1.
One Thousand and One Nights
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One Thousand and One Nights is a collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian stories and folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the Arabian Nights, from the first English-language edition, the work was collected over many centuries by various authors, translators, and scholars across West, Central, and South Asia and North Africa. The tales themselves trace their roots back to ancient and medieval Arabic, Persian, Mesopotamian, Indian, Jewish, the stories proceed from this original tale, some are framed within other tales, while others begin and end of their own accord. Some editions contain only a few hundred nights, while others include 1,001 or more, the bulk of the text is in prose, although verse is occasionally used for songs and riddles and to express heightened emotion. Most of the poems are single couplets or quatrains, although some are longer, the main frame story concerns Shahryār, whom the narrator calls a Sasanian king ruling in India and China. Shahryār begins to marry a succession of only to execute each one the next morning. Eventually the vizier, whose duty it is to provide them, Scheherazade, the viziers daughter, offers herself as the next bride and her father reluctantly agrees. On the night of their marriage, Scheherazade begins to tell the king a tale, the king, curious about how the story ends, is thus forced to postpone her execution in order to hear the conclusion. The next night, as soon as she finishes the tale, she begins a new one, so it goes on for 1,001 nights. The tales vary widely, they include historical tales, love stories, tragedies, comedies, poems, burlesques, numerous stories depict jinns, ghouls, apes, sorcerers, magicians, and legendary places, which are often intermingled with real people and geography, not always rationally. The different versions have different individually detailed endings but they all end with the giving his wife a pardon. The narrators standards for what constitutes a cliffhanger seem broader than in modern literature, the history of the Nights is extremely complex and modern scholars have made many attempts to untangle the story of how the collection as it currently exists came about. Most scholars agreed that the Nights was a work and that the earliest tales in it came from India and Persia. At some time, probably in the early 8th century, these tales were translated into Arabic under the title Alf Layla and this collection then formed the basis of The Thousand and One Nights. The original core of stories was quite small, then, in Iraq in the 9th or 10th century, this original core had Arab stories added to it – among them some tales about the Caliph Harun al-Rashid. Devices found in Sanskrit literature such as stories and animal fables are seen by some scholars as lying at the root of the conception of the Nights. Indian folklore is represented in the Nights by certain animal stories, the influence of the Panchatantra and Baital Pachisi is particularly notable. The Jataka Tales are a collection of 547 Buddhist stories, which are for the most part moral stories with an ethical purpose
2.
Folklore
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Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. These include oral traditions such as tales, proverbs and jokes and they include material culture, ranging from traditional building styles to handmade toys common to the group. Folklore also includes customary lore, the forms and rituals of celebrations like Christmas and weddings, folk dances, each one of these, either singly or in combination, is considered a folklore artifact. Just as essential as the form, folklore also encompasses the transmission of these artifacts from one region to another or from one generation to the next, for folklore is not taught in a formal school curriculum or studied in the fine arts. Instead these traditions are passed along informally from one individual to another either through verbal instruction or demonstration, the academic study of folklore is called folkloristics. To fully understand folklore, it is helpful to clarify its component parts and it is well-documented that the term was coined in 1846 by the Englishman William Thoms. He fabricated it to replace the contemporary terminology of popular antiquities or popular literature, the second half of the compound word, lore, proves easier to define as its meaning has stayed relatively stable over the last two centuries. Coming from Old English lār instruction, and with German and Dutch cognates, it is the knowledge and traditions of a particular group, the concept of folk proves somewhat more elusive. When Thoms first created this term, folk applied only to rural, frequently poor, a more modern definition of folk is a social group which includes two or more persons with common traits, who express their shared identity through distinctive traditions. Folk is a concept which can refer to a nation as in American folklore or to a single family. This expanded social definition of folk supports a view of the material, i. e. the lore. These now include all things people make with words, things they make with their hands, Folklore is no longer circumscribed as being chronologically old or obsolete. The folklorist studies the traditional artifacts of a group and how they are transmitted. Transmission is a part of the folklore process. Without communicating these beliefs and customs within the group over space and time, for folklore is also a verb. These folk artifacts continue to be passed along informally, as a rule anonymously, the folk group is not individualistic, it is community-based and nurtures its lore in community. As new groups emerge, new folklore is created… surfers, motorcyclists, in direct contrast to high culture, where any single work of a named artist is protected by copyright law, folklore is a function of shared identity within the social group. Having identified folk artifacts, the professional folklorist strives to understand the significance of these beliefs, customs, for these cultural units would not be passed along unless they had some continued relevance within the group
3.
