Author Archives: ArtLark

December 02

Dickens’ Love and Hate for America

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On the 2nd of December 1867, Charles Dickens gave his first public reading in the United States at the Tremont Temple, Boston where he read A Christmas Carol (1843) to an American audience for the first time. This was his second and final trip to the New World – three years later, after a long […]

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December 01

Christine Jorgensen: The First Transsexual Celebrity

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On the 1st of December 1952, the headlines on the front page of the New York Daily read: “Ex-GI Becomes Blonde Beauty: Operations Transform Bronx Youth”. They were announcing the ‘sex change’ of Christine Jorgensen (born George William Jorgensen, Jr.), the first ever person in the United States to have undergone sex reassignment surgery. The […]

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November 30

Folies Bergère: Populist Cosmopolitan Hub

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On the 30th of November 1886, The Folies Bergère staged its first revue in Paris. Located at 32 rue Richer in the 9th Arrondissement, and called Folies Trévise back then, it was finished as an opera house by the architect Plumeret in 1869. The venue was at the height of its popularity from the 1890’s […]

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November 29

Thomas A. Edison: Invention as a Cognitive Process

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On the 29th of November 1877, Thomas Edison, an American inventor and businessman, demonstrated his phonograph for the first time. It is difficult for us to imagine the kind of stir it caused as we have become so used to listening to music in practically every sphere of our everyday life that we take it […]

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November 28

Gjon Mili: The Man Who Shot Picasso

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On the 28th of November 1904, photographer Gjon Mili was born in  Korçë, Albania. He came to the United States in 1923 at the age of 19 to study electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he met Prof. Harold Edgerton, who worked on developing electronic flash. In 1939, Mili landed a job […]

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November 27

Bruce Lee: The philosopher and poet

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On the 27th of November 1940, Bruce Lee was born in San Francisco’s Chinatown, US. Mostly known for his acting career and his masterful martial arts roles in such movies as The Big Boss (1971), Fist of Fury (1972), Way of the Dragon (1972), Enter the Dragon (1973) and The Game of Death (1973), Lee […]

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November 26

Deconstructing Language and Meaning with Eugène Ionesco

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On the 26th of November 1909, the playwright Eugen Ionescu was born in Slatina, Judetul Olt, Romania. Having trained as a French teacher in ‘Little Paris’, as Bucharest had become known between the two world wars, Ionesco followed on to Paris where he completed his doctorate in 1938. He returned to France during the war […]

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November 25

Mishima Yukio: The Last Samurai

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On the 25th of November 1970, Mishima Yukio, a Japanese writer, actor and film director, killed himself in the traditional Japanese warrior manner of seppuku in Tokyo, Japan. His suicide shocked equally the Japanese and people worldwide. It is believed that Mishima’s suicide was a premeditated act determined by certain political but also personal and […]

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November 24

Christopher Dresser: Design into Industry

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On the 24th of November 1904, Christopher Dresser died in Mulhouse, eastern France. Unlike visual artists, designers leave a more palpable impression on our daily lives and yet, quite often, many of their discoveries fail to be attributed to them as the products they create get absorbed into the commercial circuit. Their ‘signature’ is lost […]

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November 23

Who is the Doctor? A Question of Identity in Doctor Who

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On the 23rd of November 1963, just one day after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the BBC broadcast the very first episode of Doctor Who – the television sci-fi series, which by now has entertained more than one generation of TV viewers. The first actor to play the famous Time Lord was William Hartnell, […]

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