Whisper's Blog

RUTH ELIZABETH DAVIS was born on April 5, 1908 in Lowell, Massachusetts. Her parents divorced when she was 7 and her mother encouraged her interest in acting by taking her to New York in 1928 where she made her acting debut in 1929. In 1930 Universal Pictures signed her to a contract and Bette and her mother went to Hollywood. Her first film was BAD SISTER (1931), which also featured Humphrey Bogart, but her first big sucess came with George Arliss in THE MAN WHO PLAYED GOD (1932).

Bette’s career took a dramatic turn in 1934 when she was lent to RKO to play opposite Leslie Howard in OF HUMAN BONDAGE, and on account of her good reviews, she began to get better parts. The following year, she made DANGEROUS (1935), for which she won a Best Actress Oscar, the first of ten times she would be nominated. In 1936 Bette challenged the studio system and went to London to make pictures with a British company. After Warner Bros. successfully sued her, she returned to Hollywood and signed a new contract offering her even better roles. She won the second of her two Best Actress awards for William Wyler’s JEZEBEL in 1938 (also starring Henry Fonda), and made four notable films in 1939 including DARK VICTORY with Humphrey Bogart, JUAREZ, THE OLD MAID and THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX.

Davis became famous and often imitated for her clipped diction and distinct mannerisms (especially her extravagent cigarette smoking), and her popularity continued to grow with successes such as ALL THIS, AND HEAVEN TOO (1940), THE LETTER (1940) with Herbert Marshall, THE LITTLE FOXES (1941) with Teresa Wright, and NOW, VOYAGER (1942) with Paul Henried. Her career faltered in the late forties, but she came roaring back in 1950 playing the fading Broadway star Margo Channing in ALL ABOUT EVE, the Best Picture of the year. Later in the ’50s, her career began to falter once more, but she came back once again in WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? (1962), also starring Joan Crawford.

Bette continued to adapt to new acting opportunities throughout her career, taking on roles in horror films in later years as well as making various TV appearances. Her personal life was not as successful however, having been married four times and suffering estrangement from her daughter B.D. Her last significant film appearance was THE WHALES OF AUGUST in 1987. Bette herself once said, “I adore playing bitches … there’s a little bit of bitch in every woman; and a little bit of bitch in every man.” In 1977, she was the first woman to receive the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award, and she died on October 6, 1989 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France.

Biographical information from Cinemania ‘95. http://www.gslis.utexas.edu/~kidnet/reviews/cinema.html

Born Norma Jeane Mortenson on June 1, 1926 in Los Angeles General Hospital, to Gladys Mortenson, who listed the father’s address as unknown. Marilyn never knew the identity of her father. Norma Jeane spent the first seven years of her life as a foster child in the home of Albert and Ida Bolender.

Marilyn said, “They were terribly strict. They didn’t mean any harm. It was their religion. They brought me up harshly.”

In 1933 at age 7, Norma Jeane lived for a brief time with her mother. In 1934 Gladys was admitted to a rest home in Santa Monica, and Grace McKee, a close friend, too Norma Jeane in.

Grace was captivated by Jean Harlow, a superstar of the twenties. She often told Norma Jean, “Don’t worry, Norma Jeane. You’re going to be a beautiful girl when you get big, an important woman, a movie star.” These statements were explained years later when Marilyn said, “and so Jean Harlow was my idol.”

Norma Jeane was placed in an orphanage from September 1935 to June 1937 when Grace married. During the frequent visits Grace took her to the movies, clothes shopping, and spent time teaching her how to apply makeup. Over the next several years Norma Jean lived with several of Grace’s relatives.

She recounted memories of those years, “The world around me then was kind of grim. I had to learn to pretend in order to; I don’t know; block the grimness. The whole world seemed sort of closed to me. I felt on the outside of everything, and all I could do was to dream up any kind of pretend-game.”

In September 1941 she met Jim Dougherty who was 5 years her senior. She was living with Grace again at this time. Grace encouraged the relationship, and on June 19, 1942 Norma Jeane and Jim got married.

“Grace McKee arranged the marriage for me, I never had a choice. There’s not much to say about it. They couldn’t support me, and they had to work out something. And so I got married.”

Jim joined the Merchant Marines in 1943, and in 1944 was sent overseas. She went to work in a factory inspecting parachutes. It was here that she was photographed by the Army in a promotion to show women contributing to the war effort. One of the photographers, David Conover, asked to take further pictures of her. By spring of 1945, she was known as a “photographers dream” and had appeared on the covers of thirty three national magazines.

