Born on this day – Cecil B. DeMille:

 

Director

Producer

Actor

August 12, 1881 – January 21, 1959

Credits:

A Night at the Movies: The Gigantic World of Epics (2009); A Romance of the Redwoods (1917); A Trip to Paramountown (1922); Adam's Rib (1923); After Five (1915); Air Force: The Radio Play (1943); All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace (2011); All-Time Movie Greats (1988); America in Color (2018); American Experience (1996); American Masters (1993); An Informal Conversation with Billy Wilder (2018); And the Oscar Goes to... (2014); Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life (1996); Betty to the Rescue (1917); Biography (2005); Braveheart (1925); Brewster's Millions (1914); Brother Can You Spare a Dime (1975); California's Golden Beginning (1948); Carmen (1915); Castles for Two (1917); Cecil B. DeMille: American Epic (2004); Central Casting (2000); Changing Husbands (1924); Charlton Heston, la démesure d'un géant (2023); Chicago (1927); Chimmie Fadden (1915); Chimmie Fadden Out West (1915); Cinépanorama (1957); Cleopatra (1934); Coming Attractions: The History of the Movie Trailer (2009); Compression (2023); Don't Change Your Husband (1919); Dynamite (1929); Estrellados (1930); Eve's Leaves (1926); Extraordinary Women (2011); Fascination: An Unauthorized Tribute to Marilyn Monroe (2011); Feet of Clay (1924); Fighting Love (1927); Fool's Paradise (1921); For Better, for Worse (1919); Forbidden Film: The Production Code Era (2009); Forbidden Fruit (1921); Forfaiture (1937); Four Frightened People (1934); Free and Easy (1930); Gladiateur, glaive et fantasmes (2018); Glamour Boy (1941); Going Hollywood: The '30s (1984); Her Man o' War (1926); History Brought to Life (1950); Hold 'Em Yale (1928); Hollywood (1923 / 1980); Hollywood Extra Girl (1935); Hollywood on Parade No. A-6 (1933); Hollywood on Parade No. A-9 (1933); Hollywood on Parade No. B-5 (1933); Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage (1983); Hollywood Without Make-Up (1963); Hooray for Hollywood (1982); Jens Mansson in America (1947); Joan the Woman (1916); John Ford: The Man Who Invented America (2019); Kindling (1915); KTLA Premiere (1947); Land of Liberty (1939); Les années Hollywood de François Chalais (2019); Les mille et une vies de Yul Brynner (2020); Let 'Er Go Gallegher (1927); Life in Hollywood No. 1 (1927); Life in Hollywood No. 4 (1927); Lord Chumley (1914); Lost and Won (1917); Madam Satan (1930); Made for Love (1926); Male and Female (1919); Manslaughter (1922); Maria Rosa (1916); Mary Pickford: The Muse of the Movies (2008); Nan of Music Mountain (1917); Nihon eiga no hyaku nen / Century of Cinema (1995); North West Mounted Police (1940); Old Wives for New (1918); Reap the Wild Wind (1942); Red Dice (1926); Rose of the Rancho (1914); Samson and Delilah (1949); Saturday Night (1922); Screen Snapshots Series 10, No. 6 (1931); Screen Snapshots Series 22, No 10 (1942); Screen Snapshots Series 25, No. 1: 25th Anniversary (1945); Screen Snapshots, Series 2, No. 1-F (1921); Screen Snapshots, Series 3, No. 1 (1922); Screen Snapshots, Series 3, No. 19 (1923); Screen Snapshots, Series 3, No. 23 (1923); Screen Snapshots, Series 4, No. 7 (1923); Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Night Life (1952); Screen Snapshots: The Great Director (1951); Sex at 24 Frames Per Second (2003); Showbiz Ballyhoo (1982); Silence (1926); Social Security in Action (1958–1968); Something to Think About (1920); Son of Paleface (1952); Spécial cinéma (1982); Star Spangled Rhythm (1942); Sunset Boulevard (1950); Surf and Sail (1929); Tal der Träumer (2004); Temptation (1915); The 25th Annual Academy Awards (1953); The Affairs of Anatol (1921); The Angel of Broadway (1927); The Arab (1915); The Best of Hollywood (1998); The Best of Hollywood (2017); The Bible According to Hollywood (1994); The Buccaneer (1938 / 1958); The Buster Keaton Story (1957); The Call of the North (1914); The Captive (1915); The Casting Couch (1995); The Cheat (1915); The Circus Man (1914); The ComicWeb: Old Time Radio Programs (2020); The Coming of Amos (1925); The Cruise of the Jasper B (1926); The Crusades (1935); The DeMille Dynasty (1998); The Devil-Stone (1917); The Dream Girl (1916); The Dressmaker from Paris (1925); The Ed Sullivan Show (1957); The Fallbrook Story (1952); The Fighting Eagle (1927); The Ghost Breaker (1914); The Girl of the Golden West (1915); The Godless Girl (1928); The Golden Bed (1925); The Golden Chance (1915); The Greatest Show on Earth (1952); The Heart of Nora Flynn (1916); The Heart of Show Business (1957); The Hollywood You Never See (1934); The Ken Murray Show (1952); The King of Kings (1927); The Little American (1917); The Lonely Gunfighter: The Legacy of Cheyenne (2006); The Lost City of Cecil B. DeMille (2016); The Love Mask (1916); The Man from Home (1914); The Man on the Box (1914); The Master Mind (1914); The Movies March On (1939); The Night Club (1925); The Only Son (1914); The Plainsman (1936); The Road to Yesterday (1925); The Secret Game (1917); The Secret Sin (1915); The Sign of the Cross (1932); The Squaw Man (1914 / 1918 / 1931); The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944); The Ten Commandments (1923 / 1956); The Ten Commandments: Making Miracles (2011); The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1916); The U.S. and the Holocaust (2022); The Unafraid (1915); The Virginian (1914); The Volga Boatman (1926); The War of the Worlds (1953); The Warrens of Virginia (1915); The Wedding Song (1925); The Whispering Chorus (1918); The Wild Goose Chase (1915); The Woman God Forgot (1917); The Yankee Clipper (1927); This Day and Age (1933); This Is Your Life (1957); Three Faces East (1926); Till I Come Back to You (1918); Triumph (1924); Unconquered (1947); Union Pacific (1939); V.I.P.-Schaukel (1973); Vanity (1927); Variety Girl (1947); Walking Back (1928); Walt Disney Academy Awards: 26th Annual, 1954 / The 26th Annual Academy Awards (1954); We Can't Have Everything (1918); What's His Name (1914); What's My Line? (1952); When Worlds Collide (1951); Whispering Smith (1926); White Gold (1927); Why Be Good? Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema (2007); Why Change Your Wife? (1920); Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Power of Women in Hollywood (2000); Young Romance (1915).

