1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
2.
John Jacob Astor
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Born in Germany, Astor emigrated to England as a teenager and worked as a musical instrument manufacturer. He moved to the United States after the American Revolutionary War and he entered the fur trade and built a monopoly, managing a business empire that extended to the Great Lakes region and Canada, and later expanded into the American West and Pacific coast. Seeing the decline of demand, he got out of the fur trade in 1830, diversifying by investing in New York City real estate and he was the first prominent member of the Astor family and the first multi-millionaire in the United States. Johann Jakob Astor was born in Walldorf near Heidelberg in the old Palatinate and he was the youngest son of Johann Jakob Astor and Maria Magdalena Vorfelder. His three elder brothers were Georg Peter, Heinrich, and Melchior, Astors father was a butcher, Johann first worked in his fathers shop and as a dairy salesman. In 1779, at the age of 16, he moved to London to join his brother George in working for a piano and flute manufactory. While there, he learned English and anglicized his name and his intent was to join his brother Henry, who had established a butcher shop there, but a chance meeting with a fur trader on his voyage inspired him to join the North American fur trade as well. After working at his brothers shop for a time he began to purchase raw hides from Native Americans, prepare them himself and he opened his own fur goods shop in New York in the late 1780s and also served as the New York agent of his uncles musical instrument business. Astor took advantage of the Jay Treaty between Great Britain and the United States in 1794, which opened new markets in Canada and the Great Lakes region. In London, Astor at once made a contract with the North West Company, Astor imported furs from Montreal to New York and shipped them to Europe. By 1800, he had amassed almost a quarter of a million dollars and his agents worked throughout the western areas and were ruthless in competition. In 1800, following the example of the Empress of China, the first American trading vessel to China, Astor traded furs, teas, and sandalwood with Canton in China, embargo Act in 1807, however, disrupted Astors import/export business because it closed off trade with Canada. With the permission of President Thomas Jefferson, Astor established the American Fur Company on April 6,1808 and he later formed subsidiaries, the Pacific Fur Company, and the Southwest Fur Company, in order to control fur trading in the Great Lakes areas and Columbia River region. His Columbia River trading post at Fort Astoria was the first United States community on the Pacific coast and he financed the overland Astor Expedition in 1810–12 to reach the outpost. Members of the expedition were to discover South Pass, through hundreds of thousands of settlers on the Oregon, Mormon. Astors fur trading ventures were disrupted during the War of 1812, in 1816, he joined the opium-smuggling trade. His American Fur Company purchased ten tons of Turkish opium, then shipped the contraband item to Canton on the packet ship Macedonian, Astor later left the China opium trade and sold solely to the United Kingdom. Astors business rebounded in 1817 after the U. S. Congress passed a protectionist law that barred foreign fur traders from U. S. territories, the American Fur Company came to dominate trading in the area around the Great Lakes
3.
William Backhouse Astor Sr.
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William Backhouse Astor Sr. was an American property tycoon who inherited most of his father John Jacob Astors fortune. He worked as a partner in his fathers export business. His massive investment in Manhattan real estate enabled major donations to the Astor Library in East Village, William was born in New York City to fur-trader John Jacob Astor and Sarah Cox Todd. His seven siblings were Magdalena, Sarah, John Jr. Dorothea, Henry, Eliza, and his spare hours and vacations were employed in assisting his father in the store. He chose as his tutor a student, afterward known as the Chevalier Christian Charles Josias von Bunsen, with whom he also traveled. In 1815, he returned to the United States and entered partnership with his father, Williams elder brother, occasional poet John Jacob Astor Jr. was sickly and mentally unstable. John Jr. was left incapable of working in the firm and he worked there until his fathers death. Although Williams fortunes grew with his fathers company, he became a wealthy man when he inherited the estate, worth around $500,000. When John Jacob Astor Sr. died in 1848, William became the richest man in America, following the example of his father, he invested in real estate, principally situated below Central Park, between 4th and 7th Avenues, which rapidly increased in value. For about 13 years prior to 1873 he was engaged in building until much of his hitherto unoccupied land was covered by houses. He was said to own in 1867 as many as 720 houses, and he was heavily interested in railroad, coal. His management of the real estate holdings succeeded in multiplying their value. His house at Barrytown, New York, known as Rokeby, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, during the American Civil War he successfully brought a case against the income tax imposed by the United States government, which was ruled unconstitutional. On May 20,1818, William married Margaret Alida Rebecca Armstrong, John Armstrong Jr. was President James Madisons second Secretary of War. Alida was a member of the Livingston family, William and Margaret had seven children, Emily Astor, who m. April 16,1850 John Carey and had three children Laura Eugenia Astor, who m, september 17,1844 Franklin Hughes Delano, William Backhouse Astor Jr. who m. September 20,1853 socialite Caroline Webster Lina Schermerhorn, and had five children Henry Astor III, the edifice was completed under his directions in May,1853. In 1855 he presented to the trustees the adjoining lot, and erected thereon a similar structure and he next gave $50,000 for the purchase of books
4.
Seating capacity
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Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats hundreds of thousands of people. The International Fire Code, portions of which have adopted by many jurisdictions, is directed more towards the use of a facility than the construction. It specifies, For areas having fixed seating without dividing arms and it also requires that every public venue submit a detailed site plan to the local fire code official, including details of the means of egress, seating capacity, arrangement of the seating. Once safety considerations have been satisfied, determinations of seating capacity turn on the size of the venue. For sports venues, the decision on maximum seating capacity is determined by several factors, chief among these are the primary sports program and the size of the market area. Seating capacity of venues also plays a role in what media they are able to provide, in contracting to permit performers to use a theatre or other performing space, the seating capacity of the performance facility must be disclosed. Seating capacity may influence the kind of contract to be used, the seating capacity must also be disclosed to the copyright owner in seeking a license for the copyrighted work to be performed in that venue. Venues that may be leased for private functions such as ballrooms and auditoriums generally advertise their seating capacity, seating capacity is also an important consideration in the construction and use of sports venues such as stadiums and arenas. The seating capacity for restaurants is reported as covers, a restaurant that can seat 99 is said to have 99 covers, seating capacity differs from total capacity, which describes the total number of people who can fit in a venue or in a vehicle either sitting or standing. Use of the term public capacity indicates that a venue is allowed to more people than it can actually seat. Again, the total number of people can refer to either the physical space available or limitations set by law
5.
Isaac Newton Phelps
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Isaac Newton Phelps was a New York dry goods merchant who, after retiring in 1853, took up a second career in banking, brokerage and property. He founded The Mercantile Bank, was one of the founders of the Second National Bank, a director of the Greenwich Saving Bank, later his son-in-law, Anson Phelps Stokes joined him in the family banking business. Phelps was descended from George Phelps, who came to America from England in 1630 and his parents were Elizabeth Sadd and Joseph Phelps, who was a farmer living in East Windsor, Connecticut. They had lost their property by acting as guarantors for friends and he started work as an apprenticed clerk in a general store and after eight years was offered a partnership in the business. In 1828 he married Sarah Maria Lusk, and moved to New York where he started dry goods sales in partnerships, N. Pickering, and then in 1834 with James Sheldon. In about 1850 Phelps left the business and joined with John Jay Phelps in the real-estate company of I. N. & J. J. Phelps with offices at 45 Wall Street. An example of their projects was the development of the old Park Theatre site in 1850 with William Backhouse Astor Sr, at the same time Phelps was also on the board of several banks and insurance companies. In 1852 Phelps acquired land on Madison Avenue in a previously undeveloped. Three other merchants built adjacent houses at the time, these were William Earl Dodge, John Jay Phelps. The only house to have survived from that period is 231 Madison Avenue - the one built by I. N. Phelps - and is now part of the J. P. Morgan Library, Phelps married Sarah Maria Lusk from Enfield, Connecticut on the 10 November 1828. They had two children, daughters Sarah Maria and Helen Louisa, Sarah Maria married Henry Laverty King in 1859, but she died shortly afterwards. In 1865 Helen Louisa, married Anson Phelps Stokes, who was a distant cousin having also been descended from the George Phelps who came to America in 1630. Their first child was born in the Madison Avenue house on the 11 April 1867, phelps’s wife had died earlier that year and he asked the newly-weds to move in with him. When in 1874 he remarried - to the widow Mrs. Anna Frances Maullin, of Troy, New York - his daughter, phelps’s partnership with J. J. Phelps ended on the final days of 1857. He continued in business and in the 1870s founded the Phelps Stokes & Co. bank with his son-in-law, the bank closed after the death of James Stokes in 1881. Phelps continued in business with his son-in-law and they were both directors of the Second National Bank when a huge misappropriation of funds was revealed in 1884. The banks president, John Chester Eno, had speculated and lost millions of dollars on Wall Street during the panic of that year and was forced to resign, the directors, including Phelps and Anson Stokes, faced the onerous task of making up the losses. However, Enos father, Amos R. Eno was persuaded by the board to repay the bulk of the loss, the other directors made up shortfalls to ensure the bank survived the run on deposits
6.