The Fall of 1946 Jim and Norma Jean were divorced. “My marriage didn’t make me sad, but it didn’t make me happy either. My husband and I hardly spoke to each other. This wasn’t because we were angry. We had nothing to say. I was dying of boredom.”

On July 23, 1946 she signed a contract with Twentieth Century-Fox Studios. Using her mother’s maiden name Monroe she became Marilyn Monroe. In August of that year she had a bit part in the movie “Scudda-Hoo! Scudda-Hay!, and was dismissed as a contract player. In 1948 she was rehired and, had her first singing part in the movie “Ladies of the Chorus”.

Johnny Hyde, of the William Morris Agency, became her mentor and lover in 1949. This was the same year she agreed to pose nude for a calendar. That decision later stirred up a lot of controversy later in her career.

“Hollywood is a place where they’ll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul”

Her first serious acting job came in 1950 when she appeared in “The Asphalt Jungle”. “Clash By Night” in 1952 earned her several favorable notices. Alton Cook of the New York World-Telegram and Sun wrote, “a forceful actress, a gifted new star, worthy of all that fantastic press agentry. Her role here is not very big, but she makes it dominant.”

Her first leading role was in the 1952 “Don’t Bother to Knock” film.

Marilyn met Joe DiMaggio in early 1952. He had recently retired from baseball, and had expressed a desire to meet her. In a short time their romance was in full bloom.

“I was surprised to be so crazy about Joe. I expected a flashy New York sports type, and instead I met this reserved guy who didn’t make a pass at me right away! He treated me like something special. Joe is a very decent man, and he makes other people feel decent, too!”

In 1952 Marilyn began filming “Niagara” with Joseph Cotten; a film that was to establish her stardom. Her next big film was “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”. “I want to be a big star more than anything. It’s something precious”

On January 14, 1952 Joe and Marilyn were married. The wedding captured the headlines worldwide. Joe was extremely jealous, and resented her popularity, especially with the male population. He wanted a housewife, not a star. The marriage was in trouble from the beginning.

She explained, “Joe hates crowds, and glamour. I didn’t want to give up my career, and that’s what Joe wanted me to do most of all.”

She was asked to go on a USO tour in Korea. On February 16th she entertained over 60,000 soldiers, many of whom had never seen a Monroe film. She was a huge success. Joe did not accompany her on this trip.

“…standing in the snowfall facing these yelling soldiers, I felt for the first time in my life no fear of anything, I felt only happy.”

On May 29, Marilyn began filming “There’s No Business Like Show Business”. Throughout the summer she was ill with bronchitis, and anemia. Marilyn began displaying the serious side-effects of all the sleeping pills she had been taking. She was often groggy, lethargic and found crying on the set.

In 1954 several hundred photographers, along with over 2000 spectators gathered outside the Trans-Lux Theater in New York City in the early morning hours of September 15th to see and record her as she posed for over two hours in the now-famous “skirt blowing scene” from the movie “The Seven Year Itch”.

In the fall of 1954 Marilyn and Joe separated, and were later divorced. On October 6, Jerry Giesler made a press announcement and stated “As her attorney, I am speaking for her and can only say that the conflict of careers has brought about this regrettable necessity.” With the press hounding her, Marilyn answered in a choked voice, “I can’t say anything today. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

“When I married him (Joe), I wasn’t sure of why I married him, I have too many fantasies to be a housewife.”

In early 1955 Marilyn again returned to New York and joined the Actors Studio, in pursuit of becoming a serious actress. There she met Lee Strasberg, head of the Studio and drama coach. Strasberg and his family played an important role in her life.

She and Arthur Miller had an affair, and were married June 29,1956 in White Plains, NY. Miller said,”It was wonderful to be around her, she was simply overwhelming. She had so much promise. It seemed to me that she could really be a great kind of phenomenon, a terrific artist. She was endlessly fascinating, full of original observations..There wasn’t a conventional bone in her body.”

Marilyn filmed “Bus Stop” in 1956.

The Millers departed for London soon after their marriage so that Marilyn could start production on “The Prince and the Showgirl” with Lawrence Olivier. As early as July, Arthur began to have doubts about the marriage. Sidney Skolsky remarked that: “Miller looked on Marilyn strictly as an ideal, and was shocked to discover that she is a human being, a person, even as you and I and maybe Miller.”

“Bus Stop” opened in London in October 1956. A Times review said: “Miss Monroe is a talented comedienne, and her sense of timing never forsake her. She gives a complete portrait, sensitively and sometimes even brilliantly conceived. There is about her a waif-life quality, an underlying note of pathos which can be strangely moving.”

