1.
Henry Koster
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Henry Koster was born Hermann Kosterlitz to Jewish parents in Berlin, Germany. He became a director and later moved to Hollywood. He was the husband of actress Peggy Moran, Koster was introduced to cinema about 1910 when his uncle opened a very early movie theater in Berlin. Kosters mother played the piano to accompany the films, leaving the boy to occupy himself by watching the films. After working initially as a story writer, Kosterlitz was subsequently hired by a Berlin movie company as scenarist. Bernhardt became sick one day and asked Kosterlitz to take over as director, in 1932, Koster directed his first film in Berlin, the comedy Thea Roland. Koster, who was in the midst of directing his second film Das häßliche Mädchen, had already been the subject of antisemitism and he lost his temper at an SA officer at his bank during lunch hour, and knocked the officer out. When the film, written by Koster with Felix Joachimson, had its premiere in autumn 1933 their names were deleted, Koster left Germany for France, where he was rehired by Bernhardt. Eventually Koster went to Budapest and met and married Kató Király in 1934, in Budapest he met Joe Pasternak again, who represented Universal in Europe, and directed three films for him. One of those films was Catherine the Last after a script by Joachimson, in 1936 Koster got a contract to work with Universal Pictures in Hollywood, and he travelled to the United States to work with Pasternak, other refugees and his wife. Although Koster did not speak English, he convinced the studio to let him make Three Smart Girls and this picture, a big success, pulled Universal out of bankruptcy. Kosters second Universal film, One Hundred Men and a Girl, with Durbin and Leopold Stokowski put the studio, Durbin, Pasternak, Koster discovered Abbott and Costello working at a nightclub in New York. He returned to Hollywood and convinced Universal to hire them and their first picture, which featured the Whos On First. Routine, was One Night in the Tropics, the female lead, Peggy Moran, would become Kosters second wife in 1942. When he married Moran, Koster promised her he would put her in every movie he made from then on and he did, but it was her statue. Usually it is a head on a mantelpiece or a piano or desk. For The Robe he commissioned a Grecian bust which appears prominently in a Roman villa, Henry Koster went on to do numerous musicals and family comedies during the late 1930s and early 1940s, with Durbin, Betty Grable, and other musical stars of the era. Ironically, despite Kosters escape from Nazi Germany, when the United States entered World War II Koster was considered an alien and had to stay in his house in the evening
2.
Joe Pasternak
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Joseph Herman Joe Pasternak was an Hungarian-born American film producer in Hollywood. Born to a Jewish family in Szilágysomlyó, Austria-Hungary, Pasternak was a film producer in Germany. He worked for Universal Pictures in Europe, where he made German-language musicals for the international market and he hit upon a successful formula, building light musical comedies around an adolescent soprano. Following the establishment of the Nazi regime, Pasternak emigrated to the United States, at Universals Hollywood studio in 1936. Pasternak cast 14-year-old Canadian singer Deanna Durbin in Three Smart Girls, the film became a huge hit and reputedly saved Universal from bankruptcy. Pasternak produced a string of Durbin musicals, and soon discovered another talented soprano, who began her own series in 1939. Pasternak proved to be an asset for the studio, generating a number of popular films, including Destry Rides Again. His career as a film producer spanned 40 years and earned him two Oscar nominations and three Golden Globe Award nominations and he retired in 1968, having produced more than ninety feature-length films as well as three Academy Award shows. Pasternak is the father of Michael Joseph Pasternak, the disk jockey known as Emperor Rosko, Jeff Pasternak, a playwright and songwriter, and Peter Pasternak. Joe Pasternak died in Beverly Hills, California from complications arising from Parkinsons disease six days shy of his 90th birthday and he is interred in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California. For his contribution to the picture industry, Joe Pasternak has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1541 N. Joe Pasternak at the Internet Movie Database Joe Pasternak at Find a Grave
3.
Deanna Durbin
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Edna Mae Durbin, known professionally as Deanna Durbin, was a Canadian actress and singer, who appeared in musical films in the 1930s and 1940s. With the technical skill and vocal range of a lyric soprano. Durbin made her first film appearance with Judy Garland in Every Sunday and her success as the ideal teenaged daughter in films such as Three Smart Girls was credited with saving the studio from bankruptcy. In 1938, at the age of 17, Durbin was awarded the Academy Juvenile Award, as she matured, Durbin grew dissatisfied with the girl-next-door roles assigned to her, and attempted to portray a more womanly and sophisticated style. The film noir Christmas Holiday and the whodunit Lady on a Train were, however, Durbin retired from acting and singing in 1949, and withdrew from public life. She married film producer-director Charles Henri David in 1950, and the moved to a farmhouse near Paris. Edna Mae Durbin was born on December 4,1921, at Grace Hospital in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the daughter of James Allen Durbin and his wife Ada, who were originally from Manchester, England. When she was an infant, her moved from Winnipeg to Southern California. At the age of one, Edna Mae was singing childrens songs, by the time she was 10, her parents recognized that she had definite talent and enrolled her in voice lessons at the Ralph Thomas Academy. Durbin soon became Thomass prize pupil, and he showcased her talent at local clubs. In early 1935, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was planning a film on the life of opera star Ernestine Schumann-Heink and was having difficulty finding an actress to play the young opera singer. MGM casting director Rufus LeMaire heard about a young soloist performing with the Ralph Thomas Academy. Durbin sang Il Bacio for the vocal coach, who was stunned by her mature soprano voice. She sang the number again for Louis B, Mayer, who signed her to a six-month contract. Durbin made her first film appearance in the short Every Sunday with a young Judy Garland, the film helped to prove the pair, as studio executives had questioned the wisdom of casting two female singers together. Louis B. Mayer decided to both girls, but by the time that decision was made, Durbins contract option had lapsed. Durbin signed a contract with Universal Studios, where she was given the professional name Deanna and she was 14 years old when she made her first feature-length film, Three Smart Girls. When producer Joe Pasternak cast the film, he wanted to borrow Garland from MGM, when Pasternak learned that Durbin was no longer with MGM, he cast her in the film instead
4.
Universal Pictures
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Universal Pictures is an American film studio owned by Comcast through the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. The company was founded in 1912 by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley and its studios are located in Universal City, California, and its corporate offices are located in New York City. Universal Pictures is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America and is one of Hollywoods Big Six studios. Universal Studios was founded by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, Robert H. Cochrane, one story has Laemmle watching a box office for hours, counting patrons and calculating the days takings. Within weeks of his Chicago trip, Laemmle gave up dry goods to buy the first several nickelodeons, for Laemmle and other such entrepreneurs, the creation in 1908 of the Edison-backed Motion Picture Trust meant that exhibitors were expected to pay fees for Trust-produced films they showed. Soon, Laemmle and other disgruntled nickelodeon owners decided to avoid paying Edison by producing their own pictures, in June 1909, Laemmle started the Yankee Film Company with partners Abe Stern and Julius Stern. Laemmle broke with Edisons custom of refusing to give billing and screen credits to performers, by naming the movie stars, he attracted many of the leading players of the time, contributing to the creation of the star system. In 1910, he promoted Florence Lawrence, formerly known as The Biograph Girl, the Universal Film Manufacturing Company was incorporated in New York on April 30,1912. Laemmle, who emerged as president in July 1912, was the figure in the partnership with Dintenfass, Baumann, Kessel, Powers, Swanson, Horsley. Eventually all would be out by Laemmle. Following the westward trend of the industry, by the end of 1912 the company was focusing its efforts in the Hollywood area. On March 15,1915, Laemmle opened the worlds largest motion picture production facility, Universal City Studios, studio management became the third facet of Universals operations, with the studio incorporated as a distinct subsidiary organization. Unlike other movie moguls, Laemmle opened his studio to tourists, Universal became the largest studio in Hollywood, and remained so for a decade. However, it sought an audience mostly in towns, producing mostly inexpensive melodramas, westerns. In its early years Universal released three brands of feature films — Red Feather, low-budget programmers, Bluebird, more ambitious productions, and Jewel, their prestige motion pictures. Directors included Jack Conway, John Ford, Rex Ingram, Robert Z. Leonard, George Marshall and Lois Weber, despite Laemmles role as an innovator, he was an extremely cautious studio chief. Unlike rivals Adolph Zukor, William Fox, and Marcus Loew and he also financed all of his own films, refusing to take on debt. Character actor Lon Chaney became a card for Universal in the 1920s
5.
