H. G. Wells — famous science fiction author, wrote “The War of the Worlds” and “The Time Machine”
Felix Frankfurter — Associate Justice for the US Supreme Court appointed in 1939
Dr. Dafoe — Doctor Allan Roy Dafoe; Canadian obstetrician who safely delivered the first quintuplets to survive early infancy
Jascha Heifetz — [haɪfɪts] Lithuanian violinist who played at Carnegie Hall in 1917; New York Times said “perhaps the greatest violinist of all time”
Katharine Cornell — American stage actress, writer, and producer; called “the First Lady of the Theatre” [2]
Schiaparelli — [skjɑpəˈrɛli] or [ˌʃæp-] Italian fashion designer
Dr. Alexis Carrel — French surgeon and biologist, awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1912 for his vascular suturing techniques
Haile Selassie — Ethiopia’s regent from 1916 to 1930, then Emperor from 1930 to 1974
Mahatma Ghandi — Indian nationalist; employed non-violent civil disobedience
Arturo Toscanini — Italian conductor of the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic
Ethel Barrymore — American stage actress and major Broadway performer
Sam Goldwyn — American film producer; supplied films for Paramount in 1914
Milt Gross — American cartoonist and animator
Louella Parsons — first American movie columnist
Salvador Dali — Spanish surrealist painter
Lord and Lady Cunard — [kjunard] heirs to the Cunard line shipping business; British socialites
Ginger Rogers — American singer, dancer, and film actress; best known for working opposite Fred Astaire
Sultan of Zanzibar — Sayyid Sir Khalifa II bin Harub Al-Said. Oversaw the construction of harbor in Stone Town and tar roads in Pemba.
Oscar Wilde — Irish writer and poet, known for his witty writing voice in plays such as “The Importance of Being Earnest” and his novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray”
William Allen White — American newspaper editor, author, politician, and leader of the Progressive movement
Maude Adams — American stage actress who originated the role of Peter Pan on Broadway in 1905
Queen Victoria — monarch of the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Empress of India until her death in 1901; her 63-year reign is the longest of British monarchs, and is called the Victorian era
Irving Berlin — American composer and lyricist, rooted in Tin Pan Alley; his first international hit was “Alexander’s Ragtime Band”
Elsie Dinsmore — a children’s book series written by Martha Finley
Lillian Russell — American actress and singer
Michelangelo — Italian artist known for his sculptures, paintings, and advances in Renaissance engineering
Khedive of Egypt — equivalent to the term “viceroy”; used by the Ottoman Empire until 1914
William Beebe — [ˈbiːbi] American zoologist and one of the founders of the field of ecology
Chauncey Depew — American attorney who fought for Cornelius Vanderbilt’s railroad interests, and later became a US Senato
Edgar Allan Poe — American author, poet, and literary critic, best known for his works such as “The Raven”
Cleopatra — the last Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt; a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, and often attributed with the characteristics of the character Cleopatra in “Antony and Cleopatra” by William Shakespeare
Zazu Pitts — Eliza Susan Pitts; American actress in silent film who successfully transitioned to comedic sound films; her stock character was known as “a fretful, flustered, worrisome spinster”
Booth Tarkington — American novelist and dramatist, best known for his work “The Magnificent Ambersons”
Joan Crawford — American film actress signed by MGM; known for playing “hardworking young women who find love and success”
Lord Fauntleroy — a character in a children’s book written by Frances Hodgson Burnett, “Little Lord Fauntleroy”; the little lord is adopted by his uncle (“Big” Lord Fauntleroy) who is old and curmudgeonly and teaches him compassion
Shirley Temple — American film and television actress, singer, and dancer; achieved international fame from the film “Bright Eyes” in which she sang “The Good Ship Lollipop”
William Lyon Phelps — author, critic, radio man, newspaper columnist, and scholar; taught the first American university course on the modern novel
“Tillie the Toiler” — famous cartoon about a female stenographer who would randomly quit and be fired; was always falling for her boss
Terrapin Maryland — a soup-like dish made from turtle; it was so sought after that terrapins became in danger of extinction
Lillian Russell — famous actress, known for her voice and stage presents; did everything from vaudeville to operettas
Betsy Ross — sewed the American flag; died in 1836
True Story Magazine — a magazine full of stories submitted by readers; generally followed the formula of “sin-suffer-repent”
Deanna Durbin — signed with MGM, was Judy Garland’s main competition
Billy Rose — Broadway producer and lyricist, known for songs such as “It’s Me and My Shadow” and “It’s Only a Paper Moon”
Ethel Waters — African-American jazz and blues vocalist and actress
Somerset Maugham — British playwright and novelist; the “highest paid author of the 30’s”
John D. Rockefeller — founder of Standard Oil Company and philanthropist; financed the building of the Rockefeller Center
