Daley was Chicago's third mayor in a row from the working-class, heavily Irish American Bridgeport neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, and he lived there his entire life.

Daley had two bases of power, serving as a Committeeman and Chairman of the Cook County Democratic Central Committee from 1953, and as mayor of Chicago from 1955. He used both positions until his death in 1976 to dominate party and civic affairs. Daley's well-organized Democratic political machine was often accused of corruption and though many of Daley's subordinates were jailed, Daley was never personally formally accused of corruption. He is remembered for doing much to avoid the declines that some other "rust belt" cities like Cleveland and Detroit experienced during the same period. He had a strong base of support in Chicago's Irish Catholic community, and he was treated by national politicians such as Lyndon B. Johnson as a preeminent Irish American, with special connections to the Kennedy family. • Richard J. Daley Books

Some people have complained that there is not enough analysis of his music in the book, but your ears will tell you more than any technical explanation. He talks of his early days at Juilliard, skipping the school to play with Bird and others in New York, his courageous "cold turkey" quitting of heroin, his abuse by police, and the various bands and movements he led. Lots of amusing (and tragic) anecdotes, comments on other musicians, insights into his wide-ranging tastes, and interesting sidelights (he and Jimi Hendrix almost made an album together)  • Miles Davis Website • Miles Davis Discography • Miles Davis Books

1. He is not frozen. His body was cremated, and his ashes are interred at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California, near his studio.

2. Mickey Mouse's original name allegedly was Mortimer but Disney's wife Lillian objected because she thought it too "sissified."

3. Some of the names originally considered for the dwarfs in Snow White were: Deafy, Dirty, Awful, Blabby, Burpy, Gabby, Puffy, Stuffy, Nifty, Tubby, Biggo Ego, Flabby, Jaunty, Baldy, Lazy, Dizzy, Cranky and Chesty.

4. Walt Disney suffered a nervous breakdown in 1931 and descended into depression after the war, concentrating his attention on model trains rather than on motion pictures.

5. Fantasia was the result of a chance meeting between Walt Disney and symphony conductor Leopold Stokowski at Chasen's restaurant.

6. During World War II the Disney studio became a war factory with well over 90% of its production in the service of government training, education and propaganda films.

7. The studio stopped production for six months on Pinocchio because Walt felt the title character wasn't likable enough. During this time he devised the idea of introducing Jiminy Cricket as Pinocchio's conscience.

8. Walt Disney received more Academy Awards than any other individual--32.

9. Disney modeled Mickey Mouse on Charlie Chaplin and that Chaplin later assisted the Disneys by loaning them his financial books so they could determine what kind of proceeds they should be getting from their distributor on Snow White.

10. MGM head Louis B. Mayer once rejected the opportunity to distribute Mickey Mouse cartoons shortly after Walt had invented the character because Mayer said that pregnant women would be frightened by a giant mouse on screen. • Walt Disney Books • Walt Disney Films

Marshall Field was born on a farm in Conway, Massachusetts, the son of John Field IV and wife Fidelia Nash, paternal grandson of John Field III and wife Lucy Look, great-grandson of Eliakim Field and wife Esther Graves, great-great-grandson of John Field Jr. and wife Sarah Coleman and great-great-great-grandson of John Field and wife Mary Edwards, daughter of Alexander Edwards and wife Sarah Baldwin, daughter of Richard Baldwin (d. Cholesbury, Co. Buckinghamshire, 2 November 1632) and wife Isabel Harding (d. Cholesbury, Co. Buckinghamshire, aft. 1633). His family was descended from Puritans who had come to America as early as 1650.  • Marshall Fields Books

Jennifer Eve Garth was born three hours south of Chicago, in Urbana, Illinois, to John and Carolyn Garth, who each already had three children from different marriages. Garth grew up on a 25-acre (100,000 m2) horse ranch in Arcola, Illinois, with her six older half-siblings: Johnny, Chuck, Lisa, Cammie, Wendy and Lynn. Jennie also lived in Tuscola, Illinois, during her younger years. When Garth was 13 years old, she and her family moved to Glendale, Arizona. She took dancing lessons and modeled while living there, which led to her participation in a talent competition where she was discovered by a Hollywood Talent Manager named Randy James. She attended Greenway High School her Freshman year and transferred to Apollo High School for her Sophomore year. She later left Apollo High School during her junior year, when she and her mother moved to Los Angeles to work with James so Garth could become an actress, later obtaining her high school diploma in California. There, she started taking acting classes and went to auditions almost every day. After living in L.A. for about four months, she landed the role of "Erica McCray" on the NBC tv series, A Brand New Life (1989-'90), which lasted eight episodes including, "Episode Zero." • Jennie Garth Books • Jennie Garth Movies

In the mid-1930s, Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America. His January 16, 1938 concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City is described by critic Bruce Eder as "the single most important jazz or popular music concert in history: jazz's 'coming out' party to the world of 'respectable' music."

