Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Famous Personages from the Boer War


Several people made comments on the recent Conan Doyle post regarding the Boer War, so the conflict was on my mind.  If you're not familiar with these wars, basically, in 1652 the Dutch founded a settlement that would eventually become Cape Town.  Other Flemish, German, and French settlers would join them and collectively these Boers (from the Dutch word for farmer) would continue to settle and farm inland.

Arrival of the Dutch in South Africa

As the British were prone to do, they intervened militarily during a period of uncertainty and then decided that they'd like to stay, annexing the Cape Colony for themselves in 1806.  This pushed the Boers further inland where they founded new colonies.  Diamonds were discovered in Boer lands in the mid-1800s and British miners and settlers flooded into the area.  The Boers resented the new immigrants, denied them a vote and taxed them at a higher rate.  The British, eager to secure the mineral wealth for their Empire, came to the assistance of the miners and fought the First Boer War from 1880 to 1881.  The Boers, more familiar with their territory, were successful in repulsing the British encroachment.

Boer soldiers during the first conflict

Gold was discovered in Boer territory in 1884 and this brought a renewal of the earlier conflict in what is termed the Second Boer War (1899-1902).  The British, shamed by their earlier loss in the First Boer War were determined from the outset not to lose a second conflict with the Dutch farmers, so from the beginning they arrived with an overwhelming force augmented with men from many of the British colonies.  From the outset, the British secured costly victories in the open field against the Boer armies of the Transvaal and Orange Free State.  When it became clear that the Boers did not have the strength to match the British in a conventional war, the Boer fighting units largely disappeared and adopted a protracted guerrilla campaign, blending in with civilians and garnering their aid and then hitting the British when it was convenient to do so.

Boer Commandos

This is not to say that the entire war was unconventional, but even when it was fought in a conventional manner, unconventional methods were employed.  Perhaps the most famous personage from the Second Boer War was Robert Baden-Powell.

Robert Baden-Powell

Baden-Powell was already a bit of a celebrity before the conflict.  He had risen rapidly through the officer ranks, serving with skill in India and performing reconnaissance against the Zulu and was mentioned in dispatches during his stay in the Natal Province.  He also spent time as an intelligence officer in Malta where he traveled the area posing as a butterfly collector.  Within his illustrations of butterfly wings, he would include detailed plans of enemy military installations.  Baden-Powell further honed his reconnaissance skills in the Matobo Hills during the Second Matabele War in what is now Zimbabwe and played a key role in the British history against the Ashanti in the Fourth Ashanti War.  Baden-Powell returned to India to lead a cavalry regiment and where he wrote a military manual based on his experiences called Aids to Scouting.


By this time, Baden-Powell was the youngest colonel in the British military and his success had became the envy of other officers.  When he was recalled to South Africa to assist in preparations for the Second Boer War, his superior officers ordered him to reinforce the interior of South Africa with the intention of tying up as many Boers as possible to allow for later landings of British forces in the event of an anticipated outbreak of hostilities.  Basically, he was to try and delay the Boers as long as possible before inevitably capitulating to their superior numbers.

Map of South Africa during the Boer Wars (British territory in pink)

Instead of choosing an offensive strategy, Baden-Powell instead chose to reinforce the strategic town of Mafeking, a rail junction on the border of Transvaal.  He arrived with 800 men, but also added a few hundred men from the town as well as a small contingent of natives.  Young cadets from a local military school served as couriers and would later serve as Baden-Powell's inspiration for the Boy Scouts.  Hostilities soon commenced and Baden-Powell put the town to work employing cunning subterfuge (e.g., fake land mines, Quaker Guns, improvised search lights from biscuit tins, soldiers instructed to high-step over nonexistent barbed wire) to fool the force bearing down on Mafeking.

Boer Long Tom Gun at the Siege of Mafeking

As the Boers surrounded Mafeking, it became clear that the British force was woefully outnumbered by about 1,500 men to the approximately 8,000 Boers.  Baden-Powell, not wishing to reveal how tenuous his situation was, ordered several daring attacks on the superior force surrounding Mafeking, confusing his besiegers.  The early part of the war, before reinforcements landed, did not go well for the British.  Therefore, the Siege of Mafeking became somewhat of a news spectacle as the town heroically held its own.

