1.
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
2.
Saratoga Springs, New York
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Saratoga Springs is a city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 26,586 at the 2010 census, the name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the area, which has made Saratoga a popular resort destination for over 200 years. The city is just north of Albany, in the heart of New Yorks Capital Region, Saratoga Springs was ranked tenth in the list of the top 10 places to live in New York State for 2014 according to the national online real estate brokerage Movoto. The picturesque area was occupied by the Algonquian-speaking Mahican Indians before they were pushed out by European settlement and they eventually moved east and became allied with other remnant peoples and became known as the Stockbridge Indians, as they settled near Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The British built Fort Saratoga in 1691 on the west bank of the Hudson River, the current village of Schuylerville was settled about a mile south by British colonists shortly after the fort, it was known as Saratoga until 1831. In 1767, William Johnson, a British soldier who was a hero of the French and they treated his war wounds, as the spring was thought to have medicinal properties. Now known as High Rock Spring, it may still be visited today, in 1756 Johnson had been appointed British Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the Northeast region due to his success in building alliances with the Mohawk and other Iroquois tribes. He had learned the language, and created many trading relationships and he achieved great wealth from trading and landholdings, and was knighted for his service to the Crown with the Iroquois. The first permanent European-American settler built a dwelling about 1776, the springs attracted tourists, and Gideon Putnam built the first hotel for travelers. Putnam also laid out the roads and donated land for use as public spaces, the Battle of Saratoga, the turning point of the Revolutionary War, did not take place in Saratoga Springs. Rather, the battlefield is 15 miles to the southeast in the Town of Stillwater, a museum dedicated to the two battles is located on the fields where the battles were fought. The British encampment before the surrender at Saratoga took place 10 miles east of the city, in Schuylerville, the surrender of the sword of battle took place where Fort Saratoga had been, south of Schuylerville. Saratoga Springs was established as a settlement in 1819 from a portion of the Town of Saratoga. Its principal community was incorporated as a village in 1826 and the region became a city in 1915. Tourism was greatly aided after 1832 by the arrival of the Saratoga and Schenectady Railroad, Resort hotels developed to accommodate them. In the 19th century, the noted doctor Simon Baruch encouraged developing European-style spas in the United States as centers for health. With its wealth of waters, Saratoga Springs was developed as a spa, generating the development of many large hotels, including the United States Hotel. The latter was, in its day, the largest hotel in the world, in 1863, Saratoga Race Course opened, moving to its current location the following year
3.
Yale University
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Yale University is an American private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701 in Saybrook Colony to train Congregationalist ministers, it is the third-oldest institution of education in the United States. The Collegiate School moved to New Haven in 1716, and shortly after was renamed Yale College in recognition of a gift from British East India Company governor Elihu Yale. Originally restricted to theology and sacred languages, the curriculum began to incorporate humanities and sciences by the time of the American Revolution. In the 19th century the school introduced graduate and professional instruction, awarding the first Ph. D. in the United States in 1861 and organizing as a university in 1887. Yale is organized into fourteen constituent schools, the undergraduate college, the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. While the university is governed by the Yale Corporation, each schools faculty oversees its curriculum, the universitys assets include an endowment valued at $25.4 billion as of June 2016, the second largest of any U. S. educational institution. The Yale University Library, serving all constituent schools, holds more than 15 million volumes and is the third-largest academic library in the United States, Yale College undergraduates follow a liberal arts curriculum with departmental majors and are organized into a social system of residential colleges. Almost all faculty teach courses, more than 2,000 of which are offered annually. Students compete intercollegiately as the Yale Bulldogs in the NCAA Division I – Ivy League, Yale has graduated many notable alumni, including five U. S. Presidents,19 U. S. Supreme Court Justices,20 living billionaires, and many heads of state. In addition, Yale has graduated hundreds of members of Congress,57 Nobel laureates,5 Fields Medalists,247 Rhodes Scholars, and 119 Marshall Scholars have been affiliated with the University. Yale traces its beginnings to An Act for Liberty to Erect a Collegiate School, passed by the General Court of the Colony of Connecticut on October 9,1701, the Act was an effort to create an institution to train ministers and lay leadership for Connecticut. Soon thereafter, a group of ten Congregationalist ministers, Samuel Andrew, Thomas Buckingham, Israel Chauncy, Samuel Mather, the group, led by James Pierpont, is now known as The Founders. Originally known as the Collegiate School, the institution opened in the home of its first rector, Abraham Pierson, the school moved to Saybrook, and then Wethersfield. In 1716 the college moved to New Haven, Connecticut, the feud caused the Mathers to champion the success of the Collegiate School in the hope that it would maintain the Puritan religious orthodoxy in a way that Harvard had not. Cotton Mather suggested that the school change its name to Yale College, meanwhile, a Harvard graduate working in England convinced some 180 prominent intellectuals that they should donate books to Yale. The 1714 shipment of 500 books represented the best of modern English literature, science, philosophy and it had a profound effect on intellectuals at Yale. Undergraduate Jonathan Edwards discovered John Lockes works and developed his original theology known as the new divinity
4.
Niles Crane
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Niles Crane is a fictional character on the American sitcom Frasier, a spin-off of the popular show Cheers. He was portrayed by David Hyde Pierce, Niles is the younger brother of Dr. Frasier Crane, the son of Det. Pierce was hired because Frasier producers saw his headshot and commented on how much he looked like a young Kelsey Grammer, unlike Frasier, part of whose background comes from Cheers, Niles background is established over the course of Frasier. Pierce described Niles as what Frasier would be if he had never gone to Boston, Niles was born in Seattle, Washington, in 1957, to Hester Crane, a psychiatrist, and Martin Crane, a police officer. Like his older brother Frasier, Niles was named for one of his mothers lab rats, also like Frasier, Niles was an unusually sensitive child and a frequent target for bullies. As a result, he was close to his older brother. Like Frasier, Niles prefers fine arts, music, and intellectual pursuits to physical activities like sports and he is also an established philanthropist. Niles describes his profession as the grace of my life. He has a Jungian practice, and specializes in marriage and family therapy, Niles, like Frasier, is haughty, snobby and fussy, has gourmet tastes, and was described by a interviewer at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer as obsessive-compulsive. He frequently wears double breasted suits and Trafalgar limited-edition suspenders, although Frasier also plays the piano, when they make music together Niles plays while Frasier sings. At Cafe Nervosa, the house he frequents with Frasier and other friends and family members, Niles usual is a latte with a whisper of cinnamon. According to Daphne, he would eat a worm if she gave it a French name, while Frasier at one point says, also like his brother, Niles is highly intelligent. His IQ is 156, well over the Mensa threshold, unlike Frasier, however, Niles has a long list of phobias and medical conditions, many of which are clearly psychosomatic. His nose begins to bleed whenever he tells a lie or acts against his code of ethics, when extremely stressed, Niles is prone to panic attacks and fits of hyperventilation. On more than one occasion, hes fainted, in one episode, he discloses that stress makes him want to hide under a piano. While divorcing his wife Maris Crane, he suffers from stress-induced narcolepsy, physically weak and very uncoordinated, Niles is seemingly hopeless at sports and video games, barely able to catch objects even after simple throws. However, in episodes he is shown to be fair at basketball. The brothers are seen coming or going to squash matches, though Martin once commented in disbelief
5.
Frasier
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Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, premiering on September 16,1993, and concluding on May 13,2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, the series was created as a spin-off of Cheers, continuing the story of psychiatrist Frasier Crane as he returned to his hometown of Seattle and started building a new life. Frasier stars Kelsey Grammer, David Hyde Pierce, John Mahoney, Jane Leeves, Peri Gilpin, psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane returns to his home town of Seattle, Washington, following the end of his marriage and his life in Boston. Frasier hires Daphne Moon as Martins live-in physical therapist and care giver, Frasier frequently spends time with his younger brother Niles, a fellow psychiatrist. Niles becomes obsessed with, and eventually falls in love with, Daphne, Frasier hosts The Dr. Frasier Crane Show, a call-in psychiatry show on talk radio station KACL. His producer Roz Doyle is very different from Frasier in many ways and she is down-to-earth, has basic tastes and, at least early in the series, has superficial relationships with many men. However, Roz and Frasier share a professional respect and over time they become best friends, Frasier and the others often visit the local coffee shop, Café Nervosa. The Crane sons, who possess fine tastes, intellectual interests, the brothers close relationship is often tense, and their sibling rivalry intermittently results in chaos. Niles Crane, Frasiers younger brother, also a psychiatrist, who works in private practice, Martin Crane, Frasier and Niless father, a police officer who was forced to retire by a gunshot wound to his hip that led to his living with Frasier. Daphne Moon, an English physiotherapist, hired by Frasier to help take care of Martin, Roz Doyle, the producer of Frasiers radio show, who becomes a close family friend. Eddie, Martin Cranes Jack Russell terrier, Bob Bulldog Briscoe, the male chauvinist, horny, boastful host of a sports radio talk show that followed Frasiers daily broadcast at KACL. He became a regular cast member for Seasons 4 through 6, noel Shempsky, KACL technical assistant and avid Star Trek aficionado who speaks Klingon, in love with Roz. Gil Chesterton, KACLs flamboyant, effeminate restaurant critic. Bebe Glazer, Frasiers manipulative, amoral agent, who is loathed by Frasiers family, the main cast remained unchanged for all 11 years. Grammer was briefly the highest paid actor in the United States for his portrayal of Frasier. Grammer had been the voice of Sideshow Bob on The Simpsons since 1990, in a 1997 episode, the characters brother, Cecil Terwilliger, was introduced, played by Pierce, as referenced in the episode title, Brother from Another Series. The episode contained numerous Frasier references, Pierce returned as Cecil for the second time alongside Grammer in the 2007 episode Funeral for a Fiend. The episode introduced the brothers father, Dr. Robert Terwilliger, cast member reunions also occurred on four episodes of Hot in Cleveland, which featured Leeves in the main cast along with Wendie Malick. In the Season 2 episode Unseparated at Birth and Season 3 episode Funeral Crashers, Gilpin appears in the episode I Love Lucci, and Tom McGowan appears in Love Thy Neighbor as a casting director
6.
NBC
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The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcast television network that is the flagship property of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The network is part of the Big Three television networks, founded in 1926 by the Radio Corporation of America, NBC is the oldest major broadcast network in the United States. Following the acquisition by GE, Bob Wright served as executive officer of NBC, remaining in that position until his retirement in 2007. In 2003, French media company Vivendi merged its entertainment assets with GE, Comcast purchased a controlling interest in the company in 2011, and acquired General Electrics remaining stake in 2013. Following the Comcast merger, Zucker left NBC Universal and was replaced as CEO by Comcast executive Steve Burke, during a period of early broadcast business consolidation, radio manufacturer Radio Corporation of America acquired New York City radio station WEAF from American Telephone & Telegraph. Westinghouse, a shareholder in RCA, had an outlet in Newark, New Jersey pioneer station WJZ. This station was transferred from Westinghouse to RCA in 1923, WEAF acted as a laboratory for AT&Ts manufacturing and supply outlet Western Electric, whose products included transmitters and antennas. The Bell System, AT&Ts telephone utility, was developing technologies to transmit voice- and music-grade audio over short and long distances, the 1922 creation of WEAF offered a research-and-development center for those activities. WEAF maintained a schedule of radio programs, including some of the first commercially sponsored programs. In an early example of chain or networking broadcasting, the station linked with Outlet Company-owned WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island, AT&T refused outside companies access to its high-quality phone lines. The early effort fared poorly, since the telegraph lines were susceptible to atmospheric. In 1925, AT&T decided that WEAF and its network were incompatible with the companys primary goal of providing a telephone service. AT&T offered to sell the station to RCA in a deal that included the right to lease AT&Ts phone lines for network transmission, the divisions ownership was split among RCA, its founding corporate parent General Electric and Westinghouse. NBC officially started broadcasting on November 15,1926, WEAF and WJZ, the flagships of the two earlier networks, were operated side-by-side for about a year as part of the new NBC. On April 5,1927, NBC expanded to the West Coast with the launch of the NBC Orange Network and this was followed by the debut of the NBC Gold Network, also known as the Pacific Gold Network, on October 18,1931. The Orange Network carried Red Network programming, and the Gold Network carried programming from the Blue Network, initially, the Orange Network recreated Eastern Red Network programming for West Coast stations at KPO in San Francisco. The Orange Network name was removed from use in 1936, at the same time, the Gold Network became part of the Blue Network. In the 1930s, NBC also developed a network for shortwave radio stations, in 1927, NBC moved its operations to 711 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, occupying the upper floors of a building designed by architect Floyd Brown
7.
