1.
Fatty Arbuckle's
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Fatty Arbuckles American Diners was an American-themed restaurant chain in the UK. The Manchester-based business was founded by Pete Shotton – an associate of The Beatles – in 1983 and it focused on large portions at cheap prices. The name refers to Hollywood director and silent movie star Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle, the chain, which saw two-thirds of all restaurants operated by franchisees, had grown to more than 30 outlets since its first franchise opened in 1991. By the early 2000s, founder Shotton sold the chain for an undisclosed sum, Fatty was removed from the name, and the restaurants were rebranded as Arbuckles. By 2006, the last remaining Arbuckles was closed, the name was bought out, and a new restaurant bearing that name opened in the Norfolk town of Downham Market in 2008
2.
Smith Center, Kansas
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Smith Center is a city in and the county seat of Smith County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 1,665, Smith Center was founded in 1871. The first post office in Smith Center was established in January 1873, like Smith County, Smith Center was named for Maj. J. Nelson Smith, a casualty of the Civil War. Smith Center is located at 39°46′43″N 98°47′7″W, according to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.24 square miles, all land. Smith Center is located at the junction of U. S, routes 281 and 36, approximately 100 miles south of Grand Island, Nebraska and 77 miles north of Russell and Interstate 70. As of the census of 2010, there were 1,665 people,779 households, the population density was 1,342.7 inhabitants per square mile. There were 928 housing units at a density of 748.4 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 97. 7% White,0. 1% African American,0. 4% Native American,0. 1% Asian,0. 2% Pacific Islander,0. 4% from other races, and 1. 1% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1. 0% of the population,36. 8% of all households were made up of individuals and 21. 1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.10 and the family size was 2.71. The median age in the city was 48.7 years. 20. 6% of residents were under the age of 18,5. 4% were between the ages of 18 and 24, 18% were from 25 to 44,26. 8% were from 45 to 64, and 28. 9% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 47. 2% male and 52. 8% female, as of the census of 2000, there were 1,931 people,852 households, and 534 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,659.9 people per square mile, there were 987 housing units at an average density of 848.4 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 99. 17% White,0. 21% Native American,0. 26% Pacific Islander,0. 10% from other races, hispanic or Latino of any race were 0. 47% of the population. 34. 4% of all households were made up of individuals and 21. 9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.17 and the average family size was 2.77. In the city, the age distribution of the population shows 21. 0% under the age of 18,4. 7% from 18 to 24,21. 7% from 25 to 44,20. 5% from 45 to 64, the median age was 47 years. For every 100 females there were 84.3 males, for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 79.2 males
3.
Manhattan
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Manhattan is the most densely populated borough of New York City, its economic and administrative center, and the citys historical birthplace. The borough is coextensive with New York County, founded on November 1,1683, Manhattan is often described as the cultural and financial capital of the world and hosts the United Nations Headquarters. Many multinational media conglomerates are based in the borough and it is historically documented to have been purchased by Dutch colonists from Native Americans in 1626 for 60 guilders which equals US$1062 today. New York County is the United States second-smallest county by land area, on business days, the influx of commuters increases that number to over 3.9 million, or more than 170,000 people per square mile. Manhattan has the third-largest population of New York Citys five boroughs, after Brooklyn and Queens, the City of New York was founded at the southern tip of Manhattan, and the borough houses New York City Hall, the seat of the citys government. The name Manhattan derives from the word Manna-hata, as written in the 1609 logbook of Robert Juet, a 1610 map depicts the name as Manna-hata, twice, on both the west and east sides of the Mauritius River. The word Manhattan has been translated as island of hills from the Lenape language. The United States Postal Service prefers that mail addressed to Manhattan use New York, NY rather than Manhattan, the area that is now Manhattan was long inhabited by the Lenape Native Americans. In 1524, Florentine explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano – sailing in service of King Francis I of France – was the first European to visit the area that would become New York City. It was not until the voyage of Henry Hudson, an Englishman who worked for the Dutch East India Company, a permanent European presence in New Netherland began in 1624 with the founding of a Dutch fur trading settlement on Governors Island. In 1625, construction was started on the citadel of Fort Amsterdam on Manhattan Island, later called New Amsterdam, the 1625 establishment of Fort Amsterdam at the southern tip of Manhattan Island is recognized as the birth of New York City. In 1846, New York historian John Romeyn Brodhead converted the figure of Fl 60 to US$23, variable-rate myth being a contradiction in terms, the purchase price remains forever frozen at twenty-four dollars, as Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace remarked in their history of New York. Sixty guilders in 1626 was valued at approximately $1,000 in 2006, based on the price of silver, Straight Dope author Cecil Adams calculated an equivalent of $72 in 1992. In 1647, Peter Stuyvesant was appointed as the last Dutch Director General of the colony, New Amsterdam was formally incorporated as a city on February 2,1653. In 1664, the English conquered New Netherland and renamed it New York after the English Duke of York and Albany, the Dutch Republic regained it in August 1673 with a fleet of 21 ships, renaming the city New Orange. Manhattan was at the heart of the New York Campaign, a series of battles in the early American Revolutionary War. The Continental Army was forced to abandon Manhattan after the Battle of Fort Washington on November 16,1776. The city, greatly damaged by the Great Fire of New York during the campaign, became the British political, British occupation lasted until November 25,1783, when George Washington returned to Manhattan, as the last British forces left the city
4.
Minta Durfee
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Araminta Estelle Minta Durfee was an American silent film actress from Los Angeles, California, possibly best known for her role in Mickey. She met Roscoe Arbuckle when he was attempting to get started in theater, Durfee entered show business in local companies as a chorus girl at the age of seventeen. She was the first leading lady of Charlie Chaplin, Durfee and Arbuckle separated in 1921, just prior to a scandal involving the death of starlet Virginia Rappe. There were three trials and finally Arbuckle was acquitted and his career was destroyed and he received few job offers. Durfee and Arbuckle were divorced in 1925, Durfee was quoted in her later years as saying Arbuckle was the most generous human being Ive ever met, and if I had to do it all over again, Id still marry the same man. Durfee was a defender of her close friend Mabel Normand throughout Normands many public scandals. A regular performer on television, Durfee appeared on shows as Noahs Ark. She had minor roles in motion pictures like How Green Was My Valley, Naughty Marietta, Rose-Marie, Its A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, and Savage Intruder. In later life, Durfee gave lectures on silent film and held retrospectives on her and her husbands pictures and she was surprised and excited by the renewed interest in silent film and did her best to help. Minta Durfee died in Woodland Hills, California, at the Motion Picture Country Home in 1975 and she suffered from a heart ailment. Minta Durfee at the Internet Movie Database Minta Durfee at Find a Grave
5.
Silent film
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A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. The silent film era lasted from 1895 to 1936, in silent films for entertainment, the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, mime and title cards which contain a written indication of the plot or key dialogue. During silent films, a pianist, theatre organist, or, in large cities, pianists and organists would either play from sheet music or improvise, an orchestra would play from sheet music. The term silent film is therefore a retronym—that is, a term created to distinguish something retroactively, the early films with sound, starting with The Jazz Singer in 1927, were referred to as talkies, sound films, or talking pictures. A September 2013 report by the United States Library of Congress announced that a total of 70% of American silent feature films are believed to be completely lost, the earliest precursors of film began with image projection through the use of a device known as the magic lantern. This utilized a glass lens, a shutter and a persistent light source, such as a powerful lantern and these slides were originally hand-painted, but still photographs were used later on after the technological advent of photography in the nineteenth century. The invention of a practical photography apparatus preceded cinema by only fifty years, the next significant step towards film creation was the development of an understanding of image movement. Simulations of movement date as far back as to 1828 and only four years after Paul Roget discovered the phenomenon he called Persistence of Vision. This experience was further demonstrated through Rogets introduction of the thaumatrope, the first projected primary proto-movie was made by Eadweard Muybridge between 1877 and 1880. Muybridge set up a row of cameras along a racetrack and timed image exposures to capture the many stages of a horses gallop, the oldest surviving film was created by Louis Le Prince in 1888. It was a film of people walking in Oakwood streets garden. Edison also made a business of selling Kinetograph and Kinetoscope equipment, due to Edisons lack of securing an international patent on his film inventions, similar devices were invented around the world. The Lumière brothers, for example, created the Cinématographe in France, the Cinématographe proved to be a more portable and practical device than both of Edisons as it combined a camera, film processor and projector in one unit. In contrast to Edisons peepshow-style kinetoscope, which one person could watch through a viewer. Their first film, Sortie de lusine Lumière de Lyon, shot in 1894, is considered the first true motion picture, the invention of celluloid film, which was strong and flexible, greatly facilitated the making of motion pictures. This film was 35 mm wide and pulled using four sprocket holes and this doomed the cinematograph, which could only use film with just one sprocket hole. From the very beginnings of film production, the art of motion pictures grew into maturity in the silent era. Silent filmmakers pioneered the art form to the extent that virtually every style, the silent era was also pioneering era from a technical point of view
6.
Selig Polyscope Company
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The Selig Polyscope Company is an American motion picture company that was founded in 1896 by William Selig in Chicago. Selig Polyscope is noted for establishing Southern Californias first permanent movie studio, the company produced hundreds of early, widely distributed commercial moving pictures, including the first films starring Tom Mix, Harold Lloyd, Colleen Moore, and Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle. The business gradually became a zoo attraction in East Los Angeles. Selig had worked as a magician and minstrel show operator on the west coast of California, later on in Chicago he attempted to enter the film business using his own photographic equipment, free from patent restrictions imposed through companies controlled by Thomas Edison. In 1896, with help from Union Metal Works and Andrew Schustek, he shot his first film, Tramp and he went on to successfully produce local actualities, slapstick comedies, early travelogues and industrial films. In 1908 Selig Polyscope was involved in the production of The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays, by 1909 Selig had studios making short features in Chicago and the Edendale district of Los Angeles. The company also distributed stock film footage and titles from other studios and that year, Roscoe Arbuckles first movie was a Selig comedy short. The companys early existence was fraught with turmoil over disputes with lawyers representing Thomas Edisons interests. In 1909 Selig and several other studio heads settled with Edison by creating an alliance with the inventor, effectively a cartel, Motion Picture Patents Company dominated the industry for a few years until the Supreme Court ruled the firm was an illegal monopoly. In 1910 Selig Polyscope produced a wholly new filmed version of the The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, although Selig Polyscope produced a wide variety of moving pictures, the company was most widely known for its wild animal shorts, historical subjects and early westerns. An early production there was The Count of Monte Cristo, Edendale soon became Selig Polyscopes headquarters, but in 1911 Boggs was murdered by a Japanese gardener who also wounded Selig. The company produced hundreds of features at Edendale, including many early westerns featuring Tom Mix. Selig Polyscope made dozens of highly successful short movies involving wild animals in exotic settings, in 1914 Selig made 14 short experimental talking pictures with Scottish actor Harry Lauder. In 1913, through a partnership with the Chicago Tribune, Selig produced The Adventures of Kathlyn. Each chapters story was published in the newspaper. A combination of animals, clever dramatic action and Kathlyn Williams screen presence resulted in significant success. The Tribune’s circulation reportedly increased by 10% and both a dance and cocktail were named after Williams, whose likeness was sold on over 50,000 postcards. In 1917 Selig sold the Edendale facility to producer William Fox, Selig Polyscope became insolvent and ceased operations in 1918
7.
