Spotlight on Lee Falk - Timeline

From MandrakeWiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Lee Falk
Lee Falk-40s.jpg
Biographical information
Born: April 28, 1911
Died: March 13, 1999
Nationality: Mini usa.gif American
Occupation: Writer
Website:


There exist many smaller biographies of Lee Falk, but all contain some minor errors. The purpose of this page is making a timeline of which each point has one or more references, other than Lee Falk himself.

Timeline

1910-1919

  • 1911, April 28: Leon Harrison Gross is born i St. Louis to Eleanor Allina and Benjamin Gross.
  • 1913: Eleanor and Benjamin Gross get divorced [1].
  • 1913, December: Eleanor Allina Gross remarries to Albert Falk Epstein [2], and from boyhood through his college education Leon was known as Leon H. Epstein.
  • 1915, April 19: Leon's brother Leslie Alan Epstein is born [3].

1920-1929

  • 1924: Leon enrols at Soldan High School.
  • 1928: Leon enrols at the University of Illinois, at Urbana-Champaign.

1930-1939

  • 1932: Leon graduates from the Univerity of Illinois, Liberal Arts and Sciences - English [4]. Listed with: Zeta Beta Tau; Pi Delta Phi; Kappa Phi Sigma; The Daily Illini (1, 2, 3) and Honors Day (1, 2, 3).
  • 1932, October 9: STUDENTS desiring tutoring in French, Latin, Greek or English lit. call Leon Harrison Epstein CA. 3658 [5].
  • 1933, May 2: Epstein is employed by an advertising agency and llives at 4615 Lindell boulevard. Besides the two operas, he has written an unpublished novel and during his years in school he was a frequent contributor to campus literary publications [6].
  • 1934, April 7: Leon copyrighted Mandrake the Magician under the name Leon Harrison Epstein and Lee Falk [7].
  • 1934: By decree of the circuit court, St. Louis, Mo., Leon's name was legally changed from Leon H. Gross to Leon Harrison Epstein Falk [1].
  • 1934, June 11: Mandrake the Magician daily comic strip debutes.
  • 1935, February 3: Mandrake the Magician Sunday page debutes.
  • 1935, October 1: Leon marries Louise Kanazireff, and honeymooned for a month in Mexico [8],[9].
  • 1936, February 17: The Phantom daily comic strip debutes.
  • 1936, October 5: Lee and Louise Falk moved to New York.
  • 1937, October 14: Lee and Louise returns with S.S. Normandie, sailing from Southamton (England) to N.Y. [10] (address: 315 E. 68th St. - NYC NY)
  • 1938, May 31: Lee and Louise arrives Liverpool (England), sailing with SS Samaria from N.Y. via Boston, Greenock and Dublin. (proposed address in the UK: Chase Bank, Berkeley (80) London)
  • 1938, June 7: Albert Falk and Eleonor G. (G = Gross ?) Epstein sailing from New York to Plymouth (England) with S.S. Ile de France to visit their son Leslie. (address in London: Hotel Royal Court)
  • 1938, August 11: Albert and Eleonor Epstein returns with S.S. Saturnia, sailing from Trieste (Italy) to N.Y.
  • 1938, October 27: Lee and Louise Falk returns[footnotes 1] with S.S. Exochorda, sailing from Beirut (Syria) to N.Y. [10] (address: 235 E. 45th St. - NYC NY)
  • 1939, May 28: The Phantom Sunday page debutes.

1940-1949

  • 1940, May 23: Lee and Louise's daughter Valerie Falk is born.
  • 1940: Lee Falk starts the Cambridge Summer Theatre with John Huntington and Miriam Battista.
  • 1940, December 3: guest at the "Professor Quiz" program (CBS).
  • 1941, April 24: Lee, Louise and Valery returning with S.S. Evangelium, sailing from Nassau to N.Y. [10] (address: 235 E. 68th St. - NYC NY) They sailed from N.Y. with S.S. Evangeline of Eastern Steamship Line on February the 1st.
  • 1942: Office of Facts & Figures (later OWI) established a radio section in its Foreign Language Division with Lee Falk as chief [1][footnotes 2]. Chief of the Foreign Language Division was Alan MacGregor Cranston [1].
  • 1944, March 7: Lee H. Falk is enlisted as private at Fort Devens in Massachusetts [11].
  • 1945: Constance J. Moorehead Lilienthal acted at the Cambridge Summer Theatre.
  • 1945: Lee and Louise get divorced.
  • 1946: In addition to The Cambridge Summer Theatre Lee Falk and John Huntington operated the new Boston Summer Theatre.
  • 1946, July 30: Lee marries Constance Lilienthal and honeymooned for a week [12], best man was Alan MacGregor Cranston.
  • 1947, May 22: Daughter, Diane born to Constance and Lee Falk.