Marc Isambard Brunel
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Sir Marc Isambard Brunel, FRS FRSE was a French-born engineer who settled in England. He preferred the name Isambard, but is known to history as Marc to avoid confusion with his more famous son Isambard Kingdom Brunel. His most famous achievement was the construction of the Thames Tunnel, Brunel was the second son of Jean Charles Brunel and Marie Victoire Lefebvre. Jean Charles was a farmer in Hacqueville, Normandy. It was customary for the first son to inherit the farm and his father therefore started Marc on a classical education, but he showed no liking for Greek or Latin and instead showed himself proficient in drawing and mathematics. He was also very musical from an early age, at the age of eleven he was sent to a seminary in Rouen. The superior of the seminary allowed him to learn carpentry, and he also sketched ships in the local harbour. As he showed no desire to become a priest, his father sent him to stay with relatives in Rouen, in 1786, as a result of this tuition, Marc became a naval cadet on a French frigate and during his service visited the West Indies several times. He made a quadrant for himself of brass and ivory, during Brunels service abroad, the French Revolution began, in 1789. In January 1792, Brunels frigate paid off its crew, and he was a Royalist sympathiser, as were most inhabitants of Normandy. In January 1793, whilst visiting Paris during the trial of Louis XVI, Brunel unwisely publicly predicted the demise of Robespierre and he was lucky to get out of Paris with his life, and returned to Rouen. However it was evident that he would have to leave France, during his stay in Rouen, Brunel had met Sophia Kingdom, a young Englishwoman who was an orphan and was working as a governess. Unfortunately he was forced to leave her behind when he fled to Le Havre and boarded the American ship Liberty, Brunel arrived in New York on 6 September 1793, and he subsequently travelled to Philadelphia and Albany. He got involved in a scheme to link the Hudson River by canal with Lake Champlain, the judges were very impressed with the design, but it was not selected. In 1796, after taking American citizenship, Brunel was appointed Chief Engineer of the city of New York and he designed various houses, docks, commercial buildings, an arsenal, and a cannon factory. No official records exist of the projects that he carried out in New York, in 1798, during a dinner conversation, Brunel learnt of the difficulties that the Royal Navy had in obtaining the 100,000 pulley blocks that it required each year to fit out its ships. Each of these was being made by hand, Brunel quickly produced an outline design of a machine that would automate the production of pulley blocks. He decided to sail to England and put his invention before the Admiralty and he sailed for England on 7 February 1799 with a letter of introduction to the Navy Minister, and on 7 March his ship, Halifax landed at Falmouth
7.
William Dunlap
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William Dunlap was a pioneer of American theater. He was a producer, playwright, and actor, as well as a historian and he managed two of New York Citys earliest and most prominent theaters, the John Street Theatre and the Park Theatre. He was also an artist, despite losing an eye in childhood and he was born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, the son of an army officer wounded at the Battle of Quebec in 1759. After returning to America in 1787, he worked exclusively in the theater for 18 years, by 1817, he was a full-time painter. In his lifetime he produced more than sixty plays, most of which were adaptations or translations from French or German works, a few were original, these were based on American themes and had American characters. In 1825 Dunlap was one of the founders of the National Academy of Design, a history of the rise and progress of the arts of design in the United States, new ed. Boston, C. E. Goodspeed & Co. V.1, v.2, v.3 Google books Wilmeth, Don B. and Christopher Bigsby, the Cambridge History of American Theatre, Volume I, Beginnings to 1870. William Dunlap and the Construction of an American Art History, amherst, University of Massachusetts Press,2005. THE GLORY OF COLUMBIA, HER YEOMANRY by William Dunlap William Dunlap Works by William Dunlap at Project Gutenberg Works by or about William Dunlap at Internet Archive
8.
Edmund Simpson
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Edmund Simpson was an actor and theater manager. He made his theatrical début at the Towcester Theatre in England in May 1806 as Baron Steinfort in August von Kotzebues The Stranger, in this country Simpson first appeared at the New York Park Theatre on 22 October 1809, as Hurry Dornton in The Road to Ruin. In 1828, when playing lead role in The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, one of his legs was broken by an accident to the stage machinery and his last performance was Dazzle in London Assurance. In 1810 he became manager, and remained permanently connected with the one playhouse as actor, stage manager. It was his privilege to introduce all the noted British players of his day to American audiences. From 1821 until 1840 Simpson was working-manager to Stephen Price, the lessee of the theatre, during his career he went through several trials of adversity, and finally retired,6 June 1848, under discouragement and in reduced circumstances. Under Simpsons direction the old Park Theatre, or The Theatre, as the show-bills named it, was noted for its well-drilled, the boxes were painted in white and gold, with the first and second tiers divided into a series of screened lock-boxes. A separate stairway led to the tier and the gallery. What is now known as the parterre was called the pit and it was fitted with hard wooden benches, and the admission to it was half-price. Here the bachelors, critics, and wits of the day found their places, drinking bars, united with apple, pie, and peanut stands, were connected with the pit and the upper tier of boxes. Not seldom the entertainments of an evening comprised a five-act tragedy, a comedy, and an olio diversion, that terminated at twelve or one oclock. The old Park Theatre was a wooden, barn-like structure, fronting about eighty feet on Park row, in Wilson, James Grant, Fiske, John
9.
Theater (structure)
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A theater, theatre or playhouse, is a structure where theatrical works or plays are performed, or other performances such as musical concerts may be produced. While a theater is not required for performance, a theater serves to define the performance and audience spaces, the facility is traditionally organized to provide support areas for performers, the technical crew and the audience members. There are as many types of theaters as there are types of performance, theaters may be built specifically for a certain types of productions, they may serve for more general performance needs or they may be adapted or converted for use as a theater. They may range from open-air amphitheaters to ornate, cathedral-like structures to simple, some theaters may have a fixed acting area, while some theaters, such as black box theaters, may not, allowing the director and designers to construct an acting area suitable for the production. The most important of these areas is the acting space generally known as the stage, in some theaters, specifically proscenium theaters, arena theaters and amphitheaters, this area is permanent part of the structure. In a blackbox theater the area is undefined so that each theater may adapt specifically to a production. In addition to these spaces, there may be offstage spaces as well. These include wings on either side of a stage where props, sets. A Prompters box may be found backstage, in an amphitheater, an area behind the stage may be designated for such uses while a blackbox theater may have spaces outside of the actual theater designated for such uses. Often a theater will incorporate other spaces intended for the performers, a booth facing the stage may be incorporated into the house where lighting and sound personnel may view the show and run their respective instruments. Other rooms in the building may be used for dressing rooms, rehearsal rooms, spaces for constructing sets, props and costumes, as well as storage. There are usually two main entrances, one at the front, used by the audience, that leads into the back of the audience, the second is called the stage door, and it is accessible from backstage. This is the means by which the cast and crew enter and exit the theater and this term can also be used to refer to going to a lot of shows or living in a big theater city, such as New York or Chicago. All theaters provide a space for an audience, the audience is usually separated from the performers by the proscenium arch. In proscenium theaters and amphitheaters, the arch, like the stage, is a permanent feature of the structure. This area is known as the auditorium or the house, the word parterre is sometimes used to refer to a particular subset of this area. In North American usage this is usually the rear seating block beneath the gallery whereas in Britain it can mean either the area in front near the orchestra pit, the term can also refer to the side stalls in some usages. Derived from the gardening term parterre, the usage refers to the pattern of both the seats of an auditorium and of the planted beds seen in garden construction
10.
Park Row (Manhattan)
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Park Row is a street located in the Financial District, Civic Center, and Chinatown sections of the New York City borough of Manhattan. The street runs east-west, sometimes called north-south because the end is nearer to Downtown Manhattan. At the north end of Park Row is the confluence of Bowery, East Broadway, St. James Place, Oliver Street, Mott Street, at the streets south end, Broadway, Vesey Street, Barclay Street, and Ann Street intersect. The intersection includes a bus turnaround loop designated as Millennium Park, in the late 18th century Eastern Post Road became the more important road connecting New York to Albany and New England. Early in the 19th century most of the Manhattan portion of road was suppressed, the Commons became City Hall Park. Part of the section of the street was known as Printing House Square. The New York Times was originally located at 113 Nassau Street in 1851, the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung moved to its own building at 17 Chatham Street at very nearly the same time. One of the first structures to be called a skyscraper, the Park Row Building is located at the end of Park Row. At 391 feet tall it was the tallest office building in the world from 1899 until 1908, the building is 29 stories tall, with 26 full floors and two, three-story cupolas. It has a frontage of 103 ft on Park Row,23 on Ann Street and 48 feet on Theater Alley, the base of the building covers a land area of approximately 15,000 square feet. The New York City Police Department is headquartered at 1 Police Plaza located on Park Row, across the street from the Manhattan Municipal Building, the segment of Park Row between Frankfort Street and Chatham Square is only open to MTA buses and government and emergency vehicles. The section of Park Row has been closed to traffic since 2001. The NYPD asserts that this is necessary to protect its headquarters from a bomb attack. Chinatown residents are increasingly frustrated at the disruption caused by the closure of the thoroughfare, members of the Civic Center Residents Coalition have been fighting the security perimeter around the building for years. The department also plans to redesign its guard booths and security barriers to make them more attractive, media related to Park Row at Wikimedia Commons Park Row, A New York Songline – virtual walking tour
11.
