1.
Oakland, California
–
Oakland /ˈoʊklənd/ is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. The city was incorporated in 1852, Oaklands territory covers what was once a mosaic of California coastal terrace prairie, oak woodland, and north coastal scrub. Its land served as a resource when its hillside oak and redwood timber were logged to build San Francisco. In the late 1860s, Oakland was selected as the terminal of the Transcontinental Railroad. Following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, many San Francisco citizens moved to Oakland, enlarging the citys population, increasing its housing stock and it continued to grow in the 20th century with its busy port, shipyards, and a thriving automobile manufacturing industry. Oakland is known for its sustainability practices, including a top-ranking for usage of electricity from renewable resources, in addition, due to a steady influx of immigrants during the 20th century, along with thousands of African-American war-industry workers who relocated from the Deep South during the 1940s. Oakland is the most ethnically diverse city in the country. The earliest known inhabitants were the Huchiun Indians, who lived there for thousands of years, the Huchiun belonged to a linguistic grouping later called the Ohlone. In Oakland, they were concentrated around Lake Merritt and Temescal Creek, in 1772, the area that later became Oakland was claimed, with the rest of California, by Spanish settlers for the King of Spain. In the early 19th century, the Spanish crown granted the East Bay area to Luis María Peralta for his Rancho San Antonio, the grant was confirmed by the successor Mexican republic upon its independence from Spain. Upon his death in 1842, Peralta divided his land among his four sons, Most of Oakland fell within the shares given to Antonio Maria and Vicente. The portion of the parcel that is now Oakland was called encinal—Spanish for oak grove—due to the oak forest that covered the area. In 1851, three men—Horace Carpentier, Edson Adams, and Andrew Moon—began developing what is now downtown Oakland, on May 4,1852, the Town of Oakland incorporated. Two years later, on March 25,1854, Oakland re-incorporated as the City of Oakland, with Horace Carpentier elected the first mayor, the city and its environs quickly grew with the railroads, becoming a major rail terminal in the late 1860s and 1870s. In 1868, the Central Pacific constructed the Oakland Long Wharf at Oakland Point, a number of horsecar and cable car lines were constructed in Oakland during the latter half of the 19th century. The first electric streetcar set out from Oakland to Berkeley in 1891, at the time of incorporation, Oakland consisted of the territory that lay south of todays major intersection of San Pablo Avenue, Broadway, and Fourteenth Street. The city gradually annexed farmlands and settlements to the east and the north, Oaklands rise to industrial prominence, and its subsequent need for a seaport, led to the digging of a shipping and tidal channel in 1902. This resulted in the town of Alameda being made an island
2.
Los Angeles
–
Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L. A. is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of Southern California. With a census-estimated 2015 population of 3,971,883, it is the second-most populous city in the United States, Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the United States. The citys inhabitants are referred to as Angelenos, historically home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California. The city was founded on September 4,1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence, in 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4,1850, the discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, delivering water from Eastern California, nicknamed the City of Angels, Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, and sprawling metropolis. Los Angeles also has an economy in culture, media, fashion, science, sports, technology, education, medicine. A global city, it has been ranked 6th in the Global Cities Index, the city is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States. The Los Angeles combined statistical area has a gross metropolitan product of $831 billion, making it the third-largest in the world, after the Greater Tokyo and New York metropolitan areas. The city has hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984 and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and thus become the second city after London to have hosted the Games three times. The Los Angeles area also hosted the 1994 FIFA mens World Cup final match as well as the 1999 FIFA womens World Cup final match, the mens event was watched on television by over 700 million people worldwide. The Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva, a Gabrielino settlement in the area was called iyáangẚ, meaning poison oak place. Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2,1769, in 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the first mission in the area. The Queen of the Angels is an honorific of the Virgin Mary, two-thirds of the settlers were mestizo or mulatto with a mixture of African, indigenous and European ancestry. The settlement remained a small town for decades, but by 1820. Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street. New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, during Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico made Los Angeles Alta Californias regional capital
3.
The Jack Benny Program
–
The Jack Benny Program, starring Jack Benny, is a radio-TV comedy series that ran for more than three decades and is generally regarded as a high-water mark in 20th-century American comedy. Protagonist of the show, Benny is a comic, vain, penny-pinching miser, insisting on remaining 39 years old on stage despite his actual age, Eddie Anderson - Rochester Van Jones, Jacks valet and chauffeur. Early in the run, he often talked of gambling or going out with women. Later on, he complained about his lack of salary. Don generally opened the show and also did the commercial and he was the target of Jacks jokes, mostly about his weight. Dennis was always in his early 20s no matter how old he actually was and he was sweet but not very bright. When called upon, he could use a variety of accents. He usually sang a song about 10 minutes into the program, if the episode was a flashback to a previous time, a ruse would be used such as Dennis singing his song for Jack so he could hear it before the show. Although Sadie Marks, in life, was Jack Bennys wife, Mary Livingstone was a very sarcastic. Sometimes she was presented as a date, sometimes as a love interest and her role changed from plot to plot and she was never a steady girlfriend for Jack. In one episode, Fred Allen summarized Marys role as a girl to insult, Marks later legally changed her name to Mary Livingstone in response to the characters popularity. Her role on the program was reduced in the 1950s, a skirt-chasing, arrogant, hip-talking bandleader who constantly put Jack down. He referred to Mary as Livvy or Liv, and Jack as Jackson, an on-air joke explains this by saying, Its as close to jackass as I can get without being fired or getting into trouble with a censor. Spun off into The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show with his wife, Harris left the radio show in 1952 and his character did not make the transition to television. Mel Blanc - Carmichael the Polar Bear, Professor Pierre LeBlanc, Sy the Mexican, Polly, The Maxwell, an occasional running gag went along the lines of how the various characters Mel portrayed all looked alike. He was also the effects of Jacks barely functional Maxwell automobile—a role he played again in the Warner Brothers cartoon The Mouse that Jack Built. Another participating voice actor was Bert Gordon and he was always the person who waits on Jack wherever he was, from the railroad station, to the clerk in the store, to the doorman, to the waiter. Frank always delighted in aggravating Jack, as apparently, he was constantly aggravated by Jacks presence, sheldon Leonard - A racetrack tout who frequently offered unsolicited advice to Benny on a variety of non-racing-related subjects
4.
Vaudeville
–
Vaudeville is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment. It was especially popular in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s, a typical vaudeville performance is made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill. A vaudeville performer is often referred to as a vaudevillian, Vaudeville developed from many sources, including the concert saloon, minstrelsy, freak shows, dime museums, and literary American burlesque. Called the heart of American show business, vaudeville was one of the most popular types of entertainment in North America for several decades, the origin of this term is obscure, but is often explained as being derived from the French expression voix de ville. A second speculation is that it comes from the songs on satire by poet Olivier Basselin. Some, however, preferred the term variety to what manager Tony Pastor called its sissy. Thus, vaudeville was marketed as variety well into the 20th century, with its first subtle appearances within the early 1860s, vaudeville was not initially a common form of entertainment. The form gradually evolved from the saloon and variety hall into its mature form throughout the 1870s and 1880s. This more gentle form was known as Polite Vaudeville, in the years before the American Civil War, entertainment existed on a different scale. Certainly, variety theatre existed before 1860 in Europe and elsewhere, in the US, as early as the first decades of the 19th century, theatregoers could enjoy a performance consisting of Shakespeare plays, acrobatics, singing, dancing, and comedy. As the years progressed, people seeking diversified amusement found a number of ways to be entertained. Vaudeville was characterized by traveling companies touring through cities and towns, a significant influence also came from Dutch minstrels and comedians. Vaudeville incorporated these various itinerant amusements into a stable, institutionalized form centered in Americas growing urban hubs, pastors experiment proved successful, and other managers soon followed suit. B. F. Keith took the step, starting in Boston. Later, E. F. Albee, adoptive grandfather of the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Edward Albee, circuits such as those managed by Keith-Albee provided vaudevilles greatest economic innovation and the principal source of its industrial strength. They enabled a chain of allied vaudeville houses that remedied the chaos of the booking system by contracting acts for regional and national tours. These could easily be lengthened from a few weeks to two years, Albee also gave national prominence to vaudevilles trumpeting polite entertainment, a commitment to entertainment equally inoffensive to men, women and children. Acts that violated this ethos were admonished and threatened with expulsion from the remaining performances or were canceled altogether
5.
Jack Benny
–
Jack Benny was an American comedian, vaudevillian, radio, television and film actor, and violinist. Recognized as a leading American entertainer of the 20th century, Benny portrayed his character as a miser, in character, he would claim to be 39 years of age, regardless of his actual age. Benny was known for comic timing and the ability to cause laughter with a pregnant pause or a single expression and his radio and television programs, popular from the 1930s to the 1970s, were a major influence on the sitcom genre. Benny was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in nearby Waukegan and he was the son of Meyer Kubelsky and Emma Sachs Kubelsky. Meyer was an owner and later a haberdasher who had immigrated to America from Poland. Benny began studying violin, an instrument that became his trademark, at the age of 6 and he loved the instrument, but hated practice. His music teacher was Otto Graham Sr. a neighbor and father of Otto Graham of NFL fame, at 14, Benny was playing in dance bands and his high school orchestra. He was a dreamer and poor at his studies, and was expelled from high school. He did poorly in business school later and at attempts to join his fathers business, at age 17, he began playing the violin in local vaudeville theaters for $7.50 a week. He was joined by Ned Miller, a composer and singer. In 1911, Benny was playing in the theater as the young Marx Brothers. Minnie, their mother, enjoyed Bennys violin playing and invited him to accompany her boys in their act, Bennys parents refused to let their son go on the road at 17, but it was the beginning of his long friendship with the Marx Brothers, especially Zeppo Marx. The next year, Benny formed a musical duo with pianist Cora Folsom Salisbury. This provoked famous violinist Jan Kubelik, who feared that the young vaudevillian with a name would damage his reputation. Under legal pressure, Benjamin Kubelsky agreed to change his name to Ben K. Benny, when Salisbury left the act, Benny found a new pianist, Lyman Woods, and renamed the act From Grand Opera to Ragtime. They worked together for five years and slowly integrated comedy elements into the show and they reached the Palace Theater, the Mecca of Vaudeville, and did not do well. Benny left show business briefly in 1917 to join the United States Navy during World War I, and often entertained the troops with his violin playing. One evening, his performance was booed by the troops, so with prompting from fellow sailor and actor Pat OBrien, he ad-libbed his way out of the jam
6.
NBC
–
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.
CBS
–
CBS is an American commercial broadcast television network that is a flagship property of CBS Corporation. The company is headquartered at the CBS Building in New York City with major facilities and operations in New York City. CBS is sometimes referred to as the Eye Network, in reference to the iconic logo. It has also called the Tiffany Network, alluding to the perceived high quality of CBS programming during the tenure of William S. Paley. It can also refer to some of CBSs first demonstrations of color television, the network has its origins in United Independent Broadcasters Inc. a collection of 16 radio stations that was purchased by Paley in 1928 and renamed the Columbia Broadcasting System. Under Paleys guidance, CBS would first become one of the largest radio networks in the United States, in 1974, CBS dropped its former full name and became known simply as CBS, Inc. In 2000, CBS came under the control of Viacom, which was formed as a spin-off of CBS in 1971, CBS Corporation is controlled by Sumner Redstone through National Amusements, which also controls the current Viacom. The television network has more than 240 owned-and-operated and affiliated stations throughout the United States. The origins of CBS date back to January 27,1927, Columbia Phonographic went on the air on September 18,1927, with a presentation by the Howard Barlow Orchestra from flagship station WOR in Newark, New Jersey, and fifteen affiliates. Operational costs were steep, particularly the payments to AT&T for use of its land lines, in early 1928 Judson sold the network to brothers Isaac and Leon Levy, owners of the networks Philadelphia affiliate WCAU, and their partner Jerome Louchenheim. With the record out of the picture, Paley quickly streamlined the corporate name to Columbia Broadcasting System. He believed in the power of advertising since his familys La Palina cigars had doubled their sales after young William convinced his elders to advertise on radio. By September 1928, Paley bought out the Louchenheim share of CBS, during Louchenheims brief regime, Columbia paid $410,000 to A. H. Grebes Atlantic Broadcasting Company for a small Brooklyn station, WABC, which would become the networks flagship station. WABC was quickly upgraded, and the relocated to 860 kHz. The physical plant was relocated also – to Steinway Hall on West 57th Street in Manhattan, by the turn of 1929, the network could boast to sponsors of having 47 affiliates. Paley moved right away to put his network on a financial footing. In the fall of 1928, he entered talks with Adolph Zukor of Paramount Pictures. The deal came to fruition in September 1929, Paramount acquired 49% of CBS in return for a block of its stock worth $3.8 million at the time
8.
