1.
Terre Haute, Indiana
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Terre Haute is a city in and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, near the states western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,785. Located along the Wabash River, Terre Haute is the capital of the Wabash Valley. The city is home to higher education institutions, including Indiana State University, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College. Terre Haute is notable for being the home of Socialist Party of America leader and five-time presidential nominee, Debs and the Federal Correctional Complex. Terre Haute is located alongside the bank of the Wabash River in western Indiana. The city lies about 75 miles west of Indianapolis, according to the 2010 census, Terre Haute has a total area of 35.272 square miles, of which 34.54 square miles is land and 0.732 square miles is water. The Wabash River dominates the geography of the city, forming its western border. Small bluffs on the east side of city mark the edge of the flood plain. Lost Creek and Honey Creek drain the northern and southern sections of the city, in the late 19th century, several oil and mineral wells were productive in and near the center of the city. That well produced oil into the 1920s, Terre Haute is at the intersection of two major roadways, U. S.40 from California to Maryland and US41 from Copper Harbor, Michigan to Miami, Florida. Terre Haute is located 77 miles southwest of Indianapolis and within 185 miles of Chicago, St. Louis, Louisville, Climate is characterized by relatively high temperatures and evenly distributed precipitation throughout the year. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is Dfa, Terre Hautes name was derived from the French phrase terre haute, meaning Highland. It was likely named by French explorers in the area in the early 18th century to describe the unique location above the Wabash River, at the time the area was claimed by the French and British, these highlands were considered the border between Canada and Louisiana. The construction of Fort Harrison in 1811 marked the beginning of a permanent population of European-Americans. A Wea Indian village already existed near the fort, and the orchards, the village of Terre Haute, then a part of Knox County, Indiana, was platted in 1816. Growth really began when the founders won the bid to make it the county seat when Vigo County was formed in March 1818. When the villages 1,000 residents voted to incorporate in 1832, Terre Haute became a town, early Terre Haute was a center of farming, milling and pork processing
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Van Nuys
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Van Nuys /vænˈnaɪz/ is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California. The town was founded in 1911, and named for Isaac Newton Van Nuys and it was annexed by Los Angeles on May 22,1915, after completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, providing it with the water required for further growth. Van Nuys was the first new stop on the San Fernando Line of the Pacific Electric Railway red cars system, which boosted its early land sales and commercial success. In 1991 Marvin Braude, a member of the Los Angeles City Council and this redesignated area included the community of Magnolia Woods. Some area residents had presented a petition and several original deeds that stated Sherman Oaks to Braude and they argued that the area was originally a part of Sherman Oaks until the 1960s, when ZIP codes labeling the area as Van Nuys were established. In 2014, A Great Streets project was introduced by Mayor Eric Garcetti with Van Nuys Blvd. to be redesigned between Victory Blvd. and Oxnard Street, also, Sepulveda Blvd. was resurfaced between Victory Blvd and Oxnard Street in May 2014. A new Los Angeles County services building is under construction on the southwest corner of Van Nuys Blvd. on February 14,2016, some 170 firefighters battled a fire at the abandoned Voyager Motel at 6500 N. Sepulveda Blvd. The 2000 U. S. census counted 103,770 residents in the 8. 99-square-mile Van Nuys neighborhood—or 11,542 people per square mile, in 2008, the city estimated that the population had increased to 110,747. In 2000 the median age for residents was 28, considered young for city and county neighborhoods, the neighborhood was considered moderately diverse ethnically within Los Angeles. The breakdown was Hispanics,60. 5%, whites,23. 1%, Asians,6. 4%, blacks, 6%, and others, 4%. Mexico and El Salvador were the most common places of birth for the 49. 8% of the residents who were born abroad—a high percentage for Los Angeles. There were 4,917 families headed by single parents, or 21. 3%, the median yearly household income in 2008 dollars was $41,134, considered average for the city but low for the county. The percentages of households that earned $40,000 or less were high for the county, renters occupied 73. 9% of the housing stock, and house- or apartment-owners held 26. 1%. Van Nuys Airport Van Nuys Boulevard Metro Orange Line bicycle path Van Nuys FlyAway Bus service Galpin Auto Sports — Pimp My Ride. Sound City Studios Los Angeles Fire Department operates Station 39, Station 90 Van Nuys Airport Area, Station 100 West Van Nuys, the Los Angeles Police Department operates the nearby Van Nuys Community Police Station at 6420 Sylmar Avenue,91401, serving the neighborhood. The U. S. Census Bureau operates the Los Angeles Regional Office in Van Nuys, the Social Security Administration operates a branch office on Van Nuys Boulevard north of Victory Boulevard in Van Nuys. The Van Nuys Recreation Area is in Van Nuys, the area has an auditorium and gymnasium with a capacity of 420 people, and a multipurpose/community room with a capacity of 20–25 people. The Van Nuys adjacent Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area to the west is an open space park behind Sepulveda Dam
3.
Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)
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Forest Lawn Memorial Park — Hollywood Hills is one of the six Forest Lawn Southern California cemeteries. It is located at 6300 Forest Lawn Dr, Los Angeles, CA90068, in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Forest Lawn — Hollywood Hills is a dedicated to the preservation of American history and hosts high-profile events such as an annual Veterans Day ceremony attended by dignitaries. The park features such sights as, The Court of Liberty features statues of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, at 162 feet long and 28 feet high, Birth of Liberty is the largest historical mosaic in the United States. It is composed of ten pieces of Venetian glass and depicts twenty-five scenes from early America. The Old North Church, a replica of Bostons historic church. The historical rooms have documents and mementos of the colonial period, the Hall of Liberty American History Museum has a copy of the Liberty Bell and other exhibits. The museum has a 1, 200-seat auditorium, monument to Washington, a marble and bronze tribute to Americas first president, created by sculptor Thomas Ball. Four of Washingtons generals are honored in the memorial, the Lincoln Terrace features a 16-foot bronze statue of the 16th president by Augustus St. Gaudens, flanked by a panoramic mosaic depicting key scenes from Lincolns life. The Plaza of Mesoamerican Heritage has indigenous/non-Christian sculptures by Meliton Salas Rodriguez, of Guadalajara, the first Forest Lawn, in Glendale, was founded in 1906 by businessmen who hired Dr. Hubert Eaton, a firm believer in a joyous life after death. Before it was a cemetery, Forest Lawn was a location used by directors such as Carl Laemmle. The climactic battle scenes for D. W. Griffiths The Birth of a Nation were filmed there. The alternate names of the site are Providencia Flats, Nestor Ranch, Oak Ranch, Oak Crest Ranch, Universal Ranch/Universal City, Lasky Ranch. When Eaton made known his desire to open a second Forest Lawn location in the Hollywood Hills, the local residents protested vehemently. To circumvent the protesters, Mr. Eaton sent his staff to the county morgue to claim 6 John Does, in the morning, the protesters had no power because, by law, the property was now a cemetery. A mausoleum, for crypt or vault interments, a crematory and columbarium, for cinerary interments. A place where six or more bodies are buried. The new mortuary and cemetery opened in 1952, interred or entombed in the Hollywood Hills cemetery are many famous people, particularly from the entertainment industry
4.
