will the real mr. lincoln...

February is a month full of the birthdays of my favorite people. My oldest son was born February 1st, Edna St. Vincent Millay's is February 22 and one of my personal heroes, Abraham Lincoln, on the 12th. That's the president, I'm talking about, Abe, although I do like you a lot, too. Did you know we have a distant cousin of the president here in our blog community? His name also happens to be Abraham Lincoln, named after his well-known cousin. 

Remember last year when I posted about Steven Spielberg's film project, Lincoln, and Liam Neeson was to portray the famous president?  Neeson is fine, but I highly recommended Daniel Day-Lewis, who not only looks like Lincoln, but I'm convinced would actually become Lincoln for the role.  Well, it looks as if he took my advice. Daniel Day-Lewis will, indeed, play Lincoln in the upcoming film. Thanks, Mr. Spielberg, you were reading my blog, weren't you?

(click to enlarge-- this photo is amazing)

Just to refresh your memory, several other actors have played Lincoln through the years.  I would venture to say that everyone's favorite is most likely Henry Fonda in John Ford's 1939 Young Mr. Lincoln. Fonda does a wonderful job as the shy, contemplative and clever young Lincoln.

Raymond Massey played Lincoln in Abe Lincoln in Illinois, 1940. There was a great public outcry when this Canadian was chosen to play the great American president, but Massey scored high reviews on Broadway and later for the film version of Robert E. Sherwood's play. I don't know about you, but Massey has a scary quality about him. I just can't shake the image of Johnathan Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace.

Speaking of scary qualities, although I haven't seen this one personally, John Carradine played Lincoln in the 1938 film Of Human Hearts. It's safe to say Carradine has that Lincolnesque thing going on, the deep set eyes and craggy features, but I see him more as Count Dracula. A blood sucking Lincoln just isn't right.

Spielberg's Lincoln is based on the excellent book (I've got a copy in my little manor library) Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, and focuses on the political collision of Lincoln and his cabinet after the Civil War.

Filming for this project is to start this fall, with the release scheduled next year.

There Will Be (in my) Blood

This photo was taken in about 1912 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. My Great-Great-Grandparents are on the left, Palestine and Mary, their daughter Winifred, who we fondly called "Auntie", their friends Jesse and Mable in front, and Mable's mother and sister in back. They moved their family to New Mexico from Indiana in an effort for their son, Guy, who was ill with tuberculosis, to recuperate.

Parts of the movie, There Will Be Blood, were actually filmed outside of Albuquerque. When I saw this film, I was transported straight back in time to the 1910 Albuquerque of my ancestors. I have never been there, but immediately recognized the rocky stubble of the landscape.

I have often wondered how Palestine's voice and accent might have sounded. In the film, Daniel Day-Lewis, who played the part of Daniel Plainview, was silent through the opening mining scenes. When he started to speak, in the first meeting with the townspeople, I felt chills listening to his character's distinctive voice! I was instantly back in time ... it could have been Palestine himself speaking! Day-Lewis studied oral histories of the time period to create his unique American accent and style of speech. I was absolutely mesmerized by his Oscar winning performance.

I also felt my roots in the wonderful surveying scenes, since I have several generations of surveyors from this ancestral line. Palestine, as well as his father, Joseph Lorenzo Dow Hanna, were surveyors. JLD served as county surveyor in Howard Co., Indiana from 1861-1865. I just might have to go back and see this film again, before it leaves the theater, just to feel my DNA tingle.