1950-1959

  • (undated): first summer vacations in a house rented in Truro (Barnstable County, Massachusetts, at the south part of Cape Cod’s tip, an area known as the "Outer Cape"[) at 41 South Pamet Road.
  • 1950 (July): Lee is producer for the play "On The Town" at the Grist Mill Playhouse in Andover, New Jersey.
  • 1950 (August 7): Lee Falk was the producer and supervisor of the comedy "On the Town" at Spa Summer Theatre in Saratoga Springs, New York.
  • 1951 (September 5): Birth of Conley, son of Lee and Connie Falk.
  • 1952 (July): association with Al Capp (“Li’l Abner” creator) for the County Playhouse summer season in Framingham, Massachusetts.
  • 1953 and 1954 : organizes some plays for the February theatre month at the Bahama Playhouse in Nassau, Bahamas.
  • 1954 (undated): Lee’s play "Happy Dollar" was staged 6 weeks in 1954 by the Theatre Inc., Houston, Texas.
  • 1954 (undated): Divorce of Lee and Connie.
  • 1954 (undated): Lee manages the first Marblehead theatre summer season.
  • 1956 (May): cited as collaborator in the generic of the French documentary film “Toute la mémoire du monde” (“All the World's Memories”), directed by Alain Resnais.
  • 1958 (January): Lee produces and stages the play “Winkelberg” at the Renata Theater, in New York City.

1960-1969

  • 1960 (undated) : purchase of the rented house (the house was nicknamed by Lee “Xanadu”; in 2012 the house, always the propriety of Elizabeth Falk-Moxley and Valerie Falk was estimated as being worth 1,107,700 US dollars.
  • 1961 (August 29): Birth of Marie Louise, granddaughter of Lee to Valerie and Pedro Silva.
  • 1962 (December 15): Birth of Antony grandson of Lee to Valerie and Pedro Silva.
  • 1962 (undated): Short appearance in the cast of the French film “L’an 01” (part filmed in New York by Alain Resnais)
  • 1964 (January 24): Birth of Rondi, granddaughter of Lee to Valerie and Pedro Silva.
  • 1965 (February/March): visit in Europe: in Italy for the first “International Exhibition of Comics” held in Bordighera (February 21 and 22) and in Paris, France.
  • 1966 (undated): visit in Paris for the exhibition of Mandrake/Phantom which took place from 3 to 15 June.
  • 1966 (undated): publishing of “Eris”, a drama in one act firstly staged at the “Théâtre La Bruyère” in Paris the same year and then by American Theatre Company in 1970.
  • 1967 (undated): publishing of "Home at Six", a one act comedy.
  • 1969 (undated): Lee receives the NCS Service Award by the National Cartoonists Society.
  • 196? (undated): publishing of "The Flatlands", a play.
  • 1969 (April 21): Reuben Awards dinner dance and show at Hotel Plaza (New York), a spoof-in Space titled "Rocket to Me" produced and directed by Lee Falk. The cast include Bob Dunn, Allan Jaffee, Howie Schneider, Irwin Hasen, Roy Doty, Mell Lazarus and Jerry Robinson.

