In 1955, Graetz’s husband, Bob, a newly ordained minister, was assigned to the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Montgomery, Ala. A predominantly Black church; the Graetzes were white. They not only accepted the assignment, they chose to live in the predominantly Black neighborhood the church drew its congregation from. One of the people in the … Read more
From This is True for 20 December 2020
So was born in Stockton, Calif., the son of an auto mechanic and a civil servant. His parents had separately fled as teens from the Communist Khmer Rouge’s killing fields in Cambodia, and met in California. Anthony was all American, graduating from Stanford University with dual bachelors degrees in art and English, and then earned … Read more
From This is True for 13 December 2020
A writer, Bova liked science: in the 1950s he was a technical writer for the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s Project Vanguard, which planned to launch the first artificial satellite into orbit. There was a lot of competition to be first: the U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency was trying to build a satellite to launch on … Read more
From This is True for 6 December 2020
On December 6, 2017, Hodges headed outside her Grand Rapids, Mich., home with her mother to go to the store. They were confronted in their yard by several police officers. One yelled, “Put your hands on top of your—” before being interrupted by Honestie’s mother: “She is 11 years old, sir!” The officer said “Stop … Read more
From This is True for 29 November 2020
An actress, Dietrich may be another of those where you think, “I don’t know that name, but the face is familiar…”. She studied acting in New York with many who would go on to stardom: Anne Bancroft, Colleen Dewhurst, Grace Kelly, and Jason Robards. She mainly appeared on the stage, starting in 1965 as the … Read more
From This is True for 22 November 2020
Born in Ohio, Wolman learned German at the Defense Language School, joined U.S. Army Military Intelligence, and in the 1960s was stationed in West Berlin. In his off time, he took up photography, and was good: he quickly sold a photo essay about living with the Berlin Wall. Once he returned to the U.S. he … Read more
From This is True for 8 November 2020
Born in New Jersey, Arthur became an actress. She had moderate success until she met Mel Brooks. Her breakout role: the prim schoolmarm Harriet van Johnson in 1974’s Blazing Saddles. Brooks used her again — in Silent Movie (1976), Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993), and Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995). On TV, she … Read more
From This is True for 1 November 2020
Growing up in Wisconsin, Smith (at the time, Viola Schmitz) had seven sisters and two brothers, and all trained on the piano. Their father came up with the idea of creating an all-girl musical act, the Schmitz Sisters Family Orchestra. As the sixth child, Viola didn’t have a lot of choice of instruments to play … Read more
From This is True for 26 October 2020
Born in Brooklyn, Benguiat’s father was a designer. Benguiat wanted to fight in World War II, but wasn’t old enough — so his father helped him forge a birth certificate, and Ed joined the U.S. Army Air Forces, where he was a radio operator on bombers, and later did photo reconnaissance. After the war he … Read more
From This is True for 18 October 2020
Raised in Seattle, Rall’s mother signed him up for dancing lessons at the age of 4. That led to him performing acrobatic dance acts in vaudeville theaters, so the family moved to Los Angeles to give him a shot at bigger stages. It worked: as a pre-teen he started landing roles, including the Andrews Sisters’ … Read more
From This is True for 11 October 2020