“It’s not that I object to doing musicals and comedies. In fact, I rather enjoy them, but I’d like to do dramatic parts too.”

Marilyn Monroe did not return to Hollywood until 1958 to make “Some Like It Hot” with Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis. Her health continued to deteriorate due to her increased dependency on drugs. She often came to the set late, and was unable to remember her lines. Director, Billy Wilder later said: “Anyone can remember lines, but it takes a real artist to come on the set and not know her lines and yet give the performance she did.”

“I am invariably late for appointments…sometimes, as much as two hours. I’ve tried to change my ways but the things that make me late are too strong, and too pleasing.”

“Let’s Make Love” proved to be an unremarkable film. Much publicity over her brief affair with co-star Yves Montand surrounded her.

“The Misfits”, a short story by Arthur Miller adapted for film began in July 1960. While on location the Millers lived in separate quarters, and were barely speaking. Pills for Marilyn were flown in regularly via her Los Angeles doctors.

Allan Snyder recalled: “It took so long to get her going in the morning that usually I had to make her up while she lay in her bed. But once again, she managed to give an exceptional performance.”

“Everybody is always tugging at you. They’d all like a sort of chunk out of you. I don’t think they realize it, but it’s like: grrrr do this, grrrr do that, but you do want to stay intact; intact and on two feet.”

On November 5th, the day after “The Misfits” was completed. Co-star Clark Gable suffered a serious heart attack and died eleven days later on November 16, 1960. Marilyn felt a great deal of guilt, commenting, “I kept him waiting. Kept him waiting for hours and hours on that picture.”

Evelyn Moriarty remembered: “Marilyn was being blamed for everything. All of her problems were exaggerated to cover up for Director Huston’s gambling, and the terrible waste of money on that production. It was easy for her to be made the scapegoat.”

Marilyn and Arthur Miller were divorced in January of 1961, the same month that “The Misfits” was released.

“Mr. Miller is a wonderful man and a great writer, but it didn’t work out that we should be husband and wife.”

In 1961 Marilyn purchased a house in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles. At the urging of her psychoanalyst, Dr Greenson, she hired Eunice Murray as housekeeper. Murray, calling herself a nurse, had neither the training nor the credentials. It is suspected that she was a “spy” for Dr. Greenson who continued to have more, and more control over Marilyn’s life, seeing her almost daily when she was in Los Angeles.

A reported affair with John F. Kennedy began in late 1961. At the President’s gala birthday celebration in Madison Square Garden on May 19, 1962, Marilyn sang her now famous “Happy Birthday” tribute to JFK. The Attorney General, Bobby Kennedy was also reported to have had an affair with Marilyn shortly before her death.

The production on “Somethings Got to Give” began in April 1962. Reports of her inability to show up on the set flourished.

“I feel stronger if the people around me on the set love me, care for me, and hold good thoughts for me. It creates an aura of love, and I believe I can give a better performance.”

The Studio was deeply in debt over their production of “Cleopatra” starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. The filming was way behind schedule, and costing millions over budget. It was theorized, that if Fox scrapped the Marilyn Monroe film which had fewer expensive sets and actors, they possibly could be reimbursed by the insurance company for losses due to her illness. Fox fired her, and filed suit against Marilyn Monroe Productions on June 7, but the suit was later dropped.

Marilyn had been seeing Joe DiMaggio frequently during this time, and had finally agreed to remarry him. The wedding date was set for August 8, 1962. Fox rehired her on August 1 to complete “Somethings Got to Give” with a salary of $250,000. However, Marilyn died on August 5, 1962 four days later.

Joe DiMaggio made arrangements for the funeral, inviting no one from the Hollywood scene or press, but only close friends, and relatives. As he said: “they had only hurt Marilyn.” For over 20 years flowers were delivered weekly to her crypt from Joe. He had promised Marilyn he’d do this when she told him of William Powell’s pledge to the dying Jean Harlow.

“I knew I belonged to the public and to the world, not because I was talented or even beautiful, but because I had never belonged to anything or anyone else.”

Marilyn Monroe’s career as an actress spanned 16 years. She made 29 films, 24 in the first 8 years of her career.

Lucille Ball was born August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York. Setting her mind on becoming an actress early, she left high school at age 15, and with her mother’s blessing, enrolled in John Murray Anderson Drama School in New York City. Though she auditioned repeatedly, Ball was told she had no talent, and was never accepted to the school. With no experience behind her and very few acting roles for women available, Ball took a job as a model, using the name Diane Belmont. Moderately successful, Ball became an Earl Carrol showgirl and began modeling for popular fashion designer, Hattie Carnegie. Carnegie chose Ball to be the Chesterfield Cigarette Girl in 1933. The position won her national exposure for the first time, and caught the attention of Hollywood. Lucille Ball’s first role was an appearance in Eddie Cantor’s musical, “Roman Scandals” in 1933.

