1.
Waldorf Astoria New York
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The Waldorf Astoria New York is a luxury hotel in Manhattan, New York City. The hotel has housed in two historic landmark buildings in New York. The first, bearing the name, was built in two stages, as the Waldorf Hotel and the Astor Hotel, which accounts for its dual name. That original site was situated on Astor family properties along Fifth Avenue, opened in 1893 and it was demolished in 1929 to make way for the construction of the Empire State Building. The current hotel was the worlds tallest hotel from 1931 until 1963, an icon of glamour and luxury, the current Waldorf Astoria is one of the worlds most prestigious and best known hotels. Waldorf Astoria Hotels and Resorts is a division of Hilton Hotels, on July 1,2016, Anbang announced that it would convert some of the Waldorfs hotel rooms into condominiums, closing the hotel for a three-year renovation on March 1,2017. The Waldorf Astoria and Towers has a total of 1,413 hotel rooms as of 2014, the most expensive room, the Presidential Suite, is designed with Georgian-style furniture to emulate that of the White House. It was the residence of Herbert Hoover from his retirement for over 30 years, the hotel has three main restaurants, Peacock Alley, The Bull and Bear Steak House, and La Chine, a new Chinese restaurant that replaced Oscars Brasserie in late 2015. Sir Harrys Bar, named after British explorer Sir Harry Johnston, is the home of the Rob Roy, the name of the hotel is ultimately derived from the town of Walldorf in Germany, the ancestral home of the prominent German-American Astor family that originated there. The hotel was known as The Waldorf-Astoria with a single hyphen, as recalled by a popular expression and song. The sign was changed to a hyphen, looking similar to an equals sign. The double hyphen visually represents Peacock Alley, the hallway between the two hotels that once stood where the Empire State building now stands today. The use of the hyphen was discontinued by parent company Hilton in 2009. The hotel has since known as the Waldorf Astoria New York, without any hyphen. The original hotel started as two hotels on Fifth Avenue built by feuding relatives, the original hotel stood 225 feet high, with a frontage of about 100 feet on Fifth Avenue, with an area of 69,475 square feet. William Astor, motivated in part by a dispute with his aunt Caroline Webster Schermerhorn Astor, had built the Waldorf Hotel next door to her house, on the site of his fathers mansion. Boldt was described as Mild mannered, undignified, unassuming, resembling a typical German professor with his close-cropped beard which he kept fastidiously trimmed, and his pince-nez glasses on a black silk cord. Boldt continued to own the Bellevue even after his relationship with the Astors blossomed, at first, the Waldorf appeared destined for failure
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New York City
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The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
3.
Bert Lytell
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Bert Lytell, Born Bertram Lytell, he was a popular screen star of the silent film era who starred in romantic, melodrama and adventure films. On stage he was with Marie Dressler in her 1914 Broadway play and he also had success in vaudeville in the 1920s with the one-act play The Valiant. Like many other silent screen stars, Lytells career collapsed after the advent of talking pictures, Lytell was married to the popular silent film actress Claire Windsor from 1924 to 1927. His younger brother Wilfred Lytell was a stage and screen actor. Lytell was President of the famed actors club The Lambs from 1947-1952 and is listed as an Immortal Lambs, Lytell has a star at 6417 Hollywood Avenue in the Motion Picture section of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The Lone Wolf The Trail to Yesterday The Lions Den Lombardi, Ltd
4.
Hiram Sherman
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Hiram Sherman was an American actor. Sherman was born in Boston, Massachusetts and he made his Broadway debut as a playwright with the short-lived comedy Too Much Party in 1934. The farce, directed by William Friedlander, opened at the Theatre Masque on March 5,1934 and it proved to be his sole attempt at writing. Two years later he made his Broadway debut as an actor in the Federal Theatre Projects Horse Eats Hat, additional theatre credits include the inaugural Mercury Theatre productions Caesar and The Shoemakers Holiday, Very Warm for May, Cyrano de Bergerac, Boyds Daughter and Mary, Mary. He won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Twos Company and he appeared in Londons West End as Matthew Cuthbert in the British premiere of Anne of Green Gables. Shermans many television credits include such early anthology series as Kraft Television Theatre, Studio One, The Alcoa Hour, and Hallmark Hall of Fame and a regular role on The Tammy Grimes Show. His feature films included The Solid Gold Cadillac, Mary, Mary, in which he reprised his role in the play, Sherman died of a stroke in Springfield, Illinois. Hiram Sherman at the Internet Broadway Database Hiram Sherman at the Internet Movie Database
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WOR (AM)
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WOR is a 50,000 Watt class A clear-channel, AM station located in New York, New York. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, since 2016, WOR serves as the New York affiliate station for NBC News Radio. WOR serves as the station for the New York Mets and Rutgers Universitys football. WOR is one of the oldest radio stations in New York, the station broadcasts from studios in the Tribeca district of Manhattan at the former AT&T Building, with its transmitter in Rutherford, New Jersey. WOR began broadcasting on February 22,1922, using a 500-watt transmitter on 360 meters from Bambergers Department store in Newark, the stations first broadcast was made with a home made microphone which was a megaphone attached to a telephone transmitter, while Al Jolsons April Showers was played. Bambergers desire to sell radio sets explains why the department store put the station on the air, the WOR call sign was reissued from the U. S. maritime radio service. The call letters have no meaning, being sequentially assigned and they had previously been authorized for use by the ship SS California, owned by the Orient Lines. The station initially operated limited hours, sharing time with two stations, WDT and WJY, which also operated on 833 kHz. WOR changed frequency to 740 kHz. in June 1923 and shared time with WJY until July 1926, when WJY signed off for good and WOR received full use of the frequency. In December 1924, WOR acquired a studio in Manhattan, to many of its programs. On June 17,1927, as a result of General Order 40, WOR moved to 710 kHz, unlike most stations of that era, it was not required to change its dial position due to the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement. Later in 1926, WOR moved from its original New York City studio on the 9th floor of Chickering Hall at 27 West 57th Street to 1440 Broadway, two blocks from Times Square. WOR was first a member of the CBS Radio Network. In partnership with Chicago radio station WGN and Cincinnati radio station WLW, WOR formed the Mutual Broadcasting System in 1934, Mutual was one of the Big Four national radio networks in the United States during the 1930s–1980s. In 1941, the changed its city of license from Newark to New York City. However, for all intents and purposes it had been a New York City station since its early days, in 1957, WOR ended its relationship with Mutual and became an independent station, with Mutuals New York outlet becaming WAAT in Newark. But WOR continued to carry Mutuals Top of the News with Fulton Lewis for 15 minutes each evening, Monday to Friday at 7,00 p. m. for several more years. For a few years in the late-1950s, WOR aired selected St. Louis Cardinals baseball games sponsored by Budweiser due to the departures of the Dodgers, in 1948, WOR put an FM radio station on the air as WOR-FM
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Mutual Broadcasting System
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The Mutual Broadcasting System was an American radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the golden age of U. S. radio drama, Mutual was best known as the network home of The Lone Ranger and The Adventures of Superman. For many years, it was a broadcaster for Major League Baseball, the National Football League. From the mid-1930s and for decades after, Mutual ran a highly respected news service accompanied by a variety of popular commentary shows, during the 1970s, Mutual pioneered the nationwide late night call-in radio show and introduced the country to Larry King. Of the four networks of American radios classic era, Mutual had for decades the largest number of affiliates. For the first 18 years of its existence, Mutual was owned and operated as a cooperative, Mutuals member stations shared their own original programming, transmission and promotion expenses, and advertising revenues. From December 30,1936, when it debuted in the West and its business structure would change after General Tire assumed majority ownership in 1952 through a series of regional and individual station acquisitions. Not long after the sale, one of the new executive teams was charged with accepting money to use Mutual as a vehicle for foreign propaganda. The networks reputation was damaged, but soon rebounded. Attempts at establishing cooperatively owned radio networks had been made since the 1920s, in 1929, a group of four radio stations in the major markets of New York City, Chicago, Cincinnati, and Detroit organized into a loose confederation known as the Quality Network. Five years later, a similar or identical group of stations founded the Mutual Broadcasting System, Mutuals original participating stations were WOR–Newark, New Jersey, just outside New York, WGN–Chicago, WXYZ–Detroit, and WLW–Cincinnati. WOR and WGN, based in the two largest markets and providing the bulk of the programming, were the leaders of the group. On October 29,1934, Mutual Broadcasting System, Inc. was incorporated, with Bamberger, in contrast, the Mutual Broadcasting System was run as a true cooperative venture, with programming produced by and shared between the groups members. The majority of the programming, from WOR and WGN, consisted of musical features. WOR had The Witchs Tale, an anthology series whose hunner-an-thirteen-year-old narrator invited listeners to douse all lights. Now draw up to the fire an gaze into the embers. gaaaaze into em deep, an soon yell be across the seas, in th jungle land of Africa. Hear that chantin and them savage drums, WGN contributed the popular comedy series Lum and Abner. Detroits WXYZ provided The Lone Ranger, which had debuted in 1933 and was already in demand and it is often claimed that Mutual was launched primarily as a vehicle for the Western serial, but Lum and Abner was no less popular at the time
7.