Keystone Studios
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The company filmed in and around Glendale and Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California for several years, and its films were distributed by the Mutual Film Corporation between 1912 and 1915. The original main building, the first totally enclosed film stage and it is located at 1712 Glendale Blvd in Echo Park, Los Angeles. The studio is perhaps best remembered for the era under Mack Sennett when he created the slapstick antics of the Keystone Cops, from 1912, charles Chaplin got his start at Keystone when Sennett hired him fresh from his vaudeville career to make silent films. In 1915 Keystone Studios became a production unit of the Triangle Film Corporation with D. W. Griffith. In 1917 Sennett gave up the Keystone trademark and organized his own company, Sennett, by then a celebrity, departed the studio in 1917 to produce his own independent films. Keystones business decreased after his departure, and finally closed after bankruptcy in 1935, much of the lighting and studio equipment from Keystone was bought by Reymond King - who started the Award Cinema Movie Equipment company in Venice, CA in November,1935. Keystone Studios is the studio in the film Swimming With Sharks. A new legal entity named Keystone Studios began again during 2005. Keystone obtained its new trademark in 2006, the Keystone Studios lot was an explorable location, as well as a major plot element, in the 2011 video game L. A. Noire, published by Rockstar Games. Category, Keystone Studios films Lahue, Kalton, Mack Sennetts Keystone, The man, the myth and the comedies, New York, Barnes, ISBN 978-0-498-07461-5 Neibaur, James L. Early Charlie Chaplin, The Artist as Apprentice at Keystone Studios, Lanham, MD, Scarecrow Press, ISBN 978-0-8108-8242-3 Walker, Brent, Mack Sennetts Fun Factory Jefferson, NC, McFarland, ISBN 978-0-7864-3610-1 Media related to Keystone Studios at Wikimedia Commons
8.
Mabel Normand
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Mabel Ethelreid Normand was an American silent film actress, screenwriter, director, and producer. Onscreen, she appeared in 12 successful films with Charles Chaplin and 17 with Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle and she was not a suspect in either crime. Her film career declined, possibly due to scandals and a recurrence of tuberculosis in 1923, which led to a decline in her health, retirement from films. Born in New Brighton, Staten Island, New York, she grew up in a working-class family, Normands mother, Mary Minne Drury, of Providence, Rhode Island, was of Irish heritage, while her father was French Canadian. Her father Claude Normand was employed as a maker and stage carpenter at Sailors Snug Harbor home for elderly seamen. She embarked on a relationship with him, he later brought her across to California when he founded Keystone Studios in 1912. Her earlier Keystone films portrayed her as a beauty but Normand quickly demonstrated a flair for comedy. Normand appeared with Charles Chaplin and Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle in many films as well as Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel. She played a key role in starting Chaplins film career and acted as his lady and mentor in a string of films in 1914. Chaplin had considerable initial difficulty adjusting to the demands of film acting, after his first film appearance in Making a Living, Sennett felt he had made a costly mistake. Most historians agree it was Normand who persuaded him to give Chaplin another chance, in 1914, she starred with Marie Dressler and Chaplin in Tillies Punctured Romance, the first feature-length comedy. She opened her own company in partnership with Mack Sennett 1916 and it was based in Culver City and was a subsidiary of the Triangle Film Corporation. She lost the company in 1918 when Triangle experienced a massive shake up which also saw Sennett lose Keystone, in 1918, as her relationship with Sennett came to an end, Normand signed a $3,500 per week contract with Samuel Goldwyn. Director William Desmond Taylor shared her interest in books, and the two formed a close relationship, according to author Robert Giroux, Taylor was deeply in love with Normand, who had originally approached him for help in curing her cocaine dependency. Based upon Normands subsequent statements to investigators, her repeated relapses were devastating for Taylor, according to Giroux, Taylor met with federal prosecutors shortly before his death and offered to assist them in filing charges against Normands cocaine suppliers. Giroux expresses a belief that Normands suppliers learned of this meeting, according to Giroux, Normand suspected the reasons for Taylors murder, but did not know the identity of the man who killed him. According to Kevin Brownlow and John Kobal in their book Hollywood The Pioneers the idea that Taylor was murdered by drug dealers was invented by the studio for publicity purposes. There is no evidence that Normand was an addict, despite the fact that this is repeated as if it were established fact
9.
Harold Lloyd
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Harold Clayton Lloyd, Sr. was an American actor, comedian, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and stunt performer who is most famous for his silent comedy films. Harold Lloyd ranks alongside Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton as one of the most popular, Lloyd made nearly 200 comedy films, both silent and talkies, between 1914 and 1947. He is best known for his bespectacled Glass character, a resourceful and his films frequently contained thrill sequences of extended chase scenes and daredevil physical feats, for which he is best remembered today. Lloyd hanging from the hands of a high above the street in Safety Last. is one of the most enduring images in all of cinema. Lloyd did many of these dangerous stunts himself, despite having injured himself in August 1919 while doing publicity pictures for the Roach studio, an accident with a bomb mistaken as a prop resulted in the loss of the thumb and index finger of his right hand. Although Lloyds individual films were not as successful as Chaplins on average, he was far more prolific. Lloyd was born in Burchard, Nebraska, on April 20,1893, to James Darsie Lloyd and Sarah Elisabeth Fraser, in 1910, after his father succumbed to several failed business ventures, Lloyds parents divorced and his father moved with his son to San Diego. Lloyd had acted in theater since a child, but in California he began acting in film comedies around 1912. Lloyd worked with Thomas Edisons motion picture company, and his first role was a part as a Yaqui Indian in the production of The Old Monks Tale. At the age of 20, Harold moved to Los Angeles and he was also hired by Universal as an extra and soon became friends with aspiring filmmaker, Hal Roach. Lloyd began collaborating with Roach who had formed his own studio in 1913, Roach and Lloyd created Lonesome Luke, similar to and playing off the success of Charlie Chaplin films. Lloyd hired Bebe Daniels as an actress in 1914, the two of them were involved romantically and were known as The Boy and The Girl. In 1919, she left Lloyd to pursue her dramatic aspirations, Lloyd replaced Daniels with Mildred Davis in 1919. Lloyd was tipped off by Hal Roach to watch Davis in a movie, reportedly, the more Lloyd watched Davis the more he liked her. Lloyds first reaction in seeing her was that she looked like a big French doll, by 1918, Lloyd and Roach had begun to develop his character beyond an imitation of his contemporaries. Harold Lloyd would move away from tragicomic personas, and portray an everyman with unwavering confidence, the Glass character is said to have been created after Roach suggested that Harold was too handsome to do comedy without some sort of disguise. When I adopted the glasses, he recalled in a 1962 interview with Harry Reasoner, it more or less put me in a different category because I became a human being. He was a kid that you would meet next door, across the street, but at the same time I could still do all the things that we did before
10.
Charlie Chaplin
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Sir Charles Spencer Charlie Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame during the era of silent film. Chaplin became an icon through his screen persona the Tramp and is considered one of the most important figures in the history of the film industry. His career spanned more than 75 years, from childhood in the Victorian era until a year before his death in 1977, Chaplins childhood in London was one of poverty and hardship. As his father was absent and his mother struggled financially, he was sent to a workhouse twice before the age of nine, when he was 14, his mother was committed to a mental asylum. Chaplin began performing at an age, touring music halls and later working as a stage actor. At 19 he was signed to the prestigious Fred Karno company, Chaplin was scouted for the film industry, and began appearing in 1914 for Keystone Studios. He soon developed the Tramp persona and formed a fan base. Chaplin directed his own films from a stage, and continued to hone his craft as he moved to the Essanay, Mutual. By 1918, he was one of the best known figures in the world, in 1919, Chaplin co-founded the distribution company United Artists, which gave him complete control over his films. His first feature-length was The Kid, followed by A Woman of Paris, The Gold Rush and he refused to move to sound films in the 1930s, instead producing City Lights and Modern Times without dialogue. Chaplin became increasingly political, and his film, The Great Dictator. The 1940s were a decade marked with controversy for Chaplin, and he was accused of communist sympathies, while his involvement in a paternity suit and marriages to much younger women caused scandal. An FBI investigation was opened, and Chaplin was forced to leave the United States and he abandoned the Tramp in his later films, which include Monsieur Verdoux, Limelight, A King in New York, and A Countess from Hong Kong. Chaplin wrote, directed, produced, edited, starred in and he was a perfectionist, and his financial independence enabled him to spend years on the development and production of a picture. His films are characterised by slapstick combined with pathos, typified in the Tramps struggles against adversity, many contain social and political themes, as well as autobiographical elements. In 1972, as part of an appreciation for his work. He continues to be held in regard, with The Gold Rush, City Lights, Modern Times. Charles Spencer Chaplin was born on 16 April 1889 to Hannah Chaplin, there is no official record of his birth, although Chaplin believed he was born at East Street, Walworth, in South London
11.
Buster Keaton
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Joseph Frank Buster Keaton was an American actor, director, producer, writer, and stunt performer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a stoic, deadpan expression. His career declined afterward with a loss of his artistic independence when he was hired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He recovered in the 1940s, remarried, and revived his career to a degree as a comic performer for the rest of his life. Many of Keatons films from the 1920s, such as Sherlock Jr, the General, and The Cameraman, remain highly regarded, with the second of these three widely viewed as his masterpiece. Among its strongest admirers was Orson Welles, who stated that The General was cinemas highest achievement in comedy, Keaton was recognized as the seventh-greatest film director by Entertainment Weekly, and in 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him the 21st greatest male star of classic Hollywood cinema. Keaton was born into a family in Piqua, Kansas. He was named Joseph to continue a tradition on his fathers side and Frank for his maternal grandfather, later, Keaton changed his middle name to Francis. His father was Joseph Hallie Joe Keaton, who owned a traveling show with Harry Houdini called the Mohawk Indian Medicine Company, according to a frequently repeated story, which may be apocryphal, Keaton acquired the nickname Buster at about 18 months of age. Keaton told interviewer Fletcher Markle that Houdini was present one day when the young Keaton took a tumble down a flight of stairs without injury. After the infant sat up and shook off his experience, Houdini remarked, according to Keaton, in those days, the word buster was used to refer to a spill or a fall that had the potential to produce injury. After this, it was Keatons father who began to use the nickname to refer to the youngster, Keaton retold the anecdote over the years, including a 1964 interview with the CBCs Telescope. At the age of three, Keaton began performing with his parents in The Three Keatons and he first appeared on stage in 1899 in Wilmington, Delaware. The act was mainly a comedy sketch, Myra played the saxophone to one side, while Joe and Buster performed on center stage. The young Keaton would goad his father by disobeying him, a suitcase handle was sewn into Keatons clothing to aid with the constant tossing. The act evolved as Keaton learned to take trick falls safely and this knockabout style of comedy led to accusations of child abuse, and occasionally, arrest. However, Buster Keaton was always able to show the authorities that he had no bruises or broken bones. He was eventually billed as The Little Boy Who Cant Be Damaged, decades later, Keaton said that he was never hurt by his father and that the falls and physical comedy were a matter of proper technical execution
12.
