Photographed May 24, 2016 at Hidden Lake Gardens near Tipton in Michigan's Irish Hills. These are the botanical gardens of Michigan State University and the location chosen by the owner for a photo session with his Studebaker, one of only four 1927 right hand drive Studebakers known to still exist. The model was marketed for postal delivery use.

All of my classic car photos can be found here: Car Collections

Press "L" for a larger image on black.

Italian postcard by Rizzoli, Milano, 1939, for Orologi e Cinturini Delgia. Photo: Studio Chaplin.

American actress Paulette Goddard (1905-1990) started her career as a fashion model and as a Ziegfeld Girl in several Broadway shows. In the 1940s, she became a major star of Paramount Pictures. She was Charlie Chaplin's leading lady in Modern Times (1936), and The Great Dictator. Goddard was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for So Proudly We Hail! (1943). Her husbands included Chaplin, Burgess Meredith, and Erich Maria Remarque.

Paulette Goddard was born Pauline Marion Levy in Whitestone Landing, Long Island, New York. Sources variously cite her year of birth as 1911 and 1914, and the place as Whitestone Landing, New York, USA. However, municipal employees in Ronco, Switzerland, where she died, gave her birth year of record as 1905. Goddard was the daughter of Joseph Russell Levy, the son of a prosperous Jewish cigar manufacturer from Salt Lake City, and Alta Mae Goddard, who was of Episcopalian English heritage. They married in 1908 and separated while their daughter was very young, although the divorce did not become final until 1926. According to Goddard, her father left them, but according to J. R. Levy, Alta absconded with the child. Goddard was raised by her mother, and did not meet her father again until the late 1930s, after she had become famous. To avoid a custody battle, she and her mother moved often during her childhood, even relocating to Canada at one point. Goddard began modeling at an early age to support her mother and herself, working for Saks Fifth Avenue, Hattie Carnegie, and others. An important figure in her childhood was her great uncle, Charles Goddard, the owner of the American Druggists Syndicate. He played a central role in Goddard's career, introducing her to Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld. She made her stage debut as a dancer in Ziegfeld's summer revue, 'No Foolin' (1926), which was also the first time that she used the stage name Paulette Goddard. Ziegfeld hired her for another musical, 'Rio Rita', which opened in February 1927, but she left the show after only three weeks to appear in the play 'The Unconquerable Male', produced by Archie Selwyn. It was, however, a flop and closed after only three days following its premiere in Atlantic City. Soon after the play closed, Goddard was introduced to the much older lumber tycoon Edgar James, president of the Southern Lumber Company, by Charles Goddard. She married him in June 1927 in Rye, New York, but the marriage was short. Goddard was granted a divorce in Reno, Nevada, in 1929, receiving a divorce settlement of $375,000. Tony Fontana at IMDb: "A stunning natural beauty, Paulette could mesmerize any man she met, a fact she was well aware of. "

Paulette Goddard first visited Hollywood in 1929, when she appeared as an uncredited extra in two films, the Laurel and Hardy short film Berth Marks (Lewis R. Foster, 1929), and George Fitzmaurice's drama The Locked Door (1929). Following her divorce, she briefly visited Europe before returning to Hollywood in late 1930 with her mother. Her second attempt at acting was no more successful than the first, as she landed work only as an extra. In 1930, she signed her first film contract with producer Samuel Goldwyn to appear as a Goldwyn Girl in Whoopee! (Thornton Freeland, 1930) with Eddie Cantor. She also appeared in City Streets (Rouben Mamoulian, 1931) with Gary Cooper, Ladies of the Big House (Marion Gering, 1931) starring Sylvia Sidney, and The Girl Habit (Edward F. Cline, 1931) for Paramount, and The Mouthpiece (James Flood, Elliott Nugent, 1932) for Warners. Goldwyn and she did not get along, and she began working for Hal Roach Studios, appearing in a string of uncredited supporting roles for the next four years, including Young Ironsides (James Parrott, 1932) with Charley Chase, and Pack Up Your Troubles (1932) with Laurel and Hardy. One of her bigger roles in that period was as a blond 'Goldwyn Girl' in the Eddie Cantor film The Kid from Spain (Leo McCarey, 1932). Goldwyn also used Goddard in The Bowery (Raoul Walsh, 1933) with Wallace Beery, Roman Scandals (Frank Tuttle, 1933), and Kid Millions (Roy Del Ruth, 1934) with Eddie Cantor. The year she signed with Goldwyn, Goddard began dating Charlie Chaplin, a relationship that received substantial attention from the press. They were reportedly married in secret in Canton, China, in June 1936. It marked a turning point in Goddard's career when Chaplin cast her as his leading lady in his box office hit, Modern Times (1936). Her role as 'The Gamin', an orphan girl who runs away from the authorities and becomes The Tramp's companion, was her first credited film appearance and garnered her mainly positive reviews, Frank S. Nugent of The New York Times describing her as "the fitting recipient of the great Charlot's championship". Following the success of Modern Times, Chaplin planned other projects with Goddard in mind as a co-star, but he worked slowly, and Goddard worried that the public might forget about her if she did not continue to make regular film appearances. She signed a contract with David O. Selznick and appeared with Janet Gaynor in the comedy The Young in Heart (Richard Wallace, 1938) before Selznick lent her to MGM to appear in two films. The first of these, Dramatic School (Robert B. Sinclair, 1938), co-starred Luise Rainer, but the film received mediocre reviews and failed to attract an audience. Her next film, The Women (George Cukor, 1939), was a success. With an all-female cast headed by Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, and Rosalind Russell, the film's supporting role of Miriam Aarons was played by Goddard. Pauline Kael later wrote of Goddard, "she is a stand-out. fun."

David O' Selznick was pleased with Paulette Goddard's performances, particularly her work in The Young in Heart, and considered her for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939). Initial screen tests convinced Selznick and director George Cukor that Goddard would require coaching to be effective in the role, but that she showed promise, and she was the first actress given a Technicolor screen test. After he was introduced to Vivien Leigh, he wrote to his wife that Leigh was a "dark horse" and that his choice had "narrowed down to Paulette, Jean Arthur, Joan Bennett, and Vivien Leigh". After a series of tests with Leigh that pleased both Selznick and Cukor, Selznick cancelled the further tests that had been scheduled for Goddard, and the part was given to Leigh. Goddard's next film, The Cat and the Canary (Elliott Nugent, 1939) with Bob Hope, was a turning point in the careers of both actors. The success of the film established her as a genuine star. Her performance won her a ten-year contract with Paramount Studios, which was one of the premier studios of the day. They promptly were re-teamed in The Ghost Breakers (George Marshall, 1940), again a huge hit. Goddard starred with Chaplin again in his film The Great Dictator (1940). In 1942, Goddard was granted a Mexican divorce from Chaplin. The couple split amicably, with Chaplin agreeing to a generous settlement. At Paramount, Goddard was used by Cecil B. De Mille in the action epic North West Mounted Police (1940), playing the second female lead. She was Fred Astaire's leading lady in the acclaimed musical Second Chorus/Swing it (H.C. Potter, 1940), where she met actor Burgess Meredith, her third husband. Goddard made Pot o' Gold (George Marshall, 1941), a comedy with James Stewart, then supported Charles Boyer and Olivia de Havilland in Hold Back the Dawn (Mitchell Leisen, 1941), from a script by Wilder and Brackett, directed by Mitchell Leisen. Goddard was teamed with Hope for a third time in Nothing But the Truth (Elliott Nugent, 1942), then made The Lady Has Plans (Sidney Lanfield, 1942), a comedy with Ray Milland. She co-starred with Milland and John Wayne in Reap the Wild Wind (Cecil B. DeMille, 1942), playing the lead, a Scarlett O'Hara type character. The film was a huge hit. Goddard did The Forest Rangers (George Marshall, 1942) with Fred MacMurray. One of her better-remembered film appearances was in the variety musical Star Spangled Rhythm (George Marshall, 1943), in which she sang "A Sweater, a Sarong, and a Peekaboo Bang" with Dorothy Lamour and Veronica Lake.

Paulette Goddard received one Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for So Proudly We Hail! (Mark Sandrich, 1943) opposite Claudette Colbert and Veronica Lake. She didn't win, but it solidified her as a top draw. Goddard was teamed with Fred MacMurray in the delightful comedy Standing Room Only (Sidney Lanfield, 1944) and Sonny Tufts in I Love a Soldier (Mark Sandrich, 1944). In May 1944, she married Burgess Meredith at David O. Selznick's home in Beverly Hills. Goddard's most successful film was Kitty (Mitchell Leisen, 1945), in which she played the title role. Denny Jackson/Robert Sieger at IMDb: "The film was a hit with moviegoers, as she played an ordinary English woman transformed into a duchess. The film was filled with plenty of comedy, dramatic and romantic scenes that appealed to virtually everyone." In The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946), Goddard starred with husband Burgess Meredith under the direction of Jean Renoir. It was made for United Artists. At Paramount she did Suddenly It's Spring (Mitchell Leisen, 1947) with Fred MacMurray, and De Mille's 18th century romantic drama Unconquered (Cecil B. DeMille, 1947), with Cary Grant. During the Hollywood Blacklist, when she and blacklisted husband Meredith were mobbed by a baying crowd screaming "Communists!" on their way to a premiere, Goddard is said to have turned to her husband and said, "Shall I roll down the window and hit them with my diamonds, Bugsy?" In 1947, she made An Ideal Husband in Britain for Alexander Korda, and was accompanied on a publicity trip to Brussels by Clarissa Spencer-Churchill, niece of Sir Winston Churchill and future wife of future Prime Minister Anthony Eden. She divorced Meredith in June 1949, and also left Paramount. In 1949, she formed Monterey Pictures with John Steinbeck. Goddard starred in Anna Lucasta (Irving Rapper, 1949), then went to Mexico for The Torch (Emilio Fernández, 1950). In England, she was in Babes in Bagdad (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1952), then she went to Hollywood for Vice Squad (Arnold Laven, 1953) with Edward G. Robinson, and Charge of the Lancers (William Castle, 1954) with Jean-Pierre Aumont. Her last starring role was in the English production A Stranger Came Home/The Unholy Four (Terence Fisher, 1954).