Tony Award
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The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at a ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances, and an award is given for regional theatre, several discretionary non-competitive awards are also given, including a Special Tony Award, the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre, and the Isabelle Stevenson Award. The awards are named after Antoinette Tony Perry, co-founder of the American Theatre Wing, the rules for the Tony Awards are set forth in the official document Rules and Regulations of The American Theatre Wings Tony Awards, which applies for that season only. It also forms the fourth spoke in the EGOT, that is someone who has won all four awards, the Tony Awards are also considered the equivalent of the Laurence Olivier Award in the United Kingdom and the Molière Award of France. From 1997 to 2010, the Tony Awards ceremony was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City in June and broadcast live on CBS television, except in 1999, in 2011 and 2012, the ceremony was held at the Beacon Theatre. From 2013 to 2015, the 67th, 68th, and 69th ceremonies returned to Radio City Music Hall, the 70th Tony Awards were held on June 12,2016 at the Beacon Theatre. The 71st Tony Awards will be held on June 11,2017, as of 2014, there are 24 categories of awards, plus several special awards. Starting with 11 awards in 1947, the names and number of categories have changed over the years, some examples, the category Best Book of a Musical was originally called Best Author. The category of Best Costume Design was one of the original awards, for two years, in 1960 and 1961, this category was split into Best Costume Designer and Best Costume Designer. It then went to a category, but in 2005 it was divided again. For the category of Best Director of a Play, a category was for directors of plays. A newly established non-competitive award, The Isabelle Stevenson Award, was given for the first time at the ceremony in 2009. The award is for an individual who has made a contribution of volunteered time and effort on behalf of one or more humanitarian. The category of Best Special Theatrical Event was retired as of the 2009–2010 season, the categories of Best Sound Design of a Play and Best Sound Design of a Musical were retired as of the 2014-2015 season. Performance categories Show and technical categories Special awards Retired awards The award was founded in 1947 by a committee of the American Theatre Wing headed by Brock Pemberton. The award is named after Antoinette Perry, nicknamed Tony, an actress, director, producer and co-founder of the American Theatre Wing, who died in 1946. As her official biography at the Tony Awards website states, At Jacob Wilks suggestion, proposed an award in her honor for distinguished stage acting, at the initial event in 1947, as he handed out an award, he called it a Tony
8.
Broadway theatre
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Along with Londons West End theatres, Broadway theatres are widely considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. The Theater District is a popular tourist attraction in New York City, the great majority of Broadway shows are musicals. They presented Shakespeare plays and ballad operas such as The Beggars Opera, in 1752, William Hallam sent a company of twelve actors from Britain to the colonies with his brother Lewis as their manager. They established a theatre in Williamsburg, Virginia and opened with The Merchant of Venice, the company moved to New York in the summer of 1753, performing ballad operas and ballad-farces like Damon and Phillida. The Revolutionary War suspended theatre in New York, but thereafter theatre resumed in 1798, the Bowery Theatre opened in 1826, followed by others. Blackface minstrel shows, a distinctly American form of entertainment, became popular in the 1830s, by the 1840s, P. T. Barnum was operating an entertainment complex in lower Manhattan. In 1829, at Broadway and Prince Street, Niblos Garden opened, the 3, 000-seat theatre presented all sorts of musical and non-musical entertainments. In 1844, Palmos Opera House opened and presented opera for four seasons before bankruptcy led to its rebranding as a venue for plays under the name Burtons Theatre. The Astor Opera House opened in 1847, booth played the role for a famous 100 consecutive performances at the Winter Garden Theatre in 1865, and would later revive the role at his own Booths Theatre. Other renowned Shakespeareans who appeared in New York in this era were Henry Irving, Tommaso Salvini, Fanny Davenport, lydia Thompson came to America in 1868 heading a small theatrical troupe, adapting popular English burlesques for middle-class New York audiences. Thompsons troupe called the British Blondes, was the most popular entertainment in New York during the 1868–1869 theatrical season, the six-month tour ran for almost six extremely profitable years. Theatre in New York moved from downtown gradually to midtown beginning around 1850, in 1870, the heart of Broadway was in Union Square, and by the end of the century, many theatres were near Madison Square. Broadways first long-run musical was a 50-performance hit called The Elves in 1857, New York runs continued to lag far behind those in London, but Laura Keenes musical burletta The Seven Sisters shattered previous New York records with a run of 253 performances. It was at a performance by Keenes troupe of Our American Cousin in Washington, the production was a staggering five-and-a-half hours long, but despite its length, it ran for a record-breaking 474 performances. The same year, The Black Domino/Between You, Me and the Post was the first show to call itself a musical comedy, Tony Pastor opened the first vaudeville theatre one block east of Union Square in 1881, where Lillian Russell performed. Comedians Edward Harrigan and Tony Hart produced and starred in musicals on Broadway between 1878 and 1890, with book and lyrics by Harrigan and music by his father-in-law David Braham. They starred high quality singers, instead of the women of repute who had starred in earlier musical forms. Plays could run longer and still draw in the audiences, leading to better profits, as in England, during the latter half of the century, the theatre began to be cleaned up, with less prostitution hindering the attendance of the theatre by women
9.