Aladdin
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Aladdin is a Middle Eastern folk tale. Aladdin is an impoverished young neer-do-well dwelling in one of the cities of China, the sorcerers real motive is to persuade young Aladdin to retrieve a wonderful oil lamp from a booby-trapped magic cave. After the sorcerer attempts to him, Aladdin finds himself trapped in the cave. Fortunately, Aladdin is still wearing a ring the sorcerer has lent him. When he rubs his hands in despair, he rubs the ring. When his mother tries to clean the lamp, so they can sell it to buy food for their supper, with the aid of the genie of the lamp, Aladdin becomes rich and powerful and marries Princess Badroulbadour, the sultans daughter. The genie builds Aladdin and his bride a wonderful palace, far more magnificent than the sultans, the sorcerer hears of Aladdins good fortune, and returns, he gets his hands on the lamp by tricking Aladdins wife by offering to exchange new lamps for old. He orders the genie of the lamp to take the palace, along all its contents. Fortunately, Aladdin still has the ring and is able to summon the lesser genie. The sorcerers more powerful and evil brother plots to destroy Aladdin for killing his brother by disguising himself as an old woman known for her healing powers, Badroulbadour falls for his disguise and commands the woman to stay in her palace in case of any illnesses. Aladdin is warned of danger by the genie of the lamp. Everyone lives happily ever after, Aladdin eventually succeeding to his father-in-laws throne, Gallands diary records that he met the Maronite scholar, by name Youhenna Diab, who had been brought from Aleppo to Paris by Paul Lucas, a celebrated French traveller. Gallands diary also tells that his translation of Aladdin was made in the winter of 1709–10 and it was included in his volumes ix and x of the Nights, published in 1710. One was written by a Syrian Christian priest living in Paris, named Dionysios Shawish, the other is supposed to be a copy Mikhail Sabbagh made of a manuscript written in Baghdad in 1703. It was purchased by the Bibliothèque Nationale at the end of the nineteenth century, however, modern scholars such as Muhsin Mahdi and Husain Haddawy claim that both manuscripts are forgeries—back-translations of Gallands text into Arabic. The opening sentences of the story, in both the Galland and the Burton versions, set it in China and imply, at least, on the other hand, there is practically nothing in the rest of the story that is inconsistent with a Persian or Arabian setting. A Jewish merchant buys Aladdins wares, but there is no mention of Buddhists or Confucians, of course, Chinas ethnic makeup has long included Muslim groups, including large populations of the Hui people whose origins go back to Silk Road travellers. In addition, large communities of Muslim Chinese have been known since the Tang Dynasty, some commentators have even suggested that the story might be set in Turkestan
4.