Horace Greeley — founder of the New York Tribune; died 1872
Klondike Harry — the lyrics of “Song of the Yukon” combined with the historical figure Harry Oakes, who was a Canadian gold mine owner (according to Hank)
Madam Butterfly — literary reference to “Madama Butterfly” (which was partially based on a novel by John Luther Long), an opera about a woman who lies in wait of a man who promised himself to her and kills herself when they cannot be together
Admiral Richard E. Byrd — American naval officer who specialized in exploration; he claimed he was the first to reach the North and South Poles by air
Elwell murder — Joseph Bowne Elwell, a popular author who was killed in his locked house in 1920; the case is still unsolved
John L. Lewis — American leader of organized labor; president of the United Mine Workers of America, helped created the United Steel Workers of America, and joined the American Federation of Labor
Walt Disney — founder of the Walt Disney corporation, known for revolutionizing the American animated film industry
Lana Turner — American actress, signed by MGM at 16; one of the first Hollywood “scream queens” after starring in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941)
Boy’s Life — the magazine for the Boy Scouts of America
Yogi — not to be confused with yoga, a Yogi is a person of higher spiritual status in Hinduism
Margaret Bourke White — famous photojournalist; first foreign photographer permitted to take picture of the Soviet industry, and the first female war correspondent
Lothario — a characteristic name for a lady-killer, from the name of the principal male character of Nicholas Rowe’s “The Fair Penitent” (1756)
Wagner Act — also known as the National Labor Relations Act, named after its figurehead Robert Wagner, which established better working conditions and organizing unions
Hamilton Fish — American politician who served as the 16th governor of New York, a US Senator and the US Secretary of State; often regarded as “one of the best Secretaries of State in US history”
Hattie Carnegie — New York fashion entrepreneur from the 1920’s to the 1960’s
Jock Whitney — John Hay Whitney, known as “Jock” to friends; US Ambassador to the United Kingdom and publisher of the New York Herald Tribune
Cary Grant — English stage and Hollywood actor; was second in the American Film Institute’s “Greatest Male Star of All Time”, the first being Humphrey Bogart; known for “A Philadelphia Story” and “His Girl Friday”
Dorothy di Frasso — famous for her relationship with Gary Cooper; famous woman in Hollywood who never was in the movies
Anthony Eden — British conservative politician, Prime Minister in 1955
Beatrice Lillie — “Bea” Lillie; actress and comedic performer who married Sir Robert Peel in England and was privately known as “Lady Peel”
Norma Shearer — one of the most popular actresses in North America, known for her girl-next-door feel
Claudette Colbert — leading lady known for her screwball comedy, but also capable of dramatic range
Aldous Huxley — English writer best known for A Brave New World
Adrian Adolph Greenberg — illustrious costume designer for MGM; designed the original ruby slippers for The Wizard of Oz; was openly gay, but married a woman in order to appease the Production Code (a code created by William Hays and the MPAA that permitted homosexuality and cursing, among other things)
Darryl F. Zanuck — major studio executive and producer; bought out Fox and merged it with 20th Century films to created 20th Century Fox
Elizabeth Arden — Elizabeth Arden, Inc., founded by a businesswoman of the same name; sells cosmetics
Polly Adler’s — New York madame of a high-class brothel; Kaufman was claimed to be a client
Lady Astor — American-born , Nancy Langhorne married the Viscount Astor in 1911. A great hostess in London society, the Viscountess Astor was also the first woman elected to Parliament. Long a proponent of social causes, in the 1930s, she was a fervent anti-Communist.
Lord Beaverbrook — British press baron, born in Canada. As owner of the Daily Express, the London Sunday Express, and the Evening Standard, he wielded tremendous power and was a also a Cabinet member under Churchill, beginning in 1940.
Hedy Lamarr — Born Hedy Keisler, this Hungarian film actress made a sensation in her nude scenes in the European film, Ekstase. In Hollywood from 1938, when she made the sensuous film, Algiers.
Howard Hughes — President of Hughes Tool Co., the young multi-millionaire used his funds to support his hobbies in aviation and Hollywood film producing. In 1938, he set an aroundthe-world flying record of three days, 19 hours, and 17 seconds. In 1939, he bought TWA.
J. Edgar Hoover — Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations from 1924 to 1975. Particularly intent on foiling gangster racketeering in the early 1930s. It is speculated that he cross-dressed, but there is no quantifiable evidence.
Petrushka — A 1911 ballet written by Igor Stravinsky for Diaghilev, based on Russian folk themes.
Mrs. Siddons — Sarah Siddons, famous actress in the 18th Century known for her portrayal of Lady Macbeth. After this role, she went on to be almost every Shakespearean leading lady.