American Theatre Wing
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The American Theatre Wing, the Wing for short, is a New York City-based organization dedicated to supporting excellence and education in theatre, according to its mission statement. Originally known as the Stage Womens War Relief during World War I, the ATW created and sponsors the Tony Awards in theatrical arts. All were active in Broadway theater as patrons, actors, or both and these seven, when they formed the said organization, initially called it The Stage Womens War Relief. In total, the group raised nearly $7,000,000 for the war effort, with the entry of the United States into the war, the Wing established The Stage Door Canteen to entertain American servicemen. After the war ended, the Wing founded The Community Players to assist war veterans, the Community Players was co-chaired by Katharine Cornell, who was active on the Stage Door Canteen. With the close of the war, the Wing concentrated on holding seminars about American theater, the initial presentation of the Wings Tony Awards program on radio and television was broadcast only locally in New York City. In 1967, it partnered with the League of American Theatres and Producers, now called The Broadway League, from 1965 to 1998, Isabelle Stevenson was the President of the ATW. After retiring, she served as chairwoman of the board of directors until her death in 2003, a special non-competitive Tony Award, for humanitarian or charitable work, is named in her honor, and is called The Isabelle Stevenson Award. It is the Tonyss answer to the Academy Awardss Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, Stevenson was succeeded as chair person by Sondra Gilman and Doug Leeds who served as chairperson and president respectively from 2004-2008, when their 4-year term was completed. They were succeed by Theodore S. Chapin, the current chairman of the board is Tony Award-winning costume designer William Ivy Long. Angela Lansbury currently serves as chairman and Heather A. Hitchens is President
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The Broadway League
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Founded in 1930 primarily to counter ticket speculation and scalping, the Broadway League has expanded its mission and programs over time. The Broadway League has more than 700 members representing the Broadway theatre industry in New York, the League was founded in 1930 as the League of New York Theatres and Producers. It was founded by Broadway theatre operators to further common interests, with the purpose of fighting ticket speculation. In the following years the League expanded its charter several times, in 1938, the League became the official collective bargaining unit representing the theatre owners and producers on Broadway to negotiate labor agreements with unions such as Actors Equity. With the decline of Broadway in the 1980s the League changed its name to the League of American Theatres and Producers, on December 18,2007 the League changed its name to the current name, The Broadway League. The Broadway League also works with the Dramatists Guild of America, a composed of playwrights, composers. Disney Theatrical Group, which owns the New Amsterdam Theatre, also negotiates labor agreements independently, the most recent strike on Broadway occurred in November 2007, when the Broadway League and the stagehands union, Local One of IATSE, failed to come to agreement after months of negotiation. Local One was joined by other Broadway unions such as AEA and SDC and this marked the first strike on Broadway in Local One’s 120-year history, and the strike lasted for 19 days, recording the longest strike on Broadway since 1975. The economic impact of the strike spread beyond the Broadway shows, to restaurants, hotels, gift shops. According to the New York City comptroller’s office, the resulted in $2 million in lost revenue per day in addition to the lost ticket sales. The main conflict in the negotiation was the rules regarding load-ins. However, because the workload differs everyday, many stagehands often just stayed in the theatres with nothing to do, the new contract set the daily minimum during the load-in to 17 stagehands, allowing the producers to hire stagehands based on daily workload. The Local 802 of AFM, the representing the musicians on Broadway, entered into a strike in March 2003 and was joined by other Broadway unions such as AEA. The strike lasted from Friday, March 7,2003, to early Tuesday morning, the focus of the negotiation was the minimum number of musicians required to be employed in Broadway theatres. The labor agreement required 24 to 25 musicians to be employed in largest theatres, under the new agreement, the minimums were reduced to 18 to 19. As a result of lobbying initiatives by the Broadway League, in February 2015, Sen. Charles Schumer and Sen. Under Section 181 of the tax code, U. S. -based film and TV productions are able to immediately expense up to $15 million, the Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Awards, recognize achievement in live American theatre. The Tony Awards are presented by the Tony Award Productions, a joint venture of American Theatre Wing, the awards were founded by the Wing in 1947, and the League started co-presenting them in 1967
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Nanette Fabray
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Nanette Fabray is an American actress, dancer and singer. She began her performing in vaudeville as a child and became a musical theatre actress during the 1940s and 1950s. In the mid-1950s, she served as Sid Caesars comedic partner on Caesars Hour, from 1979 to 1984, she appeared as Grandma Katherine Romano on One Day at a Time. Fabray overcame a significant hearing impairment and has been an advocate for the rights of the deaf. Her honors representing the handicapped include the Presidents Distinguished Service Award, Fabray was born Ruby Bernadette Nanette Fabares in San Diego, California, to Raul Bernard Fabares, a train conductor, and Lily Agnes McGovern, a housewife. The family resided in Los Angeles and Fabrays mother was instrumental in getting her involved in show business as a child. At a young age, she studied tap dancing with, among others and she made her professional stage debut as Miss New Years Eve 1923 at the Million Dollar Theater at the age of three. She spent much of her appearing in vaudeville productions as a dancer and singer. She appeared with such as Ben Turpin. Fabrays parents divorced when she was nine, but continued living together for financial reasons, during the Great Depression, her mother turned their home into a boarding house, which Fabray and her siblings helped run. In her early years, Fabray attended the Max Reinhardt School of the Theatre on a scholarship. She then attended Hollywood High School, where she graduated in 1939 and she entered Los Angeles Junior College in the fall of 1939, but withdrew a few months later. She had always had difficulty in school due to a hearing impairment. She eventually was diagnosed with a loss in her 20s after an acting teacher encouraged her to get her hearing tested. Fabray said of the experience, It was a revelation to me, all these years I had thought I was stupid, but in reality I just had a hearing problem. At the age of 19, Fabray made her film debut as one of Bette Daviss ladies-in-waiting in The Private Lives of Elizabeth. She appeared in two motion pictures that year for Warner Brothers, The Monroe Doctrine and A Child Is Born. She next appeared in the stage production Meet the People in Los Angeles in 1940, in the show, she sang the opera aria Caro nome from Giuseppe Verdis Rigoletto while tap dancing
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Helen Gallagher
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Helen Gallagher is an American actress, dancer, and singer. Born in Brooklyn, she was raised in Scarsdale, New York for several years until the Wall Street crash which heralded the Great Depression and her parents separated and she was raised with an aunt. Gallagher was known for decades as a Broadway performer and she appeared in Make a Wish, Hazel Flagg, Portofino, High Button Shoes, Sweet Charity, and Cry for Us All. In 1952, she won a Tony Award for her work in the revival of Pal Joey, in 1971, she won her second Tony Award for her role in the revival of the musical No, No, Nanette, which also starred Ruby Keeler and Patsy Kelly. Her song and dance number with Bobby Van from that show and she would later take on the role of Sue Smith in the Papermill Playhouse revival of the show, playing the role Keeler played a quarter century earlier. Her first starring role on Broadway came in 1953 as title character Hazel Flagg, the role earned her a feature photo shoot for Life magazine. Gallagher appeared in the 1977 movie Roseland opposite Christopher Walken, an aficionada of Rodgers and Hammerstein, she appeared on a special tribute to Richard Rodgers on The Bell Telephone Hour. She was nominated for five Daytime Emmy Awards for her work on the serial, winning in 1976,1977, at the time she was cast in Ryans Hope, Gallagher taught singing in her home three times a week. Michael Hawkins, who would play the first Frank Ryan, was one of her students, as the show progressed further into the 1980s, the ratings took a steep slide. When ABC executives cancelled Ryans Hope, Claire Labine ended the episode with Maeve at the family bar, Ryans, singing her favorite tune. She has continued to act in various Off-Broadway and professional theater productions, in 1984, Gallagher starred in the title role of Tallulah, a musical stage biography of actress Tallulah Bankhead. She is currently a faculty member at HB Studio, Helen Gallagher at the Internet Broadway Database Helen Gallagher at the Internet Movie Database Helen Gallagher at the Internet Off-Broadway Database Helen Gallagher at Broadway World
13.
