All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories

Bobo Huhn: Philly's First Flapper

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #015 She’s Not There, part 1
Bobo Huhn was spoiled, and had her outrageously wealthy father wrapped around her finger.  Things did not always work out. 

ABC #015: Bobo Huhn, “Pancho” Barnes & Princess Olga - She's Not There

Ethel Huhn "Bobo" Bailey was the spoiled daughter of the spoiled second wife of Philadelphia multimillionaire George Arthur Huhn, who is buried on Millionaire’s Row. 
Florence Leontine Lowe was the granddaughter of Philadelphia builder and architect Richard Dobbins; under her nickname and married name of Pancho Barnes, she became a stunt pilot and opened a popular drinking spot for test pilots near Muroc Air Field. 
Princess Olga Demidoff Troubetzskoy Stoever was briefly the wife of Germantown-born and raised archeologist and businessman Edward Royal Stoever; her life is the thing of legends. 
None of these women are buried at Laurel Hill, but they have great stories that deserve to be shared  

J. Fred Zimmerman & The Theater Syndicate

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #014: Edward Fry, Adam Forepaugh & J. Fred Zimmerman: On with the Show, part 3
J. Fred Zimmerman was one of a small group of men, fittingly called the Theater Syndicate, which controlled a majority of theaters on the east coast, essentially determining what plays would be staged and what actors would work. 

Adam Forepaugh and The Greatest Show on Earth

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #014: Edward Fry, Adam Forepaugh & J. Fred Zimmerman: On with the Show, part 2
Adam Forepaugh was a wealthy horse trader who more-or-less accidentally took over a circus, but gave P.T. Barnum a run for his money.

Edward Fry & The Astor Place Riots

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #014: Edward Fry, Adam Forepaugh & J. Fred Zimmerman: On with the Show, part 1
Edward Fry was impresario for the Astor Place Opera in 1849 at the time of the famed Shakespeare riots, when dozens of New Yorkers were killed.

ABC #014: Edward Fry, Adam Forepaugh, and J. Fred Zimmerman - On with the Show!

Edward Fry was impresario for the Astor Place Opera in 1849 at the time of the famed Shakespeare riots, when dozens of New Yorkers were killed. 
Adam Forepaugh was a wealthy horse trader who more-or-less accidentally took over a circus, but gave P.T. Barnum a run for his money in post-Civil War America. 
J. Fred Zimmerman was one of a small group of men, fittingly called the Theatre Syndicate, who controlled a majority of theatres on the east coast, essentially determining what plays would be staged and what actors would work. 

Sheela Allen-Stephens: Philadelphia's Oprah

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #013 - On the Tube, part 4
Everyone knew Sheela Allen-Stephens.  Her sparkling personality made her everyone's friend, and it showed.  Some of her interviews were legendary. 

Edie Huggins, AKA Eddie Lou: A Born TV Personality

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #013 - On the Tube, part 3
Edie Huggins was from St. Louis, but she quickly adjusted to Philadelphia when she moved here to work on the television.  She quickly became one of everyone's favorites.

Anne Francine Moves to Harper Valley

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #013 - On the Tube, part 2
Anne Francine was a cabaret singer and a Broadway star who spent one season as the nosey neighbor on Harper Valley P.T.A., a short-lived television program that starred Barbara Eden and George Gobel.  She also encountered Crocodile Dundee.

Dave Garroway and The Today Show: Peace!

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #013 - On the Tube, part 1
In the early days of daytime television, Dave Garroway was king.  His laid-back style was perfect for the new medium and he became one of its top stars by hosting The Today Show.  

ABC #013: Dave Garroway, Anne Francine, Edie Huggins, and Sheela Allen-Stephens - On the Tube

Dave Garroway was one of the most successful announcers in the early days of television, but things fell apart when he walked away from "The Today Show."
Main Line socialite Anne Francine might be better remembered for her time on stage or in cabaret performances, but she spent a memorable season in a TV show starring Barbara Eden.
And anyone who lived in Philadelphia over the past 40 years knew about Edie Huggins and Sheela Allen-Stephens.

Robert Carson: He Died Doing What He Loved

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #012 A Night at the Opera, Part 5
Robert Carson loved opera and operettas but had a bad heart.  Heedless of his doctor's warning, he and his wife headed to the premier of a new operetta at the Chestnut Street Opera House.  It turned out to be his finale.