Donald Duck
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Donald Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions. Donald is a white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs. He typically wears a shirt and cap with a bow tie. Donald is most famous for his speech and his mischievous. Along with his friend Mickey Mouse, Donald is one of the most popular Disney characters and was included in TV Guides list of the 50 greatest cartoon characters of all time in 2002. He has appeared in more films than any other Disney character, Donald Duck rose to fame with his comedic roles in animated cartoons. Donalds first appearance was in 1934 in The Wise Little Hen, throughout the next two decades, Donald appeared in over 150 theatrical films, several of which were recognized at the Academy Awards. In the 1930s, he appeared as part of a comic trio with Mickey. These films introduced Donalds love interest Daisy Duck and often included his three nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, after the 1956 film Chips Ahoy, Donald appeared primarily in educational films before eventually returning to theatrical animation in Mickeys Christmas Carol. His most recent appearance in a film was 1999s Fantasia 2000. Donald has also appeared in features such as Mickey, Donald, Goofy, The Three Musketeers, television series such as Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Beyond animation, Donald is primarily known for his appearances in comics, Donald was most famously drawn by Al Taliaferro, Carl Barks, and Don Rosa. Barks, in particular, is credited for expanding the Donald Duck universe, the world in which Donald lives. Donald has been a popular character in Europe, particularly in Nordic countries where his weekly magazine Donald Duck & Co was the most popular comics publication from the 1950s to 2009. Disney comics fandom is sometimes referred to as Donaldism, a term originated in Norway. The origins of Donald Ducks name may have inspired by Australian cricket legend Donald Bradman. In 1932 Bradman and the Australian team were touring North America, Walt Disney was in the process of creating a friend for Mickey Mouse when he possibly read about Bradmans dismissal in the papers and decided to name the new character Donald Duck. Voice performer Clarence Nash auditioned for Walt Disney Studios when he learned that Disney was looking for people to create animal sounds for his cartoons, Disney was particularly impressed with Nashs duck imitation and chose him to voice the new character
5.
Bing Crosby
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Harry Lillis Bing Crosby, Jr. was an American singer and actor. The first multimedia star, from 1931 to 1954 Crosby was a leader in sales, radio ratings. His early career coincided with technical recording innovations such as the microphone and this allowed him to develop a laid-back, intimate singing style that influenced many of the popular male singers who followed him, including Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Dick Haymes, and Dean Martin. Also in 1948, the Music Digest estimated that Crosby recordings filled more than half of the 80,000 weekly hours allocated to recorded radio music, in 1963, Crosby received the first Grammy Global Achievement Award. He is one of only 33 people to have three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in the categories of motion pictures, radio, Crosby influenced the development of the postwar recording industry. He became the first performer to pre-record his radio shows and master his commercial recordings onto magnetic tape. In addition to his work with early tape recording, he helped to finance the development of videotape, bought television stations, bred racehorses, Crosby died at the age of 74 on October 14,1977, from a sudden heart attack in Alcobendas, Spain. Crosby was born on May 2,1903 in Tacoma, Washington, in 1906, Crosbys family moved to Spokane, and in 1913, Crosbys father built a house at 508 E. Sharp Avenue. The house now sits on the campus of Crosbys alma mater Gonzaga University and he was the fourth of seven children, brothers Larry, Everett, Ted, and Bob, and two sisters, Catherine and Mary Rose. His parents were Harry Lowe Crosby, Sr. a bookkeeper, Crosbys mother was a second generation Irish-American. In 1910, seven-year-old Harry Crosby Jr. was forever renamed, the Sunday edition of the Spokesman-Review published a feature called The Bingville Bugle. Written by humorist Newton Newkirk, The Bingville Bugle was a parody of a hillbilly newsletter filled with gossipy tidbits, minstrel quips, creative spelling, and mock ads. A neighbor, 15-year-old Valentine Hobart, shared Crosbys enthusiasm for The Bugle, and noting Crosbys laugh, took a liking to him, eventually, the last vowel was dropped and the nickname stuck. Crosby later described Jolsons delivery as electric, Crosby graduated from Gonzaga High School in 1920 and enrolled at Gonzaga University. He attended Gonzaga for three years, but did not earn a bachelors degree, as a freshman, he played on the universitys baseball team. The university granted him a doctorate in 1937. In 1923, Crosby was invited to join a new band composed of school students a few years younger than himself. Al Rinker, Miles Rinker, James Heaton, Claire Pritchard and Robert Pritchard, along with drummer Crosby, formed the Musicaladers, the group performed on Spokane radio station KHQ, but disbanded after two years
6.