Ball continued to audition for movies, and caught bit parts in low budget feature films like, “Blood Money” in 1933 and “Kid Millions” the following year. The success of her first roles would lead to bigger and better parts. Ball would appear in over 60 films by the late 1940s, including feature films starring Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers and Bob Hope.

After performing in the musical “Too Many Girls,” in 1940 with popular Cuban band leader, Desi Arnaz, Ball fell in love with her co-star, and married him later that year. Band and career schedules clashed often, and the newlyweds often found themselves on opposite sides of the country. Lucy filed for divorce in 1944, but managed to patch things up just one day before the divorce was to be finalized.

The young couple decided that the only way to make their marriage work was if they worked together on a project. Ball and Arnaz pitched an idea to CBS that would involve the unlikely marriage of a wild red head to a Cuban band leader. At first, CBS officials balked at the idea, claiming that the American public would never accept such a couple. So, the husband and wife team formed their own production company called “Desilu,” and hit the road, taking their show idea and turning it into a popular and highly praised vaudeville act. When CBS still refused to consider the show, the Ball and Arnaz used their own money to film the pilot episode of the show. “I Love Lucy” premiered in October of 1951, and instantly became the most popular television show in America. CBS picked it up before the show’s thirty minute episode was over.

“I Love Lucy” ran successfully for 6 years. The first four years on the air, “I Love Lucy” was number one in the Neilsen Ratings. During its entire history, the show never fell below number three. “I Love Lucy” won more than 200 awards, 5 Emmys and the respect and admiration of the country.

In January of 1953, the “I Love Lucy” introduced an eyebrow raising episode in which Lucy gave birth on the air to “Little Ricky.” Pregnant with her real life first son, Desi Jr. at the time, a record 44 million viewers tuned in to watch the live birth.

Ball and Arnaz’s coupling had been labeled tumultuous in the late 1950s, and after 179 episodes of the “I Love Lucy Show,” they decided to call it quits to save their marriage. While they said goodbye to the old show, they began taping another, named “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.” The 60-minute show didn’t need the time and attention of their previous works, and Arnaz and Ball once again seemed happy and in love. Arnaz spent less time in the recording studio with his band, and more at home, working with”Desilu.” By the end of the 1950s, Desilu became a powerful, respected corporation, producing such hit TV shows as “Star Trek” and “Mission Impossible.”

After 20 years of marriage, Ball and Arnaz divorced in 1960. While Arnaz turned to alcohol and was rarely seen in public again, Ball took out a loan for $3 million and bought her ex-husbands half of Desilu. At the time, Desilu was the world’s largest production facility and Lucy’s take-over made her the first woman in history to hold such a position.

In 1962, encouraged by fans, Ball reintroduced Lucy to TV, as she starred in “The Lucy Show.” It would run successfully for 6 years, and feature her real life children, Lucie and Desi Jr., and former co-star, Vivian Vance. When “The Lucy Show” went off the air, Ball wasted no time in reformatting the show and starring in yet another series based on the same character. “Here’s Lucy,” was instantly picked up by the networks and ran on prime time through 1974. It was during this same time when Ball spread her wings and began performing outside the lines of comedy. She won rave reviews for her appearance on Broadway in 1961s, “Wildcat.” On the heels of that success, Ball teamed with Bob Hope for two feature films and co-starred with Henry Fonda in the critically acclaimed, “Yours, Mine and Ours.”

Though she played a ditzy, wild hearted redhead, in real life, Ball was nothing of the kind. In 1967, she sold Desilu Productions for $17 million, netting some $10 million.

Ball remarried in 1968, taking Gary Morton as her second husband. Morton, a former comedian, worked with Ball to help create “Lucille Ball Productions.”

In the late 70s and early 80s, Ball made only sporadic appearances on TV, usually as the guest star. In 1985, she portrayed a New York homeless woman in the TV film, “Stone Pillow.” The following year, at the age of 75, she debuted “Life with Lucy,” a half hour comedy series. It aired for only two months before being cancelled.

Lucille Ball spent much of the rest of her life out of the spotlight. Her last public appearance was at the 1989 Academy Awards.

One week after undergoing open heart surgery, on April 26, 1989, Lucille Ball suffered a ruptured aorta and died. She was 77 years old. Ball is survived by two children. Desi Arnaz died of cancer in 1986. Today, “I Love Lucy” is syndicated in more than 80 countries and remains one of the most popular TV shows of all time.