Stanley Kubrick
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Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, editor, and photographer. He is frequently cited as one of the greatest and most influential directors in cinematic history, Kubrick was born and raised in the Bronx, New York City, and attended William Howard Taft High School from 1941 to 1945. This was followed by two collaborations with Kirk Douglas, the war picture Paths of Glory and the historical epic Spartacus. His reputation as a filmmaker in Hollywood grew, and he was approached by Marlon Brando to film what would become One-Eyed Jacks, though Brando eventually decided to direct it himself. His home at Childwickbury Manor in Hertfordshire, which he shared with his wife Christiane, became his workplace, where he did his writing, research, editing, and management of production details. This allowed him to have almost complete control over his films. His first British productions were two films with Peter Sellers, Lolita and Dr. Strangelove and he often asked for several dozen retakes of the same scene in a movie, which resulted in many conflicts with his casts. Despite the resulting notoriety among actors, many of Kubricks films broke new ground in cinematography, Steven Spielberg has referred to the film as his generations big bang, and it is regarded as one of the greatest films ever made. For the 18th-century period film Barry Lyndon, Kubrick obtained lenses developed by Zeiss for NASA, with The Shining, he became one of the first directors to make use of a Steadicam for stabilized and fluid tracking shots. His last film, Eyes Wide Shut, was completed shortly before his death in 1999, Stanley Kubrick was born on July 26,1928, in the Lying-In Hospital at 307 Second Avenue in Manhattan, New York City. He was the first of two children of Jacob Leonard Kubrick, known as Jack or Jacques, and his wife Sadie Gertrude Kubrick, known as Gert and his sister, Barbara Mary Kubrick, was born in May 1934. At Stanleys birth, the Kubricks lived in an apartment at 2160 Clinton Avenue in the Bronx, although his parents had been married in a Jewish ceremony, Kubrick did not have a religious upbringing, and would later profess an atheistic view of the universe. By the district standards of the West Bronx, the family was fairly wealthy, soon after his sisters birth, Kubrick began schooling in Public School 3 in the Bronx, and moved to Public School 90 in June 1938. Although his IQ was discovered to be average, his attendance was poor. He displayed an interest in literature from an age, and began reading Greek and Roman myths. When Kubrick was 12, his father Jack taught him chess, the game remained a lifelong interest of Kubricks, appearing in many scenes of his films. Kubrick himself, who became a member of the United States Chess Federation, explained that chess helped him develop patience. At the age of 13, Kubricks father bought him a Graflex camera and he became friends with a neighbor, Marvin Traub, who shared his passion for photography
5.
The Shining (film)
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The film is based on Stephen Kings 1977 novel The Shining. The initial European release of The Shining was 25 minutes shorter than the American version, although contemporary responses from critics were mixed, assessment became more favorable in following decades, and it is now widely regarded as one of the greatest horror films ever made. American director Martin Scorsese ranked it one of the 11 scariest horror movies of all time, critics, scholars, and crew members have discussed the films enormous influence on popular culture. Jack Torrance arrives at the mountain-isolated Overlook Hotel, which is 25 miles from the closest town, once hired, Jack plans to use the hotels solitude to write. The hotel, built on the site of a Native American burial ground, becomes snowed-in during the winter, manager Stuart Ullman warns Jack that a previous caretaker, Charles Grady, developed cabin fever and killed his family and himself. In Boulder, Jacks son, Danny Torrance, has a premonition about the hotel, viewing a cascade of blood emerging from an elevator door. Jacks wife, Wendy, tells a doctor that Danny has a friend named Tony. The family arrives at the hotel on closing day and is given a tour, the chef, Dick Hallorann, surprises Danny by telepathically offering him ice cream. Dick explains to Danny that he and his grandmother shared this telepathic ability, Danny asks if there is anything to be afraid of in the hotel, particularly room 237. Hallorann tells Danny that the hotel has a shine to it along with many memories and he also tells Danny to stay away from room 237. A month passes, while Jacks writing goes nowhere, Danny and Wendy explore the hotels hedge maze, Wendy learns that the phone lines are out due to the heavy snowfall, and Danny has frightening visions. Jack, increasingly frustrated, starts behaving strangely and becomes prone to violent outbursts, Dannys curiosity about room 237 overcomes him when he sees the rooms door open. Later, Wendy finds Jack screaming during a nightmare while asleep at his typewriter, after she awakens him, Jack says he dreamed that he killed her and Danny. Danny arrives and is traumatized with a bruise on his neck. Jack wanders into the hotels Gold Room and meets a bartender named Lloyd. Lloyd serves him bourbon whiskey while Jack complains about his marriage, Wendy later tells Jack that Danny told her a crazy woman in one of the rooms attempted to strangle him. Jack investigates room 237, encountering the ghost of a dead woman, Wendy and Jack argue over whether Danny should be removed from the hotel and a furious Jack returns to the Gold Room, now filled with ghosts attending a ball. He meets the ghost of Grady who tells Jack that he must correct his wife and child, meanwhile, Hallorann grows concerned about whats going on at the hotel and flies back to Colorado
6.