British defenders during the Siege of Mafeking

Baden-Powell conducted the defense of the city with aplomb.  Not only did he conduct the defense with military acumen, but he did so while keeping the spirits of the town up and with good humor.  Although daily under a constant barrage of shells, he published a paper, printed currency, made sure the theater continued to stage plays, negotiated a Sunday cease fire, and kept the populace entertained with sports.  On the 200th day of the siege, the Boer commander, Sarel Eloff, wrote a letter to Baden-Powell saying that he had heard that things were getting monotonous for those in the city, but heard that the British were playing cricket on Sunday and invited his men out for a game against the Boers.  Baden-Powell replied that he was still in a match with the score to date at 200 and not out yet.  He went on to say that three bowlers, Snyman, Cronje, and Botha (three previous Boer commanders) had tried to get Mafeking out without success and that Transvaal should put in someone else.

Londoners celebrating news of the Relief of Mafeking

After 217 long days a relief column was able to break through and relieve Mafeking.  The news was greeted with jubilation and merriment back in England and made Baden-Powell a national hero.  He was promoted and made the youngest major-general in the army.  His book Aids to Scouting became a bestseller among boys eager to learn more and spawned the Scouting movement.

Mafeking Cadets

Sadly, not all the Boer War was conducted with as much skill and fortitude as Baden-Powell's stand at Mafeking.  After the siege was lifted, the war began to turn against the Boers.  Banking on their success in the First Boer War, the Boer military began to dissolve into hit-and-run guerrilla units that would strike at the British and then blend in with the supportive civilian population and the British began to get bogged down in a protracted war.

British burning a Boer farm

Determined, not to loose a second conflict, the British began to employ draconian methods against the civilian population.  These included the first widespread modern use of concentration camps for a civilians.  At first the British slaughtered livestock and burned the farms of any Boer family suspected of aiding the Boer military, however, it soon turned into the forced removal and concentration of Boer women and children into detention camps.  These camps were often located in miserable terrain with discarded military tents serving each as the housing for multiple families.  Everyone slept on the ground as there were no beds and there were only the most rudimentary sanitary or medical facilities.  No fruit, vegetables, or milk was provided by their captors and the detained population often succumbed to disease and malnourishment.  Of the slightly more than 104,000 women and children placed in these camps, about 28,000 died.  The humanitarian world was appalled.  [While I was researching this, I found a fascinating database at the University of Cape Town listing Boers held in British concentration camps.  You can find individuals HERE (including a number of Boer detainees with the surname Maas)].  The conduct of the British against the civilian Boer population was the subject of universal disapprobation, so it's interesting to note that his written defense of the British cause in the war was the reason Conan Doyle (creator of the Sherlock Holmes) was later knighted.

Boers held at a British Concentration Camp

Winston Churchill was himself a famous prisoner during the Boer War.  The later prime minister, had temporarily resigned from service with the British military, but was working as a correspondent for the Morning Post when an armored train on which he was present was attacked and derailed by Boer commandos.  Churchill was captured by Louis Botha (who himself would later become famous as the first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa).  Churchill protested his detention claiming non-combatant status, but as he was armed with a Mauser pistol at the time, he was made a prisoner-of-war.

Captured British soldiers (Churchill to the right)

Churchill was imprisoned in the converted State Model School in Pretoria, but effected his escape after four weeks by hiding under the floorboards of his room until the guards went looking for him and then he escaped over a wall.  Churchill hid by day and moved by night, hopping rides aboard freight trains headed east.  After nine days and about 300 miles, he reached Portuguese East Africa and contacted the British consul.  Soon after, Churchill returned to South Africa and joined a colonial unit.  He would later participate in the relief of Ladysmith before returning to England and running for Parliament.

Winston Churchill Wanted Poster

This brings me to the last person I wish to highlight from the Second Boer War, Breaker Morant.  Morant was an Australian cavalryman volunteer.  He had formerly been a cowboy (the Aussies call them "drovers") and poet, writing a number of popular ballads.

Harry "Breaker" Morant

Towards the end of the conflict, the Boers increasingly resorted to guerrilla tactics.  To counter these measures the British herded many Boers into concentration camps and also formed irregular units to counter the Boers.  These units, which included Morant in their numbers were supposedly given wide latitude by British officials to operate without restraint.  Specifically, Lord Kitchener, the overall British commander in South Africa was reputed to have issued a "take no prisoners" verbal order to these irregular units (Kitchener was notorious for issuing few orders in writing).  Morant had become close friends (and future brother-in-law) with Captain Percy Hunt also of the Bushveldt Carbineers.  Following Captain Hunt's death in a skirmish with Boer guerrillas, Morant tracked and pursued Hunt's killers.  