Paulette Goddard began appearing in summer stock and on television, guest starring on episodes of Sherlock Holmes, an adaptation of The Women, this time playing the role of Sylvia Fowler, The Errol Flynn Theatre, The Joseph Cotten Show, and The Ford Television Theatre. She was in an episode of Adventures in Paradise and a TV version of The Phantom. After her marriage to Erich Maria Remarque in 1958, Goddard largely retired from acting and moved to Ronco sopra Ascona, Switzerland. In 1964, she attempted a comeback in films with a supporting role in the Italian film Gli indifferenti/Time of Indifference (Francesco Maselli, 1964), starring Claudia Cardinale and Rod Steiger, which was her last feature film. After Remarque's death in 1970, she made one last attempt at acting, when she accepted a small role in an episode of the TV series The Snoop Sisters, The Female Instinct (Leonards Stern, 1972) with Helen Hayes and Mildred Natwick. Upon Remarque's death, Goddard inherited much of his money and several important properties across Europe, including a wealth of contemporary art, which augmented her own long-standing collection. During this period, her talent at accumulating wealth became a byword among the old Hollywood élite. During the 1980s, she became a fairly well known (and highly visible) socialite in New York City, appearing covered with jewels at many high-profile cultural functions with several well-known men, including Andy Warhol, with whom she sustained a friendship for many years until his death in 1987. Paulette Goddard underwent invasive treatment for breast cancer in 1975, successfully by all accounts. In 1990, she died at her home in Switzerland from heart failure while under respiratory support due to emphysema, She is buried in Ronco Village Cemetery, next to Remarque and her mother. Goddard had no children. She became a stepmother to Charles Chaplin's two sons, Charles Chaplin Jr. and Sydney Chaplin, while she and Charlie were married. In his memoirs, 'My Father Charlie Chaplin' (1960), Charles Jr. describes her as a lovely, caring and intelligent woman throughout the book. In October 1944, she suffered the miscarriage of a son with Burgess Meredith. Goddard, whose own formal education did not go beyond high school, bequeathed US$20 million to New York University (NYU) in New York City.

Sources: Tony Fontana (IMDb), Denny Jackson / Robert Sieger (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Swiss-German-British postcard by News Productions, Baulmes / Filmwelt Berlin, Bakede / News Productions, Stroud, no. 56551. Paulette Goddard in Modern Times (Charles Chaplin, 1936), produced by United Artists.

American actress Paulette Goddard (1905-1990) started her career as a fashion model and as a Ziegfeld Girl in several Broadway shows. In the 1940s, she became a major star of Paramount Pictures. She was Charlie Chaplin's leading lady in Modern Times (1936), and The Great Dictator. Goddard was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for So Proudly We Hail! (1943). Her husbands included Chaplin, Burgess Meredith, and Erich Maria Remarque.

Paulette Goddard was born Pauline Marion Levy in Whitestone Landing, Long Island, New York. Sources variously cite her year of birth as 1911 and 1914, and the place as Whitestone Landing, New York, USA. However, municipal employees in Ronco, Switzerland, where she died, gave her birth year of record as 1905. Goddard was the daughter of Joseph Russell Levy, the son of a prosperous Jewish cigar manufacturer from Salt Lake City, and Alta Mae Goddard, who was of Episcopalian English heritage. They married in 1908 and separated while their daughter was very young, although the divorce did not become final until 1926. According to Goddard, her father left them, but according to J. R. Levy, Alta absconded with the child. Goddard was raised by her mother and did not meet her father again until the late 1930s after she had become famous. To avoid a custody battle, she and her mother moved often during her childhood, even relocating to Canada at one point. Goddard began modeling at an early age to support her mother and herself, working for Saks Fifth Avenue, Hattie Carnegie, and others. An important figure in her childhood was her great uncle, Charles Goddard, the owner of the American Druggists Syndicate. He played a central role in Goddard's career, introducing her to Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld. She made her stage debut as a dancer in Ziegfeld's summer revue, 'No Foolin' (1926), which was also the first time that she used the stage name Paulette Goddard. Ziegfeld hired her for another musical, 'Rio Rita', which opened in February 1927, but she left the show after only three weeks to appear in the play 'The Unconquerable Male', produced by Archie Selwyn. It was, however, a flop and closed after only three days following its premiere in Atlantic City. Soon after the play closed, Goddard was introduced to the much older lumber tycoon Edgar James, president of the Southern Lumber Company, by Charles Goddard. She married him in June 1927 in Rye, New York, but the marriage was short. Goddard was granted a divorce in Reno, Nevada, in 1929, receiving a divorce settlement of $375,000. Tony Fontana at IMDb: "A stunning natural beauty, Paulette could mesmerize any man she met, a fact she was well aware of. "

Paulette Goddard first visited Hollywood in 1929, when she appeared as an uncredited extra in two films, the Laurel and Hardy short film Berth Marks (Lewis R. Foster, 1929), and George Fitzmaurice's drama The Locked Door (1929). Following her divorce, she briefly visited Europe before returning to Hollywood in late 1930 with her mother. Her second attempt at acting was no more successful than the first, as she landed work only as an extra. In 1930, she signed her first film contract with producer Samuel Goldwyn to appear as a Goldwyn Girl in Whoopee! (Thornton Freeland, 1930) with Eddie Cantor. She also appeared in City Streets (Rouben Mamoulian, 1931) with Gary Cooper, Ladies of the Big House (Marion Gering, 1931) starring Sylvia Sidney, and The Girl Habit (Edward F. Cline, 1931) for Paramount, and The Mouthpiece (James Flood, Elliott Nugent, 1932) for Warners. Goldwyn and she did not get along, and she began working for Hal Roach Studios, appearing in a string of uncredited supporting roles for the next four years, including Young Ironsides (James Parrott, 1932) with Charley Chase, and Pack Up Your Troubles (1932) with Laurel and Hardy. One of her bigger roles in that period was as a blond 'Goldwyn Girl' in the Eddie Cantor film The Kid from Spain (Leo McCarey, 1932). Goldwyn also used Goddard in The Bowery (Raoul Walsh, 1933) with Wallace Beery, Roman Scandals (Frank Tuttle, 1933), and Kid Millions (Roy Del Ruth, 1934) with Eddie Cantor. The year she signed with Goldwyn, Goddard began dating Charlie Chaplin, a relationship that received substantial attention from the press. They were reportedly married in secret in Canton, China, in June 1936. It marked a turning point in Goddard's career when Chaplin cast her as his leading lady in his box office hit, Modern Times (1936). Her role as 'The Gamin', an orphan girl who runs away from the authorities and becomes The Tramp's companion, was her first credited film appearance and garnered her mainly positive reviews, Frank S. Nugent of The New York Times describing her as "the fitting recipient of the great Charlot's championship". Following the success of Modern Times, Chaplin planned other projects with Goddard in mind as a co-star, but he worked slowly, and Goddard worried that the public might forget about her if she did not continue to make regular film appearances. She signed a contract with David O. Selznick and appeared with Janet Gaynor in the comedy The Young in Heart (Richard Wallace, 1938) before Selznick lent her to MGM to appear in two films. The first of these, Dramatic School (Robert B. Sinclair, 1938), co-starred Luise Rainer, but the film received mediocre reviews and failed to attract an audience. Her next film, The Women (George Cukor, 1939), was a success. With an all-female cast headed by Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, and Rosalind Russell, the film's supporting role of Miriam Aarons was played by Goddard. Pauline Kael later wrote of Goddard, "she is a stand-out. fun."

David O' Selznick was pleased with Paulette Goddard's performances, particularly her work in The Young in Heart, and considered her for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939). Initial screen tests convinced Selznick and director George Cukor that Goddard would require coaching to be effective in the role, but that she showed promise, and she was the first actress given a Technicolor screen test. After he was introduced to Vivien Leigh, he wrote to his wife that Leigh was a "dark horse" and that his choice had "narrowed down to Paulette, Jean Arthur, Joan Bennett, and Vivien Leigh". After a series of tests with Leigh that pleased both Selznick and Cukor, Selznick cancelled the further tests that had been scheduled for Goddard, and the part was given to Leigh. Goddard's next film, The Cat and the Canary (Elliott Nugent, 1939) with Bob Hope, was a turning point in the careers of both actors. The success of the film established her as a genuine star. Her performance won her a ten-year contract with Paramount Studios, which was one of the premier studios of the day. They promptly were re-teamed in The Ghost Breakers (George Marshall, 1940), again a huge hit. Goddard starred with Chaplin again in his film The Great Dictator (1940). In 1942, Goddard was granted a Mexican divorce from Chaplin. The couple split amicably, with Chaplin agreeing to a generous settlement. At Paramount, Goddard was used by Cecil B. De Mille in the action epic North West Mounted Police (1940), playing the second female lead. She was Fred Astaire's leading lady in the acclaimed musical Second Chorus/Swing it (H.C. Potter, 1940), where she met actor Burgess Meredith, her third husband. Goddard made Pot o' Gold (George Marshall, 1941), a comedy with James Stewart, then supported Charles Boyer and Olivia de Havilland in Hold Back the Dawn (Mitchell Leisen, 1941), from a script by Wilder and Brackett, directed by Mitchell Leisen. Goddard was teamed with Hope for a third time in Nothing But the Truth (Elliott Nugent, 1942), then made The Lady Has Plans (Sidney Lanfield, 1942), a comedy with Ray Milland. She co-starred with Milland and John Wayne in Reap the Wild Wind (Cecil B. DeMille, 1942), playing the lead, a Scarlett O'Hara type character. The film was a huge hit. Goddard did The Forest Rangers (George Marshall, 1942) with Fred MacMurray. One of her better-remembered film appearances was in the variety musical Star Spangled Rhythm (George Marshall, 1943), in which she sang "A Sweater, a Sarong, and a Peekaboo Bang" with Dorothy Lamour and Veronica Lake.

