Thu. Sep 02, 2010. | | Racine Chat Forum - Check it out | Pictures of the Flooding of the Root River June 2008
Racine, Wisconsin Claims to Fame
Authors, Screen Writers, Directors & Producers
Chester Commodore
(August 22, 1914 – April 10, 2004) Political cartoonist - nominated for the Pulitzer Prize twelve times.
Kevin Henkes
Kevin Henkes was born in Racine, Wisconsin in 1960 and he has vivid, often sensory images of his childhood. His home was a place of comfort and safety and, although the outside world sometimes brought problems and frustrations, they tended to be transitory. This security is reflected in his picture books which usually deal with a childhood problem but the touch is light and the ending hopeful. Caldecott Meldal winner
A WEEKEND WITH WENDELL (1987), CHESTER'S WAY (1989), JULIUS, THE BABY OF THE WORLD (1990), CHRYSANTHEMUM (1991), WORDS OF STONE (1992), OWEN (1994), PROTECTING MARIE (1995)
Karel Jonas
Bohemian author and statesman. Jonas was born in Bohemia in 1840 and came to Racine in 1863 to escape persecution. He was a journalist, a publisher, a legislator, a diplomat and ended his career as a U.S. Consul General in Saint Petersburg. Erected in 1912, his statue stands in Flatiron Square — the center of the early Bohemian settlement in Racine.
Ben Hecht
Born in New York February 28, 1893.In 1903 Ben Hecht's family moved to Racine where hespent his most of his childhood. During high school, Ben worked in the Racine shop after school, taught himself how to type, continued to study the violin, and read voraciously. He moved to Chicago during the early years of the 20th century and at the age of 16 started working as a reporter for the Chicago Journal newspaper. He ficitonlized his life in three more volumes of memories and in his own TV talk show. winning the first Academy Award for writing in 1929 for UNDERWORLD and script-doctoring GONE WITH THE WIND. THE SCOUNDREL (1935). Co-writer WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1939).In the morning of April 18, 1964 Ben Hecht passed away from a heart attack. In forty years he was the most influential and prolific screenwriters.
General Billy Mitchell
Born of American parents in Nice, France, on December 28, 1879, Billy Mitchell, grew up in Milwaukee. He was educated at Racine College and at Columbian University (now George Washington University in Washington, DC); he left Columbian in 1898 before graduating to enlist in the 1st Wisconsin Infantry for service in the Spanish-American war.
He served in Cuba and the Philippines, and in 1901 was attached to the Signal Corps. He served in various duties, attended School of the Line and the Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1907-1909. After duty on the Mexican border, he was attached in 1912 to the general Staff. In 1915 he was assigned to the aviation section of the Signal Corps. He learned to fly the following year, and began his twenty-year's advocacy of the use of military air power.
In June 1917 he was named air officer of the American Expeditionary Forces, and air officer of I Corps, a combat post more to his liking. He was the first American airman to fly over enemy lines, and throughout the war he was regularly in the air. In September 1918 he successfully attempted a mass bombing attack with nearly 1500 planes as part of the attack on St. Mihiel salient.
He outspokenly advocated the creation of a separate air force and continued working on improvements in aircraft and their use. He claimed that the airplane had rendered the battleship obsolete and, over the vociferous protests of the Navy Department, carried his point in 1921 and 1923 by sinking several captured and overage battleships by air.
He died in New York City on February 19, 1936, Mitchell's plea for an independent air force was met to a degree in the creation of GHQ Air Force in March 1935. Subsequent events, including the Japanese air attack on Pearl harbor in December 1941, proved the validity of many of his prophesies, and many of his ideas were adopted by the Army Air Force in World War II.
OUR AIR FORCE, THE KEYSTONE OF NATIONAL DEFENSE (1921), WINGED DEFENSE (1925), SKYWAYS, A BOOK OF MODERN AERONAUTICS (1930)
Christopher Crowe UPN Television's SEVEN DAYS Executive Producer Christopher Crowe has spent more than 15 years in the entertainment business as a successful writer, producer and director for film and television.
Crowe's first film was the movie NIGHTMARES a collection of four horror stories that he wrote and produced. He went on to script the crime drama THE MEAN SEASON, starring Kurt Russell; and served as both writer and director of "Whispers in the Dark" and the war thriller OFF LIMITS starring Willem Dafoe and Gregory Hines. He also co-wrote, along with Michael Mann, the feature film THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Madeleine Stowe. Rounding out his feature film credits are the thriller FEAR, starring Mark Wahlberg and Reese Witherspoon; and THE BONE COLLECTOR starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie, for which he served as one of the participating writers.
In television, Crowe was creator and executive producer of UPN's THE WATCHER a unique anthology series set in Las Vegas. He was also executive producer of THE UNTOUCHABLES, a syndicated series that brought fictionalized stories of the battle between Elliot Ness and Al Capone to the small screen. Crowe's earlier television credits include ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS" which he executive produced; the landmark series MIAMI VICE, which he directed; and STREETS OF JUSTICE, which he created, directed and executive produced.
The Racine, Wisconsin, native recently explored a new medium with the release of his self-titled CD CROWE a collection of his poetry that he narrates, underscored by a blues-like theatrical soundtrack scored by Joel Goldsmith.
Gerald L. Karwowski
Historian and author Karwowski has written a number of booklets and newspaper articles about Racine's past. Karwowski served as a trustee of the Racine County Historical Society.
Jim Kruetzer
Endodontist (root canal specialist) from Racine had decided he wanted to make a movie. With "Fever Lake," Kreutzer had caught the moviemaking bug that led him to the "Just Write" project. Jim and Terri Kreutzer have three children. His oldest daughter has a small part as a tourist in the movie, and utters the line: "We're from Wisconsin."
FEVER LAKE (1995), THE LAST GREAT RIDE (1999), JUST WRITE (1999)
Racine, WI: The Belle City of the [Great] Lakes. Information for visitors and residents alike. Located between Milwaukee and Chicago on the beautiful shores of the great Lake Michigan, Racine has much to offer.
This Website is brought to you by Wisconsin Internet, Inc. 8332 Corporate Drive, Racine, WI 53406 • (888) 782-1454
