Author Archives: John Mark Ockerbloom

Methodist missionary E. Stanley Jones was a friend of Mahatma Gandhi, who told him that Christians should “live more like Jesus Christ”, practice their religion “without toning it down”, and “find the good” in non-Christian religions. Inspired by this, Jones … Continue reading →

If Hollywood lore is to be believed, the biggest hit of 1928 was written as a joke. Given a last-minute plea for a sentimental song for Al Jolson’s upcoming talkie The Singing Fool, Ray Henderson, Buddy DeSylva, and Lew Brown … Continue reading →

The Nobel Prize for literature often goes to writers near the end of their careers. William Butler Yeats wasn’t done, though, after winning it in 1923. His 1928 collection The Tower includes influential poems like “Sailing to Byzantium” (known for … Continue reading →

Though her recording career spanned only 10 years, “Empress of the Blues” Bessie Smith had a huge influence on American music. This 2019 NPR interview includes parts of her first record, “Downhearted Blues”, with Maureen Mahon’s explanation of how Smith … Continue reading →

Buster Keaton stars as a hapless aspiring newsreel maker with eyes for Marceline Day in The Cameraman, his first film for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The National Film Registry made this movie one of its honorees in 2005, calling it “the last of … Continue reading →

Margaret Mead spent several months in Samoa researching her book Coming of Age in Samoa, a groundbreaking bestseller joining the public domain in 34 days. After Mead died, her reports of the sex lives of Samoan adolescents were disputed by … Continue reading →

W. E. B. Du Bois, famous for nonfiction like The Souls of Black Folk and The Philadelphia Negro, also wrote fiction. His 1928 novel Dark Princess: A Romance is described by its current publisher as a “novel of sensual love, … Continue reading →

Harvard geologist Kirtley F. Mather was an activist for academic freedom (advocating for teaching evolution and against faculty loyalty oaths) and president of Promoting Enduring Peace. Kennard B. Bork writes in GSA Today that he had a “deep belief in … Continue reading →

“…Saw you not at the beginning of evening the antlered buck and his doeStanding in the apple-orchard? I saw them. I saw them suddenly go… …Now lies he here, his wild blood scalding the snow.” The title poem of Edna … Continue reading →

Copyrights weren’t often renewed on advertisements, but a few were for various reasons. Deward and Rich renewed many of their “Miss Flora” ads after a court battle over a local florist reusing them without permission. Sometimes objectors to ads also … Continue reading →