Description: Photograph of Al Jolson and Warren G. Harding singing during Harding's front porch campaign, 1920. Jolson (1886-1950) was a singer and entertainer, especially well known for the 1927 film, The Jazz Singer, the first talking picture. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL02785
Subjects: Motion picture actors and actresses; Entertainers; Cultural Ohio--Popular Culture; Presidential campaigns
Places: Marion (Ohio); Marion County (Ohio)
 

Description: A postcard depicting Clark Gable's birthplace in Cadiz, Ohio. An image of Gable is included in the bottom left corner. Cadiz was established in 1803 and is the County Seat of Harrison Country, Ohio. As of 2010, the village was home to 3,353 people and is primarily focused on the shale industry. Clark Gable was born in 1901 in Cadiz, Ohio. His mother died shortly after his birth, so gable lived with his grandparents until his father remarried in 1907. His step mother, Jennie Dunlap, encouraged him to read and learn music. When his father, William, bought a farm, he wanted Gable to help him on the farm, but Jennie convinced him not to. Instead, Gable worked in theater companies. Gable moved to Portland, Oregon, where he met Josephine Dillon, an acting teacher. She took an interest in Gable, gave him acting lessons and fixed his hair and teeth. They moved to Hollywood together and were married in 1924. Gable struggled to find acting roles because of his large ears. His break came from his supporting role in The Painted Desert (1931), which impressed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) executives into signing Gable. Over the next several years Gable became a Hollywood leading man. He appeared in movies such as Red Dust (1932), Dancing Lady (1933), It Happened One Night (1934), and many others. In 1939, he appeared in what was perhaps his most famous role as Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind. Gable married his third wife, Carole Lombard, in 1939, but the actress was killed in a plane crash in 1942. After her death, Gable left Holylwood to join the Army Air Corps, where he served as a tail gunner in World War II. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal. After the war, he returned to acting. Some of his well known films include The Hucksters (1947), Mogambo (1953), and The Misfits(1961), in which Marilyn Monroe costarred. Gable died from a heart attack on November 16, 1960. By his death Gable had starred in sixty-five films. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL07666
Subjects: Birthplaces; Motion picture actors and actresses; Actors; Postcards
Places: Cadiz (Ohio); Harrison County (Ohio)
 

Description: A promotional image of Dean Martin singing. Dean Martin was born Dino Paul Crocetti in 1917 in Steubenville, Ohio, to Italian immigrant parents. He dropped out of high school to work in a steel mill and he was also involved in bootlegging liquor across state lines during Prohibition. When he was 17 began singing at local nightclubs in Ohio, and by 1943 he was living in New York and working as a signed singer with the Riobamba Room. Martin’s big break came when Jerry Lewis offered to have Martin fill in at one of his shows in 1946. The duo began to perform together and produced hits including My Friend Irma (1949) and Jumping Jacks (1952). Their last performance together was ten years later in 1956. Martin was a member of the Rat Pack, a group of actors and singers including Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop who appeared in movies and shows together including Ocean’s Eleven (1960). Martin’s mellow singing style brought him many hits such as “That’s Amore,” “Which Way Did My Heart Go?,” “Everybody Loves Somebody,” and “Everybody Loves Somebody Sometimes”. He also started a show in 1965 on NBC called “The Dean Martin Show” which was largely successful. Martin died on December 25, 1995. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL07667
Subjects: Musicians; Actors; Motion picture actors and actresses