Hollywood Park Racetrack
–
In 1994 Hollywood Park Casino, with a poker card room, was added to the racetrack complex. Horse racing and training were shut down in December 2013 though the operations continued while a new state of the art casino building opened in October 2016. Until then, the Rams will temporarily play home games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the track was opened on June 10,1938 by the Hollywood Turf Club the racetrack was designed by noted racetrack architect Arthur Froehlich. Warner of the Warner Bros. film studio, in addition to being shareholders film directors Raoul Walsh and Mervyn LeRoy were also founding members of the tracks Board of Directors with Jack and Harry Warner and Al Jolson. Hollywood Park closed from 1942 to 1944 due to World War II, in 1949, the grandstand and clubhouse were destroyed by a fire, the rebuilt facility reopened in 1950. In 1984, the racetrack was extended one mile around to 1 1⁄8 miles around prior to the first Breeders Cup race. In 1986, the course was similarly expanded from 9⁄10 mile around to 1 mile 145 feet around. Harness Racing also took place at Hollywood Park, by the late 1980s the racetrack Hollywood Park, though frequented by celebrities, was near the point of bankruptcy. As of 1989, a group of investors was working to buy Los Alamitos Racetrack in California for $68 million. Los Alamitos, owned by Hollywood Park, was still under its ownership as of 1991. RD Hubbard became CEO of Hollywood Park in April 1991, after having purchased a portion of the stock in late 1990. He was assisted in the ouster of the former chairman Marje Everett, in 1991 $20 million was spent improving the racetrack. That year the park earned its first profit in five years, by 1993, the Los Angeles Times wrote that shareholders at Hollywood Park. A card club casino was added to the complex in 1994, as Hollywood Park underwent a $100 million expansion into Hollywood Park Casino, also in 1994, Hollywood Park Inc. purchased the Arizona-based Turf Paradise Race Track for $34 million in stock. In May 1995 after the departure of the Rams for St, then Raiders owner Al Davis balked and refused the deal over a stipulation that he would have to accept a second team at the stadium. After the deal fell trough the Raiders returned to Oakland, California, Hollywood Park Inc. suffered losses in 1995, though at the end of 1996, Hollywood Park bought Boomtown, Inc. for $188 million. Boomtown operated and owed casinos in several such as Las Vegas. Boomtown merged with the casino operator Pinnacle Entertainment in 1998, Hollywood Park was purchased by Churchill Downs Incorporated on September 10,1999 for $140 million
9.
Tightrope walking
–
Tightrope walking, also called funambulism, is the skill of walking along a thin wire or rope. It has a tradition in various countries and is commonly associated with the circus. Other skills similar to tightrope walking include slack rope walking and slacklining, tightwire is the skill of maintaining balance while walking along a tensioned wire between two points. It can be done using a balancing tool or freehand. Typically, tightwire performances either include dance or object manipulation, object manipulation acts include a variety of props in their acts, such as clubs or rings, hats or canes. Tightwire performers have even used wheelbarrows with passengers, ladders, the technique to maintain balance is to keep the performers centre of mass above their support point - usually their feet. Highwire is a form of tight wire walking but performed at much greater height, although there is no official height when tight wire becomes high wire, generally a wire over 20 feet high will be regarded as a high wire act. Skywalk is a form of highwire which is performed at great heights, a skywalk is performed outdoors between tall building, gorges, across waterfalls or other natural and man-made structures. Slackwire or slackrope is a type of wire or rope walking where the support is flexible or slack, the tension on the wire or rope is mainly provided by the weight of the performer and their props. The difference in required to maintain balance on a slackwire is that the performer moves the wire under his centre of mass. The flexibility of the wire or rope allows the performer to achieve this, slacklining is a popular form of slackwire walking which utilizes nylon webbing stretched tight between two anchor points. Slacklining is distinct from tightrope walking in that the line is not held rigidly taut, it is dynamic, stretching and bouncing like a long. The tension of the slackline can be varied to allow for a variety of skills to be performed. The tighter a slackline the closer the technique and performance is to tightwire, the slack in the slackline. When they are on the ground with their side by side. In the case of highwire-walkers, their feet are parallel with each other, therefore, a tightwire walkers sway is side to side, their lateral support having been drastically reduced. In both cases, whether side by side or parallel, the ankle is the pivot point, a wire-walker may use a pole for balance or may stretch out his arms perpendicular to his trunk in the manner of a pole. It distributes mass away from the point, thereby increasing the moment of inertia
10.
Underground Railroad
–
The term is also applied to the abolitionists, both black and white, free and enslaved, who aided the fugitives. Various other routes led to Mexico or overseas, an earlier escape route running south toward Florida, then a Spanish possession, existed from the late 17th century until shortly after the American Revolution. However, the now generally known as the Underground Railroad was formed in the late 1700s. One estimate suggests that by 1850,100,000 slaves had escaped via the Railroad, British North America, where slavery was prohibited, was a popular destination, as its long border gave many points of access. Most former slaves settled in Ontario, more than 30,000 people were said to have escaped there via the network during its 20-year peak period, although U. S. Census figures account for only 6,000. Numerous fugitives stories are documented in the 1872 book The Underground Railroad Records by William Still, the resulting economic impact was minuscule, but the psychological influence on slaveholders was immense. With heavy lobbying by Southern politicians, the Compromise of 1850 was passed by Congress after the Mexican–American War, because the law required sparse documentation to claim a person was a fugitive, slave catchers also kidnapped free blacks, especially children, and sold them into slavery. Southern politicians often exaggerated the number of escaped slaves and often blamed escapes on Northerners interfering with Southern property rights. The law deprived suspected slaves of the right to themselves in court. In a de facto bribe, judges were paid a fee for a decision that confirmed a suspect as a slave than for one ruling that the suspect was free. Many Northerners who might have ignored slave issues in the South were confronted by local challenges that bound them to support slavery. This was a primary grievance cited by the Union during the American Civil War, the escape network was not literally underground nor a railroad. It was figuratively underground in the sense of being an underground resistance and it was known as a railroad by way of the use of rail terminology in the code. The Underground Railroad consisted of meeting points, secret routes, transportation, and safe houses, escaped slaves would move north along the route from one way station to the next. Conductors on the railroad came from various backgrounds and included blacks, white abolitionists, former slaves. Without the presence and support of black residents, there would have been almost no chance for fugitive slaves to pass into freedom unmolested. To reduce the risk of infiltration, many associated with the Underground Railroad knew only their part of the operation. Conductors led or transported the fugitives from station to station, a conductor sometimes pretended to be a slave in order to enter a plantation
11.
Porter (carrier)
–
A porter, also called a bearer, is a person who carries objects or cargoes for others. The range of services conducted by porters is extensive, from shuttling luggage aboard a train to bearing heavy burdens at altitude in inclement weather on multi-month mountaineering expeditions. The use of humans to transport cargo dates to the ancient world, prior to domesticating animals, over time slavery diminished and technology advanced, but the role of porter for specialized transporting services remains strong in the 21st century. Examples include bellhops at hotels, redcaps at railway stations, skycaps at airports and this preparation can take months of work before the main expedition starts. Doing this involves numerous trips up and down the mountain, until the last and smallest supply deposit is planted shortly below the peak, when the route is prepared, either entirely or in stages ahead of the expedition, the main body follows. The last stage is often done without the porters, they remaining at the last camp, in many cases, since the porters are going ahead, they are forced to freeclimb, driving spikes and laying safety lines for the main expedition to use as they follow. Porters, are frequently local ethnic types, well adapted to living in the rarified atmosphere, a well known incident where porters attempted to rescue numerous stranded climbers, and often died as a result, is the 2008 K2 disaster. The word porter derives from the Latin portare, human adaptability and flexibility led to the early use of humans for transporting gear. Porters were commonly used as beasts of burden in the ancient world, the ancient Sumerians, for example, enslaved women to shift wool and flax. In the early Americas, where there were few native beasts of burden, in colonial times, some areas of the Andes employed porters called silleros to carry persons, particularly Europeans, as well as their luggage across the difficult mountain passes. Throughout the globe porters served, and in some areas continue to, as such littermen, porters are still paid to shift burdens in many third-world countries where motorized transport is impractical or unavailable, often alongside pack animals. The Sherpa people of Nepal are renowned as mountaineering porters, to the point their name is synonymous and their skill, knowledge of the mountains and local culture, and inborn ability to perform at altitude make them indispensable for the highest Himalayan expeditions. Porters at Indian railway stations are called coolies, a term for unskilled Asian labourer derived from the Chinese word for porter, certain trade-specific terms are used for forms of porters in North America, including bellhop, redcap, and skycap. The tactic immediately caught on, over time adapted by other forms of porters for their specialties, herinneringen aan Japan,1850 -1870, Fotos en Fotoalbums in Nederlands Bezit, pp. 106–107, repr. Beato, Felice, cited 21 June 2006
12.
NBC Studios (New York City)
–
NBC Studios are located in the historic 30 Rockefeller Plaza in the borough of Manhattan, New York City. The building houses the NBC television network headquarters, its parent NBC Universal, the first NBC Radio City Studios began operating in the early 1930s. Tours of the began in 1933, suspended in 2014. Because of the preponderance of radio studios, that section of the Rockefeller Center complex became known as Radio City, even into the present decade, tickets for shows based at 30 Rock bear the legend Radio City. Among the shows originating at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, Some other New York originated programs are/were produced elsewhere in the area, including, now a theater presenting Broadway shows. Show, Hullabaloo, Kraft Music Hall, The Cosby Show and it was the home of CBSs soap opera As the World Turns until the series ceased production in 2010. The studio was equipped for color production when it opened in 1954, in 2000, the facility was sold to JC Studios, which closed in 2014. In June 2015 the studios were being converted to space for a social service agency. (The silent film-era Vitagraph Studios was located directly across East 14th Street, later the Shulamith School for Girls, Center Theatre,1236 Sixth Avenue at West 49th Street. Demolished in 1954 for U. S. Rubber building, century Theater,932 Seventh Avenue at West 58th Street. Leased to Videotape Productions of New York 1958-1961, demolished in 1962 for construction of an apartment building. Colonial Theater,1887 Broadway at West 62nd Street, the studio was the first equipped for color production and originated the first color telecast on November 3,1953. Located in the former Grumman Aircraft plant on Long Island, since 2012 used by NBC for live musicals each December, including The Sound of Music Live, Peter Pan Live, and The Wiz Live. Hudson Theatre,141 West 44th Street, the theater still stands as part of the Millennium Broadway Hotel. In December 2015 it was announced that the theater will return to Broadway productions in the 2016-17 season, international Theater,5 Columbus Circle (Admiral Broadway Review. Demolished in 1954 for New York Coliseum, CNN Center is now on the site. New Amsterdam Roof Garden Theater,214 West 42nd Street, now home to Broadway musical productions, ziegfeld Theatre,1341 Sixth Avenue at West 54th Street. Demolished in 1966 for 49-story office tower, 67th Street Studios,101 West 67th Street on WNBT-TV
13.
Shoeshiner
–
Shoeshiner or boot polisher is an occupation in which a person polishes shoes with shoe polish. They are often known as shoeshine boys because the job is traditionally that of a male child, other synonyms are bootblack and shoeblack. While the role is deprecated in much of Western civilization, shining shoes is an important source of income for many children, some shoeshiners offer extra services, such as shoe repairs and general tailoring. Many well-known and high-profile people started their life as shoeshiners, including singers. Shoe polish was not well known as a product until the early 20th century. Throughout the late 19th century shoeshine boys plied their trade on the streets, the earliest known daguerreotype of a human features a man having his shoes shined in the lower corner of the print. In Afghanistan some children will work after school and can earn 100 Afghanis each day, many street children use shoeshining as their only means of income. Some cities require shoeshiners to acquire licences in order to work legally, in August 2007 shoeshiners in Mumbai, India were told that they could no longer work on the railway stations due to financial irregularities. Every Shoeshine Association was asked to reapply for their licence, with many worried that they would lose out to a rival, in the UK, shoeshiners are often found working in business districts where professionals congregate. The shoeshiner is perceived as a hub, studiously polishing and buffing whilst dispensing helpful advice on local affairs. Several high profile figures worked as shoeshiners at one point of their lives and he used to shine shoes and sing and dance on Ninth Street in Augusta, Georgia, in 1993 the road was renamed James Brown Boulevard in his honour. The film is based on the experiences of Henry Hill and the people he met through the Vario brothers. In real life, William Billy Batts Bentvena taunted Thomas Two Gun Tommy DeSimone, DeSimone retorted by yelling, Shine these fuckin shoes, and then executing Batts. Parks and Recreation, a 2009 American TV show, in one of the main characters gets a job shining shoes. A musical based on Algers work, particularly Ragged Dick, was produced in 1982, scrooge McDuck, the Dell Comics character, famously won his Number One Dime shining shoes
14.
