1.
Stanley Donen
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Stanley Donen is an American film director and choreographer whose most celebrated works are Singin in the Rain and On the Town, both of which he co-directed with actor and dancer Gene Kelly. His other noteworthy films include Royal Wedding, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Funny Face, Indiscreet, Charade, and Two for the Road. He received an Honorary Academy Award in 1998 for his body of work and he was hailed by film critic David Quinlan as the King of the Hollywood musicals. Donen married five times and had three children and his current long term partner is film director and comedian Elaine May. He began his career in the line on Broadway for director George Abbott. In 1943 he went to Hollywood and worked as a choreographer before he and he then worked as a contract director for MGM under producer Arthur Freed producing hit films amid critical acclaim, both as a solo director and with Kelly. In 1952 Donen and Kelly co-directed the musical Singin in the Rain, Donens relationship with Kelly deteriorated in 1955 during their final collaboration on Its Always Fair Weather. He then broke his contract with MGM to become an independent producer in 1957, as musicals began to lose public appeal, Donen switched to comedies. He continued to make hit films until the late 1960s, after which his career slowed down and he briefly returned to the stage as a director in the 1990s and again in 2002. Donen is credited with transitioning Hollywood musical films from realistic backstage dramas to an integrated art form in which the songs were a natural continuation of the story. Donen and Kellys films created a cinematic form and included dances that could only be achieved in the film medium. Donen stated that what he was doing was a continuation from the Astaire – Rogers musicals. Which in turn came from René Clair and from Lubitsch, what we did was not geared towards realism but towards the unreal. Film critic Jean-Pierre Coursodon has said that Donens contribution to the evolution of the Hollywood musical outshines anybody elses and he is the last surviving notable director of Hollywoods Golden Age. Stanley Donen was born in Columbia, South Carolina to Mordecai Moses Donen, a manager, and Helen. His younger sister Carla Donen Davis was born in August 1937, although born to Jewish parents, he became an atheist in his youth. Donen described his childhood as lonely and unhappy as one of the few Jews in Columbia, to help cope with his isolation, he spent much of his youth in local movie theaters and was especially fond of Westerns, comedies and thrillers. The film that had the strongest impact on him was the 1933 Fred Astaire, Donen said that he must have seen the picture thirty or forty times
2.
Albert Hackett
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Albert Maurice Hackett was an American dramatist and screenwriter most noted for his collaborations with his partner and wife Frances Goodrich. Hackett was born in New York City, the son of actress Florence Hackett and he attended Professional Childrens School and started out as a child actor, appearing on stage and in films. His brother was actor Raymond Hackett and their stepfather was the early film actor Arthur V. Johnson who married their mother Florence circa 1910. His sister-in-law was Blanche Sweet who was Raymonds wife for a time, not long after marrying screenwriter Frances Goodrich, the couple went to Hollywood in the late 1920s to write the screenplay for their stage success Up Pops the Devil for Paramount Pictures. In 1933 they signed a contract with MGM and remained with them until 1939, among their earliest assignments was writing the screenplay for The Thin Man. The resulting film was one of the hits of the year. However this is only because it was written and released before the enactment of the Hollywood Production Code, the other Nick and Nora films show a steep decline regarding the groundbreaking maturity of the Charles marriage. They received Academy Award for Screenplay nominations for The Thin Man, After the Thin Man, Father of the Bride and they also won a Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the New York Drama Critics Circle award for their original play The Diary of Anne Frank. Some of their films include, Another Thin Man and Its a Wonderful Life. The Moving Picture Boy, An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995, Norwich, Michael Russell,1996, Albert Hackett at the Internet Broadway Database Albert Hackett at the Internet Movie Database Albert Hackett at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
3.
Dorothy Kingsley
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Dorothy Kingsley was an American screenwriter, who worked extensively in film, radio and television. Born in New York City, Kingsley was the daughter of newspaperman and press agent Walter J. Kingsley, following their divorce, Hanlon remarried to director Louis Myll. They lived at Bayside, Queens for two years, and later moved with Dorothy to the affluent suburb of Grosse Pointe, Michigan, Kingsley also had an unsuccessful first marriage. She went to Los Angeles to visit a friend and made the rounds of agents with material she had written for various radio stars such as Jack Benny. Her youthful appearance worked against her, but she found an agent who would take a chance on her. Kingsley went home and packed up her children, but on her return to Los Angeles she found that the agent had gone out of business, while Kingsley unsuccessfully made the rounds of agents, she happened to meet Constance Bennett socially. Bennett thought that Kingsleys material was better than her current supply, Kingsley answered a newspaper ad to write gags for Edgar Bergen, and as a result she was chosen from 400 entries for a one-month trial period at $50 a week. The Edgar Bergen show became one of the programs and Kingsley stayed with them for several years. It was while she was with the Bergen radio show that Kingsley started submitting scripts to studios, arthur Freed at MGM thought she had promise and wanted to put her under contract at double what Bergen was paying. Bergen was notorious for underpaying his talent and when he found out she was dismissed and her first assignment was a production rewrite on Girl Crazy, a Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland musical. The current writer was otherwise occupied, so Freed asked her to go down to the set, many people had already worked on the ailing script whose musical numbers had been shot and had no story. It was the first picture for Esther Williams and became a big hit, Kingsley often worked without credit, and though hers was usually a co-credit, she normally worked alone, before or after the other screenwriters had finished up. Kingsley wrote many of the great MGM musicals such as Kiss Me Kate, as well as a number of scripts for Debbie Reynolds, the grand spectacle pictures were very popular during the war years, when people desperately wanted escapist entertainment. Kingsley, a devout Catholic, wrote the baseball picture Angels in the Outfield, President Eisenhower’s favorite picture and he ran it so many times that the staff said, “Please, Mr. President, not again. She was the last of the writers to work on the script for Stanley Donens Seven Brides for Seven Brothers after Albert Hackett and their original script was based on the short story The Sobbin Women by Stephen Vincent Benet, but the script wasnt coming out right. The girl has nothing to do, and she’s got to be the one to all this stuff. That was changed around and seemed to everyone, and we went from there. After she had been at MGM a while, Kingsley acquired the reputation as a fixer in construction and she would regularly be called down to the set to fix pictures on the fly when the original writers were no longer on the scene to be consulted
4.
Howard Keel
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Harry Clifford Keel, known professionally as Howard Keel was an American actor and singer. He starred in film musicals of the 1950s. He is best known to audiences for his starring role in the CBS television series Dallas from 1981 to 1991, as Clayton Farlow. But to a generation, with his rich bass-baritone singing voice. Harry Clifford Keel was born in Gillespie, Illinois, to Navyman-turned-coalminer Homer Keel and his wife, young Harry spent his childhood in poverty. One of his teachers, Miss Rosa Burke, noticed one day that he had no lunch, from that day forward, Miss Burke would pack two lunches – one for herself and one for Harry. When he became famous and would perform near Gillespie, Burke always received tickets to attend his performances, after his fathers death in 1930, Keel and his mother moved to California, where he graduated from Fallbrook High School at age 17. He worked various odd jobs until settling at Douglas Aircraft Company as a traveling representative, at the age of 20, Keel was overheard singing by his landlady, Mom Rider, and was encouraged to take vocal lessons. One of his heroes was the great baritone Lawrence Tibbett. Keel later remarked that learning that his own voice was a basso cantante was one of the greatest disappointments of his life, nevertheless, his first public performance occurred in the summer of 1941, when he played the role of Samuel the Prophet in Handels oratorio Saul. In 1943 Keel met and married his first wife, actress Rosemary Cooper, in 1945 he briefly understudied for John Raitt in the Broadway hit Carousel before being assigned to Oklahoma. Both written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, while performing in Oklahoma, Keel accomplished a feat that has never been duplicated on Broadway, he once performed the leads in both shows on the same day. Became the first American postwar musical to travel to London, England, on the opening night, April 30, at the Drury Lane Theatre, the capacity audience demanded fourteen encores. Keel was hailed as the great star, becoming the toast of Londons West End. During the London run, his marriage to Rosemary ended in divorce and they married in January 1949, and a year later, Harold celebrated the birth of his daughter, Kaija. While living in London, Keel made his debut as Harold Keel at the British Lion studio in Elstree, in The Small Voice. He played an escaped convict holding a playwright and his hostage in their English country cottage. Additional Broadway credits include Saratoga, No Strings, and Ambassador and he appeared at The Muny in St. Louis as Adam in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Emile de Becque in South Pacific, Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, and as General Waverly in White Christmas
5.