Jack Carter (comedian)
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Jack Chakrin, known by his stage name Jack Carter, was an American comedian, actor and television presenter. Brooklyn-born Carter had a comedy act similar to fellow rapid-paced contemporaries Milton Berle. Carter was born in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, New York, Carter served in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. He hosted a television variety program called Cavalcade of Stars on the DuMont Network. He was lured to NBC to host his own program titled The Jack Carter Show, Carter recommended Jackie Gleason take his place as host of Cavalcade of Stars. The Jack Carter Show appeared under the banner of the Saturday Night Revue, Carter hosted his show for one hour each week followed by the 90-minute Your Show of Shows starring Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, and Howard Morris. Carter remained friends with Sid Caesar his entire life and delivered the eulogy at his funeral and his only major Broadway appearance was opposite Sammy Davis, Jr. in the 1956 musical Mr. Wonderful. He had previously replaced Phil Silvers in the Broadway show Top Banana and he was a frequent guest on The Ed Sullivan Show during the 1960s and early 1970s, and was known for his impression of Ed Sullivan. He appeared as himself in the comedy series The Joey Bishop Show, in the late 1960s, he was the host of a game-show pilot called Second Guessers. He was also a frequent panelist on the game show Match Game during the 1973–1974 season. In 1975, he appeared as a guest star on the quiz show $10,000 Pyramid with contestant Liz Hogan Schultz, starting in the 1970s, Carter was on more than 10 Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts for some popular television stars and sports personalities. He made appearances on television series, including Diagnosis, Unknown, The Dick Van Dyke Show. His last round of work included a cameo on New Girl and he was a guest on Norm Macdonalds video podcast, Norm Macdonald Live. As she pulled up, Roxanne saw another car strike her husband, the driver, an unlicensed, uninsured female teen-age valet parker working for Grant Parking Inc. then backed up and hit Toni Murray, who was behind the vehicle. The teen driver then pulled forward and dragged Murray under the car, the accident occurred near the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Argyle Avenue. The collision caused severe injuries to Carter, including head injuries. Toni Murray,86, suffered a back, broken pelvis, internal bleeding and punctured lungs. The Carters later filed a lawsuit in the Los Angeles County Superior Court, against Grant Parking Inc. of Los Angeles, despite having to rely on a cane and a walker for the rest of his life, Carter continued to act occasionally
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Metropolitan Opera
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The Metropolitan Opera, commonly referred to as The Met, is a company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager, the music director position is in transition as of 2016. The music director designate is Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the director emeritus is James Levine. The Met was founded in 1880 as an alternative to the previously established Academy of Music opera house, the Metropolitan Opera is the largest classical music organization in North America. It presents about 27 different operas each year in a season lasts from late September through May. The operas are presented in a rotating schedule with up to seven performances of four different works staged each week. Moving to the new Lincoln Center location in 1966, performances are given in the evening Monday through Saturday with a matinée on Saturday, several operas are presented in new productions each season. Sometimes these are borrowed from or shared with other opera houses, the rest of the years operas are given in revivals of productions from previous seasons. The 2015-16 season comprised 227 performances of 25 operas, the operas in the Mets repertoire consist of a wide range of works, from 18th-century Baroque and 19th-century Bel canto to the Minimalism of the late 20th century. These operas are presented in staged productions that range in style from those with elaborate traditional decors to others that feature modern conceptual designs, the Mets performing company consists of a large symphony-sized orchestra, a chorus, childrens choir, and many supporting and leading solo singers. The company also employs numerous free-lance dancers, actors, musicians, the Mets roster of singers includes both international and American artists, some of whose careers have been developed through the Mets young artists programs. The Metropolitan Opera Company was founded in 1880 to create an alternative to New Yorks old established Academy of Music opera house, the subscribers to the Academys limited number of private boxes represented the highest stratum in New York society. By 1880, these old families were loath to admit New Yorks newly wealthy industrialists into their long-established social circle. Frustrated with being excluded, the Metropolitan Operas founding subscribers determined to build a new house that would outshine the old Academy in every way. A group of some 22 men assembled at Delmonicos restaurant on April 28,1880 and they elected officers and established subscriptions for ownership in the new company. The first Met subscribers included members of the Morgan, Roosevelt, the new Metropolitan Opera House opened on October 22,1883, and was an immediate success, both socially and artistically. The Academy of Musics opera season folded just three years after the Met opened, in its early decades the Met did not produce the opera performances itself but hired prominent manager/impresarios to stage a season of opera at the new Metropolitan Opera House. Henry Abbey served as manager for the season, 1883–84
15.
Mister Roberts (play)
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Mister Roberts is a 1948 play based on the 1946 Thomas Heggen novel of the same name. The novel began as a collection of stories about Heggens experiences aboard the USS Virgo in the South Pacific during World War II. Broadway producer Leland Hayward acquired the rights for the play and hired Heggen, Mister Roberts opened on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre on February 18,1948, starring Henry Fonda, David Wayne, Robert Keith and Jocelyn Brando who replaced Eva Marie Saint before the show opened. Logans brother-in-law, William Harrigan, played the Captain, the original production also featured Harvey Lembeck, Ralph Meeker, Steven Hill, Lee Van Cleef and Murray Hamilton. Fonda got out of a Hollywood film contract in order to star in the Broadway theatre stage production and he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. The production ran for 1,157 performances, Fonda would later reprise his role of Lieutenant Roberts in the 1955 film of the same name. Tyrone Power starred in the London company, john Forsythe appeared in a national touring production. Many actors began their career in productions and touring companies. Fess Parker began his business career in the play, in 1951. Joshua Logans account of his collaboration with Thomas Heggen in the writing of the play is in Logans autobiography, Josh, My Up and Down, In,1948 Tony Award for Best Play History, USNS New Bedford, Sea bird adventure. The Wacky Ship of Mr. Roberts, Sea Classics, USS Virgo, TO Heggen, Author, Found Dead in Bath, The New York Times, May 20,1949. Logan, Joshua, Josh, My Up and Down, In and Out Life, New York, Delacorte Press, Mister Roberts at the Internet Broadway Database Mister Roberts at the Internet Broadway Database 1953 Best Plays radio adaptation of play at Internet Archive
16.
Joshua Logan
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Joshua Lockwood Logan III was an American stage and film director and writer. Logan was born in Texarkana, Texas, the son of Susan, when he was three years old his father committed suicide. Logans mother remarried six years after his fathers death and he then attended Culver Military Academy in Culver, Indiana, at school, he experienced his first drama class and felt at home. After his high school graduation he attended Princeton University, at Princeton, he was involved with the intercollegiate summer stock company, known as the University Players, with fellow student James Stewart and also non-student Henry Fonda. During his senior year he served as president of the Princeton Triangle Club, before his graduation he won a scholarship to travel to Moscow to observe the rehearsals of Konstantin Stanislavski, and Logan left school without a diploma. Logan began his Broadway career as an actor in Carry Nation in 1932 and he then spent time in London, where he stag two productions. And direct a revival of Camille. He also worked as an assistant stage manager, after a short time in Hollywood, Logan directed On Borrowed Time on Broadway. The play ran for a year, but his first major success came in 1938, over the next few years he directed Knickerbocker Holiday, Mornings at Seven, Charlies Aunt, and By Jupiter. In 1942, Logan was drafted by the U. S. Army, during his service in World War II, he acted as a public-relations and intelligence officer. When the war concluded he was discharged with the rank of Captain and he married his second wife, actress Nedda Harrigan, in 1945, Logans previous marriage, to actress Barbara ONeil, a colleague of his at the University Players in the 1930s, had ended in divorce. After the war, Logan directed the Broadway productions Annie Get Your Gun, John Loves Mary, Mister Roberts, South Pacific, with Thomas Heggen, Logan shared the Tony Award in 1948 for writing Mister Roberts. Logan shared the 1950 Pulitzer Prize for Drama with Richard Rodgers, the show also earned him a Tony Award for Best Director. Although the mistakes were corrected, in his autobiography Logan wrote I knew then why people fight so hard to have their names in proper type and its not just ego or the principle of the thing, its possibly another job or a better salary. My name had been so minimized that I lived through years of having people praise South Pacific in my presence without knowing I had had anything to do with it, Logan cowrote, coproduced, and directed the 1952 musical Wish You Were Here. After the show was not initially successful, Logan quickly wrote 54 new pages of material, in its fourth week of release, the show sold out, and continued to offer sell-out performances for the next two years. When director John Ford became sick, Logan reluctantly returned to Hollywood to complete the filming of Mister Roberts, Logans other hit films included Picnic, Bus Stop, Sayonara, and South Pacific. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Directing for Picnic, in 1961, he was a member of the jury at the 2nd Moscow International Film Festival
17.