Dennis Day
–
Dennis Day was an American singer, radio, television and film personality and comedian of Irish descent. Day was born and raised in The Bronx New York City in the Throggs Neck section and his father was a factory electric power engineer. Day graduated from Cathedral Preparatory Seminary in New York City, and attended Manhattan College in the Bronx, Day appeared for the first time on Jack Bennys radio show on October 8,1939, taking the place of another famed tenor, Kenny Baker. He remained associated with Bennys radio and television programs until Bennys death in 1974 and he was introduced as a young, naive boy singer – a character he kept through his whole career. Mary Livingstone, Bennys wife, brought the singer to Bennys attention after hearing Day on the radio during a visit to New York and she took a recording of Days singing to Benny, who then went to New York to audition Day. The audition resulted in Days role on the Benny program, Days first recorded song was Goodnight My Beautiful. Besides singing, Dennis Day was a mimic, on the Benny program, Day performed impressions of various noted celebrities of the era, including Ronald Colman, Jimmy Durante and James Stewart. From 1944 through 1946 he served in the United States Navy as a Lieutenant, on his return to civilian life, he continued to work with Benny while also starring on his own NBC show, A Day in the Life of Dennis Day. His last radio series was a comedy/variety show that aired on NBCs Sunday afternoon schedule during the 1954–55 season. In late 1950, a kinescope was produced by Colgate and their ad agency showcasing Dennis as host of a projected live comedy/variety series for CBS. He continued to appear as a regular cast member when The Jack Benny Program became a TV series, eventually, his own TV series, The Dennis Day Show, was first telecast on NBC on February 8,1952, and then in the 1953–1954 season. Between 1952 and 1978, he made numerous TV appearances as a singer and actor and voice for animation, such as the Walt Disney feature Johnny Appleseed, handling multiple characters. During the final season of The Jack Benny Program, Day was nearly 49 years old and his last televised work with Benny was in 1970, when they both appeared in a public service announcement together to promote savings and loans. This was shortly after the whole cast and crew of The Jack Benny Show had joined for Jack Bennys Twentieth Anniversary Special, in 1972, he co-starred with June Allyson and Judy Canova in the First National Tour of the Broadway musical No, No, Nanette. He also appeared in Date with the Angels – Season 1, aired Friday 9,30 PM October 25,1957 on ABC – some records show it was episode 19, titled Star Struck. Although his career was mainly radio and TV-based, Day also appeared in a few films, for the soundtrack of My Wild Irish Rose, a biopic about Chauncey Olcott, Day provided the singing voice to the acting of Dennis Morgan. In 1948, Day married Peggy Almquist, the marriage lasted until his death in 1988 and his brother Jim McNulty, two years younger, was married to actress/singer Ann Blyth. Day died on June 22,1988, of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, in Los Angeles and his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is at 6646 Hollywood Boulevard
15.
Phil Harris
–
Wonga Philip Phil Harris was an American comedian, jazz musician, singer and actor. Harris is also noted for his performances in animated films. He played Baloo the bear in The Jungle Book, Thomas OMalley in The Aristocats, in 1981, he sang Back Home Again in Indiana before the Indianapolis 500. Phil Harris was born on June 24,1904, in Linton, Indiana as Wonga Phillip Harris, but grew up in Nashville, Tennessee and he was born to Harry and Dollie Harris. His mother was of Irish descent and his upbringing accounted for both his trace of a Southern accent and, in later years, the self-deprecating Southern jokes of his radio character. The son of two performers, Harriss first work as a drummer came when his father, as tent bandleader. Harris began his career as a drummer in San Francisco, forming an orchestra with Carol Lofner in the latter 1920s. The partnership ended by 1932, and Harris led and sang with his own band, Harris also played drums in the Henry Halstead Big Band Orchestra during the mid-1920s. In 1931, Lofner-Harris recorded for Victor, after Harris recorded for Columbia in 1933, he recorded for Decca in 1935. From December 1936, through March 1937, he recorded 16 sides for Vocalion, most were hot swing tunes that used an interesting gimmick, they faded up and faded out with a piano solo. These were probably arranged by pianist Skippy Anderson, on September 2,1927, he married actress Marcia Ralston in Sydney, Australia, they had met when he played a concert date. The couple adopted a son, Phil Harris, Jr, in 1933, he made a short film for RKO called So This Is Harris. Which won an Academy Award for best live action short subject and he followed with a feature-length film, Melody Cruise. Both films were created by the team that next produced Flying Down to Rio. Phil also starred in I Love a Bandleader with Leslie Brooks in 1945, here he played a housepainter who gets amnesia, then starts to lead a band. Additionally, he appeared in The Wild Blue Yonder a. k. a, Phil also appeared in the 1956 film Goodbye, My Lady, co-starring with Walter Brennan. In 1936, Harris became musical director of The Jell-O Show Starring Jack Benny, singing and leading his band and his first trademark was his jive-talk nicknaming of the others in the Benny orbit. Benny was Jackson, for example, Harriss usual entry was a cheerful Hiya and he usually referred to Mary Livingstone as Livvy or Liv
16.
Mary Livingstone
–
Mary Livingstone, was an American radio comedian and actress. She was the wife and radio partner of comedian Jack Benny, enlisted almost entirely by accident to perform on her husbands popular program, she proved a talented comedian. Livingstone was born Sadie Marcowitz in Seattle, Washington, but raised in Vancouver and her father, David Marcowitz, was a Jewish immigrant from Romania. Her mother was Esther Wagner Marcowitz, according to the International Jack Benny Fan Club, claims that Livingstone was related to the Marx Brothers or their uncle Al Shean of Gallagher and Shean are unfounded. She first met her husband, Jack Benny, at a Passover seder at her family home when she was 14 years old. Benny was invited by his friend Zeppo Marx while Benny and the Marx Brothers were in together to perform. Three years later, aged 17, Sadie visited California with her family while Jack Benny was in the town for a show. Still nursing a crush on the comedian, Sadie went to the theater to re-introduce herself to him. As he approached her in a hallway, she smiled and said, Hello, Mr. Benny, Im. They met again a few years later — while she was said to be working as a salesgirl at a May Company department store in downtown Los Angeles —. Invited on a double-date by a friend who had married Sadies sister, Babe and this time, the couple clicked, Jack was finally smitten with Sadie and asked her on another date. She turned him down at first — she was seeing another young man — but Benny persisted. He visited her at the May Company almost daily and was reputed to buy so much ladies hosiery from her that he helped her set a sales record, he also called her several times a day when on the road. Sadie took part in some of Jacks vaudeville performances but never thought of herself as a full-time performer, then came the day he called her at home and asked her to come to the studio quickly. At first, it seemed like a role, she played the part on that nights. But NBC received so much fan mail that the character was revived into a feature on the Benny show. Livingstones chiss sweeze sandwich order in a lunch counter sketch was referred to for years afterwards. Another flubbed line was How could you possibly hit a car when it was up on the grease rack, instead, she asked, How could you possibly hit a car when it was up on the grass reek
17.
Don Wilson (announcer)
–
Don Wilson was an American announcer and actor in radio and television, with a Falstaffian vocal presence, remembered best as the rotund announcer and comic foil to the star of The Jack Benny Program. Wilson began his career as a singer over Denver radio station KFEL in 1923. By 1929, he was working at KFI, and shortly afterwards for Don Lee at KHJ, in a 1978 appearance on Tomorrow with Tom Snyder, Wilson claimed he was fired from KHJ because he had bought a Packard from Earle C. Anthony, the business arch-rival of Cadillac dealer Don Lee and owner of KFI, though best known for his comedy work with Benny, Wilson had a background as a sportscaster, covering the opening of the 1932 Summer Olympics. Don appeared in two Broadway shows in the 1930s, The Passionate Pilgrim, which opened October 19,1932, and The First Legion, which opened October 1,1934. Wilson first worked with Benny on the broadcast of April 6,1934, concurrent with a stint as announcer on George Gershwins series. At 6 feet and 300 pounds, Wilson possessed a resonant voice, a belly laugh. A recurring goal was his effort to get the Sportsmen Quartet singing commercials approved by Benny and his most famous incident occurred on the January 8,1950 broadcast. The script called for him to refer to columnist Drew Pearson, later on in the broadcast, during a murder-mystery skit, Frank Nelson took advantage of the situation. Benny asked Nelson, Pardon me, are you the doorman. and Nelson, in his customary sarcastic manner, came back with, Well who do you think I am, Dreer Pooson. to sustained laughter and applause. Wilson also served stints as announcer for radio comedy or variety shows starring Alan Young, Bing Crosby, Ginny Simms, in 1946, Don Wilson was a regular on the daytime comedy Glamour Manor, opposite former Jack Benny Program regular Kenny Baker. Wilson accompanied Benny into television in 1950, remaining with him through the end in 1965. On television, the fat jokes were toned down slightly, mostly because the real Wilson was not as impossibly large as the radio Wilson was described. These appearances also often involved the character of Dons equally hefty, aspiring announcer son. Don appeared in the Broadway show, Make a Million, which opened October 23,1958, kettering opposite Marilyn Monroe in Niagara. His role in the film Village Barn Dance was acclaimed by a review that said, who steals the show with his portrayal of a good-humored, grinning radio announcer. Wilson did frequent commercials and appeared in the Western Union Candygram commercials as their spokesman from 1969 through 1971 and those who recall the commercial remember him blaring out Just tell them I want to send a Candygram. His final on-camera appearance in a series was in two episodes of the 1960s Batman as newscaster Walter Klondike, Wilson would continue to appear on talk-shows throughout his life whenever a program would salute Jack Benny or talk about old-time radio
18.
Mel Blanc
–
Melvin Jerome Mel Blanc was an American voice actor, actor, radio comedian, and recording artist. Coyote, Road Runner, the Tasmanian Devil, and many of the characters from the Looney Tunes. He was, in fact, the voice for all of the major male Warner Bros. cartoon characters except for Elmer Fudd and he later worked for Hanna-Barberas television cartoons, most notably as the voices of Barney Rubble on The Flintstones and Mr. Spacely on The Jetsons. Blanc was also the voice of Woody Woodpecker for Universal Pictures. Having earned the nickname The Man of a Thousand Voices, Blanc is regarded as one of the most influential people in the voice-acting industry, Blanc was born in San Francisco, California to Russian-Jewish parents Frederick and Eva Blank, the younger of two children. He grew up in the neighborhood of Western Addition in San Francisco, growing up, he had a fondness for voices and dialect which he began voicing at the age of 10. He claimed that he changed the spelling of his name when he was 16, from Blank to Blanc, because a teacher told him that he would amount to nothing and be like his name, a blank. Blanc joined The Order of DeMolay as a man, and was eventually inducted into its Hall of Fame. He moved to Los Angeles in 1932, where he met Estelle Rosenbaum and he moved to KEX in 1933 to produce and co-host his Cobweb and Nuts show with his wife Estelle, which debuted on June 15. The program played Monday through Saturday from 11,00 pm to midnight, with his wifes encouragement, Blanc returned to Los Angeles and joined Warner Bros. –owned KFWB in Hollywood in 1935. He joined The Johnny Murray Show, but the year switched to CBS Radio. The first role came from a mishap when the recording of the automobiles sounds failed to play on cue, prompting Blanc to take the microphone, the audience reacted so positively that Benny decided to dispense with the recording altogether and have Blanc continue in that role. One of Blancs most memorable characters from Bennys radio programs was Sy, the Little Mexican, sue. sew routine was so effective that no matter how many times it was performed, the laughter was always there, thanks to the comedic timing of Blanc and Benny. Blanc continued to work with him on radio until the series ended in 1955 and they last appeared together on a Johnny Carson Tonight Show in January 1974. A few months later, Blanc spoke highly of Benny on a Tom Snyder Tomorrow show special aired the night of the comedians death, by 1946, Blanc appeared on over 15 radio programs in supporting roles. His success on The Jack Benny Program led to his own show on the CBS Radio Network, The Mel Blanc Show. Blanc played himself as the owner of a fix-it shop. Blanc also appeared on other national radio programs as The Abbott and Costello Show, the Happy Postman on Burns and Allen
19.
