One hundred and sixteen stars extolling famous St. Louisans line Delmar Boulevard. Many of the names are familiar to Wash. U. students-Eliot, Nemerov and, of course, two Danforths. Most are widely known-Miles Davis, Ulysses Grant and Joseph Pulitzer. All had an immense, global impact in their fields and are either St. Louis natives or did their most noteworthy work here, whether researching elucidated carbohydrate metabolism at the medical school or playing for the Cardinals.
However, some of the stars have more dubious achievements. James B. Eads, for example, struck it rich by salvaging wrecked Mississippi riverboats. A drop-out at a young age, he designed a diving bell specifically for navigating the murky, silty riverbed. Within a relatively short time, he amassed a small fleet of salvaging “snag boats.” After the Civil War was over, he also engineered the first bridge across the river at St. Louis, which still stands today. So the next time you need to drive over to East St. Louis, thank Mr. Eads.
Buddy Ebsen had an even more interesting career. Most people remember the actor as the iconic Jed Clampett of “The Beverly Hillbillies,” but few know of his other work. The former vaudeville performer was renowned for his especially flashy dancing and provided Walt Disney with the template for the dance moves of Mickey Mouse himself in “Silly Symphonies,” the quintessential Disney series which ran from 1929 to 1939 and also introduced Donald Duck.
In 1939, he was cast as the Scarecrow in “The Wizard of Oz,” but traded with the actor who was to play the Tin Man. That choice almost killed him. While he was being made-up, he swallowed a great deal of powdered aluminum that was painting him silver. The material coated his lungs. He nearly died, and MGM took him off the movie and replaced him with an actor who never found out about Ebsen until after the movie was completed. For the rest of his life, Ebsen complained of lung problems caused by the movie.
However, before he was fired, Ebsen recorded most of the songs for the movie. Jack Haley, the Tin Man we all recognize, re-recorded nearly all of Ebsen’s songs, but on the soundtrack there are instances in which listeners can hear pieces of Ebsen’s voice from the original recording.
Josephine Baker led an equally pseudo-glamorous, yet very different life. By age 13, she was left fatherless, had dropped out of school, was waiting tables and had been married and divorced. Baker worked in entertainment but had trouble getting jobs because she was black.
However, in 1925, at about age 20, she headed to Paris, where she performed erotic dances and rose to international fame. Clad in little more than a skirt made of faux-bananas, Baker charmed the French. She made a fortune and frequently assumed the stage with her pet cheetah, Chiquita, who was known to escape into the orchestra pit during her routine and cause terrified mayhem. Ernest Hemingway called her “the most sensational woman anyone ever saw.”
During World War II, Baker worked in the French Resistance, smuggling information out of the country to Portugal. After the war, she became the first American woman to be awarded the prestigious Croix de Guerre from the French government.
She adopted 12 children from 10 countries, whom she called her “Rainbow Tribe,” and became involved with the American Civil Rights Movement, refusing to perform for segregated audiences and encouraging other entertainers to do the same. She worked with the NAACP and with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., participating in the march on Washington. When King was assassinated, his daughter, Coretta Scott King, asked Baker to assume his position-though she declined in fear of her family’s safety.
Another great entertainer and Wash. U. graduate, Robert Guillaume is a Grammy- and Emmy-winning actor. His credentials also include some voice acting roles that are particularly resonant with kids who grew up in the ’90s. Besides being the only black man to portray the Phantom of the Opera, his credits include stints on “Captain Planet and the Planeteers” and one of the “The Land Before Time” movies, and roles as Dr. Eli Vance in “Half-Life” and Rafiki in the “Lion King.”
If you thought the Cardinals were a big deal, one of bowling’s top prizes is named after another star from the St. Louis Walk of Fame. The Weber Cup, after local Dick Weber, is an annual bowling contest between the best American and European bowlers. Weber himself bowled with the legendary team the Budweisers, and he won 30 PBA titles, at least one each decade for six straight decades. He was a frequent guest on the Late Show as a trick bowler, and holds the honor of being the “highest bowler ever,” playing a game in a modified 707 airplane in 1964.
Another St. Louisan was most famous for her million-dollar legs. Literally. Each of Betty Grable’s legs was actually insured for $1 million. Though she had a successful career as an actress and dancer, she is best known as the most popular pin-up girl of World War II. Her over-the-shoulder photo is so provocative as to be listed among Time’s “100 Photos That Changed the World”.
Hey, they can’t all be Charles Lindberghs and Dred Scotts.