93     July 21, 1954
Bill, Jayne, Henry, Laraine Day

An episode dedicated to the Roaring Twenties.  As was often the case with their themed programs, this one was packed to the rafters with guests.   

Mrs. Lillie Mae Johnson: “My husband wrote “The Charleston” (September 5, 1923)”  
James P Johnson was an African-American pianist and composer, considered today to be one of the key figures in the transition from ragtime to jazz music.  His best-known tune, still easily recognizable today, was originally written for the Broadway musical Runnin' Wild (1923-1924) but the song's popularity  quickly eclipsed that of the stage show, especially in the way it so perfectly represented the energetic dance of the same name.  Mr Johnson is still alive at the time of this episode but sidelined by a debilitating 1951 stroke.  He would die a year later.  Generally forgotten in his day, his legacy has continued to grow among musicologists in the decades that have followed.  He has been inducted in several modern halls-of-fame, and in 1995 he was the subject of a commemorative US postage stamp.

Unidentified man: “I lost a million dollars in the stock market crash” 
Many people saw their fortunes wiped out by the stock market crash of 1929, which led to the Great Depression and a decade of hardship for many Americans and much of the Western world.  It took until 1954 for stock prices to return to the levels they had been before the crash.

Ashland the Horse & Miss Kemper: “My grandfather was Man-o-War”
Man o' War is today considered one of the greatest racehorses in the world, and for decades after his 1919-1920 racing career, he was by far the most famous.  He won 20 of his 21 races, his only loss to a horse named, appropriately enough, Upset.  Despite his accolades, Man o' War was not a Triple Crown winner.  He won the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes (the latter in record fashion), but his owner did not enter him in the Kentucky Derby, believing it to be too long a course for a young horse to run.   We're not sure who "Miss Klemper" is, nor can we find any information about a racehorse named Ashland, but following his racing career, Man o' War sired many, many offspring, and certainly not all of them would have been successful racers.
    
Special guest Helen Kane: “I was the boop-boop-a-doop girl”   
Helen Kane was an early film actress best known for her signature song “I Wanna Be Loved By You” (1928).  Her “boop-boop-a-doop” refrain was widely thought to be the inspiration for the Betty Boop cartoon character, but a lawsuit against the animation studio failed. 

Fates also notes two "walk-ons" with their own secrets, though without identifying them by name:  “I was a Ziegfeld Follies girl” and “I was Lindbergh’s mechanic”  The former could have been any one of hundreds of dancers.  The original Follies ran annually from  1907 to 1931.  The latter might well have been Roy Hooe.  He's the one most often credited with keeping Lindbergh's famous plane The Spirit of St Louis in top flying condition.