Born on this day – Humphrey Bogart:

Humphrey Bogart

Actor

December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957

Credits:

The Harder They Fall (1956); The Desperate Hours (1955); The Left Hand of God (1955); We're No Angels (1955); Producers' Showcase (1955); The Barefoot Contessa (1954); Sabrina (1954); The Caine Mutiny (1954); Beat the Devil (1953); The Jack Benny Program (1953); Battle Circus (1953); Deadline - U.S.A. (1952); The African Queen (1951); Sirocco (1951); The Enforcer (1951); In a Lonely Place (1950); Chain Lightning (1950); Breakdowns of 1949 (1949); Tokyo Joe (1949); Knock on Any Door (1949); Key Largo (1948); The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948); Always Together (1947); Dark Passage (1947); The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947); Dead Reckoning (1946); Never Say Goodbye (1946); The Big Sleep (1946); Two Guys from Milwaukee (1946); Hollywood Victory Caravan (1945); Conflict (1945); To Have and Have Not (1944); Passage to Marseille (1944); Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943); Sahara (1943); Action in the North Atlantic (1943); Casablanca (1942); Across the Pacific (1942); The Big Shot (1942); All Through the Night (1942); The Maltese Falcon (1941); The Wagons Roll at Night (1941); High Sierra (1940); They Drive by Night (1940); Brother Orchid (1940); It All Came True (1940); Virginia City (1940); Invisible Stripes (1939); The Return of Doctor X (1939); The Roaring Twenties (1939); Dark Victory (1939); You Can't Get Away with Murder (1939); The Oklahoma Kid (1939); King of the Underworld (1939); Swingtime in the Movies (1938); Angels with Dirty Faces (1938); The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938); Racket Busters (1938); Men Are Such Fools (1938); Crime School (1938); Swing Your Lady (1938); Stand-In (1937); Dead End (1937); Kid Galahad (1937); San Quentin (1937); Marked Woman (1937); The Great O'Malley (1937); Black Legion (1937); Isle of Fury (1936); China Clipper (1936); Bullets or Ballots (1936); The Petrified Forest (1936); Two Against the World (1936); Midnight (1934); Three on a Match (1932); Big City Blues (1932); Love Affair (1932); A Holy Terror (1931); Women of All Nations (1931); Bad Sister (1931); Body and Soul (1931); A Devil with Women (1930); Up the River (1930); Broadway's Like That (1930); The Dancing Town (1928).

Born on this day – Nathaniel Shilkret:

Nathaniel Shilkret

Composer

Actor

December 25, 1889 – February 18, 1982

Born on this day – Eugenie Besserer:

Eugenie Besserer

Actress

December 25, 1868 – May 28, 1934

Credits:

To the Last Man (1933); 6 Hours to Live (1932); Scarface (1932); Du Barry, Woman of Passion (1930); In Gay Madrid (1930); A Royal Romance (1930); Seven Faces (1929); Mister Antonio (1929); Illusion (1929); Fast Company (1929); Speedway (1929); Whispering Winds (1929); Madame X (1929); Thunderbolt (1929); The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1929); A Lady of Chance (1928); Lilac Time (1928); Yellow Lily (1928); Two Lovers (1928); Drums of Love (1928); The Jazz Singer (1927); Slightly Used (1927); Captain Salvation (1927); When a Man Loves (1927); The Night of Love (1927); Wandering Girls (1927); Flesh and the Devil (1926); The Fire Brigade (1926); The Millionaire Policeman (1926); Winning the Futurity (1926); Kiki (1926); The Skyrocket (1926); Bright Lights (1925); Wandering Footsteps (1925); The Circle (1925); The Coast of Folly (1925); Confessions of a Queen (1925); Friendly Enemies (1925); A Fool and His Money (1925); The Price She Paid (1924); Bread (1924); Enemies of Children (1923); Anna Christie (1923); The Rendezvous (1923); Her Reputation (1923); The Lonely Road (1923); The Strangers' Banquet (1922); June Madness (1922); The Hands of Nara (1922); Kindred of the Dust (1922); Penrod (1922); The Rosary (1922); Molly O' (1921); The Light in the Clearing (1921); The Sin of Martha Queed (1921); Good Women (1921); The Breaking Point (1921); What Happened to Rosa (1920); The Scoffer (1920); 45 Minutes from Broadway (1920); Seeds of Vengeance (1920); Fickle Women (1920); The Brand of Lopez (1920); For the Soul of Rafael (1920); The Gift Supreme (1920); The Fighting Shepherdess (1920); The Greatest Question (1919); Scarlet Days (1919); Turning the Tables (1919); Auction of Souls (1919); Little Orphant Annie (1918); The Sea Flower (1918); The Road Through the Dark (1918); The Eyes of Julia Deep (1918); A Hoosier Romance (1918); The Still Alarm (1918); The City of Purple Dreams (1918); In After Years (1917); Who Shall Take My Life? (1917); The Curse of Eve (1917); The Witness for the State (1917); Her Salvation (1917); Through the Eyes of the World (1917); The Friendship of Beaupere (1917); Little Lost Sister (1917); Beware of Strangers (1917); Twisted Trails (1916); The Crisis (1916); In the House of the Chief (1916); His Brother's Keeper (1916); The Old Man Who Tried to Grow Young (1916); The Sacrifice (1916); The Temptation of Adam (1916); The Woman Who Did Not Care (1916); A Social Deception (1916); The Grinning Skull (1916); Thou Shalt Not Covet (1916); The Devil-in-Chief (1916); I'm Glad My Boy Grew Up to Be a Soldier (1915); Just as I Am (1915); The Bridge of Time (1915); The Circular Staircase (1915); The Way of a Woman's Heart (1915); The Melody of Doom (1915); The Smouldering (1915); The Rosary (1915); The Fortunes of Mariana (1915); Ingratitude of Liz Taylor (1915); The Black Diamond (1915); The Passer-by (1915); The Vision of the Shepherd (1915); The Story of the Blood Red Rose (1914); The Tragedy That Lived (1914); Her Victory Eternal (1914); Hearts and Masks (1914); A Just Punishment (1914); Ye Vengeful Vagabonds (1914); The Man in Black (1914); What Became of Jane? (1914); When a Woman's 40 (1914); The Reporter on the Case (1914); His Fight (1914); Me an' Bill (1914); When the Night Call Came (1914); Judge Dunn's Decision (1914); The Schooling of Mary Ann (1914); The Game of Life (1914); The Fire Jugglers (1914); The Salvation of Nance O'Shaughnessy (1914); Elizabeth's Prayer (1914); Memories (1914); A Splendid Sacrifice (1914); The Mysterious Way (1913); The Master of the Garden (1913); A Cure for Carelessness (1913); Phantoms (1913); The Probationer (1913); Destiny of the Sea (1913); Only Five Years Old (1913); Sissybelle (1913); Fate Fashions a Letter (1913); The Acid Test (1913); The Unseen Defense (1913); The Ne'er to Return Road (1913); In God We Trust (1913); The Fighting Lieutenant (1913); Woman: Past and Present (1913); A Flag of Two Wars (1913); The Girl and the Judge (1913); Wamba, a Child of the Jungle (1913); Indian Summer (1913); The Tattle Battle (1913); Lieutenant Jones (1913); In the Days of Witchcraft (1913); Dollar Down, Dollar a Week (1913); Love Before Ten (1913); Diverging Paths (1913); The Spanish Parrot Girl (1913); The Governor's Daughter (1913); The Miner's Justice (1913); A Plain Girl's Love (1913); Greater Wealth (1913); The Last of Her Tribe (1912); Sammy Orpheus; or, the Pied Piper of the Jungle (1912); The Millionaire Vagabonds (1912); Opitsah: Apache for Sweetheart (1912); The Vintage of Fate (1912); Old Songs and Memories (1912); His Wedding Eve (1912); Monte Cristo (1912); The Pity of It (1912); Partners (1912); The Substitute Model (1912); The Indelible Stain (1912); Sergeant Byrne of the Northwest Mounted Police (1912); The Little Indian Martyr (1912); In the Tents of the Asra (1912); His Masterpiece (1912); The Lake of Dreams (1912); In Exile (1912); The Captain of the 'Nancy Lee' (1912); A Child of the Wilderness (1912); The Hand of Fate (1912); The End of the Romance (1912); Me an' Bill (1912); The Junior Officer (1912); As Told by Princess Bess (1912); The Danites (1912); Disillusioned (1912); Bunkie (1912); The Peacemaker (1912); The Other Fellow (1912); The Cowboy's Adopted Child (1912); George Warrington's Escape (1911); An Evil Power (1911); The Bootlegger (1911); Old Billy (1911); In the Shadow of the Pines (1911); The Blacksmith's Love (1911); The Regeneration of Apache Kid (1911); Their Only Son (1911); Slick's Romance (1911); The Profligate (1911); It Happened in the West (1911); The Craven Heart (1911); A Sacrifice to Civilization (1911); One of Nature's Noblemen (1911); Stability vs. Nobility (1911); The Still Alarm (1911); The Mother (1911); The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910).

Recommended reading - To Kill a Mockingbird (1960):

To Kill a Mockingbird

By Harper Lee.

First published 1960.

Published by Harper Perennial Modern Classics.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0060935464

ISBN-13: 978-0060935467

Description:

Winner of the 1961 Pulitzer Prize.

Voted America's Best-Loved Novel in PBS's The Great American Read.

“A first novel of such rare excellence that it will no doubt make a great many readers slow down to relish more fully its simple distinction. . . . A novel of strong contemporary national significance.” – Chicago Tribune.

Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork of honor and injustice in the deep South – and the heroism of one man in the face of blind and violent hatred.

One of the most cherished stories of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird has been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than forty million copies worldwide, served as the basis for an enormously popular motion picture, and was voted one of the best novels of the twentieth century by librarians across the country. A gripping, heart-wrenching, and wholly remarkable tale of coming-of-age in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice, it views a world of great beauty and savage inequities through the eyes of a young girl, as her father – a crusading local lawyer – risks everything to defend a black man unjustly accused of a terrible crime.

Recommended reading - Tucker’s People aka The Underworld (1943):

Tucker’s People

By Ira Wolfert.

aka The Underworld.

Filmed as Force of Evil (1948), directed by Abraham Polonsky.

Published by Black Curtain Press.

First published 1943.

Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 1515426157

ISBN-13: 978-1515426158

Description:

When Tucker's People was published in 1943 it was praised by the New York Times for its "blowtorch intensity." The idea for Tucker's People stemmed from Ira Wolfert's coverage as a reporter of the trial of James "Jimmy" Hines, a Tammany Hall district leader who was prosecuted by Thomas E. Dewey for letting Dutch Schultz take over the numbers game in New York. It is "a penetrating, sympathetic novel of frustration and insecurity, a story of little people, many of them decent people, battling against forces they are too feeble to resist and too simple to understand," according to the Saturday Review of Literature.

Anna Quindlen, on reading:

We read in bed because reading is halfway between life and dreaming,

our own consciousness in someone else's mind.

- Anna Quindlen.

Merry Christmas:

Merry Christmas