Category: Today’s Birthday

Walker was an American surgeon and feminist. She served as a nurse in the Union army in the American Civil War, before being commissioned as an assistant surgeon. She was the first woman to serve in such a capacity and was awarded the Medal of Honor for her service. Walker remains the only woman ever to receive this award. After the war, she was active in the struggle for women’s rights, lecturing and writing on such issues as dress reform and women’s suffrage. Why was her medal revoked in 1917? Discuss

Montalbán was a Mexican television, stage, and film actor. Perhaps best known as the star of the television series Fantasy Island, he had many notable roles throughout his career, including the villain Khan in the 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. His career spanned seven decades, and he continued to perform into his 80s, often providing voices for animated films and commercials. In the 1970s, Montalbán founded the Nosotros organization. What is its mission? Discuss

Born into poverty, Carnegie worked as a traveling salesman before he began teaching public speaking at a YMCA in New York City in 1912. His classes were extremely successful, and he was soon lecturing to packed houses. To standardize his teaching methods, he began publishing pamphlets, which he collected into book form. His hugely popular How To Win Friends and Influence People won him a national following. How many people are said to have taken his courses during his lifetime? Discuss

Harpo was a member of the American comedy team known as the Marx Brothers. The brothers enjoyed success in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from the early 1900s to about 1950. Harpo never spoke during their performances and instead blew a horn, whistled, or mimed to communicate. He also got laughs with his prop-laden sight gags, many of which involved the seemingly infinite number of odd items he managed to produce from his topcoat’s oversized pockets. How did he get his nickname? Discuss

Mary of Guise was the queen consort of James V of Scotland and the mother of their daughter—the future Mary Queen of Scots. After the outbreak of war between Scotland and England, Mary arranged her daughter’s betrothal to the French dauphin. Becoming regent, Mary of Guise made no secret of her desire to bring France and Scotland together. In 1559, the Protestants, led by John Knox and allied with England, rose against her and declared her deposed. What happened in the aftermath of her death? Discuss

Green was an American financier and reputedly the wealthiest American woman of her time. In 1865, her father and aunt both died, leaving her an estate valued at $10 million. She invested her inheritance so shrewdly that she came to be regarded as the greatest woman financier in the world, amassing an estate valued at $100-200 million. An extremely miserly woman, the “Witch of Wall Street” allegedly refused a hernia operation because it cost $150. What are some other examples of her stinginess? Discuss

Landis was a US federal judge and the first commissioner of professional baseball. Named for a Georgia mountain where his father had been wounded during the Civil War, he practiced law in Illinois before serving as a US district judge. In 1907, he presided over a famous case in which the Standard Oil Company was found guilty of granting unlawful freight rebates and fined $29 million, but his decision was later reversed. He was named baseball commissioner in 1920 in the aftermath of what scandal? Discuss

Born Netty Reiling, Seghers was a German novelist. She won fame with her first novel of social protest, The Revolt of the Fishermen, but in 1933 she was forced to leave Germany. In Mexico, she wrote The Seventh Cross, a poignant story of escape from a concentration camp. Other works include Transit and a study of Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. After World War II she settled in East Berlin. Who starred in the film version of The Seventh Cross in 1944? Discuss

Nordenskiöld was a Finnish-born Swedish geologist, mineralogist, geographer, and explorer who wrote several valuable books on geography, cartography, and travel. In 1858, he settled in Stockholm and became professor and curator of mineralogy at the Swedish State Museum. He led several expeditions to the Arctic island of Spitsbergen between 1864 and 1873 and later became the first to sail from Norway to Alaska through the Northeast Passage. He was also the first to break through what ice barrier? Discuss

Hudson was an American actor who worked at odd jobs before making his film debut in 1948. His wholesome good looks made him a popular star in Douglas Sirk melodramas, and his comedic talents were displayed in a series of romantic comedies costarring Doris Day. He appeared in over 70 films and TV shows during the course of his career. His death from AIDS in 1985 greatly increased awareness of the disease. What notable film roles did Hudson reportedly turn down to film A Farewell to Arms? Discuss