Born on this day – Adrienne Ames:

Adrienne Ames

Actress

August 3, 1907 – May 31, 1947

Credits:

24 Hours (1931); A Bedtime Story (1933); Abdul the Damned (1935); Beautiful Dreamer (1935); Black Sheep (1935); Broadway Bad (1933); City Girl (1938); Disgraced (1933); From Hell to Heaven (1933); Fugitives for a Night (1938); George White's Scandals (1934); Gigolette (1935); Girls About Town (1931); Guilty as Hell (1932); Harmony Lane (1935); Hollywood on Parade No. B-5 (1933); Hotel Imperial (1927); Husband's Holiday (1931); I Take This Woman (1940); La Fiesta de Santa Barbara (1935); Ladies Love Danger (1935); Panama Patrol (1939); Sally (1929); Screen Snapshots Series 19, No. 5: Art and Artists (1940); Sinners in the Sun (1932); Slander House (1938); The Avenger (1933); The Death Kiss (1932); The Road to Reno (1931); The Zero Hour (1939); Two Kinds of Women (1932); Woman Wanted (1935); Working Girls (1931); You're Telling Me! (1934).

Born on this day – Dolores del Río:

Dolores del Río

Actress

August 3, 1904 – April 11, 1983

Born on this day – Allen Holubar:

Allen Holubar

Actor

Director

Writer

August 3, 1890 – November 20, 1923

Credits:

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916); A Double Fire Deception (1916); A Gentleman of Art (1915); A Soul for Sale (1918); A Wolf Among Lambs (1913); Any Youth (1916); Ashes of Remembrance (1916); Behind Life's Stage (1916); Behind the Curtain (1916); Broken Chains (1922); Conscience (1915); Courtmartialed (1915); Fear Not (1917); Heart Strings (1917); Hurricane's Gal (1922); Into the North (1913); Man-Woman-Marriage (1921); Midnight (1917); Once to Every Woman (1920); Paid in Advance (1919); Seeing Stars (1922); Sirens of the Sea (1917); Slander the Woman (1923); Stronger Than Steel (1916); The Black Pearl (1915); The Bombay Buddha (1915); The Double-Topped Trunk (1917); The Eleventh Dimension (1915); The Field of Honor (1917); The Grip of Love (1917); The Health Road (1916); The Heart of Humanity (1918); The Heart Punch (1915); The House of Fear (1915); The Human Mill (1923); The Mortgaged Wife (1918); The Old Toymaker (1917); The Phone Message (1916); The Prodigal Daughter (1916); The Prophecy (1913); The Pursuit Eternal (1915); The Reed Case (1917); The Right to Happiness (1919); The Shadow (1916); The Son of His Father (1915); The Story the Clock Told (1914); The Taint of Fear (1916); The Talk of the Town (1918); The War Waif (1917); The White Terror (1915); The Wrong Label (1915); Treason (1917); Two Social Calls (1913); Where Glory Waits (1917).

Recommended reading - The Origins of the American Detective Story (2006):

The Origins of the American Detective Story

By LeRoy Lad Panek.

Published by McFarland.

Paperback.

Published 2006.

ISBN-10: 0786427760

ISBN-13: 978-0786427765

Description:

Edgar Allan Poe essentially invented the detective story in 1841 with Murders in the Rue Morgue. In the years that followed, however, detective fiction in America saw no significant progress as a literary genre. Much to the dismay of moral crusaders like Anthony Comstock, dime novels and other sensationalist publications satisfied the public's hunger for a yarn. Things changed as the century waned, and eventually the detective was reborn as a figure of American literature. In part these changes were due to a combination of social conditions, including the rise and decline of the police as an institution; the parallel development of private detectives; the birth of the crusading newspaper reporter; and the beginnings of forensic science. Influential, too, was the new role model offered by a wildly popular British import named Sherlock Holmes.

Focusing on the late 19th century and early 20th, this volume covers the formative years of American detective fiction.

Jhumpa Lahiri, on writing:

When I sit down to write, I don't think about writing about an idea or a given message.

I just try to write a story which is hard enough.

- Jhumpa Lahiri.

On this day in movie history - Signs (2002):

Signs

directed and written by M. Night Shyamalan,

was released in the United States on August 2, 2002.
Music by James Newton Howard.

Cast:

Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin, Abigail Breslin, Cherry Jones, M. Night Shyamalan, Patricia Kalember, Ted Sutton, Merritt Wever, Lanny Flaherty, Marion McCorry, Michael Showalter, Kevin Pires, Clifford David, Rhonda Overby, Greg Wood, Paul L. Nolan, Ukee Washington, Babita Hariani, Adam Way, Angela Eckert, Jose L. Rodriguez, Paul Wilson, Thomas Griffin, Mark Falvo, Derek Mears, Chuck Pressler, Samantha Steffen.

On this day in music history - Diesel and Dust, by Midnight Oil (1987):

Diesel and Dust

Album by Midnight Oil,

released August 2, 1987.

Track list:

Beds Are Burning; Put Down That Weapon; Dreamworld; Arctic World; Warakurna; The Dead Heart; Whoah; Bullroarer; Sell My Soul; Sometimes; Gunbarrel Highway.