The Ballad of Billy The Kidney

Great figures in transplant / non-transplant history: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Johann Chrysostom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was a famous composer and performer of Salzburg (later within Austria).

He is included in this series because kidney failure is one of the many rumoured causes of his death.  I don't know which story is correct, but hey!  variety is the spice of life when it comes to this series.

Selected links on the life, times and works of W A Mozart include the following.

lastFM: music of W A Mozart
Includes a range of .WAV files of Mozart's music (although they sound a wee bit Mr Whippy -ish)

The Mozart Forum
The stated aim of the Mozart Forum is "... to improve the intelligent discussion and discourse of Mozart and his world as found on the Internet."

OperaGlass: Mozart
A Stanford University website with a comprehensive list of his compositions and associated links.

W A Mozart
An anonymous and dormant site with a nonetheless-useful list of Mozart-related material on the WWW.

Requiem Mass in D minor:  Wikipedia article

The Mozart Project
 Not regularly updated, but containing useful links.

Wolfgand Amadeus Mozart:  Wikipedia article

Hatzinger M, Häcker A, Langbein S, Bross S, Honeck P, Alken P.:  Urologe A. 2007 Feb;46(2):172.
[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. A urological pathography] [Article in German]

Article abstract cited in PubMed

:

• This YouTube video of an excerpt from the film Amadeus [1984] was uploaded by crazyman4985.  It requires a high-speed internet connection to view. Some servers automatically block YouTube.
  • The caricature of Mozart is from a blog on the website of LastFM.
    

Great figures in Transplant / Non-Transplant history: James A Michener

James A Michener (1907-1997) was an American author who, in the words of Wikipedia,

...[wrote] more than 40 titles [ie books], the majority of which are novels of sweeping sagas, covering the lives of many generations in a particular geographic locale and incorporating historical facts into the story as well.

Michener travelled extensively, and his experiences are interwoven into his words.  Visit the Hawaiian Islands (other than Waikiki Beach) and you will get a glimpse of this.

Michener died in his 90th year following his decision to discontinue dislysis treatment. 

In the limited time I had to research this article I was unable to learn how long he had kidney troubles (whether this was an old-age condition or whether it had been present for longer) - if any reader happens to know (and can cite a reference) then the readers and the writer of this blog would be pleased to learn.

There is a huge amount of material on James  A Michener in the World Wide Web.  May I scratch the surface by suggesting the following:

• Academy of Achievement : biography of James A Michener
• University of Northern Colorado > James A Michener Library. : This is one of the campus libraries of the institutional successor to his old school, the Colorado State College of Education.
• The Michener Collection of the University of Northern Colorado : Built and extended upon Michener's first donations of his papers to his old school in 1978
• State Library of New South Wales [Australia] : listing of material by or about James A Michener
• The James A Michener Society
• The James A Michener Art Museum of Doylestown PA USA
• United States Postal Service issue of 59c James A Michener stamp in May 2008
• BrainyQuote : quotations by James A Michener. I particularly like this one:

Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.

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• The picture at the top of this post is from the website of the Presedential Medal of Freedom.
  

Great figures in Transplant / Non-Transplant History: Kumantjayi Perkins

Reader advisory:  Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the following post includes an image of a person since deceased.

Great figures in Transplant / Non-transplant History: John Bunny

May I introduce John Bunny (1863-1915) - acknowledged as the first American comedy actor in silent films, and the next in this fortnightly series.

A native of New York City, Bunny gained his show business experience in a minstrel show and in vaudeville before entering the movie business.

In a short film career of 6 years to 1915, he made a considerable name as a comedic actor.  He is acknowledged as the first comedy actor of the American screen. 

He made 260 shorts with Flora Finch between 1910 and 1915, which were known as 'Bunnygraphs', 'Bunnyfinches', and 'Bunnyfinchgraphs.'

John Bunny died in 1915 at the peak of his career, from Bright's Disease - the old name for glomerulo-nephritis. As with earlier figures in this series, this was long before medical technology had given us dialysis and transplantation.

By the way, I recognise that the 3 people in this series had all lived before dialysis and transplantation.  i do not wish to make my readers glum, so please be assured that in the next few fortnights i will be including peopel who have lived full lives and made useful contributions to humankind thanks to this technology.

Items on the web documenting John Bunny include:

• The above item is the film Troublesome Secretaries (1911), posted by bayougrande on YouTube (high-speed connection required to view video).
• Wikipedia article on John Bunny
• Internet Movie DataBase entry on John Bunny
• allmovie article on John Bunny
• Obituary in Variety magazine, 30th April 1915 (transcription on the website of Michael Carl O'Neill)
• John Bunny > Film's first king of comedy (fan site built by Tony Susnick)

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• The picture at the top of this page is from Silent Ladies & Gents.
• Would you like to suggest a famous person for this series?