Jane Powell
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Jane Powell is an American singer, dancer, and actress. Powell rose to fame during her childhood as a singer in her hometown of Portland, Oregon, in the late 1950s, her film career slowed, leading her to a prolific theater and television career. In 1985, she relocated with her husband, former child star Dickie Moore, to New York City and Wilton, Connecticut. She was born Suzanne Lorraine Burce, the child born to Paul E. Burce and Eileen Baker Burce, on April 1,1929, in Portland. Powell began dance lessons at the age of two, in an attempt to liken her appearance to Shirley Temple, Powells mother took her to get her first perm the same year she began dance lessons. At five, she appeared on the radio program Stars of Tomorrow. She also took lessons with Agnes Peters, and there the Burce family met Scotty Weston. He convinced the family to move to Oakland, California, for Powell to take dance lessons, Paul Burce had quit his job of 14 years to move to Oakland, and was unable to get it back when they returned. The family moved into an apartment building owned by friends, while there, and while helping her father take the garbage out, Powell would sing. Tenants insisted that Powell should take lessons, and after saving their money, at 12, Powell had her career taken over by a local promoter, Carl Werner, who helped her get selected as the Oregon Victory Girl. She began singing live on the local Portland radio station, KOIN, during this time, she first met Lana Turner. Powell presented her with flowers and sang for her, years later, when they met again at MGM, Turner did not remember her. According to Powell, even meeting her many times, Turner never remembered who she was. During her time as the Oregon Victory Girl, Powell had two radio shows. During the first, she sang with an accompaniment, and during the second, she sang with an orchestra. She had attended Beaumont Grade School in Portland, in summer 1943, Paul and Eileen Burce took their daughter on vacation to Hollywood. There, she appeared on Janet Gaynors radio show Hollywood Showcase, the show was a talent competition, and among the other contestants were Kathie Lee Giffords mother, Joan Epstein. Powell won the competition, and soon auditioned with Louis B. Mayer at MGM, without even taking a screen test, Powell was then signed to a seven-year contract with MGM
6.
Jeff Richards (baseball player/actor)
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Jeff Richards, was an American minor league baseball player with the Portland Beavers, who later became an actor. He was sometimes credited as Dick Taylor and Richard Taylor and he was born Richard Mansfield Taylor in Portland, Oregon. Taylor joined the United States Navy during World War II and served until 1946 and he then went to Hollywood to pursue a film career. He got a screen test at Metro-Goldwyn Mayer and the studio changed his name to Jeff Richards and he is best known for his role as Benjamin Pontipee in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Following this performance, he tied with George Nader and Joe Adams for the Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer, despite this, his acting career soon floundered. Richards was one of the supporting roles amid an all-star cast of actresses in The Opposite Sex. In 1958, on television, Richards played the role in the NBC western television series Jefferson Drum. The series was cancelled after twenty-six episodes aired over two seasons, Richards guest-starred in numerous television series, including the role in 1961 of Jubal Evans in the episode Incident of His Brothers Keeper of the CBS western Rawhide. His last role was in 1966 as Kallen in the film Waco and he was married to Vickie Taylor and they had one child before they divorced. Jeff Richards died on July 28,1989, aged 64 from unknown causes and he is buried at Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, California
7.
Marc Platt (dancer)
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Marcel Emile Gaston LePlat, known professionally as Marc Platt, was an American ballet dancer, musical theatre performer, and actor. He was best known for his portrayal of Daniel Pontipee, one of the seven brothers in the film Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Born Marcel LePlat to a French immigrant father in Pasadena, California, he was one of the members of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. While with the company, Platt choreographed Ghost Town, set to music by Richard Rodgers, Platt danced the role of Chalmers/Dream Curly in the original 1943 Broadway production of Oklahoma. Platt appeared in the 1955 film version of Oklahoma, in a dancing/speaking role as one of Curlys cowboy friends. He is the friend who buys Curlys saddle for $10 at the auction - and who also comments that. After he stopped dancing, Platt ran the Radio City Music Hall Ballet for several years, in 2000, Platt was presented with the Nijinsky Award at the Ballets Russes Reunion. He appeared in the 2005 documentary Ballets Russes, Platt was married twice and has three children. Ted Leplat, from his first marriage, is an actor, in 1951, Platt married dancer Jean Goodall who died in 1994, the couple had two children, Michael and Donna. Platt died of pneumonia at a hospice in San Rafael, California on March 29,2014, the Gay Parisian Youre in the Army Now Who Calls Tonight and Every Night Tars and Spars Down to Earth When a Girls Beautiful The Swordsman Addio Mimi. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers Oklahoma and these Wilder Years Ballets Russes Broadway, Beyond the Golden Age Jubilee Broadway Sho-Window Yokel Boy The Lady Comes Across Beat the Band Oklahoma. Kiss Me, Kate Maggie Anawalt, Sasha, the Joffrey Ballet, Robert Joffrey and the Making of an American Ballet Company. Chicago, University of Chicago Press,1996, a Celebration of Americas Most Beloved Musical
8.
Russ Tamblyn
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Tamblyn who was born in Los Angeles, California, is the son of actors Sally Aileen and Eddie Tamblyn. He is the brother of Larry Tamblyn, organist for the 1960s band The Standells. Discovered at the age of ten by actor Lloyd Bridges after acting in a play and he also appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show as a child. Tamblyn then portrayed the young Saul in Cecil B, deMilles 1949 version of Samson and Delilah. He played the version of John Dalls character in the 1950 film noir Gun Crazy. Later the same year, he had a role as Elizabeth Taylors younger brother in Father of the Bride, as well as in the sequel, released the following year. He also played a soldier in boot camp in 1953s Take the High Ground. His training as a gymnast in high school and abilities as an acrobat prepared him for his role as Gideon. He appeared with Glenn Ford and Broderick Crawford in The Fastest Gun Alive, though uncredited, he served as a choreographer for Elvis Presley in 1957s Jailhouse Rock. Tamblyn portrayed Norman Page in the 1957 film of Peyton Place, Tamblyn then played Tony Baker in 1958s High School Confidential prior to his being drafted into the United States Army. His performances in film musicals have included the role in 1958s Tom Thumb and Danny. His most famous role was Riff, the leader of the Jets in West Side Story. In 1960, he portrayed The Cherokee Kid in Cimarron and he appeared in two 1962 MGM-Cinerama movies, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm and How the West Was Won. He was seen the year as Orm in The Long Ships, as Luke Sanderson in The Haunting. Tamblyn starred in the 1966 Japanese kaiju film War of the Gargantuas and he appeared in the horror film Necromancer in 1988. Tamblyn played the role in Neil Youngs 1982 Human Highway while also credited for screenplay. Tamblyn is credited as director, choreographer and actor for Neil Youngs Greendale concert tour, in 2011, he portrayed Doc in the action-thriller film Drive. The Academy Film Archive preserved First Film and Rio Reel by Tamblyn, from 1990–91, Tamblyn starred as Dr. Lawrence Jacoby on the David Lynch-created series Twin Peaks, though his scenes in the 1992 film Twin Peaks, Fire Walk with Me were cut
9.
Julie Newmar
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Julie Newmar is an American actress, dancer and singer, known for a variety of stage, screen, and television roles. She won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role as Katrin Sveg in the 1958 Broadway production of The Marriage-Go-Round, in the 1960s, she starred for two seasons as Catwoman in the television series Batman. Her other stage credits include the Ziegfeld Follies in 1956, and Irma in Irma la Douce in regional productions. She appeared in the video for George Michaels 1992 single Too Funky. Her voice work includes the 2016 film Batman, Return of the Caped Crusaders and she was born in Los Angeles as Julia Chalene Newmeyer, the eldest of three children born to Don and Helen Newmeyer. Her Swedish-French mother was a designer who used Chalene as her professional name. Newmar began her career as a dancer, training with Denishawn and later appearing in the Ziegfeld Follies, Newmar has two younger brothers, Peter Bruce Newmeyer and John A. Newmeyer, a writer, epidemiologist, and winemaker. Newmar was a dancer-assassin in Slaves of Babylon and the girl in Serpent of the Nile. She danced in other films, including The Band Wagon and Demetrius and the Gladiators. She also worked as a choreographer and dancer for Universal Studios and her first major role, billed as Julie Newmeyer, was as Dorcas, one of the brides in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Her three-minute Broadway appearance as the leggy Stupefyin Jones in the musical Lil Abner in 1956 led to a reprise in the version released in 1959. She was also the lead in a low-budget comedy, The Rookie. Newmar had first appeared on Broadway in 1955 in Silk Stockings which starred Hildegarde Neff and she also appeared in the film, The Marriage-Go-Round, which starred James Mason and Susan Hayward. Newmar developed the role of the Swedish vixen and won a Tony Award for Best Supporting Actress and she later appeared on stage with Joel Grey in the national tour of Stop the World - I Want to Get Off and as Lola in Damn Yankees. And Irma in Irma La Douce. and in Mackennas Gold and she also appeared in a pictorial in the May 1968 issue of Playboy magazine, which featured Playmate Elizabeth Jordan. The film To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar pays homage to the actress, Newmar herself makes a cameo appearance near the films end. Newmars fame stems mainly from her television appearances and her statuesque form made her a larger-than-life sex symbol, most often cast as a temptress or Amazonian beauty, including an early appearance in sexy maid costume on The Phil Silvers Show. She starred as Rhoda the Robot in the TV series My Living Doll, Newmar modified her Catwoman costume—now in the Smithsonian Institution—and placed the belt at the hips instead of the waist to emphasize her hourglass figure
10.