Jazz (Transformers)
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Jazz is the name of several fictional characters from the Transformers franchise. He is usually portrayed as a robot and speaks in slang. He is also Optimus Primes good friend and right-hand man, Jazz is the very cool, very stylish, very competent member of the Autobots in the Transformers television and comic series based on the popular toy line produced by Takara and Hasbro. His original vehicle mode is a Martini Porsche 935 turbo racing car, self-possessed, calm, and utterly collected, Jazz is Primes subordinate and first lieutenant of the Autobots, as well as head of Special Operations, with his own dedicated roster of agents. He often gives the most dangerous assignments to himself and its not a matter of ego—he just really is the coolest head for the toughest missions. Jazzs ease extends to whatever environment he finds himself in, no matter how weird or wonderful and he effortlessly tunes into the local culture, assimilating and improvising, and making creative command decisions, making him an indispensable right-hand bot to Optimus Prime. Jazz was one of the favorite Autobots of IGN, Jazz was among the Autobots who followed Optimus Prime on his mission aboard the Ark. They were attacked by Megatrons ship, the Nemesis, and crash landed on Earth, four million years later, in 1984, a volcanic eruption awakened the Arks computer, Teletran-I, and it repaired all on board. It reformatted Jazz in the form of an Earth race car, Jazz then became a regular character throughout the shows first two seasons serving as Optimus Primes second-in-command. In the episode Attack of the Autobots, he and Bumblebee were the only Autobots to avoid being brainwashed, but thanks to his new sound system and Sparkplugs attitude exchanger, the Autobots were able to be cured and the Decepticons plans were foiled. In the episode The God Gambit, Cosmos collected data in space on a new power source. Crashing on Saturns moon Titan, the local priests worshipped the Decepticons as Sky Gods, Optimus Prime sent Omega Supreme along with Perceptor and Jazz. Astrotrain set himself up as the god of the moon. The trip to Titan drained Omega of most of his energy, vowing to not let the Autobots gain the crystals, Astrotrain set up a chain reaction destroying them. The Autobots aided the natives to escape the explosion and helped settle in another area of the moon. In the episode Prime Target, the big game hunter Lord Cholmondeley captured a secret Soviet jet, Cholmondeley then set his sights on the ultimate trophy, the head of Optimus Prime. In order to lure Optimus in, Cholmondeley captured the Autobots Tracks, Bumblebee, Jazz, Beachcomber, Grapple, Blaster, Windcharger and Huffer were able to avoid being trapped. When Cosmos learned of the location where Cholmondeley was keeping the captured Autobots, although interrupted by Astrotrain and Blitzwings attempt to ally the Decepticons with Cholmondeley, Optimus defeated the big game hunter and freed the Autobots
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Capitol Records
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Capitol Records, LLC is an American record label which operates as a division of the Capitol Music Group. The label was founded as the first West Coast-based record label in the United States in 1942 by three industry insiders named Johnny Mercer, Buddy DeSylva and Glenn Wallichs, in 1955, the label was acquired by the British music conglomerate EMI as its North American subsidiary. EMI was later acquired by Universal Music Group in 2012 and was merged with the company in 2013, making Capitol Records, Capitol Records circular headquarter building located in Los Angeles is a recognized landmark of California. Mercer first raised the idea of starting a company while golfing with Harold Arlen. By 1941, Mercer was a songwriter and a singer with multiple successful releases. Mercer next suggested the idea to Wallichs while visiting his record store, Wallichs expressed interest in the idea and the pair negotiated an agreement whereby Mercer would run the company and identify their artists, while Wallichs managed the business side. On February 2,1942, Mercer and Wallichs met with DeSylva at a Hollywood restaurant to inquire about the possibility of investment of the company from Paramount Pictures, while DeSylva declined the proposal, he handed the pair a check worth $15,000. On