David Bispham: They're Hanging Danny Deever in the Morning

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #012 A Night at the Opera, Part 4
David Bispham was one of the most popular tenors of his day, both in recital and in dramatic opera roles.  He counted Teddy Roosevelt as one of his biggest fans.  

Camille d'Elmar: Always the Bridesmaid

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #012 A Night at the Opera, Part 3
Camille d'Elmar was never the lead singer, but she made a comfortable living while singing in the chorus.  Her grave remains unmarked.

Eleanore Mayo Elverson: A Career Cut Short

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #012 A Night at the Opera, Part 2
Eleanore Nellie Mayo Elverson was daughter of a famed actor, but she was determined to be an opera singer.  Her career was on the rise until a marriage the owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer and a bad review ended her professional career.  
 

Giuseppe del Puente: Forgotten No Longer

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #012 A Night at the Opera, Part 1
Giuseppe del Puente was one of the finest baritones in the country, yet he lay in an unmarked grave for more than half a century.  When the opera-loving populace of South Philadelphia found out, they purchased him a stone.

ABC #012: Giuseppe del Puente, Eleanor Mayo, Camille d’Elmar, David Bispham, and Robert Carson - A Night at the Opera

Giuseppe del Puente was considered the premier baritone of the late 19th century.
Eleanor Mayo had a budding career derailed by a bad review and a marriage. 
Camille d’Elmar was never a star but she made a living from opera. 
David Bispham was "The Quaker Singer" who was a favorite of Teddy Roosevelt. 
Robert Carson's Night at the Opera turned out to be lethal.

Mary Engle Pennington, PhD: The Ice Lady and Food Safety

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #011 - She Invented What?, Part 3
Mary Engle Pennington, PhD, was a champion for frozen foods and sanitation, and standardized the ways that frozen foods would be stored and transported.  

Rachel Lloyd, PhD: Getting Sugar from Beets

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #011 - She Invented What? Part 2
Rachel Lloyd was the first woman in the United States to earn a doctorate in chemistry.  She used her knowledge and position to promote sugar productions from beets, cutting down on the need for enslaved people to harvest sugar cane. 

Martha Coston: She Had a Certain Flare

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #011 - She Invented What?, Part 1
Martha Coston was widowed young but had learned enough from her chemist husband that she was able to carry on his work on safety flares.  They became an essential part of water rescue for many decades.

ABC #011: Martha Coston, Rachel Lloyd, and Mary Engle Pennington - She Invented What?!

Martha Coston invented the signal flare that bears her name and in so doing saved thousands of lives in wartime and in peace.
Rachel Lloyd had to go to Europe to get her PhD in chemistry, but she then jump-started the sugar beet industry in the United States. 
Mary Engle Pennington, the “Ice Lady” completely changed the way your food is prepared, shipped, and stored. 

REV Matthew Simpson: Counseling and Consoling the President

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #010: ADM John Dahlgren, COL Ulric Dahlgren, REV Matthew Simpson – Friends of Abraham Lincoln, part 3
Bishop Matthew Simpson was a giant of the 19th century American Methodist Church.  Abraham Lincoln confided in him frequently and they became close personal friends.  He delivered Lincoln's eulogy at Springfield.

COL Ulric Dahlgren & The Dahlgren Affair

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #010: ADM John Dahlgren, COL Ulric Dahlgren, REV Matthew Simpson – Friends of Abraham Lincoln, part 2
John Dahlgren's son Ulric followed in his father’s lead, although instead of the Navy, he made his name in the Army.  He achieved the rank of Colonel when he was 21, but his name is attached to one of the most infamous events of the Civil War. 

ADM John Dahlgren & Modernizing the Navy

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #010: ADM John Dahlgren, COL Ulric Dahlgren, REV Matthew Simpson – Friends of Abraham Lincoln, part 1
Philadelphian John Dahlgren knew what he wanted and went for it.  He frequently achieved his goals by skipping the chain-of-command and going to the top.  It annoyed his fellow sailors to no end, but it certainly didn’t hurt that he was a close personal friend of Abraham Lincoln. 

ABC #010: John and Ulric Dahlgren, Rev Matthew Simpson - Friends of Abraham Lincoln:

Admiral John Dahlgren was the father of Naval Ordnance, and the father of Colonel Ulric Dahlgren of the infamous Dahlgren affair during the Civil War that may have directly led to the assassination of their friend Abraham Lincoln. 
Bishop Matthew Simpson - you've seen his statue on Belmont - was a confidante who delivered Lincoln’s funeral oration in Springfield, Illinois. 