Lord Kitchener

There is debate as to the exact sequence of the events that followed, but Morant certainly ordered the execution of at least one surrendered Boer and had taken part in the execution of a handful more.  Another charge against him was that of the killing of a German missionary, Daniel Heese.  Heese came across a group of eight Boer prisoners under the guard of Morant's men at a Swiss missionary hospital.  Heese spoke with the group of prisoners who informed them that they were scared that they'd be executed.  Upon leaving Heese noticed the man had been killed and he told the British commander that he was going to report the incident to British officials in Pietersburg.  He rode away with a native boy in his buggy and with a white flag.  Both Heese and his charge were later found dead and it was assumed that they were killed to silence his mouth.  Morant was the individual responsible for the shootings although he was strangely cleared of these deaths.

Bushveldt Carbineers in a Boer home

By this time, the war was winding down, but world opinion was already moving against the cruel treatment of the Boers by the British and the military leadership was coming under increasing scrutiny for the manner the conflict had been conducted.  Morant (along with three other Australians and two Britons) was court marshaled for the killings of surrendered combatants.  The trials were conducted in several stages and resulted in a dismissal against the senior British officer and reprimands for the junior British officer and the senior Australian officer.  The three junior Australian officers, including Morant, were given the death sentence for their crimes.

Men of the 2nd South Australian Mounted Rifles (Morant third from left)

Morant's lawyer tried to demonstrate that the irregular forces were operating under clear verbal orders from Lord Kitchener to "take no prisoners," but the court was stacked against the accused.  There is evidence that crucial information was withheld from the trial, witnesses shipped out of the country, and repeated requests to contact the government of Australia were ignored.  Remarkably during the trial, Pietersburg was attacked by Boer commandos and Morant and the other defendants were released from their cells and given rifles.  Although they fought heroically and assisted in the defeat of the foe, a petition for clemency was again denied.  Kitchener commuted the death sentence of Lt. George Witton, but Lt. Peter Handcock and Lt. Harry "Breaker" Morant were executed by firing squad on February 27, 1902.  It wasn't until about a month later that Australians would even hear of the trial or executions.

Breaker Morant's Grave

Official records of the closed trial never reached England and have since disappeared entirely and the whole event was a sore spot in Anglo-Australian relations after Australian independence.  Witton was eventually released from prison and penned a book titled, Scapegoats of the Empire.  Morant meanwhile became an Australian folk hero and the subject of a very good 1980 film, Breaker Morant.


Although heroic individuals emerged from the Second Boer War, the universal condemnation of the conduct of the British forces as a whole led the Empire to abandon its former policy of "splendid isolation" and seek to turn former adversaries into allies (i.e. France and Russia), setting the stage for World War I.


Saturday, January 28, 2012

Will Return Soon


Due to the busyness of work, I didn't have time to prepare a Person-of-Mystery for this week - it'll be back next week for sure, but congratulations to Brian who correctly identified Olave Baden-Powell as last weekend's Person-of-Mystery!

Olave Baden-Powell

She was of course famous due to her association Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts and was only ten years old when her future husband won fame for his defense of Mafeking in the Second Boer War.  Because of this, Olave wasn't my first choice for a Person-of-Mystery, she was actually my third, but my first two people were so famous, I had a difficult time altering the photos enough for them to be recognizable, but unable to be found by image search results.

Enjoy the weekend and hope to be back with you all again soon.


Thursday, January 26, 2012

I'm Still Here


Sorry for the recent lack of posts.  I just started teaching a brand new class and it has me a little behind on things.  I'll return soon.  Thanks to all who sent notes asking about my welfare, I'm just fine.


Saturday, January 21, 2012

Person-of-Mystery



Welcome to the Person-of-Mystery Contest!  You've found the home of everyone's favorite weekend pastime, where a stylized photo of a somewhat famous person from history is provided for you to identify.


So, who could I be?  That's the mystery!  Go ahead and take a guess and then go enjoy your day.  Check back tomorrow and I'll reveal the answer.  The first correct post will be declared the winner.

For bonus points, see if you can determine her connection to the Boer War.

If you'd like to make sure that your guess is correct, enter her name into Google Images and the this photo will be found on the first page of image results.