March 27,1942, the three men incorporated as Liberty Records, in May 1942, the application was amended to change the companys name to Capitol Records. On April 6,1942, Mercer supervised Capitols first recording session where Martha Tilton recorded the song Moon Dreams, on May 5, Bobby Sherwood and his orchestra recorded two tracks in the studio. On May 21, Freddie Slack and his orchestra recorded three tracks in the studio, one with the orchestra, one with Ella Mae Morse called Cow-Cow Boogie, on June 4,1942, Capitol opened its first office in a second-floor room south of Sunset Boulevard. On that same day, Wallichs presented the companys first free record to Los Angeles disc jockey Peter Potter, on June 5,1942, Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra recorded four songs at the studio. On June 12, the recorded five more songs in the studio. On June 11, Tex Ritter recorded Jingle Jangle Jingle and Goodbye My Little Cherokee for his first Capitol recording session, and the songs formed Capitols 110th produced record. 133 - Get On Board Little Chillun - July 31,1942 - is a Freddie Slack/Ella Mae Morse/Mellowaires recording that might be the first rock n roll record and she has sometimes been called the first rock n roll singer. A good example is her 1942 recording of song which, with strong gospel, blues, boogie. Bone Walker recorded Mean Old World a pioneering example of the use of electric guitar. The earliest recording artists included co-owner Mercer, Whiteman, Tilton, Morse, Margaret Whiting, Jo Stafford, the Pied Pipers, Johnnie Johnston, Tex Ritter, Capitols first gold single was Morses Cow Cow Boogie in 1942. Capitols first album was Capitol Presents Songs By Johnny Mercer, a three 78-rpm disc set with recordings by Mercer, Stafford and the Pied Pipers, all with Westons Orchestra
8.
United Service Organizations
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The United Service Organizations Inc. is a nonprofit organization that provides programs, services and live entertainment to United States service members and their families. Since 1941, it has worked in partnership with the Department of Defense, relying heavily on contributions and on funds, goods. Although it is congressionally-chartered, it is not a government agency, the USO operates 160 centers worldwide. During World War II, the USO became the GIs home away from home and began a tradition of entertaining the troops that continues today. Involvement in the USO was one of the ways in which the nation had come together to support the war effort. After it was disbanded in 1947, it was revived in 1950 for the Korean War, during the Vietnam War, USOs were sometimes located in combat zones. The organization became famous for its live performances, called Camp Shows. Hollywood in general was eager to show its patriotism, and many celebrities joined the ranks of USO entertainers. They entertained in military bases at home and overseas, sometimes placing their own lives in danger, the USO has over 160 locations around the world in 14 countries and 27 states. Its motto is Until everyone comes home, the USO was founded in 1941 by Mary Ingraham in response to a request from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to provide morale and recreation services to U. S. uniformed military personnel. Roosevelt was elected as its honorary chairman and they were brought together under one umbrella to support U. S. troops. Roosevelt said he wanted these private organizations to handle the on-leave recreation of the men in the armed forces. According to historian Emily Yellin, The government was to build the buildings, the first national campaign chairman was Thomas Dewey, who raised $16 million in the first year. The second chairman was future senator Prescott Bush, the USO was incorporated in New York on February 4, with the first facility erected in DeRidder, Louisiana,1941. More USO centers and clubs opened around the world as a “Home Away from Home” for GIs. The USO club was a place to go for dances and social events, for movies and music, for a place to talk or write a letter home, or for a free cup of coffee. The USO also brought Hollywood celebrities and volunteer entertainers to perform for the troops, according to movie historian Steven Cohan, most of all. In taking home on the road, it equated the nation with showbiz, USO camp shows were designed in their export to remind soldiers of home
9.