Ruta Lee
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Ruta Lee is a Canadian actress and dancer who appeared as one of the brides in the film Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Lee guest-starred on many series, and was also featured on a number of TV game shows, including Hollywood Squares, Whats My Line. Ruta Lee was born Ruta Mary Kilmonis in Montreal, Quebec and her father was a tailor, her mother, a homemaker. In 1948, her moved to Los Angeles, California. She attended both Los Angeles City College and the University of California at Los Angeles. Lee worked as a cashier, an usherette, and a girl at Graumans Chinese Theater. Lee then got a break as a guest on two episodes of CBSs The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show. She soon found an agent, who landed her a job in an episode of the The Roy Rogers Show, after that success, Lee appeared in several films including Anything Goes, Funny Face, Witness for the Prosecution, and Marjorie Morningstar with Natalie Wood. In 1962, Lee had the lead in the Rat Pack comedy/western film Sergeants 3 along with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr. She then co-starred with Audie Murphy in a 1964 western, Bullet for a Badman, in addition to films, Lee has appeared in dozens of guest-starring roles on television. For a number of years, she seemed to be everywhere on the screen, from 1957 to 1959, she was cast in different roles in eight episodes of the CBS crime drama television series, The Lineup. In 1959 and 1960, she was cast in four episodes of John Bromfields syndicated crime drama, Lee appeared as Ellen Barton in the 1960 episode Grant of Land of the ABC western series, The Rebel, starring Nick Adams. In the story line, Bodie is mistaken for a notorious gunfighter, others appearing in the episode are Richard Webb, Gregg Palmer, and Dick Foran. Temple Houston was canceled after twenty-six weeks, of Hunter, Lee said, He was one of the prettiest people that ever was put on the screen, God, he was gorgeous. Lee appeared in two guest spots of The Andy Griffith Show in 1962 and 1965, in 1963, she was cast in CBSs Twilight Zone in the episode A Short Drink From a Certain Fountain, as a woman whose elderly husband undergoes a scientific experiment and then ages backward. Lee also began appearing regularly on shows such as Hollywood Squares, You Dont Say. In the early 1970s, Lee continued to perform in films and television roles on Love, American Style, The Mod Squad, and a role in the 1972 film The Doomsday Machine. By 1974, Lee had grown frustrated by a lack of roles
11.
Virginia Gibson
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Virginia Gibson, born Virginia Gorski, was an American dancer, singer and actress of film, television and musical theatre. Virginia Gibson, known as Virginia Gorski until she was signed by Warner Brothers in the 1950s, started her career in musicals in her hometown of St. Louis, MO, once she moved to Hollywood she played supporting or leading roles in a number of Warner Brothers musicals. Her most famous role was Liza in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers in 1954. While in Hollywood she also starred in a television series So This Is Hollywood with Mitzi Green and she was a regular performer on The Johnny Carson Show, an earlier Carson series, not to be confused with The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. In 1956 she returned to Broadway to play Ethel Mermans daughter in the musical Happy Hunting and she then became one of the stars of Your Hit Parade, one of the most popular TV shows of the 1950s, for one season. From 1962 to 1971 she co-hosted, with Frank Buxton, the ABC-TV childrens documentary program Discovery, when her performing career ended she spent many years teaching acting and theater classes to young people at the Herbert Berghof Studio in New York. She was a singer on records, with numerous minor hits, such as You Blew Me A Kiss, Two Innocent Hearts. In 1957 she was nominated for a Tony Award Best Featured Actress in a Musical, a Connecticut Yankee, 1943-44, Martin Beck Theater, New York Laffing Room Only
12.
Ian Wolfe
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Ian Wolfe was an American actor with about 400 film and television roles. Until 1934, he worked in the theatre and that year, he also turned to film and later television, as a character actor. His career lasted many decades and included many classics, his last credit was in 1990, in the 1946 movie Bedlam, Wolfe played a lawyer confined to an asylum. Wolfe played a small town doctor in Six Guns Legacy. In it he plots to cheat a man out of his inheritance by using a look-alike to collect the payment. The episode is unusual in that it featured white collar crime, though at the end, true to formula, Wolfe appeared in the 1966 Perry Mason episode, The Case of the Midnight Howler, as Abel Jackson. In 1966, he portrayed the new Rev. Leighton on The Andy Griffith Show, in 1982, Wolfe had a small recurring role on the TV series WKRP in Cincinnati as Hirsch, the sarcastic, irreverent butler to WKRP owner Lillian Carlson, played by Carol Bruce. Central to Wolfes appeal as an actor was that, until he reached actual old age. In the 1935 film Mad Love, he played Colin Clives stepfather, in the 1953 film Houdini, he warned the magician to avoid occult matters, telling him to take the advice of an old man. He would appear in movies for another 37 years, his last film credit was for Dick Tracy, Ian Wolfe was a veteran of World War I, serving as a volunteer medical specialist. He was married with Elizabeth Schroder from 1924 until his death, Wolfe wrote and self-published two books of poetry, Forty-Four Scribbles and a Prayer, Lyrics and Ballads and Sixty Ballads and Lyrics In Search of Music. Ian Wolfe worked until the last couple of years of his life, Ian Wolfe at the Internet Movie Database Ian Wolfe at Memory Alpha Ian Wolfe at Find a Grave
13.
Russell Simpson (actor)
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Russell McCaskill Simpson was an American character actor. Russell Simpson was born on June 17,1880 in Danville and he attended grammar school in the Danville District in Contra Costa County, California, he graduated on July 2,1892. At age 18, Simpson prospected for gold in Alaska and he began taking acting classes in Seattle, Washington. He was married to Gertrude Alter from New York City on January 19,1910, by 1909, he had gone into the theatre. He appeared in at least two plays on Broadway between 1909 and 1912, and made his motion picture debut in Cecil B, deMilles 1914 original film version of The Virginian in a bit part. By 1923, when the film was remade, Simpson had progressed to playing the lead villain, throughout his career, Simpson worked for 12 years in road shows, stock companies, and on Broadway. Simpson didnt usually perform lead roles, but he did star in movies throughout the silent movie era. He did perform a role as the grandfather in Out of the Dust. Simpson is best known for his work in the films of John Ford and, in particular and he was known for his grizzled old man appearances. Gaunt, lanky, and rustic-sounding, Simpson was a character actor for almost forty-five years. He worked up to 1959, the year of his death and his final film was The Horse Soldiers, his tenth film for Ford. Simpson was the president of the Overseas Phonograph Accessories Corporation and he died on December 12,1959 in Woodland Hills, California. Simpson had appeared in over 500 movies throughout his life
14.
Johnny Mercer
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John Herndon Johnny Mercer was an American lyricist, songwriter and singer. He was also the founder of Capitol Records and he is best known as a lyricist, but he also composed music. He was also a singer who recorded his own songs as well as those written by others. From the mid-1930s through the mid-1950s, many of the songs Mercer wrote and he wrote the lyrics to more than fifteen hundred songs, including compositions for movies and Broadway shows. He received nineteen Academy Award nominations, and won four Best Original Song Oscars, Mercer was born in Savannah, Georgia. Lillians father was a merchant seaman who ran the Union blockade during the U. S. Civil War, Mercer was Georges fourth son, first by Lillian. Mercer was also a distant cousin of General George S. Patton, neither the General, nor Mercer himself, ever lived there. His mothers father was born in Lastovo, Croatia in 1834 to mother Ivana Cucevic, Mercer liked music as a small child and attributed his musical talent to his mother, who would sing sentimental ballads. Mercers father also sang, mostly old Scottish songs and his aunt told him he was humming music when he was six months old and later she took him to see minstrel and vaudeville shows where he heard “coon songs” and ragtime. The family’s summer home “Vernon View” was on the waters and Mercer’s long summers there among mossy trees, saltwater marshes. Mercer’s exposure to music was perhaps unique among the white songwriters of his generation. As a child, Mercer had African-American playmates and servants, and he listened to the fishermen and vendors about him and he was also attracted to black church services. Mercer later stated, “Songs always fascinated me more than anything and he had no formal musical training but was singing in a choir by six and at 11 or 12 he had memorized almost all of the songs he had heard and became curious about who wrote them. He once asked his brother who the best songwriter was, and his brother said Irving Berlin, despite Mercers early exposure to music, his talent was clearly in creating the words and singing, not in playing music, though early on he had hoped to become a composer. In addition to the lyrics that Mercer memorized, he was an avid reader and his attempts to play the trumpet and piano were not successful, and he never could read musical scores with any facility, relying instead on his own notation system. As a teenager in the Jazz Era, he was a product of his age and he hunted for records in the black section of Savannah and played such early black jazz greats as Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Louis Armstrong. His father owned the first car in town, and Mercer’s teenage social life was enhanced by his driving privilege, later, Mercer wrote a humorous song called Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry. Mercer attended exclusive Woodberry Forest boys prep school in Virginia until 1927, though not a top student, he was active in literary and poetry societies and as a humor writer for the school’s publications
15.