Curtains (musical)
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Curtains is a musical mystery comedy with a book by Rupert Holmes, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and music by John Kander, with additional lyrics by Kander and Holmes. Cioffi also dreams of being in musical theater, stone died in April 2003, leaving the book unfinished, and Holmes was hired to rewrite it. Ebb also died before the musical was completed, Curtains had its world premiere on July 25,2006 at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. Local reviews were mixed but not discouraging, and the decided to transfer the show to Broadway with minor alterations. The production, directed by Scott Ellis and choreographed by Rob Ashford, the musical garnered eight Tony Award nominations, with Hyde Pierce winning the award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical. Curtains closed on June 29,2008 after 511 performances and twenty-three previews, the musical received mixed reviews on Broadway, with Ben Brantley writing in The New York Times, David Hyde Pierce. steps into full-fledged Broadway stardom with his performance here. Clive Barnes wrote in the New York Post, Part of the trouble was director Scott Ellis failure to italicize sufficiently the inside comedy, but there probably wasnt much he could do. The choreography by Rob Ashford was unnoticeable, the scenery by Anna Louizos uninterestingly ugly and it is 1959 at the Colonial Theatre in Boston, where a new musical called Robbin Hood. A western version of Robin Hood, is reaching its conclusion, Madame Marian, played by faded film star diva Jessica Cranshaw, looks on as Robin Hood played by Bobby Pepper, wins the sharp-shooting contest and proposes to Miss Nancy, the schoolmarm. The cast then sings the finale of the show, during which it is clear that Jessica can neither sing, dance and she takes her bow and, after receiving two bouquets, collapses behind the curtain. No one believes that anyone would be enough to become a critic. The shows flamboyant British director, Christopher Belling, arrives, saying that he had an epiphany after walking into a church, just then, stage manager Johnny tells Carmen that there is a phone call for her. Carmen suspects that its her philandering husband Sidney, meanwhile, Georgia and Aaron get into an argument about why Georgia joined the show. Aaron claims that she wanted to rekindle a romance with choreographer Bobby. Everyone is pessimistic, but Belling asks Georgia to sing Madame Marians opening number and she does so spectacularly, and it is clear that she is thinking about her failed marriage with Aaron. Aaron begins to sing with her, but Bobby cuts him off, Belling then announces his plan, they are going to replace Jessica. Niki Harris, the schoolmarm and Jessicas understudy, steps forward and says she would feel terrible taking over, Georgia is cast, in spite of Aarons disapproval. Carmen then enters and tells the ensemble that it was the hospital that had called, the cast performs a mock funeral, and it is clear that no one is sorry to see their leading lady gone
8.
Bethesda Episcopal Church (Saratoga Springs)
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Bethesda Episcopal Church is an Episcopal Church in Saratoga Springs, New York. The parish was incorporated in 1830, in 1841 it purchased the site of its present church at 41 Washington Street, noted architect Richard Upjohn drew up plans for the church in English Gothic style, and construction was begun in 1842. The first services were held in the building in 1844, side aisles were added in 1856. In 1886 Mrs. Rockwell Putnam, widow of the owner of the Grand Union Hotel in Saratoga Springs donated money for construction of a tower in memory of her late husband, page Brown designed the additions in Norman Romanesque style. The work was completed in 1887, a notable feature of the renovation was the addition of Tiffany windows in the front facade. The church is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a property of the Broadway Historic District in Saratoga Springs. National Register of Historic Places listings in Saratoga County, New York Official website
9.
Gilbert and Sullivan
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Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan and to the works they jointly created. The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H. M. S, Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado are among the best known. Sullivan, six years Gilberts junior, composed the music, contributing memorable melodies that could convey both humour and pathos and their operas have enjoyed broad and enduring international success and are still performed frequently throughout the English-speaking world. Gilbert and Sullivan introduced innovations in content and form that influenced the development of musical theatre through the 20th century. The operas have influenced political discourse, literature, film. Producer Richard DOyly Carte brought Gilbert and Sullivan together and nurtured their collaboration and he built the Savoy Theatre in 1881 to present their joint works and founded the DOyly Carte Opera Company, which performed and promoted Gilbert and Sullivans works for over a century. Gilbert was born in London on 18 November 1836 and his father, William, was a naval surgeon who later wrote novels and short stories, some of which included illustrations by his son. Director and playwright Mike Leigh described the Gilbertian style as follows, With great fluidity and freedom, First, within the framework of the story, he makes bizarre things happen, and turns the world on its head. Thus the Learned Judge marries the Plaintiff, the soldiers metamorphose into aesthetes, and so on and his genius is to fuse opposites with an imperceptible sleight of hand, to blend the surreal with the real, and the caricature with the natural. In other words, to tell a perfectly outrageous story in a deadpan way. Gilbert developed his theories on the art of stage direction. At the time Gilbert began writing, theatre in Britain was in disrepute, Gilbert helped to reform and elevate the respectability of the theatre, especially beginning with his six short family-friendly comic operas, or entertainments, for Thomas German Reed. At a rehearsal for one of these entertainments, Ages Ago, the composer Frederic Clay introduced Gilbert to his friend, two years later, Gilbert and Sullivan would write their first work together. Those two intervening years continued to shape Gilberts theatrical style, Sullivan was born in London on 13 May 1842. His father was a bandmaster, and by the time Arthur had reached the age of eight. In school he began to compose anthems and songs, in 1856, he received the first Mendelssohn Scholarship and studied at the Royal Academy of Music and then at Leipzig, where he also took up conducting. His graduation piece, completed in 1861, was a suite of music to Shakespeares The Tempest. Revised and expanded, it was performed at the Crystal Palace in 1862 and was an immediate sensation and he began building a reputation as Englands most promising young composer, composing a symphony, a concerto, and several overtures, among them the Overture di Ballo, in 1870
10.
H.M.S. Pinafore
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Pinafore, or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, Pinafore was Gilbert and Sullivans fourth operatic collaboration and their first international sensation. The story takes place aboard the ship HMS Pinafore, the captains daughter, Josephine, is in love with a lower-class sailor, Ralph Rackstraw, although her father intends her to marry Sir Joseph Porter, the First Lord of the Admiralty. She abides by her fathers wishes at first, but Sir Josephs advocacy of the equality of humankind encourages Ralph and they declare their love for each other and eventually plan to elope. The captain discovers this plan, but, as in many of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, drawing on several of his earlier Bab Ballad poems, Gilbert imbued this plot with mirth and silliness. The operas humour focuses on love between members of different social classes and lampoons the British class system in general, Pinafore also pokes good-natured fun at patriotism, party politics, the Royal Navy, and the rise of unqualified people to positions of authority. The title of the piece comically applies the name of a garment for girls and women, pinafores extraordinary popularity in Britain, America and elsewhere was followed by the similar success of a series of Gilbert and Sullivan works, including The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. Their works, later known as the Savoy operas, dominated the stage on both sides of the Atlantic for more than a decade and continue to be performed today. The structure and style of these operas, particularly Pinafore, were copied and contributed significantly to the development of modern musical theatre. In 1875, Richard DOyly Carte, who was managing the Royalty Theatre for Selina Dolaro, brought Gilbert and Sullivan together to write their second show. With this theatre company, Carte finally had the resources, after many failed attempts, to produce a new full-length Gilbert. This next opera was The Sorcerer, which opened in November 1877 and it too was successful, running for 178 performances. Sheet music from the show well, and street musicians played the melodies. Instead of writing a piece for production by a proprietor, as was usual in Victorian theatres, Gilbert, Sullivan. They were therefore able to choose their own cast of performers and they then tailored their work to the particular abilities of these performers. For until then no living soul had seen upon the stage such weird, eccentric, conjured into existence a hitherto unknown comic world of sheer delight. The success of The Sorcerer paved the way for another collaboration by Gilbert, Carte agreed on terms for a new opera with the Comedy Opera Company, and Gilbert began work on H. M. S. Pinafore before the end of 1877, Gilberts father had been a naval surgeon, and the nautical theme of the opera appealed to him
11.
Princess Ida
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Princess Ida, or, Castle Adamant is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was their eighth operatic collaboration of fourteen, Princess Ida opened at the Savoy Theatre on 5 January 1884, for a run of 246 performances. The piece concerns a princess who founds a womens university and teaches that women are superior to men, the prince to whom she had been married in infancy sneaks into the university, together with two friends, with the aim of collecting his bride. They disguise themselves as students, but are discovered. The opera satirizes feminism, womens education and Darwinian evolution, which were controversial topics in conservative Victorian England. Princess Ida is based on a poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson called The Princess. He lifted much of the dialogue of Princess Ida directly from his 1870 farce and it is the only Gilbert and Sullivan opera in three acts and the only one with dialogue in blank verse. By Savoy Opera standards, Princess Ida was not considered a success due, in part, to a hot summer in London in 1884. Nevertheless, the piece is performed today by both professional and amateur companies, although not as frequently as the most popular of the Savoy operas. Princess Ida is based on Tennysons serio-comic narrative poem of 1847, The Princess, Gilbert had written a blank verse musical farce burlesquing the same material in 1870 called The Princess. He reused a good deal of the dialogue from earlier play in the libretto of Princess Ida. He also retained Tennysons blank verse style and the story line about a heroic princess who runs a womens college. He and his two friends infiltrate the college disguised as female students, Gilbert had to write entirely new lyrics for Princess Ida, since the lyrics to his 1870 farce were written to previously existing music by Jacques Offenbach, Rossini and others. Tennysons poem was written, in part, in response to the founding of Queens College, London, when Gilbert wrote The Princess in 1870, womens higher education was still an innovative, even radical concept. Girton College, one of the constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge, was established in 1869, however, by the time Gilbert and Sullivan collaborated on Princess Ida in 1883, a womens college was a more established concept. Westfield College, the University of Londons first womens college, had opened in 1882, thus, womens higher education was in the news in London, and Westfield is cited as a model for Gilberts Castle Adamant. He also gave his consent to Gilbert to continue with the adaptation of The Princess as the basis for their next opera, later that spring, Sullivan was knighted by Queen Victoria and the honour was announced in May at the opening of the Royal College of Music. Although it was the operas with Gilbert that had earned him the broadest fame, having just signed the five-year agreement, Sullivan suddenly felt trapped
12.
