One hundred one years ago today, film noir actress Audrey Totter was born in Joliet.

Before establishing a career as a femme fatale in films of the 1940s, Totter grew up attending live theater in Chicago and elsewhere. Her parents took her to all the famous big-screen movies, which influenced her decision to become a movie star.

To fulfill her dream she started performing at her local YMCA and in school plays. She attended Joliet Township High School.

After high school, Totter began performing professionally as a radio actress. MGM Studios noticed her and signed her to a seven-year contract in 1944, offering her $300 a week.

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Mac Blackout from Chicago is the December Artist of the Month. He works in various mediums, murals, music, painting on canvas, and drawing, which are all his favorite depending on what he is trying to achieve with a particular piece.

How long have you been an artist or when did you start?
I’ve been making art since I can remember. My mother, Liz McKenzie is also an artist and was an art teacher in Bedford, IN for 40 years. Needless to say I was exposed to art at an early age and my interest was encouraged as I grew into adulthood.

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On Dec. 12, 1803, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark built Camp River Dubois near present day Wood River in Madison County.

Lewis and Clark, along with their Corps of Discovery, spent several months in what would become the state of Illinois, originally crossing into the territory with 20 men on Nov. 11, 1803.

They stayed for two days at Fort Massac, near Metropolis, where they resupplied and solicited volunteers to assist them on their journey. Among those who joined the expedition was George Drouillard, a man of Shawnee and French descent who became the party’s best hunter and interpreter.

Lewis and Clark’s team traveled through southern Illinois along the Ohio River and then north along the Mississippi River, stopping in Kaskaskia on Dec. 28 to recruit 12 more volunteers before continuing to present-day Wood River to set up camp.

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African-American activist Fred Hampton, who led the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party during the civil rights movement of the 1960s, was born in 1948 and raised in the Chicago suburb of Maywood.

Hampton was a bright student who graduated from Proviso East High School in 1966. He attended the YMCA Community College in Chicago and enrolled in the pre-law program at Triton College.

While in college Hampton became in involved in the civil rights movement by joining the West Suburban branch of the NAACP. His skill set was so advanced the branch offered him the position of Youth Council president. As president, Hampton brought hundreds of young people together and made sure the city started catering to the needs of young African-Americans.

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