Monday, January 30, 2017

BAPU IS GONE

1/30/1948 - The "why" still echoing, one of the brightest lights to ever walk the earth is snuffed out in Delhi, India with the assassination of non-violence advocate Mohandras Karamchand Gandhi by Hindu nationalist Nathuram Vinayak Godse.
Image result for nathuram godse
Godse

Born into a Hindu merchant caste family in India in 1869, Gandhi begins putting his London law training and belief in non-violence into practice in India in 1915, organizing the citizens of the British colony, and leading nationwide campaigns to fight poverty, expand women's rights, end "untouchability," build religious and ethnic understanding, and achieve "Swaraj" ... Indians self ruling the country instead of the British.  Beloved by many (the "Mahatma" often attached to his name means "high souled," and known as "Father of the Nation," he is often called Bapu, a Gujarati endearment for father or papa), he also makes many enemies changing India from a colony into a nation.
The face of Gandhi in old age—smiling, wearing glasses, and with a white sash over his right shoulder
Gandhi

The first attempts on Gandhi's life takes place in South Africa, where the lawyer is plying his trade helping Indian workers in the country ... actions that upset the authorities and lead to two near death incidents ... he is kicked, punched, and stoned by a crowd of antagonists in 1893, and in 1906, angered that he might strike a compromise over Asians being forced to register with the government, a follower beats the man almost to death in the street with a club (Gandhi refuses to press charges).  Back in India, in 1934, at the town of Pune, Gandhi escapes death when a bomb is exploded outside the Corporation Auditorium where the independence organizer is about to give a speech (saved because his car arrives late, no one is ever arrested for the attempt, which injures ten people).  Recovering from malaria, in May of 1944, he avoids a dagger death when two friends tackle a charging would be assassin near Poona, India, and a second knife attack in September of the same year (by Hindu's upset that he is talking to the Muslim leadership in India) that is thwarted by a Mumbai police officer ... and both times, the maniac with the dagger is Nathuram Godse (it boggles the mind that nothing happened to Godse either time as a result of stupidity on the part of the authorities. many agreeing with Godse's politics, and just plain bad luck ... and incredibly, Gandhi asks for a meeting with the man to discuss Godse's enmity towards his target ... a meeting which Godse ignores.).  
Gandhi In South Africa - 1909

The final unsuccessful attempt on Gandhi's life occurs on January 20, 1948 ... and again, Godse is involved.  The new plot calls for a bomb to be exploded near the podium Gandhi will be giving a speech from, and for a handful of gunmen to shoot up the man, if he escapes being blown up, as he flees the area (conspirators in the plot are Mandanlal Pahwa, Shankar Kistaiya, Digabar Badge, Narayan Apte, Vishnu Karkare, Gopal Godse, and of course, Nathuram Godse). Fizz instead of pop, the bomb goes off but produces an effect which is barely noticed, and most of the gunmen get cold feet and vanish before Gandhi moves out of the area (Pahwa is arrested in the failed attempt and warns authorities that Godse will not stop until he is successful, which of course, the authorities ignore until too late).  Assessment correct, Godse is still not dissuaded by his latest failure and decides to take matters into his own hands with his next opportunity, a prayer meeting where Gandhi will be on 1/30 ... this time he will act on his own whether supported or not, and instead of a dagger or explosive device that doesn't work well enough in the conditions presented, he will come at the Indian nationalist from point-blank range with a pistol.
1/20 Conspirators - Eventual Assassin Seated At Center
Image result for nathuram godse
Godse

Nathuram Vinayakrao Godse is born in the Pune District of British India on May 19, 1910 ... and is messed up from the get go!  Born to a postal employee and his wife that have already lost three sons, Godse is first called Ramachandra and treated like a girl so he won't be lost to any curse on the males of the family, but when his brother Gopal is born in 1919, the parents revert to treating him as a male and he earns the name Nathuram, meaning "Ram with a nose-ring." Growing up, he worships Gandhi, but that feeling morphs to hate as Godse becomes older and gets involved in the quest for Hindu nationalism (he will start a Marathi language newspaper as a forum for his views), believing Gandhi has hurt the cause by giving too many concessions to the Muslim population of India, and picking sides with his marches and fasts.  Upset with part of India becoming Pakistan to mollify the Muslim majority in the area, Godse decides that the only way to make India great, is to remove Gandhi.  Failures driving him forward, with the help of Gangadhar Dandavate, Dattatraya Parchure and Narayan Apte, Godse purchases a Beretta M1934 9mm semi-automatic pistol in Pune, and returns to Delhi on 1/29, checking into retiring room #6 at the Delhi Railway Station where the conspirators chalk out their plan to kill Gandhi.
Image result for gandhi assassination gun
Beretta M1934

