On this day in 1824, the Austrian Romantic composer Anton Bruckner was born. Here is a bit from his Symphony Number 8, which is quite powerful and pleasant compared to most work of that period:

Inventor Lewis Howard Latimer was born in 1848. Horror film director Roy William Neill was born in 1887. The great French composer and one of Les Six, Darius Milhaud was born in 1892. Here is his absolutely delightful Suite per Violino, Clarinetto e Pianoforte. Really, you should listen to it; it charming in the way that seems to have been limited to French composers of the first half of the 20th century. It really was a wonderful period. But enough reading, listen!

Historical novelist Mary Renault was born in 1905. Biologist Max Delbruck was born in 1906. He determined that bacteria developed resistance to viruses as a result of advantageous genetic mutations. The great novelist Richard Wright was born in 1908. Really annoying radio personality Paul Harvey was born in 1918. Now we are stuck with his even more annoying son. Artificial intelligence pioneer John McCarthy was born in 1927. The great National Park Service photographer Jack Boucher was born in 1931.

Comedian Damon Wayans is 53 today. And Beyonce is 32.

The day, however, belongs to the great film director Edward Dmytryk who was born in 1908. There are many things to like about him. One is that he made wonderful films. Crossfire and The Caine Mutiny stand out, but there are many others. He also did prison time because of the Hollywood blacklisting for contempt of Congress. What I most remember him for is the books he wrote on filmmaking that taught me most of what I know about the art. They are really good books. You can get them all together (but I think it is out of print) as On Filmmaking. Here is the trailer for Caine:

Happy birthday Edward Dmytryk!