Musical film
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The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline. The musical film was a development of the stage musical after the emergence of sound film technology. Typically, the biggest difference between film and stage musicals is the use of background scenery and locations that would be impractical in a theater. Musical films characteristically contain elements reminiscent of theater, performers often treat their song, in a sense, the viewer becomes the diegetic audience, as the performer looks directly into the camera and performs to it. The 1930s through the early 1950s are considered to be the age of the musical film. Musical short films were made by Lee de Forest in 1923–24, beginning in 1926, thousands of Vitaphone shorts were made, many featuring bands, vocalists and dancers. The Jazz Singer, released in 1927 by Warner Brothers, was the first to include a track including non-diegetic music and diegetic music. This feature-length film was also a musical, featuring Al Jolson singing Dirty Hands, Dirty Face, Toot, Toot, Tootsie, Blue Skies and My Mammy. Historian Scott Eyman wrote, As the film ended and applause grew with the houselights and she saw terror in all their faces, she said, as if they knew that the game they had been playing for years was finally over. Still, only isolated sequences featured live sound, most of the film had only a musical score. In 1928, Warner Brothers followed this up with another Jolson part-talkie, The Singing Fool, theaters scrambled to install the new sound equipment and to hire Broadway composers to write musicals for the screen. The first all-talking feature, Lights of New York, included a sequence in a night club. The enthusiasm of audiences was so great that in less than an all the major studios were making sound pictures exclusively. The Broadway Melody had a plot about two sisters competing for a charming song-and-dance man. Advertised by MGM as the first All-Talking, All-Singing, All-Dancing feature film, it was a hit, there was a rush by the studios to hire talent from the stage to star in lavishly filmed versions of Broadway hits. The Love Parade starred Maurice Chevalier and newcomer Jeanette MacDonald, written by Broadway veteran Guy Bolton, Warner Brothers produced the first screen operetta, The Desert Song in 1929. They spared no expense and photographed a large percentage of the film in Technicolor and this was followed by the first all-color, all-talking musical feature which was entitled On with the Show
6.
Leopold Stokowski
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Leopold Anthony Stokowski was a British conductor of Polish and Irish descent. One of the conductors of the early and mid-20th Century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He was especially noted for his conducting style that spurned the traditional baton. He was also the founder of the All-American Youth Orchestra, the New York City Symphony, the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra, there is some mystery surrounding his early life. For example, he spoke with an unusual, non-British accent, though he was born and raised in London. On occasion, Stokowski gave his year of birth as 1887 instead of 1882, as in a letter to the Hugo Riemann Musiklexicon in 1950, in Germany there was a corresponding rumour that his original name was simply Stock. However, Stokowskis birth certificate gives his birth on 18 April 1882, at 13 Upper Marylebone Street, Stokowski was named after his Polish-born grandfather Leopold, who died in the English county of Surrey on 13 January 1879, at the age of 49. Samaroff, born Lucy Mary Agnes Hickenlooper, was from Galveston, Texas, for professional and career reasons, she urged him to emphasize only the Polish part of his background once he became a resident of the United States. He studied at the Royal College of Music, where he first enrolled in 1896 at the age of thirteen, in his later life in the US, Stokowski would perform six of the nine symphonies composed by his fellow organ student Ralph Vaughan Williams. Stokowski sang in the choir of the St Marylebone Parish Church, by age 16, Stokowski was elected to a membership in the Royal College of Organists. In 1900, he formed the choir of St. Marys Church, Charing Cross Road, in 1902, he was appointed the organist and choir director of St. Jamess Church, Piccadilly. He also attended The Queens College, Oxford, where he earned a Bachelor of Music degree in 1903, in 1905, Stokowski began work in New York City as the organist and choir director of St. Bartholomews Church. He was very popular among the parishioners, who included members of the Vanderbilt family, Stokowski moved to Paris for additional study in conducting. There he heard that the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra would be needing a new conductor when it returned from a long sabbatical, Stokowski was selected over the other applicants, and took up his conducting duties in late 1909. Stokowskis conducting debut in London took place the week on 18 May with the New Symphony Orchestra at Queens Hall. His engagement as new permanent conductor in Cincinnati was a great success and he introduced the concept of pops concerts and, starting with his first season, he began championing the work of living composers. His concerts included performances of music by Richard Strauss, Sibelius, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, Glazunov, Saint-Saëns and he conducted the American premieres of new works by such composers as Elgar, whose 2nd Symphony was first presented there on 24 November 1911. He was to maintain his advocacy of music to the end of his career
7.
Adolphe Menjou
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Adolphe Jean Menjou was an American actor. His career spanned both silent films and talkies and he was nominated for an Academy Award for The Front Page in 1931. Menjou was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to a French father, Albert Menjou, and he had a brother named Henry Arthur Menjou who was a year younger. He was raised Roman Catholic, attended the Culver Military Academy, attracted to the vaudeville stage, he made his movie debut in 1916 in The Blue Envelope Mystery. During World War I, he served as a captain in the United States Army ambulance service and he trained in Pennsylvania before going overseas. Menjou was married to Verree Teasdale from 1934 until his death on October 29,1963 and had one adopted son and he was previously married to Kathryn Carver in 1928. A prior marriage to Kathryn Conn Tinsley also ended in divorce, returning from the war, he became a star in such films as The Sheik and The Three Musketeers. When he starred in 1923s A Woman of Paris, he solidified the image of a well-dressed man-about-town and his career stalled with the coming of talkies, but in 1930, he starred in Morocco, with Marlene Dietrich. He was nominated for an Academy Award for The Front Page, Menjou was a staunch Republican who equated the Democratic Party with socialism. Menjou confided to a friend that he feared that if a Democrat won the White House he would raise taxes, destroy the value of the dollar and he took precautions against this threat to his finances. Ive got gold stashed in safety deposit boxes all over town. theyll never get an ounce from me, the gathering drew 93,000, with Cecil B. DeMille as the master of ceremonies and short speeches by Hedda Hopper, despite the good turnout at the rally, most Hollywood celebrities who took a public position sided with the Roosevelt–Truman ticket. In 1947, Menjou cooperated with the House Committee on Un-American Activities in its hunt for communists in Hollywood, Menjou was a leading member of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, a group formed to oppose communist influence in Hollywood. Other members included John Wayne, Barbara Stanwyck and her husband, because of his political sympathies, Menjou came into conflict with actress Katharine Hepburn. Menjou appeared with her in the films Morning Glory, Stage Door, and State of the Union, Hepburn was strongly opposed to co-operating with the McCarthy hearings. To this, Hepburn called Menjou, Wisecracking, witty—a flag-waving superpatriot who invested his American dollars in Canadian bonds and had a thing about Communists, Menjou ended his film career with such roles as French General George Broulard in Stanley Kubricks 1957 film Paths of Glory. In 1955, Menjou played Dr. Elliott Harcourt in Barrier of Silence and he also appeared in the Thanksgiving episode of NBCs The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford, which aired on November 22,1956. His final film role as the town curmudgeon in Disneys Pollyanna was one of his best known roles, Menjou died on October 29,1963 of hepatitis in Beverly Hills, California
8.