Bob Hope
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Bob Hope KBE, KC*SG, KSS was an American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer, dancer, athlete, centenarian and author. With a career spanning nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in over 70 feature films and short films, in addition to hosting the Academy Awards 19 times, he appeared in many stage productions and television roles and was the author of 14 books. The song Thanks for the Memory is widely regarded as Hopes signature tune, born in Eltham, Kent, Hope arrived in America with his family at the age of four and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. He began his career in business in the early 1920s, initially on stage. He was praised for his timing, specializing in one-liners and rapid-fire delivery of jokes. He also appeared in numerous specials for NBC television, starting in 1950, Hope participated in the sports of golf and boxing and owned a small stake in his hometown baseball team, the Cleveland Indians. He died at age 100 at his home in Toluca Lake, Hope was born in Eltham, Kent the fifth of seven sons. They married in April 1891 and lived at 12 Greenwood Street in Barry, before moving to Whitehall, Bristol, and then St George, Bristol. In 1908, the family emigrated to the United States aboard the SS Philadelphia and passed through Ellis Island on March 30,1908, before moving to Cleveland, from age 12, Hope earned pocket money by busking, singing, dancing, and performing comedy. He entered many dancing and amateur talent contests and won a prize in 1915 for his impersonation of Charlie Chaplin, for a time, he attended the Boys Industrial School in Lancaster, Ohio. As an adult, he donated sizable sums of money to the institution, Hope had a brief career as a boxer in 1919, fighting under the name Packy East. He had three wins and one loss and participated in a few staged charity bouts later in life, Hope worked as a butchers assistant and a lineman in his teens and early twenties. Hope also had a stint at Chandler Motor Car Company. Deciding on a business career, he and his girlfriend signed up for dancing lessons. Encouraged after they performed in an engagement at a club, Hope formed a partnership with Lloyd Durbin. Silent film comedian Fatty Arbuckle saw them perform in 1925 and found work with a touring troupe called Hurleys Jolly Follies. Within a year, Hope had formed an act called the Dancemedians with George Byrne, Hope and Byrne had an act as a pair of Siamese twins as well and danced and sang while wearing blackface before friends advised Hope that he was funnier as himself. In 1929, Hope informally changed his first name to Bob, in one version of the story, he named himself after racecar driver Bob Burman
13.
Paramount Pictures
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Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film studio based in Hollywood, California, that has been a subsidiary of the American media conglomerate Viacom since 1994. In 1916, film producer Adolph Zukor contracted 22 actors and actresses and these fortunate few would become the first movie stars. Paramount Pictures is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America, in 2014, Paramount Pictures became the first major Hollywood studio to distribute all of its films in digital form only. Paramount is the fifth oldest surviving studio in the world after the French studios Gaumont Film Company and Pathé, followed by the Nordisk Film company. It is the last major film studio headquartered in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles. Paramount Pictures dates its existence from the 1912 founding date of the Famous Players Film Company, hungarian-born founder, Adolph Zukor, who had been an early investor in nickelodeons, saw that movies appealed mainly to working-class immigrants. With partners Daniel Frohman and Charles Frohman he planned to offer feature-length films that would appeal to the class by featuring the leading theatrical players of the time. By mid-1913, Famous Players had completed five films, and Zukor was on his way to success and its first film was Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth, which starred Sarah Bernhardt. That same year, another aspiring producer, Jesse L. Lasky, opened his Lasky Feature Play Company with money borrowed from his brother-in-law, Samuel Goldfish, the Lasky company hired as their first employee a stage director with virtually no film experience, Cecil B. DeMille, who would find a site in Hollywood, near Los Angeles, for his first feature film. Hodkinson and actor, director, producer Hobart Bosworth had started production of a series of Jack London movies, Paramount was the first successful nationwide distributor, until this time, films were sold on a statewide or regional basis which had proved costly to film producers. Also, Famous Players and Lasky were privately owned while Paramount was a corporation, in 1916, Zukor maneuvered a three-way merger of his Famous Players, the Lasky Company, and Paramount. Zukor and Lasky bought Hodkinson out of Paramount, and merged the three companies into one, with only the exhibitor-owned First National as a rival, Famous Players-Lasky and its Paramount Pictures soon dominated the business. It was this system that gave Paramount a leading position in the 1920s and 1930s, the driving force behind Paramounts rise was Zukor. In 1926, Zukor hired independent producer B. P. Schulberg and they purchased the Robert Brunton Studios, a 26-acre facility at 5451 Marathon Street for US$1 million. In 1927, Famous Players-Lasky took the name Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation, three years later, because of the importance of the Publix Theatres, it became Paramount Publix Corporation. In 1928, Paramount began releasing Inkwell Imps, animated cartoons produced by Max, the Fleischers, veterans in the animation industry, were among the few animation producers capable of challenging the prominence of Walt Disney. The Paramount newsreel series Paramount News ran from 1927 to 1957, Paramount was also one of the first Hollywood studios to release what were known at that time as talkies, and in 1929, released their first musical, Innocents of Paris
14.
Virginia Rappe
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Virginia Rappe was an American model and silent film actress. She worked mostly in bit parts, and is best known for her death after attending a party with actor Roscoe Arbuckle. Virginia Caroline Rapp was born in Chicago to a mother, Mabel Rapp. Virginia was then raised by her grandmother in Chicago, at age 14 she began working as a commercial and art model in Chicago. In 1916 she relocated to San Francisco to pursue her career as an artists model, shortly after the engagement Moscovitz was killed in a streetcar accident, whereupon she moved to Los Angeles. In early 1917 she was hired by director Fred Balshofer and given a prominent role in his Paradise Garden opposite popular screen star Harold Lockwood. This film was not released until 1920 when Balshofer recut it and released it under the title An Adventuress, in 1919, she began a relationship with director/producer Henry Lehrman, the two eventually became engaged. She appeared in at least four films for Lehrman, His Musical Sneeze, A Twilight Baby, Punch of the Irish, however, because many of Lehrmans films are lost, the exact number of roles she performed for him cannot be known. The circumstances of Rappes death in 1921 became a Hollywood scandal and were covered widely by the media of the time. During a party held on Labor Day, September 5,1921, in Roscoe Fatty Arbuckles suite, number 1219, at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco and she died on September 9,1921, from a ruptured bladder and secondary peritonitis. She is buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, rumors arose, supposedly to besmirch her character, that she had given birth to a child in Chicago in 1918, and that the child was given to foster care. These rumors were proven false by autopsy, the exact events of that party are still unclear, with witnesses relating numerous versions of what happened. It was alleged that she died as a result of a violent sexual assault by Arbuckle, Arbuckles accuser, Maude Delmont, had accompanied Rappe to the party, she had first met Rappe only a few days earlier. Subsequent witnesses testified that Rappe had for some time suffered from cystitis, witnesses also testified that she had previously suffered from venereal disease, so there were allegations that her death was brought on by her health rather than by an assault. We feel that an injustice has been done him… there was not the slightest proof adduced to connect him in any way with the commission of a crime. Arbuckles reputation and career were ruined by the scandal
15.
Westin St. Francis
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The Westin St. Francis is a historic luxury hotel located on Powell and Geary Streets on Union Square in San Francisco, California. The two twelve-story south wings of the hotel were built in 1904, and the north wing was completed in 1913. The St. Francis Hotel was begun by the trustees of the estate of Charles Crocker and it was built as an investment for Crockers two young children, Templeton Crocker and Jenny Crocker. It was originally meant to be called The Crocker Hotel, but alternatively it took the name of one of the earliest San Francisco Gold Rush hotels, designed by Bliss and Faville, the St. The Hotel opened on March 21,1904, and, along with the older Palace Hotel on Market Street, the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 badly frightened the guests, but did no structural damage to the hotel. A hotel page described the pandemonium inside the hotel, I found the floor crowded with screaming guests running every which way, as the elevators were all out of order the guests headed for the marble stairs, which were broken and cracked and falling below. The hotel manager, James Woods, wearing his bathrobe, tried to calm the guests, Francis, where the restaurant was still open for breakfast. Caruso carried with him a photograph of President Theodore Roosevelt. The earthquake did not cause structural damage to the hotel. It also broke the water mains, so firemen were unable to fight the fires, an hour after midnight the fire reached Union Square and gutted the hotel. When the fire was put out three days later, it was found that the St. Francis had suffered little serious damage. The copper cornice had been warped, and some of the enamelled facing bricks had fallen off in the heat, a small temporary hotel, the little St. Francis, with 110 rooms, was built in the middle of Union Square, to house temporary guests. The hotel re-opened in late 1907, former President Theodore Roosevelt stayed at the hotel in July 1915, and used the occasion to denounce his bitter enemy, President Woodrow Wilson, and to call for American entry into World War I. In September 1919, President Woodrow Wilson stayed at the St. Francis as he toured the country as part of his effort to win support for American entry into the League of Nations. The 1920 Democratic National Convention was held in San Francisco, and several presidential candidates stayed at the St. Francis, during the 1920s, the St. Francis became the fashionable place to stay for celebrities and film actors coming from Hollywood. St. Francis guests included silent film stars Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, cowboy star Tom Mix, Mabel Normand, Fatty Arbuckle, one of the appeals of the St. Francis was its jazz orchestra, led by a young musician named Art Hickman. His band, which in 1914 included Bert Kelly, played in the Rose Room of the hotel, before going on to fame at the New York Biltmore Hotel. During his time at the St. Francis, he helped popularize such musicians as Paul Whiteman and Ferde Grofe who, after leaving the St. Francis orchestra, part of the fame of the St. Francis was because of its legendary chef, Victor Hirtzler
16.
Warner Bros.
