Cory Monteith b. 1982 died 13 July 2013 (Flash Gordon [TV], Kyle XY [TV], Kraken: Tentacles of the Deep, Stargate SG-1, Smallville, Supernatural)
Jonathan Jackson b. 1982 (The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Tuck Everlasting)
Brian Caspe b. 1975 (Wanted, Hellboy, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen)
Nicky Katt b. 1970 (Grindhouse, Sin City, Batman & Robin, Kindred: The Embraced, Strange Days, Knight Rider 2010, Martians Go Home, V, Gremlins, Voyagers!)
Jeffrey Donovan b. 1968 (Threshold, Witchblade, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, Millennium)
Tim Blake Nelson b. 1964 (The Fantastic Four [2015], The Incredible Hulk, The Astronaut Farmer, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, Minority Report)
Natasha Richardson b. 1963 died 18 March 2009 (The Handmaid’s Tale, Gothic)
Vince Grant b. 1961 (Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, Touch, Star Trek: Enterprise, Timequest, Brave New World, Dracula: Dead and Loving It)
Shohreh Aghdashloo b. 1952 (Grimm, FlashForward, X-Men: The Last Stand)
Frances Fisher b. 1952 (Resurrection, Touch, Torchwood, Eureka, The X-Files, Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman [1993])
Pam Ferris b. 1948 (Children of Men, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban)
Doug McClure b. 1935 died 5 February 1995 (Out of this World, Superboy, Automan, Manimal, Firebird 2015 AD, Humanoids from the Deep, Warlords of the Deep, At the Earth’s Core, Twilight Zone)
Bernard Fox b. 1927 (The Mummy, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie)
Denver Pyle b. 1920 died 25 December 1997 (Escape from Witch Mountain, Return to Witch Mountain, The Twilight Zone, Commando Cody)
Doodles Weaver b. 1911 died 17 January 1983 (Earthbound, Bigfoot, Land of the Giants, Batman, The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock, Superman [1948])
The thing that jumps out at me on this is how many people died young on this list, most notably Cory Monteith and Natasha Richardson, but also Doug McClure, not to be confused with Troy McClure, the voice of infomercials on The Simpsons, voiced originally by the late Phil Hartman. With all this random death wandering around, I decided to give the Picture Slot to Bernard Fox, best known in genre as Dr. Bombay from Bewitched. Yes, Dr. Bombay is still alive! Yay! (Bewitched is yet another show where nearly everyone is gone.)
Many happy returns to all the living on the list (especially today) and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.)
Predictions: There will be no crowned head of the civilized world at the end of the next century... "the less government the better" is the motto of an infantile republic... the railroads and telegraphs will be owned by the state... within the next century, the saloon is certain to be outlawed... the punishment of criminals will be based more and more on the effort to reform... Our divorce laws must become more uniform... The tendency for the accumulation of wealth must continue to increase until overturned by a social revolution... Corporations will continue to grow until they dispute the authority of the state, then they shall be absorbed by the state... the condition of the laboring classes is certain to become more independent as they grow better educated... medicine will attain the dignity of a science... Woman will attain her status of equality before the law.
Reality: I am picking and choosing from a whole bunch of predictions made by Dixon over four pages of text, but I'm not distorting his message, which is very progressive. Even outlawing saloons, which seems like a bad idea now, went arm in arm with the suffrage movement. (As a history teacher I know puts it, Prohibition was an attempt to outlaw bad husbands.) He's hit or miss on his predictions: on the minus side, there are still kings and the railroads are not owned by the government. On the positive side, medicine has improved significantly and women have many more legal rights.
All of this is prelude to the big reveal. Dixon is best known now for his 1905 book The Klansman, a pro-KKK novel that was turned into the 1915 movie Birth of a Nation. I am sure conservative writers today would love to find this guy, a bigot who in nearly all other respects toes the liberal line almost completely.
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
OMNI Future Almanac, mostly optimistic and largely full of crap.
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
Minor comment- Catherine Tate, one time Doctor Who companion and the person who should be the first female Doctor was born today as well.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, well done as usual.
Thanks for stopping by, Shawn. I have made the change to the May 12th list.
DeleteMy mistake- I see now I was looking at the wrong day on the wrong day.
DeleteThis is what I get trying to read BEFORE coffee.
You done well, sir.