100 years ago in Spokane: Vaudeville superstar Al Jolson came to town for a show

Many theater road shows were en route to Spokane, including “Sinbad” with one of the nation’s biggest stars, Al Jolson.

In the meantime, local thespians were busy creating their own production. Spokane’s Associated Collegiate Alumnae Club rehearsed George Bernard Shaw’s “Arms and the Man” for a production at the Auditorium Theater.

The city’s Drama League collaborated on this production. The league “has given up its annual dramatic program and is helping in every way with the production of this piece.” Sara Truax Albert was the director.

From the fishing loft: Fly fishing was no longer just for men, according to an article in The Spokesman Review.

“Nowadays girls, fish girls, have their own rods and reels and keep their own things when they travel. … Just think of the delicacy of the Whirling Dun or the Royal Coachman and the processing of fine leaders and woven silk lines compared to a golf club.

“These charms, not to mention the contributions of nature, make fly fishing particularly attractive and suitable for women.”

That day

(From the Associated Press)

[1945:[1945: One day after Adolf Hitler committed suicide, Admiral Karl Dönitz effectively became the sole leader of the Third Reich with the suicide of Hitler’s Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels.

2011: President Barack Obama announced the death of Osama bin Laden during a US commando operation.