New York City Hall
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New York City Hall, the seat of New York City government, is located at the center of City Hall Park in the Civic Center area of Lower Manhattan, between Broadway, Park Row, and Chambers Street. Constructed from 1803 to 1812, New York City Hall is a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, both its exterior and interior are designated New York City landmarks. New Amsterdams first City Hall was built by the Dutch in the 17th century near 73 Pearl Street, the citys second City Hall, built in 1700, stood on Wall and Nassau Streets. That building was renamed Federal Hall after New York became the first official capital of the United States after the Revolutionary War. Plans for building a new City Hall were discussed by the New York City Council as early as 1776, the Council chose a site at the old Common at the northern limits of the City, now City Hall Park. City Hall was originally an area for the first almhouse in 1653, in 1736, there was a financed almhouse for those who were fit to work, for the unfit, and those that were like criminals but were paupers. In 1802 the City held a competition for a new City Hall, mangin was also the architect of the landmark St. Patricks Old Cathedral on Mulberry Street. McComb, whose father had worked on the old City Hall, was a New Yorker and he would supervise the construction of the building, and designed the architectural detailing as well. Also, many architects were in favor of Greek Revival style and created Brooklyn City Hall, the cornerstone of the new City Hall was laid in 1803. Construction was delayed after the City Council objected that the design was too extravagant, labor disputes and an outbreak of yellow fever further slowed construction. The building was not dedicated until 1811, and opened officially in 1812, the Outer Room is adjacent to the traditional Mayors office, which is a small space on the northwest corner of the first floor. The Ceremonial Room is where the mayor would meet officials and hold small group meetings, there are 108 paintings from the late 18th century through the 20th. The New York Times declared it almost unrivaled as an ensemble, among the collection is John Trumbull’s 1805 portrait of Alexander Hamilton, the source of the face on the United States ten-dollar bill. There were significant efforts to restore the paintings in the 1920s and 1940s, in 2006 a new restoration campaign began for 47 paintings identified by the Art Commission as highest in priority. On July 23,2003 at 2,08 p. m, City Hall was the scene of a rare political assassination. Othniel Askew, a rival of City Councilman James E. Davis. Askew shot Davis twice, fatally wounding him, a police officer on the floor of the chamber then fatally shot Askew. Askew and Davis had entered the building together without passing through a metal detector, as a result of the security breach, then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg revised security policy to require that everyone entering the building pass through metal detectors without exception
12.
Upper class
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The upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of the wealthiest members of society, who also wield the greatest political power. According to this view, the class is generally distinguished by immense wealth which is passed on from generation to generation. Prior to the 20th century, the aristocracy was widely used. The term is used in conjunction with terms like upper-middle class, middle class. Upper-class status commonly derived from the position of ones family. Much of the population that composed the upper consisted of aristocrats, ruling families, titled people. These people were born into their status and historically there was not much movement across class boundaries. This is to say that it was harder for an individual to move up in class simply because of the structure of society. The Transatlantic Slave Trade also helped create a class of white Europeans while maintaining a lower class of black Europeans, Americans and Africans. This fact is often edited out of academic research both in publications and online ones such as Wikipedia. In many countries, the upper class was intimately associated with hereditary land ownership. Political power was often in the hands of the landowners in many pre-industrial societies despite there being no legal barriers to land ownership for other social classes. Upper-class landowners in Europe were often members of the titled nobility, though not necessarily. Some upper classes were almost entirely untitled, for example, the Szlachta of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, the upper class traditionally comprised the landed gentry and the aristocracy of noble families with hereditary titles. The vast majority of post-medieval aristocratic families originated in the merchant class and were ennobled between the 14th and 19th centuries while intermarrying with the old nobility and gentry. Since the Second World War, the term has come to encompass rich, members of the English gentry organized the colonization of Virginia and New England and ruled these colonies for generations forming the foundation of the American upper class or East Coast Elite. In this respect, the US differs little from such as the UK where membership of the upper class is also dependent on other factors. The American upper class is estimated to less than 1% of the population
13.
Chatham Garden Theatre
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For the other theatre of this name, see Chatham Theatre. The Chatham Garden Theatre or Chatham Theatre was a playhouse in the Chatham Gardens of New York City and it was located on the north side of Chatham Street on Park Row between Pearl and Duane streets in lower Manhattan. The grounds ran through to Augustus Street, the Chatham Garden was converted to the Free Presbyterian Chatham Street Chapel in 1832. In 1823 Hippolite Barrière, the manager of the Chatham Gardens in New York City, erected a white and he dubbed it the Pavilion Theatre and began staging drama there with a ticket price of 25¢. The tent, which was used for concerts and plays. The makeshift playhouse operated through the summer, perhaps the first such summer theatre in the United States, stephen Price, manager of New Yorks Park Theatre, tried to put a stop to Barrières enterprise by reporting the tent to the authorities as a fire hazard. Barrière responded by erecting a structure on the site. The new building, named the Chatham Garden Theatre, opened on 17 May 1824, the theater was an ornate structure designed by architect George Conklin. It had no gallery, and it did not admit African Americans, the balcony was on the same level as the lobby and fronted the garden. The walls had slits and the doorways only blinds to facilitate airflow, karl Bernhard, a visitor to New York in 1825-26, left this description, However, the theatres location was difficult to find. It was only accessible by passing through private buildings on the west side of Chatham Street. The New-York Mirror resorted to printing a map to show how to reach the place and offered these instructions, The Chatham Garden Theatre offered popular actors at reasonable prices, and it did well. The playhouse provided the first real competition for the upper-class Park Theatre in its second season and it remained a classy establishment for the next three seasons. During this time, it produced the first two American operas, The Sawmill in 1824 and The Forest Rose in 1825, Barrière died on 21 February 1826. On 15 March, the Chatham Garden Theatre was sold at auction to Henry Wallack for $4,500, Wallack reopened it on 20 March for a four-month season. He then refurbished and redecorated the playhouse before reopening on 9 October 1826, However, Wallack went bankrupt, and he was forced to close the Chatham Garden Theatre in April 1827. Later managers changed the focus from upper-class drama and opera to fare that appealed to the lower classes. A man named Megary took over as lessee and managed a season beginning 16 June 1827
14.
Bowery Theatre
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The Bowery Theatre was a playhouse on the Bowery in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City. By the 1850s, the theatre came to cater to immigrant groups such as the Irish, Germans and it burned down four times in 17 years, a fire in 1929 destroying it for good. Although the theatres name changed several times, it was referred to as the Bowery Theatre. They hired architect Ithiel Town to design the new venue, Some notable investors included Samuel Laurence Gouverneur, son-in-law to President James Monroe, and James Alexander Hamilton, son of Alexander Hamilton. The new playhouse, with its Neoclassical design, was more opulent than the Park, the Bowery Theatre opened on 22 October 1826 under the name New York Theatre, with the comedy The Road to Ruin, by Thomas Holcroft, under the management of Charles A. Gilfert. Its first few seasons were devoted to ballet, opera, the theatre was by this time quite fashionable, and the northward expansion of Manhattan gave the theatre access to a large patronage. The theatre burnt out in 1828, but was rebuilt behind the same facade, Gilferts understanding of advertising was keen, but in 1829 the owners fired him. The owners hired Thomas Hamblin and James H. Hackett in August 1830 to manage the theatre, a month later, Hackett left Hamblin in complete control. After the Bowery burned down later that year, Hamblin rebuilt and he then took the theatre in a decidedly different direction for what would be its most innovative and successful period. This was partially the result of a theatre riot at the Park, Hamblin renamed the playhouse the American Theatre. Hamblin hired unknown American actors and playwrights and allowed them to play for long runs of up to a month, before 1843, early blackface performers such as George Washington Dixon and Thomas D. Rice played there frequently, and acts such as J. B. Booth, Edwin Forrest, Louisa Lane Drew, and Frank Chanfrau also gained renown on the Bowerys stage, George L. Fox and his pantomime became the most popular act at the Bowery until after the Civil War. Bowery productions also debuted or popularized a number of new types, including the Bowery Bhoy, the Yankee, the Frontiersman. The pro-Americanism of the Bowerys audience came to a head during the Farren Riots of 1834, Farren, the Bowerys British-born stage manager, had reportedly made anti-American comments and fired an American actor. Protesters reacted by attacking the homes, businesses, and churches of abolitionists and blacks in New York City, Farren apologized for his comments, and George Washington Dixon sang popular songs to quell the rioters. Hamblin defied conventions of theatre as high culture by booking productions that appealed to working-class patrons, animal acts, blackface minstrel shows, and melodrama enjoyed the most frequent billings, and hybrid forms, such as melodramas about dogs saving their human masters, became unprecedented successes. Spectacular productions with advanced visual effects, including water and fire, Hamblin also innovated by using gas lighting in lieu of candles and kerosene lamps. The Bowery Theatre earned the nickname The Slaughterhouse for its low-class offerings, in the spring of 1834, Hamblin began buying shares in the theatre from the New York Association, he had enough to control the enterprise completely within 18 months
15.
Blackface
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Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-black performers to represent a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereotypes such as the happy-go-lucky darky on the plantation or the dandified coon. In 1848, blackface minstrel shows were an American national art of the time, translating formal art such as opera into popular terms for a general audience. Early in the 20th century, blackface branched off from the show and became a form in its own right. Blackface was an important performance tradition in the American theater for roughly 100 years beginning around 1830, in both the United States and Britain, blackface was most commonly used in the minstrel performance tradition, which it both predated and outlasted. Later, black artists also performed in blackface, in some quarters, the caricatures that were the legacy of blackface persist to the present day and are a cause of ongoing controversy. Another view is that blackface is a form of cross-dressing in which one puts on the insignias of a sex, class, or race that stands in opposition to ones own. By the mid-20th century, changing attitudes about race and racism effectively ended the prominence of blackface makeup used in performance in the U. S. and it remains in relatively limited use as a theatrical device and is more commonly used today as social commentary or satire. Perhaps the most enduring effect of blackface is the precedent it established in the introduction of African-American culture to an international audience, there is no consensus about a single moment that constitutes the origin of blackface. Whites routinely portrayed the characters in the Elizabethan and Jacobean theater. The play attracted notice, and other performers adopted the style, from at least the 1810s, blackface clowns were popular in the United States. Rice introduced the song Jump Jim Crow accompanied by a dance in his act in 1828. Rice traveled the U. S. performing under the stage name Daddy Jim Crow, the name Jim Crow later became attached to statutes that codified the reinstitution of segregation and discrimination after Reconstruction. In the 1830s and early 1840s, blackface performances mixed skits with comic songs, stereotyped blackface characters developed, buffoonish, lazy, superstitious, cowardly, and lascivious characters, who stole, lied pathologically, and mangled the English language. By 1852, the skits that had part of blackface performance for decades expanded to one-act farces. The songs of northern composer Stephen Foster figured prominently in blackface minstrel shows of the period, though written in dialect and certainly politically incorrect by todays standards, his later songs were free of the ridicule and blatantly racist caricatures that typified other songs of the genre. Fosters works treated slaves and the South in general with a cloying sentimentality that appealed to audiences of the day. White minstrel shows featured white performers pretending to be blacks, playing their versions of black music, Minstrel shows dominated popular show business in the U. S. from that time through into the 1890s, also enjoying massive popularity in the UK and in other parts of Europe
16.