Born on this day – Mary Roberts Rinehart:

Writer

August 12, 1876 – September 22, 1958

Credits:

 
Books:
 

A Poor Wise Man (1920); Affinities (1920); Alibi for Isabel (1944); American Christmas Stories (2021); Black Cat Weekly #64 (2022); Dangerous Days (1919); Episode of the Wandering Knife (1950); Golden Age Detective Stories (2021); Haunted Lady (1942); K (1915); Kill or Cure / Suspense Stories About the World of Medicine (1989); Love Stories (1919); Married People (1937); Mary Roberts Rinehart's Crime Book (1933); Mind Over Motor (1912); Miss Pinkerton / aka The Double Alibi (1932); More Tish (1921); My Story (1931); Nomad's Land (1926); Salvage (1919); Sight Unseen (1946); Sight Unseen / The Confession (1921); Temperamental People (1924); The After House (1914); The Album (1933); The Amazing Adventures of Letitia Carberry (1911); The Amazing Interlude (1918); The Bat (1920); The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries (2013); The Big Book of Female Detectives (2018); The Book of Tish (1926); The Breaking Point (1922); The Broken Quarantine (1906); The Case of Jennie Brice (1913); The Cave on Thundercloud (1912); The Circular Staircase (1908); The Collected Mysteries of Mary Roberts Rinehart (2010); The Confession (1946); The Confession / Sight Unseen (1959); The Doctor (1936); The Door (1930); The Frightened Wife (1953); The Great Mistake (1940); The Man in Lower Ten (1906); The Oxford Book of American Detective Stories (1996); The Red Lamp / aka The Mystery Lamp (1925); The Romantics (1929); The State Vs Elinor Norton (1933); The Street of Seven Stars (1966); The Swimming Pool (1952); The Truce of God (1920); The Wall (1938); The Wandering Knife (1952); The Web She Weaves (1983); The Window at the White Cat (1910); The Yellow Room (1945); This Strange Adventure (1929); Three of Diamonds / Big Water / Frightened Wife (1953); Tish (1916); Tish Marches On (1937); Tish Plays the Game (1926); Toward the Golden Age / The Stories That Turned Crime to Gold (2016); Two Flights Up (1928); When a Man Marries (1910); Where There's a Will (1912).

