April 8 is the birthday of American photographer CLARENCE HUDSON WHITE (1871-1925).

"He grew up in small towns in Ohio, where his primary influences were his family and the social life of rural America. After visiting the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, he took up photography. Although he was completely self-taught in the medium, within a few years he was internationally known for his pictorial photographs that captured the spirit and sentimentality of America in the early twentieth century. As he became well known for his images, White was sought out by other photographers who often traveled to Ohio to learn from him. He became friends with Alfred Stieglitz and helped advance the cause of photography as a true art form." (Wikipedia)

To see examples of White’s photography, CLICK HERE.

April 8 is the birthday of the great English conductor SIR ADRIAN BOULT (1889-1983).

"There is an enormous amount of bluff in conducting"

"Of the leading British conductors of his time, Boult was the least sensational but not the least remarkable. He made no attempt to cultivate a public image. He was neither oracle, orator nor professional wit, but he expressed himself with trenchancy, and his gentlemanly self-control was occasionally ruffled by storms of anger. ... There were nights when the physical impact of his conducting was low, and there was little beyond faithfulness to the notes. There were others when precise, sensitive stick technique, loyalty to the composer, selflessness and ability to see the music as a whole, produced results equally satisfying in the classics and the British music he understood so well."

(Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians)

April 8 is the birthday of "America's Sweetheart," MARY PICKFORD (1892-1979).

"Adding sound to movies would be like putting lipstick on the Venus de Milo."

Pickford "was a co-founder of both the Pickford-Fairbanks Studio (along with Douglas Fairbanks) and, later, the United Artists film studio (with Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin and D. W. Griffith), and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences who present the yearly 'Oscar' award ceremony." (Wikipedia)

April 8 is the birthday of Italian tenor FRANCO CORELLI (1921-2003).

Corelli "did his best to earn his reputation as something of an onstage monster. At the Rome Opera House in 1958 he stabbed Boris Christoff in the hand when he felt Christoff was trying to upstage him. On another occasion, when on tour with Birgit Nilsson in 'Turandot,' Corelli turned to her when he was supposed to give her a stage kiss and bit her on the neck instead. In their duet she had hung onto the high C longer than he did.

Nilsson wired Rudolf Bing the next day: 'I cannot go on to Cleveland. Have rabies.'" (Rick Rieikert)

April 8 is the birthday of children's book illustrator Trina Schart Hyman TRINA SCHART HYMAN (1939-2004).

"Hyman won the annual Caldecott Medal from the American Library Association, recognizing the year's best-illustrated U.S. children's picture book, for Saint George and the Dragon, published by Little, Brown in 1984 ... She is also considered one of the first white American illustrators (after Ezra Jack Keats) to incorporate black characters into her illustrations regularly, as a matter of principle, in large part triggered by her daughter's marriage to a man from Cameroon. Her grandchildren appear in several of her books."

To see examples of Hyman’s art, CLICK HERE.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: On April 8, 1820, the Venus de Milo was discovered on the Aegean island of Melos.