Waiting for Godot
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Waiting for Godot is Becketts translation of his own original French play, En attendant Godot, and is subtitled a tragicomedy in two acts. The original French text was composed between 9 October 1948 and 29 January 1949, the premiere was on 5 January 1953 in the Théâtre de Babylone, Paris. The English language version was premiered in London in 1955, in a poll conducted by the British Royal National Theatre in 1990 it was voted the “most significant English language play of the 20th century”. Vladimir takes up the thought loftily, while Estragon vaguely recalls having been beaten the night before, finally, his boots come off, while the pair ramble and bicker pointlessly. When Estragon suddenly decides to leave, Vladimir reminds him that they must stay, unfortunately, the pair cannot agree on where or when they are expected to meet with this Godot. They only know to wait at a tree, and there is indeed a leafless one nearby, eventually, Estragon dozes off and Vladimir rouses him but then stops him before he can share his dreams—another recurring activity between the two men. Estragon wants to hear an old joke, which Vladimir cannot finish without going off to urinate, since every time he starts laughing, upon Vladimirs return, the increasingly jaded Estragon suggests that they hang themselves, but they abandon the idea when the logistics seem ineffective. They then speculate on the rewards of continuing to wait for Godot. When Estragon declares his hunger, Vladimir provides a carrot, at which Estragon idly gnaws, Pozzo barks abusive orders at Lucky, which are always quietly followed, while acting civilly though tersely towards the other two. Pozzo enjoys a snack of chicken and wine, before casting the bones to the ground. Having been in a state of silence ever since the arrival of Pozzo and Lucky. Pozzo ignores this and explains his intention to sell Lucky, who begins to cry, Estragon takes pity and tries to wipe away Luckys tears, but, as he approaches, Lucky violently kicks him in the shin. Pozzo then rambles nostalgically but vaguely about his relationship with Lucky over the years, before offering Vladimir, Estragon begins to beg for money when Pozzo instead suggests that Lucky can dance and think for their entertainment. Luckys dance, the Net, is clumsy and shuffling, Luckys thinking is a long-winded and disjointed monologue—it is the first, Pozzo then has Lucky pack up his bags, and they hastily leave. Vladimir and Estragon, alone again, reflect on whether they met Pozzo, a boy then arrives, purporting to be a messenger sent from Godot to tell the pair that Godot will not be coming that evening but surely tomorrow. During Vladimirs interrogation of the boy, he asks if he came the day before, after the boy departs, the moon appears and the two men verbally agree to leave and find shelter for the night, but they merely stand without moving. It is daytime again and Vladimir begins singing a round about the death of a dog. Again, Estragon claims to have been beaten last night, despite no apparent injury, Vladimir comments that the formerly bare tree now has leaves and tries to confirm his recollections of yesterday against Estragons extremely vague, unreliable memory
13.
Saint Joan (play)
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Saint Joan is a play by George Bernard Shaw about 15th Century French military figure Joan of Arc. Premiering in 1923, three years after her canonization by the Roman Catholic Church, the play dramatises what is known of her based on the substantial records of her trial. Shaw studied the transcripts and decided that the people acted in good faith according to their beliefs. He wrote in his preface to the play, There are no villains in the piece, crime, like disease, is not interesting, it is something to be done away with by general consent, and that is all about it. It is what men do at their best, with good intentions, and what men and women find that they must and will do in spite of their intentions. Michael Holroyd has characterised the play as a tragedy without villains, John Fielden has discussed further the appropriateness of characterising Saint Joan as a tragedy. The text of the play includes a long Preface by Shaw. Shaw characterised Saint Joan as A Chronicle Play in 6 Scenes, Joan, a simple peasant girl, claims to experience visions of Saint Margaret, Saint Catherine, and the archangel Michael, which she says were sent by God to guide her conduct. Scene 1, Robert de Baudricourt complains about the inability of the hens on his farm to produce eggs, Joan claims that her voices are telling her to lift the siege of Orléans, and to allow her several of his men for this purpose. Joan also says that she will crown the Dauphin in Reims Cathedral, de Baudricourt ridicules Joan, but his Steward feels inspired by her words. De Baudricourt eventually begins to feel the sense of inspiration. The Steward enters at the end of the scene to exclaim that the hens have begun to lay eggs again, de Baudricourt interprets this as a sign from God of Joans divine inspiration. Scene 2, Joan talks her way into being received at the court of the weak, There, she tells him that her voices have commanded her to help him become a true king by rallying his troops to drive out the English occupiers and restore France to greatness. Joan succeeds in doing this through her excellent powers of flattery, negotiation, leadership, scene 3, Dunois and his page are waiting for the wind to turn so that he and his forces can lay siege to Orléans. Joan and Dunois commiserate, and Dunois attempts to explain to her more pragmatic realities of an attack and her replies eventually inspire Dunois to rally the forces, and at the scenes end, the wind turns in their favour. Scene 4, Warwick and de Stogumber discuss Joans stunning series of victories, joined by the Bishop of Beauvais, they are at a loss to explain her success. De Stogumber decides Joan is a witch, Beauvais sees Joan as a threat to the Church, as she claims to receive instructions from God directly. He fears she wants to instill pride in the people
14.
Bloomingdale's
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Bloomingdales is a luxury department store owned by Macys, Inc. Brothers Joseph and Lyman G. Bloomingdale founded Bloomingdales in 1861, the pair were sons of Benjamin Bloomingdale, a Bavarian-born salesman who had lived in North Carolina and Kansas, and settled in New York City. In 1872, the Bloomingdale brothers opened their first store at 938 Third Avenue, at the time the East Side was a working class neighborhood with shanty towns, garbage dumps, and stockyards. Most of their customers and competitors were in the Upper West Side, within a few years after opening the store, the Metropolitan Museum of Art opened, the new St. These additions brought to the East Side wealthy customers, who built brownstones that surrounded the new park, the store moved in 1886 to its current location on 59th Street and Lexington Avenue. It was designed with large glass display windows and large merchandising areas. Many of these products were European imports, by the start of the 20th century, Bloomingdales growth had greatly increased, facilitated by its convenient location at a hub of New York Citys horse-drawn trolley system. Offerings at the time included ladies stockings at 10¢ a pair, $10 mens wool suits, the slogan appeared on billboards and on 5,000 free beach umbrellas which were offered to street vendors and delivery cart drivers. The popular upper class shopping area moved downtown along Sixth Avenue to between 14th and 23rd Streets, in 1913, the 59th Street Station of the Lexington Avenue subway was constructed in Bloomingdales basement, further reinforcing the All Cars Transfer to Bloomingdales slogan, and business recovered. By the 1920s, the covered the whole city block. In 1930, Bloomingdales moved to a new location off of Lexington, the building, which had grown to encompass the entire block, had an eleven-story addition and was completely redesigned by architects Starrett & van Vleck in the Art Deco style. In 1949, Bloomingdales opened its first branch store in Fresh Meadows, subsequently, Bloomingdales built a full line store in White Plains combining its Eastchester and New Rochelle stores. The same year Bloomingdales joined Federated Department Stores, now Macys, in 1961, all over in the US the company started using designer shopping bags to promote its Esprit de France exhibit. The design, by artist Jonah Kinigstein, was based on French tarot cards in dramatic shades of red, black, in 1973, the iconic Brown Bag appeared. These were designed by Massimo Vignelli, who designed the current store typeface. Fashion designer Michaele Vollbracht designed one of the shopping bags in red, black, and white of a formally dressed man on one side. Other artists who have designed shopping bags were fashion illustrator Antonio Lopez, in 1969, Bloomingdales two branch stores opened in Garden City, New York on Long Island, and Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. Bloomingdales opened home furnishing stores on the East Coast using products from the home furnishings department
15.
Hamlet
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The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, often shortened to Hamlet, is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare at an uncertain date between 1599 and 1602. Set in the Kingdom of Denmark, the play dramatises the revenge Prince Hamlet is called to wreak upon his uncle, Claudius, by the ghost of Hamlets father, Claudius had murdered his own brother and seized the throne, also marrying his deceased brothers widow. It has inspired many other writers—from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Charles Dickens to James Joyce and he almost certainly wrote his version of the title role for his fellow actor, Richard Burbage, the leading tragedian of Shakespeares time. In the 400 years since its inception, the role has been performed by highly acclaimed actors in each successive century. Three different early versions of the play are extant, the First Quarto, the Second Quarto, each version includes lines and entire scenes missing from the others. The plays structure and depth of characterisation have inspired much critical scrutiny, the protagonist of Hamlet is Prince Hamlet of Denmark, son of the recently deceased King Hamlet, and nephew of King Claudius, his fathers brother and successor. Claudius hastily married King Hamlets widow, Gertrude, Hamlets mother, Denmark has a long-standing feud with neighboring Norway, which culminated when King Hamlet slew King Fortinbras of Norway in a battle years ago. Although Denmark defeated Norway, and the Norwegian throne fell to King Fortinbrass infirm brother, Denmark fears that an invasion led by the dead Norwegian kings son, Prince Fortinbras, is imminent. On a cold night on the ramparts of Elsinore, the Danish royal castle and they vow to tell Prince Hamlet what they have witnessed. As the court gathers the next day, while King Claudius and Queen Gertrude discuss affairs of state with their elderly adviser Polonius, after the court exits, Hamlet despairs of his fathers death and his mothers hasty remarriage. Learning of the ghost from Horatio, Hamlet resolves to see it himself, as Poloniuss son Laertes prepares to depart for a visit to France, Polonius gives him contradictory advice that culminates in the ironic maxim to thine own self be true. Poloniuss daughter, Ophelia, admits her interest in Hamlet, and that night on the rampart, the ghost appears to Hamlet, telling the prince that he was murdered by Claudius and demanding that Hamlet avenge him. Hamlet agrees and the ghost vanishes, the prince confides to Horatio and the sentries that from now on he plans to put an antic disposition on and forces them to swear to keep his plans for revenge secret. Privately, however, he remains uncertain of the ghosts reliability, soon thereafter, Ophelia rushes to her father, telling him that Hamlet arrived at her door the prior night half-undressed and behaving crazily. Polonius blames love for Hamlets madness and resolves to inform Claudius, as he enters to do so, the king and queen finish welcoming Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two student acquaintances of Hamlet, to Elsinore. The royal couple has requested that the students investigate the cause of Hamlets mood, additional news requires that Polonius wait to be heard, messengers from Norway inform Claudius that the King of Norway has rebuked Prince Fortinbras for attempting to re-fight his fathers battles. The forces that Fortinbras conscripted to march against Denmark will instead be sent against Poland, Polonius tells Claudius and Gertrude his theory regarding Hamlets behavior, and speaks to Hamlet in a hall of the castle to try to uncover more information. Hamlet feigns madness but subtly insults Polonius all the while, when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern arrive, Hamlet greets his friends warmly, but quickly discerns that they are spies
16.
Beyond Therapy
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Beyond Therapy is a play by Christopher Durang. Bruce is a highly emotional bisexual who tends to cry easily, clearly the two therapists are more troubled than their patients. Charlotte suggests a revised ad, which again attracts Prudence. Complications ensue when Bruces jealous live-in lover Bob decides to assert himself, an off-Broadway production directed by Jerry Zaks opened on January 1,1981 at the Phoenix Theatre in New York, where it ran for 30 performances. The cast included Sigourney Weaver as Prudence, Stephen Collins as Bruce, Jim Borrelli as Stuart, Kate McGregor-Stewart as Charlotte, the sets were designed by Karen Schultz, costumes by Jennifer von Mayrhauser, and lighting by Richard Nelson. Beyond Therapy premiered on Broadway on May 26,1982 and it was directed by John Madden, sets were designed by Andrew Jackness, costumes by Jennifer von Mayrhauser, lighting by Paul Gallo. The cast included Dianne Wiest as Prudence, John Lithgow as Bruce, Jack Gilpin as Bob, Kate McGregor-Stewart as Charlotte, David Hyde Pierce made his Broadway debut in the role of a waiter. McGregor-Stewart was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play, in 1987, Durang adapted his play for a screenplay that was rewritten substantially by director Robert Altman. Although the two shared a credit, Durang described the project as a very unhappy experience and outcome. Beyond Therapy is one of Durangs most frequently produced plays, a recording of the play, featuring Catherine OHara as Prudence and David Hyde Pierce as Bruce, has been released on CD by the Fynsworth Alley label. Beyond Therapy at the Internet Broadway Database Beyond Therapy at the Internet off-Broadway Database Full Length Plays at Christopher Durang. com New York Times article New York Times review
17.
