|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||
|
Small
Town Boy Makes Good in Showbiz!
|
|
|
A Hollywood
screenwriter could not have written it better. Col. Barney Oldfield, with
his roots
firmly in Nebraska topsoil, made it big in Hollywood, and paved the way
for many young dreamers. |
|
 |
Storytellers
|
|
Beginning
back in the early 1930's, Barney and his wife Vada, in their movie reviews,
radio shows and interviews with Hollywood royalty became a connection
to the world of showbiz
even before they left Nebraska. With his reports for Variety and his appearances
in Ripley's Believe It or Not and on Lux Radio Theatre from California,
Barney began to get a taste of Hollywood from the inside. |
|
|
WWII
|
|
|
Both
the Oldfields were important communicators for the military
during World War II, Vada as teletype operator and Barney as a parachuting
press relations man who among other things started the infamous Berlin
Press Club. |
|
|
Giving
Back
|
|
The
Oldfields' lives after the war took them to 81 countries and every continent,
and friendships
with movie
stars, Presidents and Heavyweight Champs, but they never lost
track of their Nebraska roots. In the 1950's, they settled in Beverly
Hills, and began focusing on helping young people through educational
philanthropy.
The Oldfields' generosity is creating scholarships and
other opportunities for hundreds of new communicators and storytellers
for centuries to come. Their "Living Memorializations" are innovative
links between the future and the past that ensure that Nebraska heroes
will never be forgotten. |
|
|
Still
at Work
|
|
| Vada
died of Alzheimer's in 1999 and Barney passed on recently, but their
work continues even today through the Vada Kinman-Oldfield Alzheimer's
Research Fund and the numerous scholarships/grants they established.
Even though their recognizable, physical forms have dissapeared
from our presence, they have a left a Living Legacy that will continue
for generations to come. If you'd like to assist Barney and Vada with
their work from 'The Great Beyond', please see the donation information
in the Contact area. |
|
|
The
Nebraska Coast Connection invites you to take a tour of the Oldfields'
Life and Adventures.
|
|
|
|
© 2000 Oldfields.org All rights reserved