The Importance of Being Earnest
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The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St Jamess Theatre in London and its high farce and witty dialogue have helped make The Importance of Being Earnest Wildes most enduringly popular play. The successful opening night marked the climax of Wildes career but also heralded his downfall, the Marquess of Queensberry, whose son Lord Alfred Douglas was Wildes lover, planned to present the writer with a bouquet of rotten vegetables and disrupt the show. Wilde was tipped off and Queensberry was refused admission, soon afterwards their feud came to a climax in court, where Wildes homosexual double life was revealed to the Victorian public and he was eventually sentenced to imprisonment. His notoriety caused the play, despite its success, to be closed after 86 performances. After his release, he published the play from exile in Paris, the Importance of Being Earnest has been revived many times since its premiere. It has been adapted for the cinema on three occasions, after the success of Wildes plays Lady Windermeres Fan and A Woman of No Importance, Wildes producers urged him to write further plays. In July 1894 he mooted his idea for The Importance of Being Earnest to George Alexander, Wilde spent the summer with his family at Worthing, where he wrote the play quickly in August. His fame now at its peak, he used the working title Lady Lancing to avoid pre-emptive speculation of its content. Many names and ideas in the play were borrowed from people or places the author had known, Lady Queensberry, Lord Alfred Douglass mother, for example, lived at Bracknell. Wilde continually revised the text over the months, no line was left untouched. In revising as he did, Wilde transformed standard nonsense into the more systemic, richard Ellmann argues that Wilde had reached his artistic maturity and wrote this work more surely and rapidly than before. When Henry Jamess Guy Domville failed, Alexander turned to Wilde, Alexander began his usual meticulous preparations, interrogating the author on each line and planning stage movements with a toy theatre. In the course of these rehearsals Alexander asked Wilde to shorten the play from four acts to three, Wilde agreed and combined elements of the second and third acts. The largest cut was the removal of the character of Mr. Gribsby, Algernon, who is posing as Ernest, will be led away to Holloway Jail unless he settles his accounts immediately. Jack finally agrees to pay for Ernest, everyone thinking that it is Algernons bill when in fact it is his own, the four-act version was first played on the radio in a BBC production and is still sometimes performed. Peter Raby argues that the structure is more effective. The play was first produced at the St Jamess Theatre on Valentines Day 1895 and it was freezing cold but Wilde arrived dressed in florid sobriety, wearing a green carnation
18.
Henry Fonda
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Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor with a career spanning more than five decades. Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor and he also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins. Throughout six decades in Hollywood, Fonda cultivated a strong, appealing screen image in such classics as The Ox-Bow Incident, Fonda was the patriarch of a family of famous actors, including daughter Jane Fonda, son Peter Fonda, granddaughter Bridget Fonda, and grandson Troy Garity. His family and close friends called him Hank, in 1999, he was named the sixth-Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute. Fondas ancestors from Genoa, Italy, migrated to the Netherlands in the 15th century, in 1642, a branch of the Fonda family immigrated to the Dutch colony of New Netherland on the East Coast of North America. They were among the first Dutch population to settle in what is now upstate New York, establishing the town of Fonda, by 1888, many of their descendants had relocated to Nebraska. Henry Fonda was born in Grand Island, Nebraska, to advertising-printing jobber William Brace Fonda, Fonda was brought up as a Christian Scientist, though he was baptized an Episcopalian at St. Stephens Episcopal Church in Grand Island. He said, My whole damn family was nice and they were a close family and highly supportive, especially in health matters, as they avoided doctors due to their religion. Despite having a background, he later became an agnostic. Fonda was a bashful, short boy who tended to avoid girls, except his sisters, and was a skater, swimmer. He worked part-time in his fathers print plant and imagined a career as a journalist. Later, he worked after school for the phone company, Fonda was active in the Boy Scouts of America, Teichmann reports that he reached the rank of Eagle Scout. When he was about 14, his father took him to observe the lynching of a black man accused of rape. This enraged the young Fonda and he kept a keen awareness of prejudice for the rest of his life, by his senior year in high school, Fonda had grown to more than six feet tall, but remained shy. He attended the University of Minnesota, where he majored in journalism and he took a job with the Retail Credit Company. He was fascinated by the stage, learning everything from set construction to stage production, Fonda decided to quit his job and go East in 1928 to seek his fortune. He arrived on Cape Cod and played a role at the Cape Playhouse in Dennis. A friend took him to Falmouth, MA where he joined and quickly became a member of the University Players
19.
Paul Kelly (actor)
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Paul Michael Kelly was an American stage, film and television actor. His career survived a manslaughter conviction, tied to a sex scandal, born in Brooklyn, New York to a Roman Catholic family of Irish descent, Paul Michael Kelly was the ninth of ten children. His father owned a saloon, Kellys Kafe, in the shadow of Vitagraph Studios, on E. 14th St. in Midwood, after his fathers death, he began his career as a child actor at age 7 and was appearing on the stage. In 1911, Kelly began making silent films at age 12 with the Vitagraph Studios, which was based in Brooklyn, and where he was billed as Master Paul Kelly. Kelly was possibly the first male actor to be given any starring roles in American films, predating better remembered child stars such as Bobby Connelly. Kelly made his film debut in 1933s Broadway Through a Keyhole. In the course of his career, and relatively short life, it has estimated that Kelly worked on stage, screen. Later in his career, as an adult, Kelly appeared in films mostly as a character actor playing tough guys — some sympathetic. Kelly alternated between stage and screen as an actor and he was a handsome and popular male lead or costar in Broadway plays from the late 1910s and throughout the 1920s. In 1948, Kelly won a Best Actor Tony Award for his role in Command Decision, clark Gable later played the same role in the film version of the play. Kelly shared the award with Henry Fonda for Mister Roberts and Basil Rathbone for The Heiress and he served 25 months for manslaughter at San Quentin prison for the death of actor Ray Raymond, a few days after the men had a physical confrontation. On April 16,1927, a drunk Kelly confronted a drunk Raymond over Kellys affair with and love for Raymonds wife, Raymond was no match for Kelly, who bashed Raymonds head against a wall until he fell unconscious. The incident was witnessed by Raymonds daughter, Valerie, and the maid, Mackaye arrived home to tuck her groggy husband into bed. The next morning, Mackaye called a friend, Dr. Walter Sullivan, Raymond lingered for two days then succumbed to a brain hemorrhage. At his trial, Kelly contended that Raymond had started the fight, years later, Kelly played the part of San Quentin Warden Clinton Duffy in Duffy of San Quentin. Mackaye had denied claims in court that she had been involved with Kelly before Raymonds death. She was not charged with perjury but with felony conspiracy for the attempted coverup, Kelly was sentenced to up to 10 years but served only 25 months. Kelly and Mackaye married in 1931 and were back on Broadway, then they returned to California, where Valerie Raymond was apparently adopted by her stepfather and became known as Mimi Kelly
20.
Basil Rathbone
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Philip St. John Basil Rathbone was a South African-born English actor. He rose to prominence in the United Kingdom as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in more than 70 films, primarily costume dramas, swashbucklers and, occasionally, horror films. Rathbone frequently portrayed suave villains or morally ambiguous characters, such as Mr. Murdstone in David Copperfield and his most famous role, however, was heroic — that of Sherlock Holmes in fourteen Hollywood films made between 1939 and 1946 and in a radio series. His later career included roles on Broadway, as well as self-ironic film and he received a Tony Award in 1948 as Best Actor in a Play. He was also nominated for two Academy Awards and won three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Rathbone was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, to British parents. His mother, Anna Barbara, was a violinist, and his father, Edgar Philip Rathbone, was a mining engineer and he had two older half-brothers, Harold and Horace, as well as two younger siblings, Beatrice and John. Basil was the great-grandson of the noted Victorian philanthropist, William Rathbone V, the Rathbones fled to Britain when Basil was three years old after his father was accused by the Boers of being a spy after the Jameson Raid. He was a distant cousin of Major Henry Rathbone, who was present at the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and was wounded trying to stop John Wilkes Booth. Rathbone attended Repton School in Derbyshire from 1906–1910, where he excelled at sports. Thereafter, he was employed by the Liverpool and Globe Insurance Companies. In October 1912, he went to the United States with Bensons company, playing such parts as Paris in Romeo and Juliet, Fenton in The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Silvius in As You Like It. Returning to Britain, he made his first appearance in London at the Savoy Theatre on 9 July 1914 and that December, he appeared at the Shaftesbury Theatre as the Dauphin in Henry V. During 1915, he toured with Benson and appeared with him at Londons Court Theatre in December as Lysander in A Midsummer Nights Dream, Rathbones younger brother John was killed in action on 4 June 1918. It was after this that Rathbone convinced his superiors to him to scout enemy positions during daylight rather than at night. Rathbone describes it thus in his autobiography Camouflage suits had been made for us to resemble trees, on our heads were wreaths of freshly plucked foliage, our faces and hands were blackened with burnt cork. As a result of highly dangerous daylight reconnaissance patrols in September 1918, he was awarded the Military Cross for conspicuous daring. Richard Van Emden in his book Famous 1914-18 speculates that this extreme bravery may have been a form of guilt or a need for following his brothers death. Two letters written by Rathbone to his family serving in the war have recently come to light
21.
