Monday, Jan. 04, 1954
Born. To Errol Flynn, 44, veteran cinema swashbuckler (The Master of Ballantrae), and his third wife, PatriceWymore Flynn, 27: their first child (his fourth), a daughter; in Rome. Name: Amelia Roma. Weight: 6 1/2 Ibs.
Married. Austria's tall (6 ft. 2 in.), exiled Archduke Robert of Habsburg, 38, second in line to the nonexistent Habsburg throne; and stately (6 ft.) Princess Margherita of Italy's royal house of Savoia-Aosta, 23, niece of Italy's ex-King Umberto, in Bourg-en-Bresse, France.
Married. Hedy Lamarr, 39, Vienna-born cinemactress (Ecstasy); and millionaire Texas Oilman W. Howard Lee, 45; she for the fifth time (her previous marriages: to Austrian Industrialist Fritz Mandl, Hollywood Writer-Producer Gene Markey, Cinemactor John Loder, Nightclub Owner Ernest Stauffer), he for the second; in New York City.
Married. Charles Brackett, 61, topflight Hollywood producer-director-writer (Lost Weekend, Sunset Boulevard); and Lillian Fletcher, fiftyish, his sister-in-law; he for the second time (his first wife, Elizabeth Fletcher Brackett, died in 1948), she for the first; in Tucson, Ariz.
Killed in Action. Archibald John Arthur Wavell, 37, second Earl Wavell, major in the Black Watch Regiment and only son of Britain's famed Field Marshal Earl Wavell; while leading a patrol against Mau Mau terrorists; near Thika, Kenya (see FOREIGN NEWS).
Died. Lavrenty Pavlovicr; Beria, 54, Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union under Malenkov until his arrest for "high treason" last July; before a firing squad; in Moscow (see INTERNATIONAL).
Died. William Bernard Ziff, 55, Chicago-born magazine publisher (Flying, Popular Photography, Mammoth Western, Amazing Stories) and occasional author, who, in his controversial 1942 bestseller, The Coming Battle of Germany, urged Allied leaders to subordinate ships and guns to heavy bombers, win World War II through air power; of a heart attack; in Manhattan.
Died. Monnett Bain Davis, 60, veteran foreign-service officer, U.S. Ambassador to Israel since 1951, onetime Ambassador to Panama (1948-51); of a heart ailment; in Tel Aviv.
Died. Lee ("Mister Lee") Shubert, 78, president of Shubert Theater Corp., iron-fisted producer-landlord of the U.S. legitimate stage; of a cerebral hemorrhage; in Manhattan. With his brothers, Jacob ("J.J.") and Sam, Lee Shubert descended on Broadway from Syracuse, N.Y. in 1900, by the end of the booming '20s controlled an estimated $400 million in theatrical real estate. Working 15 hours a day, he survived both the Depression and the influx of movies, remorselessly squeezed out potential competitors. No man for publicity, he kept his 1936 marriage to Showgirl Marcella Swanson a secret for twelve years (until she sued for divorce, later remarried him). In 1950, charged with violating the U.S. antitrust law, Mister Lee disclaimed any monopoly of the U.S. theater, complained: "We have operated with an efficiency that deserves the encouragement rather than the criticism of [the] Government."
Died. James Leo ("One-Eye") Connelly, 84, who devoted a lifetime to gate-crashing and became a sports-page legend during the '20s; in Zion, Ill. One eye blinded in a boyhood boxing accident, Connelly masqueraded as a sandwich vendor, iceman, or plumber's helper to outwit gatemen and gain free admission. Before he retired at 65, he boasted that during his career he had seen every Kentucky Derby, all but three heavyweight-championship bouts, countless football and baseball games, on principle had never paid for or accepted a ticket.
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