Friday, January 20, 2012

3 Musketeers Candy Bar

Have you ever wondered why the 3 Musketeers chocolate bar was given that name?


When it was originally produced there was not just one large bar, but three smaller ones and they were three different flavors: vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry.


However, World War II made vanilla and strawberry flavoring harder to come by, so the company started producing chocolate only and eventually went to the one larger bar instead of three individual ones.  The name never changed.


Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Congressional Assault on Free Speech

Today, I was going to make a regular post, but if you live in the English speaking world you may have noticed that a number of sites (e.g., Wikipedia, Google, etc.) have subtle or not so subtle protest pages.  In fact, Wikipedia blackouts all searches and redirects them to a page that looks like the following:


Some of you may have read about the Congressional SOPA or PIPA bills.  I personally believe that this is a direct assault on small-time creators of print or media content (including bloggers like myself).  If you haven't heard how a bill supposedly created to stop online piracy may create some dramatic unintended consequences, I'd encourage you to take a few minutes and watch the following TED presentation by Clay Shirky (professor at New York University) and then take action and contact your Congresspersons (if you live in the US).  Thanks for your consideration in protecting freedom of speech.



Monday, January 16, 2012

Conan Doyle

Congratulations to Lynn, who correctly identified Conan Doyle as this weekend's Person-of-Mystery.


Obviously, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is most famous for being the author behind Sherlock Holmes.  Kristine and I have been following the new BBC series called "Sherlock," a modern adaptation of the classic detective series.  Overall, it's very well done with good acting, nifty camera work, and a wonderfully talented story, loosely based (but not overly so) on Doyle's original work.  Like most modern entertainment though, it suffers from the need to inject far too much sexuality and profanity, so I'm afraid I cannot recommend it without those reservations.

I'm sure many people are familiar with at least the name, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in connection with Sherlock Holmes, so I thought I'd keep it simple and just provide a little trivia:


Conan Doyle studied medicine, wrote his doctorate on a nervous disease often caused by syphilis, practiced as a ship's surgeon on the SS Mayumba, and later set up an unsuccessful practice as an ophthalmologist.  All these experiences provided ample literary material for his character, Dr. John Watson.  Sherlock Holmes was patterned after one of Doyle's university professors, Dr. Joseph Bell (1837-1911).  Doyle and others made it plain that Bell was the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Bell was later served as a forensic consultant for the police on a number of famous cases.

Dr. Joseph Bell

Conan Doyle was also an athlete, playing club football, cricket, and golf.  He is even credited with being one of the first to introduce skiing to the Alps, taking part in the first skiing tour from Davos to Arosa with the Branger brothers in 1894.

Conan Doyle Skiing at Davos

Conan Doyle's knighthood, conferring upon him the title "Sir" was believed to be granted in response to a defense he wrote of the Britain's role in the Second Boer War.  Doyle was a veteran of the same conflict, having served as a doctor in a field hospital.


Doyle, was a firm believer in justice and used his stature in two high-profile cases to have the convictions of wrongly accused men overturned.  George Edalji, had been wrongly convicted of one in a string of animal mutilation to horses in 1903 (even though the mutilations continued after his arrest).  Doyle led a successful campaign to show him innocent after his release in 1906.

George Edalji

In a second case, Doyle worked in conjunction with others to free Oscar Slater, wrongly convicted of murder in 1908.  Doyle was finally successful in reversing the conviction in 1928.

Oscar Slater

Perhaps surprising to some, Doyle at one point had grown weary of the Sherlock Holmes series and tried to kill off the character in "The Final Problem" where in a dramatic struggle, Holmes plunges to his death over a waterfall.  Popular outcry, including from Doyle's own mother, led him to continue the series with only an apparent demise in the previous episode.

Holmes at the Reichenbach Falls

For a time, Conan Doyle formed a strong friendship with the famous magician, Harry Houdini.  However, as Houdini became more outspoken exposing psychics and other frauds, Houdini and Doyle had a public falling out, to the point where Doyle would not disbelieve Houdini when he professed to the public that he had no special powers.

Houdini (center) with Conan Doyle and Doyle's family

Following the deaths of a number of family members (including his first wife, son, and brother), Doyle became very forlorn and melancholy.  He virtually stopped publishing Sherlock Holmes and turned his interest towards Spiritualism (the false religion started by the Fox Sisters).  He became such a strong believer that he wrote numerous books in defense of the belief system, disavowed Christianity, and was even taken in by a series of five faked photographs of the Cottingley Fairies, where two young female cousins supposedly took photos of each other which when developed showed them in nature with fairies.