Norman Lear
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Norman Milton Lear is an American television writer and producer who produced such 1970s sitcoms as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Good Times, and Maude. As a political activist, he founded the advocacy organization People for the American Way in 1981 and has supported First Amendment rights, Lear was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the son of Enie/Jeanette and Hyman Herman Lear, a traveling salesman. He had a sister, Claire Lear Brown. Lear grew up in a Jewish home and had a Bar Mitzvah ceremony and his mother was born in Elizabethgrad in Kherson Gubernia in Ukraine, while his father was born in Connecticut, to Russian-born parents. When Lear was 9 years old, his father went to prison for selling fake bonds. Lear thought of his father as a rascal and said that the character of Archie Bunker was in inspired by his father. Lear graduated from Weaver High School in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1940 and subsequently attended Emerson College in Boston and he flew 52 combat missions, for which he was awarded the Air Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters. Lear was discharged from the Army in 1945, after World War II, Lear had a career in public relations. The career choice was inspired by his Uncle Jack, My dad had a brother, Jack and he was a press agent so I wanted to be a press agent. Thats the only role model I had, so all I wanted was to grow up to be a guy who could flip a quarter to a nephew. Lear decided to move to California to restart his career in publicity and his first night in Los Angeles, Lear stumbled upon a production of George Bernard Shaws Major Barbara at a 90-seat theater in the round Circle Theater off Sunset Boulevard. One of the actors in the play was Sydney Chaplin, who was the son of actors Charlie Chaplin, Chaplin and Alan Mowbray and Dame Gladys Cooper sat in front of him, and after the show was over, Chaplin performed. Lear had a first cousin in Los Angeles, Elaine, who was married to a man named Ed Simmons, Simmons and Lear teamed up to sell home furnishings door-to-door for a company called The Gans Brothers and then sold family photos door-to-door, again with Simmons. Throughout the 1950s Lear partnered with Simmons, and they turned out comedy sketches for television appearances of Martin and Lewis, Rowan and Martin, in 1954 Lear was enlisted as a writer hoping to salvage the new Celeste Holm CBS sitcom, Honestly, Celeste. But the program was canceled after eight episodes, during this time, he became the producer of NBCs The Martha Raye Show, after Nat Hiken left as the series director. In 1959 Lear created his first television series starring Henry Fonda, starting out as a comedy writer, then a film director, Lear tried to sell a concept for a sitcom about a blue-collar American family to ABC. They rejected the show after two pilots were taped, after a third pilot was taped, CBS picked up the show, known as All in the Family. It premiered January 12,1971, to disappointing ratings, but it took home several Emmy Awards that year, the show did very well in summer reruns, and it flourished in the 1971–72 season, becoming the top-rated show on TV for the next five years
18.
Kelsey Grammer
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Allen Kelsey Grammer is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, producer, director, writer, singer, and activist. Grammer is known for his portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the NBC sitcoms Cheers. Grammer has been married four times and has seven children, Grammer was two years old when his parents divorced. Grammer attended Pine Crest School, a preparatory school in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. After leaving Juilliard, he had an internship with the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego in the late 1970s before a stint in 1980 at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. He made his Broadway debut in 1981 as Lennox in Macbeth, Grammer then played Michael Cassio in a Broadway revival of Othello, with James Earl Jones and Christopher Plummer. In 1983 he performed on the demo of the Stephen Sondheim–James Lapine production Sunday in the Park with George, in 2000, Grammer again played Macbeth on Broadway, in a production that closed after only 10 days. Grammer originated the roles of Charles Frohman and Captain Hook in the Broadway premiere of the musical Finding Neverland in March 2015 and he returned to the stage from January 19,2016, to April 3. His television career began in the early 1980s when he portrayed Stephen Smith in the NBC miniseries Kennedy, Grammer came to broader public attention as Dr. Frasier Crane in the NBC sitcom Cheers. The character became the center of the spin-off Frasier, one of the most successful spin-offs in TV history. In addition to starring, he directed more than 30 episodes, especially during the second half of the series. Frasier was nominated for and won awards during its 11-year run. In 2001, he negotiated a US$700, 000-per-episode salary for Frasier and his 20-year run playing Dr. Frasier Crane ties a length set by James Arness in playing Marshal Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke from 1955 to 1975 but was surpassed by Richard Belzer in playing Det. John Munch on Homicide, Life on the Street and Law & Order, Frasier Crane also had a crossover appearance in 1993 Wings episode Planes, Trains, & Visiting Cranes. In 2005, Grammer returned to television and he produced and appeared in an American adaptation of the British show The Sketch Show, which aired on Fox. The main cast consisted of Malcolm Barrett, Kaitlin Olson, Mary Lynn Rajskub and Paul F. Tompkins, Grammer appeared in only short opening and closing segments in each episode. Many of the sketches from the British version were re-created, such as the California Dreamin, English Course, only six episodes of the show were made, and it was canceled after only four of them had aired. In 2007, Grammer starred with Patricia Heaton in the American sitcom Back to You and it was canceled by Fox after its first season
19.
Cheers
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Cheers is an American sitcom that ran on NBC from September 30,1982 to May 20,1993, with a total of 270 half-hour episodes spanning over eleven seasons. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association with Paramount Network Television, the show was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles. The show is set in a bar named Cheers in Boston, Massachusetts, where a group of locals meet to drink, relax, the shows main theme song, written and performed by Gary Portnoy lent its famous refrain Where Everybody Knows Your Name as the shows tagline. After premiering on September 30,1982, it was canceled during its first season when it ranked almost last in ratings for its premiere. Cheers, however, eventually became a highly rated show in the United States, earning a top-ten rating during eight of its eleven seasons. The show spent most of its run on NBCs Thursday night Must See TV lineup and its widely watched series finale was broadcast on May 20,1993, and the shows 270 episodes have been successfully syndicated worldwide. Nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series for all eleven of its seasons on the air, the character Frasier Crane was featured in his eponymous spin-off show, which aired until 2004 and included guest appearances by virtually all of the major and minor Cheers characters. During its run, Cheers became one of the most popular series of all time and has received critical acclaim. In 1997, the episodes Thanksgiving Orphans and Home Is the Sailor, aired originally in 1987, were respectively ranked No.7, in 2002, Cheers was ranked No.18 on TV Guides 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time. In 2013, the Writers Guild of America ranked it as the eighth best written TV series, before the Cheers pilot Give Me a Ring Sometime was completed and aired in 1982, the series originally consisted of four employees in the first script. Neither Norm Peterson nor Cliff Clavin, regular customers of Cheers, were featured, in later years, Woody Boyd replaces Coach, who dies off-screen in season four to account for actor Nicholas Colasantos death. Frasier Crane starts as a character and becomes a permanent character. In season six, they added a new character Rebecca Howe, Lilith Sternin starts as a one-time character in an episode of season four, Second Time Around. After she appears in two episodes in five, she becomes a recurring character, and later featured as a permanent one for season ten. Ted Danson portrays Sam Malone, a bartender and an owner of Cheers, before the series began, he was a baseball relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox nicknamed Mayday Malone until he became an alcoholic, harming his career. He has an on-again, off-again relationship with Diane Chambers, his class opposite, during their off-times, Sam has flings with many not-so-bright sexy women, yet fails to pursue a meaningful relationship and fails to seduce other women, such as intellectuals. After Diane is written out of the series, he tries to pursue Rebecca Howe, at the end of the series, he is still unmarried and recovering from sexual addiction with a help of Dr. Robert Suttons group meetings, advised by Frasier. Shelley Long portrays Diane Chambers, an academic, sophisticated graduate student, in the pilot Diane is abandoned by her fiancé, leaving her without a job, a man, or money
20.
Frasier Crane
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Frasier Winslow Crane is a fictional character on the American television sitcoms Cheers and Frasier, portrayed by Kelsey Grammer. Grammer received award recognitions for portraying this character in two shows, in addition to a 1992 one-time appearance in Wings. The character debuts in the Cheers third season premiere, Rebound, as Diane Chamberss love interest, part of the Sam and Diane story arc. Intended to appear for only a few episodes, Grammers performance for the role was praised by producers, prompting them to expand his role, later in Cheers, Frasier is married to Lilith Sternin with a son, Frederick, and resides in Boston. After Cheers ended, the moved to his spin-off series Frasier. In the series finale, he is supposed to depart to San Francisco for his talk show, but instead he goes to Chicago. Also Dianes fiancé throughout the season, he and Diane are supposed to wed in Italy in Rescue Me. However, in Birth, Death, Love, and Rice, a despondent Frasier loses his license and his job. Later in season four, he begins to regularly attend Cheers for drinks, in The Triangle, Sam feigns symptoms of depression, planned by Diane, to help Frasier recover from alcoholism and regain his own self-confidence. This leads Frasier to conclude that Sams symptoms indicate his love for Diane, however, upon arrival Frasier sees Sam and Diane arguing in the bar office, Sam admits the whole plan. Furious, Frasier declares himself to be sober, refuses to be a part of their relationship, as his role is expanded, Frasier becomes romantically involved with a stereotypical intelligent, ice queen Lilith Sternin. Their first date in Second Time Around does not go well, they exchange insults toward each other until she leaves the bar, in Abnormal Psychology, Frasier and Lilith feel mutual attraction after Diane gives Lilith a makeover. At first reluctant to start anew, they decide to go on another date. They live together for a year before being married one month before Our Hourly Bread as revealed in the episode, in One Hugs, the Other Doesnt, Frasier is revealed to have been previously married to Nanette Guzman, now known as the popular childrens entertainer Nanny G. When Nanette sings a song implying her possible feelings for Frasier, in Teaching with the Enemy, Lilith admits her affair with another man Dr. Louis Pascal, dooming their marriage. In Is There a Doctor in the Howe, There, Lilith reveals that the eco-pod experiment with Pascal was a disaster—Pascal turned out to be claustrophobic among other mental problems—and she abandoned the project to return to Boston. Frasier, Rebecca, and eventually Pascal converge on Cheers in pursuit of Lilith, Pascal, armed with a pistol, demands Lilith return to him, threatening to shoot Frasier and the others. Lilith demands that he shoot her first, which causes him to back down, although Frasier initially refuses to take Lilith back after all this, her pathetic sobbing wins him over, suggesting a reconciliation can occur
21.