Weakened from a just concluded fast to bring amity back to the rioting city of Delhi, at about 5:15 in the early evening, wearing sandals and a white robe of homespun cloth, supported by two of his grandnieces, Gandhi makes his way across the gardens and lawns of Birla House (a mansion built for the business wealthy Birla Family where Gandhi has been staying since September of 1947 ... the location is now known as Gandhi Smriti, "Gandhi Remembrance," and has been turned into a museum dealing with the life and death of its namesake) to a place where an evening prayer meeting is to occur.  Moving through the crowd of participants, Gandhi comes face to face with Godse, who bows to Gandhi, as Abha Chattopadhyay, one of the grandnieces tells the assassin, "Brother, Bapu is already late," as she tries to move Gandhi past.  Two days before, in the wake of the 1/20 attempt on his life, Gandhi will state, "If I am to die by the bullet of a madman, I must do so smiling.  There must be no anger within me.  God must be in my heart and on my lips."  And now it is that time.
Image result for gandhi and grand nieces
Between Manu And Abha

Pushing aside Abha, Godse pulls his recently bought Beretta, and shoots Gandhi three times in the chest and stomach.  As he goes down in a bloody heap, Gandhi groans, "He Ram, He Ram," ("Oh God, Oh God,") before going quiet ... rushed back to his living quarters, he lasts less than thirty minutes before dying at the age of 78.  Deed done, Godse runs, but is chased down by Birla House gardener, Raghu Nayak, who prevents the assassin from killing himself, enabling the crowd to almost beat Godse to a bloody pulp (almost saving the cost of a court date) before the authorities arrive and put the murderer in custody. 
Image result for gandhi assassination
World Headlines

In the aftermath of his death, Gandhi will be mourned around the world by millions ... some with tears, and some with more violence that the state government cracks down on immediately.  For his funeral, ironically, the non-violence advocate will be transported to the site of his cremation on a weapons carrier, with a high floor on the chassis installed overnight for the expected crowds to see Gandhi's body (the engine of the vehicle is not used; instead, the cortege is pulled by four drag-ropes, each muscled by 50 people) ... slow going, over two million people will join the five mile funeral procession to Raj Ghat on the Yamuna River in Delhi that takes five hours to conclude.  Cremated according to Hindu traditions for his ashes be spread on water, the Gandhi ashes are poured into several urns which are sent about India for memorial services ... most are eventually spread at the sacred site of Triveni Sangam, where the Yamuna River and Ganges River confluence.  Some however, are secretly moved to other locations ... a Gandhi ash urn is found in a bank vault in 1997 (before going into the Triveni Sangham), Gandhi ashes will be scattered at the source of the Nile River in Uganda, a batch goes into the waters of Girgaum Chowpatty beach in Mumbai, an urn is kept at the Aga Khan palace in Pune, and there is another urn at the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine in Los Angeles.
Image result for gandhi funeral
Being Readied For His Last Journey
Image result for gandhi funeral
People, People ... And More People
Image result for gandhi cremation
In Transit
Image result for gandhi cremation
To Ashes