Trombone
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The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the players vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate, nearly all trombones have a telescoping slide mechanism that varies the length of the instrument to change the pitch. Many modern trombone models also utilize a rotary valve as a means to lower pitch of the instrument, variants such as the valve trombone and superbone have three valves like those on the trumpet. The word trombone derives from Italian tromba and -one, so the name means large trumpet, the trombone has a predominantly cylindrical bore like its valved counterpart the baritone and in contrast to its conical valved counterparts, the euphonium and the horn. The most frequently encountered trombones are the trombone and bass trombone. The most common variant, the tenor, is an instrument pitched in B♭, an octave below the B♭ trumpet. A person who plays the trombone is called a trombonist or trombone player, the trombone is a predominantly cylindrical tube bent into an elongated S shape. Rather than being completely cylindrical from end to end, the tube is a series of tapers with the smallest at the mouthpiece receiver. The design of these affects the intonation of the instrument. As with other instruments, sound is produced by blowing air through pursed lips producing a vibration that creates a standing wave in the instrument. The detachable cup-shaped mouthpiece is similar to that of the baritone horn and it has the venturi, a small constriction of the air column that adds resistance greatly affecting the tone of the instrument, and is inserted into the mouthpiece receiver in the slide section. The slide section consists of a leadpipe, the inner and outer tubes. Modern stays are soldered, while sackbuts were made with loose, the slide, the most distinctive feature of the trombone, allows the player to extend the length of the air column, lowering the pitch. To prevent friction from slowing the action of the slide, additional sleeves were developed during the Renaissance, and this part of the slide must be lubricated frequently. Additional tubing connects the slide to the bell of the instrument through a neckpipe, for example, second position A is not in exactly the same place on the slide as second position E. Many types of trombone also include one or more rotary valves used to increase the length of the instrument by directing the air flow through additional tubing. This allows the instrument to reach notes that are not possible without the valve as well as play other notes in alternate positions. Like the trumpet, the trombone is considered a cylindrical bore instrument since it has sections of tubing, principally in the slide section
9.
Alice Brady
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For the character in The Brady Bunch seen in the middle of the 9 intro subscreens, see Alice Nelson. Alice Brady was an American actress who began her career in the silent film era and she worked until six months before her death from cancer in 1939. Her films include My Man Godfrey, in which she played the flighty mother of Carole Lombards character, mary Rose Brady was born in New York City. Her father, William A. Brady, was an important theatrical producer and her mother, Rose Marie Rene, died in 1896. She was interested at an age in becoming an actress. She first went on the stage when she was 14 and got her first job on Broadway in 1911 at the age of 18, in 1913 she appeared with John Barrymore in A Thief for a Night at McVickers Theatre in Chicago. She continued to perform on Broadway consistently for the next 22 years, in 1931 she appeared in the premiere of Eugene ONeills Mourning Becomes Electra. Her step-mother was actress Grace George, whom her father married when Alice was a child and her half-brother was William A. Brady Jr, the son of her father and Grace George. She appeared in 53 films in the next 10 years, all while continuing to perform on stage, from then on she worked frequently until her death, making another 25 films in seven years. Her final film was Young Mr. Lincoln, Brady was married to actor James Crane from 1919 to 1922, when they divorced. They co-starred in three silent films together, His Bridal Night, Sinners and A Dark Lantern, the couple had one child, Donald. Alice Brady died from cancer on October 28,1939, five days before her 47th birthday, for her portrayal of Mrs. Molly OLeary — a fictionalized version of Catherine OLeary – in 1937s In Old Chicago, Brady won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She had been nominated for the award the year before as well. The Academy then issued a replacement plaque which was presented to Brady. However, according to press at the time the director, Henry King, accepted on her behalf at the ceremony. Winners are given awards at the ceremony and return them to the Academy to have them engraved afterwards. Ms. Brady also followed this practice, which may have led to the story that the Academy was presenting her with a replacement trophy
10.
Eugene Pallette
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Eugene William Pallette was an American actor. He appeared in over 240 silent era and sound era motion pictures between 1913 and 1946 and he was born in Winfield, Kansas, the son of William Baird Pallette and Elnora Ella Jackson. His sister was Beulah L. Pallette, Pallette attended Culver Military Academy in Culver, Indiana. He then began his career on the stage in stock company roles. Pallette began his silent film career as an extra in about 1911 and his first credited appearance was in the one-reel short western/drama The Fugitive which was directed by Wallace Reid for Flying A Studios at Santa Barbara. Quickly advancing to featured status, Pallette appeared in many westerns and he worked with D. W. Griffith on such films as The Birth of a Nation and Intolerance. At this time, he had a slim, athletic figure, after gaining a life-threatening amount of weight, he became one of the screens most recognizable character actors. In 1927, he signed as a regular for Hal Roach Studios and was a comic foil in several early Laurel. In later years, Pallettes weight may have topped out at more than 300 pounds, the advent of the talkies proved to be the second major career boost for Pallette. His inimitable rasping gravel voice made him one of Hollywoods most sought-after character actors in the 1930s and 1940s, the typical Pallette role was the comically exasperated head of the family, the cynical backroom sharpy, or the gruff detective. Pallettes best-known role may be as Friar Tuck in The Adventures of Robin Hood, BBC commentator Dana Gioia gave this extensive description of Pallettes onscreen appeal, Pallette could anchor a scene just by walking downstairs. When he enters Preston Sturgess The Lady Eve, trotting down to breakfast singing a merry ballad, the mature Pallette character is a creature of provocative contradictions—tough-minded but indulgent, earthy but epicurean, relaxed but excitable. His grit and gravel voice sounds simultaneously tough and comic, in his best films Pallette made his fatness seem like a sign of moderation and common sense. As Friar Tuck in The Adventures of Robin Hood or Fray Felipe in The Mark of Zorro, he shows that a fat priest is no heartless zealot but understands the sins of the flesh. Playing a tubby millionaire like the beer baron in The Lady Eve or Alexander Bullock in My Man Godfrey, stuffed into a tuxedo that seems perpetually near bursting, he seems more down-to-earth than the stylish high society types who surround him. Even Pallettes villains, like the corrupt and cynical politico Chick McCann in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, are immensely likeable, pushed too far, Pallette confidently uses his weight for physical force. When Bullock finally evicts the free-loading Carlo in My Man Godfrey, in battle his sword-wielding Friar Tuck is a glory to behold. Pallette may have gained weight, but he never lost his underlying virility, Pallette was cast as the father of lead actress Jeanne Crain in Army Wives
11.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, baptised as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. Born in Salzburg, he showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood, already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. At 17, Mozart was engaged as a musician at the Salzburg court, while visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame, during his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of his death. The circumstances of his death have been much mythologized. He was survived by his wife Constanze and two sons and he composed more than 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, operatic, and choral music. He is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers, Ludwig van Beethoven composed his own early works in the shadow of Mozart, and Joseph Haydn wrote, posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on 27 January 1756 to Leopold Mozart and Anna Maria, née Pertl and this was the capital of the Archbishopric of Salzburg, an ecclesiastic principality in what is now Austria, then part of the Holy Roman Empire. He was the youngest of seven children, five of whom died in infancy and his elder sister was Maria Anna Mozart, nicknamed Nannerl. Mozart was baptized the day after his birth, at St. Ruperts Cathedral in Salzburg, the baptismal record gives his name in Latinized form, as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. He generally called himself Wolfgang Amadè Mozart as an adult, Leopold Mozart, a native of Augsburg, Germany, was a minor composer and an experienced teacher. In 1743, he was appointed as fourth violinist in the establishment of Count Leopold Anton von Firmian. Four years later, he married Anna Maria in Salzburg, Leopold became the orchestras deputy Kapellmeister in 1763. During the year of his sons birth, Leopold published a textbook, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule. When Nannerl was 7, she began lessons with her father. Years later, after her brothers death, she reminisced, He often spent much time at the clavier, picking out thirds, which he was ever striking, and his pleasure showed that it sounded good. In the fourth year of his age his father, for a game as it were, began to teach him a few minuets and he could play it faultlessly and with the greatest delicacy, and keeping exactly in time. At the age of five, he was composing little pieces
12.
