Author Archives: John Mark Ockerbloom

Thomas Wolfe’s first novel Look Homeward, Angel made his literary fame. It both impressed and disturbed Asheville neighbors who recognized what he’d fictionalized, and inspired later authors like Maya Angelou, Jack Kerouac, and Ray Bradbury. Wolfe’s book, going public domain … Continue reading →

The Marx Brothers made the transition from a stage act to movie stars in 1929. Their success in the new “talkies” was welcome both to Hollywood and to the brothers, especially after they lost fortunes in 1929’s stock market crash. … Continue reading →

The Listeners’ Club calls George Gershwin’s An American in Paris “one of the most iconic pieces of 20th century music”. You can hear how it fuses together popular styles like jazz and blues with symphonic influences from composers like Debussy … Continue reading →

Josephine Tey (aka Gordon Daviot, aka Elizabeth MacKintosh) was less prolific and more private than some of her peers, but her fans have kept nearly all her mysteries in print since their first publication. As Francis Wheen notes, her books … Continue reading →

Artwork copyright terms can be hard to determine. Reliable information on publication, formalities, and other relevant metadata can be hard to get. I’ve seen J.L.G. Ferris’s “Washington at Bartram’s Garden” presented online as public domain, sometimes dated by the depicted … Continue reading →

Contralto Marian Anderson broke many barriers in her long singing career. She gave an open air concert at the Lincoln Memorial to an integrated audience in 1939 after being denied an indoor venue, and later sang in the Metropolitan Opera. … Continue reading →

John Steinbeck‘s first novel Cup of Gold is historical fiction with touches of legend, about privateer Henry Morgan’s quest for riches and a woman’s heart in 17th century Panama. What Steinbeck later called an “immature experiment” hasn’t been as well … Continue reading →

Jazz pianist Fats Waller was called “the Black Horowitz” by fellow pianist Oscar Levant. Though he died before he turned 40, he copyrighted over 400 songs in his lifetime, and may have ghostwritten many others. Two of his biggest hits, … Continue reading →

Actress Joan Lowell‘s Cradle of the Deep was a best-selling memoir of a childhood at sea, sailing the globe for years with an all-male crew. But after Lincoln Colcord, who actually had spent years at sea, called it “unmitigated bosh”, … Continue reading →