Ralph E. Winters
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Ralph E. Winters was a Canadian-born film editor who became one of the leading figures of this field in the American industry. After beginning on a series of B movies in the early 1940s, including several in the Dr. Kildare series, Winters won the Academy Award for Film Editing twice, for King Solomons Mines and Ben-Hur. He received four nominations, for Quo Vadis, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, The Great Race. Among Winters other projects were such leading films as On the Town, High Society, Jailhouse Rock, Winters had a notable collaboration with director Blake Edwards. Over twenty years, they collaborated on twelve films together, including The Pink Panther, The Party,10 and his last film was the ill-fated pirate epic Cutthroat Island released in 1995. Winters had been elected to membership in the American Cinema Editors and his memoir, Some Cutting Remarks, Seventy Years a Film Editor, was published in 2001. List of film director and editor collaborations Ralph E. Winters at the Internet Movie Database
16.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
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Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of feature films and television programs. Its headquarters are in Beverly Hills, California and it is one of the worlds oldest film studios. In 1971, it was announced that MGM would merge with 20th Century Fox, over the next thirty-nine years, the studio was bought and sold at various points in its history until, on November 3,2010, MGM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. MGM Resorts International, a Las Vegas-based hotel and casino company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MGM, is not currently affiliated with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In 1966, MGM was sold to Canadian investor Edgar Bronfman Sr. whose son Edgar Jr. would later buy Universal Studios, the studio continued to produce five to six films a year that were released through other studios, mostly United Artists. Kerkorian did, however, commit to increased production and a film library when he bought United Artists in 1981. MGM ramped up production, as well as keeping production going at UA. It also incurred significant amounts of debt to increase production, the studio took on additional debt as a series of owners took charge in the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1986, Ted Turner bought MGM, but a few later, sold the company back to Kerkorian to recoup massive debt. The series of deals left MGM even more heavily in debt, MGM was bought by Pathé Communications in 1990, but Parretti lost control of Pathé and defaulted on the loans used to purchase the studio. The French banking conglomerate Crédit Lyonnais, the major creditor. Even more deeply in debt, MGM was purchased by a joint venture between Kerkorian, producer Frank Mancuso, and Australias Seven Network in 1996, the debt load from these and subsequent business deals negatively affected MGMs ability to survive as an independent motion picture studio. In 1924, movie theater magnate Marcus Loew had a problem and he had bought Metro Pictures Corporation in 1919 for a steady supply of films for his large Loews Theatres chain. With Loews lackluster assortment of Metro films, Loew purchased Goldwyn Pictures in 1924 to improve the quality, however, these purchases created a need for someone to oversee his new Hollywood operations, since longtime assistant Nicholas Schenck was needed in New York headquarters to oversee the 150 theaters. Mayer, Loew addressed the situation by buying Louis B. Mayer Pictures on April 17,1924, Mayer became head of the renamed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, with Irving Thalberg as head of production. MGM produced more than 100 feature films in its first two years, in 1925, MGM released the extravagant and successful Ben-Hur, taking a $4.7 million profit that year, its first full year. Marcus Loew died in 1927, and control of Loews passed to Nicholas Schenck, in 1929, William Fox of Fox Film Corporation bought the Loew familys holdings with Schencks assent. Mayer and Thalberg disagreed with the decision, Mayer was active in the California Republican Party and used his political connections to persuade the Justice Department to delay final approval of the deal on antitrust grounds
17.
Loews Cineplex Entertainment
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From 1924 until 1959, it was also the parent company of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios. The Loews name is used by AMC in many markets. Its slogan was Thank you for coming to Loews, sit back and relax, which was used in the chains theater policy ads from the 1980s through the 1990s, when Sony rebranded the chain. The company was originally called Loews, after the founder, Marcus Loew, in 1969, when the Tisch brothers acquired the company, it became known as Loews. Loews Theatres Incorporated was founded in 1904 in Cincinnati, Ohio, Loew founded a chain of nickelodeon theaters which showed short silent films in storefront locations. Soon the successful enterprise grew to include deluxe vaudeville houses and finally lavish movie palaces, Loews theaters were found in cities from coast-to-coast, but primarily in East Coast and Midwest states. To provide quality films for his theaters, Loew founded Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures in 1924, by merging the earlier firms Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures, and Louis B. Mayer Productions. Loews Incorporated served as distribution arm and parent company for the studio until the two were forced to separate by the 1948 U. S. Supreme Court ruling United States v. Paramount Pictures, the two companies officially split in 1959. Loews Corporation by this time was a company owned by brothers Robert. CBS left Tri-Star in 1985, and HBO left the venture and Tri-Star merged with Columbia Pictures in 1987, upon the full acquisition of Tri-Star by Columbia Pictures, and when Columbia was bought from Coca-Cola by Sony in 1989, Sony inherited the theaters as well. For a while, Loews operated under the Sony Theaters banner, in 1994, Sony partnered with Magic Johnson to form Magic Johnson Theaters, a mini-chain of theaters specifically geared toward the inner cities, particularly in Los Angeles. A year before, Sony Dynamic Digital Sound was installed in theaters since the parent company used it to promote Sonys cinema sound division. In 1998, Cineplex Odeon Corporation merged with Loews Theaters to form Loews Cineplex Entertainment, the combined company was one of the largest movie exhibitors in the world, with theaters in the United States, Canada, Mexico, South Korea, and Spain. In 2001, though, the company declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, in 2002, Onex Corporation and Oaktree Capital Management acquired Loews Cineplex. In 2004, they sold Loews to a group of investors which included the Carlyle Group. Onex retained the Canadian Loews Cineplex to form Cineplex Galaxy LP, in 2005, AMC Theatres announced that it would merge with Loews Cineplex Entertainment and that the merged company would adopt the AMC name. The Loews name is used in many markets. At the time of the merger, Loews operated 198 theaters with 2,235 screens, Loews Wonder Theaters United States v. Loews Inc
18.
Musical film
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The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline. The musical film was a development of the stage musical after the emergence of sound film technology. Typically, the biggest difference between film and stage musicals is the use of background scenery and locations that would be impractical in a theater. Musical films characteristically contain elements reminiscent of theater, performers often treat their song, in a sense, the viewer becomes the diegetic audience, as the performer looks directly into the camera and performs to it. The 1930s through the early 1950s are considered to be the age of the musical film. Musical short films were made by Lee de Forest in 1923–24, beginning in 1926, thousands of Vitaphone shorts were made, many featuring bands, vocalists and dancers. The Jazz Singer, released in 1927 by Warner Brothers, was the first to include a track including non-diegetic music and diegetic music. This feature-length film was also a musical, featuring Al Jolson singing Dirty Hands, Dirty Face, Toot, Toot, Tootsie, Blue Skies and My Mammy. Historian Scott Eyman wrote, As the film ended and applause grew with the houselights and she saw terror in all their faces, she said, as if they knew that the game they had been playing for years was finally over. Still, only isolated sequences featured live sound, most of the film had only a musical score. In 1928, Warner Brothers followed this up with another Jolson part-talkie, The Singing Fool, theaters scrambled to install the new sound equipment and to hire Broadway composers to write musicals for the screen. The first all-talking feature, Lights of New York, included a sequence in a night club. The enthusiasm of audiences was so great that in less than an all the major studios were making sound pictures exclusively. The Broadway Melody had a plot about two sisters competing for a charming song-and-dance man. Advertised by MGM as the first All-Talking, All-Singing, All-Dancing feature film, it was a hit, there was a rush by the studios to hire talent from the stage to star in lavishly filmed versions of Broadway hits. The Love Parade starred Maurice Chevalier and newcomer Jeanette MacDonald, written by Broadway veteran Guy Bolton, Warner Brothers produced the first screen operetta, The Desert Song in 1929. They spared no expense and photographed a large percentage of the film in Technicolor and this was followed by the first all-color, all-talking musical feature which was entitled On with the Show
19.
Agfacolor
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Agfacolor was the name of a series of color film products made by Agfa of Germany. The first Agfacolor, introduced in 1932, was a version of their Agfa-Farbenplatte. In late 1936 Agfa introduced Agfacolor Neu, a color film of the general type still in use today. The new Agfacolor was originally a film used for making slides, home movies. By 1939 it had also adapted into a negative film. After World War II, the Agfacolor brand was applied to varieties of color negative film for still photography. The reversal film was marketed as Agfachrome. Agfacolor Neu, called simply Agfacolor after its predecessor had been retired, was the German response to Technicolor, like Kodachrome, introduced by Eastman Kodak in 1935, the new Agfacolor film was an integral tripack with three differently color-sensitized emulsion layers. The Third Reichs Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels was in a hurry and he admired Hollywood movies and examined them carefully in regular private screenings. The use of Agfacolor was reinforced by the top of the Nazi film industry, Reichsminister Joseph Goebbels, Agfacolor was then used throughout the entire film shoot of Women Are Better Diplomats. Throughout the shoot, the film yielded mixed results as it was very sensitive to different color temperatures caused by solar altitude at different times of day. Thus, outdoor shots were difficult to handle, A lawn in front of a castle appeared completely yellow, later brown, meanwhile the production costs had risen from 1.5 to 2.5 million Reichsmarks. More than two years after its date, Women Are Better Diplomats opened in October 1941. Despite its rather weak color quality, the proved to be a major hit. After the processs growing pains had been throughout the production of Women are better diplomats. The technology was improved at a rapid pace, veit Harlan, perhaps the most prominent official film director of the Third Reich, was allowed to shoot his next picture in Agfacolor. The Golden City premièred at the Venice Film Festival in September 1942 and was awarded for its technical quality. Shot by cameraman Werner Krien, who had done black-and-white pictures before, and assisted by special effects specialist Konstantin Irmen-Tschet, made for UFAs 25th Anniversary, Münchhausen was the third German feature film––out of over a dozen––to be produced using Agfacolor film between 1939 and 1945
20.
CinemaScope
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CinemaScope is an anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, for shooting widescreen movies. Its creation in 1953 by Spyros P. Skouras, the president of 20th Century Fox, marked the beginning of the modern anamorphic format in both principal photography and movie projection. The anamorphic lenses theoretically allowed the process to create an image of up to a 2.66,1 aspect ratio, although the CinemaScope lens system was made obsolete by new technological developments, primarily advanced by Panavision, the CinemaScope anamorphic format has continued to this day. Bausch & Lomb won a 1954 Oscar for its development of the CinemaScope lens, french inventor Henri Chrétien developed and patented a new film process that he called Anamorphoscope in 1926. It was this process that would form the basis for CinemaScope. He attempted to interest the motion picture industry in his invention, by 1950, however, cinema attendance seriously declined with the advent of a new competitive rival, television. The optical company Bausch & Lomb was asked to produce a prototype anamorphoser lens, test footage shot with these lenses was screened for Skouras, who gave the go-ahead for development of a widescreen process based on Chrétiens invention, which was to be known as CinemaScope. Twentieth Century-Foxs pre-production of The Robe, originally committed to Technicolor Three-Strip origination, was halted so that the film could be changed to a CinemaScope production, two other CinemaScope productions were also planned, How to Marry a Millionaire and Beneath the Twelve-Mile Reef. The introduction of CinemaScope enabled Fox and other studios to reassert its distinction from the new competitor, Chrétiens Hypergonars proved to have significant optical and operational defects. Ultimately Bausch & Lomb formula combined lens designs incorporated both the lens and the anamorphic lens in one unit. These combined lenses continue to be used to day, particularly in special effects units. Other manufacturers lenses are preferred for so-called production applications that benefit from significantly lighter weight or lower distortion. When, however, developers found that magnetic stripes could be added to the film to produce a composite picture/sound print and this reduction was kept to a minimum by reducing the width of the normal KS perforations so that they were nearly square, but of DH height. This was the CinemaScope, or CS, perforation, known colloquially as fox-holes, later still an optical soundtrack was added, reducing the aspect ratio further to 2.35,1. This change also meant a shift in the center of the projected image. All of Foxs CinemaScope films were made using an aperture for the negatives, as was this studios practice for all films. In order to better hide so-called negative assembly splices, the ratio of the image was changed by others to 2.39,1 and, finally. All professional cameras are capable of shooting 2.55,1 or 2.66,1, Fox selected The Robe as the first film to start production in CinemaScope, a project chosen because of its epic nature
21.
Michael Kidd
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Michael Kidd was an American film and stage choreographer, dancer and actor, whose career spanned five decades, and staged some of the leading Broadway and film musicals of the 1940s and 1950s. Kidd, who was influenced by Charlie Chaplin and Léonide Massine, was an innovator in what came to be known as the integrated musical. Film critic Stephanie Zacharek called the sequence in Seven Brides one of the most rousing dance numbers ever put on screen. He was the first choreographer to win five Tony Awards, and was awarded an honorary Academy Award in 1996 for advancing dance in film. Kidd was born Milton Greenwald in New York City on the Lower East Side, the son of Abraham Greenwald, a barber, and his wife Lillian and he moved to Brooklyn with his family and attended New Utrecht High School. He became interested in dance after attending a dance performance, and went on to study under Blanche Evan. He studied chemical engineering at the City College of New York, in 1936 and 1937 and he adopted the name Michael Kidd in 1942. At the time he was performing with Ballet Caravan and all the dancers were urged to adopt American names and he chose Kidd because it was short, easy to remember, and evocative of the pirate, Captain Kidd. In 1941, Kidd became a soloist and assistant to Loring in his Dance Players and he moved on to become a soloist for Ballet Theater, later known as the American Ballet Theater. His performances there included Fancy Free choreographed by Jerome Robbins and with music by Leonard Bernstein, in which he played one of the three sailors, while at the ABT, he created his own ballet, On Stage. Kidds first choreography on Broadway was for E. Y, harburgs Finians Rainbow, a lyrical musical that explored racial prejudice. Kidd won his first Tony Award for that play, however, his next Broadway musicals were not successful. They were Hold It, a musical, and the Kurt Weill/Alan Jay Lerner musical Love Life, directed by Elia Kazan. Next came Arms and the Girl, directed by Rouben Mamoulian, with Pearl Bailey and Nanette Fabray and his next play, Frank Loesser’s Guys and Dolls, cemented his reputation as a Broadway choreographer. It was based on Damon Runyon short stories, with book by Abe Burrows, the play attracted the attention of movie producers, and he was lured to Hollywood. His first film was a 1952 film adaptation of Frank Loessers 1948 Broadway musical, starring Ray Bolger repeating his Broadway performance in the lead role. His first big success came the following year, with The Band Wagon, starring Fred Astaire. Kidd was hired to stage the films dances at Astaires request, Kidd said that he made Astaire comfortable by pretending that he was just making up the steps spontaneously
22.
The Rape of the Sabine Women
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The rape of the Sabine Women is the common name of an incident from Roman mythology, in which the men of Rome committed a mass abduction of young women from the other cities in the region. It has been a frequent subject of artists, particularly during the Renaissance and post-Renaissance eras, use of the word rape comes from the conventional translation of the Latin word used in the ancient accounts of the incident, raptio. Modern scholars tend to interpret the word as abduction as opposed to violation, controversy remains, however, as to how the acts committed against the women should be judged. The Rape occurred in the history of Rome, shortly after its founding by Romulus. Seeking wives in order to establish families, the Romans negotiated unsuccessfully with the Sabines, the Sabines feared the emergence of a rival society and refused to allow their women to marry the Romans. Consequently, the Romans planned to abduct Sabine women during a festival of Neptune Equester and they planned and announced a marvelous festival to attract people from all nearby towns. According to Livy, many people from Romes neighboring towns attended, including folk from the Caeninenses, Crustumini, and Antemnates, at the festival, Romulus gave a signal, at which the Romans grabbed the Sabine women and fought off the Sabine men. The indignant abductees were implored by Romulus to accept Roman husbands. Livy says that Romulus offered them free choice and promised civic and this did not include the men being responsible for meeting the needs of the children. Outraged at the occurrence, the king of the Caeninenses entered upon Roman territory with his army, Romulus and the Romans met the Caeninenses in battle, killed their king, and routed their army. Romulus later attacked Caenina and took it upon the first assault, returning to Rome, he dedicated a temple to Jupiter Feretrius and offered the spoils of the enemy king as spolia opima. According to the Fasti Triumphales, Romulus celebrated a triumph over the Caeninenses on 1 March 752 BC, at the same time, the army of the Antemnates invaded Roman territory. The Romans retaliated, and the Antemnates were defeated in battle, according to the Fasti Triumphales, Romulus celebrated a second triumph in 752 BC over the Antemnates. The Crustumini also started a war, but they too were defeated, Roman colonists subsequently were sent to Antemnae and Crustumerium by Romulus, and many citizens of those towns also migrated to Rome. The Sabines themselves finally declared war, led into battle by their king, Tatius almost succeeded in capturing Rome, thanks to the treason of Tarpeia, daughter of Spurius Tarpeius, governor of the citadel on the Capitoline Hill. She opened the city gates for the Sabines in return for what they bore on their arms, instead, the Sabines crushed her to death with their shields, and her body was thrown from a rock known ever since by her name, the Tarpeian Rock. The Romans attacked the Sabines, who now held the citadel, the Roman advance was led by Hostus Hostilius, the Sabine defence by Mettus Curtius. Hostus fell in battle, and the Roman line gave way and they retreated to the gate of the Palatium
23.
Ancient Rome
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In its many centuries of existence, the Roman state evolved from a monarchy to a classical republic and then to an increasingly autocratic empire. Through conquest and assimilation, it came to dominate the Mediterranean region and then Western Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa and it is often grouped into classical antiquity together with ancient Greece, and their similar cultures and societies are known as the Greco-Roman world. Ancient Roman civilisation has contributed to modern government, law, politics, engineering, art, literature, architecture, technology, warfare, religion, language and society. Rome professionalised and expanded its military and created a system of government called res publica, the inspiration for modern republics such as the United States and France. By the end of the Republic, Rome had conquered the lands around the Mediterranean and beyond, its domain extended from the Atlantic to Arabia, the Roman Empire emerged with the end of the Republic and the dictatorship of Augustus Caesar. 721 years of Roman-Persian Wars started in 92 BC with their first war against Parthia and it would become the longest conflict in human history, and have major lasting effects and consequences for both empires. Under Trajan, the Empire reached its territorial peak, Republican mores and traditions started to decline during the imperial period, with civil wars becoming a prelude common to the rise of a new emperor. Splinter states, such as the Palmyrene Empire, would divide the Empire during the crisis of the 3rd century. Plagued by internal instability and attacked by various migrating peoples, the part of the empire broke up into independent kingdoms in the 5th century. This splintering is a landmark historians use to divide the ancient period of history from the pre-medieval Dark Ages of Europe. King Numitor was deposed from his throne by his brother, Amulius, while Numitors daughter, Rhea Silvia, because Rhea Silvia was raped and impregnated by Mars, the Roman god of war, the twins were considered half-divine. The new king, Amulius, feared Romulus and Remus would take back the throne, a she-wolf saved and raised them, and when they were old enough, they returned the throne of Alba Longa to Numitor. Romulus became the source of the citys name, in order to attract people to the city, Rome became a sanctuary for the indigent, exiled, and unwanted. This caused a problem for Rome, which had a large workforce but was bereft of women, Romulus traveled to the neighboring towns and tribes and attempted to secure marriage rights, but as Rome was so full of undesirables they all refused. Legend says that the Latins invited the Sabines to a festival and stole their unmarried maidens, leading to the integration of the Latins, after a long time in rough seas, they landed at the banks of the Tiber River. Not long after they landed, the men wanted to take to the sea again, one woman, named Roma, suggested that the women burn the ships out at sea to prevent them from leaving. At first, the men were angry with Roma, but they realized that they were in the ideal place to settle. They named the settlement after the woman who torched their ships, the Roman poet Virgil recounted this legend in his classical epic poem the Aeneid
24.
Oregon
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Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Oregon is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean, on the north by Washington, on the south by California, on the east by Idaho, the Columbia River delineates much of Oregons northern boundary, and the Snake River delineates much of the eastern boundary. The parallel 42° north delineates the boundary with California and Nevada. Oregon was inhabited by indigenous tribes before Western traders, explorers. An autonomous government was formed in the Oregon Country in 1843 before the Oregon Territory was created in 1848, Oregon became the 33rd state on February 14,1859. Today, at 98,000 square miles, Oregon is the ninth largest and, with a population of 4 million, the capital of Oregon is Salem, the second most populous of its cities, with 164,549 residents. Portland is Oregons most populous city, with 632,309 residents, Portlands metro population of 2,389,228 ranks the 23rd largest metro in the nation. The Willamette Valley in western Oregon is the states most densely populated area, the tall conifers, mainly Douglas fir, along Oregons rainy west coast contrast with the lighter-timbered and fire-prone pine and juniper forests covering portions to the east. Abundant alders in the west fix nitrogen for the conifers, stretching east from central Oregon are semi-arid shrublands, prairies, deserts, steppes, and meadows. At 11,249 feet, Mount Hood is the states highest point, Oregons only national park, Crater Lake National Park, comprises the caldera surrounding Crater Lake, the deepest lake in the United States. The state is home to the single largest organism in the world, Armillaria ostoyae. Because of its landscapes and waterways, Oregons economy is largely powered by various forms of agriculture, fishing. It is also the top timber-producer of the lower 48 states, Technology is another one of the states major economic forces, which began in the 1970s with the establishment of the Silicon Forest and the expansion of Tektronix and Intel. Sportswear company Nike, Inc. headquartered in Beaverton, is the states largest public corporation with a revenue of $30.6 billion. The earliest evidence of the name Oregon has Spanish origins and this chronicle is the first topographical and linguistic source with respect to the place name Oregon. There are also two other sources with Spanish origins such as the name Oregano which grows in the part of the region. Another early use of the name, spelled Ouragon, was in a 1765 petition by Major Robert Rogers to the Kingdom of Great Britain, the term referred to the then-mythical River of the West. By 1778 the spelling had shifted to Oregon, in his 1765 petition, Rogers wrote, The rout. is from the Great Lakes towards the Head of the Mississippi, and from thence to the River called by the Indians Ouragon
25.
Frontier
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A frontier is the political and geographical area near or beyond a boundary. The term came from French in the 15th century, with the meaning borderland—the region of a country that fronts on another country, a frontier can also be referred to as a front. A difference has also established in academic scholarship between Frontier and Border, the latter denoting a fixed, rigid and clear-cut form of state boundary. In the European Union, the frontier is the region beyond the borders of the European Union itself. EU has designated the countries surrounding it as part of the European Neighbourhood and this is a region of primarily less-developed countries, many of which aspire to become part of the union. Current applicants include Turkey and many countries in the Balkans. Romania and Bulgaria joined EU in 2007, if all or most East European states become members, the frontier may be the boundaries with Russia and Turkey. The expansion of Russia to the north, south and east exploited ever-changing frontier regions over several centuries, the outside was another term frequently used in colonial Australia, this term seemingly covered not only the frontier but the districts beyond. Settlers at the frontier thus frequently referred to themselves as the outsiders or outside residents, the word frontier has often meant a region at the edge of a settled area, especially in North American development. It was a zone where explorers, pioneers and settlers were arriving. Frederick Jackson Turner said that the significance of the frontier was that as pioneers moved into the frontier zone, for example, Turner argues that in the United States in 1893, unlimited free land in this zone was available, and thus offered the psychological sense of unlimited opportunity. This, in turn, had many such as optimism, future orientation, shedding the restraints of land scarcity. Lawrence, Connecticut, Hudson, Delaware, Susquehanna River and James, English, French, Spanish and Dutch patterns of expansion and settlement were quite different. Only a few thousand French migrated to Canada, although French fur traders ranged widely through the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds, as far as the Rocky Mountains, they did not usually settle down. French settlement in these areas was limited to a few small villages on the lower Mississippi. The Dutch set up fur trading posts in the Hudson River valley, followed by grants of land to patroons. The typical English settlements were quite compact and small—under 3 square kilometres, conflict with the Native Americans arose out of political issues, i. e. who would rule. Early frontier areas east of the Appalachian Mountains included the Connecticut River valley, the French and Indian Wars of the 1760s resulted in a complete victory for the British, who took over the French colonial territory west of the Appalachians to the Mississippi River
26.
Barn raising
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Barn raising was particularly common in 18th- and 19th-century rural North America. A barn was a structure for any farmer, for example for storage of cereals and hay. Yet a barn was also a large and costly structure, the assembly of which required more labor than a family could provide. Barn raising addressed the need by enlisting members of the community, unpaid, because each member was entitled to recruit others for help, the favor would eventually return to each participant. The tradition of barn raising continues, more or less unchanged, in some Amish and Old Order Mennonite communities, particularly in Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, the practice continues outside of these religious communities, albeit less frequently than in the 19th century. Most frames today are raised using a crane and small crew, a large amount of preparation is done before the one to two days a barn raising requires. Lumber and hardware are laid in, plans are made, ground is cleared, materials are purchased or traded for by the family who will own the barn once it is complete. Generally, participation is mandatory for community members, all able-bodied members of the community are expected to attend. Failure to attend a barn raising without the best of reasons leads to censure within the community, some specialists brought in from other communities for direction or joinery may be paid, however. One or more people with experience or with specific skills are chosen to lead the project. Older people who have participated in many barn raisings are crew chiefs, on the whole, the affair is well organized. At most barn raisings, the community members have raised barns before, young people participating physically for the first time have watched many barn raisings and know what is expected of them. Only certain specialists are permitted to work on the more jobs, such as the joinery. There is competition for jobs, and they are sought after. Workers are differentiated by age and gender, men construct the barn, women provide water and food, the youngest children watch, most barn raisings were accomplished in June and July when the mostly agrarian society members had time between planting season and harvest season. Timber for the framing was mostly produced in the winter by the farmer and his crew hewing logs to the shape with axes or felling the trees. An ancient tradition is to place a bough, wreath and/or flag at the point of the frame after the last piece is in place. This celebration is called topping out and historically the master carpenter may also make a speech, in earlier American rural life, communities raised barns because many hands were required
27.
Academy Awards
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The various category winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette, officially called the Academy Award of Merit, which has become commonly known by its nickname Oscar. The awards, first presented in 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, are overseen by AMPAS, the awards ceremony was first broadcast on radio in 1930 and televised for the first time in 1953. It is now live in more than 200 countries and can be streamed live online. The Academy Awards ceremony is the oldest worldwide entertainment awards ceremony and its equivalents – the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theater, and the Grammy Awards for music and recording – are modeled after the Academy Awards. The 89th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the best films of 2016, were held on February 26,2017, at the Dolby Theatre, in Los Angeles, the ceremony was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and was broadcast on ABC. A total of 3,048 Oscars have been awarded from the inception of the award through the 88th, the first Academy Awards presentation was held on May 16,1929, at a private dinner function at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with an audience of about 270 people. The post-awards party was held at the Mayfair Hotel, the cost of guest tickets for that nights ceremony was $5. Fifteen statuettes were awarded, honoring artists, directors and other participants in the industry of the time. The ceremony ran for 15 minutes, winners were announced to media three months earlier, however, that was changed for the second ceremony in 1930. Since then, for the rest of the first decade, the results were given to newspapers for publication at 11,00 pm on the night of the awards. The first Best Actor awarded was Emil Jannings, for his performances in The Last Command and he had to return to Europe before the ceremony, so the Academy agreed to give him the prize earlier, this made him the first Academy Award winner in history. With the fourth ceremony, however, the system changed, for the first six ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned two calendar years. At the 29th ceremony, held on March 27,1957, until then, foreign-language films had been honored with the Special Achievement Award. The 74th Academy Awards, held in 2002, presented the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, since 1973, all Academy Awards ceremonies always end with the Academy Award for Best Picture. The Academy also awards Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, see also § Awards of Merit categories The best known award is the Academy Award of Merit, more popularly known as the Oscar statuette. The five spokes represent the branches of the Academy, Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers. The model for the statuette is said to be Mexican actor Emilio El Indio Fernández, sculptor George Stanley sculpted Cedric Gibbons design. The statuettes presented at the ceremonies were gold-plated solid bronze
28.
Elia Kazan
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Elia Kazan was a Greek-American director, producer, writer and actor, described by The New York Times as one of the most honored and influential directors in Broadway and Hollywood history. He was born in Istanbul, to Cappadocian Greek parents, after attending Williams College and then the Yale School of Drama, he acted professionally for eight years, later joining the Group Theater in 1932, and co-founded the Actors Studio in 1947. With Robert Lewis and Cheryl Crawford, his actors studio introduced Method Acting under the direction of Lee Strasberg, Kazan acted in a few films, including City for Conquest. Noted for drawing out the best dramatic performances from his actors, he directed 21 actors to Oscar nominations and he directed a string of successful films, including A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront, and East of Eden. During his career, he won two Oscars as Best Director and received an Honorary Oscar, won three Tony Awards, and four Golden Globes and his films were concerned with personal or social issues of special concern to him. Kazan writes, I dont move unless I have some empathy with the basic theme and his first such issue film was Gentlemans Agreement, with Gregory Peck, which dealt with anti-Semitism in America. It received 8 Oscar nominations and 3 wins, including Kazans first for Best Director and it was followed by Pinky, one of the first films in mainstream Hollywood to address racial prejudice against black people. In 1954, he directed On the Waterfront, a film about corruption on the New York harbor waterfront. A Streetcar Named Desire, an adaptation of the play which he had also directed, received 12 Oscar nominations, winning 4. In 1955, he directed John Steinbecks East of Eden, which introduced James Dean to movie audiences and his testimony helped end the careers of former acting colleagues Morris Carnovsky and Art Smith, along with ending the work of playwright Clifford Odets. Kazan later justified his act by saying he took only the more tolerable of two alternatives that were either way painful and wrong, nearly a half-century later, his anti-Communist testimony continued to cause controversy. When Kazan was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1999, dozens of actors not to applaud as 250 demonstrators picketed the event. Kazan influenced the films of the 1950s and 60s with his provocative, Director Stanley Kubrick called him, without question, the best director we have in America, capable of performing miracles with the actors he uses. Film author Ian Freer concludes that if his achievements are tainted by political controversy, in 2010, Martin Scorsese co-directed the documentary film A Letter to Elia as a personal tribute to Kazan. Elia Kazan was born in the Fener district of Istanbul, to Cappadocian Greek parents originally from Kayseri in Anatolia and his parents, George and Athena Kazantzoglou, emigrated to the United States when he was four years old. He was named after his grandfather, Elia Kazantzoglou. His maternal grandfather was Isaak Shishmanoglou, elias brother, Avraam, was born in Berlin and later became a psychiatrist. As a young boy, he was remembered as being shy, much of his early life was portrayed in his autobiographical book, America America, which he made into a film in 1963
29.
On the Waterfront
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On the Waterfront is a 1954 American crime drama film directed by Elia Kazan and written by Budd Schulberg. It stars Marlon Brando and features Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, Pat Henning, the soundtrack score was composed by Leonard Bernstein. The film focuses on violence and corruption amongst longshoremen while detailing widespread corruption, extortion. In 1997 it was ranked by the American Film Institute as the eighth-greatest American movie of all time and it is Bernsteins only original film score not adapted from a stage production with songs. In 1989, On the Waterfront was deemed culturally, historically or aesthetically significant by the Library of Congress, mob-connected union boss Johnny Friendly gloats about his iron-fisted control of the waterfront. Terry Malloy is a dockworker whose brother Charley the Gent is Friendlys right-hand man, Terry is used to coax Joey Doyle, a popular dockworker, into an ambush, preventing Joey from testifying against Friendly before the Crime Commission. Terry assumed that Friendlys enforcers were only going to lean on Joey to pressure him into silence, Joeys sister Edie, angry about her brothers death, shames waterfront priest Father Barry into fomenting action against the mob-controlled union. Friendly sends Terry to attend and inform on a dockworkers meeting Father Barry holds in the church, Terry helps Edie escape the violence, and is smitten with her. Horrified, Edie breaks up with him, as Terry increasingly leans toward testifying, Friendly decides that Terry must be killed unless Charley can coerce him into keeping quiet. In what has become a scene, Terry reminds Charley that had it not been for the fixed fight. I coulda been a contender, laments Terry to his brother, Instead of a bum, Charley gives Terry the gun and advises him to run. Terry flees to Edies apartment, where she first refuses to let him in but finally admits her love for him. Friendly, having had Charley watched, has Charley murdered and his body hung in an alley as bait to lure Terry out to his death, but Terry and Edie both escape the attempt on Terrys life. After finding Charleys body, Terry sets out to shoot Friendly, Terry proceeds to give damaging testimony implicating Friendly in Joeys murder and other illegal activities, causing Friendlys mob boss to cut him off and Friendly to face indictment. After the testimony, Friendly announces that Terry will not find employment anywhere on the waterfront, Terry is shunned by his former friends and by a neighborhood boy who had previously looked up to him. Refusing Edies suggestion that they move away from the waterfront together, when he is the only man not hired, Terry openly confronts Friendly, calling him out and proclaiming that he is proud of what he did. The confrontation develops into a brawl, with Terry getting the upper hand until Friendlys thugs gang up on Terry. The dockworkers, who witness the confrontation, show their support for Terry by refusing to work unless Terry is working too, encouraged by Father Barry and Edie, the badly injured Terry forces himself to his feet and enters the dock, followed by the other workers
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American Film Institute
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The American Film Institute is an American film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the moving picture arts in America. AFI is supported by funding and public membership. The institute is composed of leaders from the film, entertainment, business, a board of trustees chaired by Sir Howard Stringer and a board of directors chaired by Robert A. Daly guide the organization, which is led by President and CEO Bob Gazzale. Prior leaders were founding director George Stevens, Jr. and Jean Picker Firstenberg. <ref>AFI Board of Trustees etc. American Film Institute. October 2014. Retrieved December 24,2014. </ref>Two years later, in 1967, AFI was established, supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Motion Picture Association of America and the Ford Foundation. The institute established a program for filmmakers known then as the Center for Advanced Film Studies. The institute moved to its current eight-acre Hollywood campus in 1981, the film training program grew into the AFI Conservatory, an accredited graduate school. AFI educates audiences and recognizes excellence through its awards programs and 10 Top 10 Lists. In 1969, the established the AFI Conservatory for Advanced Film Studies at Greystone. The first class included filmmakers Terrence Malick, Caleb Deschanel and Paul Schrader, mirroring a professional production environment, Fellows collaborate to make more films than any other graduate level program. Admission to AFI Conservatory is highly selective, with a maximum of 140 graduates per year, in 2013, Emmy and Oscar-winning director, producer and screenwriter James L. Brooks joined AFI as Artistic Director of the AFI Conservatory where he provides leadership for the film program. Brooks artistic role at the AFI Conservatory has a legacy that includes Daniel Petrie, Jr. Robert Wise. Award-winning director Bob Mandel served as Dean of the AFI Conservatory for nine years, jan Schuette took over as Dean in 2014. AFI Conservatorys alumni have careers in film, television and on the web and they have been recognized with all of the major industry awards – Academy Award, Emmy Award, guild awards, and the Tony Award. The AFI Catalog, started in 1968, is a web-based filmographic database, early print copies of this catalog may also be found at your local library. Each year the AFI Awards honor the ten outstanding films and ten outstanding television programs, the awards are a non-competitive acknowledgement of excellence. The Awards are announced in December and a luncheon for award honorees takes place the following January. The juries consisted of over 1,500 artists, scholars, critics and historians, with movies selected based on the films popularity over time, historical significance, citizen Kane was voted the greatest American film twice. AFI operates two film festivals, AFI Fest in Los Angeles, and AFI Docs in Silver Spring, Maryland, AFI Fest is the American Film Institutes annual celebration of artistic excellence
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Oregon Territory
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Originally claimed by several countries, the region was divided between the UK and US in 1846. When established, the territory encompassed an area included the current states of Oregon, Washington. The capital of the territory was first Oregon City, then Salem, followed briefly by Corvallis, then back to Salem, originally inhabited by Native Americans, the region that became the Oregon Territory was explored by Europeans first by sea. The first documented exploration came in 1777 by the Spanish, with British, during the period of joint occupation, most activity in the region outside of the activities of the indigenous people came from the fur trade, which was dominated by the British Hudsons Bay Company. Over time, some began to settle down in the area and began farming. Some settlers also began arriving in the late 1830s, and covered wagons crossed the Oregon Trail beginning in 1841, at that time, no government existed in the Oregon Country, as no one nation held dominion over the territory. A group of settlers in the Willamette Valley began meeting in 1841 to discuss organizing a government for the area and these earliest documented discussions, mostly concerning forming a government, were held in an early pioneer and Native American encampment and later town known as Champoeg, Oregon. These first Champoeg Meetings eventually led to discussions, and in 1843 the creation of the Provisional Government of Oregon. In 1846, the Oregon boundary dispute between the U. S. and Britain was settled with the signing of the Oregon Treaty. The British gained sole possession of the north of the 49th parallel and all of Vancouver Island. On August 14,1848, Congress passed the Act to Establish the Territorial Government of Oregon, the Territory of Oregon originally encompassed all of the present-day states of Idaho, Oregon and Washington, as well as those parts of present-day Montana and Wyoming west of the Continental Divide. Its southern border was the 42nd parallel north, and it extended north to the 49th parallel, Oregon City, Oregon, was designated as the first capital. The territorial government consisted of a governor, a marshal, a secretary, an attorney, judges on the court also sat as trial level judges as they rode circuit across the territory. All of these offices were filled by appointment by the President of the United States, taxation took the form of an annual property tax of 0. 25% for territorial purposes with an additional county tax not to exceed this amount. This tax was to be paid on all town lots and improvements, mills, carriages, clocks and watches, Oregon City served as the seat of government from 1848 to 1851, followed by Salem from 1851 to 1855. Corvallis served briefly as the capital in 1855, followed by a permanent return to Salem later that year, in 1853, the portion of the territory north of the lower Columbia River and north of the 46th parallel east of the river was organized into the Washington Territory. On February 14,1859, the territory entered the Union as the U. S. state of Oregon within its current boundaries, the remaining eastern portion of the territory was added to the Washington Territory
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Plutarch
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Plutarch was a Greek biographer and essayist, known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia. He is classified as a Middle Platonist, Plutarchs surviving works were written in Greek, but intended for both Greek and Roman readers. Plutarch was born to a prominent family in the town of Chaeronea, about 80 km east of Delphi. The name of Plutarchs father has not been preserved, but based on the common Greek custom of repeating a name in alternate generations, the name of Plutarchs grandfather was Lamprias, as he attested in Moralia and in his Life of Antony. His brothers, Timon and Lamprias, are mentioned in his essays and dialogues. Rualdus, in his 1624 work Life of Plutarchus, recovered the name of Plutarchs wife, Timoxena, from internal evidence afforded by his writings. A letter is still extant, addressed by Plutarch to his wife, bidding her not to grieve too much at the death of their two-year-old daughter, interestingly, he hinted at a belief in reincarnation in that letter of consolation. The exact number of his sons is not certain, although two of them, Autobulus and the second Plutarch, are often mentioned. Plutarchs treatise De animae procreatione in Timaeo is dedicated to them, another person, Soklarus, is spoken of in terms which seem to imply that he was Plutarchs son, but this is nowhere definitely stated. Plutarch studied mathematics and philosophy at the Academy of Athens under Ammonius from 66 to 67, at some point, Plutarch took Roman citizenship. He lived most of his life at Chaeronea, and was initiated into the mysteries of the Greek god Apollo. For many years Plutarch served as one of the two priests at the temple of Apollo at Delphi, the site of the famous Delphic Oracle, twenty miles from his home. By his writings and lectures Plutarch became a celebrity in the Roman Empire, yet he continued to reside where he was born, at his country estate, guests from all over the empire congregated for serious conversation, presided over by Plutarch in his marble chair. Many of these dialogues were recorded and published, and the 78 essays, Plutarch held the office of archon in his native municipality, probably only an annual one which he likely served more than once. He busied himself with all the matters of the town. The Suda, a medieval Greek encyclopedia, states that Emperor Trajan made Plutarch procurator of Illyria, however, most historians consider this unlikely, since Illyria was not a procuratorial province, and Plutarch probably did not speak Illyrian. Plutarch spent the last thirty years of his serving as a priest in Delphi. He thus connected part of his work with the sanctuary of Apollo, the processes of oracle-giving
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Kiss Me Kate (film)
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Kiss Me Kate is a 1953 MGM film adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name. Already on poor terms, the pair begin an all-out emotional war mid-performance that threatens the productions success, the only thing keeping the show together are threats from a pair of gangsters, who have come to collect a gambling debt from the shows Lucentio, Bill Calhoun. In classic musical comedy fashion, slapstick madness ensues before everything is resolved, dorothy Kingsleys screenplay, which was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award, was adapted from the musicals book by Samuel and Bella Spewack. The songs were by Cole Porter, with musical underscoring by Saul Chaplin and André Previn, hermes Pan choreographed the dance routines. The movie was filmed in 3-D using the most advanced methods of that technique then available, devotees of the stereoscopic 3-D medium usually cite this film as one of the best examples of a Hollywood release in polarized 3D. Fred Graham and Lilli Vanessi, a couple, meet at Freds apartment to hear the score for the Cole Porter musical version of The Taming of the Shrew. Lois Lane, who is to play Bianca, arrives and sings Too Darn Hot, Lilli almost decides against performing in the show, as she fears it might interfere with her honeymoon. But when she overhears Cole and Fred promising Lois the part, Lois laments Bills bad-boy lifestyle, but Bills winsome charm soon wins her over, and she forgives him. Meanwhile, after a confrontation during rehearsals, Fred and Lilli get together in Lillis dressing room. Fred later sends flowers to Lois but his butler gets confused, Lilli is overcome by this romantic gesture and falls back in love with Fred. The show gets underway, with Fred, Lilli, Lois, the main body of the play is their enactment of Shakespeares The Taming of The Shrew - the script is largely the same as Shakespeares, but interspersed with Cole Porters songs. In the play, Bianca, the daughter of Baptista, a Paduan merchant, wishes to marry. Bianca has three suitors – Gremio, Hortensio and Lucentio – and each of them try to persuade her to him as her husband. She is prepared to marry anyone, lucentios friend Petruchio arrives in Padua, seeking a wife, and when he hears of Katherine, he resolves to woo her. Katherine, however, hates the idea of getting married, Lilli is so moved by Freds heartfelt delivery of the song, that she cant resist reading the card that came with the flowers, having placed it next to her heart. She sees that it is addressed to Lois, and attacks Fred mercilessly on stage, as the curtain comes down, Fred has had enough, and spanks Lilli. Lilli resolves to leave the theatre with her fiancé, Tex Calloway, she phones him, meanwhile, Lippy and Slug, a pair of gang enforcers, arrive to collect Bills IOU from Fred. Fred decides to accept the IOU and convinces Lippy and Slug that he needs them to help keep Lilli from leaving so the show will be enough for Fred to afford the debt