Amos 'n' Andy
–
Amos n Andy is an American radio and television sitcom set in Harlem, Manhattans historic black community. When the show moved to television, black actors took over the majority of the roles, Amos n Andy began as one of the first radio comedy series and originated from station WMAQ in Chicago. After the first broadcast in 1928, the became a hugely popular radio series. Early episodes were broadcast from the El Mirador Hotel in Palm Springs, the show ran as a nightly radio serial, as a weekly situation comedy, and as a nightly disc-jockey program. A television adaptation ran on CBS and continued in syndicated reruns and it would not be shown to a nationwide audience again until 2012. Amos n Andy creators, Gosden and Correll, were white actors familiar with minstrel traditions and they met in Durham, North Carolina, in 1920. Both men had some scattered experience in radio, but it was not until 1925 that the two appeared on Chicagos WQJ and their appearances soon led to a regular schedule on another Chicago radio station, WEBH, where their only compensation was a free meal. The lucrative offer allowed them to become full-time broadcasters, the Victor Talking Machine Company also offered them a recording contract. He suggested that Gosden and Correll adapt The Gumps for radio, the idea seemed to involve more risk than either Gosden or Correll was willing to take, neither was adept at imitating female voices, which would have been necessary for The Gumps. They were also conscious of having made names for themselves with their previous act, by playing the roles of characters doing dialect, they would be able to conceal their identities enough to be able to return to their old pattern of entertaining if the radio show was a failure. Instead, they proposed a series about a couple of colored characters and their new show, Sam n Henry, began on January 12,1926, and fascinated radio listeners throughout the Midwest. When WGN rejected the proposal, Gosden and Correll quit the show, episodes of Sam n Henry continued to be aired until July 14,1928. Corrells and Gosdens characters contractually belonged to WGN, so, when they left WGN, WMAQ, the Chicago Daily News station, hired Gosden and Correll and their former WGN announcer, Bill Hay, to create a series similar to Sam n Henry. They offered higher salaries than WGN and the right to pursue the chainless chain syndication idea, the creators later said that they named the characters, Amos and Andy, after hearing two elderly African-Americans greet each other by those names in a Chicago elevator. Amos n Andy began on March 19,1928 on WMAQ, early 1930s broadcasts of the show were done from the El Mirador Hotel in Palm Springs, California. For the programs run as a nightly series, Gosden. With the episodic drama and suspense heightened by cliffhanger endings, Amos n Andy reached a radio audience. Amos Jones and Andy Brown worked on a farm near Atlanta, Georgia, by 1930, the noted toy maker Louis Marx and Company was offering a tin wind-up version of the auto, with Amos and Andy inside
20.
Super Chief
–
The Super Chief was one of the named passenger trains and the flagship of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. It claimed to be The Train of the Stars because of the celebrities it carried between Chicago, Illinois, and Los Angeles, California, the Super Chief was the first Diesel-powered, all-Pullman sleeping car train in America, and it eclipsed the Chief as Santa Fes standard bearer. The extra-fare Super Chief left Dearborn Station in Chicago for its first trip on May 12,1936, with one set of equipment, the train initially operated once a week from both Chicago and Los Angeles. After more cars had been delivered the Super Chief ran twice weekly beginning in 1938, adding to the trains mystique were its gourmet meals and Hollywood clientele. Competitors to the Super Chief were the City of Los Angeles on the Chicago and North Western Railway and the Union Pacific Railroad, the train maintained its high level of service until the end of Santa Fe passenger operations on May 1,1971. In 1974 the Santa Fe withdrew permission to use the due to a perceived decline in service. Following the delivery of new Superliner equipment, the Santa Fe allowed Amtrak to call it the Southwest Chief in 1984, Santa Fes marketing advantage for the Super Chief lay in the geography of the route as well as its ownership. The Santa Fe began as a line along the old Santa Fe and Spanish Trails, from the confluence of the Missouri and Kansas rivers to the Pecos River. This initial route was extended to Los Angeles. The convenience of traveling Santa Fe All The Way was superior to anything that the competing jointly operated railroads could provide on their routes to the west coast, a single traffic and operating department ruled all the divisions and districts of the Santa Fe route from Chicago to Los Angeles. Dining cars, the supply chains, the on-board service crews and their management. During the war the rules were relaxed to carry passengers to and from Albuquerque and La Junta, not until the postwar era could passengers travel to intermediate stations on the Super Chief. The Santa Fe intended the Super Chief as the latest in a line of luxury Chicago–Los Angeles trains wedded to the latest in railroad technology. In the 1930s these included air conditioning, lightweight all-metal construction, in August 1935 the General Motors Electro-Motive Corporation delivered two blunt-nosed diesel-electric units Nos.1 and 1A, intended to pull the Super Chief. Aside from an ALCO HH600 switcher at Dearborn Station in Chicago, they were the Santa Fes first diesels and these locomotives made their first test run with eight heavyweight passenger cars and a dynamometer car on September 9. The first Super Chief operated on May 12,1936, with the diesels pulling air-conditioned heavyweight Pullman cars, eleanor Powell, Hollywoods legendary dancer, christens it The Train of the Stars. May 10,1937, The last of four runs of the Super Chief-2, with an improved 3,600 hp, two-unit, streamlined diesel locomotive set built by EMC. All heavyweight cars used on the Super Chief are replaced with stainless steel cars
21.
Los Angeles Police Department
–
The Los Angeles Police Department, officially the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the law enforcement agency for the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 9,843 officers and 2,773 civilian staff, it is the third-largest municipal police department in the United States, after the New York City Police Department, the department serves an area of 498 square miles and a population of 4,030,904 people. The LAPD has been fictionalized in numerous movies, novels, the department has also been associated with a number of controversies, mainly concerned with racism, police brutality, and police corruption. The first specific Los Angeles police force was founded in 1853, as the Los Angeles Rangers, the Rangers were soon succeeded by the Los Angeles City Guards, another volunteer group. Neither force was particularly efficient and Los Angeles became known for its violence, gambling, the first paid force was created in 1869, when six officers were hired to serve under City Marshal William C. Warren. By 1900, under John M. Glass, there were 70 officers, in 1903, with the start of the Civil Service, this force was increased to 200. During World War II, under Clemence B, horrall, the overall number of personnel was depleted by the demands of the military. Despite efforts to maintain numbers, the police could do little to control the 1943 Zoot Suit Riots, Parker advocated police professionalism and autonomy from civilian administration. However, the Bloody Christmas scandal in 1951 led to calls for civilian accountability, under Parker, LAPD created the first SWAT team in United States law enforcement. Officer John Nelson and then-Inspector Daryl Gates created the program in 1965 to deal with threats from radical organizations such as the Black Panther Party operating during the Vietnam War era. The old headquarters for the LAPD was Parker Center, named former chief William H. Parker. The new headquarters is the new Police Administration Building located at 100 W. 1st St. immediately south of Los Angeles City Hall, the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners also known as the Police Commission, is a five-member body of appointed officials which oversees the LAPD. The board is responsible for setting policies for the department and overseeing the LAPDs overall management, the Chief of Police reports to the board, but the rest of the department reports to the chief. The Office of the Inspector General is an independent part of the LAPD that has oversight over the department’s internal disciplinary process and it was created by the recommendation of the Christopher Commission and it is exempt from civil service and reports directly to the Board of Police Commissioners. The current Inspector General is Alexander A. Bustamante who was formerly an Assistant United States Attorney, the OIG receives copies of every complaint filed against members of the LAPD as well as tracking specific cases along with any resultant litigation. The OIG also conducts audits on select investigations and conducts regular reviews of the system in order to ensure fairness. As well as overseeing the LAPDs disciplinary process, the Inspector General may undertake special investigations as directed by the Board of Police Commissioners, the Office of the Chief of Police is the administrative office comprising the Chief of Staff and the Employee Relations Group. The majority of the LAPDs approximately 10,000 officers are assigned within the Office of Operations, an Assistant Chief, currently First Assistant Chief Michel Moore, commands the office, and reports directly to the chief of police
22.
Pasadena, California
–
Pasadena /ˌpæsəˈdiːnə/ is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of 2013, the population of Pasadena was 139,731. Pasadena is the ninth-largest city in Los Angeles County, Pasadena was incorporated on June 19,1886, becoming one of the first cities be incorporated in what is now Los Angeles County, the only one being incorporated earlier being its namesake. It is one of the cultural centers of the San Gabriel Valley. The city is known for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game, the original inhabitants of Pasadena and surrounding areas were members of the Native American Hahamog-na tribe, a branch of the Tongva Nation. They spoke the Tongva language and had lived in the Los Angeles Basin for thousands of years, Tongva dwellings lined the Arroyo Seco in present day Pasadena and south to where it joins the Los Angeles River and along other natural waterways in the city. The native people lived in thatched, dome-shape lodges and they lived on a diet of acorn meal, seeds and herbs, venison, and other small animals. They traded for fish with the coastal Tongva. They made cooking vessels from steatite soapstone from Catalina Island, the trail has been in continuous use for thousands of years. An arm of the trail is still in use in what is now known as Salvia Canyon. When the Spanish occupied the Los Angeles Basin they built the San Gabriel Mission and renamed the local Tongva people Gabrielino Indians, today, several bands of Tongva people live in the Los Angeles area. The Rancho comprised the lands of todays communities of Pasadena, Altadena, before the annexation of California in 1848, the last of the Mexican owners was Manuel Garfias who retained title to the property after statehood in 1850. Garfias sold sections of the property to the first Anglo settlers to come into the area, Dr. Benjamin Eaton, the father of Fred Eaton, much of the property was purchased by Benjamin Wilson, who established his Lake Vineyard property in the vicinity. Wilson, known as Don Benito to the local Indians, also owned the Rancho Jurupa and was mayor of Los Angeles and he was the grandfather of WWII General George S. Patton, Jr. and the namesake of Mount Wilson. Berry was an asthmatic and claimed that he had his best three nights sleep at Rancho San Pascual, to keep the find a secret, Berry code-named the area Muscat after the grape that Wilson grew. To raise funds to bring the company of people to San Pascual, Berry formed the Southern California Orange and Citrus Growers Association and sold stock in it. The newcomers were able to purchase a portion of the property along the Arroyo Seco and on January 31,1874. As a gesture of good will, Wilson added 2,000 acres of then-useless highland property, at the time, the Indiana Colony was a narrow strip of land between the Arroyo Seco and Fair Oaks Avenue
23.
Harvard University
–
Although never formally affiliated with any denomination, the early College primarily trained Congregationalist and Unitarian clergy. Its curriculum and student body were gradually secularized during the 18th century, james Bryant Conant led the university through the Great Depression and World War II and began to reform the curriculum and liberalize admissions after the war. The undergraduate college became coeducational after its 1977 merger with Radcliffe College, Harvards $34.5 billion financial endowment is the largest of any academic institution. Harvard is a large, highly residential research university, the nominal cost of attendance is high, but the Universitys large endowment allows it to offer generous financial aid packages. Harvards alumni include eight U. S. presidents, several heads of state,62 living billionaires,359 Rhodes Scholars. To date, some 130 Nobel laureates,18 Fields Medalists, Harvard was formed in 1636 by vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1638, it obtained British North Americas first known printing press, in 1639 it was named Harvard College after deceased clergyman John Harvard an alumnus of the University of Cambridge who had left the school £779 and his scholars library of some 400 volumes. The charter creating the Harvard Corporation was granted in 1650 and it offered a classic curriculum on the English university model—many leaders in the colony had attended the University of Cambridge—but conformed to the tenets of Puritanism. It was never affiliated with any denomination, but many of its earliest graduates went on to become clergymen in Congregational. The leading Boston divine Increase Mather served as president from 1685 to 1701, in 1708, John Leverett became the first president who was not also a clergyman, which marked a turning of the college toward intellectual independence from Puritanism. When the Hollis Professor of Divinity David Tappan died in 1803 and the president of Harvard Joseph Willard died a year later, in 1804, in 1846, the natural history lectures of Louis Agassiz were acclaimed both in New York and on the campus at Harvard College. Agassizs approach was distinctly idealist and posited Americans participation in the Divine Nature, agassizs perspective on science combined observation with intuition and the assumption that a person can grasp the divine plan in all phenomena. When it came to explaining life-forms, Agassiz resorted to matters of shape based on an archetype for his evidence. Charles W. Eliot, president 1869–1909, eliminated the position of Christianity from the curriculum while opening it to student self-direction. While Eliot was the most crucial figure in the secularization of American higher education, he was motivated not by a desire to secularize education, during the 20th century, Harvards international reputation grew as a burgeoning endowment and prominent professors expanded the universitys scope. Rapid enrollment growth continued as new schools were begun and the undergraduate College expanded. Radcliffe College, established in 1879 as sister school of Harvard College, Harvard became a founding member of the Association of American Universities in 1900. In the early 20th century, the student body was predominately old-stock, high-status Protestants, especially Episcopalians, Congregationalists, by the 1970s it was much more diversified
24.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
–
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, often cited as one of the worlds most prestigious universities. Researchers worked on computers, radar, and inertial guidance during World War II, post-war defense research contributed to the rapid expansion of the faculty and campus under James Killian. The current 168-acre campus opened in 1916 and extends over 1 mile along the bank of the Charles River basin. The Institute is traditionally known for its research and education in the sciences and engineering, and more recently in biology, economics, linguistics. Air Force and 6 Fields Medalists have been affiliated with MIT, the school has a strong entrepreneurial culture, and the aggregated revenues of companies founded by MIT alumni would rank as the eleventh-largest economy in the world. In 1859, a proposal was submitted to the Massachusetts General Court to use newly filled lands in Back Bay, Boston for a Conservatory of Art and Science, but the proposal failed. A charter for the incorporation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rogers, a professor from the University of Virginia, wanted to establish an institution to address rapid scientific and technological advances. The Rogers Plan reflected the German research university model, emphasizing an independent faculty engaged in research, as well as instruction oriented around seminars, two days after the charter was issued, the first battle of the Civil War broke out. After a long delay through the war years, MITs first classes were held in the Mercantile Building in Boston in 1865, in 1863 under the same act, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts founded the Massachusetts Agricultural College, which developed as the University of Massachusetts Amherst. In 1866, the proceeds from sales went toward new buildings in the Back Bay. MIT was informally called Boston Tech, the institute adopted the European polytechnic university model and emphasized laboratory instruction from an early date. Despite chronic financial problems, the institute saw growth in the last two decades of the 19th century under President Francis Amasa Walker. Programs in electrical, chemical, marine, and sanitary engineering were introduced, new buildings were built, the curriculum drifted to a vocational emphasis, with less focus on theoretical science. The fledgling school still suffered from chronic financial shortages which diverted the attention of the MIT leadership, during these Boston Tech years, MIT faculty and alumni rebuffed Harvard University president Charles W. Eliots repeated attempts to merge MIT with Harvard Colleges Lawrence Scientific School. There would be at least six attempts to absorb MIT into Harvard, in its cramped Back Bay location, MIT could not afford to expand its overcrowded facilities, driving a desperate search for a new campus and funding. Eventually the MIT Corporation approved an agreement to merge with Harvard, over the vehement objections of MIT faculty, students. However, a 1917 decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court effectively put an end to the merger scheme, the neoclassical New Technology campus was designed by William W. Bosworth and had been funded largely by anonymous donations from a mysterious Mr. Smith, starting in 1912. In January 1920, the donor was revealed to be the industrialist George Eastman of Rochester, New York, who had invented methods of production and processing
25.