Paulette Goddard received one Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for So Proudly We Hail! (Mark Sandrich, 1943) opposite Claudette Colbert and Veronica Lake. She didn't win, but it solidified her as a top draw. Goddard was teamed with Fred MacMurray in the delightful comedy Standing Room Only (Sidney Lanfield, 1944) and Sonny Tufts in I Love a Soldier (Mark Sandrich, 1944). In May 1944, she married Burgess Meredith at David O. Selznick's home in Beverly Hills. Goddard's most successful film was Kitty (Mitchell Leisen, 1945), in which she played the title role. Denny Jackson/Robert Sieger at IMDb: "The film was a hit with moviegoers, as she played an ordinary English woman transformed into a duchess. The film was filled with plenty of comedy, dramatic and romantic scenes that appealed to virtually everyone." In The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946), Goddard starred with husband Burgess Meredith under the direction of Jean Renoir. It was made for United Artists. At Paramount she did Suddenly It's Spring (Mitchell Leisen, 1947) with Fred MacMurray, and De Mille's 18th-century romantic drama Unconquered (Cecil B. DeMille, 1947), with Cary Grant. During the Hollywood Blacklist, when she and blacklisted husband Meredith were mobbed by a baying crowd screaming "Communists!" on their way to a premiere, Goddard is said to have turned to her husband and said, "Shall I roll down the window and hit them with my diamonds, Bugsy?" In 1947, she made An Ideal Husband in Britain for Alexander Korda and was accompanied on a publicity trip to Brussels by Clarissa Spencer-Churchill, niece of Sir Winston Churchill and future wife of future Prime Minister Anthony Eden. She divorced Meredith in June 1949 and also left Paramount. In 1949, she formed Monterey Pictures with John Steinbeck. Goddard starred in Anna Lucasta (Irving Rapper, 1949), then went to Mexico for The Torch (Emilio Fernández, 1950). In England, she was in Babes in Bagdad (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1952), then she went to Hollywood for Vice Squad (Arnold Laven, 1953) with Edward G. Robinson, and Charge of the Lancers (William Castle, 1954) with Jean-Pierre Aumont. Her last starring role was in the English production A Stranger Came Home/The Unholy Four (Terence Fisher, 1954).

Paulette Goddard began appearing in summer stock and on television, guest-starring on episodes of Sherlock Holmes, an adaptation of The Women, this time playing the role of Sylvia Fowler, The Errol Flynn Theatre, The Joseph Cotten Show, and The Ford Television Theatre. She was in an episode of Adventures in Paradise and a TV version of The Phantom. After her marriage to Erich Maria Remarque in 1958, Goddard largely retired from acting and moved to Ronco sopra Ascona, Switzerland. In 1964, she attempted a comeback in films with a supporting role in the Italian film Gli indifferenti/Time of Indifference (Francesco Maselli, 1964), starring Claudia Cardinale and Rod Steiger, which was her last feature film. After Remarque's death in 1970, she made one last attempt at acting, when she accepted a small role in an episode of the TV series The Snoop Sisters, The Female Instinct (Leonards Stern, 1972) with Helen Hayes and Mildred Natwick. Upon Remarque's death, Goddard inherited much of his money and several important properties across Europe, including a wealth of contemporary art, which augmented her own long-standing collection. During this period, her talent at accumulating wealth became a byword among the old Hollywood élite. During the 1980s, she became a fairly well known (and highly visible) socialite in New York City, appearing covered with jewels at many high-profile cultural functions with several well-known men, including Andy Warhol, with whom she sustained a friendship for many years until his death in 1987. Paulette Goddard underwent invasive treatment for breast cancer in 1975, successfully by all accounts. In 1990, she died at her home in Switzerland from heart failure while under respiratory support due to emphysema, She is buried in Ronco Village Cemetery, next to Remarque and her mother. Goddard had no children. She became a stepmother to Charles Chaplin's two sons, Charles Chaplin Jr. and Sydney Chaplin, while she and Charlie were married. In his memoirs, 'My Father Charlie Chaplin' (1960), Charles Jr. describes her as a lovely, caring, and intelligent woman throughout the book. In October 1944, she suffered the miscarriage of a son with Burgess Meredith. Goddard, whose own formal education did not go beyond high school, bequeathed US$20 million to New York University (NYU) in New York City.

Sources: Tony Fontana (IMDb), Denny Jackson / Robert Sieger (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Photographed May 24, 2016 at Hidden Lake Gardens near Tipton in Michigan's Irish Hills. These are the botanical gardens of Michigan State University and the location chosen by the owners for a photo session with their Studebakers of very different vintage.

All of my classic car photos can be found here: Car Collections

Press "L" for a larger image on black.

Watch: Charlie Chaplin - Final Speech from The Great Dictator

I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an emperor.

That's not my business.

I don't want to rule or conquer anyone.

I should like to help everyone if possible.

Jew - Gentile - Black Man, White.

We all want to help one another, human beings are like that.

We want to live by each other's happiness.

Not by each other's misery.

We don't want to hate and despise one another.

And this world has room for everyone, and the good Earth is rich can provide for everyone.

The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.

Greed has posioned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed.

We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in.

Machinery that gives us abundance has left us in want.

Our knowledge has made us cynincal.

Our cleverness, hard and unkind.

We think too much, and feel too little.

More than machinery, we need humanity.

More that cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness.

Without these qualities life will be violent, and all will be lost.

The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together.

The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men - cries out for universal brotherhood - for the unity of us all.

Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world - millions of despairing men, women, and little children - victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people.

To those who can hear me, I say - do not despair.

The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress.

The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people.

And so long as men die, liberty will never perish. ...

Soldiers!

don't give yourselves to brutes - men who despise you - enslave you - who regiment your lives - tell you what to do - what to think and what to feel!

Who drill you - diet you - treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder.

Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts!

You are not machines!

You are not cattle!

You are men!

You have the love of humanity in your hearts!

You don't hate!

Only the unloved hate - the unloved and the unnatural!

Soldiers!

Don't fight for slavery!

Fight for liberty!

In the 17th Chapter of St Luke it is written: "the Kingdom of God is within man" - not one man nor a group of men, but in all men!

In you!

You, the people have the power - the power to create machines.

The power to create happiness!

You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.

Then - in the name of democracy - let us use that power - let us all unite.

Let us fight for a new world - a decent world that will give men a chance to work - that will give youth a future and old age a security.

By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power.

But they lie!

They do not fulfil that promise.

They never will!

Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people!

Now let us fight to fulfil that promise!

Let us fight to free the world - to do away with national barriers - to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance.

Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness.

Soldiers!

in the name of democracy, let us all unite

********************************************************************************

Λυπάμαι, αλλά δεν θέλω να είμαι αυτοκράτορας.

Αυτή δεν είναι η δουλειά μου.

Δεν θέλω να εξουσιάζω ή να κατακτήσω κανέναν.

Θα ήθελα να βοηθήσω τους πάντες - εάν είναι δυνατό

Εβραίους, μη Εβραίους, Μαύρους, Λευκούς..

Όλοι θέλουμε να βοηθήσουμε ο ένας τον άλλο, τα ανθρώπινα όντα είναι έτσι.

Θέλουμε να ζούμε δίπλα στην ευτυχία του άλλου. Όχι στη δυστυχία του.

Δεν θέλουμε να μισούμε ή να περιφρονούμε ο ένας τον άλλον.

Και αυτός ο κόσμος έχει χώρο για όλους, και η καλή Γη είναι πλούσια και μπορεί να μας εφοδιάσει όλους.

Ο τρόπος ζωής μπορεί να'ναι ελεύθερος κι όμορφος, αλλά έχουμε χάσει το δρόμο.

Η απληστία έχει δηλητηριάσει τις ψυχές των ανδρών, έχει γεμίσει τον κόσμο με μίσος,

μας έχει ρίξει μέσα στη μιζέρια και την αιματοχυσία με το βηματισμό της χήνας.

Έχουμε αναπτύξει ταχύτητα αλλά κλείσαμε τους εαυτούς μας μέσα της.

Μηχανήματα που μας δίνουν αφθονία μας έχουν αφήσει με την επιθυμία.

Η γνώση μάς έκανε κυνικούς. Η εξυπνάδα μας σκληρούς και αγενείς.

Σκεφτόμαστε πάρα πολύ και νιώθουμε πολύ λίγα.

Περισσότερο από τα μηχανήματα, χρειαζόμαστε ανθρωπιά.

Περισσότερο από την εξυπνάδα, χρειαζόμαστε καλοσύνη και πραότητα. Χωρίς αυτές τις ιδιότητες, η ζωή θα'ναι βίαιη και όλα θα χαθούν.

Το αεροπλάνο και το ράδιο μας φέρανε πιο κοντά μεταξύ μας.

Η ίδια η φύση αυτών των εφευρέσεων κραυγάζει για την καλοσύνη στον άνθρωπο. Κραυγάζει για παγκόσμια αδελφοσύνη.

Για την ενότητα όλων μας.

Ακόμη και τώρα η φωνή μου φτάνει σε εκατομμύρια στον κόσμο, εκατομμύρια απελπισμένων ανδρών, γυναικών και μικρών παιδιών,

θύματα ενός συστήματος που κάνει τους ανθρώπους να βασανίζουν και να φυλακίζουν αθώο κόσμο.

Σε όσους με ακούν, λέω ''Μην απελπίζεστε.''

Η μιζέρια που μας σκεπάζει τώρα δεν είναι παρά το πέρασμα της απληστίας-

η πικρία των ανθρώπων που φοβούνται τον τρόπο της ανθρώπινης προόδου.

Το μίσος των ανθρώπων θα περάσει, και οι δικτάτορες πεθαίνουν, και η δύναμη που πήραν από τον κόσμο θα επιστρέψει στον κόσμο.

Και όσο οι άνθρωποι πεθαίνουν, η ελευθερία ποτέ δεν θα χαθεί.

Στρατιώτες!

Μην παραδίνεστε στους βάρβαρους - ανθρώπους που σας απεχθάνονται - σας υποδουλώνουν- χειρίζονται τις ζωές σας - σας λένε τι να κάνετε, τι να σκέφτεστε και τι να νιώθετε.