Franz Liszt
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Franz Liszt was a prolific 19th-century Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor, music teacher, arranger, organist, philanthropist, author, nationalist and a Franciscan tertiary. Liszt gained renown in Europe during the nineteenth century for his prodigious virtuosic skill as a pianist. As a composer, Liszt was one of the most prominent representatives of the New German School and he left behind an extensive and diverse body of work in which he influenced his forward-looking contemporaries and anticipated many 20th-century ideas and trends. Franz Liszt was born to Anna Liszt and Adam Liszt on October 22,1811, in the village of Doborján in Sopron County, in the Kingdom of Hungary, Liszts father played the piano, violin, cello and guitar. He had been in the service of Prince Nikolaus II Esterházy and knew Haydn, Hummel, at age six, Franz began listening attentively to his fathers piano playing and showed an interest in both sacred and Romani music. Adam began teaching him the piano at age seven, and Franz began composing in an elementary manner when he was eight and he appeared in concerts at Sopron and Pressburg in October and November 1820 at age 9. After the concerts, a group of wealthy sponsors offered to finance Franzs musical education in Vienna, There Liszt received piano lessons from Carl Czerny, who in his own youth had been a student of Beethoven and Hummel. He also received lessons in composition from Antonio Salieri, then director of the Viennese court. Liszts public debut in Vienna on December 1,1822, at a concert at the Landständischer Saal, was a great success and he was greeted in Austrian and Hungarian aristocratic circles and also met Beethoven and Schubert. In spring 1823, when his one-year leave of absence came to an end, Adam Liszt therefore took his leave of the Princes services. At the end of April 1823, the returned to Hungary for the last time. At the end of May 1823, the family went to Vienna again, towards the end of 1823 or early 1824, Liszts first composition to be published, his Variation on a Waltz by Diabelli, appeared as Variation 24 in Part II of Vaterländischer Künstlerverein. Liszts inclusion in the Diabelli project—he was described in it as an 11 year old boy, born in Hungary—was almost certainly at the instigation of Czerny, his teacher, Liszt was the only child composer in the anthology. After his fathers death in 1827, Liszt moved to Paris, to earn money, Liszt gave lessons in piano playing and composition, often from early morning until late at night. His students were scattered across the city and he often had to long distances. Because of this, he kept uncertain hours and also took up smoking, the following year he fell in love with one of his pupils, Caroline de Saint-Cricq, the daughter of Charles Xs minister of commerce, Pierre de Saint-Cricq. Her father, however, insisted that the affair be broken off, Liszt fell very ill, to the extent that an obituary notice was printed in a Paris newspaper, and he underwent a long period of religious doubts and pessimism. He again stated a wish to join the Church but was dissuaded this time by his mother and he had many discussions with the Abbé de Lamennais, who acted as his spiritual father, and also with Chrétien Urhan, a German-born violinist who introduced him to the Saint-Simonists
13.
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
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Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 in C-sharp minor, S. 244/2, is the second in a set of 19 Hungarian Rhapsodies by composer Franz Liszt, and is by far the most famous of the set. In both the piano solo form and in the orchestrated version this composition has enjoyed widespread use in animated cartoons. Its themes have also served as the basis of popular songs. These elements would eventually play a significant role in Liszts compositions, although this prolific composers works are highly varied in style, a relatively large part of his output is nationalistic in character, the Hungarian Rhapsodies being an ideal example. Composed in 1847 and dedicated to Count László Teleki, Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 was first published as a solo in 1851 by Senff. Its immediate success and popularity on the stage soon led to an orchestrated version, arranged by the composer in collaboration with Franz Doppler. In addition to the version, the composer arranged a piano duet version in 1874. Most unusual in composition is the composers invitation for the performer to perform a cadenza. Marc-André Hamelin composed a cadenza that has become famous for its originality, musicality and playfulness. Liszt himself wrote several cadenzas for the piece, but these are rarely performed, other pianists have arranged their own versions of the Rhapsody with changes beyond that of simply adding a cadenza, most notably Vladimir Horowitz in 1953. The piece consists of two distinct sections, the first is the lassan, with its brief but dramatic introduction. Although beginning on the C-sharp major triad, C-sharp minor is established as the home key. From this point on, the composer modulates freely, particularly to the tonic major, the mood of the lassan is generally dark and melancholic, although it contains some playful and capricious moments. The second section is the friska and it opens quietly in the key of F-sharp minor, but on its dominant chord, C-sharp major, recalling a theme from the lassan. The alternating dominant and tonic harmonies quickly increase in volume, the tempo gaining momentum as the Friskas main theme is approached, at this point, the Friska begins its journey of ever-increasing energy and pianistic bravura, still underpinned by alternating tonic and dominant harmonies. Modulations are limited almost exclusively to the dominant and the lowered mediant, before the final whirlwind of sound, a moment of calm prevails in the key of F-sharp minor, recalling another of the lassans themes, and is followed by the instruction, Cadenza ad lib. Liszt planned his choice of keys in a symmetrical fashion. Although the lassans principal key is C-sharp minor the work opens on the major chord
14.
Giuseppe Verdi
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Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian opera composer. Verdi was born near Busseto to a family of moderate means. Verdi came to dominate the Italian opera scene after the era of Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini, whose works influenced him. In his early operas Verdi demonstrated a sympathy with the Risorgimento movement which sought the unification of Italy and he also participated briefly as an elected politician. He surprised the world by returning, after his success with the opera Aida. The baptismal register, prepared on 11 October 1813, lists his parents Carlo, additionally, it lists Verdi as being born yesterday, but since days were often considered to begin at sunset, this could have meant either 9 or 10 October. Verdi himself, following his mother, always celebrated his birthday on 9 October, Verdi had a younger sister, Giuseppa, who died aged 17 in 1833. From the age of four, Verdi was given lessons in Latin and Italian by the village schoolmaster, Baistrocchi. After learning to play the organ, he showed so much interest in music that his parents provided him with a spinet. Verdis gift for music was apparent by 1820–21 when he began his association with the local church, serving in the choir, acting as an altar boy for a while. After Baistrocchis death, Verdi, at the age of eight, Carlo Verdi was energetic in furthering his sons education. something which Verdi tended to hide in later life. He picture emerges of youthful precocity eagerly nurtured by a father and of a sustained, sophisticated. Verdi returned to Busseto regularly to play the organ on Sundays, at age 11, Verdi received schooling in Italian, Latin, the humanities, and rhetoric. By the time he was 12, he began lessons with Ferdinando Provesi, maestro di cappella at San Bartolomeo, director of the music school. This information comes from the Autobiographical Sketch which Verdi dictated to the publisher Giulio Ricordi late in life, in 1879, written, understandably, with the benefit of hindsight, it is not always reliable when dealing with issues more contentious than those of his childhood. The other director of the Philharmonic Society was Antonio Barezzi, a grocer and distiller. The young Verdi did not immediately become involved with the Philharmonic, by June 1827, he had graduated with honours from the Ginnasio and was able to focus solely on music under Provesi. By 1829–30, Verdi had established himself as a leader of the Philharmonic, none of us could rival him reported the secretary of the organisation, Giuseppe Demaldè
15.
