Forgotten Duluthian Norman Mastrian
Not all forgotten Duluthians were model citizens. Fifty years ago this spring, Duluth-native Norman Mastrian was convicted of first-degree murder for his role in one of the most famous crimes in...
View ArticleForgotten Duluthian Marguerite De La Motte:Duluth's Own Star of the Silent...
Beatrice Marguerite De La Motte was born in Duluth on June 22, 1903. Her parents were residing in Superior, Wisconsin, at the time but within about a year had moved to Duluth, where her father, Joseph,...
View ArticleFrom Duluth Central Orchestra to the national stage:Forgotten Duluthian Ralph...
As a young boy, Ralph Oxman attended a concert in Duluth featuring a famous British cellist, and he fell in love with the instrument. After being mentored by Duluth’s foremost music maker, Oxman would...
View ArticleForgotten Duluthian Margaret Ann Hubbard:Playwright and Novelist
Margaret Ann Hubbard could not be stopped. She graduated High School at 15, the Duluth Normal School at 17, and supported herself an her widowed mother while attending college. When she couldn’t find a...
View ArticleForgotten Duluthian Clara Stocker:A talented world traveler who brought...
For the most part, the majority of those profiled in “Forgotten Duluthians” were forgotten as Duluthians because they made their marks on the world far from the Zenith City. Duluth-native Clara Stocker...
View ArticleScreenwriter Sidney Buchman:November's Forgotten Duluthian
Sidney Robert Buchman was born on March 27, 1902, in Duluth. His parents were Robert Buchman and Sarah (Zalk) Buchman. Robert was born in Russia in 1874, immigrated to the U.S., and settled in Duluth...
View ArticleForgotten Duluthian Senta Erd
Soprano Senta Erd, who grew up in Duluth, led a successful operatic career for many years in Europe. She never forgot where she came from though, and regularly returned to visit friends in the Zenith...
View ArticleDuluth’s Homegrown Jazz Great Sadik Hakim
In 1982, the music world lost a legend with the death of Thelonious Monk. At Monk’s funeral, thousands gathered to pay their respects. One of Monk’s former colleagues sat at the piano and played,...
View ArticleRadio Actress Elinor Harriot
In February of 1932, actress Dorothy Gish was starring on Broadway in a George M. Cohan production of The Bride the Sun Shines On. On Saturday, February 6, she became ill with influenza and couldn’t...
View ArticleMusician Dave Kahn
Nearly every baby boomer is familiar with the theme song to Leave it to Beaver, the still-popular television sitcom from the 1950s and 1960s, but few people know that the song was written by a Duluth...
View ArticleWilderness Guide Albert Faille
Originally Published August 2012 Albert Faille was a quiet man, a trapper and prospector in Canada’s vast, unexplored north, but by the end of his life he had achieved relative fame as one of the most...
View ArticleForgotten Duluthian Townsend W. Hoopes II
Originally Published September 2012 In March of 1968, the United States was mired in the war in Vietnam. General William Westmoreland, commander of American forces in Vietnam, asked President Johnson...
View ArticleDon LaFontaine, Duluth’s ‘Voice of God’
Originally published November 2012 In a world where…a few top voice-over actors have successful careers making movie trailers, Duluth-native Don LaFontaine was known as “The King, “Thunder Throat,” and...
View ArticleJames E. McDonald, UFO Researcher
Originally published December, 2012. Atmospheric physicist and Duluth-native James E. McDonald was by all accounts brilliant, idealistic, and outspoken. When he began researching and speaking publicly...
View ArticleMeet Russell Mayberry
Originally published January 2013. As a kid growing up in Morgan Park in the 1930s, Duluth-native Russell Mayberry dreamed of working in radio. Later dreams of becoming an actor didn’t come true, but...
View ArticleForgotten Duluthian Gar Wood
Originally published April 2013 In the 1920s and 1930s, Garfield Wood—known as “Gar” or the “Silver Fox of Algonac”—was probably the most famous powerboat racer in the world. Growing up in Duluth, he...
View ArticleAlexander Miles: Barber, Inventor, and Insurance man
Originally Published February 2013 Users of early elevators were responsible for opening and closing the doors manually, sometimes neglecting to close the doors and creating a hazardous situation with...
View ArticleRadio Historian Gil Fawcett
Originally published June, 2013 Gilbert George Fawcett was born in Duluth on February 2, 1893. He was the youngest of four children of Hugh and Emily. He grew up in a home at 126 West Palm Street in...
View ArticleArtist Feodor von Luerzer
Originally published December, 2013 Unless you are an art historian, you likely don’t know the name Feodor von Luerzer. Don’t feel bad—most art historians probably aren’t too familiar with his work...
View Article