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Entertainment Inc. – colloquially known as Warner Bros. or Warner Bros. It is one of the Big Six major American film studios, Warner Bros. is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America. The companys name originated from the four founding Warner brothers, Harry, Albert, Sam, Jack, the youngest, was born in London, Ontario. The three elder brothers began in the theater business, having acquired a movie projector with which they showed films in the mining towns of Pennsylvania. In the beginning, Sam and Albert Warner invested $150 to present Life of an American Fireman and they opened their first theater, the Cascade, in New Castle, Pennsylvania, in 1903. When the original building was in danger of being demolished, the modern Warner Bros. called the current building owners, the owners noted people across the country had asked them to protect it for its historical significance. In 1904, the Warners founded the Pittsburgh-based Duquesne Amusement & Supply Company, in 1912, Harry Warner hired an auditor named Paul Ashley Chase. By the time of World War I they had begun producing films, in 1918 they opened the first Warner Bros. studio on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Sam and Jack produced the pictures, while Harry and Albert, along with their auditor and now controller Chase, handled finance and distribution in New York City. During World War I their first nationally syndicated film, My Four Years in Germany, on April 4,1923, with help from money loaned to Harry by his banker Motley Flint, they formally incorporated as Warner Brothers Pictures, Incorporated. The first important deal was the acquisition of the rights to Avery Hopwoods 1919 Broadway play, The Gold Diggers, however, Rin Tin Tin, a dog brought from France after World War I by an American soldier, established their reputation. Rin Tin Tin debuted in the feature Where the North Begins, the movie was so successful that Jack signed the dog to star in more films for $1,000 per week. Rin Tin Tin became the top star. Jack nicknamed him The Mortgage Lifter and the success boosted Darryl F. Zanucks career, Zanuck eventually became a top producer and between 1928 and 1933 served as Jacks right-hand man and executive producer, with responsibilities including day-to-day film production. More success came after Ernst Lubitsch was hired as head director, lubitschs film The Marriage Circle was the studios most successful film of 1924, and was on The New York Times best list for that year. Despite the success of Rin Tin Tin and Lubitsch, Warners remained a lesser studio, Sam and Jack decided to offer Broadway actor John Barrymore the lead role in Beau Brummel. The film was so successful that Harry signed Barrymore to a contract, like The Marriage Circle. By the end of 1924, Warner Bros. was arguably Hollywoods most successful independent studio, as the studio prospered, it gained backing from Wall Street, and in 1924 Goldman Sachs arranged a major loan
17.
Roscoe Conkling
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Roscoe Conkling was a politician from New York who served both as a member of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. While in the House, Representative Conkling served as guard for Representative Thaddeus Stevens, a sharp-tongued anti slavery representative. Conkling, who was temperate and detested tobacco, was known for being a body builder through regularly exercising and boxing, Conkling was elected to the Senate in 1867 as a leading Radical, who supported the rights of African Americans during Reconstruction. As leader of the Stalwarts, Conkling controlled patronage at the New York Customs House, although Senator Conkling was supported by President Ulysses S. Grant, Conkling did not support Grants Civil Service Commission reform initiative. Conkling also refused to accept Grants nomination of him as Chief Justice of the United States, the control over patronage led to a bitter conflict between Senator Conkling and President Rutherford B. Conkling also opposed Hayess appointment of William M. Evarts as Secretary of State, Conkling publicly led opposition to President Hayess attempt to impose Civil Service Reform on the New York Customs House. In 1880, Conkling supported Ulysses S. Grant for President, however, Conklings conflict with President Garfield over New York Customs House patronage led to his resignation from the Senate in May 1881. After Garfields assassination in 1881, Vice President Chester A. Arthur became President, when President Arthur offered his friend Conkling an associate justiceship on the Supreme Court, Conkling accepted the offer and was approved by the Senate. However, Conkling later changed his mind and refused to serve and he practiced law in New York until his death in 1888. Conkling was born on October 30,1829 in Albany, New York to Alfred Conkling, Representative and federal judge and his wife Eliza Cockburn. Raised in an atmosphere of law and politics, early associations with figures of the day left an impression on young Roscoe. Roscoe then entered the Auburn Academy in 1843, where he remained for three years, even as a schoolboy, Roscoes intimidating appearance and intellect demanded attention. At the age of seventeen, Roscoe opted to forego a college education in favor of studying law under Joshua A, spencer and Francis Kernan in Utica, New York. Roscoe immediately made an impression upon his preceptors, when asked to supply a Whig orator who could stand up to Democratic bullies at a local village meeting, Spencers response was I shall send Mr. Conkling, I think he will make himself heard. Quickly integrating himself into the society in Utica, Roscoe certainly made himself heard on a variety of issues, especially those concerning human rights. Additionally, as Theodore M. Pomeroy recalls, even fifteen years before the Civil War Roscoe displayed a deep abhorrence for slavery, or as he described it and he married Julia Catherine Seymour, sister of the Democratic politician and Governor of New York Horatio Seymour. His first political endeavor came in 1848, when he made speeches on behalf of Taylor. He was admitted to the bar in 1850, and in the year became district attorney of Oneida County by appointment of Governor Fish
18.
Santa Ana, California
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Santa Ana /ˌsæntə ˈænə/ is the county seat and second most populous city in Orange County, California. The United States Census Bureau estimated its 2011 population at 329,427, Santa Ana is located in Southern California, adjacent to the Santa Ana River, about 10 miles away from the California coast. Founded in 1869, the city is part of the Greater Los Angeles Area, Santa Ana is a very densely populated city, ranking fourth nationally in that regard among cities of over 300,000 residents. In 2011 Forbes ranked Santa Ana the fourth-safest city of over 250,000 residents in the United States, Santa Ana lends its name to the Santa Ana Freeway, which runs through the city. It also shares its name with the nearby Santa Ana Mountains, and the Santa Ana winds, the current Office of Management and Budget metropolitan designation for the Orange County Area is Santa Ana–Anaheim–Irvine, California. Members of the Tongva and Juaneño/Luiseño are indigenous to the area, the Tongva called the Santa Ana area Hotuuk. After the 1769 expedition of Gaspar de Portolá out of Mexico City, then capitol of New Spain, on November 1,1776, Mission San Juan Capistrano was established within this valley. This Santa Ana Valley comprised most of what is now called Orange County, in 1810, year of the commencement of the war of Mexican Independence, Jose Antonio Yorba, a sergeant of the Spanish army, was granted land that he called Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana. Yorbas rancho included the lands where the cities of Olive, Orange, Irvine, Yorba Linda, Villa Park, Santa Ana, Tustin, Costa Mesa and unincorporated El Modena and this rancho was the only land grant in Orange County granted under Spanish Rule. Surrounding land grants in Orange County were granted after Mexican Independence by the new government, after the Mexican-American war ended in 1848, Alta California became part of the United States and American settlers arrived in this area. Claimed in 1869 by Kentuckian William H, by 1905 the Los Angeles Interurban Railway, a predecessor to the Pacific Electric Railway, extended from Los Angeles to Santa Ana, running along Fourth Street downtown. Firestone Boulevard, the first direct route between Los Angeles and Santa Ana, opened in 1935, it was enlarged into the Santa Ana Freeway in 1953. Santa Ana was the home of the original Glenn L. Martin aviation company, during World War II, the Santa Ana Army Air Base was built as a training center for the United States Army Air Forces. The base was responsible for continued growth in Santa Ana. In 1958, Fashion Square Mall was built, adjoining the existing Bullocks Department Store building that was built in 1954 and it opened north of downtown and became a major retail center for the area. In 1987, the mall was renovated and became MainPlace Mall. The current mayor of Santa Ana is Miguel A. Pulido, the first mayor of Latino descent in the citys history, since the 1980s, Santa Ana has been characterized by an effort to revitalize the downtown area which had declined in influence. The Santa Ana Artists Village was created around Cal State Fullertons Grand Central Art Center to attract artists and young professionals to live-work lofts, the process has continued into 2009 with the reopening of the historic Yost Theater
19.
Frank Bacon (actor)
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Frank Bacon, was an American character actor and playwright who after years of relative obscurity achieved great success as he entered the twilight of his career. His death from an attack followed a week later. Bacon was born on his parent’s farm about five miles west of Yuba City, California, Bacon was raised in San Jose where he attended school before dropping out in his early teens to work at a nearby sheep ranch. At around the age of 17 Bacon became a photographer’s apprentice, after several years he abandoned photography for newspaper work and became an advertising agent for the San Jose Mercury. A few years later he purchased The Napa Reporter and not long afterwards founded The Mountain View Register, after a failed foray into politics and growing disenchantment with the newspaper business, Bacon chose to “turn respectable” and joined a San Jose stock company. By 1894 he was a member of a company with D. K. Higgins and Georgia Waldron playing the villain in Higgins’ melodrama. He later formed a company with his wife and a few other actors. During this period, eight-year-old Roscoe Arbuckle made his debut with Bacons company at Santa Ana. Bacon was a member of the company at the Alcazar Theatre for many years. Afterwards he became a comedian at Oaklands Ye Liberty Playhouse and toured with theatrical. Bacon made his Broadway debut at the Gaiety Theatre in December 1912 playing Papa Carr in Carlyle Moore’s long running comedy, the play, originally titled A House Divided, is about Lightnin’ Bill Jones, a “lovable old liar” not known for his swiftness of foot. Lightnin has wife troubles, money troubles, and to question a set of deadpan retorts that exasperate all those in the vicinity. The play was first produced as one-act plays in tours following the San Francisco earthquake, the play was revised a number of times, the last with the help of writer Winchell Smith. Bacon had sold the rights to his play, Smith, seeing the potential in the concept. The two became partners after Smith saw Bacon in Cinderella Man and proposed they work together on some future project, Bacon suggested A House Divided, Smith agreed, and soon what began as a two-week rewrite grew to take in the better part of two years. The resulting play ran on Broadway for three years, almost twice as long as any production to that point, playing the lead role, Bacon was so obsessive about the plays success that he spent his few days off in the theater, watching his understudy in the part. By all accounts, Bacon had a laconic, casual style of underplaying that was unusual, at the close of the record run of Lightnin’, U. S. President Harding sent the playwrights a letter of congratulations, which was read aloud onstage by his Secretary of Labor, john Ford adapted Lightnin as a silent film in 1925 with veteran actor and director Jay Hunt taking the part of Lightnin Bill Jones
20.
Orchestra pit
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An orchestra pit is the area in a theater in which musicians perform. Orchestral pits are utilized in forms of theatre that require music or in cases when incidental music is required, the conductor is typically positioned at the front of the orchestral pit facing the stage. An orchestra pit can be any size, but it is big enough to fit a small sized orchestra or other small ensemble. Many orchestra pits are designed to have reasonably low decibel levels. Typically, a platform in the pit accommodates the conductor, so that he or she can be seen by all of the musicians. Most pits are designed as a lift, jackscrew lift, locking chain lift, rack and pinion lift. The lift can usually be lowered all the way to a space under the stage, or halfway to floor level. When lowered all the way, the lift can be filled with equipment or props from underneath the stage, the pit can be raised so it is level with the floor of the audience seats to accommodate more seating area. This is common when the stage is being used for a rock show, when the pit is raised all the way up, level with the stage, it can be used as part of the stage to give more room for larger shows. Having a lift set up this way gives the theatre much more flexibility and ability to adapt to different events that occur in the theatre and it allows many different setups, each one personal to certain types of productions. Earlier in theatre history from 1500-1650 the orchestra pit was also called the yard and it was generally very crowded and hard to see the full stage. The amount of space in the yard varied with different stages, everyone else would sit in the normal seating where the whole stage was visible. Since then the pit has been changed and enhanced to work better with modern theatre. Now orchestra pits are designed much better and have a lot of different uses and this way the director of the orchestra is able to see what is happening on stage and has a better feel for when to start and stop the music. Sometimes there are very precise cues that director needs to give for certain sound effects, before the 19th century the conductor stood at the stage edge, facing the audience and orchestra, with his back toward the onstage performers as shown in the Palais Garnier orchestra pit plan. During the late 19th century the typical conductor location changed, now the conductor stands in front of the first row of audience, with his back to the audience, facing the orchestra and facing the performers on stage. Musical theater Opera Orchestra Pit orchestra
21.