La traviata
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La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La Dame aux Camélias, an adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas. The opera was originally titled Violetta, after the main character and it was first performed on 6 March 1853 at the La Fenice opera house in Venice. Piave and Verdi wanted to follow Dumas in giving the opera a contemporary setting and it was not until the 1880s that the composer and librettists original wishes were carried out and realistic productions were staged. For Verdi, the years 1851 to 1853 were filled with operatic activity, in addition, personal affairs in his home town limited his activities that spring, but after Rigolettos success in Venice, an additional commission was offered by Brenna, the secretary of La Fenice. After Verdis return from Paris a contract was signed in May 1852, with performances scheduled for March 1853, Verdi sees The Lady of the Camellias play Verdi and Giuseppina Strepponi had visited Paris from late 1851 and into March 1852. In February the couple attended a performance of Alexander Dumas filss The Lady of the Camellias, as a result of this, Verdi biographer Mary Jane Phillips-Matz reports, the composer immediately began to compose music for what would later become La traviata. Writing to Piave, he added that I dont want any of those subjects that one can find by the hundreds. But at the time, the composer expressed concern about censorship in Venice. As the months dragged on into October, it was agreed that Piave would come to SantAgata, one subject was chosen, Piave set to work, and then Verdi threw in another idea, which may have been La traviata. However, within a time, a synopsis was dispatched to Venice under the title of Amore e morte. However, as Budden reveals, Verdi writes to his friend De Sanctis telling him that for Venice Im doing La Dame aux camélias which will probably be called La traviata, a subject for our own age. Although still bogged down at SantAgata, Piave was sanguine, Everything will turn out fine, Verdi was filled with premonitions of disaster upon his arrival in Venice on 21 February for rehearsals and he made his unhappiness clear to the singers. 19th century The audience jeered at times during the premiere, directing some of their scorn at the casting of soprano Fanny Salvini-Donatelli in the role of Violetta. Though she was a singer, they considered her to be too old. The next day, Verdi wrote to his friend Emanuele Muzio in what has now become perhaps his most famous letter, was the fault mine or the singers. Coincidentally, as Philips-Matz points out, an Italian translation of the play La Dame aux camélias was being presented just a short distance from La Fenice. As Budden notes, it came to be Venice that made an honest woman of Violetta when Verdi allowed a performance at the Teatro San Benedetto, then it was a fiasco, now it has created a furore
16.
Alma Kruger
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Alma Kruger was an American actress. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Kruger had a career on stage before appearing in films. From 1907 to 1935, she featured in plays on Broadway, mostly in Shakespearean plays such as Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Taming of the Shrew. Kruger was brought to Hollywood by Samuel Goldwyn and she appeared in her first film while in her sixties, These Three. She then proceeded to act in over forty films in the space of more than a decade. Among her notable roles was Nurse Molly Byrd, the superintendent of nurses in the popular Dr. Kildare/Dr, gillespie film series, appearing in all but the first two of the sixteen movies. She portrayed Empress Maria Theresa of Austria in Marie Antoinette and the almost mother-in-law of Rosalind Russells lead character in His Girl Friday, in 1942, she appeared as the subversive society matron Henrietta Sutton in Alfred Hitchcocks Saboteur. Krugers last film appearance was in the film, Forever Amber, on radio, Kruger played Emily Mayfield on Those We Love and the captains wife on Show Boat. Kruger died of natural causes April 5,1960, in a home in Seattle. * -films in which Kruger portrayed Molly Byrd Alma Kruger at the Internet Broadway Database Alma Kruger at the Internet Movie Database Alma Kruger
17.
Mischa Auer
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Mischa Auer was a Russian-born American actor who moved to Hollywood in the late 1920s. He first appeared in film in 1928, Auer had a long career playing in many of the eras best known films, and he received an Academy Award nomination in 1936. He later moved into television and acted in films again in France, Auer was born Mikhail Semyonovich Unskovsky in St. Petersburg, Russia. His name is seen as Mischa Ounskowsky, Mischa being the German transliteration of Misha. Auers parents were a Russian naval officer and the daughter of Hungarian-born Jewish violinist Leopold Auer and his wife and his father died when he was three, and he was taken in by his grandfather. Leopold Auer emigrated to the United States after the Russian Revolution, Mischa Auer and his mother became separated, but were reunited during the Russian Civil War. Auer was able to contact his grandfather, who brought the teenager to the United States and he began performing on the stage in the 1920s in Bertha Kalichs Thalia Yiddish Theater, then moved to Hollywood, where he first appeared in 1928 in Something Always Happens. He appeared in small, mostly uncredited roles into the 1930s, appearing in such films as Rasputin. The Yellow Ticket, the George Gershwin musical Delicious, the Paramount Pictures all-star revue Paramount on Parade, in 1936, Auer was cast as Alice Bradys protégé in the comedy My Man Godfrey, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Prior to that, he had been mostly playing villains and he stated, That one role made a comic out of me. From then on, he was regularly cast in zany comedy roles, Auer played the ballet instructor Kolenkov in the Best Picture-winning You Cant Take It with You and the prince-turned-fashion designer in Walter Wangers Vogues of 1938. He was also one of the large cast of And Then There Were None, in the 1960s, he made several films in France and Italy, including The Christmas That Almost Wasnt. Auer married four times and had three children, mischas first wife was Norma Tillman, whom he married in 1931. They had a son Anthony and a daughter Zoia, in 1941 he married a second time to Joyce Hunter, with whom he lived for 9 years. His third wife was Susanne Kalish, and they had one daughter and his fourth wife was Elise Souls Lee. Mischa Auer paid the utility bills of the Holy Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Cathedral for several years and he died of cardiovascular disease in Rome in 1967 and was interred at Prospect Hill Cemetery in Gloversville, New York. Mischa Auer at the Internet Movie Database Mischa Auer at the Internet Broadway Database Mischa Auer at Find a Grave
18.
Billy Gilbert
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For the silent film actor, see Billy Gilbert. For other people with the name, see William Gilbert. William Billy Gilbert was an American comedian and actor known for his comic sneeze routines and he appeared in over 200 feature films, short subjects and television shows starting in 1929. Born in Kentucky, the child of singers with the Metropolitan Opera, he was born in a room at the Hopkins Opera House in Louisville. Gilbert began working in vaudeville at the age of 12, Gilbert was spotted by Stan Laurel, who was in the audience of Gilberts show Sensations of 1929. Laurel went backstage to meet Gilbert and was so impressed by him he introduced him to comedy producer Hal Roach. Gilbert was employed as a gag writer, actor and director, Gilbert broke into comedy short subjects with the Vitaphone studio in 1930 – he appears without billing in the Joe Frisco comedy The Happy Hottentots, recently restored and released on DVD. Gilberts burly frame and gruff voice made him a comic villain. He appeared in support of Roachs comedy stars Laurel and Hardy, Charley Chase, Thelma Todd, one of his Laurel and Hardy appearances was the 1932 Academy Award-winning featurette The Music Box. Gilbert generally played blustery tough guys in the Roach comedies, but could play other comic characters, Gilberts skill at dialects prompted Roach to give him his own series, big Billy Gilbert teamed with little Billy Bletcher as the Dutch-comic Schmaltz Brothers. In offbeat musical shorts like Rhapsody in Brew, like many other Roach contractees, Gilbert found similar work at other studios. He appears in the comedies of the Three Stooges at Columbia Pictures. These led to featured roles in films, so that from 1934 on Gilbert became one of the screens most familiar faces. One of his standard routines had Gilbert progressively getting excited or nervous about something and he used this bit so frequently that Walt Disney thought of him immediately when casting the voice of Sneezy in 1937s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Gilbert and Disney would later work again in Mickey and the Beanstalk. Gilbert did the routine in a memorable cameo in the Paramount comedy Million Dollar Legs starring W. C. Fields, Jack Oakie, Susan Fleming, and Ben Turpin, Gilbert is prominent in most of the movies he appeared in. He appeared as Herring - a parody of Nazi official Hermann Göring - the minister of war in Charlie Chaplins The Great Dictator and he was also the soda server to Freddie Bartholomew in Captains Courageous
19.