Julia Jean Mildred Frances Turner was born on February 8, 1920 in Wallace, Idaho. Sources say Miss Turner was born in 1920 although the actress stated in her autobiography that she was born in 1921.

In 1935, Miss Turner and her family moved to Los Angeles, California where she attended Hollywood High School where a lot of other budding actresses were students. She was soon introduced to William R. Wilkerson the publisher of the “Hollywood Reporter” and he in turn introduced this young woman to Zeppo Marx who had his own casting agency. Marx sent Miss Turner to director Mervyn LeRoy for a screen test. This fifteen-year-old was cast in her first movie “They Won’t Forget” which hit the box office in 1937. This was the first time the young woman appeared on screen in a form fitting sweater and skirt. This would soon become her trademark – cashmere sweaters and skirts, which then became the rage for all the young women. Miss Turner was dubbed “The Sweater Girl” although she did not like the stereotype. After acting in her first film, Miss Turner signed a contract with MGM studio. Miss Taylor made over fifty films in her acting career.

Her on screen persona did not reflect her private life. Miss Turner was married seven times, had numerous lovers and was involved in a murder scandal that involved her teenage daughter. Her private life only seemed to add to her sex symbol status.

After World War II, Miss Turner moved away from the Sweater Girl stereotype and was cast in more mature roles. After 1952, she didn’t renew her contract with MGM and it proved profitable for her to do so.

In 1958, she won an Academy Award for her role in the movie “Peyton Place.” After that, Miss Turner was in demand. In the 1970s, Miss Turner took to the stage and then in 1982, she played in her last role – the television miniseries “Falcon Crest” where she starred opposite Jane Wyman. She also published her autobiography in the same year.

In 1973, Miss Turner retired from acting. She became a recluse until 1992 when she was diagnosed with throat cancer. Miss Turner died on June 29, 1995 in Century City, Los Angeles.

Lana Turner became a sex icon in the 1940s and 1950s. She was dubbed The Sweater Girl making cashmere sweaters and skirts the fashion rage.

Doris Day (1924 –) Doris Mary Ann Von Kappelhoff was born to German Catholic parents on April 3, 1924 in Cincinnati, Ohio. She had a brother Richard, who died before she was born, and Paul who was a few years older. Her father, and mother’s marriage brokeup when she was about eight years old.

At age twelve, she and Jerry Doherty had a dance act. They won $500 in a talent contest, and she went to Hollywood. She returned to Cincinatti two years later at age fourteen, and was in a terrible car crash which almost ended her dancing career.

At the age of sixteen, Doris added singing to her entertainment repertoire. She began singing with Bob Crosby’s band, and later toured with the Les Brown Band. During this tour she met Al Jorden, and later they married. Al was a violent man, and after the birth of their son Terry in 1942, she initiated divorce proceedings.

In 1946, after entertaining the troops for a couple of years, she met and married George Weidler, which lasted eight months.

She sang with Frank Sinatra on the “Saturday Night Hit Parade”. He and Artie Shaw encouraged her to try acting, and in 1948 she appeared in her first film, “Romance On The High Seas.” While filming for Warner Brothers, she met Marty Melcher who became her agent, and on her 27th birthday, her husband.

In 1958 her brother Paul died. Marty made her sign to do films that she did not want to do, which eventually led to Doris nervous exhaustion. Marty died in 1968, and Doris was bankrupt. She eventually was awarded $22 million by the Courts. She married Barry Comden in 1976 and since their divorce in 1980 devoted her life to animals.

Gladys Pyle (October 4, 1890 – March 14, 1989) was a South Dakota politician and the first woman elected to the United States Senate without having previously been appointed to her position; she was also the first woman senator to serve as a Republican and the first woman senator from South Dakota. She was also the first female senator never to marry.

She was born to John and Mamie (Shields) Pyle and graduated from Huron College in 1911. She taught in the public high schools at Miller, Wessington, and Huron from 1912-1918. In 1923 she became first woman member of the State House of Representatives, serving from 1923-1927. Pyle then served as Secretary of State of South Dakota from 1927-1931 and ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for governor in 1930, garnering nearly a third of the vote in the primary but losing after seven recounts of the votes. She was a member of the State securities commission from 1931-1933. She engaged in the life insurance business in private life.

Gladys, her mother Mamie, and two sisters very involved in the Women’s Suffrage movement and frequently hosted meetings of the local chapter in their house.

On November 8, 1938 she was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Peter Norbeck. She defeated Tom Berry, a former Democratic Governor of South Dakota. She served from November 9, 1938, to January 3, 1939, and did not seek re-election to the seat.