Vaudeville
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Vaudeville is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment. It was especially popular in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s, a typical vaudeville performance is made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill. A vaudeville performer is often referred to as a vaudevillian, Vaudeville developed from many sources, including the concert saloon, minstrelsy, freak shows, dime museums, and literary American burlesque. Called the heart of American show business, vaudeville was one of the most popular types of entertainment in North America for several decades, the origin of this term is obscure, but is often explained as being derived from the French expression voix de ville. A second speculation is that it comes from the songs on satire by poet Olivier Basselin. Some, however, preferred the term variety to what manager Tony Pastor called its sissy. Thus, vaudeville was marketed as variety well into the 20th century, with its first subtle appearances within the early 1860s, vaudeville was not initially a common form of entertainment. The form gradually evolved from the saloon and variety hall into its mature form throughout the 1870s and 1880s. This more gentle form was known as Polite Vaudeville, in the years before the American Civil War, entertainment existed on a different scale. Certainly, variety theatre existed before 1860 in Europe and elsewhere, in the US, as early as the first decades of the 19th century, theatregoers could enjoy a performance consisting of Shakespeare plays, acrobatics, singing, dancing, and comedy. As the years progressed, people seeking diversified amusement found a number of ways to be entertained. Vaudeville was characterized by traveling companies touring through cities and towns, a significant influence also came from Dutch minstrels and comedians. Vaudeville incorporated these various itinerant amusements into a stable, institutionalized form centered in Americas growing urban hubs, pastors experiment proved successful, and other managers soon followed suit. B. F. Keith took the step, starting in Boston. Later, E. F. Albee, adoptive grandfather of the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Edward Albee, circuits such as those managed by Keith-Albee provided vaudevilles greatest economic innovation and the principal source of its industrial strength. They enabled a chain of allied vaudeville houses that remedied the chaos of the booking system by contracting acts for regional and national tours. These could easily be lengthened from a few weeks to two years, Albee also gave national prominence to vaudevilles trumpeting polite entertainment, a commitment to entertainment equally inoffensive to men, women and children. Acts that violated this ethos were admonished and threatened with expulsion from the remaining performances or were canceled altogether
22.
Sid Grauman
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The film was Robin Hood starring Douglas Fairbanks and the premiere was the opening night of the theatre, October 18,1922. He was the son of David Grauman and Rosa Goldsmith, Graumans parents were theatrical performers on various show circuits. Born to Jewish parents, Grauman and his father went to Dawson City and he worked there as a paperboy. Since newspapers were scarce, they could command a dollar each, Grauman told a story about a store owner who purchased a newspaper from him for $50. The shopkeeper then read the paper aloud in his store, charging admission to local miners, in the Yukon, the young Grauman learned a lesson which would serve him the rest of his life, that people would willingly pay handsomely for entertainment. Sid and his father began organizing events like boxing matches, which paid them well and it was also in the Yukon that Grauman saw his first motion picture. A failed prospector in the Klondike gold rush, David Grauman initially took his son to the Klondike with the idea of building a theater there. Though they did not strike gold, both of the Graumans were made wealthy by their Klondike entertainment activities. When his fathers sister became ill and he left the territory to care for her and his parents settled in San Francisco and Grauman joined them there in 1900. David and his son decided to open a theater in San Francisco. Their first venture was on Market Street near Mason called the Unique Theater, before long they added motion pictures to the vaudeville shows, and another theater called the Lyceum. As the theater manager, though Sid Grauman had seen just about every type of performance, there were some that startled and amazed him, the Graumans were also instrumental in establishing the Northwest Vaudeville Company, which stretched from San Francisco to Minneapolis and Portland, Oregon. The association brought quality live entertainment at reasonable prices to the Northwest area of the US, David Grauman suffered enough financial loss to have the need to take a business partner in his Lyceum Theater, and to accept an offer from the partner to buy him out in 1905. He later arranged to take over the lease of the Lyceum, by early 1906, the Graumans had lost their lease of the Unique Theater. The building had been purchased by the president of the Orpheum Theater circuit, the structure was able to house a theater only because Grauman had established one there before a fire ordinance prohibiting it was passed. Before his tenancy was over, Grauman hired a crew of men with axes to demolish the interior of the Unique, Sid was able to save one of the theaters movie projectors from the ruins. He was also able to get a tent from an evangelist preacher in Oakland, putting those together with some pews from a destroyed church, he set up on the site where the Unique once stood. The Graumans posted a sign outside of their makeshift theater that said, Nothing to fall on you, the family received a commendation from the City of San Francisco for their help in boosting citizens morale during the trying times
23.
Alexander Pantages
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Alexander Pantages was a Greek American vaudeville and early motion picture producer and impresario who created a large and powerful circuit of theatres across the western United States and Canada. At the height of his empire, he owned or operated 84 theatres across the United States and he was known as a tireless operator and a particularly ruthless one. Despite his pioneering spirit and promoting of the movie palace concept and he died in 1936 worth only a fraction of his original net worth. There is dispute about his year of birth, but it is likely that he was born in 1867 on the island of Andros and it is suggested that he was born Pericles Pantages but changed it to Alexander when he heard about Alexander the Great. In a personal correspondence between Rodney Pantages, son of Alexander, and Arthur Dean Tarrach, Pantages biographer, this claim is denied, at the age of nine he ran away while with his father on a business trip in Cairo, Egypt. He then went to sea and spent the two years working as a deck hand. His ties to his homeland seem mercurial, he never set foot on Greece again although he did assist his relatives financially and even brought his brother, Nicholas and he used to call himself King Greek, perhaps in emulation of Louis B. He headed north, stopping briefly in Seattle but eventually settling in San Francisco where he worked as a waiter and also, briefly and unsuccessfully, as a boxer. He left San Francisco in 1897, and made his way to Canadas Yukon Territory during the Klondike Gold Rush, in 1902, Pantages left Dawson and moved to Seattle, Washington, where he opened the Crystal Theater, a short-form vaudeville and motion picture house of his own. He ran the operation almost entirely by himself, and charged 10 cents admission and this took place a few months after Rockwell had opened up a small storefront movie theater in Vancouver, and later built a theater there in 1907 that stood until 2011, and another in 1914. That same year, he married a musician named Lois Mendenhall, Klondike Kate filed a breach-of-promise-to-marry lawsuit against him and later wrote that he had stolen from her the money with which he purchased the Crystal. It would be more than two decades before they saw each other again, in 1904, Pantages opened a second Seattle theatre, the Pantages, in 1906 he added a stock theater, the Lois, named after his wife. By 1920, he owned more than 30 vaudeville theatres and controlled, through management contracts, perhaps 60 more and these theatres formed the Pantages Circuit, a chain of theatres into which he could book and rotate touring acts on long-term contracts. In Seattle Pantages competed with another impresario, John Considine and their competition included such clandestine methods as stealing acts from each other and committing various forms of sabotage. This competition lasted for decades and was one of the defining features of the vaudeville circuit of the times. His theatres were elegant and efficiently operated and he showcased both film and live vaudeville to his audiences. The starting point of the Pantages Circuit was the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, all Pantages tours originated in Winnipeg and moved from there around the circuit of theatres. While the majority of the theatres were owned by others and managed by Pantages, he became, from 1911 on and his favoured architect in these ventures was B. Marcus Priteca, of Seattle, who regularly worked with muralist Anthony Heinsbergen
24.
West Coast of the United States
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The West Coast or Pacific Coast is the coastline along which the contiguous Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. As a region, this term most often refers to the states of California. More specifically, it refers to an area defined on the east by the Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada and Mojave Desert, the U. S. Census groups the five states of California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii together as the Pacific States division. As of the 2010 Census, the population of the Census Bureaus Pacific Region was approximately 47.8 million – about 15. 3% of US population. The largest city on the west coast of the United States is Los Angeles, small isolated groups of hunter-gatherers migrated alongside herds of large herbivores far into Alaska. Between 16,500 BCE and 13,500 BCE, ice-free corridors developed along the Pacific coast and valleys of North America, Alaska Natives, indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, and California indigenous peoples eventually descended from the Paleo-Indians. They developed various languages and established trade routes, later, Spanish, British, French, Russian, and American explorers and settlers began colonizing the area. The West Coast of the United States has a climate in its Northern edge towards the Canada–US border. The coastline sees significantly mild temperatures when compared to the areas during summer. In far Northern California there is a difference of 17 °C between Eurekas and Willow Creek in spite of only 25 miles separating the locations and Willow Creek being located at a 500 metres elevation, coastal fog is also prevalent in keeping shoreline temperatures cool. Since the West Coast has been populated by more recently than the East Coast. Additionally, its demographic composition underlies its cultural difference from the rest of the United States. Californias history first as a major Spanish colony, and later Mexican territory, has given the lower West Coast a distinctive Hispanic tone, which it also shares with the rest of the Southwest. Similarly, two of the three cities in which Asian Americans have concentrated, San Francisco and Los Angeles, are located on the West Coast, San Franciscos Chinatown, the oldest in North America, is a vibrant cultural center. The West Coast also has a large share of green cities within the United States. Other writers, like Jean Baudrillard, Mike Davis, and Umberto Eco, have made related statements on Californian culture, in the Northwest, Portland and Seattle are both considered among the coffee capitals of the world. While Starbucks originated in Seattle, both towns are known for coffee roasters and independent coffeeshops. In the Pacific Northwest at large, which includes the Canadian west coast, the culture has significantly shaped by the environment, especially by its forests, mountains
25.
Portland, Oregon
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Portland is a port and the largest city in the U. S. state of Oregon and the seat of Multnomah County. It is in the Willamette Valley region of the Pacific Northwest, at the confluence of the Willamette, the city covers 145 square miles and had an estimated population of 632,309 in 2015, making it the 26th most populous city in the United States. Approximately 2,389,228 people live in the Portland metropolitan statistical area and its Combined Statistical Area ranks 17th with a population of 3,022,178. Roughly 60% of Oregons population resides within the Portland metropolitan area, named after Portland, Maine, the Oregon settlement began to be populated in the 1830s near the end of the Oregon Trail. Its water access provided convenient transportation of goods, and the industry was a major force in the citys early economy. At the turn of the 20th century, the city had a reputation as one of the most dangerous cities in the world. After the citys economy experienced a boom during World War II. Beginning in the 1960s, Portland became noted for its liberal political values, and the city has earned a reputation as a bastion of counterculture. According to a 2009 Pew Research Center study, Portland ranks as the eighth most popular American city, the city operates with a commission-based government guided by a mayor and four commissioners as well as Metro, the only directly elected metropolitan planning organization in the United States. The city government is notable for its planning and investment in public transportation. Its climate is marked by warm, dry summers and cool and this climate is ideal for growing roses, and Portland has been called the City of Roses for over a century. Keep Portland Weird is a slogan for the city. During the prehistoric period, the land that would become Portland was flooded after the collapse of glacial dams from Lake Missoula and these massive floods occurred during the last ice age and filled the Willamette Valley with 300 to 400 feet of water. The Chinook people occupying the land which would become Portland were first documented by Meriwether Lewis, before its European settlement, the Portland Basin of the lower Columbia River and Willamette River valleys had been one of the most densely populated regions on the Pacific Coast. Large numbers of settlers began arriving in the Willamette Valley in the 1830s via the Oregon Trail. In the early 1840s a new settlement began emerging ten miles from the mouth of the Willamette River and this community was initially referred to as Stumptown and The Clearing because of the many trees cut down to allow for its growth. In 1843 William Overton saw potential in the new settlement but lacked the funds to file a land claim. For 25 cents Overton agreed to half of the 640-acre site with Asa Lovejoy of Boston
26.