Jed Prouty
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Jed Prouty was an American film actor. Originally from Boston, Massachusetts, Prouty was a performer before becoming a film actor. Mostly appearing in comedies, he performed a serious character role. After a significant career in silent films, a part of Proutys later career was the Jones Family film series. They were 17 low-budget 20th Century Fox family comedies between 1936 and 1940, along with Spring Byington as Mrs. Jones, for directors as Malcolm St. Clair. Prouty appeared in all but the final entry, jed Prouty at the Internet Movie Database
20.
J. Scott Smart
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J. Scott Smart, born John Kenley Tener Smart, also known as Jack Smart, was an American radio, film and stage actor during the 1930s, 1940s and early 1950s. Smart was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and his family later moved to Buffalo, where he was a 1922 graduate of Lafayette High School. He also attended Miami Military Institute, Smart told a reporter that, before entering show business, he held 30 jobs in three years. Those jobs included selling shoe polish, heaving coal on a boat, being fire chief in a factory, drawing cartoons for a newspaper, when he was 21, Smart began acting in stock theater in Buffalo, New York. He acted there for five years, after that, a friend set up an audition for a program on NBC. The result was Smarts first role on radio, that of a waiter on Whispering Tables. His Broadway credits include A Bell for Adano and Separate Rooms, Jack was also an accomplished stage actor and played roles in major productions of A Bell For Adano and Waiting for Godot. He appeared in movies, including Kiss of Death and the movie version of The Fat Man. A running gag in the film was Smart getting in and out of the car he rented - a tiny MG, the film was an early major role for Rock Hudson. He vied with noted other rotund actor Bud Stevens for roles requiring fat fellows, Smart married Alice Coy Wright on July 23,1931. He was married to Mary-Leigh Smart from 1951 until his death in 1960, Jack, together with his wife, were an established part of the arts colony. Late in life, as a widow, Mary-Leigh Smart and her partner of 40 years, Smart lived in Ogunquit, Maine, and indulged his lifelong passion for art in becoming a painter and sculptor. He also had a theater in Ogunquit. Smart died of cancer in Springfield, Ohio. Buxton, Frank and Bill Owen The Big Broadcast, 1920-1950, New York, obituary in the Illinois State Register, January 15,1960. Dunning, John Tune In Yesterday, The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, 1925–1976, Englewood Cliffs, laughlin, Charles D. J. Scott Smart, a. k. a. York, Maine, Three Faces East Press, macDonald, J. Fred Dont Touch That Dial, Radio Programming in American Life, 1920–1960. Plante, William C. J. Scott Smart, taylor, Robert Fred Allen, His Life and Wit
21.
Philadelphia Orchestra
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The Philadelphia Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. From its founding until 2001, the Philadelphia Orchestra gave its concerts at the Academy of Music, the orchestra continues to own the Academy, and returns there one week per year for the Academy of Musics annual gala concert and concerts for school children. The Philadelphia Orchestras summer home is the Mann Center for the Performing Arts and it also has summer residencies at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, and since July 2007 at the Bravo. Vail Valley Festival in Vail, Colorado, the orchestra also performs an annual series of concerts at Carnegie Hall. From its earliest days the orchestra has been active in the studio, making extensive numbers of recordings, primarily for RCA Victor. The orchestras music director is Yannick Nézet-Séguin, since 2012, the current president and chief executive officer of the Philadelphia Orchestra Association is Allison Vulgamore, since 2010. Charles Dutoit, chief conductor of the orchestra from 2008 to 2012, has the title of conductor laureate, the orchestra was founded in 1900 by Fritz Scheel, who also acted as its first conductor. The orchestra had its beginnings with a group of musicians led by the pianist F. Cresson Schell. In 1904, Richard Strauss guest conducted the orchestra in a program of his compositions, additionally in 1906, the orchestra traveled to the White House to perform in an exclusive concert. In February 1907, Leandro Campanari took over and served as conductor for a short time during Scheels illness. A flutist in the orchestra, August Rodemann, had stood in before Campanaris arrival and he started sabotaging the performances and Campanari was obliged to remove himself from a bad situation. In 1907, Karl Pohlig became music director and served until 1912, New music he programmed was unpopular with audiences, and revelations that he had an extra-marital affair with his secretary caused outrage. The orchestra cancelled his contract and gave him a salary in severance to avoid a suit from Pohlig alleging a conspiracy to oust him. Leopold Stokowski became music director in 1912 and brought the orchestra to national prominence, under his guidance, the orchestra gained a reputation for virtuosity, and developed what is known as the Philadelphia Sound. Stokowski left the orchestra in 1941, and did not return as a guest conductor for nearly 20 years, in 1936 Eugene Ormandy joined the organization, and jointly held the post of principal conductor with Stokowski until 1938 when he became its sole music director. He remained as director until 1980, after which he became Conductor Laureate. The tour was successful and it has since returned for three additional successful tours. Riccardo Muti became principal guest conductor of the orchestra in the 1970s and his recordings with the orchestra included the symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, and Alexander Scriabin, for the EMI and Philips labels
22.
Eugene Ormandy
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Eugene Ormandy was a Hungarian-born conductor and violinist, best known for his association with the Philadelphia Orchestra, as its music director. The maestros 44-year association with the orchestra is one of the longest enjoyed by any conductor with a single orchestra, under his baton, the Philadelphia Orchestra had three gold records and won two Grammy Awards. Ormandy was born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary as Jenő Blau, the son of Jewish parents Rosalie and Benjamin Blau, Ormandy began studying violin at the Royal National Hungarian Academy of Music at the age of five. He gave his first concerts as a violinist at age seven and, studying with Jenő Hubay, in 1920, he obtained a university degree in philosophy. In 1921, he moved to the United States, around this time Blau changed his name to Eugene Ormandy, Eugene being the equivalent of the Hungarian Jenő. Accounts differ on the origin of Ormandy, it may have either been Blaus own middle name at birth and he became the concertmaster within five days of joining and soon became one of the conductors of this group. Ormandy also made 16 recordings as a violinist between 1923 and 1929, half of using the acoustic process. Judson greatly assisted Ormandys career, and when Arturo Toscanini was too ill to conduct the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1931 and this led to Ormandys first major appointment as a conductor, in Minneapolis. Ormandy served until 1936 as conductor of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, during the depths of the Great Depression, RCA Victor contracted Ormandy and the Minneapolis Symphony for many recordings. A clause in the contract required them to earn their salaries by performing a certain number of hours each week. Since Victor did not need to pay the musicians, it could afford to send its best technicians, recordings were made between January 16,1934, and January 16,1935. Ormandys recordings also included Anton Bruckners Symphony No.7 and Mahlers Symphony No,2, which became extremely well known. Ormandys 44-year tenure with the Philadelphia Orchestra began in 1936 and became the source of much of his lasting reputation, two years after his appointment as associate conductor under Leopold Stokowski, he became its music director. As music director, Ormandy conducted from 100 to 180 concerts each year in Philadelphia, upon his retirement in 1980, he was made conductor laureate. Ormandy was a quick learner of scores, often conducting from memory and he demonstrated exceptional musical and personal integrity, exceptional leadership skills, and a formal and reserved podium manner in the style of his idol and friend, Arturo Toscanini. One orchestra musician complimented him by saying, He doesnt try to conduct every note as some conductors do, under Ormandys direction the Philadelphia Orchestra continued the lush, legato style originated by Stokowski and for which the orchestra was well known. Ormandys conducting style was praised for its opulent sound, but also was criticized for lacking any real individual touch. Ormandy was particularly noted for conducting late Romantic and early 20th century music and he particularly favored Bruckner, Debussy, Dvořák, Ravel, Richard Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, and transcriptions of Bach
23.