World War II
–
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
26.
Central Avenue (Los Angeles)
–
Central Avenue is a major north-south thoroughfare in the central portion of the Los Angeles, California metropolitan area. Located just to the west of the Alameda Corridor, it runs from the end of the Los Angeles Civic Center south. From north to south, Central Avenue passes through Downtown Los Angeles, South Los Angeles, Compton, near its northern end, Central Avenue passes through Little Tokyo, Los Angeles oldest Japanese neighborhood and now a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. On Central Avenue just north of First Street is the former Hompa Hongwangi Buddhist Temple and it was declared Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No.313 in 1986. It was declared Los Angeles Historic-cultural Monument #138 in 1975, at 2300 Central is the Lincoln Theatre, opened in 1926 and long the leading venue in the city for African-American entertainment. It was declared Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #744 in 2003, at 4233 Central Avenue is the Dunbar Hotel, Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #131 since 1974. During the era of segregation, when they were barred from the major hotels. The Hotel is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Central Avenue Jazz Festival is a yearly free music festival held the last weekend of July along a stretch of Central Avenue which includes the Dunbar Hotel. The festival features jazz, blues, and Latin jazz performed by well-known, Central Avenue provides bus service along Metro Local line 53. From approximately 1920 to 1955, Central Avenue was the heart of the African-American community in Los Angeles, with rhythm and blues. Local luminaries included Eric Dolphy, Art Pepper, Chico Hamilton, commenting on its historical prominence, Wynton Marsalis once remarked that Central Avenue was the 52nd Street of Los Angeles. Lionel Hampton composed and performed a tune called Central Avenue Breakdown, dave Alvins tribute to Big Joe Turner, The Boss of the Blues, describes a drive down Central Avenue and Turners reminiscences about the scene. Central Avenue Sounds, Jazz in Los Angeles, Clora Bryant et al, smith, ISBN 978-1-58648-295-4 Upside Your Head. History of Jazz on Central Avenue Central Avenue Sounds Oral History Project, Center for Oral History Research, UCLA Library Special Collections, University of California, Los Angeles
27.
California Eagle
–
The California Eagle was an African-American newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded as The Owl in 1879 by John J. Neimore, Charlotta Bass became owner in of the paper after Neimores death in 1912. She owned and operated the paper, renamed the California Eagle, Bass, served as editor until his death in 1934. In the 1920s, they increased circulation to 60,000, during this period, Bass was also active as a civil rights campaigner in Los Angeles, working to end segregation in jobs, housing and transportation. The newspaper was owned for more than a decade by Loren Miller. He also worked as a civil lawyer and was a leader in the community. After he sold the paper in 1964 to accept an appointment as a justice to the State Supreme Court, Neimore founded the newspaper as The Owl in 1879 to serve new arrivals to Los Angeles during the Great Migration, when millions of African-Americans left the Deep South. The paper offered information on employment and housing opportunities as well as news stories geared towards the newly arrived migrant population, after Neimores death in 1912, Charlotta Bass bought the paper and renamed it California Eagle. Her husband, J. B. Bass, was editor until his death in 1934, by 1925, the newspaper had a circulation of 60,000, the largest of any African-American newspaper in California. Its publishers and editors were active in civil rights, beginning with campaigns for equitable hiring, patronage of black businesses, in 1951 Bass sold the California Eagle to Loren Miller, the former city editor. Miller was a Washburn University, Kansas law graduate, after he relocated to Los Angeles in 1930, he began writing for the Eagle and eventually became city editor. In 1945, Miller represented Hattie McDaniel and won her case against the Sugar Hill restrictive covenant case and he was appointed in 1963 as Superior Court of California judge by former Governor Edmund Pat Brown. In 1963, Miller sold the paper to fourteen local investors in order to accept his appointment as judge, the California Eagle initially increased circulation from 3,000 to 21,000. But within six months the paper had to close, on January 7,1964, several newspaper employees went on to become prominent figures in their own right. Howard, From 1933 to 1935, Howard, then a student at Loma Linda University, was the circulation manager. He wrote a column entitled The Negro in the Light of History. After medical school Howard returned to Mississippi where he became a doctor, by the 1940s and 1950s, he had become one of the wealthiest and most influential blacks in the state and was a leading civil rights leader. He was later a mentor of Medgar Evers and Fannie Lou Hamer and he played a key role in finding evidence and witnesses in the Emmett Till murder case
28.
Dunbar Hotel
–
The Dunbar Hotel, originally known as the Hotel Somerville, was the focal point of the Central Avenue African-American community in Los Angeles, California, during the 1930s and 1940s. Built in 1928, it was known for its first year as the Hotel Somerville, upon its opening, it hosted the first national convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to be held in the western United States. In 1930, the hotel was renamed the Dunbar, and it became the most prestigious hotel in LAs African-American community, in the early 1930s, a nightclub opened at the Dunbar, and it became the center of the Central Avenue jazz scene in the 1930s and 1940s. The Dunbar hosted Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, Lena Horne, other noteworthy people who stayed at the Dunbar include W. E. B. Du Bois, Joe Louis, Ray Charles, and Thurgood Marshall, former heavyweight champion Jack Johnson also ran a nightclub at the Dunbar in the 1930s. As of October 2008, the Dunbar Hotel is no longer a hotel, due to nonpayment of taxes, the building is likely to be foreclosed into City of Los Angeles ownership. The hotel was built in 1928 by John and Vada Somerville, John Somerville was the first black to graduate from the University of Southern California. The hotel was built entirely by black contractors, laborers, and craftsmen, for many years, the Somerville was the only major hotel in Los Angeles that welcomed blacks, and it quickly became the place to stay for visiting black dignitaries. In 1928, the Somerville housed delegates to the first NAACP convention held in the western United States. In 1929, when Oscar De Priest visited Los Angeles, he was met at the station by a delegation of colored people. The hotel was known for its physical amenities and its Art Deco lobby had a spectacular chandelier, Spanish arcade-like windows, tiled walls and a flagstone floor. The lobby was said to look like a regal Spanish arcade, with balconies and steel grillwork. One person who was present at the groundbreaking ceremony recalled it was “a palace compared to what we had been used to. ”The hotel came to represent a level of achievement among the black community. Historian Lonnie G. Bunch III said, On the one hand, but with enough financial wherewithal and a strong sense of community a black man could build a large hotel. Unlike earlier segregated hotels and boarding houses, the Somerville offered luxury amenities – a restaurant, cocktail lounge, one person noted, The Dunbar symbolizes luxury and respect even in the worst of times. Roy Wilkins wrote in the New York Amsterdam News of the luxury and service. The Somerville/Dunbar also played an important role in anchoring the new Central Avenue community, prior to 1928, the black community in Los Angeles had been centered around 12th Street and Central Avenue, near Downtown Los Angeles. Somerville was the first to build a structure so far south in the 42nd Street neighborhood
29.
Tuskegee University
–
Tuskegee University is a private, historically black university located in Tuskegee, Alabama, United States. It was established by Booker T. Washington, the campus is designated as the Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site by the National Park Service and is the only one in the U. S. to have this designation. The university was home to scientist George Washington Carver and to World War IIs Tuskegee Airmen, the university is home to over 3,100 students from the U. S. and 30 foreign countries. Tuskegee University is ranked among the 2015 Best 379 Colleges and Universities by the Princeton Review, the universitys campus was designed by architect Robert Robinson Taylor, the first African American to graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The school was founded on July 4,1881, as the Tuskegee Normal School for Colored Teachers and this was a result of an agreement made during the 1880 elections in Macon County between a former Confederate Colonel, W. F. Foster who was running on the ticket and a local Black Leader and Republican. At the time the majority of Macon County population was Black, Adams succeeded and Foster followed through with the school. A teachers’ school was the dream of Lewis Adams, a slave, and George W. Campbell, a banker, merchant, and former slaveholder. Despite lacking formal education, Adams could read, write, and he was an experienced tinsmith, harness-maker, and shoemaker and was a Prince Hall Freemason, an acknowledged leader of the African-American community in Macon County, Alabama. Adams and Campbell had secured $2,000 from the State of Alabama for teachers salaries but nothing for land, buildings, swanson formed Tuskegees first board of commissioners. Campbell wrote to the Hampton Institute, a black college in Virginia. Armstrong, the Hampton principal and a former Union general, recommended 25-year-old Booker T. Washington, as the newly hired principal in Tuskegee, Booker Washington began classes for his new school in a rundown church and shanty. The following year, he purchased a plantation of 100 acres in size. The earliest campus buildings were constructed on property, usually by students as part of their work-study. By the start of the 20th century, the Tuskegee Institute occupied nearly 2,300 acres, based on his experience at the Hampton Institute, Washington intended to train students in skills, morals, and religious life, in addition to academic subjects. Washingtons second wife Olivia A. Davidson, was instrumental to the success, gradually, a rural extension program was developed, to take progressive ideas and training to those who could not come to the campus. Tuskegee alumni founded smaller schools and colleges throughout the South, they continued to emphasize teacher training, as a young free man after the Civil War, Washington sought a formal education. He worked his way through Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute and attended college at Wayland Seminary in Washington and he returned to Hampton as a teacher
30.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
–
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, commonly known as FDR, was an American statesman and political leader who served as the 32nd President of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. A Democrat, he won a record four presidential elections and emerged as a figure in world events during the mid-20th century. He directed the United States government during most of the Great Depression and he is often rated by scholars as one of the three greatest U. S. Presidents, along with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Roosevelt was born in 1882 to an old, prominent Dutch family from Dutchess County and he attended the elite educational institutions of Groton School, Harvard College, and Columbia Law School. At age 23 in 1905, he married Eleanor Roosevelt, and he entered politics in 1910, serving in the New York State Senate, and then as Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President Woodrow Wilson. In 1920, Roosevelt was presidential candidate James M. Coxs running mate and he was in office from 1929 to 1933 and served as a reform governor, promoting the enactment of programs to combat the depression besetting the United States at the time. In the 1932 presidential election, Roosevelt defeated incumbent Republican president Herbert Hoover in a landslide to win the presidency, Roosevelt took office while in the United States was in the midst of the worst economic crisis in its history. Energized by his victory over polio, FDR relied on his persistent optimism and activism to renew the national spirit. He created numerous programs to support the unemployed and farmers, and to labor union growth while more closely regulating business. His support for the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 added to his popularity, the economy improved rapidly from 1933–37, but then relapsed into a deep recession in 1937–38. The bipartisan Conservative Coalition that formed in 1937 prevented his packing the Supreme Court, when the war began and unemployment ended, conservatives in Congress repealed the two major relief programs, the WPA and CCC. However, they kept most of the regulations on business, along with several smaller programs, major surviving programs include the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Wagner Act, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Social Security. His goal was to make America the Arsenal of Democracy, which would supply munitions to the Allies, in March 1941, Roosevelt, with Congressional approval, provided Lend-Lease aid to Britain and China. He supervised the mobilization of the U. S. economy to support the war effort, as an active military leader, Roosevelt implemented a war strategy on two fronts that ended in the defeat of the Axis Powers and initiate the development of the worlds first atomic bomb. His work also influenced the creation of the United Nations. Roosevelts physical health declined during the war years, and he died 11 weeks into his fourth term. One of the oldest Dutch families in New York State, the Roosevelts distinguished themselves in other than politics. One ancestor, Isaac Roosevelt, had served with the New York militia during the American Revolution, Roosevelt attended events of the New York society Sons of the American Revolution, and joined the organization while he was president
31.
