Roekiah (1917–1945) was a kroncong singer and film actress from the Dutch East Indies. Born to two actors, she began her career at the age of seven, and by 1932 had become well-known in Batavia. Around this time she met her husband Kartolo. The two acted in the 1937 hit Terang Boelan, with Roekiah starring alongside Rd Mochtar; after the film's commercial success, Roekiah, Kartolo, and most of the cast and crew of Terang Boelan were signed to Tan's Film. They appeared in three films for the company, beginning with Fatima in 1938, before Mochtar left in 1940; his departure ended a partnership which had spawned numerous imitators. Mochtar's replacement, Djoemala, acted with Roekiah in four films, beginning with Sorga Ka Toedjoe, although these were less successful. During the peak of her career, Roekiah was a fashion and beauty icon, featuring in advertisements and drawing comparisons to Dorothy Lamour and Janet Gaynor. After the Japanese invaded the Indies in 1942, Roekiah took only one more film role before her death. Of her five children with Kartolo, one – Rachmat Kartolo – entered acting. Roekiah has often been cited as one of Indonesia's film pioneers.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roekiah

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1864:

American Civil War: Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign in Virginia began with the Battle of the Wilderness (centennial stamp pictured) in Spotsylvania County. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Wilderness

1936:

Second Italo-Abyssinian War: Italian troops captured Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, unopposed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_of_the_Iron_Will

1981:

After sixty-six days without food, Irish republican Bobby Sands died of starvation in HM Prison Maze. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Sands

1994:

American teenager Michael P. Fay was caned in Singapore for theft and vandalism, a punishment that the United States deemed to be excessive for a teenager committing a non-violent crime. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_P._Fay

2010:

A series of demonstrations in Athens and general strikes across Greece began in response to austerity measures imposed by the government as a result of the debt crisis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010%E2%80%9312_Greek_protests

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

Stakhanovite: An extremely productive or hard-working worker, especially in the former USSR, who may earn special rewards; a workaholic. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Stakhanovite

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

 Printer's ink has been running a race against gunpowder these many, many years. Ink is handicapped, in a way, because you can blow up a man with gunpowder in half a second, while it may take twenty years to blow him up with a book. But the gunpowder destroys itself along with its victim, while a book can keep on exploding for centuries.   --Christopher Morley https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Christopher_Morley