Movie version of Glasgow novel varied from book News that Richmond novelist Ellen Glasgow had “gone Hollywood” raised eyebrows in 1935. Glasgow’s “Vein of Iron,“ the 62-year-old writer’s 18th novel in a distinguished career spanning four decades, had become a best-seller that year.

In 1933, the Chicago World’s Fair celebrated “A Century of Progress” at the same time the Great Depression blanketed the country with despair. Through the fair’s gates rode a nude Lady Godiva astride a rented white horse. The bold young woman was 29-year-old Sally Rand, an unemployed actress and aspiring dancer desperate for work.

Old Dominion Barn Dance broadcast wedding in 1949 In 1952, country music legend Hank Williams married Billie Jones on the stage of the Louisiana Hayride show. Three years before that, Richmond had its own country-style stage wedding. On Saturday, March 19, 1949, musician Ruey “Curley” Collins married 18-year-old Chesterfield County resident Kathleen “Kaki” Williams onstage at the Mosque, now Richmond’s Landmark Theater, during a live broadcast of the Old Dominion Barn Dance.

Fifteen years before the Hindenburg’s fiery destruction in New Jersey claimed 36 lives, a similar dirigible disaster occurred in Virginia. Unlike the Hindenburg’s highly publicized crash, the Roma’s final minutes in Norfolk in 1922 were not captured on newsreels. The Roma was forgotten quickly, and its lesson was easy to ignore.

TIME CAPSULES LARRY HALL The crash of a U.S. military aircraft near Tokyo on March 6, 1952, could have been much worse for the wounded American soldiers on board. “A giant Stratocruiser hospital plane carrying 58 patients cracked up on takeoff from Haneda Airport,“ said an Associated Press report in the next day’s Richmond Times-Dispatch. A United Press report in The New York Times said, “Quick action by the pilot, crash crews and three flight nurses saved the passengers from death or serious injury.“

When the PT-109 float neared the reviewing stand during his Jan. 20, 1961, inaugural parade, President John F. Kennedy looked over his shoulder. Kennedy’s gaze found William C. Battle, the man who had managed the Kennedy campaign in Virginia.

Christmas was a family affair when Gov. E. Lee Trinkle occupied the Executive Mansion in Richmond. Trinkle, who served from 1922 to 1926, had three lively children who relished the holiday and the large Christmas tree that traditionally graced the ballroom.

After a year that saw the collapse of 25 banks and thrifts and the near-collapse of more than 100 others, the final tallies of bank causalities and taxpayer costs are looming uncertainties. The crisis is not without precedent, however.

Courtroom murder, political plotting The March 29, 1913, Richmond Times-Dispatch called the executions of a father and son the final curtain on “one of the most remarkable dramas of modern times.“ The chain of events that ended in Richmond had begun more than a year earlier in Carroll County with the arrest of Floyd Allen, a farmer and storekeeper known for his hot temper.

The case of the stray sword Three years after the death of Williams Carter Wickham, thousands came to Monroe Park for the unveiling of a statue dedicated to his memory. The Richmond Times estimated that 5,000 turned out for the Oct. 29, 1891, ceremony, at which speakers recalled the Richmond native’s service in the Confederate army and his achievements as a lawyer, politician and railroad president.

Fire threatened Richmond landmark The clock in the tower at Main Street Station read 12:48 when the first train pulled in the afternoon of Nov. 27, 1901. “A throng of people had gathered to greet the incoming train, and they evinced the pride and pleasure that the citizens of Richmond feel in the splendid new passenger depot,“ the next day’s Richmond Times said. The report called the French Renaissance-style depot in the 1500 block of East Main Street “the finest railroad station in the South.“