Που σας εκπαιδεύουν - φροντίζουν για τη διατροφή σας - σας φέρονται σαν βοοειδή - σας χρησιμοποιούν σαν τροφή για τα κανόνια!

Μην αφήνετε τους εαυτούς σας σε αυτούς τους αφύσικους ανθρώπους- ανθρώπους των μηχανημάτων

με μυαλά μηχανές και καρδιές μηχανές!

Δεν είστε μηχανές! Δεν είστε βοοειδή!

Είστε άνθρωποι! Αγαπάτε την ανθρωπιά στην καρδιά σας!

Δεν μισείτε!

Μόνο αυτοί που δεν αγαπιούνται μισούν. Αυτοί που δεν αγαπιούνται και οι αφύσικοι.

Στο 17ο κεφάλιο του Αγίου Λουκά είναι γραμμένο

''Το βασίλειο του Θεού είναι μέσα στον άνθρωπο'',

όχι σε έναν άντρα ή σε μα ομάδα, αλλά σε όλους τους ανθρώπους!

Σε σένα! Εσύ, ο λαός, έχεις τη δύναμη, τη δύναμη να δημιουργήσεις μηχανές,

τη δύναμη να δημιουργήσεις την ευτυχία!

Εσύ, ο λαός, έχεις τη δύναμη να κάνεις αυτή τη ζωή ελεύθερη κι όμορφη,

να κάνεις αυτή τη ζωή μια καταπληκτική περιπέτεια.

Και τότε, στο όνομα της δημοκρατίας, άφησέ μας να χρησιμοποιήσουμε αυτή τη δύναμη.

Ας να ενωθούμε όλοι μας.

Ας πολεμήσουμε για ένα νέο κόσμο, έναν κόσμο καλό που θα δώσει στους ανθρώπους την ευκαιρία να δουλέψουν,

που θα δώσει στα νέα παιδιά ένα μέλλον και στους ηλικιωμένους μια ασφάλεια.

Με την υπόσχεση τέτοιων πραγμάτων, τα κτήνη έχουν πάρει την εξουσία.

Αλλά ψεύδονται! Δεν εκπληρώνουν την υπόσχεσή τους!

Ποτέ δεν θα το κάνουν!

Οι δικτάτορες ελευθερώνουν τους εαυτούς τους αλλά υποδουλώνουν το λαό!

Τώρα, ας εκπληρώσουμε αυτή την υπόσχεση!

Ας πολεμήσουμε για να ελευθερώσουμε τον κόσμο!

Να διώξουμε τα εθνικά σύνορα!

Να διώξουμε την απληστία, το μίσος και τη μισαλλοδοξία!

Ας πολεμήσουμε για ένα κόσμο λογικής,

ένα κόσμο όπου η επιστήμη

κι η πρόοδος θα οδηγήσουν στην ευτυχία όλων των ανθρώπων.

Στρατιώτες, στο όνομα της δημοκρατίας, ας ενωθούμε όλοι!

Spanish dictator Francisco Franco died on November 20, 1975 (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Franco)

I really wanted to try something different for this Best Brickr so, I decided to try to make this figure as simple as possible but still look cool so I made this guy. He is based off of an original sci fi story that I am working on so I quite love this figure :) Comment below on what you think and may the Best Brickr win!

The Plaza de España ("Spain Square", in English) is a plaza in the Parque de María Luisa (Maria Luisa Park), in Seville, Spain. It was built in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. It is a landmark example of Regionalism Architecture, mixing elements of the Baroque Revival, Renaissance Revival and Moorish Revival (Neo-Mudéjar) styles of Spanish architecture.

The Plaza de España, designed by Aníbal González, was a principal building built on the Maria Luisa Park's edge to showcase Spain's industry and technology exhibits. González combined a mix of 1920s Art Deco and Spanish Renaissance Revival, Spanish Baroque Revival and Neo-Mudéjar styles. The Plaza de España complex is a huge half-circle; the buildings are accessible by four bridges over the moat, which represent the ancient kingdoms of Spain. In the center is the Vicente Traver fountain.

Many tiled alcoves were built around the plaza, each representing a different province of Spain. The Plaza's tiled Alcoves of the Provinces are frequent backdrops for visitors' portrait photographs, taken in their own home province. Each alcove is flanked by a pair of covered bookshelves, now used by visitors in the manner of a "Little Free Library". Each bookshelf often contains works with information about their province. Visitors have also donated favorite novels and other books for others to read.

Today the buildings of the Plaza de España have been renovated and adapted for use as offices for government agencies. The central government departments, with sensitive adaptive redesign, are located within it. Toward the end of the park, the grandest mansions from the fair have been adapted as museums. The most distant museum contains the city's archaeology collections. The main exhibits are Roman mosaics and artefacts from nearby Italica.

The Plaza de España has been used as a filming location, including scenes for Lawrence of Arabia (1962). The building was used as a location in the Star Wars movie series Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002) — in which it featured in exterior shots of the City of Theed on the Planet Naboo. It also featured in the 2012 film The Dictator. The 2023 Netflix series, Kaos, will also feature scenes filmed at the Plaza.

The plaza was used as a set for the video of Simply Red's song "Something Got Me Started".

Restoration

From 2007 to 2010, the Seville City Council invested 9 million euros in the restoration of the Plaza de España. The objective was to recover the original monument as the architect, Aníbal González, conceived it. To restore it, the restoration team worked to recover pieces such as the ceramic streetlights, benches, and even pavements. In other cases, they created reproductions of elements based on photographs and postcards from the municipal newspaper library. Cefoarte and Diaz Cubero were some of the experts who worked in multidisciplinary teams to restore this complex to lively use.

Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaza_de_Espa%C3%B1a,_Seville

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seville

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

found this cat, which is called a Adolf kitler, cz of its Hitler like mush.

Big German card by Ross Verlag. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

American actress Paulette Goddard (1905-1990) started her career as a fashion model and as a Ziegfeld Girl in several Broadway shows. In the 1940s, she became a major star of Paramount Pictures. She was Charlie Chaplin's leading lady in Modern Times (1936), and The Great Dictator. Goddard was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for So Proudly We Hail! (1943). Her husbands included Chaplin, Burgess Meredith, and Erich Maria Remarque.

Paulette Goddard was born Pauline Marion Levy in Whitestone Landing, Long Island, New York. Sources variously cite her year of birth as 1911 and 1914, and the place as Whitestone Landing, New York, USA. However, municipal employees in Ronco, Switzerland, where she died, gave her birth year of record as 1905. Goddard was the daughter of Joseph Russell Levy, the son of a prosperous Jewish cigar manufacturer from Salt Lake City, and Alta Mae Goddard, who was of Episcopalian English heritage. They married in 1908 and separated while their daughter was very young, although the divorce did not become final until 1926. According to Goddard, her father left them, but according to J. R. Levy, Alta absconded with the child. Goddard was raised by her mother and did not meet her father again until the late 1930s after she had become famous. To avoid a custody battle, she and her mother moved often during her childhood, even relocating to Canada at one point. Goddard began modeling at an early age to support her mother and herself, working for Saks Fifth Avenue, Hattie Carnegie, and others. An important figure in her childhood was her great uncle, Charles Goddard, the owner of the American Druggists Syndicate. He played a central role in Goddard's career, introducing her to Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld. She made her stage debut as a dancer in Ziegfeld's summer revue, 'No Foolin' (1926), which was also the first time that she used the stage name Paulette Goddard. Ziegfeld hired her for another musical, 'Rio Rita', which opened in February 1927, but she left the show after only three weeks to appear in the play 'The Unconquerable Male', produced by Archie Selwyn. It was, however, a flop and closed after only three days following its premiere in Atlantic City. Soon after the play closed, Goddard was introduced to the much older lumber tycoon Edgar James, president of the Southern Lumber Company, by Charles Goddard. She married him in June 1927 in Rye, New York, but the marriage was short. Goddard was granted a divorce in Reno, Nevada, in 1929, receiving a divorce settlement of $375,000. Tony Fontana at IMDb: "A stunning natural beauty, Paulette could mesmerize any man she met, a fact she was well aware of. "

Paulette Goddard first visited Hollywood in 1929, when she appeared as an uncredited extra in two films, the Laurel and Hardy short film Berth Marks (Lewis R. Foster, 1929), and George Fitzmaurice's drama The Locked Door (1929). Following her divorce, she briefly visited Europe before returning to Hollywood in late 1930 with her mother. Her second attempt at acting was no more successful than the first, as she landed work only as an extra. In 1930, she signed her first film contract with producer Samuel Goldwyn to appear as a Goldwyn Girl in Whoopee! (Thornton Freeland, 1930) with Eddie Cantor. She also appeared in City Streets (Rouben Mamoulian, 1931) with Gary Cooper, Ladies of the Big House (Marion Gering, 1931) starring Sylvia Sidney, and The Girl Habit (Edward F. Cline, 1931) for Paramount, and The Mouthpiece (James Flood, Elliott Nugent, 1932) for Warners. Goldwyn and she did not get along, and she began working for Hal Roach Studios, appearing in a string of uncredited supporting roles for the next four years, including Young Ironsides (James Parrott, 1932) with Charley Chase, and Pack Up Your Troubles (1932) with Laurel and Hardy. One of her bigger roles in that period was as a blond 'Goldwyn Girl' in the Eddie Cantor film The Kid from Spain (Leo McCarey, 1932). Goldwyn also used Goddard in The Bowery (Raoul Walsh, 1933) with Wallace Beery, Roman Scandals (Frank Tuttle, 1933), and Kid Millions (Roy Del Ruth, 1934) with Eddie Cantor. The year she signed with Goldwyn, Goddard began dating Charlie Chaplin, a relationship that received substantial attention from the press. They were reportedly married in secret in Canton, China, in June 1936. It marked a turning point in Goddard's career when Chaplin cast her as his leading lady in his box office hit, Modern Times (1936). Her role as 'The Gamin', an orphan girl who runs away from the authorities and becomes The Tramp's companion, was her first credited film appearance and garnered her mainly positive reviews, Frank S. Nugent of The New York Times describing her as "the fitting recipient of the great Charlot's championship". Following the success of Modern Times, Chaplin planned other projects with Goddard in mind as a co-star, but he worked slowly, and Goddard worried that the public might forget about her if she did not continue to make regular film appearances. She signed a contract with David O. Selznick and appeared with Janet Gaynor in the comedy The Young in Heart (Richard Wallace, 1938) before Selznick lent her to MGM to appear in two films. The first of these, Dramatic School (Robert B. Sinclair, 1938), co-starred Luise Rainer, but the film received mediocre reviews and failed to attract an audience. Her next film, The Women (George Cukor, 1939), was a success. With an all-female cast headed by Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, and Rosalind Russell, the film's supporting role of Miriam Aarons was played by Goddard. Pauline Kael later wrote of Goddard, "she is a stand-out. fun."