Melodrama
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A melodrama is a dramatic or literary work in which the plot, which is typically sensational and designed to appeal strongly to the emotions, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Characters are often drawn, and may appear stereotyped. In scholarly and historical contexts, melodramas are Victorian dramas in which orchestral music or song was used to accompany the action. The term is now applied to stage performances without incidental music, novels, movies. In modern contexts, the melodrama is generally pejorative, as it suggests that the work in question lacks subtlety, character development. By extension, language or behavior which resembles melodrama is often called melodramatic, the term originated from the early 19th-century French word mélodrame. It is derived from Greek melos, music, and French drame and this applies to both Victorian stage melodrama and 20th-century film melodrama. Movie director Sidney Lumet stressed the primacy of plot, saying in 2007 In a well-written drama, the characters in a well-written melodrama come out of the story. The relationship of melodrama to realism is complex, the protagonists of melodramatic works may either be ordinary people who are caught up in extraordinary events, or highly exaggerated and unrealistic characters. According to Singer, late Victorian and Edwardian melodrama combined a focus on realism in stage sets and props with anti-realism in character. Melodrama in this period strove for accuracy in the depiction of incredible. Novelist Wilkie Collins is noted for his attention to accuracy in detail in his works, beginning in the 18th century, melodrama was a technique of combining spoken recitation with short pieces of accompanying music. In such works, music and spoken dialogue typically alternated, although the music was also used to accompany pantomime. The earliest known examples are scenes in J. E. Eberlins Latin school play Sigismundus, the first full melodrama was Jean-Jacques Rousseaus Pygmalion, the text of which was written in 1762 but was first staged in Lyon in 1770. The overture and an Andante were composed by Rousseau, but the bulk of the music was composed by Horace Coignet, a different musical setting of Rousseaus Pygmalion by Anton Schweitzer was performed in Weimar in 1772, and Goethe wrote of it approvingly in Dichtung und Wahrheit. Pygmalion is a monodrama, written for one actor, some 30 other monodramas were produced in Germany in the fourth quarter of the 18th century. When two actors are involved the term duodrama may be used, georg Benda was particularly successful with his duodramas Ariadne auf Naxos and Medea. The sensational success of Bendas melodramas led Mozart to use two long melodramatic monologues in his opera Zaide, other later, and better-known examples of the melodramatic style in operas are the grave-digging scene in Beethovens Fidelio and the incantation scene in Webers Der Freischütz
17.
Italian opera
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Italian opera is both the art of opera in Italy and opera in the Italian language. Opera was born in Italy around the year 1600 and Italian opera has continued to play a dominant role in the history of the form until the present day, many famous operas in Italian were written by foreign composers, including Handel, Gluck and Mozart. Dafne by Jacopo Peri was the earliest composition considered opera, as understood today, peris works, however, did not arise out of a creative vacuum in the area of sung drama. An underlying prerequisite for the creation of opera proper was the practice of monody, from this, it was only a small step to fully-fledged monody. Such spectacles were staged to commemorate significant state events, weddings, military victories, and the like. They were lavishly staged, and led the scenography of the half of the 16th century. Another popular court entertainment at this time was the madrigal comedy and this consisted of a series of madrigals strung together to suggest a dramatic narrative, but not staged. There were also two staged musical pastorals, Il Satiro and La Disperazione di Fileno, both produced in 1590 and written by Emilio de Cavalieri. Other pastoral plays had long included some musical numbers, one of the earliest, the music of Dafne is now lost. The first opera for which music has survived was performed in 1600 at the wedding of Henry IV of France, the opera, Euridice, with a libretto by Rinuccini, set to music by Peri and Giulio Caccini, recounted the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. The style of singing favored by Peri and Caccini was a form of natural speech. Recitative thus preceded the development of arias, though it became the custom to include separate songs. Both Dafne and Euridice also included choruses commenting on the action at the end of each act in the manner of Greek tragedy. The theme of Orpheus, the demi-god of music, was popular and attracted Claudio Monteverdi who wrote his first opera, La Favola dOrfeo. Monteverdi insisted on a relationship between the words and music. When Orfeo was performed in Mantua, an orchestra of 38 instruments, Opera had revealed its first stage of maturity in the hands of Monteverdi. LOrfeo also has the distinction of being the earliest surviving opera that is regularly performed today. Within a few decades opera had spread throughout Italy, in Rome, it found an advocate in the prelate and librettist Giulio Rospigliosi
18.
John Street Theatre (Manhattan)
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John Street Theatre, situated at 15-21 John Street, sometimes called The Birthplace of American Theatre, was the first permanent theatre in New York. It opened on December 7,1767, and was operated for decades by the American Company. It closed on January 13,1798, the theatre was built by David Douglass, an English actor who had emigrated to Jamaica in about 1750. There he met Lewis Hallam, leader of a theatrical company. The newly married pair formed the American Company from Hallams old company and toured the United States performing and, if it was necessary, erecting theatres, across America. Douglass had built two temporary theatres in New York - on Crugers Wharf and on Beekman Street - but his third New York theatre, the John Street Theatre was modelled after Douglasss own Southwark Theatre in Philadelphia, which was itself modelled on the theatres of London. No pictures survive of the exterior, Dunlap described it as principally of wood. It was set 60 feet back from the street, with a covered walkway from the pavement to the doors. Inside, it had two tiers of boxes, a pit and a gallery, the dressing rooms and greenroom were located in a neighbouring shed, although Dunlap speculates that these were originally under the stage. Its seating capacity was approximately 750, John Street opened on 7 December 1767 with a production of The Beaux Stratagem, and for 31 years was the only theatre in Manhattan. The theatre was forced to close in 1774 when the Continental Association banned the performance of stage plays, considering them to be extravagance. The American Company returned to the West Indies, where they had been founded, in 1777, after the British forces captured New York during the American War of Independence, the citys British garrison took over the theatre and renamed it Theatre Royal. The troops, under the direction of the infamous Major John André, André was particularly known at the theatre for his scene-painting, which was much admired. The British withdrew in 1783 and two years later The American Company returned to John Street Theatre, under the direction of Lewis Hallam Junior, beginning with small Entertainments the Company were soon performing full-scale productions at the theatre again. During this period the Theatre gave New York its first productions of As You Like It, Much Ado About Nothing, The School for Scandal and The Critic. As well as Hallam, the regular cast included such well-known actors of the day as John Henry, Thomas Wignell, Mrs Owen Morris. In 1787 the theatre produced Ryall Tylers The Contrast, in which a character, Jonathan, visits John Street Theatre, the play also includes a description of the theatre. George Washington visited the three times in 1789, watching The School for Scandal, The Clandestine Marriage and William Dunlaps Darbys Return
19.
Reign of Terror
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The Reign of Terror or The Terror, is the label given by some historians to a period of violence during the French Revolution. Different historians place the date at either 5 September 1793 or June 1793 or March 1793 or September 1792 or July 1789. Between June 1793 and the end of July 1794, there were 16,594 official death sentences in France, but the total number of deaths in France in 1793–96 in only the civil war in the Vendée is estimated at 250,000 counter-revolutionaries and 200,000 republicans. During 1794, revolutionary France was beset with conspiracies by internal, within France, the revolution was opposed by the French nobility, which had lost its inherited privileges. The Catholic Church opposed the revolution, which had turned the clergy into employees of the state, in addition, the French First Republic was engaged in a series of wars with neighboring powers, and parts of France were engaging in civil war against the loyalist regime. The latter were grouped in the parliamentary faction called the Mountain. Through the Revolutionary Tribunal, the Terrors leaders exercised broad powers, the Reign was a manifestation of the strong strain on centralized power. Many historians have debated the reasons the French Revolution took such a turn during the Reign of Terror of 1793–94. The public was frustrated that the equality and anti-poverty measures that the revolution originally promised were not materializing. Jacques Rouxs Manifesto of the Enraged on 25 June 1793, describes the extent to which, four years into the revolution, the foundation of the Terror is centered on the April 1793 creation of the Committee of Public Safety and its militant Jacobin delegates. Those in power believed the Committee of Public Safety was an unfortunate, according to Mathiez, they touched only with trepidation and reluctance the regime established by the Constituent Assembly so as not to interfere with the early accomplishments of the revolution. Similar to Mathiez, Richard Cobb introduced competing circumstances of revolt, counter-revolutionary rebellions taking place in Lyon, Brittany, Vendée, Nantes, and Marseille were threatening the revolution with royalist ideas. Cobb writes, the revolutionaries themselves, living as if in combat… were easily persuaded that only terror, Terror was used in these rebellions both to execute inciters and to provide a very visible example to those who might be considering rebellion. Cobb agrees with Mathiez that the Terror was simply a response to circumstances, at the same time, Cobb rejects Mathiezs Marxist interpretation that elites controlled the Reign of Terror to the significant benefit of the bourgeoisie. Instead, Cobb argues that social struggles between the classes were seldom the reason for actions and sentiments. Widespread terror and a consequent rise in executions came after external and internal threats were vastly reduced, with the backing of the national guard, they persuaded the convention to arrest 29 Girondist leaders, including Jacques Pierre Brissot. On 13 July the assassination of Jean-Paul Marat – a Jacobin leader, georges Danton, the leader of the August 1792 uprising against the king, was removed from the committee. The Jacobins identified themselves with the movement and the sans-culottes
20.