Judith Anderson
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Dame Judith Anderson, AC, DBE was an Australian-born British actress who had a successful career in stage, film and television. A preeminent stage actress in her era, she won two Emmy Awards and a Tony Award and was nominated for a Grammy Award and an Academy Award. She is considered one of the 20th-centurys greatest classical stage actors, Frances Margaret Anderson was born in 1897 in Adelaide, South Australia, to Jessie Margaret and James Anderson Anderson. She attended a school, Norwood. She began acting in Australia before moving to New York in 1918, Anderson established herself as a dramatic actress of note, making several appearances in Shakespearean plays. She maintained her name as her legal name, never legally taking the forename Judith as per the California Death Index registry. She made her debut in 1915, playing Stephanie at the Theatre Royal, Sydney. Leading the company was the Scottish actor Julius Knight whom she credited with laying the foundations of her acting skills. In the company were some American actors who convinced Anderson to try her luck in the United States and she travelled to California but was unsuccessful, then moved to New York, with an equal lack of success. After a period of poverty and illness, she work with the Emma Bunting Stock Company at the Fourteenth Street Theatre in 1918–19. She toured with stock companies until 1922 when she made her Broadway debut in On the Stairs using her true name. One year later, she had changed her acting forename to Judith and had her first triumph with the play Cobra co-starring Louis Calhern and she toured Australia in 1927 with three plays, Tea for Three, The Green Hat and Cobra. By the early 1930s, she had established herself as one of the most prominent theatre actresses of her era, in 1931, she played the Unknown Woman in the American premiere of Pirandellos As You Desire Me, filmed the following year with Greta Garbo in the same role. In 1936, Anderson played Gertrude to John Gielguds Hamlet in a production which featured Lillian Gish as Ophelia. In 1937, she joined the Old Vic Company in London and played Lady Macbeth opposite Laurence Olivier in a production by Michel Saint-Denis, at the Old Vic and the New Theatre. In 1942–43, she played Olga in Chekhovs Three Sisters, in a production also featured Katharine Cornell, Ruth Gordon, Edmund Gwenn, Dennis King. The production was so illustrious, it made it to the cover of Time, in 1947, she triumphed as Medea in a version of Euripides tragedy, written by the poet Robinson Jeffers and produced by John Gielgud, who played Jason. She was a friend of Jeffers and a frequent visitor to his home Tor House in Carmel and she won the Tony Award for Best Actress for her performance
22.
Medea
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In Greek mythology, Medea was the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, niece of Circe, granddaughter of the sun god Helios, and later wife to the hero Jason. In Euripides play Medea, Jason abandons Medea when Creon, king of Corinth, the play tells of Medea avenging her husbands betrayal by killing their children. Medea figures in the myth of Jason and the Argonauts, a known best from a late literary version worked up by Apollonius of Rhodes in the 3rd century BC. Medea is known in most stories as an enchantress, and is depicted as a priestess of the goddess Hecate or a witch. The myth of Jason and Medea is very old, originally written around the time Hesiod wrote the Theogony, Medeas role began after Jason came from Iolcus to Colchis, to claim his inheritance and throne by retrieving the Golden Fleece. In a familiar mythic motif, Aeëtes promised to him the fleece. Next, Jason had to sow the teeth of a dragon in the field, and the teeth sprouted into an army of warriors, Jason was forewarned by Medea, however. Unable to determine where the rock had come from, the attacked and killed each other. Finally, Aeëtes made Jason fight and kill the dragon that guarded the fleece. Jason then took the fleece and sailed away with Medea, as he had promised, Apollonius says that Medea only helped Jason in the first place because Hera had convinced Aphrodite or Eros to cause Medea to fall in love with him. Medea distracted her father as they fled by killing her brother Absyrtus, during the fight, Atalanta, a member of the group helping Jason in his quest for the fleece, was seriously wounded, but Medea healed her. According to some versions, Medea and Jason stopped on her aunt Circes island so that she could be cleansed after murdering her brother, relieving her of blame for the deed. On the way back to Thessaly, Medea prophesied that Euphemus, the helmsman of Jasons ship and this came true through Battus, a descendant of Euphemus. The Argo then reached the island of Crete, guarded by the bronze man, Talos had one vein which went from his neck to his ankle, bound shut by a single bronze nail. According to Apollodorus, Talos was slain either when Medea drove him mad with drugs, deceived him that she would make him immortal by removing the nail, or was killed by Poeass arrow. In the Argonautica, Medea hypnotized him from the Argo, driving him mad so that he dislodged the nail, ichor flowed from the wound, after Talos died, the Argo landed. Jason, celebrating his return with the Golden Fleece, noted that his father Aeson was too aged, Medea withdrew the blood from Aesons body, infused it with certain herbs, and returned it to his veins, invigorating him. The daughters of king Pelias saw this and wanted the same service for their father, while Jason searched for the Golden Fleece, Hera, who was still angry at Pelias, conspired to make Jason fall in love with Medea, whom Hera hoped would kill Pelias
23.
Katharine Cornell
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Katharine Cornell was an American stage actress, writer, theater owner and producer. She was born in Berlin to American parents and raised in Buffalo, Cornell is noted for her major Broadway roles in serious dramas, often directed by her husband, Guthrie McClintic. The couple formed a company, which gave them complete artistic freedom in choosing and producing plays. Their production company gave first or prominent Broadway roles to some of the notable actors of the 20th century. Cornell was noted for spurning screen roles, unlike other actresses of her day, appearing in only one Hollywood film, Stage Door Canteen, Cornell is regarded as one of 20th century Broadways greatest leading ladies. Cornells most famous role was as English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning in the 1931 Broadway production of The Barretts of Wimpole Street. She appeared in one film, the World War II morale booster Stage Door Canteen, in which she played herself and, along with one of the soldiers, recited a speech from Romeo. She did appear in adaptations of The Barretts of Wimpole Street. She also narrated the Oscar-winning documentary Helen Keller in Her Story, primarily regarded as a tragedienne, she was admired for her refined, romantic presence. One reviewer observed, Hers is not a robust romanticism, however and it tends toward dark but delicate tints, and the emotion she conveys most aptly is that of an aspiring girlishness which has always been subject to theatrical influences of a special sort. Her appearances in comedy were infrequent, and praised widely for their warmth than their wit. When she appeared in The Constant Wife, critic Brooks Atkinson concluded that she had changed a hard, Cornell died on June 9,1974, in Tisbury, Massachusetts, aged 81. Cornell was born into a prominent, wealthy Buffalo society family and her great-grandfather, Samuel Garretson Cornell, a descendant of pioneer ancestor Thomas Cornell, came to Buffalo in the 1850s, and founded Cornell Lead Works. One of his grandsons, Peter, married Alice Gardner Plimpton, who gave birth to Katharine in Berlin, six months later, they returned to Buffalo and lived at 174 Mariner Street in Buffalo, New York. As a child, her relationship with her parents was troubled and she play-acted in her backyard with imaginary friends. Soon, she was performing in school pageants and plays, and she would watch family productions in her grandfathers attic theater and she played at the Buffalo Studio Club parlor theater, located at 508 Franklin St. She loved athletics and was a runner-up for city championship at tennis, and she attended the University of Buffalo. After Cornell had become famous, she would bring her productions to her native Buffalo
24.