Hanna-Barbera
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Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated American television animation for over three decades in the mid 20th century. In late 1966, it was sold to Taft Broadcasting and spent two decades as its subsidiary and it is officially considered the very first major animation studio to successfully produce cartoons exclusively for television. For their achievements, Hanna and Barbera together won seven Academy Awards, eight Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, the pair was also inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1993. Hanna-Barberas fortunes declined in the mid-1980s when the profitability of Saturday morning cartoons was eclipsed by weekday afternoon syndication, in late 1991, the animation studio was purchased from Taft by Turner Broadcasting System, who used much of its back catalog to program its new channel, Cartoon Network. After Turner purchased the company, Hanna and Barbera continued to serve as creative consultants, Turner merged with Time Warner in 1996 and the studio became a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Animation, into which Hanna-Barbera was absorbed after Hanna died in 2001, Cartoon Network Studios continued the projects for the channels output. Barbera went on to work for Warner Bros, Animation until his death in 2006. As of 2017, the studio exists as a unit used to market properties and productions associated with the Hanna-Barbera library. Melrose, New Mexico native William Hanna and New York City-born of Italian heritage Joseph Barbera first met while working at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio in 1939. Their first directorial production and collaboration was the Academy Award-nominated Puss Gets the Boot, Hanna and Barbera served as directors of the shorts for over 20 years, with Barbera in charge of the stories and pre-production and Hanna in charge of supervising the animation. Hanna also provided the screams, yelps and yells for Tom Cat, in addition to the series being nominated for twelve more Oscars, seven of the cartoons won the Academy Award for Best Short Subject between 1943 and 1953. The trophies were awarded to their producer Fred Quimby, who was not involved in the development of the shorts. In addition to their work on the cartoons, the two men moonlighted on outside projects, including the title sequences and commercials for the CBS sitcom I Love Lucy. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer decided in early 1957 to close its cartoon studio, as it felt it had acquired a reasonable backlog of shorts for re-release, Hanna and Barbera, contemplating their future while completing the final Tom and Jerry cartoons, began producing animated TV commercials. During their last year at MGM, they developed a concept for an animated TV program about a dog, a coin toss determined that Hanna would have precedence in the naming the new studio. Harry Cohn, president and head of Columbia Pictures, took an 18 percent ownership in Hanna and Barberas new company, H-B Enterprises, Screen Gems became the new studios distributor and its licensing agent, handling merchandizing of the characters from the animated programs. Sidney and several Screen Gems alumni became members of the board of directors. H-B Enterprises was one of the first American cartoon studios to produce cartoons specifically for TV broadcast
7.
VHS
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The Video Home System is a standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes. Developed by Victor Company of Japan in the early 1970s, it was released in Japan in late 1976, from the 1950s, magnetic tape video recording became a major contributor to the television industry, via the first commercialized video tape recorders. At that time, the devices were used only in professional environments such as television studios. In the 1970s, videotape entered home use, creating the video industry and changing the economics of the television. The television industry viewed videocassette recorders as having the power to disrupt their business, in the 1980s and 1990s, at the peak of VHSs popularity, there were videotape format wars in the home video industry. Two of the formats, VHS and Betamax, received the most media exposure, VHS eventually won the war, dominating 60 percent of the North American market by 1980 and emerging as the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period. Optical disc formats later began to better quality than analog consumer video tape such as standard. The earliest of these formats, LaserDisc, was not widely adopted, however, after the introduction of the DVD format in 1997, VHSs market share began to decline. By 2008, DVD had replaced VHS as the preferred method of distribution. After several attempts by other companies, the first commercially successful VTR, at a price of US$50,000 in 1956, and US$300 for a 90-minute reel of tape, it was intended only for the professional market. Kenjiro Takayanagi, a broadcasting pioneer then working for JVC as its vice president, saw the need for his company to produce VTRs for the Japan market. In 1959, JVC developed a video tape recorder. In 1964, JVC released the DV220, which would be the companys standard VTR until the mid-1970s, in 1969 JVC collaborated with Sony Corporation and Matsushita Electric in building a video recording standard for the Japanese consumer. The effort produced the U-matic format in 1971, which was the first format to become a unified standard, U-matic was successful in business and some broadcast applications, but due to cost and limited recording time very few of the machines were sold for home use. Soon after, Sony and Matsushita broke away from the collaboration effort, Sony started working on Betamax, while Matsushita started working on VX. JVC released the CR-6060 in 1975, based on the U-matic format, Sony and Matsushita also produced U-matic systems of their own. In 1971, JVC engineers Yuma Shiraishi and Shizuo Takano put together a team to develop a consumer-based VTR, by the end of 1971 they created an internal diagram titled VHS Development Matrix, which established twelve objectives for JVCs new VTR. These included, The system must be compatible with any television set
8.
