Esther Jane Williams (August 8, 1921 – June 6, 2013)
(AP) – Esther Williams, the swimming champion turned actress who starred
in glittering and aquatic Technicolor musicals of the 1940s and 1950s, has
died.
Williams’s died early Thursday in her sleep, according to Harlan Ball, her
longtime publicist.
Sandy Kozel
An inscription on the violin’s tailpiece
(New York Post) – A rosewood violin played by bandmaster Wallace Hartley
(above) on the Titanic deck as the ship sank has been confirmed as being
authentic by investigators, and could soon be brought to auction.
Hartley led seven other band members in hymns to calm passengers as
they lined up for lifeboats.
He and the other musicians went down with the ship while performing
“Nearer, My God, To Thee.”
“When we first saw the violin, we had to keep a lid on our excitement,
because it was almost as if it was too good to be true,” said Titanic
auctioneer Andrew Aldridge, of Henry Aldridge and Son, who spent
seven years of research to confirm its authenticity.
“It is the most important artifact relating to the Titanic to ever emerge,
and probably the most valuable.”
It’s worth six figures, and will likely be sold in the near future. For now,
however, it will be exhibited in Wiltshire, England.
The instrument was found inside a leather valise, engraved with Hartley’s
initials, that was strapped to his body.
The Titanic in Cork harbour on the south coast of Ireland , 11 April 1912.
Esther Jane Williams is a retired competitive swimmer and MGM movie
star. She set multiple national and regional swimming records in her a
series of films in the 1940s and early 1950s known as "aquamusicals",
which featured elaborate performances with synchronized swimming
and diving.
PT-109 was a Patrol Torpedo boat commanded by Lieutenant, junior grade John F.
Kennedy in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Kennedy’s actions to save his
crew during the sinking of their boat after being rammed by a Japanese destroyer
off Ghizo Island. made him a war hero and proved helpful in his political career.
After Kennedy became president, the incident inspired a song,many books, movies,
and various television series, The wreck of PT-109 was discovered in May of 2002
by Robert Ballard, a former U.S.Navy officer and a professor of oceanography at
the University of Rhode Island.
Dr. Robert Ballard
1962
