Battle Creek

The Battle Creek Sanitarium, in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States, first opened on September 5, 1866, as the Western Health Reform Institute,... based on the health principles advocated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. In 1876, John Harvey Kellogg became the superintendent, and his brother, W. K. Kellogg, worked as the book keeper. In 1878, a new structure was built on the site, but it burned down in 1902. The following year, it was rebuilt, enlarged and renamed The Battle Creek Sanitarium. As Kellogg put it, they took the word Sanatorium, which back then was defined as an English term designating a health resort for invalid soldiers. "A change of two letters transformed 'sanatorium' to 'sanitarium', and a new word was added to the English language". Kellogg states the number of patients grew from 106 in 1866, to 7,006 patrons during the year 1906. "The San" and Kellogg were lampooned in T. Coraghessan Boyle's 1993 novel The Road to Wellville and the 1994 film adaptation. Along with high numbers of patrons, there were a large number of staff at Battle Creek.
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Robert Alexander Szatowski , better known by his ring name Rob Van Dam , is an American professional wrestler and actor. He is currently under... contract with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. He is also best known for his time with World Wrestling Entertainment, and Extreme Championship Wrestling. Szatkowski has held 22 championships between ECW, WWE and TNA, as well as several regional titles in various promotions during his career. In major promotions he is a three-time world champion having held the WWE Championship, ECW World Heavyweight Championship and the TNA World Heavyweight Championship once each. On the independent scene he has also won the World Heavyweight Championships for both American Wrestling Rampage and World Stars of Wrestling once each. He is the only man to achieve both WWE and ECW's version of the Triple Crown. Part of ECW's Triple Crown included the ECW World Television Championship, of which RVD's 700 day reign was the longest. Rob grew up in Battle Creek, Michigan and graduated from Pennfield High School. Rob made his first appearance on WWF television in 1987 in a skit with "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase.
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Marion Hutton was a United States singer and actress. Born as Marion Thornburg, the elder sister of actress Betty Hutton, their father abandoned... their family when they were both young: he later committed suicide. Their mother worked a variety of jobs to support the family until she became a successful bootlegger. Both sisters sang with the Vincent Lopez Orchestra. Marion Hutton was discovered by Glenn Miller and was invited to join the Glenn Miller Orchestra in 1938. "I was only seventeen then [] and so Glenn and Helen [Miller] became my legal guardians. He was like a father because I never had a father I remembered." Hutton was not allowed to sing in the nightclubs due to the fact she was underage. Glenn Miller and his wife Helen Burger Miller signed papers to officially declare themselves foster parents in order to serve as Hutton’s charperone in the nightclubs which allowed her access in these venues. Marion Hutton considered herself more an entertainer than a singer. Hutton remained an important part of the Miller band. She remained with Miller on and off until the orchestra disbanded in 1942.
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John Kitzmiller was an African-American actor. Born in Battle Creek, Michigan, Kitzmiller participated in the liberation of Italy during World War... II. He began acting while stationed in this country, and appeared in Italian neorealist films. He made Italy his permanent residence and starred in more than fifty European films, often portraying an angry black man fighting racism. He played the leading role of "Jerry" in the film Senza pietà , written by Federico Fellini. He received awards commemorating both his role as an actor and as a soldier: he received the Victory Medal and in 1957 was the first black actor to win a best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for his role in the Yugoslavian film Valley of Peace. Kitzmiller is most famous for his role as Quarrel in the 1962 James Bond movie Dr. No. He died of cirrhosis of the liver.
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Thomas Richard "Dick" Martin was an American comedian and director, best known for his role as the cohost of the sketch comedy program Rowan &... Martin's Laugh-In from 1968 to 1973. Martin graduated from Michigan State University. Early in his career, Martin was a staff writer for Duffy's Tavern, a radio situation comedy. In 1952, Martin and Dan Rowan formed the comedy team Rowan and Martin, and played in nightclubs across the United States and overseas. They were a quick and easy match; their first comedy routine, in which Martin played a drunk heckling a Shakespearean performer, was a mainstay of their live act for years. The duo could frequently be seen as host-performers on NBC's Colgate Comedy Hour, alternating with Martin and Lewis and other more established names. In 1958 they starred in a feature film, Hal Kanter's comedy Western Once Upon a Horse, which failed to catch on with moviegoers. In 1960, their contract with NBC was cancelled four years early by mutual consent. In 1962 Martin worked solo, playing next-door neighbor to Lucille Ball during the first season of her comeback sitcom The Lucy Show.
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Betty Hutton was an American stage, film, and television actress, comedienne and singer. Hutton was born Elizabeth June Thornburg, daughter of a... railroad foreman, Percy E. Thornburg and his wife, Mabel Lum . While she was very young, her father abandoned the family for another woman. They did not hear of him again until they received a telegram in 1939, informing them of his suicide. Along with her older sister Marion, Betty was raised by her mother, who took the surname Hutton and was later billed as the actress Sissy Jones. The three started singing in the family's speakeasy when Betty was 3 years old. Troubles with the police kept the family on the move. They eventually landed in Detroit, Michigan. , her mother, arriving with her, quipped, "At least this time the police are in front of us!" Hutton sang in several local bands as a teenager, and at one point visited New York City hoping to perform on Broadway, where she was rejected.
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Robert Alexander Szatowski , better known by his ring name Rob Van Dam , is an American professional wrestler and actor. He is currently under... contract with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. He is also best known for his time with World Wrestling Entertainment, and Extreme Championship Wrestling. Szatkowski has held 22 championships between ECW, WWE and TNA, as well as several regional titles in various promotions during his career. In major promotions he is a three-time world champion having held the WWE Championship, ECW World Heavyweight Championship and the TNA World Heavyweight Championship once each. On the independent scene he has also won the World Heavyweight Championships for both American Wrestling Rampage and World Stars of Wrestling once each. He is the only man to achieve both WWE and ECW's version of the Triple Crown. Part of ECW's Triple Crown included the ECW World Television Championship, of which RVD's 700 day reign was the longest. Rob grew up in Battle Creek, Michigan and graduated from Pennfield High School. Rob made his first appearance on WWF television in 1987 in a skit with "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase.
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Marion Hutton was a United States singer and actress. Born as Marion Thornburg, the elder sister of actress Betty Hutton, their father abandoned... their family when they were both young: he later committed suicide. Their mother worked a variety of jobs to support the family until she became a successful bootlegger. Both sisters sang with the Vincent Lopez Orchestra. Marion Hutton was discovered by Glenn Miller and was invited to join the Glenn Miller Orchestra in 1938. "I was only seventeen then [] and so Glenn and Helen [Miller] became my legal guardians. He was like a father because I never had a father I remembered." Hutton was not allowed to sing in the nightclubs due to the fact she was underage. Glenn Miller and his wife Helen Burger Miller signed papers to officially declare themselves foster parents in order to serve as Hutton’s charperone in the nightclubs which allowed her access in these venues. Marion Hutton considered herself more an entertainer than a singer. Hutton remained an important part of the Miller band. She remained with Miller on and off until the orchestra disbanded in 1942.
more