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
10.
Hello, Dolly! (film)
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Hello, Dolly. is a 1969 American romantic comedy musical film based on the Broadway production of the same name. The film follows the story of Dolly Levi, as she travels to Yonkers, New York, in doing so she convinces his niece, his nieces intended, and Horaces two clerks to travel to New York City. The film won three Oscars for Best Art Direction, Best Score of a Musical Picture, and Best Sound Mixing and was nominated for a further four Academy Awards, although the film eventually broke even, it was not a commercial success. In 1890, all of New York City is excited because widowed, Dolly makes a living through matchmaking and numerous sidelines. She is currently seeking a wife for grumpy Horace Vandergelder, the well-known half-a-millionaire, Dolly travels to Yonkers, New York to visit Horace. Ambrose Kemper, a young artist, wants to marry Horaces weepy niece, Ermengarde and he plans to travel to New York City to propose to Irene Molloy, who owns a hat shop there. Dolly arrives in Yonkers and sends Horace ahead to the city, before leaving he tells Cornelius and Barnaby to mind the store. Cornelius decides that he and Barnaby need to get out of Yonkers, Dolly knows two ladies in New York they should call on, Irene Molloy and her shop assistant, Minnie Fay. Cornelius, Barnaby, Ambrose, Ermengarde and Dolly take the train to New York, Irene and Minnie open their hat shop for the afternoon. Irene does not love Horace Vandergelder and declares that she wear a elaborate hat to impress a gentleman. Cornelius and Barnaby arrive at the shop and pretend to be rich, Horace and Dolly arrive and Cornelius and Barnaby hide. Minnie screams when she finds Cornelius hiding in an armoire, Horace is about to open the armoire himself, but Dolly searches it and pronounces it empty. After hearing Cornelius sneeze, Horace storms out upon realizing there are men hiding in the shop, Dolly arranges for Cornelius and Barnaby, who are still pretending to be rich, to take the ladies out to dinner to the Harmonia Gardens to make up for their humiliation. She teaches Cornelius and Barnaby how to dance since they always have dancing at such establishments, the clerks and the ladies go to watch the Fourteenth Street Association Parade together. Alone, Dolly asks her first husband Ephrams permission to marry Horace and she resolves to move on with life. After meeting an old friend, Gussie Granger, on a float in the parade and she tells him the heiress Ernestina Semple would be perfect for him and asks him to meet her at the Harmonia Gardens that evening. Cornelius is determined to get a kiss before the night is over, since the clerks have no money to hire a carriage, they tell the girls that walking to the restaurant shows that theyve got Elegance. In a quiet flat, Dolly prepares for the evening, at the Harmonia Gardens Restaurant, Rudolph, the head waiter, whips his crew into shape for Dolly Levis return
11.
