While researching the individual stories of those who have died on past June 24ths, I ran across the following series of syncs that gave me a Fortean surprise.
PART ONE
Brian Keith played the role of Mullibok in the
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Episode 1:15 episode, "Progress," May 9, 1993,
On June 24, 1997 (exactly 50 years after the birth of the Age of Flying Saucers), Brian Keith, American actor (Family Affair, Loneliest Runner, The Parent Trap), died by suicide at 75.
From 1927 to 1929, Keith's stepmother was Peg Entwistle, a well-known Broadway actress who leapt to her death by jumping from the "H" of the famous Hollywood(land) Sign on September 16, 1932, at 24. The Hollywoodland Sign (installed in 1923), and the restored Hollywood Sign, is located on the southern side of Mount Lee in Griffith Park, north of the Mulholland Highway, and to the south of the Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) cemetery.
Entwistle appeared in only one film, Thirteen Women, which was released posthumously. Entwistle had won her first and only credited film role with Radio Pictures (later RKO). Entwistle played a small supporting role as Hazel Cousins. It premiered on October 14, 1932, a month after her death, at the Roxy Theatre in New York City, and was released in Los Angeles on November 11, 1932, to neither critical nor commercial success. By the time it was re-released in 1935, 14 minutes had been cut from the film's original 73 minute running length. In 2008, Variety magazine cited Thirteen Women as one of the earliest "female ensemble" films.
Thirteen Women also starred Myrna Loy and Irene Dunne in the pre-Hays code, high-budget thriller produced by David O. Selznick and drawn from the novel by Tiffany Thayer. Tiffany Thayer? Whoa.
In 1931 Thayer co-founded the Fortean Society in New York City to promote Fort's ideas. Primarily based in New York City, the Society was headed by first president Theodore Dreiser, an old friend of Fort who had helped to get his work published.
Early members of the original Society in NYC included such luminaries as Dorothy Parker, Booth Tarkington, Ben Hecht, Alexander Woollcott, and H. L. Mencken. Other members included Vincent Gaddis, Ivan T. Sanderson, A. Merritt, Frank Lloyd Wright and Buckminster Fuller.
The first 6 issues of Doubt, the Fortean Society's newsletter, were each edited by a different member, starting with Dreiser. Thayer thereafter took over editorship of subsequent issues. Thayer began to assert extreme control over the society, largely filling the newsletter with articles written by himself. He also excommunicated the entire San Francisco chapter (including Miriam Allen deFord who never considered herself a nonmember, in spite of Thayer's action), reportedly their largest and most active, after disagreements over the society's direction, and forbidding them to use the name Fortean.
During World War II, Thayer used every issue of Doubt to espouse his politics. In contrast to the spirit of Charles Fort, he dismissed not only flying saucers as nonsense but also the atomic bomb as a hoax by the US government.
Thayer also wrote several novels, including the bestseller Thirteen Women which was filmed in 1932 and released by RKO Radio Pictures. Many of his novels contained elements of science fiction or fantasy, including Dr. Arnoldi about a world where no-one can die.
On June 24, 1997, Brian Keith, who lived in Hawaii for a few years beginning in 1970, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his home in Malibu, California, two months after his daughter Daisy died by suicide.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (USA)
1-800-273-8255
+++
PART TWO
PART TWO
June 24th Deaths
Kenneth Arnold began the "Age of Flying Saucers" on June 24, 1947. The list of strange ufo-aligned deaths starts with that date of note.
The Westmore family has dominated make-up departments in Hollywood since Bud's father George created the business in 1917. They have kept visible in recent years due to McKenzie Westmore, who since 2011, has served as the host of the Syfy original series Face Off, a reality competition featuring makeup artists. Bud was the uncle to Michael Westmore, famed for his Star Trek work and the father of McKenzie.
June 24, 1978, Robert Charroux, 69, the best-known pen-name of Robert Joseph Grugeau dies. Charroux was a French author known for his ancient astronaut theories and writings on other Fortean subjects, in such books as Masters Of The World: Groundbreaking New Revelations About The Ancient Astronauts (1979).
