1.
Las Vegas
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The city anchors the Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area and is the largest city within the greater Mojave Desert. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city known primarily for its gambling, shopping, fine dining, entertainment and it is the leading financial, commercial, and cultural center for Nevada. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World and it is a top three destination in the United States for business conventions and a global leader in the hospitality industry, claiming more AAA Five Diamond hotels than any city in the world. Today, Las Vegas annually ranks as one of the worlds most visited tourist destinations. The citys tolerance for numerous forms of adult entertainment earned it the title of Sin City, and has made Las Vegas a popular setting for literature, films, television programs, Las Vegas was settled in 1905 and officially incorporated in 1911. At the close of the 20th century, it was the most populated American city founded within that century, population growth has accelerated since the 1960s, and between 1990 and 2000 the population nearly doubled, increasing by 85. 2%. Rapid growth has continued into the 21st century, and according to a 2013 estimate, perhaps the earliest visitors to the Las Vegas area were nomadic Paleo-Indians, who traveled there 10,000 years ago, leaving behind petroglyphs. Anasazi and Paiute tribes followed at least 2,000 years ago, a young Mexican scout named Rafael Rivera is credited as the first non-Native American to encounter the valley, in 1829. Trader Antonio Armijo led a 60-man party along the Spanish Trail to Los Angeles, the area was named Las Vegas, which is Spanish for the meadows, as it featured abundant wild grasses, as well as desert spring waters for westward travelers. The year 1844 marked the arrival of John C, frémont, whose writings helped lure pioneers to the area. Downtown Las Vegas Fremont Street is named after him, eleven years later members of the LDS Church chose Las Vegas as the site to build a fort halfway between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles, where they would travel to gather supplies. The fort was abandoned several years afterward, the remainder of this Old Mormon Fort can still be seen at the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Washington Avenue. Las Vegas was founded as a city in 1905, when 110 acres of adjacent to the Union Pacific Railroad tracks were auctioned in what would become the downtown area. In 1911, Las Vegas was incorporated as a city,1931 was a pivotal year for Las Vegas. At that time, Nevada legalized casino gambling and reduced residency requirements for divorce to six weeks and this year also witnessed the beginning of construction on nearby Hoover Dam. The influx of workers and their families helped Las Vegas avoid economic calamity during the Great Depression. The construction work was completed in 1935, in 1941, the Las Vegas Army Air Corps Gunnery School was established. Currently known as Nellis Air Force Base, it is home to the team called the Thunderbirds
2.
Nevada
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Nevada is a state in the Western, Mountain West, and Southwestern regions of the United States of America. Nevada is the 7th most extensive, the 34th most populous, nearly three-quarters of Nevadas people live in Clark County, which contains the Las Vegas–Paradise metropolitan area where three of the states four largest incorporated cities are located. Nevada is officially known as the Silver State because of the importance of silver to its history and economy. It is also known as the Battle Born State, because it achieved statehood during the Civil War, as the Sage-brush State, for the plant of the same name. Nevada borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, Nevada is largely desert and semi-arid, much of it located within the Great Basin. Areas south of the Great Basin are located within the Mojave Desert, while Lake Tahoe, about 86% of the states land is managed by various jurisdictions of the U. S. federal government, both civilian and military. Before European contact, Native Americans of the Paiute, Shoshone, the first Europeans to explore the region were Spanish. They called the region Nevada because of the snow covered the mountains in winter. The area formed part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, the United States annexed the area in 1848 after its victory in the Mexican–American War, and it was incorporated as part of Utah Territory in 1850. The discovery of silver at the Comstock Lode in 1859 led to a boom that became an impetus to the creation of Nevada Territory out of western Utah Territory in 1861. Nevada became the 36th state on October 31,1864, as the second of two added to the Union during the Civil War. Nevada has a reputation for its libertarian laws, in 1940, with a population of just over 110,000 people, Nevada was by far the least-populated state, with less than half the population of the next least-populated state. However, legalized gambling and lenient marriage and divorce laws transformed Nevada into a major tourist destination in the 20th century, Nevada is the only U. S. state where prostitution is legal, though it is illegal in Clark County, Washoe County and Carson City. The tourism industry remains Nevadas largest employer, with mining continuing as a sector of the economy. The name Nevada comes from the Spanish nevada, meaning snow-covered, most Nevadans pronounce the second syllable of their state name using the vowel of trap. Many from outside the Western United States pronounce it with the vowel of father, although the latter pronunciation is closer to the Spanish pronunciation, it is not the pronunciation preferred by most Nevadans. State Assemblyman Harry Mortenson proposed a bill to recognize the alternate pronunciation of Nevada, though the bill was not supported by most legislators, the Nevadan pronunciation is the de facto official one, since it is the one used by the state legislature. Nevada is almost entirely within the Basin and Range Province, and is broken up by many mountain ranges
3.
Martin Stern Jr.
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Martin Stern Jr. was an American architect who was most widely known for his large scale designs and structures in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is credited with originating the concept of the structurally integrated casino resort complex in Las Vegas, the International Hotel, which later became the Las Vegas Hilton, and the first MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, two pivotal Martin Stern Jr. When it was completed, the International was the largest hotel in the world and it is now the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino. The first MGM Grand, larger than the Empire State Building and in its turn the largest hotel in the world, as the Telegraph observed, this loss only seven years after the hotel was completed was devastating to Stern. The MGM Grand was nonetheless rebuilt within eight months and reopened and it was sold in 1985 and is now Ballys Las Vegas. Nearly half of Martin Stern Jr. s projects were in Nevada while another quarter were in California, the following partial listing by decades sketches less than one third of Sterns work. 1955, Encino Village, a subdivision of 400 homes in Encino, Los Angeles,1955, Holiday Hotel Reno in Reno, Nevada - the birthplace of the World Series of Poker. 1958-61, Mountain Shadows in Scottsdale, Arizona 1959, Del Webbs Towne House, on Market between 7th and 8th Streets in San Francisco, California. 1960, Paradise Valley Country Club, Paradise Valley, Arizona 1963, Ships Coffee Shop, Los Angeles, California,1963, Beverly Hills, California Public Library. 1964, Kaanapali Beach Hotel, Maui, Hawaii 1964, Del Webbs Ocean House in Mission Bay, San Diego,1966, The Silver Slipper Hotel, known for its giant rotating rooftop silver slipper, Las Vegas. Purchased in 1968 by Howard Hughes,1969, Kings Castle in Incline Village, Nevada 1969, International Hotel, with Kirk Kirkorian. The International Hotel was purchased by the Hilton Hotels Corporation in 1970,1973, MGM Grand Hotel and Casino with Kirk Kirkorian. Rebuilt after the 1980 MGM Grand fire, sold in 1986 and reopened as Ballys Las Vegas. 1974, Las Vegas Hilton Benihana Village
4.