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis
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The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from September 29,1959, to June 5,1963. Shulman also wrote a film adaptation of his Dobie Gillis stories for MGM in 1953. Dobie Gillis is significant as the first American television program produced for a network to feature teenagers as leading characters. In other series, such as Father Knows Best and Leave It to Beaver, an even earlier 1954 series, Meet Corliss Archer, featured teenagers in leading roles and aired in syndication. Dobie Gillis broke ground by depicting elements of the counterculture, particularly the Beat Generation, Series star Dwayne Hickman would later say that Dobie represented “the end of innocence of the 1950s before the oncoming 1960s revolution”. He did not have any of these qualities in abundance, also constantly in question, by Dobie and others, was Dobies future, as the boy proved to be a poor student and an aimless drifter. His partner-in-crime was American televisions first beatnik, Maynard G. Krebs, an enthusiastic fan of jazz music, Maynard plays the bongos, collects tinfoil and petrified frogs, and steers clear of romance, authority figures, and work. Always speaking with the vernacular and slang of the beatniks and jazz musicians he admired, Dobie Gillis is set in Central City, a fictitious city in the Midwestern United States. Dobies often apoplectic father, Herbert T. Gillis, whom no one called Herb, Dobies mother, Winifred, was a usually calm and serene woman who protected Dobie to the best of her ability. As a high-school student, Dobie lived at home with his parents in the early years. Winnie Gillis once made an equivalent comment about Zelda, who was being difficult, the Gillis family also originally included an older son, Davey Gillis, who made three appearances during the first season while home on break from college before being written out of the show. Dobies two main antagonists were rich kids Milton Armitage, who appeared in five episodes, and, after Beattys departure, Chatsworth Osborne, doris Packer played Clarissa Osborne, Chatsworths overbearing and snobbish mother. Dobie was hopelessly attracted to the beautiful, but unfailingly avaricious and acquisitive. Weld returned as a slightly chastened Thalia for a guest appearance in a later season, Zelda Gilroy was a brilliant and eager young girl, hopelessly in love with Dobie, much to his annoyance. Zelda did not find Dobie particularly attractive, but fell in love him because she found him helpless and needing of her care. Despite his protests, Dobie was clearly fond of Zelda, and Zelda claimed Dobie loved her but just had not realized it yet. To prove this, she would wrinkle her nose at Dobie, Dobie and Zelda would later appear as a middle-aged married couple in the two spin-off Dobie Gillis reunion projects of the 1970s/1980s. Leander Pomfritt was Dobies English and science teacher at Central High School, often finding himself frustrated with the less-than-studious team of Dobie and Maynard, Mr. Pomfritt nevertheless had concern for the boys and took time out to help them with their problems
9.
