(This is more than a bit obsessional, sorry. tl;dr: 6 new ways that George Pullman is related to Kevin Bacon.) A gauntlet has been thrown. I must answer the challenge—my “George Pullman to Kevin Bacon” was scoffed at…scoffed at, I say! because I did a fast forward 100 years thing. I now answer, in a variety of ways, how Mr. Pullman is related to Kevin Bacon. Herein begins my list, and the result of a sleepless night’s research: 1.) Recall, please, that the only appointment that Pullman had on the day he died was with Arthur Stilwell. Stilwell heard voices (from “spirits”) that told him what to do. One of those voices told him to build his railroad’s gulf port destination up the coast from Galveston, TX. He did so, sparing his settlers the destruction of the 1900 hurricane. In gratitude, they name the city “Port Arthur”. One of those grateful citizens was Janis Joplin’s grandfather. So, an easy one first: Janis Joplin and Levon Helm appeared in Festival Express. Levon Helm and Kevin Bacon appeared in End of the Line. PULLMAN->STILWELL->JOPLIN (GF)->JANIS JOPLIN->LEVON HELM->KEVIN BACON ONE DEGREE OUT. Young Janis was an outcast and loner in high school. One of her few friends in school was G.W. Bailey. You know him as Rizzo from M*A*S*H and Captain Harris from the Police Academy movies. So: Janis to G.W. Bailey G. W. Bailey and Steve Guttenberg appeared in Police Academy. Steve Guttenberg and Kevin Bacon appeared in Diner. PULLMAN->STILWELL->JOPLIN (GF)->JANICE JOPLIN->G.W. BAILEY->STEVE GUTTENBERG->KEVIN BACON 2.) Also born in Port Arthur, Texas, was the neo-Dadaist/Pop Art painter Robert Rauschenberg. So: Robert Rauschenberg and Sean Barrett appeared in Robert Rauschenberg: Man at Work. Sean Barrett and Vittorio Gassman appeared in War and Peace. Vittorio Gassman and Kevin Bacon appeared in Sleepers. PULLMAN->STILWELL->PORT ARTHUR, TX->ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG->SEAN BARRETT->VITTORIO GASSMANN->KEVIN BACON 3.) Via Robert Todd Lincoln: the eldest son of our 16th president, and, as yet, the only presidential relative portrayed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Lincoln was the second president of the Pullman Company and a good friend of George Pullman. (Robert Todd Lincoln was connected, incidentally, to all 3 of the assassinated presidents in the 19th Century. Lincoln was not present at his fathers assassination. But he was nearby, attending another play, and arrived at Fords Theater shortly after his father was shot. At President James A. Garfields invitation, Lincoln was at the 6th Street Train Station in Washington, D.C., where the President was shot by Charles J. Guiteau on July 2, 1881, and was an eyewitness to the event. Lincoln was serving as Garfields Secretary of War at the time. At President William McKinleys invitation, Lincoln was at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, where the President was shot by Leon Czolgosz on September 6, 1901.) Lincoln’s life was full of coincidences. Robert Lincoln was once saved from serious injury by Edwin Booth, brother of John Wilkes Booth, his father’s murderer. The incident took place on a train platform in Jersey City, New Jersey in either 1863 or 1864. Lincoln wrote in a 1909 letter: “The incident occurred while a group of passengers were late at night purchasing their sleeping car places from the conductor who stood on the station platform at the entrance of the car. The platform was about the height of the car floor, and there was of course a narrow space between the platform and the car body. There was some crowding, and I happened to be pressed by it against the car body while waiting my turn. In this situation the train began to move, and by the motion I was twisted off my feet, and had dropped somewhat, with feet downward, into the open space, and was personally helpless, when my coat collar was vigorously seized and I was quickly pulled up and out to a secure footing on the platform. Upon turning to thank my rescuer I saw it was Edwin Booth, whose face was of course well known to me, and I expressed my gratitude to him, and in doing so, called him by name.” But I digress… John Wilkes Booth to Kevin Bacon (part 1): Booth appeared in an 1863 production of MacBeth with Louisa Lane Drew. Louisa Lane Drew appeared in an 1896 production of The Rivals with her grandson Lionel Barrymore. Lionel Barrymore appeared in It’s A Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stuart in 1948. Jimmy Stuart was in 1977s Airport ’77 with Jack Lemmon. Jack Lemmon was in JFK in 1991 with Kevin Bacon. PULLMAN->LINCOLN->JOHN WILKES BOOTH->LOUISA LANE DREW->LIONEL BARRYMORE->JIMMY STUART->JACK LEMMON->KEVIN BACON 4.) John Wilkes Booth was married to Louisa Jane Price. They had a daughter named Laura Ida Elizabeth Booth. Her niece was Ida Booth Levine (the granddaughter of Edwin), stage name Alma Booth. Ida and Laura appeared as an acrobatic duo, Levine and Booth, who juggled chairs, balanced things on their teeth, etc. etc. A young magician, Harry Houdini, appeared frequently with them as part of the Welsh Brothers Circus. So: Harry Houdini and Nita Naldi appeared in The Man from Beyond. Nita Naldi and Caroline Rankin appeared in What Price Beauty?. Caroline Rankin and Marisa Tomei appeared in The Ides of March. Marisa Tomei and Kevin Bacon appeared in Loverboy. PULLMAN-> LINCOLN->JOHN WILKES BOOTH->LAURA BOOTH (et al)->HARRY HOUDINI->NITA NALDI->CAROLINE RANKIN->MARISA TOMEI->KEVIN BACON 5.) George Pullman was a friend and great supporter of James A. Garfield, whom he strong armed to run for President against Garfield’s wishes at Pullman’s estate in Elberon, N.J. Garfield was shot by nutball Charles J. Guiteau in Washington, D.C. in 1881. He wasn’t killed, just wounded. He was brought to a bed to recover. Alexander Graham Bell invented a metal detector (the principle of which is still in use today) to try and locate the bullet. (Incidentally, it was also one of the first uses of air conditioning as they tried to lessen the summer heat for the dying President). Unfortunately, Bell’s invention didn’t work because Garfield was lying in an iron bed. Bell’s frequent collaborator, business partner, and rival (depending on the day) was, of course, Thomas Alva Edison. (Bell Telephone, anyone?) Thomas Edison and Julian Bond appeared in The Shadow of Hate. Julian Bond and Cleve Jones appeared in Illegal Love. Cleve Jones and Kevin Bacon appeared in 8. So, in a rather circuitous journey: PULLMAN->JAMES GARFIELD->ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL->THOMAS EDISON->JULIAN BOND->CLEVE JONES->KEVIN BACON 6.) This one is a bit of a stretch. George Pullman was a prominent Republican. One of his colleagues and great supporters was Joseph Medill, managing editor of the Chicago Tribune. Medill steered the paper from being a xenophobic, anti-Immigrant, anti-Catholic paper supporting Nativism towards more temperate views and helped elect early Republican presidential candidates like Abraham Lincoln. Medill was succeeded by Robert R. McCormick. He announced, in 1922, a competition to build the new headquarters of the Tribune. The competition was fierce, because it was a big contract with a large prize associated with it. The second place finisher was Eliel Saarinen, Eero Saarinen’s father. While he didn’t win, he did move to Chicago and open an architecture practice here. Famous in his day, he was a huge influence and role model to a young architect named Edmund Bacon, Kevin Bacon’s father. Enough. Sleep beckons…
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 22:10:55 +0000
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