As for Godse, slow to stop him, the authorities are quick to scoop up the assassin and his confederates once Gandhi is murdered ... Godse (and his brother Gopal), Badge, Apte, Karkare, Parchure, and Pahwa are all arrested and put on trial at the Punjab High Court in Peterhoff, Shimla (along with Vinayak Damodar Savakar, a Hindu revolutionary leader known to be enraged at Gandhi for his support of the partion of India ... though he met with the conspirators only days before the assassination, he will be found not guilty of Gandhi's murder during his trial) before Justice Atma Charan.  Eight months later the justice delivers the verdicts ... Gopal Godse, Karkare, and Pahwa are sentenced to life in prison (Parchure too, but will be acquitted upon appeal for lack of evidence by three judges), Badge is released for ratting out his fellow conspirators, and Nathuram Godse and Apte are sentenced to death by hanging.  Although pleas for a sentence commutation are made by Gandhi's two sons, Manilal and Ramdas Gandhi, India's Prime Minister Jawaharal Nehru, Deputy Prime Minister Vallabhbhai Patel, and Governor -General Chakravarti Rajagopalachari all say no, and on November 15, 1949, Godse and Apre are hung at the Ambala Jail ... Godse is 39 and Apte is 38.
Image result for narayan apte
The Assassin Questioned
Image result for narayan apte
Apte

A sad tale told far too often in the history of mankind, let the words of Albert Einstein draw down the curtain on the events of 1/30/1948 ... "Generations to come will scarcely believe that such a one as this walked the earth in flesh and blood.  I believe that Gandhi's views were the most enlightened of all political men in our time."  Amen!
Image result for mahatma gandhi
Gandhi
Memorial At The Assassination Site
Gandhi Memorial.jpg
Memorial At The Cremation Site
Statue At York University
Soviet Union Postage Stamp
Statue In Sau Paulo, Brazil
Statue In Parliament Square, London
Monument In Serbia
Statue In Madrid
Temple Erected In Honor Of Gandhi -
Kanyakumari, India

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

TEMPLATE FOR TRAGEDY - WALLACE REID

1/18/1923 - Once upon a time, just a little over a century ago, movie making is a brand new art form still defining itself ... there are no blockbusters awaiting summer releases or special camera effects, going out to the movies is just becoming a national past-time, and the concept of the "film star" is in its infancy.  Film star ... before Charlie Chaplin even steps in front of a motion picture camera, before Douglas Fairbanks makes his first swashbuckler, before William S. Hart brings the Wild West to the nation's movie palaces, William Wallace Halleck Reid is a huge star (one day to become the Silent Era's "It Girl," Clara Bow will wait for eight hours to see the man at a Brooklyn personal appearance) of the new industry ... and as such, tragically, a template for all the young actor and actress deaths caused by alcohol and drugs yet to come.
Image result for wallace reid
Reid

Reid is born into a St. Louis entertainment family on 4/15/1891 ... his mother, Bertha Westbrook, is an actress, and his father, James Halleck "Hal" Reid, has worked a variety of theatrical jobs and mostly supports the family by writing plays and traveling the country as an actor.  As a boy, Reid is on stage early (at four years old), but puts the world of entertainment on hold while he is educated at the Freehold Military School in Freehold Township, New Jersey, and then at the Perkiomen Seminary in Pennsburg, Pennsylvania where he develops into a gifted musician able to play the piano, banjo, drums, violin, and guitar (he will later keep one of his neighbors up playing his saxophone ... an unhappy actor named Rudolph Valentino), prepares himself to practice medicine, enjoys writing poetry and painting, plays a variety of sports, and runs the school newspaper.  Spending time in Wyoming, he also becomes an avid outdoorsman.  Ready to make his mark on the world in any number of fields, Reid is drawn into the new picture making business when his father transitions from the theater to acting in "flickers" and his son gains employment helping behind the scenes.
Image result for james hal reid
James Reid

Drawn to writing, directing, and camera work, Reid's good looks and muscled 6'1" inch frame are soon noticed and it is not long before he is spending more time in front of the camera, instead of behind it.  In 1910, he makes his first credited screen appearance in The Phoenix for the Selig Polyscope Company of Chicago.  Then he gets a job for Vitagraph Studios ... writing stories and dialogue, directing actors, cranking the camera, and playing the violin for appropriate mood and timing needs ... and he also continues to act, following the industry out to the west coast, and Hollywood.
Image result for selig polyscope company chicago
Reid's First Studio

