Sep 30

James Dean was a two-time Academy Award-nominated American film actor. His status as a cultural icon is best embodied in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause, in which he starred as troubled stereotypical high school rebel Jim Stark. His enduring fame and popularity rests on only three films, his entire output. His death at a young age helped guarantee a legendary status.

His mother died at an early age and his father was unable to care for him so Dean was sent to live with relatives in Indiana. After graduating from high school, he eventually went to UCLA where he majored in drama. Dean quit college and pursued acting full-time, moving to New York City where he appeared in several television shows. He gained admission to the legendary Actor’s Studio to study Method acting under Lee Strasberg. In 1953, Dean was cast in Elia Kazan’s adaptation of John Steinbeck’s novel East of Eden as awkward loner Cal Trask.

Dean quickly followed this film with a starring role in Rebel Without a Cause and appeared opposite Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson in Giant. He became interested in racing cars and purchased a Porsche 550 Spyder. On September 30, 1955, Dean was driving his Porsche to a sports car race at Salina, California. He was driving west on Route 466 near Cholame when a Ford Custom Tudor coupe crossed into Dean’s lane without seeing him. The two cars almost head on. Dean was taken to hospital and was pronounced dead on arrival. He was buried in Park Cemetery in Fairmount, Indiana.

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Sep 29

Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer, songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 and his pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

Lewis began playing piano in his youth and his parents mortgaged their farm to buy him a piano. Influenced by a piano-playing older cousin, the radio, and the sounds from the black juke joint across the tracks, Lewis developed his own style, mixing rhythm and blues, boogie-woogie, gospel, and country music. He paid his dues in clubs in Mississippi and became a part of the emerging rock and roll sound, cutting his first demo in 1954. During December 1956, Lewis began recording prolifically, both as a solo artist and as a session musician at Sun Records.

In 1957, Lewis recorded hit singles “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” and “Great Balls of Fire,” which was his biggest hit, bringing him national and international fame. During a May 1958 British tour, it was reported that Lewis’ third wife, Maya Gale Brown, was his first cousin once removed and only 13 years old. The publicity cause an uproar and the tour was canceled after only three concerts. The scandal followed Lewis home to America, and as a result, he was blacklisted from radio and almost vanished from the music scene. In 1989, a major motion picture based on his early life in rock and roll, Great Balls of Fire, brought him back into the public eye.

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Sep 28

The Battle of Lesnaya was one of the decisive battles of the Great Northern War. It took place on September 28, 1708 between a Russian army of 12,000 men commanded by Princes Repnin and Menshikov and a Swedish force of 16,000 men, under the command of General Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt, at the village of Lesnaya, located on the border between Poland and Russia.

Lewenhaupt, one of Sweden’s foremost generals, was the commander of one of his country’s best armies, based at the Baltic Sea port of Riga. In the summer of 1708, King Charles XII of Sweden ordered him to march southward with most of his force and link up with Charles’ main army of 25,000 men based in Poland. The Russians observed these movements and decided the time was ripe to attack Lewenhaupt’s smaller force. Lewenhaupt was not fazed; no Swedish army had yet been defeated by Russians in eight years of war.

The battle itself was closely contested and both forces suffered heavy casualties. Late in the day, a snowstorm kicked up and the Swedes became disorganized. Lewenhaupt ordered his men to retreat. Menshikov ordered his cavalry to attack one more time and routed the Swedes. The Swedes lost 1,000 men and 4,000 missing in battle. Russian casualties totaled 1,111 killed and 2,856 wounded. The Russian victory at Lesnaya convinced their soldiers that they could defeat even Sweden’s best soldiers.

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Sep 27

The “Old 97” is a Southern Railway train officially known as the Fast Mail. It was en route from Monroe, Virginia to Spencer, North Carolina when it left the track at Stillhouse Trestle near Danville, Virginia on September 27, 1903. The wreck inspired a famous railroad ballad.

The wreck of Old 97 occurred when the engineer at the controls of engine number 1102 was operating the train at high speed in order to stay on schedule as it had a reputation for never being late. The train was substantially behind schedule upon leaving Washington and was one hour late upon arriving at Monroe. The engineer was instructed to get the Fast Mail to Spencer on time and had to increase the train’s speed to make up the time. The route between Monroe and Spencer was rolling terrain and there were numerous danger points due to the combination of grades and tight radius curves.

The engineer was unable to sufficiently reduce speed as he approached the curve leading into Stillhouse Trestle, causing the entire train to derail and plunge into the ravine below. Nine people were killed, including the locomotive crew. The Southern Railway place the blame for the wreck on the engineer, disavowing that he had been ordered to run as fast as possible to maintain the schedule. The wreck of the Old 97 serves as inspiration for balladeers, the most famous being the ballad first recorded by G.B. Grayson and Henry Whitter.