Great figures in Transplant / Non-transplant History: Victor Trumper

The next post in this fortnightly series looks at the Australian 1st-class cricketer Victor Trumper (1877-1915).

Victor Trumper was noted for his swashbuckling batting style.  He was the first Australian cricketer to score 300 in England, against Sussex in 1898.

Victor Trumper played cricket as a representative of

• Australia
• New South Wales
• in his home town of Sydney, the Gordon District Cricket Club.

This was in a career that extended from the late 19th century to 1914. 

By rather long co-incidence the venue of his final cricket match (Gordon v Petersham at Chatswood Oval, October 1914) was also one of the Sydney venues where my cricket umpiring career took me.

He was also a noted player and administrator in a range of other sports - rugby (rugby union), rugby league, and Australian football.

He was the first treasurer of the New South Wales Rugby League, and helped organise the first game of this competition in Sydney (Eastern Suburbs vs South Sydney) in 1908.

He became affected with illness at the young-ish age of 38, and eventually succumbed to Bright's disease - the old name for glomerulo-nephritis.

This, again, was at a time long before the advent of dialysis and transplantation.  Chronic kidney disease at that time had no other outcome for the unfortunate patient as there were simply no means to manage this.

Its a bit sad that his estate amounted to only £5 - a sum equalling 2 or 3 weeks' wages for the average worker at that time, but still not a huge amount for your life savings.

And he left a young family.

This was a reflection on the position of elite sportsmen (and they were almost all men) at that time.  They either had to hold down a normal job as well, or be independently wealthy.  This situation existed in cricket until the late 1970s when Kerry Packer introduced professionalism and salaries to the elite level of this sport.

Unfortunately, Victor Trumper was in neither situation.

There was a plaque to Trumper's memory at the back of the Sheridan Stand at the Sydney Cricket Ground.  I remember looking at this plaque as a kid.

Unfortunately the plaque disappeared in the 1980s when the stand was demolished for re-development.

However, Trumper's name will be honoured again at the SCG with the naming of a new stand in his memory.

Websites about Victor Trumper include:

• Australian Dictionary of Biography > article on Victor Trumper
• Official website of Victor Trumper
• CricInfoAustralia > Player profiles > Victor Trumper
• Items on Victor Trumper in the State Library of New South Wales.
• Information on the Life & Career of Victor Trumper as discussed on The Einstein Factor (panel game on ABC1 [Australia])

• "The last innings of Victor Trumper": newsreel footage of his funeral, held in the National Film & Sound Archive [of Australia]. (High-speed broadband connection needed to view video.)

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• The picture at the top of this post is from BBC Sport
  
• Disclaimer.

Great figures in Transplant / Non-transplant History: Jean Harlow

The first subject in my fortnightly series Great figures in Transplant / Non-transplant History is Jean Harlow (1911-1937).

Jean Harlow was an American film actor who made 41 films between 1928 and 1937.

She is probably best remembered for her roles in The Public Enemy (1931) and Bombshell (1933).

She also appeared as an extrain a restaurant scene in City Lights (1931), a film by Charlie (Sir Charles) Chaplin.
 

The writer Graham Greene wrote a rather memorable description of Harlow's characterisations.  Quoted by The Internet Movie DataBase, he wrote that

Her technique was the gangster's technique - she toted a breast like a man totes a gun.

Jean Harlow died of end-stage renal failure (ESRD) in 1937, well before dialysis and transplant technology had been developed.  At that time, death was the usual outcome for ESRD patients due to this lack of medical and surgical technology.

Suggested websites on Jean Harlow include:

• This YouTube clip from The Public Enemy introduces Jean Harlow's character to James Cagney. It was posted by astique333 (high-speed internet connection required to view this).

• Jean Harlow: the official site
• Wikipedia article on Jean Harlow
• IMdB article on Jean Harlow
• Harlowville
• Who is Jean Harlow? : A SquidWho page prepared by Jaguar Julie

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• The picture at the top of this post is from the Jean Harlow Photo Gallery on Silent Ladies and Gents.
• Would you like to suggest a famous person for this series?

Your help sought: ideas for a new writing feature in this weblog

Allow me to introduce a new feature of this weblog:

Great figures in transplant / non-transplant history

Every fortnight, this weblog looks at an historical figure in transplant history (or non-transplant history, if the subject lived in a time before the rise of transplants or if they weren't suitable for a transplant).

The person concerned does not have to be associated with the medical science or technoliogy of transplantation.  To be eligible for a guernsey in this feature, all they need is a link to the medical condition(s) that give need for a transplant.

Originally this was going to be called Great Figures in Renal Health History.  But then I was worried that I might run out of ideas for subvjects even faster.

This feature depends on you, dear reader!

If you have any ideas for people to consider in this feature please let me know!  Use the EMAIL link at the right-hand column of this page, or write a COMMENT at the end of this post.

Thank you!  Cheers....