Author Archives: John Mark Ockerbloom

“By… effecting the purposes of governmental supervision by its own internal machinery, the New York Stock Exchange has justified its existence, earned and retained the confidence of the public, and proved itself the most reliable and efficient market place in … Continue reading →

When George Burns first teamed up with Gracie Allen, he wanted to be the comic while she played the straight part. They soon found they got more laughs the other way around. Their first film, Lambchops (now watchable online) adapts … Continue reading →

In 1929 a Belgian reporter began a series of global adventures in the pages of Le Petit Vingtième. In 16 days Tintin starts a new journey into the public domain. But those wanting to meet him there must brave pitfalls … Continue reading →

Three people unsatisfied with their lives leave home, meet a falling-apart performing troupe, and reinvent themselves as The Good Companions. J.B. Priestley’s long comic story of a now-bygone Yorkshire has had devoted British fans for many years, and inspired film, … Continue reading →

Duke Ellington led jazz bands and orchestras for over 50 years, and wrote or had a hand in writing over 1000 pieces of music. His began making records in 1924, and many other musicians have also recorded his work since. … Continue reading →

William Faulkner struggled going into 1929. His sprawling novel on fading southern aristocrats had been rejected by eleven publishers, and his novel in progress, a nonlinear streams-of-consciousness narrative, would be hard to sell. After severe cuts, the first novel became … Continue reading →

Alfred Hitchcock started making Blackmail as a silent film, but after getting access to the new movie sound technology, he ended up releasing two versions. The sound version was one of the first “talkies” released in Britain. Some film aficionados … Continue reading →

Margery Allingham’s detective Albert Campion may be easy to miss at first sight. He’s not as familiar to American readers as sleuths like Lord Peter Wimsey (who he resembles in some respects). In The Crime at Black Dudley (1929), he’s … Continue reading →

Laughing Boy, by white anthropologist Oliver La Farge, is about a troubled relationship between two Navajos, one raised traditionally and one sent to a white-run boarding school. The first Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about native Americans, it was later banned by … Continue reading →