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Spring Biography Term Class Times W. C. Fields Presenter: Jerry Blizin Tuesday, April 1 at First Presbyterian Church Thursday, April 10 at Largo Royal Palms and Palm Harbor/Dunedin Friday, May 2 at the Continuing Education Center Like Benjamin Franklin, that other famous Philadelphian, comedian W.C. Fields invented himself. A child runaway, the iron-willed William Claude Dukenfield changed his name and taught himself the art of juggling. By his late teens Fields was already a star of the international vaudeville stage. He worked for years as a silent tramp juggler until Florenz Ziegfeld put him into his famed follies around World War I. Here Fields developed a unique Dickensian style of stage speech, a mixture of braying pomposity and mumbled asides, which he used for the rest of his career. A smash-hit 1923 Broadway play called Poppy started him on the road to Hollywood stardom in the role of a carnival huckster who raises an orphaned girl. In 1925 the play was made into a major silent movie called Sally of the Sawdust, which was directed by D. W. Griffith. Thereafter, Fields often played circus and carnival characters, but won plaudits for his serious portrayal of Mr. Micawber in David Copperfield (1935). In the final stage of his career, he dueled on the radio with Edgar Bergen and his famous puppet Charlie McCarthy, trading insults. There are many hidden elements of Fields’ life – his intellectual rigor, his gifts as a writer and cartoonist, his continual use of “creative mendacity,” and his evolution into a person whose real life mimicked the comic characters he played. Come find out more about a self-made man who shaped modern comedic style and whose films still evoke laughs after more than 70 years. Lieutenant General Lewis Burwell “Chesty” Puller, U.S.M.C. Presenter: Bruce Spitz Tuesday, April 8 at First Presbyterian Church Thursday, April 3 at Largo Royal Palms and Palm Harbor/Dunedin Friday, April 4 at the Continuing Education Center Chesty Puller requires no introduction to Leathernecks. He is considered to be the greatest Marine of them all. From his experiences in Haiti and Nicaragua in the 1920s to his command of the 1st Marine Division in Korea, at Inchon and the Chosin Reservoir, Puller has become the mythological hero of the Corps. Square-jawed, stern, and barrel-chested, his larger-than-life image is etched indelibly in every Marine. The winner of five Navy Crosses, hero of Guadalcanal, Cape Gloucester, and Peleliu, he remains the epitome of the Marine Corps combat officer. Now, however, it may be time to objectively explore Puller’s record. While his valor remains unquestioned,his actions have not always been beyond criticism. For instance, at Peleliu against a heavily fortified position, he lost more than half his regiment. Was he a compassionate leader who put his men first, or a cold-blooded officer who measured effectiveness by the number of casualties? Was he a great small unit leader who rose above his level of competence? This biography looks Puller directly in the eye and offers an objective appraisal of his remarkable career and contributions to the Marine Corps. Subject Elizabeth I Presenter: Ron Sommer Tuesday, April 15 at First Presbyterian Church Thursday, April 17 at Largo Royal Palms and Palm Harbor/Dunedin Friday, April 18 at the Continuing Education Center When she was a child, her mother was executed and at her father’s insistence. Parliament declared her illegitimate. As a young woman, she was frequently threatened with imprisonment or execution by her sister Mary. It was almost a miracle that she ultimately ascended the throne of England in 1558 as Elizabeth I and became one the most powerful rulers in Europe. Refusing to marry, she was her country’s sole ruler (with the advice of a few trusted councilors) for nearly 45 years. Her reign brought to England the longest period of peace and prosperity it had known for generations, a period when art and commerce could thrive as never before. Life was not always easy for Elizabeth. Enemies reviled her and plotted against her; poets celebrated her as Diana the virgin huntress or Gloriana the Fairy Queen. Her people knew her simply as “good Queen Bess.” By the end of her reign, many people alive in England had never known another ruler. Perhaps most unhappily, after nearly 45 years of rule she died alone and lonely. All in all, Elizabeth I was probably the greatest ruler England has ever known – and one of the most intriguing personalities of history. Leonard Bernstein Nicholas and Alexandra The Heart and Soul... and Melody and Lyric of Frank Loesser Cost of the entire six-part series:
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