wisdom, Marx strikes a contemporary universal chord — sometimes the power of the written word and the devoted love […]
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