1.
Waldorf Astoria New York
–
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
2.
New York City
–
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.
Broadway theatre
–
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
4.
Metropolitan Opera
–
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
5.
The Importance of Being Earnest
–
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
6.
Henry Fonda
–
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
7.
Medea
–
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
8.
Katharine Cornell
–
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
9.
Antony and Cleopatra
–
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
10.
A Streetcar Named Desire
–
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
11.
June Lockhart
–
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
12.
Jerome Robbins
–
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