In 1940 she became the first woman to deliver a presidential nominating speech at a national convention, speaking out for candidate Wendell Willkie.

She resumed her career in the life insurance business and also engaged in farm management. She later became a member of the South Dakota Board of Charities and Corrections 1943-1957 and agent for Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. 1950-1986.

Gladys Pyle died in Huron on March 14, 1989. Her ashes are interred in Riverside Cemetery with her relatives.

The family home that she lived in from 1894 until 1985 is on the National Register of Historic Places and has been converted into a museum. It is largely unchanged from when it was built and has many of the original furnishings. The carpeting, wallpaper, windows (including three stained-glass sections), doors, interior layout, radiators, door hardware, and wood finish are original or nearly so. In fact, although a more modern gas-powered furnace has replaced the original coal-fired one, the original ornate radiators still heat the house.

The home remained largely in its original state due to the untimely death of Gladys’ father, John Levi Pyle, in 1902 of typhoid fever. John Pyle was a local attorney as well as local politician, so after his death his family had to work hard to keep the house, and little money was available for new furnishings or interior decorations.

The house contains numerous Pyle family artifacts, including her maternal grandfather’s discharge papers from the 2nd New Jersey Infantry Regiment (dated March 27, 1866), photos of both of Gladys’ grandparents, and the Pyle family Bible dating to the 1840s. The Huron College Rubiquat from the early 1900s (featuring pictures of her two sisters as students) is on display as well. Also, a ballot that she appeared on is framed next to the downstairs bathroom, and her father’s cavalry sword and uniform from his duties as general of the South Dakota Regiment (the precursor to the South Dakota National Guard) are on display.

The upstairs bedrooms and bathroom (including Huron’s first indoor bathtub) has been converted into a small apartment for the live-in caretaker and is not viewable to the public. It is located at 376 Idaho Ave SE in Huron (across from the local hospital) and is open to visitors for a nominal fee from 1pm to 3:30pm daily.

Elizabeth McCardle-Johnson (October 4, 1810 in Greeneville, Tennessee – January 15, 1876 in Greeneville, Tennessee) was the 18th First Lady of the United States and the wife of Andrew Johnson, the 17th President of the United States.

Born at Leesburg, Tennessee, the only child of John McCardle, a shoemaker, and Sarah Phillips-McCardle, Eliza lost her father when she was still a small child. She was raised by her widowed mother in Greeneville, Tennessee. One day in September 1826, Eliza was chatting with classmates from Rhea Academy when she spotted Andrew Johnson and his family pull into town with all their belongings. They instantly took a liking to each other. Andrew Johnson, aged 18, married Eliza McCardle, aged 16, on May 17, 1827, at the home of the bride’s mother in Greeneville. Mordecai Lincoln, a distant relative of Abraham Lincoln presided over the nuptials.

At 16, Eliza Johnson married at a younger age than any other First Lady. Mrs. Johnson was rather tall and had hazel eyes, brown hair and a good figure. She was better educated than Johnson, who by this time had barely taught himself to read and spell a little. Johnson credited his wife for teaching him to do arithmetic and to write, as he had never attended school himself. She tutored him patiently, while he labored in his tailor shop. She often read aloud to him.

The Johnsons had three sons and two daughters, all born in Greeneville, Tennessee:

Martha Johnson-Patterson (1828-1891). She married David T. Patterson, who after the Civil War served as U.S. Senator from Tennessee. She served as official White House hostess in place of her mother. The Pattersons maintained a farm outside Greeneville, Tennessee.
Charles Johnson (1830-1863) – doctor, pharmacist. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he remained loyal to the Union. While recruiting Tennessee boys for the Union Army, he became the object of an intense Confederate manhunt. He joined the Middle Tennessee Union Infantry as an assistant surgeon; he was thrown from his horse and killed.
Mary Johnson-Stover-Brown (1832-1883). She married Dan Stover, who served as colonel of the Fourth Tennessee Union Infantry during the Civil War. The Stovers lived on a farm in Carter County, Tennessee. Following the death of her husband in 1864, she married W.R. Brown.
Robert Johnson (1834-1869) – lawyer. He served for a time in the Tennessee state legislature. During the Civil War he was commissioned colonel of the First Tennessee Union Cavalry. He was private secretary to his father during his tenure as president. He died an alcoholic at age 35.
Andrew Johnson, Jr. (1852-1879) – journalist. He founded the weekly Greeneville Intelligencer, but it failed after two years. He died soon thereafter at age 27.
She supported her husband in his political career, but had tried to avoid public appearances. During the Civil War, Confederate authorities ordered her to evacuate her home in Greeneville; she took refuge in Nashville, Tennessee.