Screen Actors Guild
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The Screen Actors Guild was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30,2012, the leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to merge with the American Federation of Television. The Screen Actors Guild was associated with the Associated Actors and Artistes of America, AAAA is affiliated with the AFL–CIO. Internationally, the SAG was affiliated with the International Federation of Actors. C, since 1995, the guild annually awarded the Screen Actors Guild Awards, which are considered an indicator of success at the Academy Awards. This award is continued by SAG-AFTRA, in 1925, the Masquers Club was formed by actors discontent with the grueling work hours at the Hollywood studios. This was one of the concerns which led to the creation of the Screen Actors Guild in 1933. A meeting in March 1933 of six led to the guilds foundation. Aubrey Smith, Charles Starrett, Richard Tucker, Arthur Vinton, Morgan Wallace, many high-profile actors refused to join SAG initially. This changed when the producers made an agreement amongst themselves not to bid competitively for talent, a pivotal meeting, at the home of Frank Morgan, was what gave SAG its critical mass. Cantors participation was critical, particularly because of his friendship with the recently elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt, after several years and the passage of the National Labor Relations Act, the producers agreed to negotiate with SAG in 1937. Robinson, Edwin Stanley, Gloria Stuart, Lyle Talbot, Franchot Tone, Warren William, Ten of those summoned, dubbed the Hollywood Ten, refused to cooperate and were charged with contempt of Congress and sentenced to prison. The president of SAG – future United States President Ronald Reagan – also known to the FBI as Confidential Informant T-10, testified before the committee but never publicly named names. He felt that lacking a definite stand on the part of the government, subsequently, a climate of fear, enhanced by the threat of detention under the provisions of the McCarran Internal Security Act, permeated the film industry. On November 17,1947, the Screen Actors Guild voted to force its officers to take a non-communist pledge, none of those blacklisted were proven to advocate overthrowing the government – most simply had Marxist or socialist views. The Waldorf Statement marked the beginning of the Hollywood blacklist that saw hundreds of people prevented from working in the film industry, unfortunately, there are no credits to restore, nor any other belated recognition that we can offer our members who were blacklisted. They could not work under assumed names or employ surrogates to front for them, an actors work and his or her identity are inseparable. The Screen Actors Guild Ethnic Minorities Committee was co-founded in 1972 by actors Henry Darrow, Edith Diaz, Ricardo Montalban, the Screen Actors Guild Womens Committee was founded in 1972. In 1998, Naomi Marquez filed suit against SAG and Lakeside Productions claiming they had breached their duty of fair representation, the claim was denied by the Supreme Court
22.
Billing (filmmaking)
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Billing is a performing arts term used in referring to the order and other aspects of how credits are presented for plays, films, television, or other creative works. Information given in billing usually consists of the companies, actors, directors, producers and they also feared that, once actors were billed on film, they would be more popular and would seek large salaries. Actors themselves did not want to reveal their film careers to their counterparts via billing on film. As late as the 1910s, stars as famous as Mary Pickford, according to Mary Pickfords biography Doug and Mary, she was referred to by the public as the Biograph girl in all of her films before 1905. Before Mary Pickford, the used to call Florence Lawrence the Biograph girl. In 1910 Lawrence was lured away from Biograph by Carl Laemmle when he started the Independent Motion Picture Company, Laemmle wanted Lawrence to be his star attraction, so he offered her more money and marquee billing, something Biograph did not allow. She signed on, with the release of her first IMP film, The Broken Oath, from then on, actors received billing on film. Also originating during that time was the system of billing above and below the title, big stars such as Pickford, Fairbanks, and Chaplin were billed above the title, while lesser stars and supporting players were billed below the title. The studios still followed the system of the silent era. After the studio systems collapse in the 1950s, actors and their agents fought for billing on a film-by-film basis and this, combined with changes in union contracts and copyright laws, led to more actors and crew members being included in the credits sequence, expanding its size significantly. As a result, since the late 1960s, a significant amount of the billing is reserved for the credits of the film. In addition, more stars began to top billing. Billing demands even extended to publicity materials, down to the height of the letters, by the 1990s, some films had moved all billing to the films end, with the exception of company logos and the title. Occasionally, even the title is left to the end, such as in Avatar, The Passion of the Christ, Inception, the order in which credits are billed generally signify their importance. While there are variations, most opening credits use some variation of the following basic order. In the absence of opening credits, these roles will often be credited in order at the beginning of the closing credits. However, a studio may not necessarily be the party that produced it, instead, a separate production company may have actually made the film or financed a substantial part of the film. Sometimes the producer or writer may also get a possessory credit, Victor Fleming was one such director, his films usually featured the credit A Victor Fleming Production, even when someone else produced the film
23.
Emmy Award
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An Emmy Award, or simply Emmy, recognizes excellence in the television industry, and corresponds to the Academy Award, the Tony Award, and the Grammy Award. Because Emmy Awards are given in various sectors of the American television industry, Regional Emmy Awards are also presented throughout the country at various times through the year, recognizing excellence in local and statewide television. In addition, International Emmys are awarded for excellence in TV programming produced, each is responsible for administering a particular set of Emmy ceremonies. The Los Angeles-based Academy of Television Arts & Sciences established the Emmy Award as part of an image-building and public relations opportunity. The first Emmy Awards ceremony took place on January 25,1949, at the Hollywood Athletic Club, shirley Dinsdale has the distinction of receiving the very first Emmy Award for Most Outstanding Television Personality, during that first awards ceremony. In the 1950s, the ATAS expanded the Emmys into a national event, in 1955, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences was formed in New York City as a sister organization to serve members on the East Coast, and help to also supervise the Emmys. The NATAS also established regional chapters throughout the United States, with each one developing their own local Emmy awards show for local programming, the ATAS still however maintained its separate regional ceremony honoring local programming in the Los Angeles Area. Originally there was only one Emmy Awards ceremony held per year to honor shows nationally broadcast in the United States, in 1974, the first Daytime Emmy Awards ceremony was held to specifically honor achievement in national daytime programming. Other area-specific Emmy Awards ceremonies soon followed, also, the International Emmy Awards, honoring television programs produced and initially aired outside the U. S. was established in the early 1970s. Meanwhile, all Emmys awarded prior to the emergence of these separate, in 1977, due to various conflicts, the ATAS and the NATAS agreed to split ties. However, they agreed to share ownership of the Emmy statue and trademark. With the rise of television in the 1980s, cable programs first became eligible for the Primetime Emmys in 1988. The ATAS also began accepting original online-only web television programs in 2013, the Emmy statuette, depicting a winged woman holding an atom, was designed by television engineer Louis McManus, who used his wife as the model. The TV Academy rejected a total of forty-seven proposals before settling on McManus design in 1948. The statuette has become the symbol of the TV Academys goal of supporting and uplifting the art and science of television, The wings represent the muse of art. When deciding a name for the award, Academy founder Syd Cassyd originally suggested Ike, however, Ike was also the popular nickname of World War II hero and future U. S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and the Academy members wanted something unique. Finally, television engineer and the third president, Harry Lubcke, suggested the name Immy. After Immy was chosen, it was feminized to Emmy to match their female statuette
24.
Maryland
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The states largest city is Baltimore, and its capital is Annapolis. Among its occasional nicknames are Old Line State, the Free State, the state is named after Henrietta Maria of France, the wife of Charles I of England. George Calvert was the first Lord of Baltimore and the first English proprietor of the colonial grant. Maryland was the state to ratify the United States Constitution. Maryland is one of the smallest U. S. states in terms of area, as well as one of the most densely populated, Maryland has an area of 12,406.68 square miles and is comparable in overall area with Belgium. It is the 42nd largest and 9th smallest state and is closest in size to the state of Hawaii, the next largest state, its neighbor West Virginia, is almost twice the size of Maryland. Maryland possesses a variety of topography within its borders, contributing to its nickname America in Miniature. The mid-portion of this border is interrupted by Washington, D. C. which sits on land that was part of Montgomery and Prince Georges counties and including the town of Georgetown. This land was ceded to the United States Federal Government in 1790 to form the District of Columbia, the Chesapeake Bay nearly bisects the state and the counties east of the bay are known collectively as the Eastern Shore. Close to the town of Hancock, in western Maryland, about two-thirds of the way across the state. This geographical curiosity makes Maryland the narrowest state, bordered by the Mason–Dixon line to the north, portions of Maryland are included in various official and unofficial geographic regions. Much of the Baltimore–Washington corridor lies just south of the Piedmont in the Coastal Plain, earthquakes in Maryland are infrequent and small due to the states distance from seismic/earthquake zones. The M5.8 Virginia earthquake in 2011 was felt moderately throughout Maryland, buildings in the state are not well-designed for earthquakes and can suffer damage easily. The lack of any glacial history accounts for the scarcity of Marylands natural lakes, laurel Oxbow Lake is an over one-hundred-year-old 55-acre natural lake two miles north of Maryland City and adjacent to Russett. Chews Lake is a natural lake two miles south-southeast of Upper Marlboro. There are numerous lakes, the largest of them being the Deep Creek Lake. Maryland has shale formations containing natural gas, where fracking is theoretically possible, as is typical of states on the East Coast, Marylands plant life is abundant and healthy. Middle Atlantic coastal forests, typical of the southeastern Atlantic coastal plain, grow around Chesapeake Bay, moving west, a mixture of Northeastern coastal forests and Southeastern mixed forests cover the central part of the state
25.
Barbara Mikulski
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Barbara Ann Mikulski is an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Maryland from 1987 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she served in the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1987. She is the woman in the history of the United States Congress and is the longest-serving senator in Maryland history. Raised in the Highlandtown neighborhood of East Baltimore, Mikulski attended Mount Saint Agnes College, originally a social worker and community organizer, she was elected to the Baltimore City Council in 1971 after delivering a highly publicized address on the ethnic movement in America. She was elected to the federal House of Representatives in 1976, from the death of Senator Daniel Inouye in December 2012 until 2015, Mikulski chaired the Senate Appropriations Committee, the first woman and first Marylander to hold the position. At her retirement, she was the ranking minority member and she also served on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee and the Select Committee on Intelligence. After five terms in the Senate, on March 2,2015, Mikulski was born and raised in the Highlandtown neighborhood of East Baltimore, the eldest of the three daughters of Christine Eleanor and William Mikulski. Her parents were both of Polish descent, her immigrant great-grandparents had owned a bakery in Baltimore, during her high school years at the Institute of Notre Dame, she worked in her parents grocery store, delivering groceries to elderly neighbors who were unable to leave their homes. She worked as a worker for Catholic charities and Baltimores Department of Social Services, helping at-risk children. Mikulski became an activist social worker when she heard about plans to build Interstate 70 through Baltimores Fells Point and she helped organize communities on both sides of the city and successfully fought to stop the construction of the road. Mikulski first received attention in 1970, because of her remarks at a conference at The Catholic University of America regarding “Ethnic Americans”. Her message became one of the documents of the “ethnic movement”. Mikulskis activism led to a seat on the Baltimore City Council in 1971 and she was instrumental in solidifying democratizing reforms to the national delegate selection process. She then ran for the U. S. Senate in 1974, although well-known to residents in her city, Mikulski had limited name recognition in the rest of the state. As an advocate for campaign finance reform, Mathias refused to accept any contribution over $100 to avoid the curse of big money that has led to so much trouble in the last year. However, he managed to raise over $250,000. Ideologically, Mikulski and Mathias agreed on issues, such as closing tax loopholes. On two issues, however, Mathias argued to reform Congress and the U. S. tax system to address inflation and corporate price fixing, contrary to Mikulski
26.