Jack Nicholson
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John Joseph Jack Nicholson is an American actor and filmmaker, who has performed for over 60 years. Nicholson is known for playing a range of starring or supporting roles, including satirical comedy, romance and dark portrayals of antiheroes. In many of his films, he has played the eternal outsider, Nicholsons 12 Academy Award nominations make him the most nominated male actor in the Academys history. Nicholson has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice, one for the drama One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and he also won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the comedy-drama Terms of Endearment. Nicholson is one of three actors to win three Academy Awards. Nicholson is one of two actors to be nominated for an Academy Award for acting in every decade from the 1960s to the 2000s. He has won six Golden Globe Awards, and received the Kennedy Center Honor in 2001, in 1994, he became one of the youngest actors to be awarded the American Film Institutes Life Achievement Award. He played Jack Torrance in Stanley Kubricks horror film The Shining, the Joker in Tim Burtons superhero film Batman, other films include the legal drama A Few Good Men, the Sean Penn-directed mystery film The Pledge, and the comedy-drama About Schmidt. Nicholson was born on April 22,1937, in Neptune City, New Jersey, Nicholsons mother was of Irish, English, and German descent. She married Italian-American showman Donald Furcillo in 1936, before realizing that he was already married, biographer Patrick McGilligan stated in his book Jacks Life that Latvian-born Eddie King, Junes manager, may have been Nicholsons biological father, rather than Furcillo. Other sources suggest June Nicholson was unsure of who the father was, in 1974, Time magazine researchers learned, and informed Nicholson, that his sister, June, was actually his mother, and his other sister, Lorraine, was really his aunt. By this time, both his mother and grandmother had died, on finding out, Nicholson said it was a pretty dramatic event, but it wasnt what Id call traumatizing. I was pretty well psychologically formed. Nicholson grew up in Neptune City, New Jersey and he was raised in his mothers Roman Catholic religion. Before starting high school, his family moved to an apartment in Spring Lake, nick, as he was known to his high school friends, attended nearby Manasquan High School, where he was voted class clown by the Class of 1954. He was in every day for a whole school year. A theatre and an award at the school are named in his honor. In 2004, Nicholson attended his 50-year high school reunion accompanied by his aunt Lorraine and he served a tour of duty in the Air National Guard. Nicholson first came to Hollywood in 1954, when he was 17 and he took a job as an office worker for animators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera at the MGM cartoon studio
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African-American culture
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The distinct identity of African-American culture is rooted in the historical experience of the African-American people, including the Middle Passage. The culture is distinct and enormously influential on American culture as a whole. African-American culture is rooted in West and Central Africa, understanding its identity within the culture of the United States it is, in the anthropological sense, conscious of its origins as largely a blend of West and Central African cultures. Elaborate rituals and ceremonies were a significant part of African Americans ancestral culture, many West African societies traditionally believed that spirits dwelled in their surrounding nature. From this disposition, they treated their environment with mindful care and they also generally believed that a spiritual life source existed after death, and that ancestors in this spiritual realm could then mediate between the supreme creator and the living. Honor and prayer was displayed to these ancient ones, the spirit of those past, West Africans also believed in spiritual possession. In the beginning of the eighteenth century Christianity began to spread across North Africa, the enslaved Africans brought this complex religious dynamic within their culture to America. This fusion of traditional African beliefs with Christianity provided a place for those practicing religion in Africa and America. After emancipation, unique African-American traditions continued to flourish, as distinctive traditions or radical innovations in music, art, literature, religion, cuisine, 20th-century sociologists, such as Gunnar Myrdal, believed that African Americans had lost most cultural ties with Africa. But, anthropological research by Melville Herskovits and others demonstrated that there has been a continuum of African traditions among Africans of the Diaspora. The greatest influence of African cultural practices on European culture is found below the Mason-Dixon line in the American South, Today, African-American culture has become a significant part of American culture and yet, at the same time, remains a distinct cultural body. From the earliest days of American slavery in the 17th century, African cultures, slavery, slave rebellions, and the civil rights movement have shaped African-American religious, familial, political, and economic behaviors. The imprint of Africa is evident in a myriad of ways, in politics, economics, language, music, hairstyles, fashion, dance, religion, cuisine, in turn, African-American culture has had a pervasive, transformative impact on many elements of mainstream American culture. This process of mutual creative exchange is called creolization, over time, the culture of African slaves and their descendants has been ubiquitous in its impact on not only the dominant American culture, but on world culture as well. Slaveholders limited or prohibited education of enslaved African Americans because they feared it might empower their chattel, in the United States, the legislation that denied slaves formal education likely contributed to their maintaining a strong oral tradition, a common feature of indigenous African cultures. African-based oral traditions became the means of preserving history, mores. This was consistent with the practices of oral history in many African. Many of these elements have been passed from generation to generation through storytelling
