Ten years and divergent art styles separated the oldest and youngest of the five Pollock brothers. Both studied under the regionalist painter Thomas Hart Benton at the Art Students League, in New York City. Charles, in his late 20s, adopted Benton’s American-scene painting before later turning to abstraction. Jackson, in his late teens, was more interested in the symbolic and mythical content of the Mexican artists. He would sign a gallery contract with Peggy Guggenheim and go on to develop the radical “action” technique that made him famous. READ ON

When comedian, film star, soft-shoe hoofer, and presidential-golfing buddy Bob Hope ascended to that big country club in the sky at the age of 100 (!) in 2003, his earthly send-off wasn’t all that he might have, well, hoped. The fulsome obituary notices lauded the breadth of his fame and achievements. His landmark status in entertainment history was undisputed. But the praise was threaded with sighs of regret that Hope had outlived his era and then some. READ ON