David O' Selznick was pleased with Paulette Goddard's performances, particularly her work in The Young in Heart, and considered her for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939). Initial screen tests convinced Selznick and director George Cukor that Goddard would require coaching to be effective in the role, but that she showed promise, and she was the first actress given a Technicolor screen test. After he was introduced to Vivien Leigh, he wrote to his wife that Leigh was a "dark horse" and that his choice had "narrowed down to Paulette, Jean Arthur, Joan Bennett, and Vivien Leigh". After a series of tests with Leigh that pleased both Selznick and Cukor, Selznick cancelled the further tests that had been scheduled for Goddard, and the part was given to Leigh. Goddard's next film, The Cat and the Canary (Elliott Nugent, 1939) with Bob Hope, was a turning point in the careers of both actors. The success of the film established her as a genuine star. Her performance won her a ten-year contract with Paramount Studios, which was one of the premier studios of the day. They promptly were re-teamed in The Ghost Breakers (George Marshall, 1940), again a huge hit. Goddard starred with Chaplin again in his film The Great Dictator (1940). In 1942, Goddard was granted a Mexican divorce from Chaplin. The couple split amicably, with Chaplin agreeing to a generous settlement. At Paramount, Goddard was used by Cecil B. De Mille in the action epic North West Mounted Police (1940), playing the second female lead. She was Fred Astaire's leading lady in the acclaimed musical Second Chorus/Swing it (H.C. Potter, 1940), where she met actor Burgess Meredith, her third husband. Goddard made Pot o' Gold (George Marshall, 1941), a comedy with James Stewart, then supported Charles Boyer and Olivia de Havilland in Hold Back the Dawn (Mitchell Leisen, 1941), from a script by Wilder and Brackett, directed by Mitchell Leisen. Goddard was teamed with Hope for a third time in Nothing But the Truth (Elliott Nugent, 1942), then made The Lady Has Plans (Sidney Lanfield, 1942), a comedy with Ray Milland. She co-starred with Milland and John Wayne in Reap the Wild Wind (Cecil B. DeMille, 1942), playing the lead, a Scarlett O'Hara type character. The film was a huge hit. Goddard did The Forest Rangers (George Marshall, 1942) with Fred MacMurray. One of her better-remembered film appearances was in the variety musical Star Spangled Rhythm (George Marshall, 1943), in which she sang "A Sweater, a Sarong, and a Peekaboo Bang" with Dorothy Lamour and Veronica Lake.

Paulette Goddard received one Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for So Proudly We Hail! (Mark Sandrich, 1943) opposite Claudette Colbert and Veronica Lake. She didn't win, but it solidified her as a top draw. Goddard was teamed with Fred MacMurray in the delightful comedy Standing Room Only (Sidney Lanfield, 1944) and Sonny Tufts in I Love a Soldier (Mark Sandrich, 1944). In May 1944, she married Burgess Meredith at David O. Selznick's home in Beverly Hills. Goddard's most successful film was Kitty (Mitchell Leisen, 1945), in which she played the title role. Denny Jackson/Robert Sieger at IMDb: "The film was a hit with moviegoers, as she played an ordinary English woman transformed into a duchess. The film was filled with plenty of comedy, dramatic and romantic scenes that appealed to virtually everyone." In The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946), Goddard starred with husband Burgess Meredith under the direction of Jean Renoir. It was made for United Artists. At Paramount she did Suddenly It's Spring (Mitchell Leisen, 1947) with Fred MacMurray, and De Mille's 18th-century romantic drama Unconquered (Cecil B. DeMille, 1947), with Cary Grant. During the Hollywood Blacklist, when she and blacklisted husband Meredith were mobbed by a baying crowd screaming "Communists!" on their way to a premiere, Goddard is said to have turned to her husband and said, "Shall I roll down the window and hit them with my diamonds, Bugsy?" In 1947, she made An Ideal Husband in Britain for Alexander Korda and was accompanied on a publicity trip to Brussels by Clarissa Spencer-Churchill, niece of Sir Winston Churchill and future wife of future Prime Minister Anthony Eden. She divorced Meredith in June 1949 and also left Paramount. In 1949, she formed Monterey Pictures with John Steinbeck. Goddard starred in Anna Lucasta (Irving Rapper, 1949), then went to Mexico for The Torch (Emilio Fernández, 1950). In England, she was in Babes in Bagdad (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1952), then she went to Hollywood for Vice Squad (Arnold Laven, 1953) with Edward G. Robinson, and Charge of the Lancers (William Castle, 1954) with Jean-Pierre Aumont. Her last starring role was in the English production A Stranger Came Home/The Unholy Four (Terence Fisher, 1954).

Paulette Goddard began appearing in summer stock and on television, guest-starring on episodes of Sherlock Holmes, an adaptation of The Women, this time playing the role of Sylvia Fowler, The Errol Flynn Theatre, The Joseph Cotten Show, and The Ford Television Theatre. She was in an episode of Adventures in Paradise and a TV version of The Phantom. After her marriage to Erich Maria Remarque in 1958, Goddard largely retired from acting and moved to Ronco sopra Ascona, Switzerland. In 1964, she attempted a comeback in films with a supporting role in the Italian film Gli indifferenti/Time of Indifference (Francesco Maselli, 1964), starring Claudia Cardinale and Rod Steiger, which was her last feature film. After Remarque's death in 1970, she made one last attempt at acting, when she accepted a small role in an episode of the TV series The Snoop Sisters, The Female Instinct (Leonards Stern, 1972) with Helen Hayes and Mildred Natwick. Upon Remarque's death, Goddard inherited much of his money and several important properties across Europe, including a wealth of contemporary art, which augmented her own long-standing collection. During this period, her talent at accumulating wealth became a byword among the old Hollywood élite. During the 1980s, she became a fairly well known (and highly visible) socialite in New York City, appearing covered with jewels at many high-profile cultural functions with several well-known men, including Andy Warhol, with whom she sustained a friendship for many years until his death in 1987. Paulette Goddard underwent invasive treatment for breast cancer in 1975, successfully by all accounts. In 1990, she died at her home in Switzerland from heart failure while under respiratory support due to emphysema, She is buried in Ronco Village Cemetery, next to Remarque and her mother. Goddard had no children. She became a stepmother to Charles Chaplin's two sons, Charles Chaplin Jr. and Sydney Chaplin, while she and Charlie were married. In his memoirs, 'My Father Charlie Chaplin' (1960), Charles Jr. describes her as a lovely, caring, and intelligent woman throughout the book. In October 1944, she suffered the miscarriage of a son with Burgess Meredith. Goddard, whose own formal education did not go beyond high school, bequeathed US$20 million to New York University (NYU) in New York City.

Sources: Tony Fontana (IMDb), Denny Jackson / Robert Sieger (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Italian dictator Benito Mussolini had previously been deposed by the Italian government after the Allied forces invaded Sicily and bombed Rome in July 1943. The new government run by Pietro Badoglio began negotiations with the Allies to surrender, which coincided with the Allied invasion of Italy on September 3rd, 1943. Hitler was frustrated by this and immediately ordered the German invasion of Italy known as Operation Achse. He then ordered Operation Oak soon after to rescue Mussolini from prison. Mussolini had been imprisoned in the Gran Sasso Mountain range of Southern Italy in a resort guarded by 200 Carabinieri. On September 12th, SS commando Otto Skorzeny and his team joined with the Fallschirmjager to rescue Mussolini. The group would fly in using gliders and would land nearby. They were able to free Mussolini without firing a shot as they had brought captured Italian General Fernando Soleti, who ordered the Carabinieri to stand down. Skorzeny and Mussolini then flew out on a Fieseler Fi 156 Storch safely to Vienna. Mussolini would meet with Hitler two days later where he was installed as the leader of the Italian Social Republic or the Salo Republic. This would begin the Italian Civil War that was part of the wider Italian Campaign for the following two years of the war until his death in April 1945.

photo: R.Mich

Mussolini, fascist dictator of Italy during the Second World War always had the desire to rebuild the Roman Empire. However, both France and the United Kingdom controlled the Mediterranean Sea.

So Italy started the construction of a new class of large fast battleships to replace the older (but recently modernized) Conte di Cavour and Andrea Doria battleships.

Four new ships were ordered (Vittorio Veneto, Littorio, Roma and Impero) but only the first three were completed.

The Vittorio Veneto (or Littorio) class were heavily armed with nine 381mm (15”) guns in three large triple turrets, twelve 152mm in four triple turrets and twelve 90mm AA guns in single turrets on the sides.

Twenty 37mm and sixteen 20mm AA autocannons were also installed as well as four old 120mm guns (used to fire star shells).

These beautiful battleships were also extremely fast, being capable of almost 30knots.

A few months after Italy entered the war, the Navy had 6 operational battleships, more than 21 cruisers (7 of them Heavy), hundreds of destroyers and submarines. France was no longer a threat due to the German Invasion and the construction of Bismarck and Tirpitz in Germany kept the Royal Navy Admirals in great stress with few battleships and aircraft carriers to patrol both regions at the same time and the Atlantic.

However, the Italian Admirals were extremely cautious during the war. Perhaps too much...

Not wanting to be considered responsible for the loss of a battleship, they usually retreated even if facing sometimes much weaker foes. The English Admirals on the other hand were extremely aggressive.