Jinn
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Jinn, also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies, are supernatural creatures in early Arabian and later Islamic mythology and theology. An individual member of the jinn is known as a jinni, djinni and they are mentioned frequently in the Quran and other Islamic texts. The jinn, humans, and angels make up the three known sapient creations of God, like human beings, the jinn can be good, evil, or neutrally benevolent and hence have free will like humans. Jaini were among various creatures believe among pre-Zoroastrian peoples of Persia, Jinn is an Arabic collective noun deriving from the Semitic root JNN, whose primary meaning is to hide. Some authors interpret the word to mean, literally, beings that are concealed from the senses, cognates include the Arabic majnūn, jannah, and janīn. Jinn is properly treated as a plural, with the singular being jinni, the anglicized form genie is a borrowing of the French génie, from the Latin genius, a guardian spirit of people and places in Roman religion. It first appeared in 18th-century translations of the Thousand and One Nights from the French, numerous mentions of jinn in the Quran and testimony of both pre-Islamic and Islamic literature indicate that the belief in spirits was prominent in pre-Islamic Bedouin religion. Julius Wellhausen has observed that such spirits were thought to inhabit desolate, dingy, and dark places, One had to protect oneself from them, but they were not the objects of a true cult. In Islamic theology jinn are said to be creatures with free will, made from fire by God as humans were made of clay. When jinns are called fire spirits it´s does not refer to their current nature, Jinn are mentioned 29 times in the Quran, Surah 72 is named after the jinn, and has a passage about them. Another surah mentions jinn in the last verse, the Quran also mentions that Muhammad was sent as a prophet to both humanity and the jinn, and that prophets and messengers were sent to both communities. Like humans, jinn will also be judged on the Day of Judgment, the social organization of the jinn community resembles that of humans, e. g. they have kings, courts of law, weddings, mourning rituals and practise religion. One common belief in Muslim belief lists five distinct orders of jinn — the Marid, the Ifrit, the Shaitan, the Ghul, and the Jann. A few traditions, divide jinn into three classes, those who have wings and fly in the air, those who resemble snakes and dogs, described them as creatures of different forms, some resembling vultures and snakes, others tall men in white garb. They may even appear as dragons, onagers, or any number of other animals, in addition to their animal forms, the jinn occasionally assume human form to mislead and destroy their human victims. Ibn Taymiyyah, a late medieval theologian whose writings would later become the source of Wahhabism, believed the jinn to be generally ignorant, untruthful, oppressive. In Sūrat Al-Jinn, verses 8–10, Allah narrates concerning the jinn how they touched or sought the limits of the sky and found it full of guards and shooting stars. Seven kings of the Jinn are traditionally associated with days of the week, the notion of a qarin is not universally accepted among all Muslims, but it is generally accepted that Shayṭān whispers in human minds, and he is assigned to each human being
10.
Jim Backus
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James Gilmore Jim Backus was an American radio, television, film, and voice actor. Among his most famous roles were the voice of nearsighted cartoon character Mr and he also starred in his own show of one season, The Jim Backus Show, also known as Hot Off the Wire. An avid golfer, Backus made the 36-hole cut at the 1964 Bing Crosby Pro-Am tournament, james Gilmore Backus was born February 25,1913, in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised in Bratenahl, Ohio, a wealthy village surrounded by greater Cleveland. He was the son of Russell Gould Backus, a mechanical engineer, Backus attended Shaw High School in East Cleveland, Ohio. Backus was expelled from the Kentucky Military Institute for riding a horse through the mess hall, Backus was acting on radio as early as 1940, playing the role of millionaire aviator Dexter Hayes on Society Girl on CBS. He also made appearances on The Beverly Hillbillies and he was also judge Bradley Stevens in I Married Joan from 1952-1955. Backus was the voice of the cartoon character Mr. Magoo. Years later, when Backus was a frequent talk show guest, henny Backus, Jims wife, recalled the story, “Jim was in the 1952 film Don’t Bother to Knock, with Marilyn Monroe. He came home one night during the filming and told me that Miss Monroe in her most seductive breathy voice asked him to meet her in her dressing room and his curiosity got the better of him and he went. Once there, she exclaimed like a child, ‘Do Mr. Magoo. ’ And Jim did. Backus costarred in the comedy show I Married Joan from 1952 to 1955, in stark contrast to his usual affluent characters, he appeared on The Brady Bunch as an old gold prospector, a role he also played on a Gilligans Island episode. He also appeared in the season episode The Hustler in which he plays Mikes boss. Backus stayed with Gilligans Island between 1964 and 1967 and did revivals of the TV series in TV films made between 1978 and 1981. He also did revivals of Mr. Magoo from 1964 to 1977, in 1977, Backus appeared in Never Con a Killer, the pilot for the ABC crime drama The Feather and Father Gang. He also co-wrote the 1971 family film Mooch Goes to Hollywood, in the late 1950s, he made two novelty 45 rpm records, Delicious and Cave Man. Backus also played the voice of God in the recording of Truth of Truths, Backus acted in several television commercials. As Mr. Magoo, he also helped advertise the General Electric line of products over the years and he was also spokesman for La-Z-Boy furniture during the 1970s. In the late 1980s, he was reunited with former co-star Natalie Schafer in an advertisement for Orville Redenbachers popcorn and they reprised their roles from Gilligans Island, but instead of still being shipwrecked, the setting was a luxurious study or den
11.