June 24, 1987, Jackie Gleason, 71, the actor, who was an early advocate of flying saucer research, dies. Gleason's known interest in UFOs allegedly prompted President Richard Nixon to share some information with him and to disclose some UFO data publicly.
June 24, 2006, Lyle Stuart, 83, the renegade publisher who published anomalist writer Frank Edwards’ Fortean book, in 1959, Stranger than Science, a paperbook full of information on ufology and other unexplained accounts, dies.
June 24, 2013, James Martin, 79, a former rocket scientist, computer scientist, and author of After the Internet: Alien Intelligence (2000), is found floating dead in the waters off Agar's Island. Dr. Martin bought Agar’s Island in 1977 and made his home in Bermuda. The multi-millionaire kept a relatively low profile in Bermuda.
June 24, 2013, Alan Myers, 58, the most prominent drummer (1976-1987) of the band Devo, dies of stomach cancer in Los Angeles. Devo played punk, art rock, post-punk and new wave music, and performed stage shows that mingled kitsch science fiction themes, deadpan surrealist humor, and mordantly satirical social commentary. Devo recorded at their own self-named "UFO Studios." More.
June 24, 2015, Mario Biaggi, 97, dies. The former Bronx congressman was involved in the "UFO disclosure" movement, and was once pictured on the cover of Ideal's UFO Magazine, December 1978, Number 4. Within the periodical, there appears the article, "Interview: Mario Biaggi 'There Is A UFO Cover-Up By The Government.'" On the cover, an image of Biaggi is shown with President Jimmy Carter. More.
June 24, 2018, Roswell, X-Files, and The Shining television guest star Stanley Anderson dies.
June 24, 2018, the Voice of New York radio during the Great Northeast Blackout (caused by UFOs?), Dan Ingram dies.
See further information on Anderson, Ingram, and others who died in 2018, here.
June 24, 2019, news reporter Sean Dunleavy, dies. The journalist was a witness to and a participant in the famed Linda Cortile UFO abduction case of November 30, 1989, Manhattan, New York. Read more.
Kenneth Arnold began the "Age of Flying Saucers" on June 24, 1947. The list of strange ufo-aligned deaths starts with that date of note.
Here is a quick overview of the notable ufo-related deaths on or near June 24:
June 24 or 23, 1964, Frank Scully, 72, author of one of the first crashed-saucer books, Behind the Flying Saucers (1950), dies.
June 24, 1967, two British UFO contactees, Arthur Bryant, a contactee, and Richard Church, an author and chairman of CIGIUFO, die.
June 23, 1967, Frank Edwards, 55, popular UFO author and radio personality in the 1950s, dies a few hours before Arthur Bryant. James Moseley stunned the delegates assembled for the 1967 Congress of Scientific Ufologists at New York City’s Hotel Commodore on June 24th, with the news of the sudden death of Frank Edwards.
June 24, 1969, Willy Ley, 62, a rocket scientist and Fortean author, dies. Willy Ley was one of the first respected modern scientist to attempt to answer the question of what is a flying saucer. In 1952, he was one of the first, if not the first person, to say that 85% of UFO sightings are misidentified craft, leaving the other 15% open to notions of "interplanetary travel," that he began writing about in 1926.
June 24 or 23, 1964, Frank Scully, 72, author of one of the first crashed-saucer books, Behind the Flying Saucers (1950), dies.
June 24, 1967, two British UFO contactees, Arthur Bryant, a contactee, and Richard Church, an author and chairman of CIGIUFO, die.
June 23, 1967, Frank Edwards, 55, popular UFO author and radio personality in the 1950s, dies a few hours before Arthur Bryant. James Moseley stunned the delegates assembled for the 1967 Congress of Scientific Ufologists at New York City’s Hotel Commodore on June 24th, with the news of the sudden death of Frank Edwards.
