If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, WWD may receive an affiliate commission. Sandra Powers Murphy cut her teeth on Wall Street, started her own broker-dealer, published a book on marketing consulting, and otherwise stayed about as far away from the footwear industry as one can. Then, the mother of six experienced an awakening — in the form of a work trip to New York. ”It was 7:00 p.m., and I really wanted to catch the last train back to Boston. It was pouring rain and there were no cabs, if you can imagine a time before Uber, and I was like, ‘The only way I’m making this train is by taking off my shoes and running the 10 blocks,'” Murphy tells Footwear News. “Which is literally what I did, and when I got to Penn Station, I thought, ‘Oh my God. I probably just gave myself meningitis.’ How is this possibly what women were stuck dealing with? ...
William Franklyn-Miller didn’t initially think he — a young British actor — was cut out to portray George Washington in a biopic. ”When I got the audition, I was like, ‘There’s no way they’re gonna give it to an English guy,’” says Franklyn-Miller, the star of “Young Washington.” “But technically, he was part of the colony — so he was British at the start, even though he was born in what would become the United States.” Franklyn-Miller stars as George Washington in the coming-of-age biopic, which focuses on the founding father’s experiences pre-Revolutionary War. The film centers on his rise to leadership, and missteps, during the French and Indian War. “Young Washington” premiered at the Tribeca Festival ahead of its wide release Friday, timed to Independence Day weekend during America’s semiquincentennial year. Franklyn-Miller was recently in New York for an extended stretch of time, accompanied by his sister and brother, fo...