Mabel Seeley, on writing:

There's less skill and more plain hard work to writing than anyone except a writer thinks.
- Mabel Seeley.

Born on this day – Nella Larsen:

Nella Larsen

Writer

April 13, 1891 – March 30, 1964

Credits:

Books:

Passing (1929), Quicksand (1928).

Non-fiction:

Correspondence / Opportunity, 4 (September 1926); Review of Black Spade / Opportunity, 7 (January 1929); The Author's Explanation / Forum, Supplement 4, 83 (April 1930).

Short stories:

Freedom (1926); Playtime: Danish Fun / The Brownies' Book, 1 (July 1920); Playtime: Three Scandinavian Games / The Brownies' Book, 1 (June 1920); Sanctuary / Forum, 83 (January 1930); The Wrong Man (1926).

Movie:

Passing (2021).

Born on this day – Marguerite Henry:

 

Marguerite Henry

Writer

April 13, 1902 – November 26, 1997

Credits:

Books:

A Pictorial Life Story of Misty (1976); Album of Dogs (1978); Album of Horses (1978); All About Horses (1962); An Innkeeper’s Horse (1988); Battle of the Stallions (1988); Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin (1947); Birds at Home (1972); Black Gold (1957); Born to Trot (1950); Brighty of the Grand Canyon (1953); Brown Sunshine of Sawdust Valley (1996); Cinnabar, the One O’Clock Fox (2014); Dear Margueritte Henry (1978); Dear Readers and Riders (1969); Five o’clock Charlie (1963); Gaudenzia, Pride of the Palio / aka The Palio (1960); Going Home (1987); Justin Morgan Had a Horse (1954); King of the Wind (1948); Little Fellow (1978); Marguerite Henry’s Horseshoe Library (1992); Marguerite Henry’s Misty Treasury (1982); Misty of Chincoteague (1947); Misty’s Twilight (1996); Mustang (1966); One Man’s Horse (1978); Our First Pony (1984); San Domingo (1972); Sea Star (1947); Sire of Champions (1988); Stormy, Misty’s Foal (1965); The Auction (1987); The Big Race (1987); The Capture (1987); The Illustrated Marguerite Henry (1980); The Rescue of Sham (1988); The Storm (1987); The Whirlpool (1987); The White Stallion of Lipizza (1976); Treasury of Horses (2007).

 

Movies and television:

Brighty of the Grand Canyon (1966); Jackanory (1977); Justin Morgan Had a Horse (1972); King of the Wind (1989); Misty (1961); Peter Lundy and the Medicine Hat Stallion (1977); The Magical World of Disney (1972).

Born on this day – Eudora Welty:

 

Eudora Welty

Writer

Photographer

April 13, 1909 – July 23, 2001

Credits:

A Curtain of Green (1941); Bride of the Innisfallen (1940); Delta Wedding (1946); Delta Wedding / The Ponder Heart (2011); Eudora Welty Photographs (1989); Losing Battles (1970); Moon Lake (2011); Occasions (2009); One Time, One Place (1971); One Writer's Beginnings (1983); Selected Stories of Eudora Welty (1977); Stories, Essays and Memoirs (1998); The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty (1980); The Eye of the Story (1978); The Golden Apples (1949); The Optimist's Daughter (1972); The Ponder Heart (1954); The Robber Bridegroom (1942); The Shoe Bird (1964); The Wide Net (1943); Thirteen Stories (1965); Why I Live at the P.O. And Other Stories (1995).

 

Movies and television:
 

A Visit of Charity (2009); A Worn Path (1994); American Experience (1989); American Masters (1986); American Playhouse (1987); Camera Three (1959); Camera Three (1959–1963); Eudora's Fable: The Shoe Bird (2022); Firing Line (1972); Great Drives / TV Mini Series: volume 1: Highway 61 (1996); Jane Wyman Presents the Fireside Theatre (1955); Omnibus (1987); Radio Play Revival (2023); Tell About the South: Voices in Black and White (1998); The Century: America's Time (1999); The Frost Whistle (2008); The Hitch-Hikers (1989); The Key (1996); The Ponder Heart (2001); The Purple Hat (2010); To Dance for Gold (1982); Why I Live at the P.O. (1998).