Columbia Pictures
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The studio was founded in 1918 as Cohn-Brandt-Cohn Film Sales by brothers Jack and Harry Cohn and Jacks best friend Joe Brandt, released its first feature film in August 1922. It adopted the Columbia Pictures name in 1924, and went public two years later and its name is derived from Columbia, a national personification of the United States, which is used as the studios logo. In its early years, it was a player in Hollywood. With Capra and others, Columbia became one of the homes of the screwball comedy. In the 1930s, Columbias major contract stars were Jean Arthur, in the 1940s, Rita Hayworth became the studios premier star and propelled their fortunes into the late 1950s. Rosalind Russell, Glenn Ford, and William Holden also became major stars at the studio, in 1982, the studio was purchased by The Coca-Cola Company, and launched TriStar Pictures as a joint venture with HBO and CBS. Five years later, Coca-Cola spun off Columbia, which was sold to Tri-Star, after a brief period of independence with Coca-Cola maintaining a financial interest, the combined studio was acquired by Sony in 1989. It is one of the film studios in the world. It was one of the so-called Little Three among the eight major film studios of Hollywoods Golden Age, Brandt was president of CBC Film Sales, handling sales, marketing and distribution from New York along with Jack Cohn, while Harry Cohn ran production in Hollywood. The studios early productions were short subjects, Screen Snapshots, the Hall Room Boys. The start-up CBC leased space in a Poverty Row studio on Hollywoods famously low-rent Gower Street, among Hollywoods elite, the studios small-time reputation led some to joke that CBC stood for Corned Beef and Cabbage. Brandt eventually tired of dealing with the Cohn brothers, and sold his stake to Harry Cohn. In an effort to improve its image, the Cohn brothers renamed the company Columbia Pictures Corporation on January 10,1924, Cohn remained head of production as well, thus concentrating enormous power in his hands. He would run Columbia for the next 34 years, the second-longest tenure of any studio chief, even in an industry rife with nepotism, Columbia was particularly notorious for having a number of Harry and Jacks relatives in high positions. Humorist Robert Benchley called it the Pine Tree Studio, because it has so many Cohns, Columbias product line consisted mostly of moderately budgeted features and short subjects including comedies, sports films, various serials, and cartoons. Columbia gradually moved into the production of higher-budget fare, eventually joining the tier of Hollywood studios along with United Artists. Like United Artists and Universal, Columbia was an integrated company. It controlled production and distribution, it did not own any theaters, helping Columbias climb was the arrival of an ambitious director, Frank Capra
12.
Kathryn Crosby
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Kathryn Crosby is an American former actress and singer who performed in films under the stage-names Kathryn Grant and Kathryn Grandstaff. Born Olive Kathryn Grandstaff in Houston, Texas, she graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1955, two years later she became Bing Crosbys second wife, being more than thirty years his junior. The couple had three children, Harry, Mary Frances, and Nathaniel and she appeared as a guest star on her husbands 1964–1965 ABC sitcom The Bing Crosby Show. She largely retired after their marriage, but did have a role in the courtroom drama Anatomy of a Murder. In the mid-1970s, she hosted The Kathryn Crosby Show, a 30-minute local talk-show on KPIX-TV in San Francisco, husband Bing appeared as a guest occasionally. Since Bing Crosbys death in 1977, she has taken on a few smaller roles, for 16 years ending in 2001, Crosby hosted the Crosby National Golf Tournament at Bermuda Run Country Club in Bermuda Run, North Carolina. A nearby bridge carrying U. S. Route 158 over the Yadkin River is named for Kathryn Crosby. On November 4,2010, Crosby was seriously injured in an accident in the Sierra Nevada that killed her 85-year-old second husband, Maurice William Sullivan