Missouri
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Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, achieving statehood in 1821. With over six million residents, it is the eighteenth most populous state, the largest urban areas are St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield, and Columbia. The capitol is in Jefferson City on the Missouri River, the state is the twenty-first most extensive by area and is geographically diverse. The Northern Plains were once covered by glaciers, then tallgrass prairie, in the South are the Ozarks, a forested highland, providing timber, minerals, and recreation. The Mississippi River forms the border of the state, eventually flowing into the swampy Missouri Bootheel. Humans have inhabited the land now known as Missouri for at least 12,000 years, the Mississippian culture built cities and mounds, before declining in the 1300s. When European explorers arrived in the 1600s they encountered the Osage, the French established Louisiana, a part of New France, and founded Ste. Genevieve in 1735 and St. Louis in 1764, after a brief period of Spanish rule, the United States acquired the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Americans from the Upland South, including enslaved African Americans, rushed into the new Missouri Territory, many from Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee settled in the Boonslick area of Mid-Missouri. Soon after, heavy German immigration formed the Missouri Rhineland, Missouri played a central role in the westward expansion of the United States, as memorialized by the Gateway Arch. The Pony Express, Oregon Trail, Santa Fe Trail, as a border state, Missouris role in the American Civil War was complex and there were many conflicts within. After the war, both Greater St. Louis and the Kansas City metropolitan area became centers of industrialization and business, today, the state is divided into 114 counties and the independent city of St. Louis. Missouris culture blends elements from the Midwestern and Southern United States, the musical styles of ragtime, Kansas City jazz, and St. Louis Blues, developed in Missouri. The well-known Kansas City-style barbecue, and lesser known St. Louis-style barbecue can be found across the state, St. Louis is also a major center of beer brewing, Anheuser-Busch is the largest producer in the world. Missouri wine is produced in the nearby Missouri Rhineland and Ozarks, Missouris alcohol laws are among the most permissive in the United States. Outside of the large cities popular tourist destinations include the Lake of the Ozarks, U. S. President Harry S. Truman is from Missouri. Other well known Missourians include Mark Twain, Walt Disney, Chuck Berry, some of the largest companies based in the state include Express Scripts, Monsanto, Emerson Electric, Edward Jones, and OReilly Auto Parts. Missouri has been called the Mother of the West and the Cave State, however, Missouris most famous nickname is the Show Me State, the state is named for the Missouri River, which was named after the indigenous Missouri Indians, a Siouan-language tribe
27.
Kit Bond
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Christopher Samuel Kit Bond is a former United States Senator from Missouri and a member of the Republican Party. First elected to the U. S. Senate in 1986 and he was re-elected in 1992,1998, and 2004. On January 8,2009, he announced that he would not seek re-election to a term in 2010. Following his retirement from the Senate, Bond became a partner at Thompson Coburn, before his career in the U. S. Senate, Bond served two non-consecutive terms as Governor of Missouri, from 1973 to 1977 and from 1981 to 1985. He was previously State Auditor of Missouri from 1971 to 1973, a sixth-generation Missourian, Bond was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Elizabeth and Arthur D. Bond. His father was captain of the 1924 Missouri Tigers football team and his maternal grandfather, A. P. Green, founded A. P. Green Industries, a fireclay manufacturer and a major employer for many years in Bonds hometown Mexico, Missouri. Kit Bond graduated from Deerfield Academy in 1956, Princeton University in 1960 with an A. B. and the University of Virginia School of Law in 1963. From 1963 to 1964, Bond served as a law clerk to the Honorable Elbert Tuttle, then Chief Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Atlanta, Georgia. From 1964 to 1967, Bond practiced law at Covington & Burling in Washington, Bond moved back to his hometown of Mexico, Missouri in the fall of 1967, and ran for Congress in 1968 in Missouris 9th congressional district, the rural northeastern part of the state. He defeated Anthony Schroeder in the August Republican primary, 56% to 44%, in the November general election, Bond almost defeated incumbent Democratic U. S. Congressman Bill Hungate, 52% to 48%, Bond won eight of the districts 23 counties. Out of Hunsgates five re-election campaigns, that 1968 election against Bond was his worst performance, State Attorney General John Danforth hired Bond as an Assistant Attorney General in 1969, where Bond led the offices Consumer Protection Division. In 1970, at the age of 31, Bond was elected Missouri State Auditor, Bond won election for governor by a margin of 55% to 45%, making him, at 33 years of age, the youngest governor in the history of Missouri. Kit Bond was the first Republican in 28 years to serve as governor of Missouri, Bonds residency qualifications to be governor were challenged but upheld the Missouri Supreme Court in 1972. Missouri law said the governor had to be a resident for 10 years, the Court sided with him noting that residence is largely a matter of intention and did not require actual, physical presence. The court ruled that a residence was that place where a man has his true, fixed and permanent home and principal establishment, in 1976, he was on the short list to be Gerald Fords vice presidential running mate. In many ways Bond governed as a moderate during his first term as governor, for example, while governor, on June 25,1976 he signed an executive order rescinding the Extermination Order against Mormons issued by Governor Lilburn Boggs on October 27,1838. In 1976, in an upset, Bond was narrowly defeated for re-election by Democrat Joseph P. Teasdale
28.
Jodie Foster
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Alicia Christian Jodie Foster is an American actress and filmmaker who has worked in films and on television. She has often cited as one of the best actresses of her generation. Foster began her career at the age of three as a model in 1965, and two years later moved to acting in television series, with the sitcom Mayberry R. F. D. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, she worked in several television series. Fosters breakthrough came in Martin Scorseses Taxi Driver, in which she played a teenage prostitute, the role garnered her a nomination for an Academy Award. She won her second Academy Award three years later for her role in the sleeper hit The Silence of the Lambs, where she played Clarice Starling, an FBI trainee investigating a serial murder case. Foster made her debut as a director the same year with the moderately successful Little Man Tate. The companys first production was Nell, in which she played the title role. Her other films in the 1990s included period drama Sommersby, Western comedy Maverick, science fiction film Contact, and period drama Anna and her second film direction, Home for the Holidays, was not well-received commercially, while critical reviews were mixed. She has focused on directing in the 2010s, directing the films The Beaver and Money Monster, as well as episodes for Netflix television series Orange is the New Black and she also starred in the film Elysium. In addition to her two Academy Awards, Foster has won three BAFTA Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award and the Cecil B DeMille Award. Foster was born on November 19,1962 in Los Angeles, as the youngest child of Evelyn Ella Brandy and her father came from a wealthy Chicago family, whose forebears included John Alden, who had arrived in North America on the Mayflower in 1620. He was a Yale University graduate and a decorated U. S. Air Force lieutenant colonel and he had already been married once and had three sons from the union before marrying Brandy in Las Vegas in 1953. Brandy Foster was of German heritage and grew up in Rockford, Foster also has Irish roots, with ancestry that can be traced back to County Cork. Before Fosters birth, she and Lucius had three children, daughters Lucinda Cindy Foster and Constance Connie Foster, and son Lucius Fisher Buddy Foster. Their marriage ended before Foster was born, and she never established a relationship with her father, following the divorce, Brandy raised the children with her partner in Los Angeles. She worked as a publicist for film producer Arthur P. Jacobs, until focusing on managing the careers of Buddy. Although Foster was officially named Alicia, her siblings began calling her Jodie, Foster was a gifted child, and learned to read at the age of three
29.
Little Man Tate
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Little Man Tate is a 1991 drama film directed by and starring Jodie Foster. The film marked her directorial debut and it tells the story of a seven-year-old child prodigy, Fred Tate, who struggles to self-actualize in a social and psychological construct that largely fails to accommodate his intelligence. Foster plays Freds mother Dede Tate, who attempts to give her son a normal childhood while feeding his intellectual curiosity, Dede Tate is a single mother, a working-class woman of average intelligence raising her seven-year-old son, Fred, who shows every indication of being a genius. Freds reading and mathematics abilities are remarkable, and he plays the piano at competition level, Freds intellect comes to the attention of Jane Grierson, a former music prodigy and now a psychologist running a school for gifted children. She seeks permission from Dede to admit Fred to the school in order to develop his intellectual gifts in a way that a school cannot. Dede is reluctant, preferring that Fred have a normal upbringing but when no one comes to Freds seventh birthday party, Jane attempts to become more nurturing, but is unable to relate to Fred as anything other than a case study. An adult student named Eddie accidentally hits Fred with a globe when goofing around. To make it up to Fred, Eddie takes Fred out for a ride on his moped and shows him events like shooting pool, however, when Fred by mistake comes to Eddies room when he is in bed with a coed, Fred runs out. Eddie chases after him, then says he cannot be a babysitter to Fred, while he enjoys Freds company, the return to isolation takes a toll on Fred, as he suffers from nightmares where he is viewed as a freak. Jane is asked to bring Fred onto a panel show on the topic of gifted children. He claims his mother is dead, and recites a poem before taking off his microphone. Dede witnesses some of this as it is broadcast and flies back to New York, Jane is unable to find Fred, but Dede discovers him back at their apartment and embraces him. One year later, Fred has adjusted to the pressures of being a child genius, Dede hosts a well attended birthday party for him, reconciling Freds emotional development with his intellect. Jodie Foster - Dede Tate Dianne Wiest - Jane Grierson Adam Hann-Byrd - Fred Tate Harry Connick Jr, York - Infant Fred Tate Carolyn Lawrence - Sorority Girl Most of the film was shot in Over-the-Rhine and downtown Cincinnati. Little Man Tate received positive reviews critics, as it holds a 76% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 25 reviews. The film grossed about $25 million, Little Man Tate at the Internet Movie Database Little Man Tate at AllMovie Little Man Tate at Rotten Tomatoes
30.
Anthony Hopkins
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Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins CBE, is a Welsh actor of film, stage, and television. In 1968, he got his break in film in The Lion in Winter, since 2016, he has starred in the critically acclaimed HBO television series Westworld. Along with his Academy Award, Hopkins has won three BAFTA Awards, two Emmys, and the Cecil B, in 1993, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the arts. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003, Hopkins was born on New Years Eve 1937, in Margam, a suburb of Port Talbot, Glamorgan. His parents were Annie Muriel and Richard Arthur Hopkins, a baker and his school days were unproductive, he would rather immerse himself in art, such as painting and drawing, or playing the piano, than attend to his studies. In 1949, to discipline, his parents insisted he attend Jones West Monmouth Boys School in Pontypool. He remained there for five terms and was educated at Cowbridge Grammar School in the Vale of Glamorgan. Hopkins was influenced and encouraged by Welsh compatriot Richard Burton, whom he met at the age of 15, Hopkins promptly enrolled at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff, from which he graduated in 1957. After two years in the British Army doing his national service, he moved to London, where he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Hopkins made his first professional appearance in the Palace Theatre, Swansea. In 1965, after years in repertory, he was spotted by Laurence Olivier. Hopkins became Oliviers understudy, and filled in when Olivier was struck with appendicitis during a production of August Strindbergs The Dance of Death, despite his success at the National, Hopkins tired of repeating the same roles nightly and yearned to be in films. He made his debut in a 1967 BBC broadcast of A Flea in Her Ear. His first starring role in a film came in 1964 in Changes, in 1968, he got his break in The Lion in Winter playing Richard I. Although Hopkins continued in theatre he gradually moved away from it to more established as a television. He portrayed Charles Dickens in the BBC television film The Great Inimitable Mr. Dickens in 1970, and Pierre Bezukhov in the BBCs mini series War and Peace. In 1972 he starred as British politician David Lloyd George in Young Winston, in 1980, he starred in The Elephant Man as the English doctor Sir Frederick Treves, who attends to Joseph Merrick, a severely deformed man in 19th century London. That year he starred opposite Shirley MacLaine in A Change of Seasons
31.
