One Hundred Years Ago

[gabrielle]

A gold star to Gabrielle for injecting the paranormal into our 100 Years Ago thread.  Oh, and K__Dubb, your modern day photo of the coffee shop above is great.  Every time I look at it I can almost smell the stuff.

A gold star!!!!  Thanks!   My first one.  LOL.

[Walks_At_Night]

In Part V of this series on the Ford's we'll cover Henry Ford II's siblings who were the other grandchildren of Henry Ford.   They
were Benson Ford Sr, Josephine Clay Ford and William Clay Ford.  They were overshadowed by their bigger than life older brother and
their roles at the Ford Motor Company were diminished.   One would find solace in charity, one would ultimately find it in sports and one
would find it in a bottle. 

Benson Ford Sr.
The "Lost Boy" Ford of his generation - his son Benson Jr would fill a similar role later on.  It did not start out that way.  Unlike his
older brother HFII,  Benson was a grease under the nails, dyed in the wool, bona fide car guy.   He would work in the engineering department at
the River Rouge plant, tearing down test engines.  He would have to walk away from this when WWII broke out as he joined the Army Air Corps -
rising from private to captain by the end of the war.   He would be named a corporate vice president right after the war and would head up the
Lincoln-Mercury division from 1948 to 1955.  However his domineering brother definitely did not want any competition from his younger brother.
Benson would be squeezed out as the head of Lincoln-Mercury and was given a bit role to play on the Dealer Policy Board, which mediated
factory-dealer disputes. He served on the board of directors but was not a prime player in company affairs. After being squeezed out of the action
at the Ford Motor Company he would spend most of his time acting as head of the  board of trustees at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

Sadly he grewed depressed about his ever diminishing role which lead him to drinking.  He would never really recover and by 1978 he was
dead at age 59.   His wife Edith McNaughton Ford would die the next year.   We'll learn more about their two children Benson Jr and Lynn
in Part VI.   

If Benson is remembered at all these days it is due to the fact that the bow of the great lakes ore boat that carried his name was chopped
off and turned into a house:


Benson Ford Sr:


Benson takes a spin in the Lincoln Futura a concept car that never went into production.
If it looks familiar that is because it will eventually be used as the Batmobile where it
would be put through its paces by Adam West
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFts2j7IiYI


Josephine Clay Ford
Known in family circles as "Dody" she would marry a designer named Walter Buhl Ford whom was unrelated to the Family. This would lead to the
Ford-Ford branch of the family.   She would become a philanthropist and would found the Josephine Ford Cancer Center along with being heavily
involved with the Detroit Institute of Arts.  She passed away in 2005 at age 81.  Her and Walter would have four children - one of which would go
rogue and join the  International Society for Krishna Consciousness.   

Josephine Ford




William Clay Ford
The baby of the family - he was quiet and a true gentleman whom would clash with his jet setting oldest brother HFII.  He would graduate from
Yale with a degree in economics and joined the Navy during WWII.   He was trained to become a naval aviator but was just finishing his
final training when the war ended.  He would marry Martha Firestone (Harvey Firestones' daughter) and started his career at the Ford Motor
Company.  His oldest brother ran the company, his next oldest brother had Lincoln-Mercury so Bill was given Continental to run.
Bill had his Father's eye for design and he put his heart and soul into the new Continental Mark II.   The 1956 Continental was a beautiful
machine to behold and had a newly developed V-8 engine at its heart.   Henry Ford II called Bill into his office, congratulated him on
his teams work and then told Bill that the Mark II would shutdown and much of the work would be incorporated into the HFII's pet project
the Ford Thunderbird.   Bill was crushed and would never really recover from the blow.  Until the day he died a picture of the '56
Continental hang in his office. 