Stereophonic sound
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Stereophonic sound or, more commonly, stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that creates an illusion of multi-directional audible perspective. Thus the term applies to so-called quadraphonic and surround-sound systems as well as the more common two-channel. It is often contrasted with monophonic, or mono sound, where audio is heard as coming from one position, in the 2000s, stereo sound is common in entertainment systems such as broadcast radio and TV, recorded music and the cinema. The word stereophonic derives from the Greek στερεός, firm, solid + φωνή, sound, tone, voice and it was coined in 1927 by Western Electric, the signal is then reproduced over multiple loudspeakers to recreate, as closely as possible, the live sound. Secondly artificial or pan-pot stereo, in which a sound is reproduced over multiple loudspeakers. By varying the amplitude of the signal sent to each speaker an artificial direction can be suggested. The control which is used to vary this relative amplitude of the signal is known as a pan-pot, by combining multiple pan-potted mono signals together, a complete, yet entirely artificial, sound field can be created. In technical usage, true stereo sound recording and sound reproduction that uses stereographic projection to encode the relative positions of objects and events recorded. During two-channel stereo recording, two microphones are placed in strategically chosen locations relative to the source, with both recording simultaneously. The two recorded channels will be similar, but each will have distinct time-of-arrival and sound-pressure-level information, during playback, the listeners brain uses those subtle differences in timing and sound level to triangulate the positions of the recorded objects. Stereo recordings often cannot be played on systems without a significant loss of fidelity. This phenomenon is known as phase cancellation and this two-channel telephonic process was commercialized in France from 1890 to 1932 as the Théâtrophone, and in England from 1895 to 1925 as the Electrophone. Both were services available by coin-operated receivers at hotels and cafés, modern stereophonic technology was invented in the 1930s by British engineer Alan Blumlein at EMI, who patented stereo records, stereo films, and also surround sound. In early 1931, Blumlein and his wife were at a local cinema, Blumlein declared to his wife that he had found a way to make the sound follow the actor across the screen. The genesis of ideas is uncertain, but he explained them to Isaac Shoenberg in the late summer of 1931. His earliest notes on the subject are dated 25 September 1931, the application was dated 14 December 1931, and was accepted on 14 June 1933 as UK patent number 394,325. The patent covered many ideas in stereo, some of which are used today and these discs used the two walls of the groove at right angles in order to carry the two channels. Much of the development work on this system for cinematic use did not reach completion until 1935, in Blumleins short test films, his original intent of having the sound follow the actor was fully realised
24.
Fantasia (1940 film)
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Fantasia is a 1940 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released by Walt Disney Productions. With story direction by Joe Grant and Dick Huemer, and production supervision by Ben Sharpsteen, the film consists of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski, seven of which are performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra. Music critic and composer Deems Taylor acts as the films Master of Ceremonies, as production costs grew higher than what it could earn, Disney decided to include the short in a feature-length film with other segments set to classical pieces. Fantasia was first released in theatrical roadshow engagements held in thirteen U. S. cities from November 13,1940, the film was subsequently reissued multiple times with its original footage and audio being deleted, modified, or restored in each version. As of 2012, Fantasia has grossed $76.4 million in revenue and is the 22nd highest-grossing film of all time in the U. S. when adjusted for inflation. Fantasia, as a franchise, has grown to include games, Disneyland attractions, a live concert. Fantasia opens with live action scenes of members of an orchestra gathering against a background and tuning their instruments in half-light. Master of ceremonies Deems Taylor enters the stage and introduces the program, Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach. Live-action shots of the orchestra illuminated in blue and gold, backed by superimposed shadows, animated lines, shapes and cloud formations reflect the sound and rhythms of the music. Nutcracker Suite by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, selections from the ballet suite underscore scenes depicting the changing of the seasons from summer to autumn to winter. The Sorcerers Apprentice by Paul Dukas, based on Goethes 1797 poem Der Zauberlehrling. Mickey Mouse, the apprentice of the sorcerer Yen Sid, attempts some of his masters magic tricks. Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky, a visual history of the Earths beginnings is depicted to selected sections of the ballet score. The sequence progresses from the formation to the first living creatures, followed by the reign. Intermission/Meet the Soundtrack, The orchestra musicians depart and the Fantasia title card is revealed, after the intermission there is a brief jam session of jazz music led by a clarinettist as the orchestra members return. Then a humorously stylized demonstration of how sound is rendered on film is shown, an animated sound track character, initially a straight white line, changes into different shapes and colors based on the sounds played. The Pastoral Symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven, a mythical Greco-Roman world of colorful centaurs and centaurettes, cupids, fauns and other figures from classical mythology is portrayed to Beethovens music. A gathering for a festival to honor Bacchus, the god of wine, is interrupted by Zeus, Dance of the Hours by Amilcare Ponchielli
25.
Academy Award for Best Film Editing
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The Academy Award for Best Film Editing is one of the annual awards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Nominations for this award are closely correlated with the Academy Award for Best Picture. For 33 consecutive years,1981 to 2013, every Best Picture winner had also nominated for the Film Editing Oscar. Only the principal, above the line editor as listed in the credits are named on the award, additional editors, supervising editors. The nominations for this Academy Award are determined by a ballot of the members of the Editing Branch of the Academy. The members may vote for up to five of the films in the order of their preference. The Academy Award itself is selected from the films by a subsequent ballot of all active. This award was first given for films released in 1934, the name of this award is occasionally changed, in 2008, it was listed as the Academy Award for Achievement in Film Editing. Michael Kahn won for Raiders of the Lost Ark, Schindlers List, thelma Schoonmaker won for Raging Bull, The Aviator, and The Departed. To date, two film directors have won this award, James Cameron and Alfonso Cuarón for the films Titanic and Gravity, also, nominated editors Robert Wise, Francis D. West Side Story, The Sound of Music, The Sand Pebbles and The Andromeda Strain for Wise, Crazylegs for Lyon and Bound for Glory, superlatives taken from a document published by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. These listings are based on the Awards Database maintained by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
26.
