HEARTBREAK AND THE BLACK BIRD

There are a couple of birthdays on the 14^th September worth noting:

Mae Boren Axton, born 14^th September 1914 in Bardwell, Texas. She  was known in the music industry as the 'Queen Mother of Nashville'. She co-wrote the Elvis Presley hit single "Heartbreak Hotel" She worked with Mel Tillis, Reba McEntire, Willie Nelson, Eddy Arnold, Tanya Tucker, Johnny Tillotson, and Blake Shelton.

Mae Boren was born in Texas to Mark L. and Nannie Boren. The only daughter out of nine children, she is the sister of United States Congressman Lyle Boren. When Boren was two years old the family moved to Oklahoma. She attended East Central State College and the University of Oklahoma, where she earned a bachelor's degree in journalism. She obtained a public teaching certificate and taught English and journalism at schools throughout Oklahoma.

Boren married John T. Axton, an officer in the US Navy, and they had two sons: country star Hoyt Axton and John, who became an attorney. The family lived in Comanche, Oklahoma during the children's pre-teen years. In 1949, the family moved to Jacksonville, Florida when Axton became stationed there. Boren taught English at Dupont High School.

Harold Brent Wallis born 14^th September 1898, American film producer. He is known for producing Casablanca, and other important films featuring actors such as Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Katharine Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Elvis Presley, John Wayne, and many others.

Wallis was born in Chicago in 1898, the son of Eva (née Blum) and Jacob Walinsky, Eastern European Jews. His family moved in 1922 to Los Angeles, California, where he found work as part of the publicity department at Warner Bros. in 1923.

Within a few years, Wallis became involved in the production end of the business and would eventually become head of production at Warners. In a career that spanned more than fifty years, he was involved with the production of more than 400 feature-length movies.

Among the many significant movies he produced was Casablanca, one of the most honoured movies in Hollywood history. Others include: Dark Victory, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Now, Voyager, The Maltese Falcon and Sergeant York. Wallis left Warner Bros. in 1944, after a clash with Jack Warner over Warner's acceptance of the Best Picture Oscar to Casablanca, to work as an independent producer, enjoying considerable success both commercially and critically. The first screenwriters he hired for his new enterprise were Ayn Rand and Lillian Hellman. Among his financial hits were the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis comedies, and several of Elvis Presley's movies. He produced True Grit, for which John Wayne won the Academy Award for Best Actor of 1969, and its sequel. He also produced Mary, Queen of Scots, starring Vanessa Redgrave and Glenda Jackson, and Anne of the Thousand Days, starring Richard Burton and Genevieve Bujold.

Wallis received sixteen Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, winning for Casablanca in 1943. For his consistently high quality of motion picture production, he was twice honoured with the Academy Awards' Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. He was also nominated for seven Golden Globe awards, twice winning awards for Best Picture. In 1975, he received the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures.

Herewith a couple of his films, and a couple of the best lines in movies:

The final scene: