1.
Marguerite Namara
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She was born as Marguerite Evelyn Cecilia Banks in Cleveland, Ohio, to a wealthy family with New England ties. Raised in Los Angeles from the age of five, she attended St. Vincents School and Girls Collegiate High School, studying piano and voice from an early age. As a teenager, she and her mother, who served as one of her early vocal coaches, made a recording for Thomas Edison, singing the Flower Duet from the Delibes opera, Lakmé. At 18, Marguerite began studying at the Milan Conservatory, debuting a year later in 1908 as Marguerite in Gounods Faust at the Teatro Politeamo in Genoa and she fashioned her stage name of Namara from her mothers maiden name, McNamara. From then on, she was referred to professionally as Madame Namara, from 1910 to 1926, she sang with the Boston Opera Company, with the Chicago Opera Company, with the Metropolitan Opera, and with Pariss Opéra-Comique. She sang lead roles in Cavalleria Rusticana, Manon, Carmen, Il trovatore, Tosca, La traviata and she also starred in operetta and musical comedy, Her 1915 Broadway debut came in a Franz Lehár operetta written especially for her entitled Alone at Last. She later starred for the Shuberts in revivals of H. M. S, pinafore and The Mikado, and for the Philadelphia Grand Opera Company in Carmen. In addition, she toured nationally and in Europe with leading orchestras. She appeared at the Royal Albert Hall, London on five occasions between 1921 and 1925, G. Wodehouse, the latter four being collaborators of her second husband Guy Bolton. During her years in Paris in the 1920s, she studied painting with Claude Monet. Her letters to family at home indicated the lessons came in return for her singing to him, just the right place to rough it, an escape from the world. Stolen Moments, a 1920 silent picture in which she starred with Rudolph Valentino, was one of her few film projects, in 1932, she starred in the first musical film version of Carmen, a British Film Company picture given the unfortunate name of Gipsy Blood. Her co-star was British actor Lester Matthews, exteriors were filmed in Ronda, Spain, but the troupe recorded the music in London with the London Symphony Orchestra. Later films in which Namara played small parts included Thirty-Day Princess with Cary Grant and Sylvia Sidney, in the early 1930s, her singing voice strained from overwork, she appeared in the London cast of the Ivor Novello play, Party which opened in London on 23 May 1932. With the onset of the Depression, she returned to Hollywood and began teaching voice, counting the actors Ramón Novarro, subsequent theatrical performances on Broadway and on tour included supporting parts in Enter Madame, Night of Love, Claudia, and Lo and Behold. During the 1940s/50s, her voice mellowed to that of a mezzo-soprano and she enjoyed modest success on the concert recital circuit, singing occasionally on radio. On tour, many of her costumes were designed by her friend and patroness, heiress Natalie Hays Hammond and she was married three times, from 1910-1916 to her manager Frederick H. In the 1940s and 50s, she divided her time between New York City and Europe and she died on November 5,1974, in Marbella, Spain, two weeks shy of her 86th birthday
2.
Rudolph Valentino
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He was an early pop icon, a sex symbol of the 1920s, who was known as the Latin lover or simply as Valentino. He had applied for American citizenship shortly before his death at age 31. Valentino was born Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi in Castellaneta, Apulia and his mother, Marie Berta Gabrielle, was French, born in Lure in Franche-Comté. His father, Giovanni Antonio Giuseppe Fedele Guglielmi di Valentina dAntonguella, was Italian, Valentino had an older brother, Alberto, a younger sister, Maria, and an older sister, Beatrice, who had died in infancy. As a child, Rodolfo was indulged because of his exceptional looks and his mother coddled him, while his father disapproved of him. He did poorly in school and was enrolled in agricultural school at Genoa. After living in Paris in 1912, he returned to Italy. Unable to secure employment, he departed for the United States in 1913 and he was processed at Ellis Island at age 18 on December 23,1913. Arriving in New York City, Valentino soon ran out of money and he supported himself with odd jobs such as bussing tables in restaurants and gardening. Eventually, he work as a taxi dancer at Maxims Restaurant-Cabaret. Among the other dancers at Maxims were several displaced members of European nobility, Valentino eventually befriended Chilean heiress Blanca de Saulles, who was unhappily married to prominent businessman John de Saulles, with whom she had a son. Following the divorce, John de Saulles reportedly used his connections to have Valentino arrested, along with a Mrs. Thyme. The evidence was flimsy at best, and after a few days in jail, following the well publicized trial and subsequent scandal, Valentino could not find employment. Shortly after the trial, Blanca de Saulles fatally shot her ex-husband during a dispute over their son. Fearful of being called in as a witness in another trial, Valentino left town. In 1917, Valentino joined a company that traveled to Utah. He then joined an Al Jolson production of Robinson Crusoe, Jr. which was travelling to Los Angeles, by fall, he was in San Francisco with a bit part in a theatrical production of Nobody Home. While in town, Valentino met actor Norman Kerry, who convinced him to try a career in cinema, Valentino and Kerry moved back to Los Angeles and became roommates at the Alexandria Hotel
3.
Silent film
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A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. The silent film era lasted from 1895 to 1936, in silent films for entertainment, the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, mime and title cards which contain a written indication of the plot or key dialogue. During silent films, a pianist, theatre organist, or, in large cities, pianists and organists would either play from sheet music or improvise, an orchestra would play from sheet music. The term silent film is therefore a retronym—that is, a term created to distinguish something retroactively, the early films with sound, starting with The Jazz Singer in 1927, were referred to as talkies, sound films, or talking pictures. A September 2013 report by the United States Library of Congress announced that a total of 70% of American silent feature films are believed to be completely lost, the earliest precursors of film began with image projection through the use of a device known as the magic lantern. This utilized a glass lens, a shutter and a persistent light source, such as a powerful lantern and these slides were originally hand-painted, but still photographs were used later on after the technological advent of photography in the nineteenth century. The invention of a practical photography apparatus preceded cinema by only fifty years, the next significant step towards film creation was the development of an understanding of image movement. Simulations of movement date as far back as to 1828 and only four years after Paul Roget discovered the phenomenon he called Persistence of Vision. This experience was further demonstrated through Rogets introduction of the thaumatrope, the first projected primary proto-movie was made by Eadweard Muybridge between 1877 and 1880. Muybridge set up a row of cameras along a racetrack and timed image exposures to capture the many stages of a horses gallop, the oldest surviving film was created by Louis Le Prince in 1888. It was a film of people walking in Oakwood streets garden. Edison also made a business of selling Kinetograph and Kinetoscope equipment, due to Edisons lack of securing an international patent on his film inventions, similar devices were invented around the world. The Lumière brothers, for example, created the Cinématographe in France, the Cinématographe proved to be a more portable and practical device than both of Edisons as it combined a camera, film processor and projector in one unit. In contrast to Edisons peepshow-style kinetoscope, which one person could watch through a viewer. Their first film, Sortie de lusine Lumière de Lyon, shot in 1894, is considered the first true motion picture, the invention of celluloid film, which was strong and flexible, greatly facilitated the making of motion pictures. This film was 35 mm wide and pulled using four sprocket holes and this doomed the cinematograph, which could only use film with just one sprocket hole. From the very beginnings of film production, the art of motion pictures grew into maturity in the silent era. Silent filmmakers pioneered the art form to the extent that virtually every style, the silent era was also pioneering era from a technical point of view
4.
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (film)
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The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is a 1921 American silent epic war film produced by Metro Pictures Corporation and directed by Rex Ingram. Based on the Spanish novel The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, the film stars Pomeroy Cannon, Josef Swickard, Bridgetta Clark, Rudolph Valentino, Wallace Beery, and Alice Terry. Often regarded as one of the first true anti-war films, it had a cultural impact and became the top-grossing film of 1921. The film turned then-little-known actor Rudolph Valentino into a superstar and associated him with the image of the Latin Lover, the film also inspired a tango craze and such fashion fads as gaucho pants. The film was masterminded by June Mathis, who, with its success, the film is now in the public domain, having been made before 1923. A DVD version was released in 2000 but is now out of print, the film is now available for free download on the Internet Archive. Madariaga The Centaur, a harsh but popular Argentine landowner, has a German son-in-law whom he dislikes and he is particularly fond of his grandson Julio, with whom he often carouses at seedy dives in the Boca district of Buenos Aires. In one of these bars, the famous tango sequence occurs. A man and a woman are dancing the tango, Julio strides up and asks to cut in. The woman stares at Julio alluringly, the man brushes him off, and they resume dancing. Julio then challenges the man and strikes him, knocking him into some tables, Julio and the woman then dance a dramatic version of the tango that brings cheers from the people in the establishment. Following the dance, the woman sits on Julios lap, madariaga then slides to the floor, drunk. Julio casts her aside in scorn and helps his grandfather home, the extended family breaks up, one half returning to Germany and the other to France. In Paris, Julio enjoys a somewhat shiftless life as a would-be artist and he falls in love with Marguerite Laurier, the unhappy and much younger wife of Etienne Laurier, a friend of Julios father. The affair is discovered, and Marguerites husband agrees to give her a divorce to avoid a scandal and it seems as though Julio and Marguerite will be able to marry, but both end up getting caught up in the start of the Great War. Marguerite becomes a nurse in Lourdes, the bravery of Etienne is reported, and he is blinded in battle. Etienne happens to end up at the hospital where she is working, Julio travels to Lourdes to see Marguerite and instead sees her taking care of Etienne. Julio, ashamed of his life, enlists in the French Army
5.
Hollywood
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Hollywood is an ethnically diverse, densely populated neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. It is notable as the home of the U. S. film industry, including several of its studios, and its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the industry. Hollywood was a community in 1870 and was incorporated as a municipality in 1903. It was consolidated with the city of Los Angeles in 1910, in 1853, one adobe hut stood in Nopalera, named for the Mexican Nopal cactus indigenous to the area. By 1870, an agricultural community flourished, the area was known as the Cahuenga Valley, after the pass in the Santa Monica Mountains immediately to the north. According to the diary of H. J. Whitley, known as the Father of Hollywood, along came a Chinese man in a wagon carrying wood. The man got out of the wagon and bowed, the Chinese man was asked what he was doing and replied, I holly-wood, meaning hauling wood. H. J. Whitley had an epiphany and decided to name his new town Hollywood, Holly would represent England and wood would represent his Scottish heritage. Whitley had already started over 100 towns across the western United States, Whitley arranged to buy the 500-acre E. C. Hurd ranch and disclosed to him his plans for the land. They agreed on a price and Hurd agreed to sell at a later date, before Whitley got off the ground with Hollywood, plans for the new town had spread to General Harrison Gray Otis, Hurds wife, eastern adjacent ranch co-owner Daeida Wilcox, and others. Daeida Wilcox may have learned of the name Hollywood from Ivar Weid, her neighbor in Holly Canyon and she recommended the same name to her husband, Harvey. In August 1887, Wilcox filed with the Los Angeles County Recorders office a deed and parcel map of property he had sold named Hollywood, Wilcox wanted to be the first to record it on a deed. The early real-estate boom busted that year, yet Hollywood began its slow growth. By 1900, the region had a post office, newspaper, hotel, Los Angeles, with a population of 102,479 lay 10 miles east through the vineyards, barley fields, and citrus groves. A single-track streetcar line ran down the middle of Prospect Avenue from it, but service was infrequent, the old citrus fruit-packing house was converted into a livery stable, improving transportation for the inhabitants of Hollywood. The Hollywood Hotel was opened in 1902 by H. J. Whitley who was a president of the Los Pacific Boulevard, having finally acquired the Hurd ranch and subdivided it, Whitley built the hotel to attract land buyers. Flanking the west side of Highland Avenue, the structure fronted on Prospect Avenue, the hotel was to become internationally known and was the center of the civic and social life and home of the stars for many years. Whitleys company developed and sold one of the residential areas
6.
St. Augustine, Florida
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St. Augustine is a city in the Southeastern United States, on the Atlantic coast in northeastern Florida. It is the oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement within the borders of the continental United States, the county seat of St. Johns County, it is part of Floridas First Coast region and the Jacksonville metropolitan area. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 12,975, the United States Census Bureaus 2013 estimate of the citys population was 13,679, while the urban area had a population of 69,173 in 2012. Saint Augustine was founded on September 8,1565, by Spanish admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, Floridas first governor. He named the settlement San Agustín, as his ships bearing settlers, troops, and supplies from Spain had first sighted land in Florida eleven days earlier on August 28, the feast day of St. Augustine. The city served as the capital of Spanish Florida for over 200 years, since the late 19th century, St. Augustines distinct historical character has made the city a major tourist attraction, and it is also the headquarters for the Florida National Guard. Founded in 1565 by the Spanish conquistador, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, in 1562, a group of Huguenots led by Jean Ribault arrived in Spanish Florida to establish a colony in the territory claimed by Spain. They explored the mouth of the St. Johns River, calling it la Rivière de Mai, then sailed northward, Spain learned of this French expedition through its spies at ports on the Atlantic coast of France. The Huguenot nobleman René de Laudonnière, who had participated in the expedition and he arrived at the mouth of the River May on June 22,1564, sailed up it a few miles, and founded Fort Caroline. He was ordered as well to drive away any intruders who were not subjects of the Spanish crown. On July 28, Menéndez set sail from Cádiz with a led by his 600-ton flagship, the San Pelayo, accompanied by several smaller ships, and carrying over 1,000 sailors, soldiers. On the feast day of St. Augustine, August 28, Menéndez then sailed north and confronted Ribaults fleet outside the bar of the River May in a brief skirmish. On September 6, he returned to the site of his first landfall, naming it after the Catholic saint, disembarked his troops, and quickly constructed fortifications to protect his people and supplies. Menéndez then marched his soldiers overland for an attack on Fort Caroline. Jean Ribault had already put out to sea with his ships for an assault on St. Augustine, there they were confronted by the Spaniard and his men on the opposite side. After several parleys with the Spanish, Jean Ribault and the Frenchmen with him surrendered, almost all of them were executed in the dunes near the inlet, in 1572, the settlement was relocated to the mainland, in the area just south of the future town plaza. Confident that he had fulfilled the conditions of his contract with the King, including the building of forts along the coast of La Florida. After several more transatlantic crossings, Menéndez fell ill and died on September 17,1574, succeeding governors of the province maintained a peaceful coexistence with the local Native Americans, allowing the isolated outpost of St. Augustine some stability for a few years
7.
Savannah, Georgia
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Savannah is the oldest city in the U. S. state of Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia, a strategic port city in the American Revolution and during the American Civil War, Savannah is today an industrial center and an important Atlantic seaport. It is Georgias fifth-largest city and third-largest metropolitan area, Downtown Savannah largely retains the original town plan prescribed by founder James Oglethorpe. Savannah was the host city for the sailing competitions during the 1996 Summer Olympics held in Atlanta. On February 12,1733, General James Oglethorpe and settlers from the ship Anne landed at Yamacraw Bluff and were greeted by Tomochichi, the Yamacraws, Mary Musgrove often served as an interpreter. The city of Savannah was founded on that date, along with the colony of Georgia, in 1751, Savannah and the rest of Georgia became a Royal Colony and Savannah was made the colonial capital of Georgia. By the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, Savannah had become the southernmost commercial port of the Thirteen Colonies, British troops took the city in 1778, and the following year a combined force of American and French soldiers failed to rout the British at the Siege of Savannah. The British did not leave the city until July 1782, Savannah, a prosperous seaport throughout the nineteenth century, was the Confederacys sixth most populous city and the prime objective of General William T. Shermans March to the Sea. Early on December 21,1864, local authorities negotiated a surrender to save Savannah from destruction. Savannah was named for the Savannah River, which derives from variant names for the Shawnee. The Shawnee destroyed another Native people, the Westo, and occupied their lands at the head of the Savannah Rivers navigation on the fall line and these Shawnee, whose Native name was Ša·wano·ki, were known by several local variants, including Shawano, Savano, Savana and Savannah. Still other theories suggest that the name Savannah originates from Algonquian terms meaning not only southerners, Savannah lies on the Savannah River, approximately 20 mi upriver from the Atlantic Ocean. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 108.7 square miles. Savannah is the port on the Savannah River and the largest port in the state of Georgia. It is also located near the U. S. Intracoastal Waterway, Georgias Ogeechee River flows toward the Atlantic Ocean some 16 miles south of downtown Savannah. Savannahs climate is classified as humid subtropical, in the Deep South, this is characterized by long and almost tropical summers and short, mild winters. Savannah records few days of freezing temperatures each year, due to its proximity to the Atlantic coast, Savannah rarely experiences temperatures as extreme as those in Georgias interior. Nevertheless, the temperatures have officially ranged from 105 °F, on July 20,1986, down to 3 °F
8.
Feature film
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A film, also called a movie, motion picture, theatrical film or photoplay, is a series of still images which, when shown on a screen, creates the illusion of moving images due to the phi phenomenon. This optical illusion causes the audience to perceive continuous motion between separate objects viewed rapidly in succession, the process of filmmaking is both an art and an industry. The word cinema, short for cinematography, is used to refer to the industry of films. Films were originally recorded onto plastic film through a photochemical process, the adoption of CGI-based special effects led to the use of digital intermediates. Most contemporary films are now fully digital through the process of production, distribution. Films recorded in a form traditionally included an analogous optical soundtrack. It runs along a portion of the film exclusively reserved for it and is not projected, Films are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures. They reflect those cultures, and, in turn, affect them, Film is considered to be an important art form, a source of popular entertainment, and a powerful medium for educating—or indoctrinating—citizens. The visual basis of film gives it a power of communication. Some films have become popular worldwide attractions by using dubbing or subtitles to translate the dialog into the language of the viewer, some have criticized the film industrys glorification of violence and its potentially negative treatment of women. The individual images that make up a film are called frames, the perception of motion is due to a psychological effect called phi phenomenon. The name film originates from the fact that film has historically been the medium for recording and displaying motion pictures. Many other terms exist for a motion picture, including picture, picture show, moving picture, photoplay. The most common term in the United States is movie, while in Europe film is preferred. Terms for the field, in general, include the big screen, the screen, the movies, and cinema. In early years, the sheet was sometimes used instead of screen. Preceding film in origin by thousands of years, early plays and dances had elements common to film, scripts, sets, costumes, production, direction, actors, audiences, storyboards, much terminology later used in film theory and criticism apply, such as mise en scène. Owing to the lack of any technology for doing so, the moving images, the magic lantern, probably created by Christiaan Huygens in the 1650s, could be used to project animation, which was achieved by various types of mechanical slides
9.
Turner Classic Movies
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Turner Classic Movies is an American movie-oriented basic cable and satellite television network owned by the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner. TCM is headquartered at the Techwood Campus in Atlanta, Georgias Midtown business district, historically, the channels programming consisted mainly of featured classic theatrically released feature films from the Turner Entertainment film library – which comprises films from Warner Bros. However, TCM now has licensing deals with other Hollywood film studios as well as its Time Warner sister company, Warner Bros. and occasionally shows more recent films. The channel is available in United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Latin America, France, Spain, Nordic countries, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific. In 1986, eight years before the launch of Turner Classic Movies, concerns over Turner Entertainments corporate debt load resulted in Turner selling the studio that October back to Kirk Kerkorian, from whom Turner had purchased the studio less than a year before. As part of the deal, Turner Entertainment retained ownership of MGMs library of films released up to May 9,1986, Turner Broadcasting System was split into two companies, Turner Broadcasting System and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and reincorporated as MGM/UA Communications Co. The film library of Turner Entertainment would serve as the form of programming for TCM upon the networks launch. After the library was acquired, MGM/UA signed a deal with Turner to continue distributing the pre-May 1986 MGM and to begin distributing the pre-1950 Warner Bros. film libraries for video release. Turner Classic Movies debuted on April 14,1994, at 6,00 p. m. Eastern Time, the date and time were chosen for their historical significance as the exact centennial anniversary of the first public movie showing in New York City. The first movie broadcast on TCM was the 1939 film Gone with the Wind, at the time of its launch, TCM was available to approximately one million cable television subscribers. AMC had broadened its content to feature colorized and more recent films by 2002. In the early 90s AMC abandoned its format, leaving TCM as the only movie-oriented cable channel to devote its programming entirely to classic films without commercial interruption. In 1996, Turner Broadcasting System merged with Time Warner, which besides placing Turner Classic Movies, in March 1999, MGM paid Warner Bros. and gave up the home video rights to the MGM/UA films owned by Turner to Warner Home Video. In 2008, TCM won a Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting, in April 2010, Turner Classic Movies held the first TCM Classic Film Festival, an event – now held annually – at the Graumans Chinese Theater and the Graumans Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. In 2007, some of the films featured on TCM were made available for streaming on TCMs website. The networks programming season runs from February until the following March of each year when a retrospective of Oscar-winning and Oscar-nominated movies is shown, called 31 Days of Oscar. Turner Classic Movies presents many of its features in their original aspect ratio whenever possible – widescreen films broadcast on TCM are letterboxed on the standard definition feed. TCM also regularly presents widescreen presentations of films not available in the format on any video release
10.
Florida
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Florida /ˈflɒrᵻdə/ is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, Florida is the 22nd-most extensive, the 3rd-most populous, and the 8th-most densely populated of the U. S. states. Jacksonville is the most populous municipality in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States, the Miami metropolitan area is Floridas most populous urban area. The city of Tallahassee is the state capital, much of the state is at or near sea level and is characterized by sedimentary soil. The climate varies from subtropical in the north to tropical in the south, the American alligator, American crocodile, Florida panther, and manatee can be found in the Everglades National Park. It was a location of the Seminole Wars against the Native Americans. Today, Florida is distinctive for its large Cuban expatriate community and high population growth, the states economy relies mainly on tourism, agriculture, and transportation, which developed in the late 19th century. Florida is also renowned for amusement parks, orange crops, the Kennedy Space Center, Florida has attracted many writers such as Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams, and continues to attract celebrities and athletes. It is internationally known for golf, tennis, auto racing, by the 16th century, the earliest time for which there is a historical record, major Native American groups included the Apalachee, the Timucua, the Ais, the Tocobaga, the Calusa and the Tequesta. Florida was the first part of the continental United States to be visited and settled by Europeans, the earliest known European explorers came with the Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León. Ponce de León spotted and landed on the peninsula on April 2,1513 and he named the region La Florida. The story that he was searching for the Fountain of Youth is a myth, in May 1539, Conquistador Hernando de Soto skirted the coast of Florida, searching for a deep harbor to land. He described seeing a wall of red mangroves spread mile after mile, some reaching as high as 70 feet. Very soon, many smokes appeared along the whole coast, billowing against the sky, the Spanish introduced Christianity, cattle, horses, sheep, the Spanish language, and more to Florida. Both the Spanish and French established settlements in Florida, with varying degrees of success, in 1559, Don Tristán de Luna y Arellano established a settlement at present-day Pensacola, making it the first attempted settlement in Florida, but it was abandoned by 1561. Spain maintained tenuous control over the region by converting the tribes to Christianity. The area of Spanish Florida diminished with the establishment of English settlements to the north, the English attacked St. Augustine, burning the city and its cathedral to the ground several times. Florida attracted numerous Africans and African-Americans from adjacent British colonies who sought freedom from slavery, in 1738, Governor Manuel de Montiano established Fort Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose near St
11.
Brazil
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Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. As the worlds fifth-largest country by area and population, it is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language. Its Amazon River basin includes a vast tropical forest, home to wildlife, a variety of ecological systems. This unique environmental heritage makes Brazil one of 17 megadiverse countries, Brazil was inhabited by numerous tribal nations prior to the landing in 1500 of explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral, who claimed the area for the Portuguese Empire. Brazil remained a Portuguese colony until 1808, when the capital of the empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, in 1815, the colony was elevated to the rank of kingdom upon the formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. Independence was achieved in 1822 with the creation of the Empire of Brazil, a state governed under a constitutional monarchy. The ratification of the first constitution in 1824 led to the formation of a bicameral legislature, the country became a presidential republic in 1889 following a military coup détat. An authoritarian military junta came to power in 1964 and ruled until 1985, Brazils current constitution, formulated in 1988, defines it as a democratic federal republic. The federation is composed of the union of the Federal District, the 26 states, Brazils economy is the worlds ninth-largest by nominal GDP and seventh-largest by GDP as of 2015. A member of the BRICS group, Brazil until 2010 had one of the worlds fastest growing economies, with its economic reforms giving the country new international recognition. Brazils national development bank plays an important role for the economic growth. Brazil is a member of the United Nations, the G20, BRICS, Unasul, Mercosul, Organization of American States, Organization of Ibero-American States, CPLP. Brazil is a power in Latin America and a middle power in international affairs. One of the worlds major breadbaskets, Brazil has been the largest producer of coffee for the last 150 years and it is likely that the word Brazil comes from the Portuguese word for brazilwood, a tree that once grew plentifully along the Brazilian coast. In Portuguese, brazilwood is called pau-brasil, with the word brasil commonly given the etymology red like an ember, formed from Latin brasa and the suffix -il. As brazilwood produces a red dye, it was highly valued by the European cloth industry and was the earliest commercially exploited product from Brazil. The popular appellation eclipsed and eventually supplanted the official Portuguese name, early sailors sometimes also called it the Land of Parrots. In the Guarani language, a language of Paraguay, Brazil is called Pindorama
12.
Aileen Pringle
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Aileen Pringle was an American stage and film actress during the silent film era. One of Pringles first high-profile roles was in the Rudolph Valentino film Stolen Moments, the role catapulted Pringle into leading-lady status and her career began to build momentum. The event was to be a party organized by Hearst for film producer. Other prominent guests aboard The Oneida included columnist Louella Parsons, actor Charlie Chaplin, actress Marion Davies and actresses Seena Owen, Jacqueline Logan, at dinner that Sunday night, the group celebrated Inces 42nd birthday. Early Monday morning, Ince was taken from the yacht by water taxi and brought ashore, accompanied by Dr. Goodman a licensed, though non-practicing, by Tuesday night, Thomas Ince was dead. Among these, was a story of Hearst accidentally shooting Ince while aiming for Chaplin, Pringles acting career continued throughout the early 1920s, however, she was allegedly disliked by many of her co-workers for her allegedly haughty and dismissive behavior. She was prone to make witty, sometimes caustic, comments on Hollywood and her fellow actors. During a romantic scene in Three Weeks, in which actor Conrad Nagel carried her in his arms to the bedroom, lip readers saw her say, If you drop me, you bastard, Ill break your neck. Pringles apparent disdain for her began to hurt her career. L. Mencken who became a friend of the actress. She brokered the meeting of Mencken and Valentino, of which Mencken wrote an account, Mencken does not name her but describes her as discreet as she is charming. Ralph Barton, American artist, was also a devoted friend, another admirer was George Gershwin who met her in Hollywood and wrote much of the Second Rhapsody at her Santa Monica, California home. Her wit, keen intellect and sparkling personality made her a sought-after companion, however, with the advent of talkies, the studios began heavily promoting a new crop of starlets and Pringles career faded. During the sound era, she continued to take parts in major films. In 1944 Pringle married the author, James M. Cain, by the late 1940s, Pringle retired from the screen and lived a wealthy retirement in New York City, where she died in 1989 at the age of 94. For her contribution to the picture industry, Aileen Pringle was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6723 Hollywood Blvd. in Los Angeles. Notes Bibliography Kenneth Anger, Hollywood Babylon, San Francisco California, ISBN 0-87932-086-9 Films In Review, October 1979, Vol. XXX No.8. Article on Aileen Pringle by De Witt Bodeen, Films In Review, March 1990, Vol. XLI No.3
13.
IMDb
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In 1998 it became a subsidiary of Amazon Inc, who were then able to use it as an advertising resource for selling DVDs and videotapes. As of January 2017, IMDb has approximately 4.1 million titles and 7.7 million personalities in its database, the site enables registered users to submit new material and edits to existing entries. Although all data is checked before going live, the system has open to abuse. The site also featured message boards which stimulate regular debates and dialogue among authenticated users, IMDb shutdown the message boards permanently on February 20,2017. Anyone with a connection can read the movie and talent pages of IMDb. A registration process is however, to contribute info to the site. A registered user chooses a name for themselves, and is given a profile page. These badges range from total contributions made, to independent categories such as photos, trivia, bios, if a registered user or visitor happens to be in the entertainment industry, and has an IMDb page, that user/visitor can add photos to that page by enrolling in IMDbPRO. Actors, crew, and industry executives can post their own resume and this fee enrolls them in a membership called IMDbPro. PRO can be accessed by anyone willing to pay the fee, which is $19.99 USD per month, or if paid annually, $149.99, which comes to approximately $12.50 per month USD. Membership enables a user to access the rank order of each industry personality, as well as agent contact information for any actor, producer, director etc. that has an IMDb page. Enrolling in PRO for industry personnel, enables those members the ability to upload a head shot to open their page, as well as the ability to upload hundreds of photos to accompany their page. Anyone can register as a user, and contribute to the site as well as enjoy its content, however those users enrolled in PRO have greater access and privileges. IMDb originated with a Usenet posting by British film fan and computer programmer Col Needham entitled Those Eyes, others with similar interests soon responded with additions or different lists of their own. Needham subsequently started an Actors List, while Dave Knight began a Directors List, and Andy Krieg took over THE LIST from Hank Driskill, which would later be renamed the Actress List. Both lists had been restricted to people who were alive and working, the goal of the participants now was to make the lists as inclusive as possible. By late 1990, the lists included almost 10,000 movies and television series correlated with actors and actresses appearing therein. On October 17,1990, Needham developed and posted a collection of Unix shell scripts which could be used to search the four lists, at the time, it was known as the rec. arts. movies movie database
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AllMovie
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AllMovie is an online guide service website with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. As of 2013, AllMovie. com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by All Media Network, AllMovie was founded by popular-culture archivist Michael Erlewine, who also founded AllMusic and AllGame. The AllMovie database was licensed to tens of thousands of distributors and retailers for point-of-sale systems, websites, the AllMovie database is comprehensive, including basic product information, cast and production credits, plot synopsis, professional reviews, biographies, relational links and more. AllMovie data was accessed on the web at the AllMovie. com website and it was also available via the AMG LASSO media recognition service, which can automatically recognize DVDs. In late 2007, Macrovision acquired AMG for a reported $72 million, the AMG consumer facing web properties AllMusic. com, AllMovie. com and AllGame. com were sold by Rovi in August 2013 to All Media Network, LLC. The buyers also include the founders of SideReel and Ackrell Capital investor Mike Ackrell. All Media Network offices are located in San Francisco, California, AllMusic AllGame SideReel All Media Network Official website