ABC #009: Richard Rush, Henry Gilpin, and Seven State Attorney Generals

Richard Rush served in the cabinets of three presidents and ran for Vice President in 1832, but is frequently an afterthought to his Founding Father parent Benjamin Rush.
Henry Gilpin was appointed US Attorney General just in time to argue the United States case in the Amistad affair. 
There are seven Pennsylvania Attorneys General, each with a fascinating story.
Thomas Sergeant
John K. Kane
Lewis C. Cassidy
Hampton I. Carson
Moses Hampton Todd
William I Schaffer
William A. Schnader

Harriet Frishmuth: Making Clay Come to Life

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #008 The Lady Artists, Part 3
Harriet Frishmuth sculpted nubile women without the male gaze.  Her favorite model was a Slovenian ballet dancer.  Although her career was cut short by a fall, she lived to be 100 years old.  Her sculptures will live far longer. 

Cecilia Beaux: The Best of the Best

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #008 The Lady Artists, Part 2
Cecilia Beaux was the daughter of a French silk merchant who abandoned her as an infant.  The household where she grew up was under the domain of several strong women, and Cecilia learned her lessons well.  She may be the only American woman painter to be mentioned in the same breath as Mary Cassatt and John Singer Sergeant.    

Alice Barber Stephens: Illustrator, Painter, Teacher

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #008 The Lady Artists, Part 1
Alice Barber Stephens was one of the top magazine illustrators in the country.  Her work was in constant demand, even when she moved to the Rose Valley artists' colony.  

ABC #008: Alice Barber Stephens, Cecilia Beaux, and Harriet Frishmuth - The Lady Artists

Alice Barber Stephens was one of the premiere magazine illustrators of the late 19th century
Cecilia Beaux was acknowledged in her day as one of the top portrait painters in the country
Harriet Frishmuth was a sculptor who lived to be 100 and whose art deco works continue to astound viewers 

Harry Kalas: Voice of the Phillies

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #007 Play Ball, Part 3
Harry Kalas started his career as an announcer while in the army in Hawaii.  His was not only the voice of the Phillies, but the voice of NFL films, and the BART system in San Francisco.  His theme song was "High Hopes". 

Al Reach & Ben Shibe: Bringing the Game to the Quaker City

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #007 Play Ball, Part 2
Al Reach was a cricket player who took up baseball and became an equipment manufacturer and a club owner.  His name was on American League baseballs until the 1970s.
Benjamin Franklin "Ben" Shibe had been lamed by a trolley accident when he was a boy, so he didn't play much.  But he knew the game from a manager's perspective, and a state-of-the-art ballfield was named for him in North Philadelphia.

Harry Wright: The Father of Baseball. No, Really!

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #007 Play Ball, Part 1
Harry Wright was a cricket player from England who became enamored with baseball and worked to make it the professional game you expect today.  His statue stands over his grave at Laurel Hill West

ABC #007: Harry Wright, Benjamin Shibe and Al Reach, Harry Kalas - Play Ball!!

Professional baseball has a declared Founding Father, Hall of Famer Harry Wright. 
Since Philadelphia was one of the early cities to adopt the game, sporting goods manufacturers Ben Shibe and Al Reach took advantage of it.
If you listened to the Phillies on the radio, you knew the unmistakable voice of broadcast announcer Harry Kalas.
 
Wright, Shibe, and Reach are interred at Laurel Hill West, while Kalas is at East.

ABC #006: Thomas and Albert Sully; Robert and Francis Patterson; Peter, George, and Harry Widener - Fathers and Sons

There are many father-and-son combinations buried at Laurel Hill including
*Portrait artist Thomas Sully and his military son General Albert Sully
*Generals Robert and Francis Patterson, both with somewhat tarnished military records
*Gilded Age capitalist extraordinaire Peter A.B. Widener, and his son George and grandson Harry who went down on the RMS Titanic

Horace Trumbauer: Designing for the Nouveau Rich

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #005 Building Philadelphia, Part 4
Horace Trumbauer wanted to be an architect since he was a small boy.  He became the go-to architect for Philadelphia's Gilded-Age millionaires - Widener, Elkins, Stotesbury, Berwind, and many more.  He also the Public Library and the Art Museum.