Off-roading
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Off-roading is the activity of driving or riding a vehicle on unsurfaced roads or tracks, made of materials such as sand, gravel, riverbeds, mud, snow, rocks, and other natural terrain. Types of off-roading range in intensity, from leisure drives with unmodified vehicles to competitions with customized vehicles, off-roaders have been met with criticism for the environmental damage incurred by their vehicles. There have also been extensive debates over the role of government in regulating the sport, traveling on off-road terrains require vehicles capable of accommodating off-road driving such as ATVs. These vehicles accommodate off road conditions with extended ground clearance, off-road tires, some manufacturers offer vehicles specifically meant for off-road use. Some examples of recreational off-roading include the following, Dune bashing is a form of off-roading on sand dunes, a Large sport utility vehicle such as the Toyota Land Cruiser is an example of vehicle used. Vehicles driven on dunes may be equipped with a cage in case of an overturn, Similar to auto-racing, experience and skill is required to maneuver the car. Before entering the desert in an everyday-use SUV or pickup, it is essential to reduce the tire pressure. This is done to more traction by increasing the footprint of the tire and, therefore. For example, tires with a pressure of 35 psi would be reduced to approximately 12-14 psi. A common modification is to fit beadlock rims, which allow tire pressure to be lowered further, without risking tire. Upon entering the desert, it is common to meet with a pack of vehicles, the group leader then leads the pack through the stunts in single file. The main reason for this technique is to prevent vehicles from losing track of direction, high speed racing in the open desert includes chases and racing on a rough desert terrain with numerous pots and bumps at the maximum speed. Drivers mostly use RWD and 4WD trucks with long travel suspension, wide stance on the front and this type of trucks is often called Prerunner. Routes in Africa generally have obstacles in largely uninhabited and uncharted terrain and these circuit routes are over 50 km and usually around 300 km long This is a type of travel undertaken with a 4x4 that mostly goes over tracks and contains some bits of off-roading. Traditionally these trips are going through relatively uninhabited areas, popular are the deserts in Tunisia, Morocco and other North African countries, continent crossing trips through Africa, trips through Mongolia or Northern Scandinavia. Due to the weight the suspension is often reinforced with stronger springs. Green laning is a pursuit, generally suitable for any four-wheel-drive vehicle. The term green lane refers to the fact that the routes are predominantly along unsurfaced tracks, forest tracks, in the UK they are usually roads which are not maintained in any way and will often include fords
5.
Planet Hollywood Las Vegas
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Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino is a hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment Corporation, Hilton Grand Vacations operates the timeshare portion of the property, known as Elara. In April 2010, Total Rewards replaced the A-List Player rewards card at Planet Hollywood, the Tally-Ho was originally opened in 1963. In 1964, it was renamed Kings Crown and failed after six months, in 1966, it was purchased by Milton Prell, and the hotel got a $3 million renovation, including a new 500-seat Baghdad Theater showroom. Prell turned the English-themed hotel into an Arabian Nights theme, a serrated canopy and a $750,000 15-foot Aladdins Lamp sign were added. The Aladdin opened on March 31,1966, with flower petals pouring from the ceiling, the opening entertainment included comedian Jackie Mason, the Jet Set Revue, a musical review that showcased The Three Cheers and the Petite Rockette Dancers in the Baghdad Theatre. Prell introduced an innovative main showroom policy by offering three different shows twice nightly with no cover or minimum charges. The Aladdin contained a 9-hole golf course, a little more than a year after it was opened, the Aladdin was host to Elvis and Priscilla Presleys wedding. In August 1969, the Aladdin completed a $750,000 makeover including renovations to the Sinbad Lounge, a $250,000 porte-cochere continued the towers arabesques. The Aladdin added a new $300,000 140-foot blockbuster sign with little neon, huge attraction panels and none of the arabesque of the Aladdins original sign. The Aladdin celebrated the Grand Opening of their new Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts with singer Neil Diamond being paid $650,000 for four shows, the resort was sold to Wayne Newton and Ed Torres in 1980 for $85 million, snubbing an offer from comedian Johnny Carson. Newton sold his share to Torres 21 months later, Newton sued NBC, who had alleged in broadcasts, that his purchase of the Aladdin was tied to the mafia. He won a $22.8 million judgement, which was overturned on appeal, in February 1984, the Aladdin went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In 1981, heavy metal band Iron Maiden played at the Aladdin – it was their first ever concert in America, in 1986, Japanese businessman Ginji Yasuda purchased the Aladdin out of bankruptcy for $54 million. Yasuda spent an additional $35 million to refurbish the resort, Yasuda was removed as the casinos operator by state regulators in September 1988. Yasuda placed the resort in Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 1989, the property was publicly put up for sale in 1990, after months of unsuccessful private attempts to locate a buyer. The New Jersey-based Bell Atlantic-Tricon Leasing Corporation acquired the resort out of bankruptcy from Ginji Corporation in 1991 and that year, Bell Atlantic-Tricon put the property up for sale at a minimum price of $44 million. In January 1994, businessman Donald Trump considered purchasing the Aladdin for $51 million, Trump decided not to purchase the Aladdin as he felt the price was too high
6.
Las Vegas Strip
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The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of South Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada, known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip is approximately 4.2 miles in length, located south of the Las Vegas city limits in the unincorporated towns of Paradise. However, the Strip is often referred to as being in Las Vegas, most of the Strip has been designated an All-American Road, and is considered a scenic route at night. Many of the largest hotel, casino, and resort properties in the world are located on the Las Vegas Strip, fourteen of the worlds 25 largest hotels by room count are on the Strip, with a total of over 62,000 rooms. One of the most visible aspects of Las Vegas cityscape is its use of dramatic architecture, historically, the casinos that were not in Downtown Las Vegas along Fremont Street were limited to outside of the city limits on Las Vegas Boulevard. In 1959 the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign was constructed exactly 4.5 miles outside of the city limits, the sign is today about 0.4 miles south of the southernmost entrance to Mandalay Bay. In the strictest sense, the Strip refers only to the stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard that is roughly between Sahara Avenue and Russell Road, a distance of 4.2 miles. However, the term is used to refer not only to the road but also to the various casinos and resorts that line the road. The traditional definition considers the Strips northern terminus as the SLS, Mandalay Bay, located just north of Russell Road, is the southernmost resort considered to be on the Strip. Because of the number and size of the resorts, the Resort Corridor can be quite wide, Interstate 15 runs roughly parallel and 0.5 to 0.8 miles to the west of Las Vegas Boulevard for the entire length of the Strip. Paradise Road runs to the east in a fashion. The eastern side of the Strip is bounded by McCarran International Airport south of Tropicana Avenue, north of this point, the Resort Corridor can be considered to extend as far east as Paradise Road, although some consider Koval Lane as a less inclusive boundary. Interstate 15 is sometimes considered the edge of the Resort Corridor from Interstate 215 to Spring Mountain Road. North of this point, Industrial Road serves as the western edge, the famous Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign is located in the median just south of Russell Road, across from the now-demolished Klondike Hotel & Casino. Marketing for these casinos usually states that they are on southern Las Vegas Boulevard and not Strip properties. The first casino to be built on Highway 91 was the Pair-o-Dice Club in 1931 and that casino stood for almost 20 years before being destroyed by a fire in 1960. Its success spawned a second hotel on what would become the Strip, the funding for many projects was provided through the American National Insurance Company, which was based in the then notorious gambling empire of Galveston, Texas. Las Vegas Boulevard South was previously called Arrowhead Highway, or Los Angeles Highway, the Strip was named by Los Angeles police officer and businessman Guy McAfee, after his hometowns Sunset Strip
7.
Topping out
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In building construction, topping out is a builders rite traditionally held when the last beam is placed atop a structure during its construction. Nowadays, the ceremony is often parlayed into an event for public relations purposes. Long an important component of timber frame building, it migrated initially to England and Northern Europe, a tree or leafy branch is placed on the topmost wood or iron beam, often with flags and streamers tied to it. A toast is usually drunk and sometimes workers are treated to a meal, in masonry construction the rite celebrates the bedding of the last block or brick. In some cases a topping out event is held at an intermediate point, in New Zealand, completion of the roof to a water-proof state is celebrated through a roof shout, where workers are treated to cake and beer. The tradition of pannenbier is popular in the Netherlands and Flanders and it stays in place until the buildings owner provides free beer to the workers, after which it is lowered. It is considered if it remains flown for more than a few days. The topping out traditions of the high-steel ironworkers, Topping Off. at the Wayback Machine. Http, //www. stp. uh. edu/vol68/160/news/news4. html Tree symbolizes campus growth, The Daily Cougar, Volume 68, Issue 160, Monday,28 July 2003, Topping Off at the Wayback Machine. National Review, December 23,2003 Richtfest. info A German language site about the topping out ceremonies, Topping out Roberts Pavilion Topping out the new athletic building at Claremont McKenna College
8.
The Landmark Hotel and Casino
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The Landmark Tower was a hotel and casino located in Paradise, Nevada. The Landmark opened on July 1,1969, and closed on August 8,1990, today, the property which once housed the Landmark is a 2,948 space parking lot for the Las Vegas Convention Center. The Landmark played host to famous celebrities such as Danny Thomas, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, with just 525 rooms, the Landmark was small in comparison to the newer Las Vegas megaresorts. In 1961, Frank Caroll purchased 22 acres the lot at the corner of Convention Center Drive and Paradise Road in Paradise, Nevada. With a $3 million loan from the Appliance Buyers Credit Corporation, Caroll and his group hired John W. Jamieson of Tustin, edward Hendricks of Los Angeles was contracted to oversee the tower construction. Construction of the reinforced concrete tower, using a patented method of concrete slip forming, was directed by the San Francisco office of MacDonald Engineering. The original plan was to build a 15-story tower, the tallest in Nevada at that time and this was increased to 31 stories, when The Mint Hotel downtown decided to add more floors to its tower to claim the height record. In the end, the title went to Landmark, in December 1962, Caroll ran out of funding to complete the project. His creditors refused to lend him money to complete the tower. The tower sat 80% complete, just an empty shell, in 1966, after four years of dormancy, the Teamsters Union Pension Fund awarded Caroll $5.5 million to complete the Landmark. Work resumed and the tower was completed by early 1967, Landmark announced the opening of its main showroom and lounges on New Years Eve,1967 but due to lack of funding it did not open on time. The Carolls expected to have the open in April 1968. On January 17,1969, reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes purchased the Landmark, unlike Hughes other Las Vegas hotels, Landmark had yet to be opened. This allowed Hughes to make all the decisions from room decor to employee uniforms. After eight years in the phase, The Landmark Hotel & Casino opened on July 1,1969 with a celebration of 500 invited guests. Many top performers, such as Liberace, George Burns, Pat Cooper, having top performers at the Landmark did not continue, as the Landmark was not a high profit venture. Throughout the 1970s, continuing financial troubles and bad publicity plagued Landmark, in 1970 Hughes fled Las Vegas, leaving control of his hotels to his company, Summa Corp. Landmark reported a loss of $5.9 million that year, in 1974, William G. Bennett and William Pennington made an offer to buy the Landmark, but every time they came close to a deal, Hughes raised the price
9.
Patsy Cline
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Patsy Cline was an American country music singer. Part of the late 1950s/early 1960s Nashville sound, Cline successfully crossed over to pop music and was one of the most influential, successful and she died at the age of 30 in a multiple-fatality crash of the private plane of her manager, Randy Hughes. Cline was known for her tone, emotionally expressive and bold contralto voice. Along with Kitty Wells, she helped pave the way for women as performers in the genre. Books, movies, documentaries, articles and stage plays document her life, millions of her records have sold since her death. She won awards and accolades, causing many to view her as an icon at the level of Jim Reeves, Johnny Cash, in 1973, ten years after her death, she became the first female solo artist inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 1999, she was voted number 11 on VH1s special, The 100 Greatest Women in Rock and Roll, by members, according to her 1973 Country Music Hall of Fame plaque, Her heritage of timeless recordings is testimony to her artistic capacity. She was born Virginia Patterson Hensley on September 8,1932, in Winchester, Virginia and she was the eldest child of seamstress Hilda Virginia and blacksmith Samuel Lawrence Hensley. She soon had a brother and sister, Samuel Jr. They were known in the family as Ginny, John, the family moved often before finally settling in Winchester, Virginia, when Patsy was eight. Sam Hensley deserted his family in 1947, but the home was reportedly happy nonetheless. Cline was introduced to music at an age, singing in church with her mother. She liked stars such as Kay Starr, Jo Stafford, Hank Williams, Judy Garland, self-taught, she could not read music. When Patsy was thirteen, she was hospitalized with a throat infection, the fever affected my throat and when I recovered I had this booming voice like Kate Smith. After watching performers through the window at the radio station, she asked WINC disc jockey. Her performance in 1947 was well received, and she was asked back and this led to appearances at local nightclubs, wearing fringed Western outfits her mother made from Patsys designs. Cline performed in variety and talent shows in the Winchester and Tri-State areas, along with this and increasing local radio appearances on local radio, she gained a large following. In 1954 Jimmy Dean, already a young star, heard of her
10.