The Italian ships also suffered from other problems; poor quality of the shells resulted in very inaccurate salvos, the lack of radar and an effective fire-control system, weaker armour protection (especially against torpedoes) significantly reduced the efficiency of these battleships. During the Battle of Matapan, 11 shells got stuck on the gun barrels of Vittorio Veneto, which reduced the rate of fire and precision.

The lack of an Aircraft Carrier to protect the ship against enemy planes was another considerable problem since they were always at the mercy of the British Fleet Air Arm.

Two torpedoes hit Littorio during the Taranto Harbour attack, sinking it in shallow waters and requiring more than 3 months in repairs. A few months after the attack, the Italian navy (pressured by Germany) launched a large operation (Battleship Vittorio Veneto, eight cruisers and many destroyers) to attack a British convoy to Greece. Unfortunately, Vittorio Veneto got hit by a torpedo launched by an Albacore torpedo-bomber and was forced to retreat. Later, the operation became known as Battle of Matapan and resulted in the total loss of 3 heavy cruisers and two destroyers for the Italian Navy. The British only lost one plane and it´s crew of 3.

After this, and a series of failed attacks against Malta convoys, the Italian Navy failed to control the Mediterranean Sea. When Italy surrendered and joined the allies, Vittorio Veneto, Littorio (then renamed Italia) and Roma departed from Italy to be interned in British ports. The German Luftwaffe immediately received orders to stop the ships at all cost.

Italia was attacked and damaged by Fritz-X guided bombs dropped by German bombers and survived.

Then, two Fritz-X bombs struck Roma; one of them exploded on the second shell magazine, throwing the second turret to the sky, rolled over and sank with heavy loss of life.

After the war, Vittorio Veneto, Littorio and Impero were dismantled in Italy.

Don´t forget to visit my Flickr page and subscribe:

www.flickr.com/photos/einon/

Eínon

Danbury Mint 1937 Studebaker Dictator Coupe, backyard experiment from a while back.

1/24 scale model car.

TYRANTS TRUMPS GAME

The world's worst dictators

on 32 playing cards

Franco, Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Idi Amin, Pinochet, Saddam Hussein, Pol Pot, and many more.

Families:

Monarchs, Fascists, Communists, Generals, Kleptocrats, US Puppets, Religious Fanatics, Mass Murderers

Playing categories:

Born, Age at taking power, Ruled, Victims, Assets

32 cards (plus cover card and rules), 59 x 92 mm, 300g/m² coated paperboard, break-proof transparent plastic box

Your Third Eye Is A Dictator

3-Color Screenprint

Piecemaker Design | John Whitlock

🇬🇧 I dedicate this photo to a group of more than 100 volunteer heroes who are providing medical assistance to the wounded in the protests that are currently happening in Venezuela against the government and repression of dictator Nicolas Maduro, they use White Helmets with Green Cross / 🇻🇪 Dedico esta foto a un grupo de más de 100 héroes voluntarios que se encuentran brindando asistencia médica a los heridos en las protestas que están sucediendo actualmente en Venezuela contra el gobierno y la represión del dictador Nicolás Maduro, utilizan Cascos Blancos con Cruz Verde #ResistenciaVenezuela #Resistencia #Venezuela #protesta #protestas #CascoBlanco #CruzVerde #Héroes #Heroinas #CascosBlancos #represión #resistance #protest #protests #WhiteHelmets #WhiteHelmet #GreenCross #FirstAid #Heroes #repression #VenezuelaLibre #VenezuelaLucha #SOSVenezuela #FuerzaVenezuela #PrayForVenezuela #LibertadParaVenezuela #LEGO_OscarWRG #LEGO

From Chaplin's The Great Dictator:

"...We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone, and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical; our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost. The airplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men; cries out for universal brotherhood; for the unity of us all..."

Dictators and all

© 2012 Paramount Pictures

The Dictator visits The Alan Carr Show at London Television Studios on May 9, 2012 in London, England.

PLEASE DON'T JUST FAVE AND RUN – LEAVE A COMMENT OR YOU WILL BE SAD.

... and it wouldn't hurt to visit doctornoemedia.blogspot.com

>> Subscribe! To Doctor Noe's Gadget >> doctornoemedia.blogspot.com/

(and share with others!) at: feeds.feedburner.com/DoctorNoesSmoothGadget

American Mutoscope card. Caption: Dictator.

Yes, the vintage pin-up cards have returned. We post them daily till the Summer is officially over on 23 September.

Machines called Mutoscopes offered quick shows in the USA for a penny from 1895 until as late as the 1970s, flipping cards to create the impression of a moving picture. Associated with amusement piers and parks, and men's restrooms, these machines were notorious as proprietors of cheap peeps. During the 1940s, the International Mutoscope Reel Company began to manufacture coin-operated vending machines that served up 8 x 13 cm cards for collectors, usually of pin-up material. These cards are widely collected today and are a wonderful source of inspiring low-brow artwork. Such noted artists as Zoë Mozert, Earl Moran, and Gil Elvgren, portrayed the female form. The majority of these were manufactured by The Brown & Bigelow Calendar Company.

And, join now our group Vintage Bikini Postcards. And take a look at our albums Sizzling Swimwear Postcards, Va-Va-Va-Voom Vintage Pin-ups, Beefcake, Beautiful Bikini Beach Babes and It's a Bikini World .

Pages from the 'helpguide for a dictator'

October 23, 2024: No Dictators in the USA. Rise and Resist.

Experts on dictators say that their personality cults are a way of testing the loyalty of the elite circle surrounding the supreme leader. They're expected to fall in line with all his boasts and praise him no matter how false or bizarre the claims might be.

Hence, the lickspittles in the administration who promote Trump's personality cult used the occasion of his visits to Dayton to extol his immense popularity among his adoring people.

The White House press secretary (who never holds pressers) said: "The victims, families, medical staff & first responders were so happy to have their President and First Lady there!"

As if that weren't enough, she also tweeted "President DonaldTrump is a true leader doing what’s right for this nation.

Not to be outdone lest he be sent to a gulag or worse, former Foxer and current Trump social media director Dan Scavino tweeted:

“The President was treated like a Rock Star inside the hospital, which was all caught on video. They all loved seeing their great President!”

Staffers yesterday swooped in to pick up the wrappers from Trump's Big Mac lunch for eventual display at the Trump® Presidential Library.

美国万岁

.....................................................................................................

Playing cards designed for my animated short film "Microcosm".

This prop has only a few short shots in the film. This is an interesting work. I designed it and added it to the film yesterday.

Thrilling Wonder Stories / Heft-Reihe

> Nelson S. Bond / Prisoner's Base

> Otto Binder [Eando Binder] / Gems of Life

> Don Tracy / Tomorrow's Heros

> Edmond Hamilton / Dictators of Creation

> Paul Chadwick / The Thing That Killed

> Bill Brudy / Dosage

> Arthur K. Barnes and Henry Kuttner / The Seven Sleepers

cover: Howard V. Brown (cover illustrates "Gems of Life")

Better Publications, Inc. / USA 1940

Reprint: Comic-Club NK 2010

ex libris MTP

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonder_Stories

Issued by Danbury Mint in 2007. It is 1:24 scale.

The model is finished in Bermuda Blue.

It is featured in a diorama that I put together.

Scenic Turnout w/a Fall Theme.

The Dictator was Studebaker's lowest-price model. Studebaker Cruise-In at Winks, August 26, 2006.

"Survivors: Unrestored Classic Cars, Trucks and Motorcycles," an exhibit at the AACA Museum, Hershey, PA, December 14, 2021.

The 20th Annual Orphan Car Show held in Riverside Park. Ypsilanti, Michigan September 20, 2016

German postcard by F.J. Rüdel, Filmpostkarten-Verlag, Hamburg-Bergedorf, no. 211. Photo: Paramount. Paulette Goddard in Unconquered (Cecil B. DeMille, 1947).

American actress Paulette Goddard (1905-1990) started her career as a fashion model and as a Ziegfeld Girl in several Broadway shows. In the 1940s, she became a major star of Paramount Pictures. She was Charlie Chaplin's leading lady in Modern Times (1936), and The Great Dictator. Goddard was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for So Proudly We Hail! (1943). Her husbands included Chaplin, Burgess Meredith, and Erich Maria Remarque.

Paulette Goddard was born Pauline Marion Levy in Whitestone Landing, Long Island, New York. Sources variously cite her year of birth as 1911 and 1914, and the place as Whitestone Landing, New York, USA. However, municipal employees in Ronco, Switzerland, where she died, gave her birth year of record as 1905. Goddard was the daughter of Joseph Russell Levy, the son of a prosperous Jewish cigar manufacturer from Salt Lake City, and Alta Mae Goddard, who was of Episcopalian English heritage. They married in 1908 and separated while their daughter was very young, although the divorce did not become final until 1926. According to Goddard, her father left them, but according to J. R. Levy, Alta absconded with the child. Goddard was raised by her mother and did not meet her father again until the late 1930s, after she had become famous. To avoid a custody battle, she and her mother moved often during her childhood, even relocating to Canada at one point. Goddard began modeling at an early age to support her mother and herself, working for Saks Fifth Avenue, Hattie Carnegie, and others. An important figure in her childhood was her great uncle, Charles Goddard, the owner of the American Druggists Syndicate. He played a central role in Goddard's career, introducing her to Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld. She made her stage debut as a dancer in Ziegfeld's summer revue, 'No Foolin' (1926), which was also the first time that she used the stage name Paulette Goddard. Ziegfeld hired her for another musical, 'Rio Rita', which opened in February 1927, but she left the show after only three weeks to appear in the play 'The Unconquerable Male', produced by Archie Selwyn. It was, however, a flop and closed after only three days following its premiere in Atlantic City. Soon after the play closed, Goddard was introduced to the much older lumber tycoon Edgar James, president of the Southern Lumber Company, by Charles Goddard. She married him in June 1927 in Rye, New York, but the marriage was short. Goddard was granted a divorce in Reno, Nevada, in 1929, receiving a divorce settlement of $375,000. Tony Fontana at IMDb: "A stunning natural beauty, Paulette could mesmerize any man she met, a fact she was well aware of. "