Frank Furness: Buildings That Dance and Sing

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #005 Building Philadelphia, Part 3
Frank Furness designed buildings unlike anyone else.  His buildings look like they're about to start moving like a giant steampunk machine.  The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is his masterpiece.  

Napoleon LeBrun: The Academy and the Cathedral

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #005 Building Philadelphia, Part 2
Napoleon LeBrun was hired for two massive projects, both of which exist today more than 160 years later - The Academy of Music on South Broad and the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul at Logan Circle.

John Notman: The New Guy from Scotland

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #005 Building Philadelphia, Part 1
John Notman was a Scottish immigrant who underbid seasoned pros for the contract at Laurel Hill.  To prove it wasn't a fluke, he went on to build The Athenaeum on Washington Square, Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, and much more. 

ABC #005 John Notman, Napoleon LeBrun, Frank Furness, and Horace Trumbauer - Building Philadelphia, Part 1

Many architects made Philadelphia the showcase city that it is today.
*John Notman: The Athenaeum, Laurel Hill Cemetery
*Napoleon LeBrun: Academy of Music, Cathedral of Sts. Peter & Paul),
*Frank Furness: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, gatehouse at the Philadelphia Zoo
*Horace Trumbauer: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Free Library of Philadelphia

ABC #004: Sarah Josepha Hale, Martha Tillman, Anna Jarvis, Stephen F. Whitman - Holidays among the Stones

Before the Civil War there were two national holidays - Independence Day and Washington's Birthday.  But in Laurel Hill are 5 people who made American holidays what they are today:
*Sarah Josepha Hale, the woman who invented Thanksgiving
*Martha Tillman, the woman who MAY have invented Memorial Day
*Anna Jarvis, the mother of Mother’s Day
*Stephen F. Whitman, the man who invented Whitman chocolates
*Not included in podcast: Elizabeth Duane Gillespie, who is probably responsible for Flag Day
 
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Owen Wister: Inventing the Western Novel (interview with Thomas Keels)

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #003 - Easterners of the Old West, Part 3
Owen Wister was a blue-blood Philadelphian who became fascinated with the Wild West and wrote what many consider the first Western novel, The Virginian, which has been made into movies, TV shows, and even an opera.  Author, historian, and fellow tour guide Thomas Keel shares Wister's story.
 

John B. Stetson and The Boss of the Plains

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #003 - Easterners of the Old West, Part 2
John B. Stetson invented the 10-gallon hat, which became one of the most identifying marks of the Old West. In Philadelphia his contributions were legion.

Henry Deringer, The Father of Concealed Carry (interview with Russ Dodge)

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #003 - Easterners of the Old West, Part 1
Henry Deringer was a Philadelphia gunsmith whose single-shot bore-loading pistol could be concealed in a pocket, a hand muff, or the palm of your hand.  Its popularity exploded after John Wilkes Booth used one to assassinate President Lincoln.

ABC #003: Henry Deringer, Owen Wister, and John B. Stetson - Easterners of the Old West

All Bones Considered #003
Three creators of the mythology of the Wild West are buried at Laurel Hill.
*Henry Deringer, inventor of the pocket pistol and father of concealed carry - interview with Russ Dodge
*Owen Wister, who wrote the first definitive Western novel "The Virginian" - interview with Thomas Keels
*John Batterson Stetson, the man who invented the hat that defined the Old West. 
This podcast includes interviews with two of Laurel Hill Cemtery's volunteer guides. 

ABC #002: Elisha Kent Kane: Arctic Explorer + Spiritualist Maggie Fox

All Bones Considered #002
Explorer Elisha Kent Kane was one of the most famous Americans of the mid-19th century.  He knew that he would die young, and he pushed the limits.  Maggie Fox was a spiritualist and medium from New York.  Somehow, they got together and became a couple.  Their story is pretty sensational. 
 
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ABC #001: The Origins of Laurel Hill: How and Why Did It Get Here?

All Bones Considered #001
Most people who walk into Laurel Hill Cemetery for the first time are struck by the greenness of the place.  The 78-acre property stretches between Ridge Avenue and Kelly Drive, and between East Falls and Strawberry Mansion - a large, open, green space with more than 75,000 inhabitants, hundreds of statues, miles of paved roads, wildlife, and 850 trees in the middle of a very modern city.  
 
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