Lip sync
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The term can refer to any of a number of different techniques and processes, in the context of live performances and audiovisual recordings. In film production, lip-synching is often part of the postproduction phase, dubbing foreign-language films and making animated characters appear to speak both require elaborate lip-synching. Many video games make use of lip-synced sound files to create an immersive environment in which on-screen characters appear to be speaking. In the music industry, lip-synching is used by singers for music videos, television and film appearances, lip-syncing by singers can be controversial to fans attending concert performances who expect to view a live performance. Lip sync is also referred to as lip-sync or lip-synch, the term sync or synch is pronounced the same as sink. Lip-synching is considered a part of miming and it can be used to make it appear as though actors have substantial singing ability, to simulate a vocal effect that can be achieved only in the recording studio, e. g. It is also used in drag shows. Some artists lip sync because they are not confident singing live, because the film track and music track are recorded separately during the creation of a music video, artists usually lip-sync their songs and often imitate playing musical instruments as well. Artists also sometimes move their lips at a faster speed than the track, to create videos with a slow-motion effect in the final clip. Lip-synching in music is moving the lips in synchronization with recorded speech or song to give the appearance of a live performance and it is generally considered dishonest, though some producers argue that it needs to be done in some performance contexts. The practice of lip-synching during live performances is frowned on by some who view it as a crutch only used by lesser talents, on American Bandstand and most variety shows of the 1960s, vocals and instrumentals were all synced to pre-recorded music. Since the advent of MTV in the 1980s, many artists have focused on effects, rather than singing. Artists often lip-sync during strenuous dance numbers in both live and recorded performances, some singers habitually lip-sync during live performance, both concert and televised, whereas others do lip syncing only for certain songs or types of performances. Artists often lip-synch during strenuous dance numbers in both live and recorded performances, due to lung capacity being needed for physical activity, michael Jackson is an example of this, he performed complex dance routines while lip-syncing and live singing. His performance on the television special Motown 25, Yesterday, Today and these effects came at the expense of live singing. Gundersen elaborates, The most obvious example is Madonnas Blond Ambition World Tour, Madonna lip-syncs the duet Now Im Following You, while a Dick Tracy character mouths Warren Beattys recorded vocals. On other songs, background singers plump up her voice, strained by the exertion of non-stop dancing, billboard editor Thom Duffy commented, The expectations of fans have changed, and thats the driving force here. They expect a concert as perfect as what they see on MTV, and the same level of perfection is expected to extend beyond the video set to the concert stage
11.