Auditorium
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An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances at venues such as theatres. For movie theatres, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens, auditoria can be found in entertainment venues, community halls, and theaters, and may be used for rehearsal, presentation, performing arts productions, or as a learning space. The audience in a theatre are usually separated from the performers by the proscenium arch. The price charged for seats in each part of the auditorium usually varies according to the quality of the view of the stage. The seating areas can include some or all of the following, Stalls, orchestra or arena, balconies or galleries, one or more raised seating platforms towards the rear of the auditorium. In larger theatres, multiple levels are stacked vertically above or behind the stalls, the first level is usually called the dress circle or grand circle. The highest platform, or upper circle is known as the gods, especially in large opera houses, where the seats can be very high. Boxes, generally placed immediately to the front, side and above the level of the stage and they are often separate rooms with an open viewing area which generally seat only a handful of people. These seats are considered the most prestigious of the house. A state box or royal box is provided for dignitaries. Seating arrangement, Seating arrangements in a seating layout will either be identified as “multiple-aisle” or “continental. ”These terms are commonly found in design standards manuals, building codes. Each size is unique, with specific guidelines governing row size, row spacing, basically, a multiple-aisle arrangement will have a maximum of 14-16 chairs per row with access to an aisle-way at both ends. In a continental arrangement, all seats are located in a central section, here the maximum quantity of chairs per row can greatly exceed the limits established in a multiple-aisle arrangement. In order to compensate for the length of rows allowed, building codes will require wider row spacing, wider aisles. Although it would seem like more space is called for, a seating plan is often not any less efficient than a multiple-aisle arrangement. In fact, if it’s carefully planned, an arrangement can frequently accommodate more seating within the same space. In other countries, sports venues have luxury boxes, where access is open to anyone who can afford tickets, auditorium Building List of concert halls Music venue Noise mitigation Smoking ban Concert hall acoustics on-line exhibition
21.
Box (theatre)
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In theater, a box is a small, separated seating area in the auditorium for a limited number of people. Boxes are typically placed immediately to the front, side and above the level of the stage and they are often separate rooms with an open viewing area which typically seat five people or fewer. Usually all the seats in a box are taken by members of a group of people. A state box or royal box is provided for dignitaries. In theaters without box seating the loge can refer to a section at the front of the balcony. In other countries, sports venues have luxury boxes, where access is open to anyone who can afford tickets
22.
Tent city
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A tent city is a temporary housing facility made using tents or other temporary structures. Informal tent cities may be set up without authorization by homeless people or protesters, as well, state governments or military organizations set up tent cities to house refugees, evacuees, or soldiers. Tent cities set up by people may be similar to shanty towns. In the military, the tent city usually refers to temporary living quarters erected on deployed military bases, such as those found in Bosnia. Depending on the branch of service and the length of time the tent city has been in place, for sanitary reasons, military tent cities place toilet, shower, and laundry facilities at least 50 feet from living quarters. Also, tents are typically divided into clusters of 8-10 to prevent the spread of fire. Since Hurricane Katrina made landfall in August 2005, the term has been used to temporary housing sites set up for Gulf Coast residents who were left homeless by the storm. Some of the tents that were built by Seabees and funded by the U. S. Federal Emergency Management Agency are wooden structures covered by tents, with the exception of indoor plumbing, most of the tents have heat, air, and lights. The tent city can hold as many as 250 occupants, displaced residents are only expected to stay for three to six months. Camp Hope is a transitional living project, for the homeless. It is located on the Mesilla Valley Community of Hope campus and is an alliance of agencies that address homelessness in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The tent city can house 50 people that would otherwise be on the streets, providing them a place to seek direct services, healthcare. Camp Hope has provided the homeless with the opportunity to be next to all the Direct Services the agencies on the MVCH campus provide. The camp was founded in November 2011 with temporary permission from the city of Las Cruces, the camp was supposed to disband in March 2012, but there was no funding available to build another shelter and the City Council stated that the tent city benefited the city. Dignity Village is an encampment of homeless people in Portland, Oregon. Dignity Village is incorporated in Oregon as a 501 membership-based non-profit organization, and is governed by bylaws, dignity Village states that membership is not limited based on religion, race, sex, sexual orientation, handicap, age, lifestyle choice, previous record or economic status. Continued membership is dependent upon following the rules of behavior, contained in their membership agreement. No illegal substances or alcohol or paraphernalia on the premises or within a one-block radius, everyone contributes to the upkeep and welfare of the village and works to become a productive member of the community
23.
T. Allston Brown
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Brown was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts the son of Thomas James and Lucretia Hamsly Brown. He began his career as the Philadelphia correspondent and theater critic for the top entertainment journal of the time and he freelanced for other show-business publications and published his own paper, called The Tattler. In 1860, Brown entered show business as the man for the Henry Cooper English Opera Company. He later worked for Gardner & Madigans Circus as treasurer and manager of the box office, during one circus performance, the assistant to the ropewalker Blondine went missing. Blondines opening stunt was to walk a tightrope from the stage to the balcony with a person on his back, T. Allston Brown filled in for the missing helper, and the Baltimore Press dubbed him Colonel for the deed. Brown adopted the title and used it for the remainder of his career. In 1863, Brown was named editor of the New York Clipper and he kept the post until 1872, when he retired from journalism. He next pursued a career as an agent and manager for entertainers and his clients included the famous female impersonator Ernest Byne, the Hanlon Brothers, and Mlle. Brown became co-owner of the Simmonds & Brown Dramatic Agency and continued to run the company after Simmonds died, as early as 1858, Brown had begun compiling stories and biographies of theatrical performers in the United States. Much of his material came from players in the field, who supplied biographical sketches and he began to write a book on the subject, and in 1870 he published the exhaustive History of the American Stage. In 1906, he retired from business to devote more time to history. Brown died in Philadelphia in 1918, cullen, Frank, with Florence Hackman and Donald McNeilly. Vaudeville Old & New, An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America, sentilles, Renée M. Performing Menken, Adah Isaacs Menken and the Birth of American Celebrity. A History of the New York Stage, Volume 1 A History of the New York Stage, Volume 2 A History of the New York Stage, Volume 3 Genealogy of Thomas Allston BROWN
24.
Gas lighting
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Gas lighting is production of artificial light from combustion of a gaseous fuel, such as hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, or natural gas. Before electricity became widespread and economical to allow for general public use, gas was the most popular method of outdoor and indoor lighting in cities. Early gas lights were ignited manually, but many designs are self-igniting. In addition, some urban historical districts retain gas street lighting, early lighting fuels consisted of olive oil, beeswax, fish oil, whale oil, sesame oil, nut oil, and similar substances. These were the most commonly used fuels until the late 18th century, chinese records dating back 1,700 years note the use of natural gas in the home for light and heat via bamboo pipes to the dwellings. Public illumination preceded the discovery and adoption of gaslight by centuries, in 1417, Sir Henry Barton, Mayor of London, ordained lanterns with lights to be hung out on the winter evenings between Hallowtide and Candlemasse. Paris was first lit by an order issued in 1524, and, in the beginning of the 16th century, in coal mining, accumulating and escaping gases were known originally for their adverse effects rather than their useful qualities. Coal miners described two types of gases, one called the choke damp and the fire damp. In 1667, a paper detailing the effects of gases was entitled, A Description of a Well and Earth in Lancashire taking Fire. Imparted by Thomas Shirley, Esq an eye-witness, stephen Hales was the first person who procured a flammable fluid from the actual distillation of coal. His experiments with this object are related in the first volume of his Vegetable Statics and these results seemed to have passed without notice for several years. This paper contained some striking facts relating to the flammability and other properties of coal-gas, the principal properties of coal-gas were demonstrated to different members of the Royal Society, and showed that after keeping the gas some time, it still retained its flammability. The scientists of the time still saw no purpose for it. John Clayton, in an extract from a letter in the Philosophical Transactions for 1735, calls gas the spirit of coal and this spirit happened to catch fire, by coming in contact with a candle as it escaped from a fracture in one of his distillatory vessels. By preserving the gas in bladders, he entertained his friends, william Murdoch was the first to exploit the flammability of gas for the practical application of lighting. He worked for Matthew Boulton and James Watt at their Soho Foundry steam engine works in Birmingham and he first lit his own house in Redruth, Cornwall in 1792. In 1798, he used gas to light the building of the Soho Foundry and in 1802 lit the outside in a public display of gas lighting. One of the employees at the Soho Foundry, Samuel Clegg, Clegg left his job to set up his own gas lighting business, the Gas Lighting and Coke Company
25.
