St. Louis People 365

St. Louis Browns folded; Miles Davis died

The St. Louis Browns baseball team was one of the major leagues' most consistent losers. The team played its final game in a 52-year history in 1953. Fittingly, the last game was a loss.

Jazz great Miles Davis died in 1991. He was born in Alton and lived in East St. Louis.

These were two of the St. Louis area's historic trivia items from Septembers past.

Those and many others are listed in St. Louis author Joe Sonderman's book, "St. Louis People 365."

(Young Saint Louis.com has permission from Sonderman to quote some of the items from his book each month. If you'd like to purchase a copy of the book, check local book stores or go to www.booksonstlouis.com.)

Here are 10 of the 120 items listed in the September chapter of the book:

Sept. 2, 1961: The zoo's talented chimpanzee, "Mister Moke," returned to St. Louis. Zoo officials had kept up a diligent search since December, 1959, when Mister Moke was chimpnapped from his cage. His former owner had taken the chimp to perform in movies. Jerry Lewis agreed to delete a scene in the film, "The Bellboy," featuring the chimp.

Sept. 3, 1900: Sally Benson was born in St. Louis. She wrote a series of autobiographical short stories in The New Yorker magazine under the title, "5135 Kensington", in 1941-42. Benson compiled them into a book. In 1944, those stories about the Smith family (Benson's maiden name) became the basis for the movie, "Meet Me in St. Louis." She went on to pen screenplays such as "National Velvet," "Bus Stop" and "Anna and the King of Siam."

Sept. 3, 1921: Ernest Hemingway married Hadley Richardson of St. Louis. They were divorced in 1927. All three of Hemingway's wives had St. Louis connections. Second wife Pauline Pfeiffer attended Visitation Academy. Third wife Martha Gellhorn was also from St. Louis.

Sept. 6, 1924: Urban Shocker of the Browns pitched his way into the record books. He threw two complete games and won both in a doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox. After he left baseball, Shocker ran a successful radio store here. He died in September, 1928, at the age of 38. Cause of death was listed as an overstrained "athlete's heart."

Sept. 8, 1842: Polly Berry filed suit in St. Louis for possession of her daughter, Lucy. Polly was a free black who was kidnapped and sold into slavery. Attorney Edward Bates argued successfully that since Polly had been free, her daughters were also free. Lucy DeLancey told her story in the book, "From Darkness Cometh the Light or Struggles for Freedom." Bates became Attorney General under Abraham Lincoln.

Sept. 10, 1892: Arthur Holly Compton was born. He was head of the physics department at Washington University and won a Nobel Prize for his work with X-rays. He directed the research that led to the development of the atom bomb. After the war, he returned to Washington University as chancellor.

Sept. 16, 1875: James Cash "J.C." Penney was born in Caldwell County, Missouri. Penney opened his "Golden Rule" store in 1902 in Kemmerer, Wyoming. By 1912, there were 22 stores and they were re-named "J.C. Penney." When Penney died in 1971, his company was the second largest non-food retailer in the United States.

Sept. 21, 1918: Rand Brooks was born in St. Louis. The actor is most famous for his role as Scarlet O'Hara's doomed husband, Charles Hamilton, in "Gone With The Wind." He also played Lucky Jenkins, Hopalong Cassidy's sidekick, in the last few Hopalong movies and appeared in the TV's series, "Rin Tin Tin."

Sept. 27, 1953: The St. Louis Browns played their final game. The team that made St. Louis "First in beer, first in shoes and last in the American League" appropriately went out with a 2-1 loss in 10 innings to the Chicago White Sox at Sportsmen's Park. Ed Mickleson drove in Johnny Groth in the fourth inning for the final run in the franchise's 52-year history. At 3:44 p.m., Jim Dyck flied to center for the final out. A crowd of 3,174 fans saw the game.

Sept. 28, 1991: Jazz great Miles Davis died at the age of 65. Davis was born in Alton on May 26, 1926, and later moved to East St. Louis. In the late 40s, his group pioneered the "cool" jazz sound, as opposed to "hot" or "be-bob" jazz. His 1969 album, "Bitches Brew," caused a controversy, as Davis used electronic instruments to produce a sound heavily influenced by rock music.