Like his brother Benson he would start drinking  heavily.  Unlike Benson he would find new outlets that fulfilled him - the Henry Ford Museum
and the Detroit Lions Football team.   He would purchase the Lions in 1962 and would be heavily involved with them up to his death in 2014.
Generous and kind to a fault  [supposedly he paid the fine that the league levied on Alex Karras for gambling] he loved the players and staff.
When it was obvious that changes needed to be made to the team he would be loathe to make them.   As a result the team never had any real
success.  This past season with Bill Ford gone his widow Martha would kick some butt.  At age 90, old "Mama Ford" started walking through the
offices looking for people to fire.  She would nail the team president and general manager but saved the coach.   Afterwards she addressed
the players personally - hopefully she will have success in turning the team around.

Bill Ford did not totally forsake the Ford Motor Company after purchasing the Lions.  He was involved with the design team and ultimately would
serve on the Board for almost 60 years.  His brother HFII would screw him over one last time when it was time for Hank the Deuce to retire. 
William Clay Ford was next in line to take over as CEO but HFII out maneuvered him and placed his man  Phil Caldwell in his place.   While
William Clay Ford never became CEO, his son Bill Ford Jr. would.

William Clay Ford


1956 Continental



Martha Ford addressing the Lions at age 90


Bill Ford with his son Bill Jr.


The three Ford brothers - Henry Ford II, Benson Ford and William Clay Ford


In Part VI we'll take quick look at the modern day Fords and wrap this mess up


[Note: Here are links to the first four parts of this series]

Part I:   http://bellgab.com/index.php/topic,9331.msg730248.html#msg730248
Part II:  http://bellgab.com/index.php/topic,9331.msg733430.html#msg733430
Part III: http://bellgab.com/index.php/topic,9331.msg735481.html#msg735481
Part IV:  http://bellgab.com/index.php/topic,9331.msg737314.html#msg737314

[GravitySucks]

Another excellent job Walks. Thanks.

[Rix Gins]

Another great chapter on the Ford Family and that video was fantastic.  The cars were passing the Futura on the highway and I really wanted Benson to step on the gas but I reckon he had to be somewhat cautious with it. I wish there was more than one part left to this story.  Thanks Walks. 

[GravitySucks]

Lindy Boggs March 13, 1916 - July 27, 2013

First woman elected to Congress from Louisiana and later served as the U.S Ambassador to the Holy See (Vatican).

She was elected in a special election held after her husband, Majority Leader of the Senate, Hale Boggs, was killed in a plane accident in Alaska on October 16, 1972.

She was the first woman to preside over a major party convention (1976 Democratic Convention, resulting in the nomination of Jimmy Carter).

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_Boggs

[K_Dubb]

From the Seattle Star today:



The Ravensdale depot about this time:



Interesting that events in far-away Seattle should foreshadow German involvement in the upcoming Easter rising:



The Hippodrome in 1913:

[Rix Gins]

Everett True, March 13, 1916.

[Rix Gins]

Some clippings from The Day Book, March 13, 1916.

[Rix Gins]

The Tonopah Daily Bonanza for March 13, 1916.

[Rix Gins]

From the Seattle Star today:



The Ravensdale depot about this time:



Interesting that events in far-away Seattle should foreshadow German involvement in the upcoming Easter rising:



The Hippodrome in 1913:

I remember a Sherlock Holmes program where some dude was robbed and killed and his body was thrown out of an upper story window that bordered a railway track.  His body lay on top of a moving passenger car for quite awhile before falling off.  Everyone thought the guy jumped off, but Mr. Holmes knew better.  I love that rare, two story train depot photo.

[gabrielle]

Meanwhile, the Battle of Verdun rages on. The battle started in February of 1916, and lasted until mid December of that year.  Here is clipping from the Winnipeg Free Press dated March 13, 1916.

[Walks_At_Night]

Another great chapter on the Ford Family and that video was fantastic.  The cars were passing the Futura on the highway and I really wanted Benson to step on the gas but I reckon he had to be somewhat cautious with it. I wish there was more than one part left to this story.  Thanks Walks.

