Happy birthday, Edward Steichen

It is the birthday of photographer Edward Steichen (1879), who is remembered as the first modern fashion photographer, although he did many other subjects as well. He was a photographer for Vogue and Vanity Fair magazines and for New York advertising agencies. He also served as director of the Department of Photography at New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

Happy birthday, Clare Boothe Luce

It is the birthday of writer Clare Boothe Luce (1903), who served as editor of Vanity Fair magazine, wrote the hit Broadway play The Women (1936), served as a Republican congresswoman from Connecticut, and later, as U.S. Ambassador to Italy. Her husband was Henry Luce, publisher of Time, Life, and Sports Illustrated magazines. She wrote for Life and occasionally for Time, though her husband discouraged that because he didn't want to be accused of nepotism. She always claimed to have given her husband the idea for Life magazine. Her achievements were her own, though, born of driving ambition and quick wit. Among her most famous lines: "A hospital is no place to be sick." "Widowhood is a fringe benefit of marriage." "No good deed goes unpunished."

Happy birthday, Robert Sherwood

It is the birthday of playwright Robert Sherwood (1896), who won four Pulitzer Prizes, three for his plays and one for a biography. Sherwood served as film critic for Vanity Fair magazine in the 1920s. He was among the founders of the Algonquin Round Table, the storied gathering of New York writers and wits, along with fellow magazine staffers Robert Benchley and Dorothy Parker. Sherwood's play Idiot's Delight (1936) won his first Pulitzer. It is the story of a dance troupe stranded in an Alpine hotel as war breaks out. Sherwood also won for Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1938) and There Shall Be No Night (1940), which is set in Finland just before the Russian invasion. Sherwood also served as speech writer for President Franklin D. Roosevelt and is credited with inspiring the phrase "arsenal of democracy" that Roosevelt used in speeches to generate support for the Allied war effort. Sherwood's book Roosevelt and Hopkins: An Intimate Portrait (1948) won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography.

Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World

Aldous Huxley

It is the birthday of English writer Aldous Huxley (1894), whose science fiction novel Brave New World (1932) is considered among the best English-language novels of the 20th century.

The book predicted the loss of individual identity in a world of mass production. Huxley wrote it partly as a parody of H.G. Wells' A Modern Utopia (1905) and his Men Like Gods (1923), books that presented an upbeat vision of the future. Huxley took a dim view of what was to come. When it was published, Brave New World was widely panned by critics but has since come into favor in literary circles.

Huxley came from a family of overachievers. His father was an educator and writer. His grandfather was a prominent biologist and such a staunch advocate of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution that he earned the appellation "Darwin's Bulldog." His brother and half brother were also biologists.

Huxley first trained in his father's botanical lab and was taught by his mother until she died. Then he went to Eton College and later Oxford. He was exempted from military duty during World War I because of an illness that left him mostly blind, though in later years he recovered most of his eyesight.

He taught French at Eton for a year and proved to be a terrible teacher, unable to maintain discipline in his classes. Among his students was Eric Blair, who later became George Orwell. He eventually started writing and wrote several novels and many magazine articles. He was a regular contributor to Vanity Fair.

Huxley moved to Hollywood in 1937 and lived there until his death in 1963, though he lived for a brief time in Taos, New Mexico. He wrote Ends and Means (1937), a collection of essays on ethics, nationalism, religion, and war. He was a vocal pacifist.

 He tried writing for the movies, completing a screenplay for Madame Curie for MGM and contributing to the studio's 1940 version of Pride and Prejudice. He also worked on the 1943 production of Jane Eyre for 20th Century Fox. But his leisurely style didn't fit energetic Hollywood.

He later became interested in spiritualism and psychedelic drugs. He became associated with Swami Prabhavananda in Hollywood and became active with the Vedanta Society of Southern California. He wrote extensively for the organization.

Huxley died on the same day that John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Author C.S. Lewis also died that day. Christian theology writer Peter Kreeft was inspired by those events to write the novel Between Heaven and Hell: A Dialog Somewhere Beyond Death with John F. Kennedy, C.S. Lewis, and Aldous Huxley (1982), in which the three men discuss Jesus from different points of view.

Brave New World was adapted as a TV movie in 1998.

Thackeray satirized English aristocracy

William Makepeace Thackeray

It is the birthday of English satirist William Makepeace Thackeray (1811), whose satirical novels Vanity Fair and The Luck of Barry Lyndon brought him fame and fortune. At the height of his popularity, he was considered second only to Charles Dickens in writing talent. Though he receives less attention today, Vanity Fair remains on many college reading lists.

Both books poke fun at the English aristocracy in the 19th century, and both have been adapted for film several times in the 20th century. It was the English aristocracy who were most intrigued by Thackeray's work, a factor that some critics say led to his losing that sharp wit in his later works. Thackeray was the toast of English society and often sought as a speaker.

Thackeray was born in Calcutta to a writer for the East India Company and the daughter of a writer for the East India Company. He was sent back to England at the age of four for education. He did not like the boarding schools he attended and satirized them in some of his writings. He attended Trinity College, Cambridge but didn't graduate, choosing instead to travel in Europe. When he returned to England, he tried studying law but quit that as well.

At age 21 he received an inheritance but frittered much of it away gambling and investing in two newspapers that eventually failed. He also lost considerable sums when two Indian banks failed. Forced to work for a living, Thackeray turned to writing. Most of his work was published by Fraser's Magazine. Vanity Fair and The Luck of Barry Lyndon were both serialized in the publication.

Vanity Fair, which concerns the exploits of  Becky Sharp, a scheming social climber who manipulates those around her to achieve financial security and position, drew praise from critics during Thackeray's lifetime. He made two trips to America, where he was well received. The story has been adapted for movies, television and radio for generations, most recently as a 2004 film starring Reese Witherspoon.

The Luck of Barry Lyndon tells the story of an impoverished Irish gentleman who tries to become a member of the English aristocracy. After a series of hilarious misfortunes in Europe, he stumbles into a favorable marriage and remakes himself into a fashionable country squire, only to later be ruined again. Director Stanley Kubrick adapted the book into a film in 1975.