Today, these photos are clearly ridiculous and the fairies have been identified as illustrations from a contemporary book, but at the time many were taken in this hoax, including Conan Doyle who wrote a defense of the photographs as genuine.  Houdini produced a photograph of himself with Lincoln in an effort to discredit photo manipulation hoaxes, but it only produced further strain between Doyle and Houdini.


Doyle died in 1930, but outspoken anti-Christian beliefs would not allow him to buried inside the churchyard, so he was interred just outside the fence of All Saints' Church in Minstead, Hampshire, England.  For years, the marker (which is ironically a cross), had no inscription, but now bears one and due to the growth of the cemetery, now lies alongside others.


+ + + + +

One final item of curiosity, while researching this article, I found an interesting photo of Conan Doyle and his wife on a tandem penny-farthing.  Not being an expert on older cycles, I did not know tandem versions even existed.  I guess you learn something new every day.



Saturday, January 14, 2012

Person-of-Mystery

Welcome to Cipher Saturday!  You've found the home of everyone's favorite weekend pastime, where a stylized photo of a somewhat famous person from history is provided for you to identify.



Additional clues may be found in the cipher below:

R HVV GSRMTH GSZG LGSVI KVLKOV XZMG
GRMB GSRMTH, YFG YRTTVI GSZM ZM ZMG
R DZH LMXV Z WLXGLI LU GSV VBV
YFG YORMWVW YB DLNVM LS HL HOB

So, who could I be?  That's the mystery!  Go ahead and take a guess and then go enjoy your day.  Check back tomorrow and I'll reveal the answer.  The first correct post will be declared the winner.

If you'd like to make sure that your guess is correct, enter his name into Google Images and the this photo will be found on the first page of image results.


Friday, January 13, 2012

Unknown Tintype 2

Thank you all for your input on the previous unknown tintype.  This is the kind of mystery that I find so fascinating when going through old photos – how to recognize people from the past whom you've never seen and do not know?  When my uncle Jim died, pretty much every family photo he possessed came my way.  I'm just now starting to sort through the box of family photos he owned.  There were actually a few tintypes, all about the same size, right together, which has lead me to believe that they may have come from the same family.  Unfortunately, I immediately recognized none of them.  I can with confidence say they didn't come from my grandfather's side of the family since he left home young and didn't even have a picture of his own parents.  I can also say they aren't my grandmother's maternal side as I already have other photos and it doesn't look like any of them, so I'm pretty sure these photos are from my grandmother's paternal side.  The question is where do these people fit?  Here's another of the tintypes.


Part of my problem is that tintypes were in use for such a long period of time here in the United States (approximately the middle 1850s to about 1900).  I have a few guesses as to who these people are, but I think my best guess right now is that the older one is Adella or a close relative.  That would make the two in this photo some combination of Alice Livonia Benton (1871-1896), Delia F. Benton (1878-abt 1900), or Nellie May Benton (1886-1931).  The trouble is that they may be cousins or some such thing and then this whole scenario is off a bit.  I wish I was better and identifying fashions in time.  I can give a general range, but what do you think of the two in this picture.  If someone is an expert at guessing time based on dress, I'd appreciate your guess.


Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Adella Mariah Fowler


This is a photo of my Great-great-grandmother Adella Mariah Fowler.  She was born in Livonia, New York, in 1845.  She married my Great-great-grandfather William R. Benton in 1866, after he returned from the Civil War.  In 1871, they started a homestead near Blaine, Kansas, where they raised six children:  Allie, Frank, Flora, Delia, Will, and Nellie.  Eventually, William's failing health (on account of disease from the war) caused them to sell their farm and take up residence in Oakland, Kansas (a suburb of Topeka).  William died in 1894, but the now widowed Della, continued to raise her children until a trip to care for her flu-stricken in-laws in Cummings, Kansas.  It was here that she contracted and succumbed to the illness herself while caring for others.  She died in 1899, leaving the youngest two children, Will and Nellie, to be raised by her sisters in Wichita.

I only have two known photos of Della.  This one that was taken when she was young but married and another one which I had previously posted here.  What do you think, is this the same woman in the photo from yesterday?

