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Oberleutnant Franz Baron von Werra, a German Luftwaffe ace, came to New York City in 1941, and was treated like a visiting celebrity. He had been shot down over England, made a few nearly successful escape attempts there, and was being shipped to a POW camp in Canada when he jumped out the window of a moving train and crossed the border into the still neutral US. He would escape from the US as well... An excerpt from my book "Victory City."

#victorycity #worldwarII #luftwaffe #vonwerra #canada #raf #johnstrausbaugh

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When Frank Sinatra performed his first live show at the Times Square Paramount Theatre in December 1942, the packed house, estimated at 5,000 girls (in a space with an official capacity of 3,500), exploded in deafening shrieks and screams. Sinatra and his bandleader Benny Goodman were shocked and petrified. The girls drowned out the entire concert. Many wept, and several fainted. The cacophony and pandemonium were as great as at any Elvis or Beatles concert in later years... An excerpt from my book "Victory City."

#franksinatra #bobbysox #worldwar2 #elvis #beatles

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Robert Downey, Jr., delivered his first spoken line in a feature-length motion picture at the age of five. He played a puppy in a film called Pound, written and directed by his dad, whose other prodigiously weird films include the scathing satire Putney Swope and the psychedelic Western Greaser’s Palace… Excerpted from my book, The Village.

#robertdowney #putneyswope #greaser’spalace #undergroundfilm #hollywood #johnstrausbaugh

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Al Smith, King Kong, Donald Trump, and the Empire State Building

#johnstrausbaugh #kingkong #donaldtrump #empirestatebuilding

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In 1966, Jimi Hendrix – who was then still an obscure musician going as Jimmy James -- wandered into a club near Times Square called the African Room. On stage he saw a tall, muscular black man in a black leotard, boots with eight-inch heels, and a spider monkey on his shoulder, doing a voodoo-inspired dance in front of a rock band. Mike Quashie, from Trinidad, had once been famous as the Limbo King. He now helped Jimmy James become Jimi Hendrix, as well as inspiring Lou Reed, the New York Dolls, and David Bowie. Excerpted from my book, "The Village."

#jimihendrix #greenwichvillage #ledzepellin #davidbowie #loureed #mikequashie #rockmusic

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Ronald Reagan was the first television celebrity to become President. That was quite remarkable in the 1980s, when no one knew what the 21st Century would bring. A handful of rehearsed poses, he was less the country's leader than its logo.

#Reagan #Trump #history #presidency #election #WhiteHouse #celebrity #politics #JohnStrausbaugh

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Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven was one of the oddest characters in Greenwich Village in the 1910s. Her bizarre outfits and outlandish behavior were legendary. Was she just a troubled eccentric, or a pioneering feminist and artist? An excerpt from my book, "The Village."

#BaronessElsa #GreenwichVillage #MarcelDuchamp #WilliamCarlosWilliams #art #Dada #fashion #JohnStrausbaugh

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In the 1920s and 1930s, the Russian émigré Nicholas Roerich was one of the most famous painters in America. His work was shown around the country, and widely praised. The art was only part of Roerich’s appeal. His occult side drew not just fans, but disciples. They funded extraordinary missions in the East, searching for the mystical kingdom of Shambhala.

#Roerich #art #occult #mysticism #Russia #Theosophy #JohnStrausbaugh #museum