English drama
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Drama was introduced to England from Europe by the Romans, and auditoriums were constructed across the country for this purpose. By the medieval period, the plays had developed, a form of early street theatre associated with the Morris dance, concentrating on themes such as Saint George. These were folk tales re-telling old stories, and the actors travelled from town to town performing these for their audiences in return for money, mystery plays and miracle plays are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the representation of Bible stories in churches as tableaux with accompanying antiphonal song and they developed from the 10th to the 16th century, reaching the height of their popularity in the 15th century before being rendered obsolete by the rise of professional theatre. The name derives from mystery used in its sense of miracle, but an occasionally quoted derivation is from misterium, meaning craft, the most complete is the York cycle of forty-eight pageants. They were performed in the city of York, from the middle of the century until 1569. Also extant are two pageants from a New Testament cycle acted at Coventry and one pageant each from Norwich and Newcastle upon Tyne. Additionally, a play of the life of Mary Magdalene, The Brome Abraham and Isaac. Besides the Middle English drama, there are three surviving plays in Cornish known as the Ordinalia and these biblical plays differ widely in content. Other pageants included the story of Moses, the Procession of the Prophets, Christs Baptism, the Temptation in the Wilderness, in given cycles, the plays came to be sponsored by the newly emerging Medieval craft guilds. The York mercers, for example, sponsored the Doomsday pageant, the guild associations are not, however, to be understood as the method of production for all towns. While the Chester pageants are associated with guilds, there is no indication that the N-Town plays are either associated with guilds or performed on pageant wagons, perhaps the most famous of the mystery plays, at least to modern readers and audiences, are those of Wakefield. In their own time, these plays were known as interludes, morality plays are a type of allegory in which the protagonist is met by personifications of various moral attributes who try to prompt him to choose a Godly life over one of evil. The plays were most popular in Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries, having grown out of the religiously based mystery plays of the Middle Ages, they represented a shift towards a more secular base for European theatre. The Somonyng of Everyman, usually referred to simply as Everyman, is a late 15th-century English morality play, like John Bunyans 1678 Christian novel Pilgrims Progress, Everyman examines the question of Christian salvation by use of allegorical characters, and what Man must do to attain it. The premise is that the good and evil deeds of ones life will be tallied by God after death, the play is the allegorical accounting of the life of Everyman, who represents all mankind. In the course of the action, Everyman tries to convince other characters to accompany him in the hope of improving his account, All the characters are also allegorical, each personifying an abstract idea such as Fellowship, Goods, and Knowledge. The conflict between good and evil is dramatized by the interactions between characters, the period known as the English Renaissance, approximately 1500—1660, saw a flowering of the drama and all the arts
26.
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
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The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, a West End theatre, is a Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane, the building is the most recent in a line of four theatres which were built at the same location, the earliest of which dated back to 1663, making it the oldest theatre site in London still in use. According to the author Peter Thomson, for its first two centuries, Drury Lane could reasonably have claimed to be Londons leading theatre. For most of time, it was one of a handful of patent theatres. The first theatre on the site was built at the behest of Thomas Killigrew in the early 1660s, when theatres were allowed to reopen during the English Restoration. Initially known as Theatre Royal in Bridges Street, the proprietors hired a number of prominent actors who performed at the theatre on a regular basis, including Nell Gwyn. In 1672 the theatre caught fire and Killigrew built a theatre on the same plot, renamed the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane. This building lasted nearly 120 years, under the leaderships of Colley Cibber, David Garrick and Richard Brinsley Sheridan, in 1791, under Sheridans management, the building was demolished to make way for a larger theatre which opened in 1794. This new Drury Lane survived for 15 years before burning down in 1809, the building that stands today opened in 1812. It has been the residency of a number of known actors including, Edmund Kean, comedian Dan Leno. From the Second World War, the theatre has primarily hosted long runs of musicals and my Fair Lady, 42nd Street and Miss Saigon, the theatres longest-running show. The theatre is owned by the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, soon after, Charles issued Letters Patent to two parties licensing the formation of new acting companies. One of these went to Thomas Killigrew, whose company became known as the Kings Company, the new playhouse, architect unknown, opened on 7 May 1663 and was known from the placement of the entrance as the Theatre Royal in Bridges Street. It went by names as well, including the Kings Playhouse. The building was a wooden structure,112 feet long and 59 feet wide. Set well back from the streets, the theatre was accessed by narrow passages between surrounding buildings. The King himself frequently attended the productions, as did Samuel Pepys. The day after the Theatre Royal opened, Pepys attended a performance of Francis Beaumont, performances usually began at 3 pm to take advantage of the daylight, the main floor for the audience, the pit, had no roof in order to let in the light
27.
Clara Fisher
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Clara Fisher was a British prodigy who, at age six, began performing on the London stage in 1817. Ten years later she made her New York debut in 1827 and her acting career lasted for 72 years and in her later life she was commonly called the oldest living actress. Clara Fisher was born in London England, on July 14,1811 and her father was Frederick George Fisher, a librarian and well-known amateur actor. Her earliest memories were of attending concerts and plays with her family, at age five her father enrolled her in acting lessons. Her first performance was on December 10,1817 at the Drury Lane Theatre as Lord Flimnap in the production of David Garricks Lilliput, after her success at Drury Lane, Clara moved on to successful engagements at Covent Garden. By her teens she had successfully performed Richard III, Shylock, Douglas and she was hailed as Britains child wonder and was regarded as the most successful child actor of her time. In 1827, at the age of sixteen, Clara Fisher, along with her family and she made her debut on the American stage at the Park Theatre to rave reviews. She was the favorite Star of every city where she performed and she electrified audiences with her portrayals of Ophelia, Viola, Cherubino and Susanna. She sparked a Clara Fisher craze, poems were written about her and her name was given to babies, hotels, stagecoaches, race horses, steamboats and almost anything else Americans could think of. Her plays were attended by the social and political elite of the time, in December 1834, Fisher married James Gaspard Maeder, a composer and vocal coach who wrote an opera for her entitled Peri, or the Enchanted Fountain. Together, they opened a theater in New Orleans and had seven children, Fisher performed with most of the great actors of the time like William Charles Macready, Edmund Kean, Edwin Booth, John Brougham, Joseph Jefferson, Laura Keene and Edwin Forrest. Due to her popularity and success she was able to earn a large fortune that allowed her to retire in 1844. Bad investments and extravagant tastes forced her to resume acting six years later, Clara Fisher continued to act from 1850 to 1888. After her second retirement she wrote her autobiography which she finished in 1897, Clara Fisher died on November 12,1898 at the home of her daughter in Metuchen, New Jersey. She is buried at the Woodlawn Cemetery in New York, autobiography of Clara Fisher Maeder By Clara Fisher
28.
Edwin Forrest
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Edwin Forrest was a prominent nineteenth-century American Shakespearean actor. His feud with the British actor William Charles Macready was the cause of the deadly Astor Place Riot of 1849, Forrest was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Rebecca and William Forrest. His father, a Scottish merchandise peddler, moved from Dumfriesshire to Trenton and his mother was a member of an affluent German-American family. A business setback led William to relocate to Philadelphia, where he married Rebecca and was able to secure a position with a branch of the United States Bank. As boys, Forrest and his brother William joined a local thespian club. After Forrests father died in 1819, he attempted to apprentice with a printer, a cooper, when attending a lecture in early 1820, he volunteered to participate in an experiment on the effects of nitrous oxide. The theatres of New York and Philadelphia were already crowded with trained, Forrest therefore set out at once for the south and west. He soon gained fame for portraying blackface caricatures of African Americans, constance Rourke wrote that his impression was so believable he often mingled in the streets with African Americans unnoticed. He allegedly fooled one old woman into taking him for a friend. In 1826 he had a success at the Bowery Theatre in New York City as Othello. This strict sense of honor was characteristic of him throughout his career and his New York success was repeated in every city he visited. In 1829 he was featured as Metamora in the play Metamora, or, the play was not a success, although his own role was noted favorably. During a season of ten months he performed in historic theatre the parts of Macbeth, Othello. During this engagement he married, in June 1837, Miss Catherine Norton Sinclair, daughter of John Sinclair and he returned to Philadelphia in November of the same year and began an engagement. His wife made a deep impression wherever she was presented, Edwin Forrest began a playwrighting contest from 1828 to 1847. The only rule the plays had to follow was that the lead Character had to fit Forrest, the first play to win the contest was Metamora by John Augustus Stone in 1828. The winner the year was The Gladiator by Robert Montgomery Bird. Other winning titles include Richard Penn Smith’s Caius Marcus, two plays by Robert Mongomery Bird, Oralloosa and The Broker of Bogota, and Robert T. Conrad’s Jack Cade
29.
Charlotte Cushman
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Charlotte Saunders Cushman In was an American stage actress. Her voice was noted for its full contralto register, and she was able to both male and female parts. She lived intermittently in Rome, in a colony of prominent artists and sculptors. She was a descendant in the generation from Pilgrim Robert Cushman. Robert Cushman was a leader and an advocate for emigration to America. He became a preacher in the colonies and was known for giving the first sermon in America, charlottes father, Elkanah, rose from poverty to be a successful West Indian merchant. Charlotte was a bright, sportive child, excelling over her schoolmates and developing a voice of remarkable compass and richness. Two friends of her father, one of them John Mackay, in whose piano factory Jonas Chickering was then foreman, Cushman was forced to take on serious responsibilities at a very young age. When she was thirteen, her father was beset by financial troubles and shortly thereafter died. This caused Charlotte to seek way to bring income to her family. Although she was a student and achieved much academically, she left school to pursue a career in the opera. When Mrs. Joseph Wood visited Boston in 1834, Capt. Mackay introduced Cushman, through Mrs. Woods influence she became a pupil of James G. She went with his company to New Orleans, where her voice and she made her dramatic debut in it, with complete success, in 1835. Cushman made her initial appearance at age eighteen on April 8,1835 at Bostons Tremont Theatre. She then went to New Orleans where she performed successfully for one season and she scored rave reviews in Albany, New York for her portrayal of Lady Macbeth. By 1839, her younger sister Susan Webb Cushman became an actress and her husband abandoned her when she was pregnant and Charlotte cared for her sister. The two sisters became famous for playing Romeo and Juliet together, with Charlotte playing Romeo and Susan playing Juliet, in 1843, Cushman became involved romantically with Rosalie Sully, a daughter of artist Thomas Sully. By 1844, the romance had ended and she began traveling abroad, acting in theater, and Sully died shortly thereafter
30.