Not only on this blog, but also on my Facebook account, linked to this blog, people commented that I should run these images through some photo recognition software.  Unfortunately, the two known photos of Della are taken straight on and the one I don't know from yesterday has her heard turned to the side.  Additionally, other identifying features, like her ears, are pretty hard to determine from the two known photos.  She parts her hair in the center, but many women at this time did.

I'd welcome your opinions if anyone has them.


Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Unknown Tintype


Today, I'm featuring a tintype I found in a pile of family photos my Uncle Jim had when he died.  I do not have a positive identification on her yet, but I think she may be Della Mariah Fowler Benton (1845-1899), my great-great-grandmother.  If it is her, it would be the first older photo I've seen of her.  She died in 1899 of the flu, contracted when she went to care for the family of her sister-in-law near Cummings, Kansas.


Monday, January 09, 2012

Bela Lugosi

Congratulations to Clever Pup, winner of this weekend's Person-of-Mystery contest!  She correctly identified Bela Lugosi as the person in the stylized photo.


Lugosi is obviously most famous for his early screen portrayal of Dracula.  In fact, Lugosi played Dracula so well, that his face is probably what most people identify as the perfect Dracula.  Unfortunately, for his career, this led to Lugosi being typecast as the evil villain in many of his films.  Perhaps a notable exception was his role as the romantic and heroic Chandu the Magician in "Return of Chandu," co-starring none other than my great-uncle, Dean Benton, as Bob Regent.


When I saw that "Cocaine Fiends" was there at the library, I also did a quick search for "Return of Chandu," but it wasn't there.  I'm not in a big hurry to see the film, but if I happen across it, perhaps I'll watch Uncle Dean again.  Rob from Amersfoort, cued me in that Dean also wrote the music for another film he was in, "The Shadow of the Silk Lennox," with Lon Chaney.

Too bad I never knew Dean so so involved in Hollywood when I was younger, I would have probably asked him a few things.


Saturday, January 07, 2012

Person-of-Mystery



Welcome to the Person-of-Mystery Contest!  You've found the home of everyone's favorite weekend pastime, where a stylized photo of a somewhat famous person from history is provided for you to identify.




So, who could I be?  That's the mystery!  Go ahead and take a guess and then go enjoy your day.  Check back tomorrow and I'll reveal the answer.  The first correct post will be declared the winner.

If you'd like to make sure that your guess is correct, enter his name into Google Images and the this photo will be found on the first page of image results.


Friday, January 06, 2012

Cocaine Fiends (or The Pace that Kills)

A few days ago, I was taking my kids to the library and while they were looking for books, I took a quick browse through the video section.  As I was scanning the new titles, one caught my eye.  It was a compilation of three films from the 1930s:  Reefer Madness, Cocaine Fiends, and Sex Madness.  These were cautionary tale B Movies, mostly forgotten, but I guess now developing "cult classic" status.


When I was a child, my grandparents lived in the Toluca Lake area of North Hollywood about a block away from Bob Hope and a bunch of other stars.  I once jokingly asked my grandmother (the one in the skiing picture from yesterday's post) if she had ever wanted to be in the pictures and I was surprised by her reply.  She told me that my Uncle Dean (actually great-uncle), her older brother, was a B Movie actor when he was younger.  As surprising as this was to me, she said that one day she was on a movie lot with him and when he was away, some fellow was looking for additional people for a scene.  He turned to her and said, "Hey, you'll do just fine, come with me and we'll put you in this picture."  They were about to film when Dean spotted her and said, "Say, that's my little sister, you can't use her, go get someone else." So she was pulled off and some other girl put in her place.  She told me she resented her older brother for quite some time as she imagined that her appearance would have been her big break.


Dean did several more films in the 1930s and was a bit actor through the mid-1940s.  A few years ago, I searched his name on the Internet Movie Database and I was surprised to find that he was one of the lead parts in a movie called the Cocaine Fiends.


I haven't really hunted for the movie, but the title certainly is memorable, so I was quite surprised to see it on the library shelf.

Dean as Eddie Bradford

Dean plays the part of a waiter at a drive-in restaurant.  He is convinced by a co-worker named Fanny to go enjoy a night with her in the big city.  Unfortunately, the allurements of the city life are too much and Eddie and Fanny become unemployed dope addicts.  Fanny eventually ends up pregnant and walking the streets looking for money.

Eddie and Fanny enjoying a night on the town

Can't say I recommend the movie, but it was fun seeing a youthful Uncle Dean.

[Dean Benton was the third son of Jessie Burrows Benton (from the post card collection)].