Goodman's bands launched the careers of many major names in jazz, and during an era of segregation, he also led one of the first racially-integrated musical groups. Goodman continued to perform to nearly the end of his life, including exploring his interest in classical music. • Benny Goodman Website • Benny Goodman Discography • Benny Goodman Books

Heston is known for having played heroic roles, such as Moses in The Ten Commandments, Colonel George Taylor in Planet of the Apes, Rodrigo Dํaz de Vivar in El Cid, and Judah Ben-Hur in Ben-Hur, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. In the 1950s and 1960s he was one of a handful of Hollywood actors to speak openly against racism and was an active supporter of the Civil Rights Movement. Initially a moderate Democrat, he later supported conservative politics and was president of the National Rifle Association from 1998 to 2003.

Heston was born John Charles Carter in No Man's Land, Illinois, an unincorporated area between Evanston and Wilmette, Illinois, the son of Lilla (n้e Charlton) and Russell Whitford Carter, a mill operator. In his autobiography, Heston refers only to his father participating in his family's construction business. Heston was of English and Scottish descent and a member of the Fraser clan. When Heston was an infant his father's work moved the family to St. Helen, Michigan. It was a rural, heavily forested part of the state and Heston lived an isolated yet idyllic existence spending much time hunting and fishing in the backwoods of the area. • Charlton Heston Books • Charlton Heston Movies 

Hickok came to the West as a stagecoach driver, then became a lawman in the frontier territories of Kansas and Nebraska. He fought in the Union Army during the American Civil War, and gained publicity after the war as a scout, marksman, and professional gambler. Between his law-enforcement duties and gambling, which easily overlapped, Hickok was involved in several notable shootouts, and was ultimately killed while playing poker in a Dakota Territory saloon.

Hickok was born in Homer, Illinois (what is now Troy Grove) on May 27, 1837. His birthplace is now the Wild Bill Hickok Memorial, a listed historic site under the supervision of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. While he was growing up, his father's farm was one of the stops on the Underground Railroad, and he learned his shooting skills protecting the farm with his father from slave catchers. Hickok was a good shot from a very young age and recognized locally as an outstanding marksman with a pistol • Wild Bill Hickok Books

Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954, and the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1974. One of the top stars of the 1950s, he was named one of the "Top 10 stars of the year" six times (1954-1958, 1961) and appeared on the American Film Institute's AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars list as #25.

Holden, eldest of three sons (brothers were Robert & Richard), was born as William Franklin Beedle, Jr. in O'Fallon, Illinois, the son of Mary Blanche (n้e Ball), a schoolteacher, and William Franklin Beedle, Sr., an industrial chemist. The family, which moved to South Pasadena, California when he was three, was of English descent; Holden's paternal great-grandmother, Rebecca Westfield, was born in England in 1817, while some of his mother's ancestors emigrated in the 17th century to Millenback, Lancaster County, Virginia in the U.S. from England.

After graduating from South Pasadena High School, Holden attended Pasadena Junior College, where he became involved in local radio plays. Contrary to legend and theatre publicity, he did not study at the Pasadena Playhouse, nor was he discovered in a play there. Rather, he was spotted by a talent scout from Paramount Pictures in 1937 while appearing as an old man in a play at the Playbox, a separate and private theatre owned by Pasadena Playhouse director Gilmor Brown. His first film role was in Prison Farm the following year. • William Holden Books • William Holden Movies

Hudson was born Roy Harold Scherer, Jr., in Winnetka, Illinois, the only child of Katherine Wood (an English and Irish descendant), a telephone operator, and Roy Harold Scherer, Sr.,(a German and Swiss descendant) an auto mechanic[1] who abandoned the family during the depths of the Great Depression. His mother remarried and his stepfather Wallace "Wally" Fitzgerald adopted him, changing his last name to Fitzgerald. Hudson's years at New Trier High School were unremarkable. He sang in the school's glee club and was remembered as a shy boy who delivered newspapers, ran errands and worked as a golf caddy. • Rock Hudson Books • Rock Hudson Movies