It is a story of Northern Stoneman family and the Cameron family from Piedmont, South Carolina. Through their eyes we see how their friendship is affected by the Civil War. The consequences of the War in their lives are shown in connection to major historical events, like the development of the Civil War itself, Lincoln’s assassination, and the birth of the Ku Klux Klan.

The movie was based on Thomas Dixon Jr’s ‘The Clansman’. Dixon had committed his entire writing career arguing in favor of the superiority of whites and the Ku Klux Klan’s use of violence. After being angered by a staging ‘Uncle Brown’s Cabin’ in 1901 he decided to produce a play that offered his own interpretation of race relations. He said: “My object is to teach the North, the young North, what it has never known—the awful suffering of the white man during the dreadful Reconstruction period. I believe that Almighty God anointed the white men of the South by their suffering during that time . . . to demonstrate to the world that the white man must and shall be supreme.”

After the release of the film in 1915, the NAACP and other groups protested the film. The NAACP published a pamphlet titled ‘Fighting a Vicious Film: Protest Against The Birth of a Nation’. W. E. B. Du Bois published scathing reviews in ‘The Crisis’, which helped spur a debate among the National Board of Censorship of Motion Pictures to whether the film should be shown in New York. In the years after Griffith released ‘The Birth of a Nation’ there were massive race riots throughout the country, peaking in 1919.

President and former history professor Woodrow Wilson after viewing the film at the White House proclaimed it not only historically accurate, but like “history writ with lightning.” Many whites feeling it to be a truthful and accurate portrayal of racial politics flocked to join the rejuvenated Ku Klux Klan.

‘The Birth of a Nation’ went on to become one of the most admired and profitable films produced by Hollywood during its silent phase. Many Film scholars agree that it is the most important and a key film in American movie history. It contains many new cinematic innovations and refinements, technical effects and artistic advancements with a formative influence on future films.

The first agreement allowed the principles to release four pictures a year. A number that soon they found they could not reach. They did turn to others such as Buster Keaton, King Vidor and Samuel Goldwyn to fill the schedule.

One of the reasons it was formed, perhaps the single most important reason, was that these artists didn’t like the practice of ‘block booking’ that the movie studios of the era had developed. This practice required movie houses to take a block of motion pictures, whether they wanted all of them or not, just to get the ones they may want. United Artists would deal with the exhibitors with each single picture.

The first United Artist released movie was Douglas Fairbanks “His Majesty, the American” on September 1, 1919

By the late 1940s, United Artists existed mostly in name only. Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford was contacted by Arthur Krim and Robert Benjamin, two lawyers, in 1951 asking if they could run United Artists. They agreed, even though Chaplin at first was against the idea changing his mind only after US government revoked his re-entry visa in 1952.

Krim and Benjamin’s management and then ownership changed the direction of the corporation. United Artists became one of biggest movie corporations of the 1950s into the 1960s. In 1967 they sold their interests to Transamerica Corporation.

Holly, Valens, Richardson (the Big Bopper) along with Dion and the Belmonts were on a road tour called Winter Dance Party. The groups were touring in unheated buses in freezing temperatures when Buddy Holly decided to charter a small plane to their next stop. The small plane could hold four people including the pilot, the cost was $36 person. He chartered it for himself and his two band mates, Waylon Jennings and Tommy Allsup.

During the tour J.P. Richardson, the Big Bopper, had developed the flu and asked Jennings if he could go instead of him. Jennings agreed.

Jennings was until his death haunted over the crash in part over an exchange of words between him and Buddy Holly. Holly had said to Jennings, “”Well, I hope your ol’ bus freezes up.” Jennings responded, “Well, I hope your ol’ plane crashes.”

Ritchie Valens had never flown in a small plane and asked Tommy Allsup if he could have his seat. With a coin flip, tossed by the DJ at ballroom where they played that night, Valens had the last seat.

Dion DiMucci of Dion and the Belmonts was approached, but declined. He couldn’t see paying the price of 36 dollars, a sum which he had seen his parent argue over this price for apartment rent.

Mabel Normand, a popular silent film comedy actress, was at the Taylor home on February 1, leaving the house at 7:45. It is thought that she was the last person, other than the murderer who saw him alive. She left the house in a happy mood.

Taylor was born William Cunningham Deane-Tanner on April 26, 1872 in Ireland. He came to America in 1890. He married in 1901 to Ethel May Harrison whose father was a wall street broker. He vanished in 1908 deserting his wife and daughter.

While there were many suspects including Mabel Normand, Edward Sands – a former Taylor’s Valet, and Henry Peavy – Taylor’s Valet, no one was ever charged with the murder. Even to this day the identity of the actual murderer is unknown.

It has been discovered that Taylor had a relationship with teen screen actress Mary Miles Minter. At his death Taylor was 49 and she was 19. There is cause to believe that they may have had an intimate relationship prior to her turning 18. Minter’s mother Charlotte Shelby has also been linked as a possible suspect in the murder. Shelby, too, may have had an intimate relationship with Taylor.

From 1993 to 2000, Bruce Long collected and compiled information about Taylor and the murder. He called his effort Taylorology. It can be found at http://www.angelfire.com/az/Taylorology/

Richard Norton Tulfield was born on December 11, 1926.

While many will recognize the voice, he rarely appeared in front of the camera. He spent his career as an announcer beginning in the 1950s, through the 60s working on most of the TV series of Irwin Allen and into the 80s voicing narrations in cartoon series such as Thundarr the Barbarian and Spider-man.

He spoke the first words in three of Allen’s series along with Lost In Space, where he also served as the narrator he opened the first episode of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea with “This is the Seaview, the most extraordinary submarine in all the seven seas” and The Time Tunnel, “Two American scientists are lost…”

In the 1998 movie based on the series he once again voiced the Robot.

Bob May, who died on January 18, 2009 was the man inside the Robot in the TV Series.

They were working on songs for a possible 1 hour following their album The Beatles (White Album). One idea for the show was for them to perform 8 songs in front of a live audience.

Soon it was decided instead of doing a TV special they would do a feature film showing them making their new album, at the time called Get Back. This album as well as film would become their final release, Let It Be. Later in 1969 they would return to the studio to record the songs for the album Abbey Road.

Since Beatles albums were known to take months to record and the film crew desire to be finish before this time on Sunday January 26 it was decided to do a roof-top unannounced concert the following Thursday.

During the forty-two minute concert they played five songs. Many of them more than once. The songs were “Get Back”, “Don’t Let Me Down”, “I’ve Got a Feeling”, “One After 909″, and “Dig a Pony”. As a tune-up they also played parts of the British national anthem, “God Save the Queen” and a brief section of “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”, a song John Lennon was working on and released on Abbey Road.

The concert ended when police arrived to stop it. The last song played was “Get Back. This was the third time the band played the song, the only one that was played more than twice. While the police was trying to stop the concert Paul slightly changed the lyrics singing, “You’ve been playing on the roofs again, and you know your Momma doesn’t like it, she’s gonna have you arrested!”