Well Benson didn't step on the gas in that video but the Dynamic Duo would. Prior to it's conversion to the most awesome Batmobile that there ever was or ever will be the car had a cameo in the 1959 Debbie Reynolds movie It Started with a Kiss.   Later on a guy named George Barris was tasked with the job of turning the Futura into the Batmobile we all know and love.  For me Steve McGarrett's Mercury screaming around Honolulu is my favorite TV car but the Batmobile is right up there near the top.  In film it is a little tougher but the 'Cuda in the Phantasm movies edges out the Bullitt Charger or Kowalski's Challenger.

A few photo's of interest are below.







Of course there is a whole world of Batmobile lore on the internet.  This is *the* place to start:
http://www.1966batmobile.com/

[gabrielle]

Wow.  That is awesome Walks.....very cool. 

[albrecht]

Meanwhile, the Battle of Verdun rages on. The battle started in February of 1916, and lasted until mid December of that year.  Here is clipping from the Winnipeg Free Press dated March 13, 1916.

War is never pretty but WWI was just awful. It was like modern technology with old style tactics, just carnage. And to think most the leaders were cousins! I'm friends with my cousins but I guess when you are royalty family is different. I don't like the way it is organized for reading but here is a good, short essay on WWI, and notes on maybe parallel situations today, by noted historian Margret Macmillian (who is more left of center but still good.)
http://www.brookings.edu/research/essays/2013/rhyme-of-history#

[gabrielle]

Albrecht, Margaret Macmillan is one of my favourite authors.  She was recently awarded with the Order of Canada.  Her works are thorough and well balanced. Thanks for sharing. 

[albrecht]

Albrecht, Margaret Macmillan is one of my favourite authors.  She was recently awarded with the Order of Canada.  Her works are thorough and well balanced. Thanks for sharing.

Yeah she is good. I find reading books, etc written before major historical events also fun, not just histories about them once past.  At the time you had the (in)famous book and idea that inter-connectness and trade would make a general Europe (or world) war impossible (many still abide this theory today) but, then at the same time, you had popular books like "Germany And The Next War" by von Bernhardi  where he basically is saying Germany must go to war and "is a biological necessity" and famous and popular novels like "The Riddle of the Sands" encouraging British built up of their Navy and arms for a German invasion war. But "Germany and the Next War" is remarkable because it so outright says we need war and this whole idea of war being natural, moral and even "good" for people and country looking at the carnage and damage of WWI.

[Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost]

War is never pretty but WWI was just awful. It was like modern technology with old style tactics, just carnage. And to think most the leaders were cousins! I'm friends with my cousins but I guess when you are royalty family is different. I don't like the way it is organized for reading but here is a good, short essay on WWI, and notes on maybe parallel situations today, by noted historian Margret Macmillian (who is more left of center but still good.)
http://www.brookings.edu/research/essays/2013/rhyme-of-history#

Couldn't agree more about WWI. I try not to use profanity on BG, but it was a gigantic, avoidable, unimaginably tragic clusterfuck.  There's no other way to describe it.

I haven't read Margaret MacMillan, but will check her out.  If she's a bit " left of center" you know that's good enough for me!   

[Rix Gins]

On March 13, 1916, German pilot Max Immelmann and a fellow pilot were patrolling near the front line when they spotted a British Bristol Scout C attempting to engage another German plane in combat.

         A Bristol Scout C.  (Photo from Wikimedia.)


Max entered the fight and quickly sent the British plane spiraling down by the front lines.  He had thought it was a two seater but he couldn't get a close look at it because British guns, oddly enough, were firing on the downed plane.  This was victory number ten for Immelmann.  The unfortunate pilot of the British plane was Major Victor Annesley Barrington Kennett of the 4th Squadron, Royal Flying Corps.  https://livesofthefirstworldwar.org/lifestory/5174841
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/613571/BARRINGTON-KENNETT,%20VICTOR%20ANNESLEY

The above occurrence took place around 12:50 pm and Max returned to the skies again around 5:00 in the afternoon.  He was following up on a report that there were five British machines  over Arras.  When he got there, he found a different group but they were British planes nonetheless, so he picked one out and shot up it's right wing, causing it to fall.  He followed it down and sent some more ammo into it as insurance.  Max saw it crash near a town called Pelves, and he could tell that the pilot and observer were both killed.  Victory number 11.  Max had shot down a British BE2c (No. 4197) from 8 Squadron. 