In Hollywood, Reid's career takes off and he quickly moves from small roles to leading parts (before he is done, the actor will appear in over 200 films), he works with movie pioneers William Selig, Allan Dwan, Cecil B. DeMille, and D. W. Griffith (he will appear in the director's two masterpieces, Birth of a Nation and Intolerance), romances film beauties like Dorothy and Lillian Gish, Bebe Daniels, and Gloria Swanson (while finding time to marry 17-year-old actress Dorothy Davenport ... a marriage that will produce one son, Wallace Reid, Jr.), and creates a popular new genre of movies, the race car picture (in which Reid does his own stunt work and driving).  Off set, he spends time with his family, collects cars ... and likes to party with the city's elite, developing a drinking problem that his studios mask (it is rumored that he kills a father, and injures the man's wife and son, in a Pacific Coast Highway accident that is hushed up by his movie studio ... an accident in which Reid's passenger, director Thomas Ince, breaks his collarbone).
Image result for wallace reid
Movie Magazine Cover
Image result for wallace reid
Movie Poster
Image result for wallace reid
The Reid Family - 1920

Taking a cut in salary, he becomes the movie's first matinee idol when he takes a pay cut to appear as the shirtless blacksmith Jeff in Birth of a Nation.  Star, Reid becomes known as "The King" of Paramount Studios, movie mogul Jesse Lasky will call him "a 180 pound diamond," Motion Picture magazine will call him "the screen's most perfect lover," and writer Adela Rogers St. Johns will call the actor "... the greatest and most popular star the motion picture has produced."  Top of the mountain, he is the man woman want to be with, and the man men want to be, but it will all begin falling apart in March of 1919, when Reid takes a train to Oregon to begin location filming on his next movie, The Valley of the Giants (the movie is presumed lost for 90 years, until a copy is discovered in Russia in 2010).
Image result for wallace reid valley of the giants
Movie Poster
Image result for wallace reid
Hollywood Mansion
Image result for wallace reid valley of the giants
With One Of His Toys

Traveling north, near Arcata, California, the train carrying Reid and the movie company goes off a bridge, rolls 15 feet down a hill, and comes to rest on its side ... amazingly, no one is killed, but there are many injuries, and one of the causalities in the event is movie star Wallace Reid, who suffers a gash to his arm, a deep laceration of his skull that requires six stitches to close, and a back sprain ... painful injuries all, that the actor works through by helping apply first aid to the train's other wounded passengers while awaiting rescue (which takes 12 hours to arrive)!  Studio meal ticket incapacitated versus the show must go on mentality of Hollywood, Paramount rushes a doctor north to treat Reid and keep him going ... with copious injections of morphine ... and not surprisingly, by the film's completion, the movie star is a full blown drug addict (during his downfall, he will also dabble in cocaine and heroin, whatever he can get his hands on to ease his pains).
Image result for wallace reid
Reid And His Pooch

And so the routine becomes work on a picture, take drugs to get through the picture, try and kick the addiction after filming is completed ... and then do it all over again, and again, and again ... and Reid starts physically and mentally breaking down.  Sensing they are losing their valuable assets, and wanting as much out of it as possible before it is gone, Paramount churns out a torrent of Reid pictures ... releasing eight in 1919 (while Mary Pickford, the #1 female movie star in the world releases only two), seven in 1920, seven in 1921, and ten in 1922.  Finally it is too much, and in 1922, after collapsing on the set of one of his films (where he cries and cries and cries), Reid is taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital, then moved to the sanitarium of Dr. C. B. Blessing, where he receives the "Baker Cure" in which a patient is nursed off one drug ... by taking another.  In a time without Betty Ford clinics or AA meetings, nothing works (the actor tries the "Baker Cure" for six weeks), and Reid is transferred to another private sanitarium where he is placed in a padded room to kick his habits cold turkey.  Cold turkey to cold corpse not a long leap, body severely weakened, the actor soon develops a deadly case of pneumonia, and in his wife's arms, passes away in Los Angeles, California on 1/18/1923 ... at the age of only 31!
Image result for wallace reid
On The Way Down
The Reid Urn - Forest Lawn Cemetery -
Glendale - The Great Mausoleum

1/18/1923 ... why today mattered ... Hollywood has its first drug casualty, losing movie star Wallace Reid!
Image result for wallace reid funeral
Movie Poster
Wallace Reid head and shoulders 1920.jpg
Wallace Reid