Paulette Goddard first visited Hollywood in 1929, when she appeared as an uncredited extra in two films, the Laurel and Hardy short film Berth Marks (Lewis R. Foster, 1929), and George Fitzmaurice's drama The Locked Door (1929). Following her divorce, she briefly visited Europe before returning to Hollywood in late 1930 with her mother. Her second attempt at acting was no more successful than the first, as she landed work only as an extra. In 1930, she signed her first film contract with producer Samuel Goldwyn to appear as a Goldwyn Girl in Whoopee! (Thornton Freeland, 1930) with Eddie Cantor. She also appeared in City Streets (Rouben Mamoulian, 1931) with Gary Cooper, Ladies of the Big House (Marion Gering, 1931) starring Sylvia Sidney, and The Girl Habit (Edward F. Cline, 1931) for Paramount, and The Mouthpiece (James Flood, Elliott Nugent, 1932) for Warners. Goldwyn and she did not get along, and she began working for Hal Roach Studios, appearing in a string of uncredited supporting roles for the next four years, including Young Ironsides (James Parrott, 1932) with Charley Chase, and Pack Up Your Troubles (1932) with Laurel and Hardy. One of her bigger roles in that period was as a blond 'Goldwyn Girl' in the Eddie Cantor film The Kid from Spain (Leo McCarey, 1932). Goldwyn also used Goddard in The Bowery (Raoul Walsh, 1933) with Wallace Beery, Roman Scandals (Frank Tuttle, 1933), and Kid Millions (Roy Del Ruth, 1934) with Eddie Cantor. The year she signed with Goldwyn, Goddard began dating Charlie Chaplin, a relationship that received substantial attention from the press. They were reportedly married in secret in Canton, China, in June 1936. It marked a turning point in Goddard's career when Chaplin cast her as his leading lady in his box office hit, Modern Times (1936). Her role as 'The Gamin', an orphan girl who runs away from the authorities and becomes The Tramp's companion, was her first credited film appearance and garnered her mainly positive reviews, Frank S. Nugent of The New York Times describing her as "the fitting recipient of the great Charlot's championship". Following the success of Modern Times, Chaplin planned other projects with Goddard in mind as a co-star, but he worked slowly, and Goddard worried that the public might forget about her if she did not continue to make regular film appearances. She signed a contract with David O. Selznick and appeared with Janet Gaynor in the comedy The Young in Heart (Richard Wallace, 1938) before Selznick lent her to MGM to appear in two films. The first of these, Dramatic School (Robert B. Sinclair, 1938), co-starred Luise Rainer, but the film received mediocre reviews and failed to attract an audience. Her next film, The Women (George Cukor, 1939), was a success. With an all-female cast headed by Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, and Rosalind Russell, the film's supporting role of Miriam Aarons was played by Goddard. Pauline Kael later wrote of Goddard, "she is a stand-out. fun."

David O' Selznick was pleased with Paulette Goddard's performances, particularly her work in The Young in Heart, and considered her for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939). Initial screen tests convinced Selznick and director George Cukor that Goddard would require coaching to be effective in the role, but that she showed promise, and she was the first actress given a Technicolor screen test. After he was introduced to Vivien Leigh, he wrote to his wife that Leigh was a "dark horse" and that his choice had "narrowed down to Paulette, Jean Arthur, Joan Bennett, and Vivien Leigh". After a series of tests with Leigh that pleased both Selznick and Cukor, Selznick cancelled the further tests that had been scheduled for Goddard, and the part was given to Leigh. Goddard's next film, The Cat and the Canary (Elliott Nugent, 1939) with Bob Hope, was a turning point in the careers of both actors. The success of the film established her as a genuine star. Her performance won her a ten-year contract with Paramount Studios, which was one of the premier studios of the day. They promptly were re-teamed in The Ghost Breakers (George Marshall, 1940), again a huge hit. Goddard starred with Chaplin again in his film The Great Dictator (1940). In 1942, Goddard was granted a Mexican divorce from Chaplin. The couple split amicably, with Chaplin agreeing to a generous settlement. At Paramount, Goddard was used by Cecil B. De Mille in the action epic North West Mounted Police (1940), playing the second female lead. She was Fred Astaire's leading lady in the acclaimed musical Second Chorus/Swing it (H.C. Potter, 1940), where she met actor Burgess Meredith, her third husband. Goddard made Pot o' Gold (George Marshall, 1941), a comedy with James Stewart, then supported Charles Boyer and Olivia de Havilland in Hold Back the Dawn (Mitchell Leisen, 1941), from a script by Wilder and Brackett, directed by Mitchell Leisen. Goddard was teamed with Hope for a third time in Nothing But the Truth (Elliott Nugent, 1942), then made The Lady Has Plans (Sidney Lanfield, 1942), a comedy with Ray Milland. She co-starred with Milland and John Wayne in Reap the Wild Wind (Cecil B. DeMille, 1942), playing the lead, a Scarlett O'Hara type character. The film was a huge hit. Goddard did The Forest Rangers (George Marshall, 1942) with Fred MacMurray. One of her better-remembered film appearances was in the variety musical Star Spangled Rhythm (George Marshall, 1943), in which she sang "A Sweater, a Sarong, and a Peekaboo Bang" with Dorothy Lamour and Veronica Lake.

Paulette Goddard received one Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for So Proudly We Hail! (Mark Sandrich, 1943) opposite Claudette Colbert and Veronica Lake. She didn't win, but it solidified her as a top draw. Goddard was teamed with Fred MacMurray in the delightful comedy Standing Room Only (Sidney Lanfield, 1944) and Sonny Tufts in I Love a Soldier (Mark Sandrich, 1944). In May 1944, she married Burgess Meredith at David O. Selznick's home in Beverly Hills. Goddard's most successful film was Kitty (Mitchell Leisen, 1945), in which she played the title role. Denny Jackson/Robert Sieger at IMDb: "The film was a hit with moviegoers, as she played an ordinary English woman transformed into a duchess. The film was filled with plenty of comedy, dramatic and romantic scenes that appealed to virtually everyone." In The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946), Goddard starred with husband Burgess Meredith under the direction of Jean Renoir. It was made for United Artists. At Paramount she did Suddenly It's Spring (Mitchell Leisen, 1947) with Fred MacMurray, and De Mille's 18th-century romantic drama Unconquered (Cecil B. DeMille, 1947), with Cary Grant. During the Hollywood Blacklist, when she and blacklisted husband Meredith were mobbed by a baying crowd screaming "Communists!" on their way to a premiere, Goddard is said to have turned to her husband and said, "Shall I roll down the window and hit them with my diamonds, Bugsy?" In 1947, she made An Ideal Husband in Britain for Alexander Korda and was accompanied on a publicity trip to Brussels by Clarissa Spencer-Churchill, niece of Sir Winston Churchill and future wife of future Prime Minister Anthony Eden. She divorced Meredith in June 1949, and also left Paramount. In 1949, she formed Monterey Pictures with John Steinbeck. Goddard starred in Anna Lucasta (Irving Rapper, 1949), then went to Mexico for The Torch (Emilio Fernández, 1950). In England, she was in Babes in Bagdad (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1952), then she went to Hollywood for Vice Squad (Arnold Laven, 1953) with Edward G. Robinson, and Charge of the Lancers (William Castle, 1954) with Jean-Pierre Aumont. Her last starring role was in the English production A Stranger Came Home/The Unholy Four (Terence Fisher, 1954).

Paulette Goddard began appearing in summer stock and on television, guest-starring on episodes of Sherlock Holmes, an adaptation of The Women, this time playing the role of Sylvia Fowler, The Errol Flynn Theatre, The Joseph Cotten Show, and The Ford Television Theatre. She was in an episode of Adventures in Paradise and a TV version of The Phantom. After her marriage to Erich Maria Remarque in 1958, Goddard largely retired from acting and moved to Ronco sopra Ascona, Switzerland. In 1964, she attempted a comeback in films with a supporting role in the Italian film Gli indifferenti/Time of Indifference (Francesco Maselli, 1964), starring Claudia Cardinale and Rod Steiger, which was her last feature film. After Remarque's death in 1970, she made one last attempt at acting, when she accepted a small role in an episode of the TV series The Snoop Sisters, The Female Instinct (Leonards Stern, 1972) with Helen Hayes and Mildred Natwick. Upon Remarque's death, Goddard inherited much of his money and several important properties across Europe, including a wealth of contemporary art, which augmented her own long-standing collection. During this period, her talent at accumulating wealth became a byword among the old Hollywood élite. During the 1980s, she became a fairly well known (and highly visible) socialite in New York City, appearing covered with jewels at many high-profile cultural functions with several well-known men, including Andy Warhol, with whom she sustained a friendship for many years until his death in 1987. Paulette Goddard underwent invasive treatment for breast cancer in 1975, successfully by all accounts. In 1990, she died at her home in Switzerland from heart failure while under respiratory support due to emphysema, She is buried in Ronco Village Cemetery, next to Remarque and her mother. Goddard had no children. She became a stepmother to Charles Chaplin's two sons, Charles Chaplin Jr. and Sydney Chaplin, while she and Charlie were married. In his memoirs, 'My Father Charlie Chaplin' (1960), Charles Jr. describes her as a lovely, caring and intelligent woman throughout the book. In October 1944, she suffered the miscarriage of a son with Burgess Meredith. Goddard, whose own formal education did not go beyond high school, bequeathed US$20 million to New York University (NYU) in New York City.

Sources: Tony Fontana (IMDb), Denny Jackson / Robert Sieger (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Thai dictator General Prayuth Chan-o-cha promises reforms but his ambitions are set in stone.

I am not generally a negative person but I must agree that companies have lost concern for consumer relations and all pretty much have become dictators in their own domain. It's not limited to Flickr, Yahoo or Internet services, there are very few places anymore, at least in America where emphasis is put on good customer care. This applies to many companies, come on T-Mobile, a 6 month known issue? Is it me or are we paying more for less?