Born on this day – Marthe Cohn:

Marthe Cohn

Writer

Nurse

Holocaust survivor

April 13, 1920 – May 21, 2025

Credits:

Documentaries:

Chichinette: The Accidental Spy (2019); For Womenkind (2020).

Book:

Behind Enemy Lines: The True Story of a French Jewish Spy in Nazi Germany

by Marthe Cohn & Wendy Holden.

Published by Crown.First published 2002.

ISBN-10: 0307335909
ISBN-13: 978-0307335906

Description:

“This compelling memoir is a testament to how extraordinary circumstances can transform a life – and how an extraordinary person reacts to difficult circumstances. What comes through is the importance of courageous individual action in the most dire situations. This is the amazing story of a woman who lived through one of the worst times in human history, losing family members to the Nazis but surviving with her spirit and integrity intact.” – Publishers Weekly.

Marthe Cohn was in her late teens when Hitler was rising to power. Living across the German border in Alsace-Lorraine, her family began taking in Jews who were fleeing the Nazis, as well as the Jewish children being sent away by terrified parents. Soon her own homeland was under Nazi rule, and she and her parents, brothers, and sisters were forced to live the restricted lives of all Jews. As the Nazi occupation of France escalated along with the war, Marthe’s sister was arrested and eventually sent to Auschwitz, and the rest of her family was forced to flee to the south of France. Always a fighter, Marthe joined the French Army.

Behind Enemy Lines is Marthe Cohn’s memoir of a time and place that has mesmerized the world for more than half a century. But at its heart it is the tale of an ordinary human being who, under extraordinary circumstances, became the hero her country needed her to be.

Recently, at the age of eighty, Marthe Cohn was awarded France’s highest military honor, the Medaille Militaire, a relatively rare medal awarded for outstanding military service and given, in the past, to the likes of Winston Churchill. With this award came official acknowledgment of the heroic exploits of a beautiful young Jewish woman who faced death every day as she sought to help defeat the Nazi empire.

When the spotlight was turned on Marthe Cohn, not even her children or grandchildren knew to what extent this modest woman had been involved with the Allies in fighting the evils of the greatest war of the twentieth century. She had fought valiantly to retrieve needed inside information about Nazi troop movements by slipping behind enemy lines, utilizing her perfect German accent and blond hair to pose as a young German nurse who was desperately trying to obtain word about a fictional fiancé. In traveling about the countryside and approaching troops sympathetic to her plight, she learned where they were going next and was able to alert Allied commanders.

Born on this day – Mari Blanchard:

Mari Blanchard

Actress

April 13, 1923 – May 10, 1970

Credits:

It Takes a Thief (1968); The Virginian (1967); Burke's Law (1965); Valentine's Day (1965); Breaking Point (1964); McLintock! (1963); Twice-Told Tales (1963); Don't Knock the Twist (1962); Perry Mason (1962); The Detectives (1962); 77 Sunset Strip (1961); Hawaiian Eye (1961); Gunslinger (1961); The Roaring 20's (1961); Klondike (1960–1961); Rawhide (1959–1961); Sea Hunt (1960); Bronco (1960); Mr. Lucky (1960); Laramie (1960); Tales of Wells Fargo (1960); Shotgun Slade (1959); Bachelor Father (1959); Sugarfoot (1959); Not for Hire (1959); The Texan (1959); The Green Peacock (1958); Karasu (1958); The Witches from Another World (1958); No Place to Land (1958); The Frank Sinatra Show (1957); The Millionaire (1957); Jungle Heat (1957); She Devil (1957); Stagecoach to Fury (1956); Canasta de cuentos mexicanos (1956); The Cruel Tower (1956); Casablanca (1956); The Ford Television Theatre (1956); It's a Great Life (1955); The Crooked Web (1955); The Return of Jack Slade (1955); Son of Sinbad (1955); The Linkletter Show (1955); Climax! (1955); Destry (1954); Black Horse Canyon (1954); Rails Into Laramie (1954); The Veils of Bagdad (1953); Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953); Terry and the Pirates (1952); Your Jeweler's Showcase (1952); Back at the Front (1952); Assignment: Paris (1952); The Brigand (1952); Something to Live For (1952); The Frank Sinatra Show (1951); Overland Telegraph (1951); The Unknown Man (1951); Ten Tall Men (1951); Bannerline (1951); No Questions Asked (1951); On the Riviera (1951); Mr. Music (1950); Copacabana (1947).