Antony and Cleopatra
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Antony and Cleopatra is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The play was performed first circa 1607 at the Blackfriars Theatre or the Globe Theatre by the Kings Men and its first appearance in print was in the Folio of 1623. The major antagonist is Octavius Caesar, one of Antonys fellow triumvirs of the Second Triumvirate, many consider Shakespeares Cleopatra, whom Antony describes as having infinite variety, as one of the most complex and fully developed female characters in the playwrights body of work. She is frequently vain and histrionic enough to provoke an audience almost to scorn, at the time, Shakespeare invests her. These contradictory features have led to famously divided critical responses and it is difficult to classify Antony and Cleopatra as belonging to a single genre. It can be described as a play, as a tragedy, as a comedy, as a romance, and according to some critics, e. g. McCarter. All one can say with certainty is that it is a Roman play, even a sequel to another of Shakespeares tragedies, Julius Caesar. Mark Antony – one of the triumvirs of the Roman Republic, along with Octavius and Lepidus – has neglected his duties after being beguiled by Egypts Queen. He ignores Romes domestic problems, including the fact that his third wife Fulvia rebelled against Octavius, Octavius calls Antony back to Rome from Alexandria to help him fight against Sextus Pompey, Menecrates, and Menas, three notorious pirates of the Mediterranean. At Alexandria, Cleopatra begs Antony not to go, and though he repeatedly affirms his deep love for her. The triumvirs meet in Rome, where Antony and Octavius put to rest, for now, Octavius general, Agrippa, suggests that Antony should marry Octaviuss sister, Octavia, in order to cement the friendly bond between the two men. Antonys lieutenant Enobarbus, though, knows that Octavia can never satisfy him after Cleopatra, a soothsayer warns Antony that he is sure to lose if he ever tries to fight Octavius. In Egypt, Cleopatra learns of Antonys marriage to Octavia and takes revenge upon the messenger that brings her the news. She grows content only when her courtiers assure her that Octavia is homely, short, low-browed, round-faced, before battle, the triumvirs parley with Sextus Pompey, and offer him a truce. He can retain Sicily and Sardinia, but he must help them rid the sea of pirates and they engage in a drunken celebration on Sextus galley, though the austere Octavius leaves early and sober from the party. Menas suggests to Sextus that he kill the three triumvirs and make himself ruler of the Roman Republic, but he refuses, finding it dishonourable, after Antony departs Rome for Athens, Octavius and Lepidus break their truce with Sextus and war against him. This is unapproved by Antony, and he is furious, Antony returns to Alexandria and crowns Cleopatra and himself as rulers of Egypt and the eastern third of the Roman Republic. He accuses Octavius of not giving him his share of Sextus lands, and is angry that Lepidus
25.
Jessica Tandy
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Jessica Tandy was a British stage and film actress. She appeared in over 100 stage productions and had more than 60 roles in film, born in London to Jessie Helen Horspool and commercial traveller Harry Tandy, she was only 18 when she made her professional debut on the London stage in 1927. During the 1930s, she appeared in a number of plays in Londons West End, playing roles such as Ophelia. During this period, she worked in a couple of British films. Following the end of her marriage to the British actor Jack Hawkins, she moved to New York in 1940 and he became her second husband and frequent partner on stage and screen. She received the Tony Award for best performance by a Leading Actress in A Play for her performance as Blanche Dubois in the original Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire in 1948, Tandy shared the prize with Katharine Cornell and Judith Anderson in a three-way tie for the award. Over the following three decades, her career continued sporadically and included a role in Alfred Hitchcocks horror film, The Birds. Along with Cronyn, she was a member of the acting company of the Guthrie Theater. In the mid-1980s she had a career revival and she appeared with Cronyn in the Broadway production of Foxfire in 1983 and its television adaptation four years later, winning both a Tony Award and an Emmy Award for her portrayal of Annie Nations. During these years, she appeared in such as Cocoon. At the height of her success, she was named as one of Peoples 50 Most Beautiful People and she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1990, and continued working until shortly before her death. The youngest of three siblings, Tandy was born in Geldeston Road in Hackney, London and her father, Harry Tandy, was a travelling salesman for a rope manufacturer. Her mother, Jessie Helen Horspool was the head of a school for handicapped children who was from a large fenland family in Wisbech. Her father died when Tandy was 12, and her mother subsequently taught evening courses to earn an income and her brother Edward was later a prisoner of war of the Japanese in the Far East. Tandy was educated at Dame Alice Owens School in Islington, Tandy began her career at the age of 18 in London, establishing herself with performances opposite such actors as Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud. She entered films in Britain, but after her marriage to Jack Hawkins failed, during her time as a leading actress on the stage in London she often had to fight for roles over her two rivals, Peggy Ashcroft and Celia Johnson. In 1942, she married Hume Cronyn and over the years played supporting roles in several Hollywood films. Tandy became a citizen of the United States in 1952
26.
A Streetcar Named Desire
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A Streetcar Named Desire is a 1947 play written by American playwright Tennessee Williams that received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948. The play opened on Broadway on December 3,1947, and closed on December 17,1949, the Broadway production was directed by Elia Kazan and starred Jessica Tandy, Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, and Kim Hunter. The London production opened in 1949 with Bonar Colleano, Vivien Leigh, the drama A Streetcar Named Desire is often regarded as among the finest plays of the 20th century, and is considered by many to be one of Williams greatest. Blanche is in her thirties, and with no money, she has nowhere else to go, Blanche tells Stella that she has taken a leave of absence from her English teaching position because of her nerves. Blanche laments the shabbiness of her sister’s two-room flat and she finds Stanley loud and rough, eventually referring to him as common. Stanley, in return, does not care for Blanches manners, Stanley later questions Blanche about her earlier marriage. Blanche had married when she was young, but her husband died, leaving her widowed. The memory of her dead husband causes Blanche some obvious distress, Stanley, worried that he has been cheated out of an inheritance, demands to know what happened to Belle Reve, once a large plantation and the DuBois family home. Blanche hands over all the documents pertaining to Belle Reve, while looking at the papers, Stanley notices a bundle of letters that Blanche emotionally proclaims are personal love letters from her dead husband. For a moment, Stanley seems caught off guard over her proclaimed feelings, afterwards, he informs Blanche that Stella is going to have a baby. The night after Blanche’s arrival, during one of Stanley’s poker parties, Blanche meets Mitch and his courteous manner sets him apart from the other men. Their chat becomes flirtatious and friendly, and Blanche easily charms him, suddenly becoming upset over multiple interruptions, Stanley explodes in a drunken rage and strikes Stella. Blanche and Stella take refuge with the neighbor, Eunice. When Stanley recovers, he cries out from the courtyard below for Stella to come back by calling her name until she comes down. After Stella returns to Stanley, Blanche and Mitch sit at the bottom of the steps in the courtyard, Blanche is bewildered that Stella would go back with him after such violence. The next morning, Blanche rushes to Stella and describes Stanley as an animal, though Stella assures Blanche that she. Stanley overhears the conversation but keeps silent, when Stanley comes in, Stella hugs and kisses him, letting Blanche know that her low opinion of Stanley does not matter. As the weeks pass, Blanche and Stanley continue to not get along, Blanche has hope in Mitch, and tells Stella that she wants to go away with him and not be anyone’s problem
27.
Paul Hartman
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Paul Hartman was an American dancer, stage performer and television character actor. Born in San Francisco, California, Hartman, like Fred Astaire, along with Grace, Paul made his Broadway debut in Ballyhoo of 1932 alongside Bob Hope, but the show was not a success. The two found success with Cole Porters Red Hot and Blue a few later, and continued to flourish on the Great White Way. The main premise of their act involved the crisp and witty Grace overwhelming the gangly, slackjawed Paul, intermittently cut with dance numbers and musical comedy routines. The Hartmans success led them to Hollywood, but Paul only saw limited success there, most prominently appearing alongside Frank Sinatra, upon the Hartmans return to Broadway, they resolved to take charge and write their own revue. Their 1948 play, Angel in the Wings, was a smash success, Paul and Grace returned to Broadway, where they spent three years in a number of variety shows and revues. Hartmans wife Grace was diagnosed cancer in 1952. Television and Hollywood had once again risen to the top of the entertainment world, and the convenience of television shooting, Hartman began appearing in the 1953-1954 ABC situation comedy, The Pride of the Family, as Albie Morrison, the father and head of the household. Fay Wray, best known for King Kong, played his wife, Catherine, in 1957, Hartman returned one last time to Broadway, but then past fifty, he tired of the hectic stage life. He continued to play bit parts in movies and television throughout the rest of his life, most famously as handyman Emmett Clark on CBSs The Andy Griffith Show and he was cast in the 1960 film, Inherit the Wind. In 1967, he appeared with Robert Morse in the version of How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. Hartman died from an attack in Los Angeles at the age of sixty-nine. Paul Hartman at Find a Grave Paul Hartman at the Internet Broadway Database Paul Hartman at the Internet Movie Database
28.