Abbott and Costello
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Abbott and Costello were a comedy double act during the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema. The team was composed of William Bud Abbott and Lou Costello whose work in vaudeville and on stage, radio, film and television made them the most popular team during the 1940s. Their patter routine Whos on First, is one of the best-known comedy routines of all time and set the framework for many of their best-known comedy bits. Bud Abbott was a veteran burlesque entertainer from a business family. He worked at Coney Island and ran his own burlesque touring companies and he first worked as a straight man with his wife Betty, then with veteran burlesque comedians like Harry Steppe and Harry Evanson. When he met his partner in comedy, Abbott was performing in Minskys Burlesque shows. Lou Costello had been a burlesque comic since 1930, after failing to break into acting and working as a stunt double. He appears briefly in the 1927 Laurel and Hardy silent two-reeler, The Battle of the Century, the two men first worked together in 1935, at the Eltinge Burlesque Theater on 42nd Street—now the lobby of the AMC Empire movie complex in New York City. This first performance together occurred due to Costellos regular partner being ill, when AMC moved the old theater 168 ft further west on 42nd Street to its current location, giant balloons of Abbott and Costello were rigged to appear to pull it. Other performers in the show, including Abbotts wife Betty, advised a permanent pairing, the teams first known radio appearance was on The Kate Smith Hour in February 1938. The similarities between their voices made it difficult for listeners to tell them apart during their rapid-fire repartee. To solve the problem, Costello began affecting a high-pitched, childish voice, was first performed for a national radio audience the following month. They performed on the program as regulars for two years, while also landing roles in a Broadway revue, The Streets of Paris, in 1940, Universal Studios signed them for the film One Night in the Tropics. Cast in supporting roles, they stole the show with several classic routines, the same year they were a summer replacement on radio for Fred Allen. Two years later, they had their own NBC program, The Abbott, Universal then signed them to a long-term contract, and their second film, Buck Privates, in 1941 made them box-office stars and saved Universal from imminent bankruptcy. The singing sisters became good friends with Costello during this period, enjoying many barbecues, in 1945, the two acts traded guest appearances on each others top-rated radio shows. Bud and Lou made 36 films together between 1940 and 1956 and they were among the most popular and highest-paid entertainers in the world during World War II. Other film successes included Keep Em Flying, Who Done It, pardon My Sarong, The Time of Their Lives, Buck Privates Come Home, Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man, and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
12.
James Bond
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The James Bond series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. The latest novel is Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz, published in September 2015, additionally Charlie Higson wrote a series on a young James Bond, and Kate Westbrook wrote three novels based on the diaries of a recurring series character, Moneypenny. The character has also adapted for television, radio, comic strip, video games. As of 2017, there have been twenty-four films in the Eon Productions series, the most recent Bond film, Spectre, stars Daniel Craig in his fourth portrayal of Bond, he is the sixth actor to play Bond in the Eon series. There have also two independent productions of Bond films, Casino Royale and Never Say Never Again. In 2015, the franchise was estimated to be worth $19.9 billion, the Bond films are renowned for a number of features, including the musical accompaniment, with the theme songs having received Academy Award nominations on several occasions, and two wins. Other important elements which run through most of the films include Bonds cars, his guns, the films are also noted for Bonds relationships with various women, who are sometimes referred to as Bond girls. Ian Fleming created the character of James Bond as the central figure for his works. Bond is an officer in the Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6. Bond is known by his number,007, and was a Royal Naval Reserve Commander. Among those types were his brother, Peter, who had involved in behind-the-lines operations in Norway. Aside from Flemings brother, a number of others also provided some aspects of Bonds make up, including Conrad OBrien-ffrench, Patrick Dalzel-Job and Bill Biffy Dunderdale. The name James Bond came from that of the American ornithologist James Bond, a Caribbean bird expert and author of the definitive field guide Birds of the West Indies. He further explained that, When I wrote the first one in 1953, I wanted Bond to be a dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened. When I was casting around for a name for my protagonist I thought by God, is the dullest name I ever heard. On another occasion, Fleming said, I wanted the simplest, dullest, plainest-sounding name I could find, James Bond was much better than something more interesting, like Peregrine Carruthers. Exotic things would happen to and around him, but he would be a neutral figure—an anonymous, likewise, in Moonraker, Special Branch Officer Gala Brand thinks that Bond is certainly good-looking. Rather like Hoagy Carmichael in a way and that black hair falling down over the right eyebrow