Leon Errol
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Leon Errol, was an Australian-born American comedian and actor, popular in the first half of the 20th century for his appearances in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in films. According to his petition for naturalization, he first came to the United States in 1898, by 1905, in Portland, Oregon he managed a touring vaudeville company troupe, giving an early boost to the career of a young comedian named Roscoe Arbuckle. In 1908, he made the United States his home, by 1911 Errol had graduated to the New York big time in the 1911 Ziegfeld Follies on Broadway, notably in two skits with the legendary Bert Williams. Errols sister, Leda Errol was a friend of Ziegfeld Follies star Fanny Brice. He appeared every year in the Follies through 1915, when he is credited as director of the show that included W. C. Fields, Ed Wynn, as well as Marion Davies as one of the Ziegfeld Girls, Errol made his first film, a comic short subject called Nearly Spliced, in 1916, for pioneering east-coast producer George Kleine. By 1930 hed left Broadway and turned his attention to movies. The box-office for that film was disappointing, but overall Errol made a transition to films in a variety of comedy roles. His comic trademark was a wobbly, unsteady walk, moving as though on rubber legs, Errol starred in a long string of two-reel comedy shorts, which began at Columbia Pictures in 1933. Moving to RKO Radio Pictures in 1934, he continued to make six shorts per year until his death in 1951, monogram signed Errol to appear as fight manager Knobby Walsh in the eight entries of their Joe Palooka sports comedies. Leon Errols most famous appearance is in the nonsensical comedy feature Never Give a Sucker an Even Break, starring fellow vaudeville. On February 4,1950, Errol appeared on television as a guest on The Ed Wynn Show, Errols next-to-last film, Lord Epping Returns in 1951, reprised his famous characterization from Mexican Spitfire. Footage from Errols short subjects was incorporated into RKOs compilation features Variety Time, Make Mine Laughs, Footlight Varieties, RKO kept Leon Errol in the public eye by reissuing his older comedies through the mid-1950s. His RKO shorts soon became a staple of syndicated television, Errol married Stella Chatelaine in Denver, Colorado in 1906. She died on November 7,1946 in Los Angeles, five years later Errol suffered a fatal heart attack, on October 12,1951, aged 70
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Universal Pictures
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Universal Pictures is an American film studio owned by Comcast through the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. The company was founded in 1912 by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley and its studios are located in Universal City, California, and its corporate offices are located in New York City. Universal Pictures is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America and is one of Hollywoods Big Six studios. Universal Studios was founded by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, Robert H. Cochrane, one story has Laemmle watching a box office for hours, counting patrons and calculating the days takings. Within weeks of his Chicago trip, Laemmle gave up dry goods to buy the first several nickelodeons, for Laemmle and other such entrepreneurs, the creation in 1908 of the Edison-backed Motion Picture Trust meant that exhibitors were expected to pay fees for Trust-produced films they showed. Soon, Laemmle and other disgruntled nickelodeon owners decided to avoid paying Edison by producing their own pictures, in June 1909, Laemmle started the Yankee Film Company with partners Abe Stern and Julius Stern. Laemmle broke with Edisons custom of refusing to give billing and screen credits to performers, by naming the movie stars, he attracted many of the leading players of the time, contributing to the creation of the star system. In 1910, he promoted Florence Lawrence, formerly known as The Biograph Girl, the Universal Film Manufacturing Company was incorporated in New York on April 30,1912. Laemmle, who emerged as president in July 1912, was the figure in the partnership with Dintenfass, Baumann, Kessel, Powers, Swanson, Horsley. Eventually all would be out by Laemmle. Following the westward trend of the industry, by the end of 1912 the company was focusing its efforts in the Hollywood area. On March 15,1915, Laemmle opened the worlds largest motion picture production facility, Universal City Studios, studio management became the third facet of Universals operations, with the studio incorporated as a distinct subsidiary organization. Unlike other movie moguls, Laemmle opened his studio to tourists, Universal became the largest studio in Hollywood, and remained so for a decade. However, it sought an audience mostly in towns, producing mostly inexpensive melodramas, westerns. In its early years Universal released three brands of feature films — Red Feather, low-budget programmers, Bluebird, more ambitious productions, and Jewel, their prestige motion pictures. Directors included Jack Conway, John Ford, Rex Ingram, Robert Z. Leonard, George Marshall and Lois Weber, despite Laemmles role as an innovator, he was an extremely cautious studio chief. Unlike rivals Adolph Zukor, William Fox, and Marcus Loew and he also financed all of his own films, refusing to take on debt. Character actor Lon Chaney became a card for Universal in the 1920s
28.
Mack Sennett
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Mack Sennett was a Canadian-born American director and actor and was known as an innovator of slapstick comedy in film. During his lifetime he was known at times as the King of Comedy and his short Wrestling Swordfish was awarded the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in 1932 and he earned an Academy Honorary Award in 1937. Born Michael Sinnott in Richmond Ste-Bibiane Parish, Quebec, Canada, he was the son of Irish Catholic John Sinnott and Catherine Foy, the newlyweds moved the same year to Richmond, where John Sinnott was hired as a laborer. By 1883, when Michaels brother George was born, John Sinnott was working in Richmond as an innkeeper, John Sinnott and Catherine Foy had all their children and raised their family in Richmond, then a small Eastern Townships village. At that time, Michaels grandparents were living in Danville, Québec, Michael Sinnott moved to Connecticut when he was 17 years old. He lived for a while in Northampton, Massachusetts, where, according to his autobiography and he claimed that the most respected lawyer in town, Northampton mayor Calvin Coolidge, as well as Sennetts own mother, tried to talk him out of his musical ambitions. In New York City, Sennett became an actor, singer, dancer, clown, set designer, a major distinction in his acting career, often overlooked, is the fact that Sennett played Sherlock Holmes eleven times, albeit as a parody, between 1911 and 1913. With financial backing from Adam Kessel and Charles O. Bauman of the New York Motion Picture Company, Michael Mack Sennett founded Keystone Studios in Edendale, the original main building which was the first totally enclosed film stage and studio ever constructed, is still there today. Mack Sennetts slapstick comedies were noted for their wild car chases, additionally, Sennetts first female comedian was Mabel Normand, who became a major star under his direction and with whom he embarked on a tumultuous romantic relationship. Sennett also developed the Kid Comedies, a forerunner of the Our Gang films, two of those often named as Bathing Beauties do not belong on the list, Mabel Normand and Gloria Swanson. Mabel Normand was a player, and her 1912 8-minute film The Water Nymph may have been the direct inspiration for the Bathing Beauties. Although Gloria Swanson worked for Sennett in 1916 and was photographed in a suit, she was also a star. Not individually featured or named, many of young women ascended to significant careers of their own. They included Juanita Hansen, Claire Anderson, Marie Prevost, Phyllis Haver, in the 1920s Sennetts Bathing Beauties remained popular enough to provoke imitators like the Christie Studios Bathing Beauties and Fox Film Corporations Sunshine Girls. The Sennett Bathing Beauties would continue to appear through 1928, in 1917, Sennett gave up the Keystone trademark and organized his own company, Mack Sennett Comedies Corporation. Sennett went on to more ambitious comedy short films and a few feature-length films. During the 1920s, his subjects were in much demand, featuring stars like Billy Bevan, Andy Clyde, Harry Gribbon, Vernon Dent, Alice Day, Ralph Graves, Charlie Murray. He produced several features with his brightest stars such as Ben Turpin, many of Sennetts films of the early 1920s were inherited by Warner Bros
29.
Keystone Cops
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The Keystone Cops were fictional incompetent policemen, featured in silent film comedies in the early 20th century. The movies were produced by Mack Sennett for his Keystone Film Company between 1912 and 1917, the idea for the Keystone Cops came from Hank Mann, who also played police chief Tehiezel in the first film before being replaced by Ford Sterling. Their first film was Hoffmeyers Legacy but their popularity stemmed from the 1913 short The Bangville Police starring Mabel Normand, as early as 1914, Sennet shifted the Keystone Cops from starring roles to background ensemble, in support of comedians like Charlie Chaplin and Fatty Arbuckle. John, and Wished on Mabel with Arbuckle and Normand, among others, comedian/actors Chester Conklin, Jimmy Finlayson, Ford Sterling and director Del Lord were also Keystone Cops. In 2010, the previously lost short A Thief Catcher was rediscovered at a sale in Michigan. The short, filmed in 1914, stars Ford Sterling, Mack Swain, Edgar Kennedy, bag o Rags, the Keystone Kops unofficial theme music, was composed in 1912 by William Mac McKanless, an African-American orchestra leader, pianist and songwriter. The original Keystone Cops numbered only seven, George Jeske, Bobby Dunn, Mack Riley, Charles Avery, Slim Summerville, Edgar Kennedy, Mack Sennett continued to use the Keystone Cops intermittently through the 1920s. By the time sound arrived, the Keystone Cops popularity had waned. This footage has been used countless times in later productions purporting to use silent-era material, the Staub version of the Keystone Cops became a template for later re-creations. 20th Century Foxs 1939 feature Hollywood Cavalcade had Buster Keaton in a Keystone chase scene, however, during his own silent film career, the nearest Keaton had appeared in a police comedy was The Goat and Cops. Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops included a lengthy chase scene, mel Brooks directed a car chase scene in the Keystone Cops style in his comedy film Silent Movie. By the 1950s surviving silent movie comedians could be pressed into service as Keystone Cops regardless of whether they appeared with the troupe authentically, in the This Is Your Life TV tribute to Mack Sennett, several Sennett alumni ran on stage dressed as Keystone Cops. The name has since used to criticize any group for its mistakes, particularly if the mistakes happened after a great deal of energy and activity. For example, the June 2004 election campaign of the Liberal Party of Canada was compared with the Keystone Kops running around by one of its parliamentary members, Carolyn Parrish. A2012 U. S. National Transportation Safety Board report investigating Canadian energy company Enbridges handling of a July 2010 pipeline spill in the Kalamazoo River compared it to the Keystone Cops. In sport, the term has come into usage by television commentators, particularly in the United Kingdom. The rugby commentator Liam Toland uses the term to describe a teams incompetent performance on the pitch, the phrase Keystone cops defending has become a favorite catchphrase for describing a situation in an English football match where a defensive error or a series of defensive errors leads to a goal. According to Dave Filoni, supervising director of the television series Star Wars, The Clone Wars
30.
