All Episodes

BBB:LHWS #033   Abram Winegardner Harris...
...went from his early years in Philadelphia to leadership roles at the University of Maine and Northwestern University. Along the way, Harris helped found both Phi Kappa Phi and the Cum Laude Society, and left such a lasting mark on higher education that even today his legacy can still be felt from Orono to Evanston—and at Laurel Hill West, where he rests beneath the words “Scholar / Teacher / Leader / Friend.”

ABC:LHS #063-4   George Henry Boker...
...was one of Philadelphia’s most accomplished men – poet, playwright, politician, and co-founder of the Union League.  He also solidified copyright laws in the United States so creators could be fairly paid.  On the side, he served as minister to Turkey and Russia.

ABC:LHS #063-3   Robert Taylor Conrad...
...was a polymath whose writing was praised by Edgar Allen Poe and whose play Aylmere, or Jack Cade became another favorite of Edwin Forrest’s.  He also served as Mayor of Philadelphia at the time of consolidation.

ABC:LHS #063-2   Robert Montgomery Bird...
...wrote a play for Edwin Forrest that became the basis for plays and movies into the 21st century.  Forrest became rich, while Bird became an embittered man.

ABC:LHS #063-1   Richard Penn Smith...
...wrote more than 20 plays but is best remembered today for inventing much of what we know as the legend of Davy Crockett.

ABC:LHS #063   Americans struggled...
...to establish their own identity as they separated from the British in the early 19th century.  It was a time of blossoming for American theater and its playwrights, despite their receiving little honor and even less compensation.
Richard Penn Smith wrote more than 20 plays but is best remembered today for inventing much of what we know as the legend of Davy Crockett.
Robert Montgomery Bird, MD,  wrote a play for Edwin Forrest that became the basis for plays and movies into the 21st century; Forrest became rich, while Bird became an embittered man.
Robert Taylor Conrad was a polymath whose writing was praised by Edgar Allen Poe and whose play Aylmere, or Jack Cade became another favorite of Edwin Forrest’s.  He also served as Mayor of Philadelphia at the time of consolidation.
George Henry Boker was one of Philadelphia’s most accomplished men – poet, playwright, politician, and co-founder of the Union League.  He also solidified copyright laws in the United States so creators could be fairly paid.  Oh – he was also minister to Turkey and Russia.

BBB:LHWS #032   Dennis Sandole...
...was one of the best kept secrets in jazz.  Born Dionigi Sandoli in South Philadelphia, his wisdom was sought by Art Farmer, James Moody, Benny Golson, Jim Hall, and especially John Coltrane, who became his most famous pupil.  Coltrane practiced many hours daily to master the material that The Maestro gave him and turn it into his own sound, which eventually became “Sheets of Sound” and then “Coltrane Changes."

ABC:LHS #062-3   Joshua Ballinger Lippincott...
...was a late comer with Lippincott’s magazine, but it lasted longer than the others and served as the bedrock for the famed Lippincott Publishing Company which went through several generations of family leadership.

ABC:LHS #062-2   Charles Peterson...
...was a lifelong friend of Graham who started his own magazine and was ready to hand it off to his son, Howard, who mysteriously disappeared during a weekend trip down the shore.  What his wife did at the time of her death 31 years later will touch your heart.

ABC:LHS #062-1  George Rex Graham...
...knew how to wheedle an article out of Longfellow and Thoreau and published many stories by his co-editor Edgar Allan Poe.  

ABC: LHS #062   Philadelphia...
...has always been the magazine-publishing capital of the United States.  It reached its pinnacle in the 1840s, 50s, and 60s when three popular magazines – Graham’s, Peterson's, and Lippincott's - all came into existence. 
Graham’s was the best, even though it only lasted a few years.  George Rex Graham would wheedle articles out of Longfellow and Thoreau and published many stories by his co-editor Edgar Allan Poe.
Peterson’s magazine followed shortly and lasted a few years longer.  Charles Peterson was a lifelong friend of Graham who started his own magazine and was ready to hand it off to his son, Howard, who mysteriously disappeared during a weekend trip down the shore.  What his wife did at the time of her death 31 years later will touch your heart.
Joshua Ballinger Lippincott was a late comer with his Lippincott’s magazine, but it lasted longer than the others and served as the bedrock for the famed Lippincott Publishing Company which went through several generations of family leadership.
 

BBB:LHWS #031   Movie fan magazines...
...appeared shortly after movies became ubiquitous in America.  Eventually there would be more than 20 of them. 
Gladys Hall had a stellar reputation as a “safe” interviewer who could be depended on to tell a good story without any scandal.  Her interview with Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi is one of the strangest things you could imagine.
She was married to glamour photographer Russell Ball, remembered today for his classic portraits of Louise Brooks, Rudolph Valentino, Greta Garbo, and Gloria Swanson, who used Ball as her private photographer.

ABC:LHS #061-4   Pete Childs...
...not "Cupid" and definitely not "Pierce," was a fine 2nd baseman who served in that role for the 1902 Phillies.  It was while as player-manager for an Ohio League team that he pulled the unfathomable feat of throwing one pitch as a reliever and getting three out.

ABC:LHS #061-3   Jack McFetridge...
...was the best amateur pitcher in Philadelphia for years before he went pro.  For money, he wasn’t that good.

ABC:LHS #061-2   Cub Stricker...
...was a good fielding 2nd baseman with a hot temper who was once arrested on the field after he struck a heckler with a thrown ball.