Working class
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The working class are the people employed for wages, especially in manual-labour occupations and in skilled, industrial work. Working-class occupations include blue-collar jobs, some jobs, and most service-work jobs. As with many terms describing social class, working class is defined and used in different ways. The most general definition, used by Marxists and socialists, is that the class includes all those who have nothing to sell but their labor-power. When used non-academically in the United States, however, it refers to a section of society dependent on physical labor. For certain types of science, as well as scientific or journalistic political analysis, for example. Working-class occupations are then categorized into four groups, Unskilled laborers, artisans, outworkers, a common alternative, sometimes used in sociology, is to define class by income levels. The cut-off between working class and middle class here might mean the line where a population has discretionary income, some researchers have suggested that working-class status should be defined subjectively as self-identification with the working-class group. This subjective approach allows people, rather than researchers, to define their own social class, in feudal Europe, the working class as such did not exist in large numbers. Instead, most people were part of the class, a group made up of different professions, trades. A lawyer, craftsman and peasant were all considered to be part of the social unit. Similar hierarchies existed outside Europe in other pre-industrial societies, the social position of these laboring classes was viewed as ordained by natural law and common religious belief. This social position was contested, particularly by peasants, for example during the German Peasants War, wealthy members of these societies created ideologies which blamed many of the problems of working-class people on their morals and ethics. In The Making of the English Working Class, E. P, starting around 1917, a number of countries became ruled ostensibly in the interests of the working class. Since then, four major states have turned towards semi-market-based governance. Other states of this sort have either collapsed, or never achieved significant levels of industrialization or large working classes, since 1960, large-scale proletarianisation and enclosure of commons has occurred in the third world, generating new working classes. Additionally, countries such as India have been slowly undergoing social change, karl Marx defined the working class or proletariat as individuals who sell their labour power for wages and who do not own the means of production. He argued that they were responsible for creating the wealth of a society and he asserted that the working class physically build bridges, craft furniture, grow food, and nurse children, but do not own land, or factories
31.
Bowling Green (New York City)
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Bowling Green is a small public park in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York City, at the southern end of Broadway, next to the site of the original Dutch fort of New Amsterdam. Built in 1733, originally including a green, it is the oldest public park in New York City and is surrounded by its original 18th-century fence. The iconic Charging Bull sculpture is exhibited on its northern end, Bowling Green Fence and Park is listed on the U. S. National Register of Historic Places. It is abutted by Battery Park to the west, the park has long been a center of activity in the city going back to the days of New Amsterdam, when it served as a cattle market between 1638 and 1647, and parade ground. In 1675, the Common Council designated the plaine afore the forte for a market of graine, cattle. In 1677 the citys first public well was dug in front of Fort Amsterdam at Bowling Green, the surrounding streets were not paved with cobblestones until 1744. The statue had been commissioned in 1766, along with a statue of William Pitt, from the prominent London sculptor Joseph Wilton, the fence post finials of cast-iron crowns on the protective fence were sawed off, with the saw marks still visible today. The event is one of the most enduring images in the citys history, according to folklore, the statue was chopped up and shipped to a Connecticut foundry under the direction of Oliver Wolcott to be made into 42,088 patriot bullets at 20 bullets per pound. The statues head was to have been paraded about town on pike-staffs, the monument base can be seen in the background of the portrait of George Washington painted by John Trumbull in 1790, conserved in the City Hall. The William Pitt statue is in the New-York Historical Society, following the Revolution, the remains of the fort facing Bowling Green were demolished in 1790 and part of the rubble used to extend Battery Park to the west. In its place a grand Government House was built, suitable, it was hoped, for a Presidents House, with a portico facing across Bowling Green. Governor John Jay later inhabited it, when the state capital was moved to Albany, the building served as a boarding house and then the custom house before being demolished in 1815. The Hon. John Watts, whose place was Rose Hill. 7, and John Stevens all constructed brick residences in Federal style facing Bowling Green, the Alexander Macomb House, the second Presidential Mansion, stood north of the park at 39-41 Broadway. President George Washington occupied it from February 23 to August 30,1790, the park suffered neglect after World War II, but was restored by the city in the 1970s and is now one of the most heavily traveled plazas in the city. The Bowling Green Fence and Park were listed on the U. S. National Register of Historic Places in 1980, in 1982, the Irish Institute of New York installed a plaque in Bowling Green park commemorating an important religious liberty challenge which occurred in Manhattan. Reverend Francis Makemie, the founder of American Presbyterianism, challenged the edict of Lord Cornbury by preaching at the home of William Jackson near by the Park and he was arrested and charged with preaching a pernicious doctrine, but later acquitted. The sculpture has become one of the beloved and recognizable landmarks of the Financial District, the pool and fountain in the park were temporarily modified when the park was used as a filming location for The Sorcerers Apprentice in early June 2009
32.
Domestic Manners of the Americans
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The text now resides in the public domain. She briefly stayed at the Nashoba Commune, a settlement for ex-slaves which Wright had set up in Tennessee. The book created a sensation on both sides of the Atlantic, as Frances Trollope had a view of the Americans and found America strongly lacking in manners. She was appalled by Americas egalitarian middle-class and by the influence of evangelicalism that was emerging during the Second Great Awakening and her views were understandable for a number of reasons. Trollope had no profundity of thought, but she had a seeing eye and a lively pen. Her descriptions are never boring, she makes us see the lonely clearings and farms, the huge silent rivers, Niagara, untamed and unvulgarised, the book was both highly controversial and highly successful, selling like wildfire. It also enabled its author to become a wage-earner and save her family from penury and she was painting a state of things which did not change at once. In this spirit we have read Mrs, how to Observe Morals and Manners Vanity Fair - Mrs. Trollopes America Full etext at Project Gutenberg
33.
Frances Milton Trollope
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Frances Milton Trollope was an English novelist and writer who published as Mrs. Trollope or Mrs. Frances Trollope. Recent scholars note that modernist critics tended to exclude women writers such as Frances Trollope from serious consideration and her first and third sons, Thomas Adolphus and Anthony, also became writers, Anthony Trollope became respected for his social novels. Frances Trollope should not be confused with her daughter-in-law Frances Eleanor Trollope, the wife of Thomas Adolphus Trollope. Born at Stapleton, Bristol, Frances Milton at the age of 30 married Thomas A. Trollope and they had four sons and three daughters, and he struggled with financial misfortune. In 1827, Frances Trollope took her family to Fanny Wrights utopian community, Nashoba Commune and this community soon failed, and she ended up in Cincinnati, Ohio with her sons. Although she tried to find ways to support herself, they were unsuccessful and she encouraged the sculptor Hiram Powers to do Dante Alighieris Commedia in waxworks. After her return to England, she began writing to support her family, on her return to England, Trollope began writing and gained notice with her first book, Domestic Manners of the Americans. She gave an unfavourable and, in the opinions of partisans of America and she was thought to reflect the disparaging views of American society allegedly commonplace at that time among English people of the higher social classes. Next came The Abbess, a novel, as was Father Eustace. She noted that Modernisms lingering legacy in criticism meant overlooking a womans nineteenth century studies of religious controversy, Trollope wrote more travel works, such as Belgium and Western Germany in 1833, Paris and the Parisians in 1835, and Vienna and the Austrians. Michael Armstrong, Factory Boy began publication in 1840 and was the first industrial novel to be published in Britain, other socially conscious novels included The Vicar of Wrexhill, which took on corruption in the Church of England and evangelical circles. In later years Frances Trollope continued to write novels and books on miscellaneous subjects, few of her books are now read, but her first and two others are available on Project Gutenberg. One year, she invited Theodosia Gallow to be her house-guest, Gallow married her son, Thomas Adolphus, and the three lived together until Trollopes death in 1863. She was buried near four other members of the Trollope household in the English Cemetery of Florence and this article on her son has a short biography of her. Frances Trollope and the Novel of Social Change, E. Bigland, The Indomitable Mrs Trollope Teresa Ransom. Frances Trollope at Internet Archive Works by Frances Milton Trollope at LibriVox Mrs. Trollopes Bazaar, Cincinnati, Ohio 1828–1829, Cincinnati Memory Mrs. Trollopes America, Vanity Fair, June 2007
34.
New York Herald
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The New York Herald was a large distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between May 6,1835, and 1924. The first issue of the paper was published by James Gordon Bennett, by 1845, it was the most popular and profitable daily newspaper in the United States. In 1861, it circulated 84,000 copies and called itself the most largely circulated journal in the world, Bennett stated that the function of a newspaper is not to instruct but to startle and amuse. His politics tended to be anti-Catholic and he had tended to favor the Know-Nothing faction, during the American Civil War, his policy as expressed by the newspaper was to staunchly support the Democratic Party. Frederic Hudson served as managing editor of the paper from 1846–1866, Bennett turned over control of the paper to his son James Gordon Bennett, Jr. in 1866. Under Gordon Bennett Jr. the paper financed Henry Morton Stanleys expeditions into Africa to find David Livingstone, the paper also supported Stanleys trans-Africa exploration, and in 1879 supported the ill-fated expedition of George W. DeLong to the arctic region. On October 4,1887, Bennett Jr. sent Julius Chambers to Paris, Bennett himself later moved to Paris, but the New York Herald suffered from his attempt to manage its operation in New York by telegram. In 1924, after Bennett Jr. s death, the New York Herald was acquired by its rival the New York Tribune. In 1959, the New York Herald Tribune and its European edition were sold to John Hay Whitney, in 1966, the New York paper ceased publication. The Washington Post and the New York Times acquired joint control of the European edition, when the Herald was still under the authority of its original publisher Bennett, it was considered to be the most invasive and sensationalist of the leading New York papers. Its ability to entertain the public with timely daily news made it the leading circulation paper of its time, the New York Evening Telegram was founded in 1867 by the junior Bennett, and was considered by many to be an evening edition of the Herald. Frank Munsey acquired the Telegram in 1920, which ceased its connection to the Herald, New Yorks Herald Square is named after the New York Herald newspaper, in the north side of the square there is a sculpture commemorating the Bennetts. The statue of Minerva, the Bellringers, and Owls by Antonin Carles originally graced the New York Herald building and rang every hour until it was moved to Herald Square, the chorus of Give My Regards to Broadway includes the phrase, emember me to Herald Square. North of Herald Square is Times Square, which is named after rival The New York Times, New York Herald Tribune Three months with the New York Herald, or, Old news on board of a homeward. By John Henry Potter Photographs and architectural sketches of the New York Herald Building
35.