Enrico Caruso
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Enrico Caruso was an Italian operatic tenor. He sang to acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe. Caruso also made approximately 260 commercially released recordings from 1902 to 1920, all of these recordings, which span most of his stage career, remain available today on CDs and as downloads and digital streams. Enrico Caruso came from a poor but not destitute background, born in Naples in the Via San Giovannello agli Ottocalli 7 on 25 February 1873, he was baptised the next day in the adjacent Church of San Giovanni e Paolo. His parents originally came from Piedimonte dAlife in the Province of Benevento, in the Province of Caserta in Campania, called Errico in accordance with the Neapolitan language, he would later adopt the formal Italian version of his given name, Enrico. This change came at the suggestion of a singing teacher, Caruso was the third of seven children and one of only three to survive infancy. There is a story of Carusos parents having had 21 children,18 of whom died in infancy. However, on the basis of research, biographers Pierre Key, Francis Robinson. Caruso himself and his brother Giovanni may have been the source of the exaggerated number, Carusos widow Dorothy also included the story in a memoir that she wrote about her husband. She quotes the tenor, speaking of his mother, Anna Caruso, twenty boys and one girl – too many. Carusos father, Marcellino, was a mechanic and foundry worker, initially, Marcellino thought his son should adopt the same trade, and at the age of 11, the boy was apprenticed to a mechanical engineer who constructed public water fountains. Caruso later worked alongside his father at the Meuricoffre factory in Naples, at his mothers insistence, he also attended school for a time, receiving a basic education under the tutelage of a local priest. He learned to write in a script and studied technical draftsmanship. During this period he sang in his church choir, and his voice showed enough promise for him to contemplate a career in music. Caruso was encouraged in his musical ambitions by his mother. To raise cash for his family, he work as a street singer in Naples. Aged 18, he used the fees he had earned by singing at an Italian resort to buy his first pair of new shoes and his progress as a paid entertainer was interrupted, however, by 45 days of compulsory military service. He completed this in 1894, resuming his voice lessons upon discharge from the army
31.
Al St. John
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Al St. John was an American film actor. In his persona of Fuzzy Q, Jones, St. John basically defined the role and concept of comical sidekick to cowboy heroes from 1930 to 1951. Born in Santa Ana, California to Walter St. John and Nora Arbuckle, he entered silent films around 1912 and his uncle on his mothers side, Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle, may have helped him in his early days at Mack Sennett Studios, but talent kept him working. St. John frequently appeared as Arbuckles mischievously villainous rival for the attentions of leading ladies such as Mabel Normand and worked with Arbuckle, the most critically praised film from St. Johns period with Arbuckle remains Fatty and Mabel Adrift with Normand. When Arbuckle formed his own company, he brought St. John with him and recruited stage star Buster Keaton into his films. Dozens of St. Johns early films were screened during the 56-film Arbuckle retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 2006, during the sound era St. John was mainly seen as an increasingly scruffy and bearded comic character. He played this role in Buster Keatons 1937 comedy Love Nest on Wheels. That same year he began supporting cowboy stars Fred Scott and later Jack Randall, for that studio, he played Fuzzy Q. Jones in the Billy the Kid series starring Bob Steele, the Lone Rider series, and the Billy the Kid/Billy Carson series starring Buster Crabbe. The name Fuzzy originally belonged to a different actor, John Forrest “Fuzzy“ Knight, as the studio first intended to hire Knight for the western series but then gave the role to St. John instead, who took on the nickname of his rival for his screen character. Exhibitors loved Fuzzy, who could be counted on to attract moviegoers, fuzzys character was the main box-office draw in these films when shown in England and Europe. These ultra-low-budget Westerns took only a bit more than a week to film, so that Crabbe, when Crabbe left PRC, St. John was paired with new star Lash LaRue. Ultimately, St. John made more than 80 Westerns as Fuzzy, St. John also created a character, Stoney, in the film The Law of 45s that later appeared, but played by different actors, in the continuing Western film series The Three Mesquiteers. St. Johns last film was released in 1952, from that time on until his death in 1963 in Lyons, Georgia, he made personal appearances at fairs and rodeos, and traveled with the Tommy Scott Wild West Show. Altogether, Al St. John acted in 346 movies, spanning four decades from 1912 to 1952 and he was working with a traveling Wild West show in Georgia and was waiting to go on when he suffered a massive heart attack and died at age 70. Al St. John filmography Those Great Cowboy Sidekicks, by David Rothel, Fuzzy St. John, Our Fuzzy Q. Jones, by Bobby J. Copeland, ISBN 978-0-944019-57-3
32.
Out West (1918 film)
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Out West is a 1918 American short comedy film, a satire on contemporary westerns, starring Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle, Buster Keaton, and Al St. John. It was the first of Arbuckles Comique films to be filmed on the west coast, the idea for the story came from Natalie Talmadge, who was later to become Keatons first wife. The film contains racial stereotypes and attitudes, including a scene in which a gang of rowdy cowboys make a black man, played by Ernie Morrison Sr. dance by shooting at his feet. Arbuckle plays a drifter who has caught a ride hiding in a water tank but is thrown off the train after being discovered stealing food from the passengers. He is chased by a group of Indians who intend to kill, later Hickup returns, this time drunk and causing chaos in the bar. After he begins forcing himself on a young lady Salvation Sue, The Bartender, when their attempts to knock him out by breaking bottles over his head and even shooting him in the back prove ineffective, they manage to subdue him by tickling him until he flees. Humiliated, Hickup attempts to gain his revenge by kidnapping Sue and riding out of the town with her as his gang keep the bartender, the bartender eventually breaks free and chases Hickup back to his shack as the Sheriff holds off Hickups men. After once again subduing Hickup by tickling him, the bartender, Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle as Train Rider, Bartender Buster Keaton as Sheriff, saloon owner Al St. John as Wild Bill Hickup Alice Lake as Salvation Army Woman Joe Keaton as Man on train Ernie Morrison Sr. Like many American films of the time, Out West was subject to cuts by city and state film censorship boards. For example, the Chicago Board of Censors required a cut of the scene of arrows in mans back and their removal, man burning back with gas flames, and the shooting of the bartender. Variety gave the film a review in its January 25,1918 issue. Keatons comic tumbles were singled out for praise, as was Arbuckles direction of the film, list of American films of 1918 Fatty Arbuckle filmography Buster Keaton filmography Out West in Variety Weekly
33.
Fred Astaire
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Fred Astaire was an American dancer, singer, actor, choreographer and television presenter. His stage and subsequent film and television careers spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films and several television specials, Astaire was ranked by the American Film Institute as the fifth greatest male star of Classic Hollywood cinema in 100 Years. Gene Kelly, another star in filmed dance, said that the history of dance on film begins with Astaire, later, he asserted that Astaire was the only one of todays dancers who will be remembered. Astaire was born in Omaha, Nebraska, the son of Johanna Ann, Astaires mother was born in the United States to Lutheran German immigrants from East Prussia and Alsace. Astaires father was born in Linz, Austria, to Jewish parents who had converted to Roman Catholicism, Astaires mother dreamed of escaping Omaha by virtue of her childrens talents, after Astaires sister, Adele Astaire, early on revealed herself to be an instinctive dancer and singer. She planned a brother and sister act, which was common in vaudeville at the time, although Astaire refused dance lessons at first, he easily mimicked his older sisters steps and took up piano, accordion, and clarinet. Despite Adele and Freds teasing rivalry, they acknowledged their individual strengths, his durability. Fred and Adeles mother suggested they change their name to Astaire, Family legend attributes the name to an uncle surnamed LAstaire. They were taught dance, speaking, and singing in preparation for developing an act and their first act was called Juvenile Artists Presenting an Electric Musical Toe-Dancing Novelty. Fred wore a top hat and tails in the first half, in an interview, Astaires daughter, Ava Astaire McKenzie, observed that they often put Fred in a top hat to make him look taller. The goofy act debuted in Keyport, New Jersey, in a tryout theater, the local paper wrote, the Astaires are the greatest child act in vaudeville. As a result of their fathers salesmanship, Fred and Adele rapidly landed a contract and played the famed Orpheum Circuit in the Midwest, Western. Soon Adele grew to at least three inches taller than Fred and the pair began to look incongruous. The family decided to take a break from show business to let time take its course and to avoid trouble from the Gerry Society. In 1912, Fred became an Episcopalian, the career of the Astaire siblings resumed with mixed fortunes, though with increasing skill and polish, as they began to incorporate tap dancing into their routines. Astaires dancing was inspired by Bill Bojangles Robinson and John Bubbles Sublett, from vaudeville dancer Aurelio Coccia, they learned the tango, waltz, and other ballroom dances popularized by Vernon and Irene Castle. Some sources state that the Astaire siblings appeared in a 1915 film titled Fanchon, the Cricket, starring Mary Pickford, by age 14, Fred had taken on the musical responsibilities for their act. He first met George Gershwin, who was working as a song plugger for Jerome H. Remicks music publishing company, Fred had already been hunting for new music and dance ideas
34.
Visual gag
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In comedy, a visual gag or sight gag is anything which conveys its humour visually, often without words being used at all. The gag may involve a physical impossibility or an unexpected occurrence, the humor is caused by alternative interpretations of the goings-on. Visual gags are used in magic, plays, and acting on television / movies, the most common type of visual gag is based on multiple interpretations of a series of events. This type is used in the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film The 39 Steps, lead actor Robert Donat was kidnapping actress Madeleine Carroll and they were handcuffed. When they checked into an inn, the innkeeper assumed that they were passionate lovers because of the handcuffs, the film used dialogue that could be interpreted both ways. Another visual gag is an image, often at the beginning of a film. A subsequent view of the shows something not viewed before. Switched movement may be the gag, such as Charlie Chaplin in The Pawnshop, Chaplin fights with his coworker and punches at him once. Their boss walks in mid-swing and Chaplin changes the motion to act like he was dropping to his knees to scrub the floor, noel Carroll established the most influential taxonomy of sight gags, breaking down the varieties into six types, two of which are enumerated below. There are numerous examples in history of directors who based most of the humor in their films on visual gags. Visual gags began in live theater, the first known use of a visual gag in a film was in the Lumière brothers 1895 short, LArroseur Arrosé, in which a gardener watering his plants becomes the subject of a boys prank. An early pioneer in visual gags was Georges Méliès, the filmmaker experimented with techniques in the then-new film media creating techniques to trick viewers. Vaudeville actors often used gags in their routines, a classic vaudeville visual gag was for two actors to mirror each others actions around a prop. Visual gags were continued into Silent films and are considered a hallmark of the genre, in silent films, the actors in the mirror bit performed in silence with no music playing. Comedians such as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, often the differences between people are part of the comic duos, especially thin and fat actors are used such as Abbott and Costello and Laurel and Hardy. The New York Times cites the fourth Gilligans Island episode, Goodnight, Sweet Skipper, the castaways were trying to contact civilization with a radio. In the episode, Skipper can recall only how he converted the radio into a transmitter in World War II when he is sleepwalking, after Skipper was unsuccessful, Gilligan got it to work by pounding on the radio, he used it to briefly contact a pilot flying overhead. Gilligan retrieved Skipper and demonstrated how he pounded on the radio, joke Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner
35.