June 24, 1969, Willy Ley, 62, a rocket scientist and Fortean author, dies. Willy Ley was one of the first respected modern scientist to attempt to answer the question of what is a flying saucer. In 1952, he was one of the first, if not the first person, to say that 85% of UFO sightings are misidentified craft, leaving the other 15% open to notions of "interplanetary travel," that he began writing about in 1926.
New Addition:
How did flying saucers' occupants and creatures become enculturated with 1950s' Americans? Drive-in theater movies employed make-up artist Bud Westmore's reinforcing imagery of ufo aliens and giant monsters as the template for society's view of how these things might appear. The Age of Flying Saucers had dawned. No wonder Westmore died on the date of June 24.
How did flying saucers' occupants and creatures become enculturated with 1950s' Americans? Drive-in theater movies employed make-up artist Bud Westmore's reinforcing imagery of ufo aliens and giant monsters as the template for society's view of how these things might appear. The Age of Flying Saucers had dawned. No wonder Westmore died on the date of June 24.
June 24, 1973, Bud Westmore, 55, dies of a heart attack.
Bud was a renowned Hollywood make-up artist of the famed Westmore family, and has been credited with doing make-up for 592 films, including It Came From Outer Space (1953), This Island Earth (1955), Tarantula (1955), The Deadly Mantis (1957), Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), Revenge of the Creature (1955), The Creature Walks Among Us (1956), and scores of mainstream films, like Spartacus (1960).
June 24, 1978, Robert Charroux, 69, the best-known pen-name of Robert Joseph Grugeau dies. Charroux was a French author known for his ancient astronaut theories and writings on other Fortean subjects, in such books as Masters Of The World: Groundbreaking New Revelations About The Ancient Astronauts (1979).
June 24, 1987, Jackie Gleason, 71, the actor, who was an early advocate of flying saucer research, dies. Gleason's known interest in UFOs allegedly prompted President Richard Nixon to share some information with him and to disclose some UFO data publicly.
June 24, 1997, Brian Keith (see above), who starred in Meteor (1979; with Sean Connery and Natalie Wood), dies by suicide.
June 24, 2006, Lyle Stuart, 83, the renegade publisher who published anomalist writer Frank Edwards’ Fortean book, in 1959, Stranger than Science, a paperbook full of information on ufology and other unexplained accounts, dies.
June 24, 2013, James Martin, 79, a former rocket scientist, computer scientist, and author of After the Internet: Alien Intelligence (2000), is found floating dead in the waters off Agar's Island. Dr. Martin bought Agar’s Island in 1977 and made his home in Bermuda. The multi-millionaire kept a relatively low profile in Bermuda.
June 24, 2013, Alan Myers, 58, the most prominent drummer (1976-1987) of the band Devo, dies of stomach cancer in Los Angeles. Devo played punk, art rock, post-punk and new wave music, and performed stage shows that mingled kitsch science fiction themes, deadpan surrealist humor, and mordantly satirical social commentary. Devo recorded at their own self-named "UFO Studios." More.
June 24, 2015, Mario Biaggi, 97, dies. The former Bronx congressman was involved in the "UFO disclosure" movement, and was once pictured on the cover of Ideal's UFO Magazine, December 1978, Number 4. Within the periodical, there appears the article, "Interview: Mario Biaggi 'There Is A UFO Cover-Up By The Government.'" On the cover, an image of Biaggi is shown with President Jimmy Carter. More.
June 24, 2018, Roswell, X-Files, and The Shining television guest star Stanley Anderson dies.
June 24, 2018, the Voice of New York radio during the Great Northeast Blackout (caused by UFOs?), Dan Ingram dies.
See further information on Anderson, Ingram, and others who died in 2018, here.
June 24, 2019, news reporter Sean Dunleavy, dies. The journalist was a witness to and a participant in the famed Linda Cortile UFO abduction case of November 30, 1989, Manhattan, New York. Read more.
June 24, 2020. ???
My volunteer helping manage the Anomaly Archives' Twitter and Instagram accounts posted about Peg Entwistle recently...
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/AnomalyArchives/status/1256765711676047367
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_ta_nYFn-p/