American Film Institute
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The American Film Institute is an American film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the moving picture arts in America. AFI is supported by funding and public membership. The institute is composed of leaders from the film, entertainment, business, a board of trustees chaired by Sir Howard Stringer and a board of directors chaired by Robert A. Daly guide the organization, which is led by President and CEO Bob Gazzale. Prior leaders were founding director George Stevens, Jr. and Jean Picker Firstenberg. <ref>AFI Board of Trustees etc. American Film Institute. October 2014. Retrieved December 24,2014. </ref>Two years later, in 1967, AFI was established, supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Motion Picture Association of America and the Ford Foundation. The institute established a program for filmmakers known then as the Center for Advanced Film Studies. The institute moved to its current eight-acre Hollywood campus in 1981, the film training program grew into the AFI Conservatory, an accredited graduate school. AFI educates audiences and recognizes excellence through its awards programs and 10 Top 10 Lists. In 1969, the established the AFI Conservatory for Advanced Film Studies at Greystone. The first class included filmmakers Terrence Malick, Caleb Deschanel and Paul Schrader, mirroring a professional production environment, Fellows collaborate to make more films than any other graduate level program. Admission to AFI Conservatory is highly selective, with a maximum of 140 graduates per year, in 2013, Emmy and Oscar-winning director, producer and screenwriter James L. Brooks joined AFI as Artistic Director of the AFI Conservatory where he provides leadership for the film program. Brooks artistic role at the AFI Conservatory has a legacy that includes Daniel Petrie, Jr. Robert Wise. Award-winning director Bob Mandel served as Dean of the AFI Conservatory for nine years, jan Schuette took over as Dean in 2014. AFI Conservatorys alumni have careers in film, television and on the web and they have been recognized with all of the major industry awards – Academy Award, Emmy Award, guild awards, and the Tony Award. The AFI Catalog, started in 1968, is a web-based filmographic database, early print copies of this catalog may also be found at your local library. Each year the AFI Awards honor the ten outstanding films and ten outstanding television programs, the awards are a non-competitive acknowledgement of excellence. The Awards are announced in December and a luncheon for award honorees takes place the following January. The juries consisted of over 1,500 artists, scholars, critics and historians, with movies selected based on the films popularity over time, historical significance, citizen Kane was voted the greatest American film twice. AFI operates two film festivals, AFI Fest in Los Angeles, and AFI Docs in Silver Spring, Maryland, AFI Fest is the American Film Institutes annual celebration of artistic excellence
27.
IMDb
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In 1998 it became a subsidiary of Amazon Inc, who were then able to use it as an advertising resource for selling DVDs and videotapes. As of January 2017, IMDb has approximately 4.1 million titles and 7.7 million personalities in its database, the site enables registered users to submit new material and edits to existing entries. Although all data is checked before going live, the system has open to abuse. The site also featured message boards which stimulate regular debates and dialogue among authenticated users, IMDb shutdown the message boards permanently on February 20,2017. Anyone with a connection can read the movie and talent pages of IMDb. A registration process is however, to contribute info to the site. A registered user chooses a name for themselves, and is given a profile page. These badges range from total contributions made, to independent categories such as photos, trivia, bios, if a registered user or visitor happens to be in the entertainment industry, and has an IMDb page, that user/visitor can add photos to that page by enrolling in IMDbPRO. Actors, crew, and industry executives can post their own resume and this fee enrolls them in a membership called IMDbPro. PRO can be accessed by anyone willing to pay the fee, which is $19.99 USD per month, or if paid annually, $149.99, which comes to approximately $12.50 per month USD. Membership enables a user to access the rank order of each industry personality, as well as agent contact information for any actor, producer, director etc. that has an IMDb page. Enrolling in PRO for industry personnel, enables those members the ability to upload a head shot to open their page, as well as the ability to upload hundreds of photos to accompany their page. Anyone can register as a user, and contribute to the site as well as enjoy its content, however those users enrolled in PRO have greater access and privileges. IMDb originated with a Usenet posting by British film fan and computer programmer Col Needham entitled Those Eyes, others with similar interests soon responded with additions or different lists of their own. Needham subsequently started an Actors List, while Dave Knight began a Directors List, and Andy Krieg took over THE LIST from Hank Driskill, which would later be renamed the Actress List. Both lists had been restricted to people who were alive and working, the goal of the participants now was to make the lists as inclusive as possible. By late 1990, the lists included almost 10,000 movies and television series correlated with actors and actresses appearing therein. On October 17,1990, Needham developed and posted a collection of Unix shell scripts which could be used to search the four lists, at the time, it was known as the rec. arts. movies movie database
28.
AllMovie
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AllMovie is an online guide service website with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. As of 2013, AllMovie. com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by All Media Network, AllMovie was founded by popular-culture archivist Michael Erlewine, who also founded AllMusic and AllGame. The AllMovie database was licensed to tens of thousands of distributors and retailers for point-of-sale systems, websites, the AllMovie database is comprehensive, including basic product information, cast and production credits, plot synopsis, professional reviews, biographies, relational links and more. AllMovie data was accessed on the web at the AllMovie. com website and it was also available via the AMG LASSO media recognition service, which can automatically recognize DVDs. In late 2007, Macrovision acquired AMG for a reported $72 million, the AMG consumer facing web properties AllMusic. com, AllMovie. com and AllGame. com were sold by Rovi in August 2013 to All Media Network, LLC. The buyers also include the founders of SideReel and Ackrell Capital investor Mike Ackrell. All Media Network offices are located in San Francisco, California, AllMusic AllGame SideReel All Media Network Official website
29.
Turner Classic Movies
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Turner Classic Movies is an American movie-oriented basic cable and satellite television network owned by the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner. TCM is headquartered at the Techwood Campus in Atlanta, Georgias Midtown business district, historically, the channels programming consisted mainly of featured classic theatrically released feature films from the Turner Entertainment film library – which comprises films from Warner Bros. However, TCM now has licensing deals with other Hollywood film studios as well as its Time Warner sister company, Warner Bros. and occasionally shows more recent films. The channel is available in United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Latin America, France, Spain, Nordic countries, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific. In 1986, eight years before the launch of Turner Classic Movies, concerns over Turner Entertainments corporate debt load resulted in Turner selling the studio that October back to Kirk Kerkorian, from whom Turner had purchased the studio less than a year before. As part of the deal, Turner Entertainment retained ownership of MGMs library of films released up to May 9,1986, Turner Broadcasting System was split into two companies, Turner Broadcasting System and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and reincorporated as MGM/UA Communications Co. The film library of Turner Entertainment would serve as the form of programming for TCM upon the networks launch. After the library was acquired, MGM/UA signed a deal with Turner to continue distributing the pre-May 1986 MGM and to begin distributing the pre-1950 Warner Bros. film libraries for video release. Turner Classic Movies debuted on April 14,1994, at 6,00 p. m. Eastern Time, the date and time were chosen for their historical significance as the exact centennial anniversary of the first public movie showing in New York City. The first movie broadcast on TCM was the 1939 film Gone with the Wind, at the time of its launch, TCM was available to approximately one million cable television subscribers. AMC had broadened its content to feature colorized and more recent films by 2002. In the early 90s AMC abandoned its format, leaving TCM as the only movie-oriented cable channel to devote its programming entirely to classic films without commercial interruption. In 1996, Turner Broadcasting System merged with Time Warner, which besides placing Turner Classic Movies, in March 1999, MGM paid Warner Bros. and gave up the home video rights to the MGM/UA films owned by Turner to Warner Home Video. In 2008, TCM won a Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting, in April 2010, Turner Classic Movies held the first TCM Classic Film Festival, an event – now held annually – at the Graumans Chinese Theater and the Graumans Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. In 2007, some of the films featured on TCM were made available for streaming on TCMs website. The networks programming season runs from February until the following March of each year when a retrospective of Oscar-winning and Oscar-nominated movies is shown, called 31 Days of Oscar. Turner Classic Movies presents many of its features in their original aspect ratio whenever possible – widescreen films broadcast on TCM are letterboxed on the standard definition feed. TCM also regularly presents widescreen presentations of films not available in the format on any video release