Born on this day – Stanley Donen:

Stanley Donen

Director

Choreographer

April 13, 1924 – February 21, 2019

Credits:

24th Annual Academy Awards (1952); A Date with Judy (1948); AFI Life Achievement Award (1985); American Masters (2004–2008); Anchors Aweigh (1945); Arabesque (1966); Audrey Hepburn Remembered (1993); Autodefensa (2022); Bedazzled (1967); Best Foot Forward (1943); Big City (1948); Blame It on Rio (1984); Broadway: The American Musical (2004); Cary Grant: A Celebration of a Leading Man (1988); Ceremonia de clausura 44ª edición del Festival de Cine de San Sebastián (1996); Charade (1963); Ciné regards (1979); Cinema (1969); Cinema 3 (1989); Cinéma cinémas (1986); Cover Girl (1944); Damn Yankees (1958); Deep in My Heart (1954); Der Klang der Bilder (1995); Fearless Fagan (1952); Film '80 (1980); Film Review (1967); Filmmakers vs. Tycoons (2005); Funny Face (1957); Give a Girl a Break (1953); Great Performances (1996); Hey, Rookie (1944); Holiday in Mexico (1946); Hollywood U.K. British Cinema in the Sixties (1993); Hollywood's Best Film Directors (2009); Indiscreet (1958); Inside the Actors Studio (1995); It's Always Fair Weather (1955); Jam Session (1944); Kansas City Kitty (1944); Killer McCoy (1947); Kismet (1955); Kiss Them for Me (1957); Les mystères du premier film (1995); Les rendez-vous du dimanche (1976); Lionel Richie: Dancing on the Ceiling (1986); Living in a Big Way (1947); Love Is Better Than Ever (1952); Love Letters (1999); Love's Labour's Lost (2000); Lucky Lady (1975); MGM: When the Lion Roars (1992); Moonlighting (1986); Movie Movie / Baxter's Beauties of 1933 / Dynamite Hands (1978); No Leave, No Love (1946); Omnibus (1995); On the Town (1949); Once More, with Feeling! (1960); Pierrot the Fool (1984); Pour le cinéma (1969); Private Screenings (2006); Revista de cine (1976); Rich, Young and Pretty (1951); Royal Wedding (1951); Saturn 3 (1980); Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954); Sex at 24 Frames Per Second (2003); Singin' in the Rain (1952); Sobbin' Women: The Making of 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers' (1997); Sodankylä Forever (2010); Staircase (1969); Stanley Donen: You Just Do It (2010); Surprise Package (1960); Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949); That's Entertainment!: The Masters Behind the Musicals (2004); The 58th Annual Academy Awards (1986); The 70th Annual Academy Awards (1998); The Children of Lindos (1960); The Film Society Of Lincoln Center Annual Gala Tribute to Audrey Hepburn (1991); The Grass Is Greener (1960); The Hollywood Fashion Machine (1995); The Hollywood Soundtrack Story (1995); The Kissing Bandit (1948); The Lionel Richie Collection (2003); The Little Prince (1974); The Making of Lionel Richie's Dancing on the Ceiling (1986); The Nation's Favourite Dance Moment (2013); The Pajama Game (1957); The Story of Film: An Odyssey (2011); This Time for Keeps (1947); Two for the Road (1967); What a Glorious Feeling: The Making of 'Singin' in the Rain' (2002); Zapper n'est pas jouer (1990).