John Kitzmiller was an African-American actor. Born in Battle Creek, Michigan, Kitzmiller participated in the liberation of Italy during World War... II. He began acting while stationed in this country, and appeared in Italian neorealist films. He made Italy his permanent residence and starred in more than fifty European films, often portraying an angry black man fighting racism. He played the leading role of "Jerry" in the film Senza pietà , written by Federico Fellini. He received awards commemorating both his role as an actor and as a soldier: he received the Victory Medal and in 1957 was the first black actor to win a best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for his role in the Yugoslavian film Valley of Peace. Kitzmiller is most famous for his role as Quarrel in the 1962 James Bond movie Dr. No. He died of cirrhosis of the liver.
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Thomas Richard "Dick" Martin was an American comedian and director, best known for his role as the cohost of the sketch comedy program Rowan &... Martin's Laugh-In from 1968 to 1973. Martin graduated from Michigan State University. Early in his career, Martin was a staff writer for Duffy's Tavern, a radio situation comedy. In 1952, Martin and Dan Rowan formed the comedy team Rowan and Martin, and played in nightclubs across the United States and overseas. They were a quick and easy match; their first comedy routine, in which Martin played a drunk heckling a Shakespearean performer, was a mainstay of their live act for years. The duo could frequently be seen as host-performers on NBC's Colgate Comedy Hour, alternating with Martin and Lewis and other more established names. In 1958 they starred in a feature film, Hal Kanter's comedy Western Once Upon a Horse, which failed to catch on with moviegoers. In 1960, their contract with NBC was cancelled four years early by mutual consent. In 1962 Martin worked solo, playing next-door neighbor to Lucille Ball during the first season of her comeback sitcom The Lucy Show.
more

Betty Hutton was an American stage, film, and television actress, comedienne and singer. Hutton was born Elizabeth June Thornburg, daughter of a... railroad foreman, Percy E. Thornburg and his wife, Mabel Lum . While she was very young, her father abandoned the family for another woman. They did not hear of him again until they received a telegram in 1939, informing them of his suicide. Along with her older sister Marion, Betty was raised by her mother, who took the surname Hutton and was later billed as the actress Sissy Jones. The three started singing in the family's speakeasy when Betty was 3 years old. Troubles with the police kept the family on the move. They eventually landed in Detroit, Michigan. , her mother, arriving with her, quipped, "At least this time the police are in front of us!" Hutton sang in several local bands as a teenager, and at one point visited New York City hoping to perform on Broadway, where she was rejected.
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Rachel Norris is a film actress and film crewmember.