Ethel Waters
–
Ethel Waters was an American singer and actress. She frequently performed jazz, big band, and pop music, on the Broadway stage and in concerts and her notable recordings include Dinah, Stormy Weather, Taking a Chance on Love, Heat Wave, Supper Time, Am I Blue. Cabin in the Sky, Im Coming Virginia, and her version of the spiritual His Eye Is on the Sparrow, Waters was the second African American, after Hattie McDaniel, to be nominated for an Academy Award. She was also the first African-American woman to be nominated for an Emmy Award and he played no role in raising Ethel. Soon after she was born, her mother married Norman Howard, Ethel used the surname Howard as a child, before reverting to her fathers name. She was raised in poverty by her grandmother, Sally Anderson, Waters never lived in the same place for more than 15 months. She said of her childhood, I never was a child. I never was cuddled, or liked, or understood by my family, Waters grew tall, standing 5 9½ in her teens. According to the historian and archivist Rosetta Reitz, Waterss birth in the North. Waters married at the age of 13, but her husband was abusive, on her 17th birthday, she attended a costume party at a nightclub on Juniper Street. She was persuaded to sing two songs and impressed the audience so much that she was offered work at the Lincoln Theatre in Baltimore. She later recalled that she earned the rich sum of ten dollars a week, after her start in Baltimore, Waters toured on the black vaudeville circuit. As she described it later, I used to work from nine until unconscious, despite her early success, she fell on hard times and joined a carnival, traveling in freight cars along the carnival circuit and eventually reaching Chicago. She did not last long with them, though, and soon headed south to Atlanta, Smith demanded that Waters not compete in singing blues opposite her. Waters conceded and sang ballads and popular songs, around 1919, Waters moved to Harlem and there became a celebrity performer in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. Her first Harlem job was at Edmonds Cellar, a club with a black patronage and she acted in a blackface comedy, Hello 1919. The jazz historian Rosetta Reitz pointed out that by the time Waters returned to Harlem in 1921, in 1921, Waters became the fifth black woman to make a record, for the tiny Cardinal Records. She later joined Black Swan Records, where Fletcher Henderson was her accompanist, Waters later commented that Henderson tended to perform in a more classical style than she preferred, often lacking the damn-it-to-hell bass
32.
Beulah (radio and TV series)
–
The Beulah Show is an American situation-comedy series that ran on CBS Radio from 1945 to 1954, and on ABC Television from 1950 to 1952. The show is notable for being the first sitcom to star an African American actress, the show was controversial for its caricatures of African Americans. In 1943, Beulah moved over to Thats Life and then became a character on the popular Fibber McGee. In 1945, Beulah was spun off into her own show, The Marlin Hurt and Beulah Show. Beulah was employed as a housekeeper and cook for the Henderson family, father Harry, mother Alice, after Hurt died of a heart attack in 1946, he was replaced by another white actor, Bob Corley, and the series was retitled The Beulah Show. McDaniel continued in the role until she became ill in 1952 and was replaced by Lillian Randolph, for most of the radio shows run, the series ran as a 15-minute daily sitcom, a format popular among daytime serials. Most of the comedy in the derived from the fact that Beulah. Other characters included Beulahs boyfriend Bill Jackson, a handyman who is constantly proposing marriage, and Oriole, for at least the first season, Beulah was filmed at Biograph Studios in the Bronx while Ethel Waters was simultaneously appearing on Broadway in The Member of the Wedding. Ethel Waters starred as Beulah for the first year of the TV series before quitting in 1951, when production moved to Hollywood, Hattie McDaniel, star of radios Beulah, was cast in the title role in Summer 1951, but only filmed six shows before falling ill. She was quickly replaced by Louise Beavers in later 1951, the McDaniel episodes were shelved pending an improvement of her health, and so the second season began in April 1952 starting with the Beavers episodes. The six McDaniel episodes were tagged onto the end of the season, starting July 1952. It was around this time that McDaniel learned that she had advanced breast cancer, Beavers returned in the role of Beulah for the first part of the third Beulah season, which aired from September to December 1952. Butterfly McQueen, starred as Oriole for the first season, percy Bud Harris originally portrayed Bill, but he walked out on the part during the first season, accusing the producers of forcing him to portray an Uncle Tom character. He was succeeded in the role by Casablanca pianist Dooley Wilson until Ernest Whitman followed radio co-stars McDaniel, the show was directed at various times by future sitcom veterans as Richard Bare and Abby Berlin. A total of 87 episodes were filmed and produced of the television program, all 87 episodes were included in syndication packages throughout the latter half of the 1950s for local stations across the country. Only seven episodes are known to exist on 16mm format and circulate among collectors, all 87 episodes are housed in an archive in their original 35mm format. 21 episodes of the series have survived to the present day. As a daily sitcom, preserving the radio version of Beulah was not as high of a priority as it was for prime time programming, the following episodes and air dates can be found at YouTube and Archive. org. S. A
33.
Minstrel show
–
The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an American form of entertainment developed in the early 19th century. Each show consisted of skits, variety acts, dancing. The shows were performed by people in make-up or blackface for the purpose of playing the role of black people. There were also some African-American performers and all-black minstrel groups that formed and toured, Minstrel shows lampooned black people as dim-witted, lazy, buffoonish, superstitious and happy-go-lucky. Minstrel shows emerged as brief burlesques and comic entractes in the early 1830s and were developed into full-fledged form in the next decade, by 1848, blackface minstrel shows were the national artform, translating formal art such as opera into popular terms for a general audience. By the turn of the 20th century, the show enjoyed but a shadow of its former popularity. The form survived as professional entertainment until about 1910, amateur performances continued until the 1960s in high schools, the genre has had a lasting legacy and influence and was featured in a television series as recently as the late 1970s. Generally, as the civil rights movement progressed and gained acceptance, the typical minstrel performance followed a three-act structure. The troupe first danced onto stage then exchanged wisecracks and sang songs, the second part featured a variety of entertainments, including the pun-filled stump speech. The final act consisted of a slapstick musical plantation skit or a send-up of a popular play, Minstrel songs and sketches featured several stock characters, most popularly the slave and the dandy. These were further divided into such as the mammy, her counterpart the old darky, the provocative mulatto wench. Minstrels claimed that their songs and dances were authentically black, although the extent of the black influence remains debated, spirituals entered the repertoire in the 1870s, marking the first undeniably black music to be used in minstrelsy. Blackface minstrelsy was the first theatrical form that was distinctly American, during the 1830s and 1840s at the height of its popularity, it was at the epicenter of the American music industry. For several decades it provided the means through which American whites viewed black people, on the one hand, it had strong racist aspects, on the other, it afforded white Americans a singular and broad awareness of what some whites considered significant aspects of black culture in America. Although the minstrel shows were popular, being consistently packed with families from all walks of life and every ethnic group. Although white theatrical portrayals of black characters date back to as early as 1604, by the late 18th century, blackface characters began appearing on the American stage, usually as servant types whose roles did little more than provide some element of comic relief. Eventually, similar performers appeared in entractes in New York theaters and other such as taverns. Author Constance Rourke even claimed that Forrests impression was so good he could fool blacks when he mingled with them in the streets, Thomas Dartmouth Rices successful song-and-dance number, Jump Jim Crow, brought blackface performance to a new level of prominence in the early 1830s
34.
The Holocaust
–
The Holocaust, also referred to as the Shoah, was a genocide in which some six million European Jews were killed by Adolf Hitlers Nazi Germany, and the World War II collaborators with the Nazis. The victims included 1.5 million children, and represented about two-thirds of the nine million Jews who had resided in Europe, killings took place throughout German-occupied Europe, as well as within Nazi Germany, and across all territories controlled by its allies. Other victims of Nazi crimes included ethnic Poles and other Slavs, Soviet citizens and Soviet POWs, communists, homosexuals, Freemasons, Jehovahs Witnesses, some 42,500 detention facilities were utilized in the concentration of victims for the purpose of gross violations of human rights. Over 200,000 people are estimated to have been Holocaust perpetrators, the persecution was carried out in stages, culminating in the policy of extermination of European Jews termed the Final Solution to the Jewish Question. Following Hitlers rise to power, the German government passed laws to exclude Jews from civil society, starting in 1933 the Nazis began to establish a network of concentration camps. After the outbreak of war in 1939 both German and foreign Jews were herded into wartime ghettos, in 1941, as Germany began to conquer new territory in the East, all anti-Jewish measures radicalized. Specialized paramilitary units called Einsatzgruppen murdered around two million Jews in mass shootings actions in less than a year, by mid-1942, victims were being regularly transported by freight trains to extermination camps where, if they survived the journey, most were systematically killed in gas chambers. This continued until the end of World War II in Europe in April–May 1945, the most notable exception was the Warsaw Ghetto uprising of 1943, when thousands of poorly-armed Jewish fighters held the Waffen-SS at bay for four weeks. An estimated 20, 000–30,000 Jewish partisans actively fought against the Nazis, French Jews took part in the French Resistance, which conducted a guerilla campaign against the Nazis and Vichy French authorities. Over a hundred armed Jewish uprisings took place, the term holocaust comes from the Greek adjective holókaustos, a variant of holókautos, referring to an animal sacrifice offered to a god in which the whole animal is completely burnt. Often used substantively in apposition with the noun thysia, the term appears in a fragment of pseudo-Callisthenes, writing in Latin, Jerome Latinized the Greek word as a neuter noun holocaustum, using it to translate references to the Jewish burnt offering in his translations of Exodus and Leviticus. In his Chronicon de rebus gestis Ricardi Primi, Richard of Devizes, the English poet John Milton had used the word to denote a conflagration in his 1671 poem Samson Agonistes and the word gradually developed to mean a massacre thereon. The term was used in the 1950s by historians as a translation of the Jewish word shoah to refer specifically to the Nazi genocide of Jews, the television mini-series Holocaust is credited with introducing the term into common parlance after 1978. The biblical word shoah, meaning calamity became the standard Hebrew term for the Holocaust as early as the 1940s, especially in Europe and Israel. Shoah is preferred by some Jews for several reasons including the offensive nature of the word holocaust which they take to refer to the Greek pagan custom. The Nazis used the phrase Final Solution to the Jewish Question, all branches of Germanys bureaucracy were engaged in the logistics that led to the genocides, turning the Third Reich into what one Holocaust scholar, Michael Berenbaum, has called a genocidal state. Every arm of the countrys sophisticated bureaucracy was involved in the killing process, as prisoners entered the death camps, they were made to surrender all personal property, which was catalogued and tagged before being sent to Germany to be reused or recycled. Berenbaum writes that the Final Solution of the Jewish question was in the eyes of the perpetrators, through a concealed account, the German National Bank helped launder valuables stolen from the victims
35.
Louis Armstrong
–
Louis Armstrong, nicknamed Satchmo or Satch, was an American trumpeter, composer, singer and occasional actor who was one of the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades, from the 1920s to the 1960s and he was also skilled at scat singing. Armstrong was one of the first truly popular African-American entertainers to cross over and he rarely publicly politicized his race, often to the dismay of fellow African Americans, but took a well-publicized stand for desegregation in the Little Rock crisis. His artistry and personality allowed him socially acceptable access to the upper echelons of American society which were restricted for black men of his era. Armstrong often stated that he was born on July 4,1900, although he died in 1971, it was not until the mid-1980s that his true birth date, August 4,1901, was discovered by the researcher Tad Jones through the examination of baptismal records. Armstrong was born into a family in New Orleans, Louisiana. He spent his youth in poverty, in a neighborhood known as the Battlefield. His father, William Armstrong, abandoned the family when Louis was an infant and his mother, Mary Mayann Albert, then left Louis and his younger sister, Beatrice Armstrong Collins, in the care of his grandmother, Josephine Armstrong, and at times his uncle Isaac. At five, he moved back to live with his mother, her relatives and he attended the Fisk School for Boys, where he most likely had early exposure to music. He hung out in dance halls close to home, where he observed everything from licentious dancing to the quadrille, after dropping out of the Fisk School at age eleven, Armstrong joined a quartet of boys who sang in the streets for money. He also started to get into trouble, Cornet player Bunk Johnson said he taught Armstrong to play by ear at Dago Tonys Tonk in New Orleans, although in his later years Armstrong gave the credit to Oliver. It has given me something to live for and he also worked for a Lithuanian-Jewish immigrant family, the Karnofskys, who had a junk-hauling business and gave him odd jobs. They took him in and treated him like family, knowing he lived without a father and he later wrote a memoir of his relationship with the Karnofskys, Louis Armstrong + the Jewish Family in New Orleans, La. the Year of 1907. Armstrong wore a Star of David pendant for the rest of his life and wrote about what he learned from them, how to live—real life, professor Peter Davis instilled discipline in and provided musical training to the otherwise self-taught Armstrong. Eventually, Davis made Armstrong the band leader, the home band played around New Orleans and the thirteen-year-old Louis began to draw attention by his cornet playing, starting him on a musical career. At fourteen he was released from the home, living again with his father and new stepmother, Gertrude, Armstrong got his first dance hall job at Henry Ponces, where Black Benny became his protector and guide. He hauled coal by day and played his cornet at night, later, he played in brass bands and riverboats of New Orleans, and began traveling with the well-regarded band of Fate Marable, which toured on a steamboat up and down the Mississippi River. He described his time with Marable as going to the University, in 1919, Joe Oliver decided to go north and resigned his position in Kid Orys band, Armstrong replaced him
36.