Oliver Stone
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William Oliver Stone is an American screenwriter, film director, and producer. Stone won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay as writer of Midnight Express and he also wrote the acclaimed gangster movie Scarface. As a director, Stone achieved prominence as director/writer of the war drama Platoon, for which Stone won the Academy Award for Best Director, Platoon was the first in a trilogy of films based on the Vietnam War, in which Stone served as an infantry soldier. He continued the series with Born on the Fourth of July —for which Stone won his second Best Director Oscar—and Heaven & Earth. Many of Stones films focus on controversial American political issues during the late 20th century and they often combine different camera and film formats within a single scene, as evidenced in JFK, Natural Born Killers, and Nixon. Stone was born September 15,1946, in New York City, the son of Jacqueline and Louis Stone and he grew up in Manhattan and Stamford, Connecticut. His parents met during World War II, when his father was fighting as a part of the Allied force in France and his American-born father was a non-practicing Jew, and his French-born mother was a non-practicing Roman Catholic. Stone was raised in the Episcopal Church, and now practices Buddhism, Stone attended Trinity School in New York City before his parents sent him away to The Hill School, a college-preparatory school in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. His parents were divorced abruptly while he was away at school, Stones mother was often absent and his father made a big impact on his life, father-son relationships were to feature heavily in Stones films. He often spent parts of his vacations with his maternal grandparents in France. Stone also worked at 17 in the Paris mercantile exchange in sugar, Stone graduated from The Hill School in 1964. Stone was admitted into Yale University, but left in June 1965 at age 18 to teach school students English for six months in Saigon at the Free Pacific Institute in South Vietnam. Afterwards, he worked as a wiper on a United States Merchant Marine ship in 1966 and he returned to Yale, where he dropped out a second time. In April 1967, Stone enlisted in the United States Army, from September 16,1967 to April 1968, he served in Vietnam with 2nd Platoon, B Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Infantry Division and was twice wounded in action. He was then transferred to the First Cavalry Division participating in long range patrols before being transferred again to drive for an infantry unit of the division until November 1968. Stone graduated from New York University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in film in 1971, Stone made a short, well received 12-minute film Last Year in Viet Nam. In 1979, Stone won his first Academy Award, after adapting true-life prison story Midnight Express into a hit film for British director Alan Parker. Stones screenplay for Midnight Express was criticized by some for its inaccuracies in portraying the events described in the book, the original author, Billy Hayes, around whom the film is set, spoke out against the film, protesting that he had many Turkish friends while in jail
32.
Nixon (film)
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The film portrays Nixon as a complex and, in many respects, admirable, though deeply flawed, person. Nixon begins with a disclaimer that the film is an attempt to understand the truth based on public sources. The cast includes Joan Allen, Annabeth Gish, Marley Shelton, Powers Boothe, J. T. Walsh, the movie starts in ‘72 with the “plumbers” breaking into The Watergate and subsequently getting arrested. Nixons’ Chief Of Staff, General Alexander “Al” Haig brings Pres, Richard “Dick” M. Nixon Tapes to listen to. The two men talk about The Watergate Scandal, and about what a mess it has become, after talking about the death of J Edgar Hoover. Nixon goes on to curse out John Dean James McCord and others involved in Watergate, as Haig turns to leave, Nixon asks Haig why he hasnt been given a pistol to commit suicide like an honorable soldier. Nixon starts the taping system which trigger memories that start a series of time jumps, the first, takes us back to June 23,1972 about a week after the break in. To a meeting with Halderman Erlichman And Dean, ehrlichman and Dean leave, Nixon speaks the “Smoking Gun” tape to Halderman. The film covers most aspect of Nixons life and political career, the film implies that Nixon and his wife abused alcohol and prescription medication. The film ends with Nixons resignation and famous departure from the lawn of the White House on the helicopter, Anthony Hopkins as Richard Nixon The studio did not like Stones choice to play Nixon. They wanted Tom Hanks or Jack Nicholson — two of Stones original choices, the director briefly considered Gene Hackman, Robin Williams, Gary Oldman and Tommy Lee Jones. Stone met with Warren Beatty but the actor wanted to make too many changes to the script, Stone cast Hopkins based on his performances in The Remains of the Day and Shadowlands. Of Hopkins, Stone said, The isolation of Tony is what struck me, I felt that was the quality that always marked Nixon. When the actor met the director he got the impression that Stone was one of the bad boys of American pop culture. What convinced Hopkins to ultimately take on the role and impersonate the soul of Nixon were the scenes in the film when he talks about his mother and father. Joan Allen as Pat Nixon When Beatty was thinking about doing the film, he insisted on doing a reading of the script with an actress, afterwards, Beatty told Stone that he had found his Pat Nixon. The character may be a reference to Nixons meetings with Clint Murchison, Sr. although he also illuminates Nixons relationships with Howard Hughes, H. L. Hunt and other entrepreneurs. Originally, Oliver Stone had been developing two projects — the musical Evita and a movie about Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, when they both did not get made, Stone turned his attention to a biopic about Richard Nixon
33.
Ewan McGregor
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Ewan Gordon McGregor OBE is a Scottish actor. His first professional role was in 1993, when he won a role in the Channel 4 series Lipstick on Your Collar. Camerlengo Father Patrick McKenna in Angels and Demons, Dr. Alfred Jones in the romantic comedy-drama Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, and Lumière in an adaptation of Beauty. He received Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor – Musical or Comedy for both Moulin Rouge, and Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. McGregor has also starred in productions of Guys and Dolls. He was ranked number 36 on Empire magazines The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time list in 1997, in a 2004 poll for the BBC, McGregor was named the fourth most influential person in British culture. He has been involved in charity work and has served as an ambassador for UNICEF UK since 2004, in 2016, he received the BAFTA Britannia Humanitarian Award. McGregor was born in Perth, Scotland and brought up in Crieff and his mother, Carol Diane, is a retired teacher of Crieff High School and latterly deputy head teacher of Kingspark School in Dundee. His father, James Charles Stewart Jim McGregor, is a physical education teacher and careers master of Morrisons Academy. He has a brother, Colin, who is a former Tornado GR4 pilot in the Royal Air Force. He is the nephew of actor Denis Lawson and actress Sheila Gish, McGregor attended the independent Morrisons Academy in Crieff. In 1993, six months prior to his graduation from Guildhall, the same year, he starred in the BBC adaptation of Scarlet and Black with a young Rachel Weisz, and made his film debut in Bill Forsyths Being Human. In 1994, McGregor performed in the thriller Shallow Grave, for which he won an Empire Award, and his international breakthrough followed in 1996 with the role of heroin addict Mark Renton in Boyles Trainspotting, an adaptation of Irvine Welshs novel of the same name. McGregor played the romantic lead role in the 1998 British film Little Voice. While the prequels received criticism from Star Wars fans, McGregors performance was widely acclaimed and his uncle, Denis Lawson, had played Wedge Antilles in the original trilogy. In 2001, he starred in Moulin Rouge, as the young poet Christian, who falls in love with the terminally-ill courtesan Satine, played by Nicole Kidman. McGregor reprised his role of Obi-Wan Kenobi for the subsequent prequel Star Wars, in 2003, he starred alongside Renée Zellweger in Down With Love. He also portrayed the younger Edward Bloom in the acclaimed film Big Fish alongside Albert Finney, Jessica Lange, Alison Lohman
34.
Down with Love
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Down with Love is a 2003 romantic comedy film. It was directed by Peyton Reed and stars Renée Zellweger, Ewan McGregor, Sarah Paulson, the story follows a woman who advocates female independence in combat with a lothario and the patriarchal, even male chauvinist society of the 1950s and early 1960s. Following her rules would, she believes, help to women a boost in the workplace. The men who run Banner House refuse to support the book, Catchers boss and best friend, Peter MacMannus, and Vikki take a liking to one another. However, their relationship revolves around Barbara and Catcher, and neither is brave enough to express their feelings for the other, Peter feels overshadowed by Catchers strong personality, and Vikki wants to see emotional commitment in her lover. She even assumes Peter must be gay due to his lack of interest. Barbara starts promoting her book with Vikkis help, and things take off when they get Judy Garland to sing the song Down with Love as a promotion to the book on The Ed Sullivan Show. Sales skyrocket, as housewives and women around the world buy the book and rebel against their men, Catcher now wants to meet Barbara, but now it is she who rejects him. It all comes to a point when Barbara appears on a national TV show talking about a chapter from the book – The Worst Kind of Man –. Subsequently, Catchers date rejects him, which infuriates him and he arranges for a casual meeting at a dry cleaner shop, taking advantage of the fact that Barbara has never met or seen him, and he poses as an astronaut, Major Zip Martin, attentive and polite. Barbara appears to be infatuated with this man who seemingly has no idea who she is, in contrast to men who now avoid her. But he starts falling for her, and it gets harder to go through with his plan and it is his own apartment, and he sets everything up to record her saying she loves him. She tells him she did this to be different from all the women he knew and they both realize that Catcher does love her, but as he is proposing, one of his many lovers appears and thanks Barbara for what she has done for womankind. Barbara realizes that she not want love or him as she has become a real down with love girl. Vikki and Peters relationship also changes when she insults him for helping Catcher, Peter realizes he is indeed like any other man and takes Vikki to Catchers apartment to take things to the next level. Days later, Catcher is completely depressed, all his efforts to win Barbara back have failed, even his exposé is ruined now that Barbara has told her story in her own magazine, Now. Peter is also depressed as his relationship with Vikki is now apparently based only on sex, Catcher realizes he can do something and writes a new exposé How Falling In Love With Barbara Novak Made Me A New Man. He learns there is an opening at Now and goes for an interview with her and they fly to Vegas to get married, influencing Vikki and Peter, who also decide to get married
35.
The Walt Disney Company
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The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney, is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate, headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. It is the second largest media conglomerate in terms of revenue. Disney was founded on October 16,1923 – by brothers Walt Disney, the company also operated under the names The Walt Disney Studio and then Walt Disney Productions. Taking on its current name in 1986, it expanded its operations and also started divisions focused upon theater, radio, music, publishing. In addition, Disney has since created corporate divisions in order to more mature content than is typically associated with its flagship family-oriented brands. The company is best known for the products of its studio, Walt Disney Studios. Disneys other three divisions are Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Disney Media Networks, and Disney Consumer Products. The company has been a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average since May 6,1991, Mickey Mouse, an early and well-known cartoon creation of the company, is a primary symbol and mascot for Disney. In early 1923, Kansas City, Missouri, animator Walt Disney created a film entitled Alices Wonderland. After the bankruptcy in 1923 of his previous firm, Laugh-O-Gram Studios, Disney moved to Hollywood to join his brother, Walt and Roy Disney formed Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio that same year. More animated films followed after Alice, in January 1926, with the completion of the Disney studio on Hyperion Street, the Disney Brothers Studios name was changed to the Walt Disney Studio. The distributor owned Oswald, so Disney only made a few hundred dollars, Disney completed 26 Oswald shorts before losing the contract in February 1928, due to a legal loophole, when Winklers husband Charles Mintz took over their distribution company. After failing to take over the Disney Studio, Mintz hired away four of Disneys primary animators to start his own animation studio, Snappy Comedies. In 1928, to recover from the loss of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Disney came up with the idea of a character named Mortimer while on a train headed to California. The mouse was later renamed Mickey Mouse and starred in several Disney produced films, ub Iwerks refined Disneys initial design of Mickey Mouse. Disneys first sound film Steamboat Willie, a cartoon starring Mickey, was released on November 18,1928 through Pat Powers distribution company and it was the first Mickey Mouse sound cartoon released, but the third to be created, behind Plane Crazy and The Gallopin Gaucho. Disney used Pat Powers Cinephone system, created by Powers using Lee De Forests Phonofilm system, Steamboat Willie premiered at B. S. Mosss Colony Theater in New York City, now The Broadway Theatre. Disneys Plane Crazy and The Galloping Gaucho were then retrofitted with synchronized sound tracks, Disney continued to produce cartoons with Mickey Mouse and other characters, and began the Silly Symphonies series with Columbia Pictures signing on as Symphonies distributor in August 1929
36.
