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- Pershing was born on a farm near Laclede, Missouri, to businessman John Fletcher Pershing and homemaker Ann Elizabeth Thompson. Pershing's great-great-grandfather, Frederick Pershing, whose name originally was Pfersching, emigrated from Alsace, leaving Amsterdam on the ship Jacob, and arriving in Philadelphia on October 2, 1749. Pershing's mother was of English descent. He also had five siblings: brothers James F. (1862-1933) and Ward (1874-1909), and sisters Mary Elizabeth (1864-1928), Anna May (1867-1955) and Grace (1867-1903); three other children died in infancy. When the Civil War began, his father supported the Union and was a sutler for the 18th Missouri Volunteer Infantry. General of the Armies John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing (September 13, 1860 - July 15, 1948) was a senior United States Army officer. His most famous post was when he served as the commander of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) on the Western Front in World War I, 1917-18.
Pershing rejected British and French demands that American forces be integrated with their armies, and insisted that the AEF would operate as a single unit under his command, although some American divisions fought under British command, and he also allowed all-black units to be integrated with the French army.
Pershing's soldiers first saw serious battle at Cantigny, Chateau-Thierry, Belleau Wood, and Soissons. To speed up the arrival of the doughboys, they embarked for France leaving the heavy equipment behind, and used British and French tanks, artillery, airplanes and other munitions. In September 1918 at St. Mihiel, the First Army was directly under Pershing's command; it overwhelmed the salient - the encroachment into Allied territory - that the German Army had held for three years. For the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, Pershing shifted roughly 600,000 American soldiers to the heavily defended forests of the Argonne, keeping his divisions engaged in hard fighting for 47 days, alongside the French. The Allied Hundred Days Offensive, which the Argonne fighting was part of, contributed to Germany calling for an armistice. Pershing was of the opinion that the war should continue and that all of Germany should be occupied in an effort to permanently destroy German militarism.
Pershing is the only American to be promoted in his own lifetime to General of the Armies rank, the highest possible rank in the United States Army. Allowed to select his own insignia, Pershing chose to use four gold stars to distinguish himself from those officers who held the rank of General, which was signified with four silver stars. After the creation of the five-star General of the Army rank during World War II, his rank of General of the Armies could unofficially be considered that of a six-star general, but he died before the proposed insignia could be considered and acted on by Congress.
Some of his tactics have been criticized both by other commanders at the time and by modern historians. His reliance on costly frontal assaults, long after other Allied armies had abandoned such tactics, has been blamed for causing unnecessarily high American casualties. In addition to leading the A.E.F. to victory in World War I, Pershing notably served as a mentor to many in the generation of generals who led the United States Army during World War II, including George Marshall, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar Bradley, Lesley J. McNair, George S. Patton, and Douglas MacArthur. - Producer
- Additional Crew
- Director
Born into a large Bohemian-Polish family in Chicago on March 14, 1864, William N. Selig was one of the true pioneers of the motion picture industry. Though not widely remembered today, his Selig Polyscope Co. was responsible for many landmark events in early cinema. Among these were construction of the first permanent studio in Los Angeles in 1908-1909, production of the first cliff-hanger serial (The Adventures of Kathlyn (1913)) and the first film version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910).
After working as an upholsterer, then a vaudeville magician in Chicago, Selig traveled to northern California in 1890 to run a fruit ranch in a small town called Chicago Park. The move was partially necessitated by health problems he was having at the time. By 1893 William had recovered enough to start an African-American minstrel company known as "Selig and Johnson's Colored Minstrels." Performing in the San Francisco area, the most notable member of this troupe was Bert Williams, who would become the greatest African-American comedian of the vaudeville era.
Upon seeing an Edison Kinetescope at the Dallas Fair in 1894, Selig decided to return home to Chicago where he began working on his own camera-projection system. In 1896 he founded one of the world's first motion picture studios. From very modest beginnings, his Selig Polyscope Co. quickly grew to be one of the major players during the pioneer era. With the help of a machinist named Andrew Schustek, Selig designed one of the earliest camera-projectors. Based largely on the Lumiere Cinematographe, his invention would share its name with his fledgling studio.
The first decade of Selig Polyscope's operation was marked by legal turmoil, due largely to the efforts of Thomas A. Edison's lawyers. Finally, in 1909, Selig and several other studio heads formed an uneasy alliance with Edison. The resulting Motion Picture Patents Company and its distribution arm General Films would dominate the film industry until 1915. That year the independent companies won a major victory when the Supreme Court ruled the M.P.P.C. an illegal monopoly.
"Colonel" Selig's ambitions were not strictly confined to cinema. Around 1911 he began acquiring land for what would become the largest private zoo in the world. The Selig Zoo at Eastlake (now Lincoln) Park, in Los Angeles was a logical extension of his movie business. Over the years, William had accumulated a sizable collection of animals for his jungle movies. The 32-acre zoo allowed him to showcase his menagerie while leaving room for studios at the back of the grounds. Many famous animals resided at the zoo, including the original Leo the MGM lion.
Once the zoo/studio was in operation, Selig no longer needed the first L.A. studio that director Francis Boggs had opened for him in Edendale (now Echo Park). An up-and-coming producer named William Fox decided to lease that site for his soon-to-be-famous company. Another giant of the industry benefited from Selig's initial investment in Los Angeles. Louis B. Mayer moved into the studios at the zoo once Selig retired from major production around 1920. The Colonel had no desire to compete against these younger, more aggressive movie moguls.
There were other factors which led William to leave the industry he helped found. With the release of The Spoilers (1914) in 1914, Selig enjoyed his greatest success. At this point Selig Polyscope appeared to have a bright future, but things quickly changed. During this time the industry was evolving from producing the short films Selig specialized in to the modern feature-length productions. While William did make longer films like "The Spoilers," he felt shorts were the way of the future. The onset of World War I also hurt Selig Polyscope, given its extensive European operations. Finally, the dissolution of the Patents Company made the industry more competitive, dooming the pioneer studios.
Selig moved into independent production after closing his studios, working infrequently until the 1930s. The Colonel's glory days were past, though, and he faded into obscurity. The cost of operating a large zoo and the Great Depression had reduced Selig's fortune to nothing. He became a literary agent in his later years, selling off the story rights purchased years before for his films. In 1947 Selig and several other film pioneers were awarded special Oscars. He died the following year on July 15, with his loving wife of many years, Mary, at his side.- Director
- Writer
- Actor
Roy Clements was born on 12 January 1877 in Sterling, Illinois, USA. He was a director and writer, known for A Motion to Adjourn (1921), Wanted: A Coward (1927) and When a Woman Strikes (1919). He was married to Neva West. He died on 15 July 1948 in Los Angeles, California, USA.