The Ink Spots
–
The Ink Spots were an American pop vocal group who gained international fame in the 1930s and 1940s. Their unique musical style led to the rhythm and blues and rock and roll musical genres, the Ink Spots were widely accepted in both the white and black communities, largely due to the ballad style introduced to the group by lead singer Bill Kenny. In 1989, the Ink Spots were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 1999 they were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. Since the Ink Spots disbanded in 1954, there have been well over 100 vocal groups calling themselves The Ink Spots without any right to the name and these groups often have claimed to be 2nd generation or 3rd generation Ink Spots. The Ink Spots formed in the early 1930s in Indianapolis, the founding members were, Hoppy Jones sang bass. He played cello in the manner of a stand up bass, Deek Watson sang tenor and played tenor guitar. Jerry Daniels sang tenor and played guitar and ukulele, Charlie Fuqua had a baritone voice and played guitar and tenor guitar As Jerry and Charlie, Jerry Daniels and Charlie Fuqua had formed a vocal duo performing in the Indianapolis area around 1931. About the same time, Jones and Watson were part of a quartet, The Four Riff Brothers, who appeared regularly on radio station WLW in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1933, that disbanded, and Watson, Daniels and Fuqua got together to form a new vocal, instrumental and comedy group, which was initially called King, Jack. They continued to regularly on radio in Ohio, and became a foursome when Jones was added to the group the following year. In July 1934 they accepted a booking at the Apollo Theater, New York, at this point they had changed their name to The 4 Ink Spots. Their first recordings included songs such as Swingin On The Strings, Your Feets Too Big, Dont Low No Swingin In Here and Swing, Gate, Swing. In 1936, Jerry Daniels was replaced by a 21-year-old singer from Baltimore, Bill Kenny, Three years later Kenny would be credited for bringing the group to global success with his unusual high tenor ballad singing. In 1938, after being in the group for two years, Bill Kenny started to introduce the group to a new format that he called Top & Bottom and this format was used primarily for ballads rather than the uptempo jive songs the group was used to performing. This format called for the tenor to sing the lead for one chorus followed by a chorus performed by Bass singer Hoppy Jones where he would recite the lyrics rather than sing them. After a chorus of the bass the lead tenor would carry out the rest of the song until the end. The earliest example of their Top & Bottom format is from a radio broadcast from 1938, the song entitled Tune In on My Heart features Bill Kenny taking the lead and Hoppy Jones performing the talking bass. The year 1938 also saw Bill Kenny taking his first feature solo in Decca studios and his feature was on a song entitled I Wish You the Best of Everything
37.
Yosemite National Park
–
Yosemite National Park is a national park spanning portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in Northern California. The park, which is managed by the National Park Service, on average, about 4 million people visit Yosemite each year, and most spend the majority of their time in the seven square miles of Yosemite Valley. The park set a record in 2016, surpassing 5 million visitors for the first time in its history. Almost 95% of the park is designated wilderness, Yosemite was central to the development of the national park idea. First, Galen Clark and others lobbied to protect Yosemite Valley from development, Yosemite is one of the largest and least fragmented habitat blocks in the Sierra Nevada, and the park supports a diversity of plants and animals. The park has a range from 2,127 to 13,114 feet and contains five major vegetation zones, chaparral/oak woodland, lower montane forest, upper montane forest, subalpine zone. Of Californias 7,000 plant species, about 50% occur in the Sierra Nevada, there is suitable habitat for more than 160 rare plants in the park, with rare local geologic formations and unique soils characterizing the restricted ranges many of these plants occupy. The geology of the Yosemite area is characterized by granitic rocks, about 10 million years ago, the Sierra Nevada was uplifted and then tilted to form its relatively gentle western slopes and the more dramatic eastern slopes. The uplift increased the steepness of stream and river beds, resulting in formation of deep, about one million years ago, snow and ice accumulated, forming glaciers at the higher alpine meadows that moved down the river valleys. Ice thickness in Yosemite Valley may have reached 4,000 feet during the early glacial episode, the downslope movement of the ice masses cut and sculpted the U-shaped valley that attracts so many visitors to its scenic vistas today. The name Yosemite originally referred to the name of a tribe which was driven out of the area by the Mariposa Battalion. Before then the area was called Ahwahnee by indigenous people, as revealed by archeological finds, the Yosemite Valley has been inhabited for nearly 3,000 years, though humans may have first visited the area as long as 8,000 to 10,000 years ago. The indigenous natives called themselves the Ahwahneechee, meaning dwellers in Ahwahnee and they are related to the Northern Paiute and Mono tribes. Many tribes visited the area to trade, including nearby Central Sierra Miwoks, a major trading route went over Mono Pass and through Bloody Canyon to Mono Lake, just to the east of the Yosemite area. Vegetation and game in the region were similar to that present today, acorns were a staple to their diet, as well as seeds and plants, salmon. In 1851 as part of the Mariposa Wars intended to suppress Native American resistance and he was pursuing forces of around 200 Ahwahneechee led by Chief Tenaya. Accounts from this battalion were the first well-documented reports of ethnic Europeans entering Yosemite Valley, attached to Savages unit was Dr. Lafayette Bunnell, the company physician, who later wrote about his awestruck impressions of the valley in The Discovery of the Yosemite. Bunnell is credited with naming Yosemite Valley, based on his interviews with Chief Tenaya, Bunnell wrote that Chief Tenaya was the founder of the Pai-Ute Colony of Ah-wah-nee
38.
Canada
–
Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
39.
St. Joseph, Missouri
–
St. Joseph is a city in and the county seat of Buchanan County, Missouri, United States. It is the city of the St. Joseph Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Buchanan, Andrew. As of the 2010 census, St. Joseph had a population of 76,780, making it the eighth largest city in the state. The metropolitan area had a population of 127,329 in 2010, St. Joseph, named after the biblical Saint Joseph, is located on the Missouri River. It is perhaps best known as the point of the Pony Express and the death place of Jesse James. St. Joseph is also home to Missouri Western State University, St. Joseph was founded on the Missouri River by Joseph Robidoux, a local fur trader, and officially incorporated in 1843. In its early days, it was a bustling outpost and rough frontier town, serving as a last supply point and it was the westernmost point in the United States accessible by rail until after the American Civil War. The main east-west downtown streets were named for Robidouxs eight children, Faraon, Jules, Francois, Felix, Edmond, Charles, Sylvanie, the street between Sylvanie and Messanie was named for his second wife, Angelique. St. Joseph, or St. Joe, as it was called by many, was a Jumping-Off Point for those headed to the Oregon Territory in the mid-1800s. These cities, including Independence, and St. Joseph, were where pioneers would stay, the town was a very bustling place, and was the second city in the USA to have electric streetcars. The pony riders carried additionally, along with the mail, a small personal bible, today the Pony Express Museum hosts visitors in the old stables. In 1882, on April 3, the outlaw Jesse James was killed at his home, originally located at 1318 Lafayette, now sited next to The Patee House. In the post-Civil War years, when the economy was down, James was living under the alias of Mr. Howard. An excerpt from a poem of the time is. that dirty little coward that shot Mr. Howard has laid poor Jesse in his grave. The Heaton-Bowman-Smith Funeral Home maintains a museum about Jesse James. The museum is open to the public and his home, is now known as Jesse James Home Museum. It has been relocated at least three times, and features the bullet hole from that fateful shot, St. Joseph is identified by the slogan, Where the Pony Express started and Jesse James ended. St. Josephs population peaked in 1900, with a population of 102,979
40.
John Forsythe
–
John Forsythe was an American stage, film/television actor, producer, narrator, drama teacher and philanthropist whose career spanned six decades. He also appeared as a guest on talk and variety shows. Forsythes 60-year acting career began in films in 1943 and he signed up with Warner Bros. at age 25 as a minor contract player, but he later starred in films like The Captive City. He co-starred opposite Loretta Young in It Happens Every Thursday, Edmund Gwenn and Shirley MacLaine in The Trouble With Harry, and Olivia De Havilland in The Ambassadors Daughter. The eldest of three children, Forsythe was born as John, or Jacob, Lincoln Freund on January 29,1918, in Penns Grove, New Jersey, to Blanche Materson and Samuel Jeremiah Freund. Blanche was born in Pennsylvania, to David Hyat Blohm, a Russian Jewish immigrant, and to Mary S. Materson, Samuel was a stockbroker born in New York to Polish Jewish immigrants. He was raised in Brooklyn, New York, where his father worked as a Wall Street businessman during the Great Depression of the 1930s. He graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn at the age of 16, in 1936 at the age of 18, he took a job as the public address announcer for Brooklyn Dodgers games at Ebbets Field, confirming a childhood love of baseball. Despite showing initial reluctance, Forsythe began a career at the suggestion of his father. He met actress Parker Worthington McCormick, and the couple married in 1939, they had a son, Dall, as a bit player for Warner Brothers, Forsythe successfully appeared in several small parts. As a result he was given a role in Destination Tokyo. Also in 1943, Forsythe met Julie Warren, initially a theatre companion, Warren became Forsythes second wife and in the early 1950s the marriage produced two daughters – Page and Brooke. In 1947, Forsythe joined the class of the soon-to-be prestigious Actors Studio. During this time he appeared on Broadway in Mister Roberts and The Teahouse of the August Moon, in 1955 Alfred Hitchcock cast Forsythe in the movie The Trouble with Harry, with Shirley MacLaine in her first movie appearance, for which she won a Golden Globe. Throughout the 1950s, Forsythe successfully appeared in the new medium and worked regularly on all the networks, for example, during this period, he appeared on the popular anthology Alfred Hitchcock Presents in an episode titled Premonition opposite Cloris Leachman. Forsythe also starred in an episode of the CBS Western anthology series Zane Grey Theatre titled Decision at Wilsons Creek, the Forsythe Oak remains in place today, located on a private estate on the former Upper Iverson. The show was a ratings hit and moved to NBC the following season. On various episodes Forsythe worked with such up-and-coming actresses as Mary Tyler Moore, Barbara Eden, Donna Douglas, Sally Kellerman, Sue Ane Langdon, during the 1961 season, Bachelor Father was cancelled that season due to declining ratings
41.
Ebony (magazine)
–
Ebony is a monthly magazine for the African-American market. It was founded by John H. Johnson and has published continuously since the autumn of 1945, a digest-sized sister magazine, Jet, was founded by the Johnson Publishing Company. After 71 years, in 2016, Johnson sold the publications to private equity firm Clear View Group, the new publisher will be known as Ebony Media Corporation. Ebony was founded by John H. Johnson in 1945, the magazine has evolved over the years, in 1985 Ebony Man was started. In 2010 it began a process to update its longtime brand. In the past, the magazine was persistently upbeat, much like its postwar contemporary Life, Ebony, edited by John H. Johnson, has striven always to address African-American issues, personalities and interests in a positive and self-affirming manner. S. Senator Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois, U. S. President Barack Obama, Zoe Saldana, Tyrese Gibson, for decades, advertisers created ads specifically for Ebony, which featured black models using their products. In the 21st century, many ads in widespread publications already feature black people, in November 2010, the magazine featured a special 65th-anniversary edition cover featuring Taraji P. Henson, Samuel L. Jackson, Usher and Mary J. Blige. A second cover showcased Nia Long atop a birthday cake – Marilyn Monroe-style, the issue included eight cover recreations from historic and iconic previous covers of Ebony. Blair Underwood posed inside, as did Omar Epps and Jurnee Smollett, Mary J. Blige used her 1940s-style image from Ebony to update her Twitter profile picture. National Public Radio marked this anniversary edition as the beginning of redesign of Ebony, former White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers, of the Obama administration, had become the CEO of the magazine. In August 2008 the magazine had published a special edition featuring the 25 Coolest Brothers of All Time. The lineup featured Jay-Z, Barack Obama, Prince, Samuel L. Jackson, Denzel Washington, Marvin Gaye, Muhammad Ali, in the 21st century, Ebony frequently makes headlines in the blogosphere and in the mainstream press. The November 2011 cover featured a pregnant Nia Long, reminiscent of the image of actress Demi Moore featured naked while pregnant on a magazine cover two decades before. Some of Ebony′s more conservative readers disagreed with the choice, stating it inappropriate to feature an unwed. The cover was featured in US Weekly and in a segment on CNN. Zoe Saldana was featured on the August 2011 issue, and some readers questioned a Black latina cover star, however, the Avatar actress seemed to open Ebony to a new segment, Americans of mixed African-American and Hispanic ancestry. Recent issues question whether President Obama is still right for black America, in December 2008, Google announced that it was scanning back issues for Google Book Search, all issues from November 1959 to December 2008 are available for free
42.