June Lockhart
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June Lockhart is an American actress, primarily in 1950s and 1960s television, also with performances on stage and in film. She played the mother in two TV series, Lassie and Lost in Space and she also portrayed Dr. Janet Craig on the CBS television sitcom Petticoat Junction. She is a two-time Emmy Award nominee and a Tony Award winner and her grandfather was John Coates Lockhart, a concert-singer. She attended the Westlake School for Girls in Beverly Hills, California, Lockhart made her film debut opposite her parents in a film version of A Christmas Carol, in 1938. She also played supporting parts in films including Meet Me in St. Louis, Sergeant York, All This, Lockhart played the title role in She-Wolf of London. Lockhart debuted on stage at the age of eight, playing Mimsey in Peter Ibbetson, in 1947, her acting in For Love or Money brought her out of her parents shadow and gained her notice as a promising movie actress in her own right. One newspaper article began, June Lockhart has burst on Broadway with the suddenness of an unpredicted comet, in 1951, Lockhart starred in Lawrence Rileys biographical play Kin Hubbard opposite Tom Ewell. In 1955, Lockhart appeared in an episode of CBSs Appointment with Adventure, about this time, she also made several appearances on NBCs legal drama Justice, based on case files of the Legal Aid Society of New York. In the late 1950s, Lockhart guest-starred in several popular television Westerns including, Wagon Train and Cimarron City on NBC and Gunsmoke, Have Gun – Will Travel, and Rawhide on CBS. Lockhart is best known for her roles as TV mothers, first as Ruth Martin, the wife of Paul Martin, and she replaced actress Cloris Leachman, who, in turn, had replaced Jan Clayton - who had played a similar character earlier in the series. Following her five-year run on Lassie Lockhart made a guest appearance on Perry Mason as defendant Mona Stanton Harvey in The Case of the Scandalous Sculptor. Lockhart then starred as Dr. Maureen Robinson in Lost in Space, in 1965, Lockhart played librarian Ina Coolbrith, first poet laureate of California, in the episode Magic Locket of the syndicated western series, Death Valley Days, hosted by Ronald W. Reagan. In the storyline, Coolbrith develops a friendship with the teenaged Dorita Duncan. The two have identical portions of a broken locket, sean McClory played the poet Joaquin Miller, author of Songs of the Sierras. Lockhart would then appear as Dr, in 1986, she appeared in the fantasy film, Troll. The younger version of her character in film was played by her daughter. They had previously played the woman at two different ages in the Lest We Forget episode of the television series Magnum, P. I. In 1991, Lockhart appeared as Miss Wiltrout, Michelle Tanners kindergarten teacher on the TV sitcom Full House and she also had a cameo in the 1998 film Lost in Space, based on the television series she had starred in thirty years earlier
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James Whitmore
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James Allen Whitmore Jr. was an American film, theatre, and television actor. During his extensive career, Whitmore won a Tony, Grammy, Golden Globe, and an Emmy and he is one of only 20 performers to win three of the four EGOT honors. Born in White Plains, New York, to Florence Belle and James Allen Whitmore and he went on to study at Yale University, but he had to quit playing football after severely injuring his knees. After giving up football, he turned to the Yale Dramatic Society, while at Yale, he was a member of Skull and Bones, and was among the founders of the Yale radio station. Whitmore planned on becoming a lawyer and graduated with a major in government from Yale University, when World War II broke out, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserves while finishing his degree. He graduated from Yale University in 1944, then served in the United States Marine Corps in the South Pacific, after World War II, Whitmore studied acting at the American Theatre Wing and the Actors Studio in New York. At this time, Whitmore met his first wife Nancy Mygatt and they married in 1947, and the couple had three sons before their divorce in 1971. The eldest son, James III, found success as an actor and director under the name James Whitmore. The second son, Stephen, became the spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department. The youngest son, Daniel, was a Forest Service Snow Ranger and firefighter before he launched his own construction company, in 1979, Whitmore and Mygatt remarried, but they divorced again after two years. Whitmore was married to actress Audra Lindley from 1972 until 1979 and he co-starred in several stage performances with her both during and after their marriage. These included Elba, William Gibson’s Handy Dandy, and Tom Cole’s About Time, in 2001, he married actress and author Noreen Nash. Whitmore is the grandfather of Survivor, Gabon contestant Matty Whitmore, in 2010, James Whitmore, Jr. and his two children, actress-director Aliah Whitmore and artist-production designer Jacob Whitmore, formed the theatre group Whitmore Eclectic. They perform in Los Angeles, California, in his later years, Whitmore spent his summers in Peterborough, New Hampshire, performing with the Peterborough Players. Although not always politically active, in 2007, Whitmore generated some publicity with his endorsement of Barack Obama for U. S. President. In January 2008, Whitmore appeared in commercials for the First Freedom First campaign. An avid flower and vegetable gardener, Whitmore was also known to TV viewers as the commercial pitchman for Miracle-Gro garden products. Following World War II, Whitmore appeared on Broadway in the role of the sergeant in Command Decision, metro-Goldwyn-Mayer gave Whitmore a contract, but his role in the film adaptation was played by Van Johnson
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Jerome Robbins
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Jerome Robbins was an American choreographer, director, dancer, and theater producer who worked in classical ballet, on Broadway, and in films and television. He received two Academy Awards, including the 1961 Academy Award for Best Director with Robert Wise for West Side Story, Robbins was born Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz in the Jewish Maternity Hospital at 270 East Broadway on Manhattan’s Lower East Side – a neighborhood populated by many immigrants. The Rabinowitz family lived in an apartment house at 51 East 97th Street at the northeast corner of Madison Avenue. Known as Jerry to those close to him, Robbins was given a name that reflected his parents patriotic enthusiasm for the then-president. In the early 1920s, the Rabinowitz family moved to Weehawken and his father and uncle opened the Comfort Corset Company in Union City, New Jersey. The family had many business connections, including vaudeville performers. In the 1940s, their name was changed to Robbins. Robbins began studying dance in high school with Alys Bentley. Said Robbins later, What gave me immediately was the freedom to make up my own dances without inhibition or doubts. ”After graduation he went to study chemistry at New York University but dropped out after a year for financial reasons. He joined the company of Senya Gluck Sandor, a exponent of expressionistic modern dance. While a member of Sandor’s company Robbins made his debut with the Yiddish Art Theater. Robbins had also begun creating dances for Tamiment’s Revues, some comic and some dramatic, topical, one such dance, later also performed in New York City at the 92nd Street Y, was “Strange Fruit, ” set to the song performed indelibly by Billie Holiday. In 1946, Robbins joined Ballet Theatre, Robbins created and performed in Fancy Free, a ballet about sailors on liberty, at the Metropolitan Opera as part of the Ballet Theatre season in 1944. One of Fancy Frees inspirations was Paul Cadmus 1934 painting The Fleets In, however, Robbins scenario was more lighthearted than the painting. Robbins commissioned a score for the ballet from the then-unknown Leonard Bernstein, with Fancy Free, Robbins created a dance that integrated classic ballet, 1940’s social dancing, and a screwball plotline. Later that year, Robbins conceived and choreographed On the Town, a musical inspired by Fancy Free. Bernstein wrote the music and Smith designed the sets, the book and lyrics were by a team that Robbins would work with again, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and the director was the Broadway legend George Abbott. Because Robbins, as choreographer, insisted that his chorus reflect the diversity of a New York City crowd