Treasure Planet
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Treasure Planet is a 2002 American animated science fiction film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, and released by Walt Disney Pictures on November 27,2002. It is the 43rd Disney animated feature film, the film is a science fiction adaptation of Robert Louis Stevensons adventure novel Treasure Island and was the first film to be released simultaneously in regular and IMAX theaters. The film employs a technique of hand-drawn 2D traditional animation set atop 3D computer animation. Treasure Planet features the voices of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brian Murray, David Hyde Pierce, Martin Short, Roscoe Lee Browne, Emma Thompson, Laurie Metcalf, the musical score was composed by James Newton Howard, while the songs were written and performed by John Rzeznik. It was nominated for the 2002 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, twelve years later, Jim has grown into an aloof and isolated teenager. He reluctantly helps his mother Sarah run the familys Benbow Inn, one day, a spaceship crashes near the inn. The dying pilot, Billy Bones, gives Jim a sphere, after this, a gang of pirates raid and burn the inn. Jim, his mother, and their dog-like friend Dr. Delbert Doppler flee, at Dopplers study, Jim finds that the sphere is a holographic projector, showing a star map that leads to the location of Treasure Planet. Doppler commissions a ship called the RLS Legacy, on a mission to find Treasure Planet, the ship is commanded by the cat-like Captain Amelia along with her stone-skin and disciplined First Mate, Mr. Arrow. The crew is a bunch, secretly led by the half-robot cook John Silver. Jim is sent down to work in the galley, where he is supervised by Silver and his shape-shifting pet, despite Jims mistrust of Silver, they soon form a tenuous father-son relationship. Flashbacks are shown in Jims youth when his father abandoned him. During the voyage, the ship encounters a supernova, Jim, while securing lifelines of all crew members, saves Silver from falling just in time. The supernova then devolves into a hole, where Arrow falls. The burst of shock waves and maximum engine power enable Amelia to pilot the ship to safety, Amelia mourns the loss of Arrow, and suspects Jim of failing to secure the lifelines. Jim blames himself for the mistake, while in fact Arrows line was cut by a ruthless insectoid crew member named Scroop, as the ship reaches Treasure Planet, Jim overhears that the crew are pirates, and mutiny erupts. Jim, Doppler, Amelia, including Morph abandon the ship, thinking that Jim has the map, Silver had a chance to blast Jim, but hesitates because of his attachment to the boy. The fugitives are shot down by a mutineer during their escape, while exploring Treasure Planets forests, the fugitives meet B. E. N. an abandoned robot, who says he has literally lost his primary memory, and invites them to his place for shelter
37.
Phasmatodea
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The Phasmatodea are an order of insects, whose members are variously known as stick insects, stick-bugs or walking sticks, phasmids, ghost insects and leaf insects. The groups name is derived from the Ancient Greek φάσμα phasma, meaning an apparition or phantom and their natural camouflage makes them difficult for predators to detect, but many species have a secondary line of defence in the form of startle displays, spines or toxic secretions. The genus Phobaeticus includes the worlds longest insects, members of the order are found all over the world except for the Antarctic and Patagonia, but they are most abundant in the tropics and subtropics. They are herbivorous with many species living unobtrusively in the tree canopy and they have a hemimetabolous life cycle with three stages, eggs, nymphs and adults. Many phasmids are parthenogenic, and do not require fertilised eggs for female offspring to be produced. In hotter climates, they may breed all year round, in temperate regions, the females lay eggs in the autumn before dying. Some species have wings and can disperse by flying, while others are more restricted, phasmids can be relatively large, ranging from 1.5 centimetres to over 30 centimetres in length. Females of the genus Phobaeticus are the worlds longest insects, measuring up to 56.7 centimetres in length in the case of Phobaeticus chani. The heaviest species of phasmid is likely to be Heteropteryx dilatata, some phasmids have cylindrical stick-like bodies, while others have flattened, leaflike shapes. Many species are wingless, or have reduced wings, the thorax is long in the winged species, since it houses the flight muscles, and is typically much shorter in the wingless forms. Where present, the first pair of wings is narrow and cornified, while the wings are broad, with straight veins along their length. The body is further modified to resemble vegetation, with ridges resembling leaf veins, bark-like tubercles. A few species, such as Carausius morosus, are able to change their pigmentation to match their surroundings. The mouthparts project out from the head, chewing mandibles are uniform across species. The legs are long and slender, and some species are capable of limb autotomy. Phasmids have long, slender antennae, as long as or longer than the rest of the body in some species, all phasmids possess compound eyes, but ocelli are only found in some winged males. Phasmids have a visual system that allows them to perceive significant detail even in dim conditions. They are born equipped with compound eyes with a limited number of facets
38.
Pixar
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Pixar, also referred to as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California that is a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. Disney purchased Pixar in 2006 at a valuation of $7.4 billion, Pixar has produced seventeen feature films, beginning with Toy Story, which was the first-ever computer-animated feature film, and its most recent being Finding Dory. All 17 of its films have debuted with CinemaScore ratings of at least an A−, the studio has also produced several short films. As of October 2016, its films have earned approximately $10.8 billion at the box office worldwide. Fourteen of Pixars films are also among the 50 highest-grossing animated films of all time, the studio has earned sixteen Academy Awards, seven Golden Globe Awards, and eleven Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Monsters, Inc. and Cars are the two films that were nominated for the award without winning it, while Cars 2, Monsters University, The Good Dinosaur. Up and Toy Story 3 were also the second and third animated films to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, the first being Walt Disney Animation Studios Beauty. Luxo Jr. a character from the studios 1986 short film of the name, is the studios mascot. The award was presented by Lucasfilms founder George Lucas, Schure kept pouring money into the computer graphics lab, an estimated $15 million, giving the group everything they desired and drove NYIT into serious financial troubles. During the following months, they resigned from CGL, found temporary jobs for about a year to avoid making Schure suspicious. He was then reunited with Alvy Ray Smith, who made the journey from NYIT to Lucasfilm. At NYIT, the researchers pioneered many of the CG foundation techniques—in particular the invention of the alpha channel, Years later, the CGL produced a few frames of an experimental film called The Works. In 1982, the team working on special effects film sequences with Industrial Light & Magic. In 1983, Nolan Bushnell founded a new computer-guided animation studio called Kadabrascope as a subsidiary of his Chuck E. Cheeses Pizza Time Theatres company, only one major project was made out of the new studio, an animated Christmas movie for NBC starring Chuck E. The animation movement would be made using Tweening instead of cel animation. After the North American Video Game Crash of 1983, Bushnell started selling some subsidiaries of PTT to keep the business afloat, sente Technologies would be sold to Bally Games and Kadabrascope would be sold to LucasFilm. The Kadabrascope assets s would be combined with the Computer Division of LucasFilm, PTT would later be sold to ShowBiz Pizza Place, a competitor, in 1985. Amongst the 38 remaining employees, there were also Malcolm Blanchard, David DiFrancesco, Ralph Guggenheim and Bill Reeves, Tom Duff, also an NYIT member, would later join Pixar after its formation
39.
A Bug's Life
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A Bugs Life is a 1998 American computer-animated comedy adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The film is inspired by Aesops fable The Ant and the Grasshopper, production began shortly after the release of Toy Story in 1995. The screenplay was penned by Stanton and comedy writers Donald McEnery, the ants in the film were redesigned to be more appealing, and Pixars animation unit employed new technical innovations in computer animation. During production, the filmmakers became embroiled in a feud with DreamWorks Animation due to their similar film Antz. The film was released to theaters on November 25,1998, and was a box office success, surpassing competition and it received positive reviews from film critics, who commended the storyline and animation, while others criticized it by comparing it to Antz. The film has released multiple times on home video. Flik, an individualist and would-be inventor, lives in a colony of ants in the middle of a dry creek and they are led by Princess Atta and her mother, the Queen. The colony is oppressed by a gang of marauding grasshoppers, led by Hopper, one day, when the annual offering is inadvertently knocked into a stream by Fliks latest invention, a grain harvesting device, the grasshoppers demand twice as much food as compensation. When Flik suggests in earnest that they seek help from other stronger bugs, the other ants see it as an opportunity to be rid of him, and send him off. Making his way to the bug city, the naive Flik mistakes a troupe of circus bugs that have recently been dismissed by their money-hungry ringmaster, flea, for the warrior bugs he seeks. The bugs, in turn, mistake Flik for a talent agent, during a welcome ceremony upon their arrival, the circus bugs and Flik both discover their mutual misunderstandings. The circus bugs attempt to leave but are forced back when a bird attacks the group, at Fliks insistence, they continue the ruse of being warriors so the troupe can continue to enjoy the attention and hospitality of the ants. After hearing that Hopper fears birds, the ants and the circus bugs create a bird to scare away the grasshoppers. Meanwhile, Hopper tells his gang how greatly the ants outnumber them, the ants finish constructing the fake bird, but during a celebration, P. T. Flea arrives searching for his troupe and accidentally exposes their ruse, outraged by Fliks deception, the ants exile him and desperately gather food for a new offering to the grasshoppers. When the grasshoppers arrive to discover the mediocre offering, they take over the colony, after overhearing Hoppers intention to kill the Queen, Dot has Flik and the circus bugs return to the colony for help. The bird initially fools the grasshoppers, but P. T, flea, also mistaking it for a real bird, lights it on fire, exposing it as a decoy. Hopper beats Flik in retaliation and proclaims that the ants are lowly life forms who live to serve the grasshoppers, however, Flik responds defiantly, realizing that Hopper actually fears the colony, and inspiring the ants and the circus bugs to fight back against the grasshoppers
40.
Abe Sapien
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Abraham Abe Sapien is a fictional character introduced in the comic book series Hellboy, created by Mike Mignola. C. He is occasionally referred to as a fishman, or merman, as well as regular appearances in Hellboy and B. P. R. D. Sapien has also starred in his own comic, Abe Sapien, Drums of the Dead by Brian McDonald and Derek Thompson. Forced to abandon the site by the outbreak of the American Civil War, the Society never found occasion to return for Caul, and there he stayed until he was found by workmen in November 1978. With no memory of his life before, the icthyo sapien received a new name from a piece of paper attached to the tube, dated the day of Abraham Lincolns assassination. Abe Sapien was taken to the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense for a round of research by curious BPRD scientists. Thereafter, Abe entered the ranks of the BPRD as a field agent. During the subsequent Girescu affair during Wake the Devil, Abe, Rasputins vengeful spirit appeared before him and prophesied that Sapien will one day be speared to death, just as he was. In Plague of Frogs, Rasputins prediction came true when Sapien was impaled by a spear, Sapien appeared to die and had an out of body experience that brought him to his former life in antebellum America. Abe has since returned to the B. P. R. D. A vision of the future in King of Fear by Liz Sherman showed that, by that time, most recently in Gods, Abe was shot by a psychic girl named Fénix, in which the BPRD has shown interest. According to Professor ODonnell, Fénix is the equal to the ancient Hyperborean shamans who keep the Ogdru Hem for entering in Earth after Hyperboreas fall using the Vril energy. Fénix says, before shooting Abe, that she knows who he is, Abe is last seen in a helicopter, being treated for his bullet wounds. Devon witnesses the shooting, but lies when asked regarding it later, in Monsters, its revealed that Abe condition in the B. P. R. D. Headquarters suddenly worsened, and, despite they manage to take him to support to keep his body alive, he suffered extensive brain damage. However, he recovered but began mutating further, growing taller, his limbs and neck lengthening and lost his nose. Abe eventually awakened, discovered his transformation, and stumbled into the empty monitor room, panya confronted Abe, telling him what happened and that Hellboy has died. Taking Panya’s advice, Abe fled the B. P. R. D, stealing a truck, to go out on his own and discover if he is involved in the apocalypse