1970-1979

  • 1970 (December): visit in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
  • 1971 (October): visit in Italy, wins “The Yellow Kid Award” at the Lucca Comics Conference.
  • 1971 (undated): Lee receives “The Roman Lifetime Achievement Award” by The Italian Minister of Culture.
  • 1972 (undated): Death of Lee's mother Eleanor.
  • 1972 to 1975: writes five Phantom novels for the Avon Publications ("The Ghost Who Walks", "The Mysterious Ambassador", "Killer's Town", "The Vampires and the Witch" and "The Curse of the Two-Headed Bull").
  • 1973 (undated): writing of "Mandrake the Magician and the Enchantress” a musical, staged for the first time at the Lenox Arts Center at Wheatleigh.
  • 1975 (December): publishing in Playboy magazine of "Time is Money", a short story later said as base of the 2011 film “Time In” even if Lee Falk was not credited for it.
  • 1976 (December 31): Marriage with Elizabeth Moxley.
  • 1977 (September): visit in Oslo, Norway and at the annual Gothenburg Book Fair, Sweden, to receive “The Adamson Award for Best Foreign Comics Creator” attributed by “ The Swedish Academy of Comic Art” (19 September).
  • 1978 (April): Journey to China with his wife Elizabeth.

1980-1989

  • 1983 (undated): visit in Copenhagen, Denmark.
  • 1984 (undated): visit in Italy. Invited at the 16th Italian Comics Conference in Lucca, receives a Yellow Kid Award in tribute for “A Life in Comics World”.
  • 1986 (undated): stay in Sweden; wins “The Golden Adamson” of "The Swedish Academy of Comic Art" during his visit in and visits the recently opened "Fantomenland" in Eskilstuna.
  • 1986 (undated): wins the “Silver T-Square Award (Reuben Award) from The National Cartoonist Society.
  • 1989 (undated): wins the “Inkpot Award” at the San Diego International Comic Conference.

1990-1999

  • 1990 (undated): visit of the Book Fair in Gothenburg, Sweden before to visit the Liseberg Amusement Park.
  • 1992 (undated): Birth of Gwendolyn, Lee's great granddaughter to Marie Louise.
  • 1994 (May 21): Lee Falk Day in his hometown St. Louis, with appearance at the Kansas City ComicCon the next day.
  • 1996 (January): invited in Australia on the set of “The Phantom” movie.
  • 1996 (June 4): At the Phantom movie Premiere, Lee received a letter from President Bill Clinton, congratulating him with his achievements.
  • 1996 (Ocober 28): present at the European Premiere of the Phantom film in Stockholm, Sweden.
  • 1999 (Spring): writes his final Mandrake and Phantom stories from his hospital bed with the help of his wife Elizabeth.
  • 1999 ( March 13): Death of heart failure in New Yok City. Interment in Brooklyn's Cypress Hills Cemetery.


Note

  1. ↑ Exochorda was one of four sister ships (Exeter, Excambion, Exochordia and Excalibur) sailing fortnightly from New York and calling at Gibraltar, Marseilles, Naples, Alexandria, Jaffa, Beirut, Haifa, Alexandria, Piraeus, Naples, Leghorn, Genoa, Marseilles, Boston and New York. With the Yankee Cruise one could take a round trip of 44 days, or parts of the voyage. Lee boarded the Exochorda in Alexandria on October the 5th and Louise in Genoa 7 days later.
  2. ↑ Working in Washington D.C., not at a local Illinois radio station.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Study and Investigation of the Federal Communications Commission: Hearings Before the Select Committee to Investigate the Federal Communications Commission, House of Representatives, Seventy-eighth Congress, First Session, Acting Under H. Res. 21, ..., U.S. Government Printing Office, 1943, 390
  2. ↑ St Louis Post Dispatch (St Louis) 23 December 1913
  3. ↑ 1920 United States Federal Census, St. Louis City, Missouri
  4. ↑ The Illio, Yearbook 1932. Univerity of Illinois, p 70, 551, 585
  5. ↑ "Instruction", St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, Missouri) 9 Oct 1932, p 41
  6. ↑ "Jobbless Shoemaker Writes an Opera About Pirates", St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, Missouri) 23 April 1933, p 14
  7. ↑ Library of Congress Copyright Office, Catalog of Copyright Entries, Part 4 - Works of Art, Etc. New Series, 1934, 66
  8. ↑ St Louis Post Dispatch (St Louis) 4 October 1935
  9. ↑ Variety #120 page 125, 6 November 1935
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957
  11. ↑ U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946
  12. ↑ "Falk-Lilienthal Nuptials Read on Tuesday", The Times Recorder (Zanesville, Ohio), 3 August 1946, tree

External links

Retrieved from "http://www.mandrakewiki.org/index.php?title=Spotlight_on_Lee_Falk_-_Timeline&oldid=60144"