Texaco Star Theatre
–
Texaco Star Theatre is an American comedy-variety show, broadcast on radio from 1938 to 1949 and telecast from 1948 to 1956. It was one of the first successful examples of American television broadcasting, the classic 1940–44 version of the program, hosted by radios Fred Allen, was followed by a radio series on ABC in the spring of 1948. When Texaco first took it to television on NBC on June 8,1948, the roots of Texaco Star Theatre were in a 1930s radio hit, Ed Wynn, the Fire Chief, featuring the manic Perfect Fool in a half-hour of vaudevillian routines interspersed with music. Wynns ratings began to slide and the comedian lapsed amidst personal and professional crises, Texaco sponsored The Jumbo Fire Chief Program in 1935–36 and The Fire Chief Concert in 1936. Comedian Eddie Cantor was the star of a show called Texaco Town from 1936 to 1938, the shows cast featured young singers Bobby Breen and Deanna Durbin, announcer Jimmy Wallington, who read the commercials for Fire Chief gasoline, Harry Park, and bandleader Jacques Renard. The show was a combination of comedy and music, Cantor frequently sang a tune about the mayor of Texaco Town. The first Texaco Star Theatre was on October 5,1938, the show began as a variety show with dramatizations and songs by guest stars. In 1940, the became a star vehicle for, with the show re-titled Texaco Star Theatre with Fred Allen. It was during the half-hour version of the show that the more cerebral Allen premiered the continuing comic sketch for which many remember him best and they customarily continued the introduction, as the opening music continued, by referring to Texaco Star Theatre. Allen was forced to leave the show in 1944 due to hypertension, he returned with a different sponsor on NBC, while staying with, Texaco Star Theaters next hosts included James Melton, Tony Martin, Gordon MacRae, Jack Carter, and Milton Berle. On television, continuing a long established in radio, Texaco included its brand name in the show title. Our show is very powerful Well wow you with an hour full Of howls from a full of stars. Were the merry Texaco men Tonight we may be showmen Tomorrow well be servicing your cars. And now, ladies, every Saturday on radio, the Metropolitan Opera, presented by your Texaco dealer. Closing Announce The best friend your car has ever had, comedian Jack Carter was host for August. Berle was named the permanent host that fall and he was a smash once the new full season began, Texaco Star Theater hitting ratings as high as 80 and owning Tuesday night for NBC from 8–9 p. m. ET. Texaco Star Theater was also the highest rated show of the 1950–1951 television season. Uncle Miltie was far from alone in keeping the show alive and his support players included Fatso Marco, Ruth Gilbert as Max, Miltons love-starved secretary, Bobby Sherwood, Arnold Stang, Jack Collins, and Milton Frome. The shows music was provided by Alan Roth and Victor Young, as phenomenally popular as Texaco Star Theater was, it was hardly an undisturbed appeal
43.
Bachelor Father (U.S. TV series)
–
Bachelor Father is an American sitcom starring John Forsythe, Noreen Corcoran and Sammee Tong. The series first premiered on CBS in September 1957 before moving to NBC for the season in 1959. The series fifth and final aired on ABC for the rest of the shows run. A total of 157 episodes were aired, the series was based on A New Girl in His Life, which aired on General Electric Theater on May 26,1957. Bachelor Father is the primetime series ever to run in consecutive years on the three major television networks. Other members of the cast included houseboy Peter Tong, teenage neighbor and Kellys on and off boyfriend, Howard Meechum, Kellys best friend, Ginger Farrell and Jasper, withers appeared in 51 episodes from 1957-1962, Boyd in 37 from 1958-1962. The programs final season led to Kellys impending marriage to Bentleys junior partner Warren Dawson. The two met, became engaged, interacted with other couples and even met Dawsons parents, all in a span of three episodes. Without mention or explanation, Kincaids character was dropped after four episodes and by the series finale, Meechum appears in several Season 5 episodes, but he is never developed as a serious romantic interest for Kelly. As the series was canceled after 157 episodes, Bachelor Father did not have a series finale. According to John Forsythe, the Bentley Gregg character was based on two well-known Beverly Hills bachelors at the time and he combined their names and used it for the characters in the program. Because of the implication in the program of Greggs aversion to marriage, instead, Gregg is forever dating different women with only a handful ever getting a second date with him. Forsythe noted that casting the characters took considerable effort. Corcoran was already an actress with movie and television roles to her credit. She was 18 years old when the left the air and had virtually grown up into a young woman during the shows run. Casting Bentley Greggs houseboy was difficult as well, Sammee Tong was cast based primarily on his experience as a stand-up comedian. Forsythe believed much of the programs success resulted from the interaction between Tong and himself and that Tong had great comic timing and he also stated that Tongs character was unique for the time and that he was not the typical Asian house servant. Forsythe insisted on Tong being a character on the program
44.
Life (magazine)
–
Life was an American magazine that ran weekly from 1883 to 1936 as a humor magazine with limited circulation. Time owner Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936, solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name, Life was published weekly until 1972, as an intermittent special until 1978, and as a monthly from 1978 to 2000. After 2000 Time Inc. continued to use the Life brand for special, Life returned to regularly scheduled issues when it became a weekly newspaper supplement from 2004 to 2007. The website life. com, originally one of the channels on Time Inc. s Pathfinder service, was for a time in the late 2000s managed as a joint venture with Getty Images under the name See Your World, LLC. On January 30,2012 the LIFE. com URL became a channel on Time. com. When Life was founded in 1883, it was developed as similar to the British magazine and it was published for 53 years as a general-interest light entertainment magazine, heavy on illustrations, jokes and social commentary. The Luce Life was the first all-photographic American news magazine, the magazines role in the history of photojournalism is considered its most important contribution to publishing. Life was wildly successful for two generations before its prestige was diminished by economics and changing tastes, Life was founded January 4,1883, in a New York City artists studio at 1155 Broadway, as a partnership between John Ames Mitchell and Andrew Miller. Mitchell held a 75 per cent interest in the magazine with the remainder by Miller, both men retained their holdings until their deaths. Miller served as secretary-treasurer of the magazine and was very successful managing the side of the operation. Mitchell, a 37-year-old illustrator who used a $10,000 inheritance to invest in the weekly magazine, Mitchell created the first Life name-plate with cupids as mascots, he later drew its masthead of a knight leveling his lance at the posterior of a fleeing devil. Mitchell took advantage of a new printing process using zinc-coated plates. This edge helped because Life faced stiff competition from the humor magazines Judge and Puck. Edward Sandford Martin was brought on as Lifes first literary editor, the motto of the first issue of Life was, While theres Life, theres hope. The new magazine set forth its principles and policies to its readers and we shall try to domesticate as much as possible of the casual cheerfulness that is drifting about in an unfriendly world. The magazine was a success and soon attracted the leading contributors. Among the most important was Charles Dana Gibson, three years after the magazine was founded, the Massachusetts native first sold Life a drawing for $4, a dog outside his kennel howling at the moon. Encouraged by a publisher who was also an artist, Gibson was joined in Life early days by such illustrators as Palmer Cox
45.
George Cukor
–
George Dewey Cukor was an American film director. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations and his career flourished at RKO when David O. Selznick, the studios Head of Production, assigned Cukor to direct several of RKOs major films, including What Price Hollywood. A Bill of Divorcement, Our Betters, and Little Women, when Selznick moved to MGM in 1933, Cukor followed and directed Dinner at Eight and David Copperfield for Selznick and Romeo and Juliet and Camille for Irving Thalberg. He was replaced as the director of Gone with the Wind, but he went on to direct The Philadelphia Story, Gaslight, Adams Rib, Born Yesterday, A Star Is Born, Bhowani Junction and he continued to work into the 1980s. Cukor was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, the child and only son of Hungarian Jewish immigrants Viktor, an assistant district attorney. His parents selected his middle name in honor of Spanish–American War hero George Dewey, as a result, he was ambivalent about his faith and dismissive of old world traditions from childhood, and as an adult he embraced Anglophilia to remove himself even further from his roots. As a teenager, Cukor frequently was taken to the New York Hippodrome by his uncle, infatuated with theatre, he often cut classes at DeWitt Clinton High School to attend afternoon matinees. During his senior year, he worked as a supernumerary with the Metropolitan Opera, earning 50¢ per appearance, following his graduation in 1917, Cukor was expected to follow in his fathers footsteps and pursue a career in law. He halfheartedly enrolled in the City College of New York, where he entered the Students Army Training Corps in October 1918 and his military experience was limited, Germany surrendered in early November, and Cukors duty ended after only two months. In 1925 he formed the C. F. and Z, Production Company with Walter Folmer and John Zwicki, which gave him his first opportunity to direct. Following their first season, he made his Broadway directorial debut with Antonia by Hungarian playwright Melchior Lengyel, then returned to Rochester, lasting only one season with the company was Bette Davis. Cukor later recalled, Her talent was apparent, but she did buck at direction and she had her own ideas, and though she only did bits and ingenue roles, she didnt hesitate to express them. For the next decades, Davis claimed she was fired. For the next few years, Cukor alternated between Rochester in the months and Broadway in the winter. His direction of a 1926 stage adaptation of The Great Gatsby by Owen Davis brought him to the attention of the New York critics. Writing in the Brooklyn Eagle, drama critic Arthur Pollock called it a piece of work by a director not nearly so well known as he should be. Cukor directed six more Broadway productions before departing for Hollywood in 1929, when Hollywood began to recruit New York theater talent for sound films, Cukor immediately answered the call. In December 1928, Paramount Pictures signed him to a contract that reimbursed him for his airfare and he arrived in Hollywood in February 1929, and his first assignment was to coach the cast of River of Romance to speak with an acceptable Southern accent
46.
What Price Hollywood?
–
Is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film directed by George Cukor and starring Constance Bennett with Lowell Sherman. The screenplay by Gene Fowler, Rowland Brown, Ben Markson, Brown Derby waitress Mary Evans is an aspiring actress who has an opportunity to meet film director Maximillan Carey when she serves him one night. He is very drunk but is charmed by the young girl, adhering to his policy of living life with a sense of humor, he picks her up in a jalopy rather than a limousine and then gives the parking valet the car as a tip. Max takes Mary home with him after the event, but the next morning remembers nothing about the previous night and she reminds him he promised her a screen test and expresses concern about his excessive drinking and flippant attitude, but he tells her not to worry. Marys first screen test reveals she has far more ambition than talent, after extensive rehearsals, she shoots the scene again, and producer Julius Saxe is pleased with the result and signs her to a contract. Just as quickly as Mary achieves stardom, Max finds his career on the decline, Mary meets polo player Lonny Borden. He genuinely loves her and, although he is jealous of the demands made on her by her career, he convinces her to him, against Julius. Lonny becomes increasingly annoyed by the dedication of his movie star wife to her work, after their divorce is finalized, Mary discovers she is pregnant. Mary wins the Academy Award for Best Actress, but her moment of glory is disrupted when shes called upon to post bail for Max after hes arrested for drunk driving and she takes him to her home, where he wallows in self-pity despite her encouragement. Later, alone in Marys dressing room, he stares at his image in the mirror. Finding a gun in a drawer, he himself with a bullet to the chest. Mary becomes the center of gossip focusing on Maxs suicide, hoping to heal her emotional wounds, she flees to Paris with her son and reunites with Lonny, who begs her to forgive him and give their marriage another chance. By the time Selznick convinced them the picture had potential, Bow was committed to another film, four years after the film was released, Selznick approached Cukor and asked him to direct A Star Is Born. The plot was so similar to What Price Hollywood, RKO executives considered filing a plagiarism suit against Selznick International Pictures because of the obvious similarities in the story, but eventually opted not to take any legal action. Cukor later directed the 1954 musical remake starring Judy Garland, in a review published on December 31,1931, Variety called the film a fan magazine-ish interpretation of Hollywood plus a couple of twists and added, George Cukor tells it interestingly. Story. has its exaggerations, but they can sneak under the line as theatrical license, according to RKO records the film lost $50,000. Adela Rogers St. Johns and Jane Murfin were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Story, at the Internet Movie Database What Price Hollywood. At the TCM Movie Database What Price Hollywood, at the American Film Institute Catalog What Price Hollywood