A few months later after her husband became president, she joined him in the White House, but she was not able to serve as First Lady due to her poor health. She remained confined to a room on the second floor, leaving the social chores to her daughter (Martha Johnson-Patterson). Mrs. Johnson appeared publicly as First Lady on only two occasions – at a reception for Queen Emma of the Sandwich Islands in 1866 and at the president’s birthday party in 1867.

She died on January 15, 1876, at age 67, having survived her husband by just six months. She was buried next to him in Greeneville, Tennessee. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliza_McCardle_Johnson

Mary Ann Todd Lincoln (December 13, 1818–July 16, 1882) was the wife of the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, and was First Lady of the United States from 1861 to 1865.

Life before the White House
Born in Lexington, Kentucky, the daughter of Robert Smith Todd, a banker, and Elizabeth Parker-Todd, Mary was raised in comfort and refinement.[1] After her mother’s death at age seven, her father remarried Elizabeth “Betsy” Humphreys-Todd in 1826. [2] Mary had a difficult relationship with her stepmother. Beginning in 1832, Mary’s childhood home was what is now known as the Mary Todd Lincoln House, a 14-room upper-class residence in Lexington. [3] From her father’s marriages to her mother and stepmother, she had 15 siblings.

Mary Todd attended fine schools, spoke French fluently, and studied dance, drama and music. She had a ready wit and sparking personality that made her quite popular. She suffered from agonizing migraine headaches. Some recent historians and physicians have suggested that she suffered from schizophrenia, and her name often appears on lists of famous persons with schizophrenia.[4][5] However, such a diagnosis would have been impossible in her lifetime, and any diagnosis at this late date cannot be certain.

At the age of twenty, in 1839, Mary Todd left the family home and moved to Springfield, Illinois, where her sister Mrs. Ninian[6] Edwards was already living.[7] Although Mary was courted by the rising young lawyer and politician Stephen A. Douglas, she was unexpectedly attracted by Douglas’s lower-status rival, and fellow lawyer, Abraham Lincoln. Ninian facilitated their courtship and introduced Mary to Abraham at a dance on December 16.

After a hesitant two-year courtship, Abraham Lincoln, age 33, married Mary Todd, age 23, on November 4, 1842, at the home of Mrs. Edwards in Springfield, Illinois. The Lincolns apparently had a comfortable marriage before the pressures of public life began to threaten her fragile mind.

Abraham pursued his increasingly successful career as a Springfield lawyer, and Mary supervised their growing household. Their home together from 1844 until 1861 survives in Springfield, and is now the Lincoln Home National Historic Site.

Their children, all born in Springfield, were:

Robert Todd Lincoln (1843-1926) – lawyer, diplomat, businessman.
Edward Baker Lincoln known as “Eddie” (1846-1850)
William Wallace Lincoln known as “Willie” (1850-1862)
Thomas Lincoln known as “Tad” (1853-1871)
By all accounts, both Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln were indulgent, careful, kind, and loving parents. Of these four sons, only Robert and Tad survived into adulthood, and only Robert outlived his mother.
While she often resented her husband’s absence from their home as he practiced law and campaigned for political office, Mrs. Lincoln staunchly supported him as he faced the growing crisis caused by American slavery. This concluded in Lincoln’s election as President of the United States.

Anti-Union sentiment was very strong in Mrs. Lincoln’s home state of Kentucky, one of the four slave states that did not secede. Many upper-class Kentuckians who were members of the social stratum into which Mrs. Lincoln had been born, supported the Southern cause.

Assassination Survivor and Later Life

The assassination of Abraham Lincoln. From left to right: Henry Rathbone, Clara Harris, Mary Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth.In April 1865, as the Civil War came to an end, Mrs. Lincoln hoped to renew her happiness as the First Lady of a nation at peace. However, on April 14, 1865, as Mary Lincoln sat with her husband to watch the comic play Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre, President Lincoln was mortally wounded by an assassin. Mrs. Lincoln accompanied her husband across the street to the Petersen House, where the President died on the following day, April 15. Mary Lincoln would never fully recover from the traumatic experience; she became even more unhinged.

As a widow, Mrs. Lincoln returned to Illinois. In 1868, Mrs. Lincoln’s former confidante, Elizabeth Keckly, published Behind the Scenes, or, Thirty years a slave, and four years in the White House. Although this book has, over time, proven to be an extremely valuable resource in the understanding and appreciation of Mary Todd Lincoln, the former First Lady regarded it as a breach of what she had considered to be a close friendship. Mrs. Lincoln was further isolated, and often railed against “Slick Lizzie” in her later years.