 

Movies and television:
 

23 1/2 Hours' Leave (1919 / 1937); Acquitted (1916); Affinities (1915 / 1922); Aflame in the Sky (1927); At the Foot of the Hill (1914); Bab's Burglar (1917); Bab's Diary (1917); Bab's Matinee Idol (1917); Broadway Television Theatre (1953); City of Shadows (1927); Climax! (1954–1956); Dangerous Days (1920); Der Spinnenmörder (1978); Dow Hour of Great Mysteries (1960); Elinor Norton (1934); Finders Keepers (1928); Her Country First (1918); Her Love Story (1924); I Take This Woman (1931); It's a Great Life (1920); Jane (1914); K: The Unknown (1924); Long Live the King (1923); Mind Over Motor (1915 / 1923); Miss Pinkerton (1932); Mr. Cohen Takes a Walk (1935); Nash Airflyte Theatre (1951); Person to Person (1956); Robert Montgomery Presents (1952); Se ki, se be (1919); Seven Days (1925); Star Stage (1956); The Bat (1926 / 1959); The Bat Whispers (1930); The Breaking Point (1924); The Cave on Thunder Cloud (1915); The Circular Staircase (1915); The Doctor and the Woman (1918); The Dog in the Orchard (1941); The Ford Television Theatre (1954–1956); The Glorious Fool (1922); The Nurse's Secret (1941); The Papered Door (1915); The Silent Watcher (1924); The Street of Seven Stars (1918); The Unknown (1927); Tish (1942); Tish's Spy (1915); What Happened to Father (1915 / 1927); Your Favorite Story (1953).

Recommended reading - The Beekeeper's Bible: Bees, Honey, Recipes & Other Home Uses (2011)

 

The Beekeeper's Bible: Bees, Honey, Recipes & Other Home Uses (2011).

by Richard A. Jones and Sharon Sweeney-Lynch.

 
Hardcover.
 
ISBN-10: 1584799188
ISBN-13: 978-1584799184
 
Description:
 
The Beekeeper’s Bible is the essential and comprehensive handbook for every active or aspiring beekeeper.

Part history book, part handbook, part cookbook, this illustrated tome covers every facet of the ancient hobby of beekeeping, from safe hive management to the culinary, medicinal, cosmetic, and domestic uses of honey, beeswax, and pollen. 

With stunning illustrations and step-by-step photography, The Beekeeper’s Bible is the indispensable guide to beekeeping.

Complete practical beekeeping.
Bee history, trivia, and lore.
Uses for honey, beeswax, and pollen.
Recipes and craft projects.
Home remedies and beauty products.

Margaret Atwood, on writing:

Writing is alone, but I don't think it's lonely.

Ask any writer if they feel lonely when they're writing their book, and I think they'll say no.
– Margaret Atwood.

Born on this day – Ralph Nelson:

Director

Producer

Writer

Actor

August 12, 1916 – December 21, 1987

Recommended reading - No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality (2020)

 

No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality (2020).

by Michael J. Fox.

 
Published by Flatiron Books.
Hardcover.
 
ISBN-10: 1250265630
ISBN-13: 978-1250265630
 
Description:
 

The entire world knows Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, the teenage sidekick of Doc Brown in Back to the Future; as Alex P. Keaton in Family Ties; as Mike Flaherty in Spin City; and through numerous other movie roles and guest appearances on shows such as The Good Wife and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Diagnosed at age 29, Michael is equally engaged in Parkinson’s advocacy work, raising global awareness of the disease and helping find a cure through The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, the world’s leading non-profit funder of PD science. His two previous bestselling memoirs, Lucky Man and Always Looking Up, dealt with how he came to terms with the illness, all the while exhibiting his iconic optimism. His new memoir reassesses this outlook, as events in the past decade presented additional challenges.

In No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality, Michael shares personal stories and observations about illness and health, aging, the strength of family and friends, and how our perceptions about time affect the way we approach mortality. Thoughtful and moving, but with Fox’s trademark sense of humor, his book provides a vehicle for reflection about our lives, our loves, and our losses.

Running through the narrative is the drama of the medical madness Fox recently experienced, that included his daily negotiations with the Parkinson’s disease he’s had since 1991, and a spinal cord issue that necessitated immediate surgery. His challenge to learn how to walk again, only to suffer a devastating fall, nearly caused him to ditch his trademark optimism and “get out of the lemonade business altogether.”

Does he make it all of the way back? Read the book.
 

On this day in music history - First Dance, by Amy Lauren (2011)

First Dance

by Amy Lauren

was released on August 11, 2011.