STASHING PUMPKINS

Silent era actress caught being a total Dix.

We’ve had some pumpkin thefts around the palatial Pulp Intl. offices, so we resorted to setting up a security camera, and sure enough we got a clear frame of the robber—silent film actress Dorothy Dix. Imagine our surprise. We tracked her to her lair in the basement of the local revival cinema and found all our pumpkins, plus some fly witch hats she stole from Target. Obviously, she had been reincarnated, which not only explains her presence after her death, but also her youthful appearance.

We chatted and she told us she just wanted a little attention because she never really got it during her acting career, which consisted of appearances in a mere five full length films, and twice that number of short features, including, ironically, 1934’s The Gold Ghost. Well, she’s getting full attention here. And after telling her how many visitors we get she was thrilled. But we also had to explain the entire internet concept to her, and once she understood it she decided she was better off dead. And poof! She was gone.

The Gold Ghost, Dorothy Dix, cinema

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

February 18

1954—First Church of Scientology Established

The first Scientology church, based on the writings of science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard, is established in Los Angeles, California. Since then, the city has become home to the largest concentration of Scientologists in the world, and its ranks include high-profile adherents such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta.

February 17

1933—Blaine Act Passes

The Blaine Act, a congressional bill sponsored by Wisconsin senator John J. Blaine, is passed by the U.S. Senate and officially repeals the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution, aka the Volstead Act, aka Prohibition. The repeal is formally adopted as the 21st Amendment to the Constitution on December 5, 1933.

February 17

1947—Voice of America Begins Broadcasting into U.S.S.R.

The state radio channel known as Voice of America and controlled by the U.S. State Department, begins broadcasting into the Soviet Union in Russian with the intent of countering Soviet radio programming directed against American leaders and policies. The Soviet Union responds by initiating electronic jamming of VOA broadcasts.

February 16

1937—Carothers Patents Nylon

Wallace H. Carothers, an American chemist, inventor and the leader of organic chemistry at DuPont Corporation, receives a patent for a silk substitute fabric called nylon. Carothers was a depressive who for years carried a cyanide capsule on a watch chain in case he wanted to commit suicide, but his genius helped produce other polymers such as neoprene and polyester. He eventually did take cyanideâ€”not in pill form, but dissolved in lemon juiceâ€”resulting in his death in late 1937.

February 15

1933—Franklin Roosevelt Survives Assassination Attempt

In Miami, Florida, Giuseppe Zangara attempts to shoot President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, but is restrained by a crowd and, in the course of firing five wild shots, hits five people, including Chicago, Illinois Mayor Anton J. Cermak, who dies of his wounds three weeks later. Zangara is quickly tried and sentenced to eighty years in jail for attempted murder, but is later convicted of murder when Cermak dies. Zangara is sentenced to death and executed in Florida’s electric chair.