Old Postcard Wednesday--Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California

This week you get a twofer-plus: two postcards plus an old brochure from Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. Click on any image to enlarge.

When my mother's 15-year-old brother was killed in a car accident in 1927, my grandparents had his remains placed in a crypt in the mausoleum at Forest Lawn. He is the only family member buried there. I've never been to Forest Lawn but my mother spoke reverently about the place and I thought about the postcards and brochure today while watching the Michael Jackson memorial service.....

The media showed the family coming out of the place at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills Cemetery, where they held a private family funeral prior to the public one at Staples Center. According to a Daily News article "Hollywood Hills (cemetery) is 10 minutes away from Forest Lawn's Glendale Cemetery [the one featured in today's postcards], the largest of the chain's properties. Buried on those grounds are Humphrey Bogart, George Burns, Nat King Cole, Sammy Davis Jr., Walt Disney, Clark Gable and baseball legend Casey Stengel."


When my grandmother picked up these two postcards and the brochure there was probably only one Forest Lawn property, that being the one in Glendale, and all of the stars listed in the paragraph above were still alive. The postcards date back to 1929, based on the letters (that I found fascinating) reproduced in the brochure for The Wee Kirk o' the Heather. My grandmother was Scot-Irish, a Marshall by name, and this wee kirk must have been special to her as she mourned for her youngest son.

Note in the first letter the wee kirk is described as a reconstruction . . . of Annie Laurie's church, the ruins of which are at Glencairn, Scotland. The history of Annie Laurie's life is the history of Scotland in that day and age. Her song has for generations thrilled the hearts of Britons and Americans alike. . .

For more information about Annie Laurie -- the person and the song (including lyrics) -- click here.

In keeping with the importance that Michael Jackson's funeral on Tuesday had around the world, I selected two international versions of the sweet song to close this post.....

The first, an animation video, features the Swedish group Radio Dept. in their 2002 version of Annie Laurie.






The second video is sung in English but by whom is a mystery, because the person who posted it at YouTube has only the title of the song and the composer noted in English. As you can see, the rest of the description is in Japanese.




『アニーローリー』のモデルは、マクスウェルトン家の長女Ann ie Laurie（アニーローリー）。 　1682年生まれの実在の人物で、評判のレディーで遠方からも求 婚を受けるほどの美人だったという。 　そんな彼女には親にも打ち明けられない恋しい人がいた。、フィン ランド家出身の詩人ウイリアム・ダグラス（William Douglas of Fingland）がいた。 　アニーローリーとダグ...

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