         A BE2c.  (Photo from Wikimedia.)

It had been piloted by Lieutenant Gilbert Dennis James Grune, 8 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=56663116

His observer was 21 year old Second Lieutenant Brian Edward Glover.  Brian is buried next to Lieutenant Grune at Vis-en-Artois British Cemetery, Haucourt, France. 


  Max Immelmann.  (Photo from Wikimedia.)

[Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost]

The Tonopah Daily Bonanza for March 13, 1916.

I bet "delightful" accurately describes all the dances put on by "Happy" Bowler!  I tried to find more information about him, but posterity seems to have eluded him, unfortunately.  However, if he was anything like Happy Kyne, he must have been great fun.

BTW, Happy Kyne was really Frank De Vol, who was an accomplished film and TV composer who wrote the theme for My Three Sons.  Even though they're goofing around in this clip, those were all outstanding musicians.  Check out the great guitar licks in the background.

http://youtu.be/cbR5dUJFMPs

[Rix Gins]

Yup.  I looked up Professor Kanouse with the same results.  Nothing.  I tend to picture him as looking like Hans Conried.  And it helps that Kanouse rhymes with Tonoose. 

             
Hans Conried as Uncle Tonoose.  (Photo from Wikimedia.)

[Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost]

Yup.  I looked up Professor Kanouse with the same results.  Nothing.  I tend to picture him as looking like Hans Conried.  And it helps that Kanouse rhymes with Tonoose. 

             
Hans Conried as Uncle Tonoose.  (Photo from Wikimedia.)

.

Spot on, Rix! I imagine "Happy" as looking like Spike Jones, pictured here, appropriately, wearing a bowler.  .  I suspect, based on absolutely nothing, that the Professor had a rather low opinion of "Happy" and probably was sorely vexed by his popularity.

[Rix Gins]

I think you've got something there, Robert.  'Happy' looking like Spike Jones works for me.  Also, the possibility that the good professor was envious of 'Happy.' 'Happy' had a weekly show at the Miner's hall but the professor's last gig was at a church and it was a poorly attended one at that.  Referring to my earlier post, I guess it's possible that Kanouse rhymes with 'mouse' and not 'noose'  But I'll stick with Uncle's version until I hear otherwise.  K__Dubb would probably know how to pronounce it.   

[Rix Gins]

Everett True, March 14, 1916.

[Rix Gins]

The Day Book, March 14, 1916.

[gabrielle]

At Verdun, there was a relative lull in the fighting on this day in 1916.

[Rix Gins]

Some clippings from the March 14, 1916 Daily Bonanza.

[albrecht]

The Day Book, March 14, 1916.

What is an "alleged handbook" and why was having it cause for arrest? Some kind of porn or anarchist tract?

[K_Dubb]

From the Seattle Star today:







The former New Cecil Hotel is the taller building to the right:

[Rix Gins]

Fascinating story unfolding in Seattle 100 years ago and I hope we are privy to it's conclusion.  Haha...Miss Clayburg snapped by Kodakers (I love that term) and posed for a moving camera in L.A.  Sounds like she was most comfortable in front of a camera's lens. I'd still like to know how they managed to get usable, sneak photos from what shutter speeds were available to them back then.

[Rix Gins]

What is an "alleged handbook" and why was having it cause for arrest? Some kind of porn or anarchist tract?

I wondered about that too.  I noticed that the Irish referred to their Easter Uprising publication as being a handbook.  Or was it a gambling book of some sort, like notations for a numbers racket or something?