"The Muses"

The Muses, in Greek mythology, poetry, and literature are the goddesses or spirits who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. I'd like to touch on that topic a little bit today. It is the Muses who keep me away from the tempting song of Sirens...Those devilish imps who call to me from across the lethargic waters, tempting me to their dangerous isle of quicksand called The Writers Block.

Somewhere in the front or back of any work of nonfiction is that section listing all of the people who have contributed to researching. The majority of these are folks who have either gone above and beyond the call of professional research duties, or others who have kindly given of their time and expertise with no personal agenda. I'm not going to list everyone that I am indebted to (this is neither the time nor have I the space), but did want to point out a few very important people that I am grateful to for their contributions thus far to my research into the life story of Alice Calhoun:

William M. Drew has authored countless articles, film reviews, and a number of books about classic film. He's an encyclopedic wealth of knowledge on the subject. I would estimate that he has provided me with 30+ articles and resources dealing with Alice Calhoun. He's been a wonderful mentor, and many the emails have flown back and forth between us, discussing theories and motivations regarding Alice's life and career.

Clan Coloquhuon, specifically in the persona of Tom Calhoun Hodges, has been an enthusiastic promoter for Alice. A display of photos, literature and showing of her remaining films is always featured at the Southeastern Scottish Games events that he and the rest of the Clan attend, keeping her memory alive for an audience that probably would never know about her otherwise.

So many, many others have assisted me in a wide variety of ways...My cousin, Carolyn Chopskie took photos while on a visit to California...Ken Robichaux of The Picture Show Man website regularly comes up great angles of film topics, acting techniques, research sources, etc., for me to consider delving into further...other writers, including Jessica Johnson of the Post & Courier; Victoria Mushoff of the Park West Palazzo blog (http://parkwestpalazzo.blogspot.com/); retired editor Hans J. Wollstein of the All Movie Guide; archivists from the University of Chicago, UCLA, Stanford University, Warner Brothers, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences....well, I'm sure that you're getting the idea! It doesn't just take a village, these folks are from all over the U.S., and some come from Europe and South America, too.

While I most certainly have neglected to mention many, I wanted to take the time to point out that no author is an island. Researching and writing are often thought to be a solo gig, but without the enthusiasm, encouragement, thoughts and ideas of so many others, my project would have never come so far.

So to all those that I mentioned, and to all the many others who will be listed in the final publication, I can't thank you enough for being my inspiration. It is YOU who are my Muses.