For the wargame, John's Fighting Ships, set in the 19th Century:

Gaius Nero (1829-1883) was the face of Perceptum's Second Revolution. His charisma and masterful skill as an orator made him, and his monobrow, famous across the world. Born into a poor family, he experienced firsthand the life of a commoner in the late Perceptan Empire. A perceptive and academic child, Nero developed a powerful hatred for the purple banners, ivory towers, groping priests and political corruption that characterized his country. It irked him to no end to read and hear the stories of the greatness of his nation whilst the majority of its people would never experience its riches for themselves. Bullied and ostracized at school for his academics and eccentricity, Nero would develop a powerful sense of indignation that would last for years, his sensitivity and injured pride would later harden into excessive paranoia. When he was ten, his father saved the life a businessman from a pair of thugs; the grateful aristocrat became Nero's patron, paying for his schooling where his excellence and charming nature booked him a place in the prestigious Imperial College of Nacivitas. There, studying as a lawyer, he became a political activist outspoken against the old regime. He was teased ruthlessly for his monobrow, political inclinations and relative poverty by the other scholars of the college, fueling his rage further. But what truly crafted him as an individual was his dedication to excellence- he graduated university with the highest distinctions accomplished by a Perceptan law student in eighty years. He regularly outperformed his peers despite their ridicule. The idea that he was a superior individual, that the jealous opinions of his tormentors were ultimately irrelevant in the face of his own accomplishments, would root a deep superiority complex within his psyche. He was a lion; everyone else was a sheep.

During his studies, his politics would be cemented; he dreamed of a nation where personal excellence, not cronyism and high birth, dictated policy. Where wealth would be shared equally, where people didn't have to put up with perverse priests or backwards politicians. And most of all, where men as brilliant as himself would rule, crafting a better world for all. Disillusioned by the false promises of monarchy and democracy alike, he became a member of the growing National Party and frequented the political meetings of a range of other parties to sample their ideas. His cunning, remarkable sense of charm and ability to speak sense in stirring orations that preyed on the psychology of his listeners allowed him to rise quickly through the ranks of the Party elite, gaining a cadre of followers and hangers-on. When the First Revolution broke out in early 1874, Nero became the figurehead of the National Party, now holding a minority in the Imperial Senate and maintaining stern criticism of the coalition government that was taking form to represent Perceptum as a constitutional monarchy. Although the government made several attempts to quell his protests, he succeeded in ramping up support for his cause among the downtrodden populace. He accused the government of basing its rule upon compromise rather than results, of not meeting the needs of the people or their expectations for a righteous society. He portrayed himself as a representation of the common man; downtrodden, bullied, ridiculed, ostracized and denied the opportunities available to those in power. He convinced that the Perceptan people, like himself, were victims of an unjust system that needed to be overthrown. His powerful voice and the red-hot anger of his words stirred the hearts of a people who, by this time, had had enough of the old way of life. The mass political rallies that he organized, the modernist, progressive identity he crafted for his party and multiple shows of force, usually with his private army of Blackshirts, fanned the flame of his insurrection.

In late 1874, to the horror of the world, Nero staged a coup. Exactly how he accomplished the overthrow of the Imperial government, gained support in the armed forces and defeated the garrison of the capital, Nacivitas, remains a matter of debate to this day. Nero wasted no time in declaring himself the Empire's Supreme Leader, creating a regime more autocratic and totalitarian than anything the world had seen before. He completely rewrote the constitution to do away with the old system forever, styling his new code of law off advances made in Columbia and Vinland yet rigging it with fascist clauses that would ensure his complete control. Hand in hand with the reforms, came the Terror. Blackshirts roamed the streets, tearing down old statues and torching anything that symbolized the old regime. Nero's government outlawed all religion, sanctioning the arson of the Citadel of Saint Julius and countless other churches. He confiscated huge tracts of land formerly owned by the aristocracy, reformed the armed forces and began the forced modernization of the economy. But worst of all were the purges. Thousands of people; aristocrats, business owners, old military men, priests and all kinds of political individuals were lined up before a massive group of guillotines erected in the old parade ground. But in the eyes of his people, he was a Saint. He maintained a powerful cult of personality the likes of which the world had never seen before. Nero would increasingly think of himself as godly; he had a grand vision of the future of the world, and he would not permit anyone to stop him from realizing it.

But the more Nero got done, the more shrill, proud, stubborn and foolhardy he became. He believed he was incorruptible, insurmountable, unrivaled; a living god. He could never be wrong. He could never lose. This was not a healthy mindset, and would spell disaster for Perceptum during the Eight Years War. For while the Imperial homeland had been wracked by Revolution, many of its colonies had been pushing for independence, hosting little revolutions of their own. Some of the Empire's primary rivals, like the Order of Achatius, had been funding and supporting these movements and even minor countries like the Kingdom of Kahili had begun encroaching on the Empire's turf whilst the central government had been preoccupied. Having declared hostilities on multiple countries he perceived as threats, Nero insisted upon directing the war effort himself, and began to draft plans for a post-war world where his Empire held complete supremacy. Nero was not a military man, and neither were most of his staff. Even though Perceptum's military was truly vast, almost as big as those of all its enemies combined, it had been handicapped by Nero's purges. Most of the intellectuals and officers of the old Imperial Navy had been axed (literally), forced into exile or demoted. The loyal men Nero installed in their place had more spirit then sense, and were often downright idiotic. To make it worse, Nero had a horrible method of dealing with opposition and failure. In the past he would shout down, discredit and punish those who opposed them, taking credit for the actions of his subordinates and readily scapegoating them when things went wrong. This trait translated badly into military matters: He would ignore the reports of his spies if the information they provided displeased him but would be quick to blame them for failing in their duty whenever things didn't go according to plan. He would demote or execute officers he felt threatened by, dismiss strategies that didn't conform to his own purely academic understanding of combat doctrine and passed maniacal commands like forbidding retreat that would get thousands of men killed. He, and many others, thought Perceptum was invincible. The newly christened National Armada was, on paper, nearly twice as powerful and far larger than the combined navies of the Order and its Allies. The fact that the majority of its ships were undermanned, badly supplied, outdated and/or poorly captained was not taken into account. Perceptum was not ready for war, much less the global conflicts of the Eight Years War, and Nero's leadership only made the outcome inevitable.

The turning point of his idiocy, and the war at large, was the Battle of Sanct Alban's Bay. The events of that foolish battle- when he led his Armada into an obvious Allied trap, would change him. Having witnessed his fleet being butchered, hearing the cries of dismembered men, watching the detonation of his flagship (after he abandoned it) and seeing the body-counting of the aftermath shook him to his core. Nero would return home a broken man; it was said that he hardly uttered a word from Sanct Alban's Bay to the end of the war. The news of the Armada's defeat was met with shock and disbelief. Public morale became suicidal; Perceptum had owned the greatest navy the world had ever seen, and now it nearly ceased to exist. Without his grand speeches and mass rallies, Nero's place in the public eye disintegrated. The great dictator spent his remaining years in power skulking around his palace while the military picked up the slack, trying in vain to prevent the complete destruction of the Empire. Nero would not even name a new leader for the military to follow, resulting in debilitating infighting amongst the Armada, eventually crafting an awkward command structure that hobbled their efforts. Neither would he contribute to further planning or sue for peace, leaving his government at a loss for what to do. In fact, the most he did was call for food and copious amounts of alcohol. Having heard nothing from the Supreme Leader for nearly two years, the military elite declared him deposed. This was the Third Revolution; the government disintegrated without a fight, and the people welcomed the prospect of peace after what seemed like a lifetime of war. When the Revolution came for him, Nero was drinking himself to death in his study. The sight of the broken man in a puddle of wine, who didn't so much as whimper on the way to the guillotine, was a sobering experience for all involved. In the end, Nero's was the last head of thousands to roll from under the blade. The great tyrant was finally dead, reduced to a blight on the pages of history, but his ruinous legacy would haunt the psychology of the nation forever.

The Perceptan Empire was dismantled in the peace that followed. Almost all of Perceptum's colonies either declared independence or were taken from it by the victorious allies, resetting the world's balance of power and ending an era defined by Imperial hegemony. The Empire, that had once covered half the global, was replaced by the Grand Republic. Its new government of generals, clergy and businessmen who had survived the Terror would spend the next fifty years trying repair what Nero had done.

But some scars are too deep heal.

-

Sorry for the word wall, but Nero is a critical figure in JFS lore. I based his bio on aspects of Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin and Maximilien Robespierre while naming him after one of Rome's maddest emperors.

I think I did good. I'm just kinda annoyed that I can't figure out my POVray settings enough to avoid those stupid reflections and glares.

www.redbubble.com/people/timconstable

...when the news of the mysterious vanishing of Emperor Franz reaches the people...

...first nothing at all happens...

...just people going from door to door spreading the rumor that a exploding Wizard had killed the Dictator, Tyrant and Emperor who emerged through the stone floor killed him with his own golden sword and flew away with him...

..at first people was reluctant to believe it, but since many Guards and servants from the castle could confirm it, people started to come out of their hideout, cellar and basement...

...when they ventured carefully in to the street and started to talk to others and got confirmation on the lucky death of the Emperor they started to celebrate...

...the advisors mostly still in the castle and mostly surviving formed a council of Guilds, Peasant, Workers and so one and sent messengers to the forest-dwelling rebellion against the despot led by the Forestmen to come to the capital to help enforce law and order...

When the Forestmen and their allies arrived the were celebrated and welcomed by the feating people...

...The temporary council proclaimed three days of free partying... but since a large barbarian horde was approaching the city after these days it would be strict preparations and fortification and conscription of all of fighting age...

...but at first people would celebrate and party, rich with poor, men and women, laymen and soldiers...

...their unknown savior and liberator the Wizard-assassin was proclaimed a saint by the clergy...

...banner-waving, drunkness, party and happiness their tormentor was dead and gone...

Brick Dictator did this shot (his is better) many months ago, I was going to do it with my tog but decided not to. Also sorry that the hull is a little tweaked. I didn't notice it until later. Hope you guys like it.

Surrounded by military police, the Bulgovarian Dictator, Sven Jarakamov prepares to flee the Bulgovarian capitol. Just yards from the windows protestors demand for Jarakamov's execution.