2013 History Conference Article: Correction!

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Dustin Stinett
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2013 History Conference Article: Correction!

Postby Dustin Stinett » December 21st, 2013, 1:36 pm

My friend (and Forum Member) Diego Domingo kindly emailed me with some corrections regarding what I wrote about his brief presentation on George White (Thurston's right-hand man). I made some assumptions and/or misremembered his original (2009) presentation. Here are Diego's notes:

Here are a few ... notes no one else may care about [Ed. Note: We all care Diego!]: While George White did die unknown/unnoticed by the magic/show business world; in obscurity, that he died in poverty (that word subject to interpretation) may not be correct in George White's case. He was gainfully employed for many years until his death [by] Harry Soll, who respected and valued him, as did the employer's family. Even though he was eligible to collect Social Security, he kept working instead.

As I noted in my talk 4 years ago about George White, his financial compensation with Harry Soll was 2-3 times higher than Dante and possibly Thurston had paid him. So while he was of the lower-income working class, poverty may not be a correct label for him.

The Pathside Section of The Evergreens Cemetery isn't the same as a "Potter's Field," which is often run/owned by a local government, for indigent people. Pathside is mostly for those for whom the basic funeral/undertaking services had been provided/paid for, but no plot/grave had been paid for in addition. A similar situation was that Dante was cremated by Pierce Brothers Mortuary in Hollywood, but the family did not provide additional funds for a grave/crypt for the ashes to be interred, so his ashes were in a box with thousands of others in a vault (until his ashes were removed decades later, and interred in San Francisco).

I agree it was a happy/poignant ending that as Paul Harvey would say, 'Was the rest of the story.' A period at the end of the sentence....closure.


Thanks for correcting the record Diego! I'm sorry you had to do it!

Dustin

Bill Mullins
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Re: 2013 History Conference Article: Correction!

Postby Bill Mullins » December 22nd, 2013, 12:40 am

Dustin Stinett wrote: Here are Diego's notes:

As I noted in my talk 4 years ago about George White, his financial compensation with Harry Soll was 2-3 times higher than Dante and possibly Thurston had paid him.


Diego -- were you able to get White's Social Security records? The SSA makes some available for public release after a person's death.

Diego
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Re: 2013 History Conference Article: Correction!

Postby Diego » December 22nd, 2013, 3:55 am

Bill,
Yes I did. If you heard my talk at the MCA weekend a couple of years ago, or saw it printed in MAGICOL, I noted the way I was able to specifically determine that I had located THE George White, was thru his Social Security Earnings Records, that recorded his earnings from Dante, and also earnings from 20th Century Fox, as an un-credited technical advisor on the Laurel and Hardy film, "A Haunting We Will Go", that Dante was featured in.
Besides verifying his identity, it was interesting to note George White was paid more for working for Harry Soll, at his Blasting and later his Glass company, than he received from Dante, and perhaps Thurston as well.


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