Edgar Allan Poe
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Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and he is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in the United States and American literature as a whole, and he was one of the countrys earliest practitioners of the short story. Poe is generally considered the inventor of the fiction genre and is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a difficult life. Poe was born in Boston, the child of two actors. His father abandoned the family in 1810, and his mother died the following year, thus orphaned, the child was taken in by John and Frances Allan of Richmond, Virginia. They never formally adopted him, but Poe was with them well into young adulthood, tension developed later as John Allan and Edgar repeatedly clashed over debts, including those incurred by gambling, and the cost of secondary education for the young man. Poe attended the University of Virginia for one semester but left due to lack of money, Poe quarreled with Allan over the funds for his education and enlisted in the Army in 1827 under an assumed name. It was at time that his publishing career began, albeit humbly, with the anonymous collection of poems Tamerlane and Other Poems. With the death of Frances Allan in 1829, Poe and Allan reached a temporary rapprochement, however, Poe later failed as an officer cadet at West Point, declaring a firm wish to be a poet and writer, and he ultimately parted ways with John Allan. Poe switched his focus to prose and spent the several years working for literary journals and periodicals. His work forced him to move among several cities, including Baltimore, Philadelphia, in Richmond in 1836, he married Virginia Clemm, his 13-year-old cousin. In January 1845, Poe published his poem The Raven to instant success and his wife died of tuberculosis two years after its publication. For years, he had been planning to produce his own journal The Penn, Poe and his works influenced literature in the United States and around the world, as well as in specialized fields such as cosmology and cryptography. Poe and his work appear throughout popular culture in literature, music, films, a number of his homes are dedicated museums today. The Mystery Writers of America present an award known as the Edgar Award for distinguished work in the mystery genre. He was born Edgar Poe in Boston on January 19,1809 and he had an elder brother William Henry Leonard Poe, and a younger sister Rosalie Poe. Their grandfather David Poe Sr. had emigrated from Cavan, Ireland to America around the year 1750, Edgar may have been named after a character in William Shakespeares King Lear, a play that the couple were performing in 1809
36.
Broadway Journal
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The Broadway Journal was a short-lived New York City-based newspaper founded by Charles Frederick Briggs and John Bisco in 1844 and was published from January 1845 to January 1846. In its first year, the publication was bought by Edgar Allan Poe, becoming the only periodical he ever owned, though it failed after only a few months under his leadership. Briggs, previously known as a satire novelist under the pseudonym Harry Franco, wrote a letter to James Russell Lowell on December 7,1844, announcing his intentions to start a journal. The name will be, for the sake of individuality and a-part-from-other-peopleness, upon its founding as the Broadway Journal, Briggs handled the editorial duties and solicited for contributors while his business partner John Bisco handled the publishing and financial concerns. On February 21,1845, Edgar Allan Poe signed a contract to become an editor of the publication. He also agreed to write at least one page worth of material per week. He received one-third of the profits as well, soon, however, Poes caustic reputation as a critic began to bother Briggs and he intended to get rid of both Poe and Bisco. He was, however, unsuccessful in finding new financial backers when Bisco raised his price, Poe, for a time, considered selling his own portion of the journal to Evert Augustus Duyckinck or Cornelius Mathews. Briggs tried to buy out Bisco, who asked for money than Briggs was willing to pay. By June, however, Briggs resigned due to difficulties and, in October. Poe, then, had full control and ownership of the Broadway Journal. Poe published new versions of many of his works, including The Masque of the Red Death, The Oval Portrait and he also continued his role as a literary critic, including accusations of plagiarism against Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He also used the Broadway Journal for a public flirtation with Frances Sargent Osgood. Poe was unable to keep the publication financially successful, though he had hoped to turn it around, a loan of $50 from Rufus Wilmot Griswold in October 1845 helped sustain it for a short time. In a November 15,1845, letter to friend and poet Thomas Holley Chivers he vowed, -Edgar A. Poe After taking over full control of the Journal, Poe had asked for the support of friends. Because of this, it had an audience and was less financially successful. It emphasized literary reviews but also featured criticism of Art, theater, and music as well as poetry and articles on politics
37.
P. T. Barnum
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Phineas Taylor P. T. Barnum was an American politician, showman, and businessman remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and for founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus. Barnum is widely, but erroneously, credited with coining the phrase Theres a sucker born every minute, born in Bethel, Connecticut, Barnum became a small-business owner in his early twenties, and founded a weekly newspaper, before moving to New York City in 1834. Barnum used the museum as a platform to promote hoaxes and human curiosities such as the Feejee mermaid, in 1850 he promoted the American tour of singer Jenny Lind, paying her an unprecedented $1,000 a night for 150 nights. After economic reversals due to bad investments in the 1850s, and years of litigation and public humiliation, he used a lecture tour, mostly as a temperance speaker and his museum added Americas first aquarium and expanded the wax-figure department. While in New York, he converted to Universalism and was a member of the Church of the Divine Paternity, Barnum served two terms in the Connecticut legislature in 1865 as a Republican for Fairfield. It may tenant the body of a Chinaman, a Turk, elected in 1875 as Mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut, he worked to improve the water supply, bring gas lighting to streets, and enforce liquor and prostitution laws. Barnum was instrumental in starting Bridgeport Hospital, founded in 1878, the circus business was the source of much of his enduring fame. He established P. T. Barnums Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan & Hippodrome, a circus, menagerie and museum of freaks. Barnum died in his sleep at home in 1891, and was buried in Mountain Grove Cemetery, Bridgeport, Barnum was born in Bethel, Connecticut, the son of inn keeper, tailor and store-keeper Philo Barnum and second wife Irene Taylor. He was the great grandson of Thomas Barnum, the English immigrant ancestor of the Barnum family in North America. His maternal grandfather Phineas Taylor was a Whig, legislator, landowner, justice of the peace, and lottery schemer, Barnum was adept at arithmetic but hated physical work. He started as a store-keeper, and he learned haggling and using deception to make a sale and he was involved with the first lottery mania in the United States. At the age of 19, he married Charity Hallett, the young husband had several businesses, a general store, a book auctioning trade, real estate speculation, and a statewide lottery network. He became active in politics and advocated against blue laws promulgated by Calvinists who sought to restrict gambling. Barnum started a paper in 1829, The Herald of Freedom, in Danbury. His editorials against church elders led to libel suits and a prosecution which resulted in imprisonment for two months, but he became a champion of the movement upon his release. In 1834, when lotteries were banned in Connecticut, cutting off his income, Barnum sold his store. Joice Heth died in 1836, no more than 80 years old, Barnum improved the attraction, renamed Barnums American Museum, upgrading the building and adding exhibits, and it became a popular showplace
38.
Astor family
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The Astor family achieved prominence in business, society, and politics in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 19th and 20th centuries. With ancestral roots in the Italian Alps, the Astors settled in Germany, first appearing in North America during the century with John Jacob Astor. John Jacob Astor was the youngest of four born to butcher Johann Jacob Astor. John and his eldest brother George, known as George & John Astor, were flute makers, while working in England, he learned to speak English and anglicized his name. In 1783, John Jacob left for Baltimore, Maryland, and was active first as a dealer in woodwind instruments, then in New York as a merchant in furs, pianos, after moving to New York, John met and married Sarah Cox Todd. Sarah was the daughter of Scottish immigrants Adam Todd and Sarah Cox and she worked along side her husband as a consultant, and was accused of witchcraft after her success with the company in 1817. The accusations never led to legal action and he financed the overland Astor Expedition in 1810–1812 to reach the outpost, which was in the then-disputed Oregon Country. Control of Fort Astoria played a key role in English and American territorial claims on the region, John and Georges brother Henry also emigrated to America. He was a racing enthusiast, and purchased a thoroughbred named Messenger. The horse became the sire of all Standardbred horses in the United States today. The third brother Melchior remained in Germany, during the 19th century, the Astors became one of the wealthiest families in the United States. Toward the end of century, some of the family moved to England. During the 20th century, the number of American Astors began to decline, English descendants of the Astors hold two hereditary peerages, Viscount and Baron. While many of Astor members had joined to the Episcopal Church, for many years, the members of the Astor family were known as the landlords of New York. Their New York City namesakes are the famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, an Astor Row, Astor Court, Astor Place, and Astor Avenue in the Bronx, the neighborhood of Astoria, Queens, is named after the family as well. Beyond New York City, the Astor family name is imprinted in a deal of United States history. There are towns of Astor in the states of Florida, Georgia, Iowa, there is a neighborhood called Astor Park just south of downtown Green Bay, Wisconsin. At the heart of neighborhood is a park, the Astor family donated this land for the building of a trade school
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