Pieing
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Pieing is the act of throwing a pie at a person or people. Non-consensual pieing is an offence in criminal law, and depending on jurisdiction is a battery. Non-consensual pieing may also be actionable as a civil wrong resulting in the victim of the pieing to recover damages in a lawsuit from the tortfeasor, perpetrators generally regard the act as a form of ridicule to embarrass and humiliate the victim. In pieing, the goal is usually to humiliate the victim while avoiding actual injury, for this reason the pie is traditionally of the cream variety without a top crust, and is rarely if ever a hot pie. In Britain, a pie in the context of throwing is traditionally referred to as a custard pie, an aluminum pie pan or paper plate filled with whipped cream or shaving foam can substitute for a real pie. Pieing and pie fights are a staple of slapstick comedy, and pie tosses are also common charity fundraising events, pieing has its origins in the pie in the face gag from slapstick comedy, first seen in the 1909 Essanay Studios silent film Mr. Flip starring Ben Turpin. In the story, Turpin has a pie pushed into his face for taking liberties with a woman, beginning in 1913 with That Ragtime Band and A Noise from the Deep, filmmaker Mack Sennett became known for using one or two thrown pies in many of his comedy shorts. Sennett had a rule about who received the pies, A mother never gets hit with a custard pie. At least a dozen films have been made incorporating extended pie-throwing battles. The first was Charlie Chaplins Behind the Screen released in 1916, the definitive pie fight in film occurs in The Battle of the Century starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, using 3,000 pies. Our Gangs Shivering Shakespeare winds up with a full of people throwing pies. The 1935 short subject Keystone Hotel featured a large pie-fight ending with the taking a pie. In 1941, another major pie-fight film appeared, The Three Stooges In the Sweet Pie and Pie, a Technicolor film involving pies was the 1965 comedy, The Great Race, known for having the largest pie fight in cinematic history. Its $200,000 pie-fight scene used one large cake and 4,000 pies, Pie fights also featured in Beach Party, Smashing Time and Blazing Saddles. In Bugsy Malone, the splurge guns resembled spud guns which fired custard, original plans called for Dr. Strangelove to end with a pie fight, the scene, though filmed, was ultimately deemed excessively farcical by director Stanley Kubrick and removed from the final cut. Surviving stills from the pie fight have appeared online. There are many instances in the Looney Tunes series of cartoons where characters pie each other in the face, Bugs Bunny repeatedly hits Elmer Fudd with cream pies during a scene in Slick Hare. In Shishkabugs, Bugs Bunny releases a spring-loaded pie into the face of the king, causing the royal cook Yosemite Sam to be led away to a dungeon, Daffy Dilly has Daffy Duck trying to cure a dying millionaire by getting him to laugh
36.
Morphine
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Morphine is a pain medication of the opiate type which is found naturally in a number of plants and animals. It acts directly on the nervous system to decrease the feeling of pain. It can be taken for both pain and chronic pain. Morphine is frequently used for pain from myocardial infarction and during labour and it can be given by mouth, by injection into a muscle, by injecting under the skin, intravenously, into the space around the spinal cord, or rectally. Maximum effect is around 20 min when given intravenously and 60 min when given by mouth while duration of effect is three and seven hours. Potentially serious side effects include a decreased respiratory effort and low blood pressure, morphine has a high potential for addiction and abuse. If the dose is reduced after long-term use, withdrawal may occur, common side effects include drowsiness, vomiting, and constipation. Caution is advised when used during pregnancy or breast feeding, as morphine will affect the baby, morphine was first isolated between 1803 and 1805 by Friedrich Sertürner. This is generally believed to be the first isolation of an ingredient from a plant. Merck began marketing it commercially in 1827, morphine was more widely used after the invention of the hypodermic syringe in 1853–1855. Sertürner originally named the substance morphium after the Greek god of dreams, the primary source of morphine is isolation from poppy straw of the opium poppy. In 2013, an estimated 523,000 kilograms of morphine were produced, about 45,000 kilograms were used directly for pain, an increase over the last twenty years of four times. Most use for this purpose was in the developed world, about 70% of morphine is used to make other opioids such as hydromorphone, oxycodone and heroin. It is a Schedule II drug in the United States, Class A in the United Kingdom and it is on the World Health Organizations List of Essential Medicines, the most effective and safe medicines needed in a health system. Morphine is sold under trade names. Morphine is used primarily to treat both acute and chronic severe pain and it is also used for pain due to myocardial infarction and for labor pains. Its duration of analgesia is about three to seven hours, however, concerns exist that morphine may increase mortality in the setting of non ST elevation myocardial infarction. Morphine has also traditionally used in the treatment of acute pulmonary edema
37.
Joseph M. Schenck
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Joseph Michael Schenck was an American film studio executive. Schenck was born in Rybinsk, Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, to Jewish parents, in 1916, through his involvement in the film business, Joseph Schenck met and married Norma Talmadge, a top young star with Vitagraph Studios. He would be the first of her three husbands, but she was his only wife, Schenck supervised, controlled and nurtured her career in alliance with her mother. In 1917 the couple formed the Norma Talmadge Film Corporation, which became a lucrative enterprise and they divorced in 1934, Schenck then built a home in Palm Springs, California. After parting ways with his brother, Joseph Schenck moved to the West Coast where the future of the industry seemed to lie. Within a few years Schenck was made the president of the new United Artists. The Political Graveyard reports that he was a delegate from California to the 1928 Republican National Convention. In 1933 he partnered with Darryl F. Zanuck to create Twentieth Century Pictures that merged with Fox Film Corporation in 1935, as chairman of the new 20th Century Fox, he was one of the most powerful and influential people in the film business. Caught in a scheme to buy peace with the militant unions, he was convicted of income tax evasion. Following his release, he returned to 20th Century Fox where he became infatuated with an actress named Marilyn Monroe. One of the founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6757 Hollywood Blvd. Schenck retired in 1957 and shortly afterward suffered a stroke, from which he never fully recovered and he died in Los Angeles in 1961 at the age of 82, and was interred in Maimonides Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. Joseph M. Schenck at the Internet Movie Database
38.
Jackie Coogan
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John Leslie Jackie Coogan was an American actor and comedian who began his movie career as a child actor in silent films. Charlie Chaplins film classic The Kid made him one of the first child stars in film history, Coogan would continue to act throughout his life, later earning renewed fame in middle age portraying Uncle Fester in the 1960s TV series The Addams Family. He was born as John Leslie Coogan in 1914 in Los Angeles, California, to John Henry Coogan, Jr. and he began performing as an infant in both vaudeville and film, with an uncredited role in the 1917 film Skinners Baby. Charlie Chaplin discovered him in the Orpheum Theatre, a house in Los Angeles, on the stage doing the shimmy. Coogans father was also an actor, as was his younger brother, Jackie Coogan was a natural mimic and delighted Chaplin with his abilities. Chaplin cast him in a role in A Days Pleasure. He was Chaplins irascible companion in The Kid and the year played the title role in Oliver Twist. Coogan was one of the first stars to be heavily merchandised, peanut butter, stationery, whistles, dolls, records, and figurines were among the Coogan-themed merchandise on sale. Coogan was tutored until the age of ten, when he entered Urban Military Academy and he attended several colleges, as well as the University of Southern California. In 1932, he dropped out of Santa Clara University because of poor grades, after several demands for a $40,000 ransom, police arrested Thomas Thurmond and John Holmes in San Jose. Thurmond admitted that Hart had been murdered the night he was kidnapped, both killers were transferred to a prison in downtown San Jose. A mob broke into the jail, and Thurmond and Holmes were hanged in a nearby park, Coogan was reported to be present and to have held the lynching rope. The party was returning from a day of hunting over the border in Mexico in early May. With his father at the wheel, the car was forced off the highway near Pine Valley by an oncoming vehicle. As a child star, Coogan earned an estimated $3 to $4 million, when he turned 21 in October 1935, his fortune was believed to be well intact. His assets had been managed by his father, who had died in the car accident less than six months earlier. However, Coogan found that the amount had been spent by his mother and stepfather, Arthur Bernstein, on fur coats, diamonds and other jewelry. Bernstein had been an advisor for the family and married Coogans mother in late 1936
39.
Alla Nazimova
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Alla Nazimova was a Russian actress who immigrated to the United States in 1905. On Broadway, she was noted for her work in the plays of Ibsen, Chekhov. Her efforts at silent film production were less successful, but a few sound-film performances survive as a record of her art, Nazimova openly conducted relationships with women, and her mansion on Hollywood’s Sunset Boulevard was believed to be the scene of outlandish parties. She is credited with having originated the phrase ‘sewing circle’ as a code for lesbian or bisexual actresses. She was born Marem-Ides Leventon in Yalta, Crimea, Russian Empire and her stage name Alla Nazimova was a combination of Alla and the surname of Nadezhda Nazimova, the heroine of the Russian novel Children of the Streets. She was widely known as just Nazimova, and also went under the name Alia Nasimoff and she was the youngest of three children of Jewish parents Yakov Abramovich Leventon, a pharmacist, and Sofia Lvovna Horowitz, who moved to Yalta in 1870 from Kishinev. She grew up in a family, her parents divorced when she was 8. After her parents separated, she was shuffled among boarding schools, as a teenager she began to pursue an interest in the theatre and took acting lessons at the Academy of Acting in Moscow. She joined Constantin Stanislavskis Moscow Art Theatre using the name of Alla Nazimova for the first time, Nazimovas theater career blossomed early, and by 1903 she was a major star in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. She toured Europe, including London and Berlin, with her boyfriend Pavel Orlenev, in 1905 they moved to New York City and founded a Russian-language theater on the Lower East Side. The venture was unsuccessful, and Orlenev returned to Russia while Nazimova stayed in New York and she was signed up by the American producer Henry Miller and made her Broadway debut in New York City in 1906 to critical and popular success. Her English-language premiere in November 1906 was in the role of Hedda Gabler. She quickly became popular and remained a major Broadway star for years, often acting in the plays of Henrik Ibsen. Dorothy Parker described her as the finest Hedda Gabler she had ever seen, due to her notoriety in a 35-minute 1915 play entitled War Brides, Nazimova made her silent film debut in 1916 in the filmed version of the play, which was produced by Lewis J. Selznick. A young actor with a bit part in the movie was Richard Barthelmess, Nazimova had encouraged him to try out for movies and he later became a star. In 1917, she negotiated a contract with Metro Pictures, a precursor to MGM and she moved from New York to Hollywood, where she made a number of highly successful films for Metro that earned her considerable money. In 1927, she became a citizen of the United States. Nazimova soon felt confident enough in her abilities to begin producing and writing films in which she also starred, in her film adaptations of works by such notable writers as Oscar Wilde and Ibsen, she developed her own filmmaking techniques, which were considered daring at the time
