In the development of the 1925 epic film of Ben-Hur, June Mathis, played a critical role until she was removed from the project early in the filming. After the replacement of Ms. Mathis women did not play a significant role in upper management in the film industry for almost 30 years. […]
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In March of 1898, Lew Wallace was quoted in the Crawfordsville Weekly Journal when it picked up a story printed in the Indianapolis Journal where the author declared: “Won’t Dramatize It. Gen. Wallace Tells Why He Won’t Have Ben-Hur Put on the Stage. “This evening,” said General Wallace, “I received a letter from a […]
Traveling the Circuit Lew Wallace was an attorney by profession, although he did not particularly enjoy this career. His initial effort at passing the bar in the mid-1840s failed. His first exam, graded by Isaac Blackford, Chief Justice of the Indiana, was not successful; while his answers may not have […]
Lew Wallace was not the only person from Crawfordsville who made a significant difference in the 19th century. Off Wabash Avenue on the east side of Crawfordsville is Canby Avenue. It is one of the few local reminders of E.R.S. Canby, a local boy, friend of Lew Wallace, and one of […]
When Lew Wallace entered active military service in April of 1861, he became something of a media darling and early hero for the Union. Prior to leaving Indianapolis in late April with the 11th Indiana, Wallace had his men bow on bended knee at the Indiana Statehouse and pledge to “Remember Buena […]
Charles Dickens made his first tour of the United States in 1842. He was greeted with great enthusiasm throughout his tour even though he would not publish his A Christmas Carol until the following year. Dickens at first reveled in the attention but soon the never-ending demand on his time began to wear […]
As the fame of Ben-Hur grew in the 1880s, Lew Wallace received countless letters praising the work. In the Lew Wallace Autobiography, Susan Wallace selected a number or eloquent and expressive letters worthy of note for the Autobiography. These included letters to Lew from Paul H. Hayne, Lord Dufferin, President James Garfield, William Wetmore […]
The two leading actors in the 1925 silent movie version of Ben-Hur, Ramon Navarro and Francis X. Bushman, are still well remembered. Many of the others who played lead roles in the movie and were famous in their day have fallen into relative obscurity. What’s surprising is the number of actors […]
Zerelda Sanders Wallace, step-mother to Lew Wallace, died in 1901. She was a gifted and much sought after speaker for the causes she believed in. She was in such demand and responded to so many requests that she nearly killed herself in 1891 trying to balance her public and private […]
For over 60 years, Lew Wallace had a relationship with the plot of land in downtown Indianapolis that came to be known as Monument Circle. This property was originally called the governor’s circle and Wallace’s relationship with the circle began during his boyhood when he hid in the basement of […]