In an act approved July 14, 1870, the United States Congress granted Mrs. Lincoln a life pension for being the widow of President Lincoln, in the amount of $3,000 a year.[8]

For Mary Lincoln, the death of her son Thomas (Tad), in July 1871, led to an overpowering sense of grief and the gradual onset of depression. Mrs. Lincoln’s sole surviving son, Robert Lincoln, a rising young Chicago lawyer, was alarmed by his mother’s free spending of money. Mary Lincoln was prescribed laudanum for sleep problems which caused her to suffer anxiety and hallucinations. Upon increase of these hallucinations, more laudanum and chloral hydrate was administered, which increased the problem and led to her eventual commitment to a mental institution. In 1875, Mary Lincoln was committed by an Illinois court to Bellevue Place in Batavia, Illinois. After three months, she was released into the custody of her sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Edwards in Springfield and in 1876 was once again declared competent to manage her own affairs.

Mrs. Lincoln spent the next four years abroad taking up residence in Pau, France. She spent much of this time travelling in Europe. However, the former First Lady’s final years were marked by declining health. She suffered from severe cataracts that affected her eyesight. This may have contributed to her increasing susceptibility to falls. In 1879, she suffered spinal cord injuries in a fall from a step ladder.

Death
Mary Todd Lincoln’s cryptDuring the early 1880s, Mary Todd Lincoln lived, housebound, in the Springfield, Illinois residence of her sister Elizabeth Edwards. She died there on July 16, 1882, age 63, and was interred within the Lincoln Tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield along with her husband. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Todd_Lincoln

Born on June 8, 1925 she is the wife of the 41st President of the United States George H. W. Bush, and mother of the 43rd President George W. Bush and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. She is one of only two women to be both wife and mother to US presidents, the other being Abigail Adams. She served as First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993, while her husband was President. Previously she had served as Second Lady of the United States for eight years. As wife of the Vice President and then President, and continuing after leaving Washington, she has supported the cause of universal literacy.

Life before the White House

Barbara was the third child of Pauline Robinson (1896–1949) and Marvin Pierce (1893–1969), who later became president of the McCall Corporation, the publisher of the popular women’s magazines Redbook and McCall’s.

She met George Herbert Walker “Poppy” Bush, a student at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, at age sixteen. After a year-and-a-half, they became engaged, just before he left to serve in World War II as a Navy pilot. He named three of his planes after her: Barbara, Barbara II, and Barbara III. Two weeks after he returned on leave, on January 6, 1945, they were married. After WWII he graduated from Yale University and they moved to Midland, Texas.

They had six children: 1) George W. Bush (born July 6, 1946), 43rd President of the United States and 46th Governor of Texas, 2) Pauline Robinson “Robin” Bush (December 20, 1949 – October 11, 1953), 3) John Ellis “Jeb” Bush (born February 11, 1953), 43rd Governor of Florida, 4) Neil Mallon Bush (born January 22, 1955), 5) Marvin Pierce Bush (born October 22, 1956), and 6) Dorothy Bush Koch (born August 18, 1959). George founded the Zapata Corporation. The family moved 30 times over the years. She was alone a lot of the time in raising the children because George was usually away serving in a variety of government jobs.

In the White House

Barbara’s cause as First Lady was literacy, calling it “the most important issue we have”. She was also active with the White House Historical Association and worked to revitalize the White House Preservation Fund, which she renamed the White House Endowment Trust. The trust raises funds for the ongoing refurbishment and restoration of the White House. She met her goal of raising $25 million towards the endowment.

She was also known for her affection for her English Springer Spaniel Millie and wrote a children’s book about Millie’s new litter of puppies. Barbara became the first wife of a U.S. President to be a recipient of the Henry G. Freeman Jr. Pin Money Fund. She received $36,000, most of which she gave to her favorite charities.

After the White House

Since leaving the White House, she and George reside in Houston, Texas and at the Bush Compound in Kennebunkport, Maine.

Several schools have been named for her: three primary schools and two middle schools in Texas and an elementary school in Mesa, Arizona. Also named for her is the Barbara Bush Library in Harris County, Texas and the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine.

Sheh was initiated into Beta Sigma Phi women’s fraternity as an alumna honor initiate and also was initiated into the Texas Eta chapter (Texas A&M University) of Pi Beta Phi women’s fraternity in 2002 as an alumna honor initiate.

She serves on the Boards of AmeriCares and the Mayo Clinic, and heads the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Bush