Quote:
A Minnesota girl!
Which reminds me of a story, not that I want to sound like an olde phart, but...
Yes, Jane Russell was born in Bemidji, Minnesota, where I went to school in 1995-96, at Bemidji State University.
I had never been to Bemidji before, other than once when I was a teenager, and we passed through there on a family trip to Minneapolis, and of course when I went to check out the school itself in the spring of 1995. I knew that Jane Russell had been born there, though, and I wondered if they would have a statue of her downtown, or somewhere, and I figured that this would be one of the things I would check out once I got there.
I mean, I had been to Grand Rapids, Minnesota on several occasions and the fact that Judy Garland was born there is a big deal in that town -- there is a museum at her childhood home and everything. Mind you, I had also been to Hibbing, Minnesota, and they had very little about the fact that Bob Dylan was from there, something that has been rectified only fairly recently, I might add.
But anyway, back to Jane Russell...
I started school in Bemidji during the First Summer Session, taking three classes (I was such a keener!) as well as working a couple of part-time jobs. When I wasn't sleeping or at work or at school, I explored the town, and after a month of looking, I could find nothing about Jane Russell anywhere. I thought that was strange, but remembering the situation about Bob Dylan and Hibbing, I figured that maybe this was just how things were in Minnesota. Perhaps some celebrities didn't want a big deal made about them, and the town respected their wishes.
Anyway, Second Summer Session and three more classes, and still working, and I still could find nothing. There were no Russells in the local phone listings, and none of the oldsters I struck up conversations with knew anything about her or her family. Strange. No Russells on file at the local cemetaries; no knowledge of her and her family at the local museum, and surely no display either there or at the City Hall, or anything.
The regular school year starts and one of the classes I'm taking for an English credit is a film class. Over time, I become quite well acquainted with the Film Prof, since we have a mutual interest in Film Noir, and since I've seen more classic movies than the average student.
One day, I mention to her that Jane Russell was born in Bemidji. She is surprised, mentions that she didn't know this (which surprises me totally), and then she wonders why there isn't anything about this in town.
Needless to say, the mystery deepens, and I never really find out an answer about it.
One day, a couple of years later, now at the University of Manitoba, taking law, I run across an old Weekend Magazine (similar to your Newspaper Magazine, Parade) at the school library, and in it is an article about Jane Russell. It explains all, or does it?.
Her parents were both born in North Dakota. Three of her grandparents were born in Canada, while her paternal grandmother was born in Germany. Her parents married in 1917. Her father was a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army and her mother was a former actress with a road troupe. Her parents spent the early years of their marriage in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. For her birth her mother temporarily moved back to the U.S. to ensure she was born a U.S. citizen.
However, that makes little sense -- you mean to tell me that Bemidji was the closest US town with a hospital to Edmonton? That's just not logical -- I'm sure there were hospitals in Idaho, Montana, and North Dakota, all easier to get to than Bemidji, in Minnesota. Since her parents were from North Dakota, wouldn't it have made more sense for her to have been born there?
So, while the situation is explained, it leads to a whole other mystery, doesn't it?
Posted 09/02/2009 08:32 am
interesting cover though.
