1.
Jackie Gleason
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John Herbert Jackie Gleason was an American comedian, actor, and musician who developed a style and characters in his career from growing up in Brooklyn, New York. He was known for his visual and verbal comedy style. By filming the episodes with Electronicams, Gleason later could release the series in syndication and he also developed The Jackie Gleason Show, which maintained high ratings from the mid-1950s until its cancellation in 1970. After originating in Hollywood, filming moved to Miami, Florida, John Herbert Gleason was born in 1916 at 364 Chauncey Street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. He grew up at 328 Chauncey, named Herbert Walton Gleason, Jr. at birth, he was baptized John Herbert Gleason. His parents were Herbert Walton Herb Gleason, an Irish-American insurance auditor, Gleason was one of two children, his brother, Clement J. died of meningitis at age 14. Gleason remembered him and his father having a beautiful handwriting, and he used to watch him work at the kitchen table. Once it became evident that he was not coming back, Mae went to work as an attendant for the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation. With the disappearance of his father, young Gleason began hanging around with a gang, hustling pool. 73 Elementary School in Brooklyn, John Adams High School in Queens, Gleason became interested in performing after being part of a class play, he quit school before graduating and got a job that paid $4 per night as master of ceremonies at a theater. Other jobs he held at that time included working in a hall, as a stunt driver. He performed the same duties twice a week at the Folly Theater, Gleason was raised by his mother. When she died in 1935 of sepsis from a large neck carbuncle, Gleason was 19, he had nowhere to go, and he had 36 cents to his name. The family of his first girlfriend, Julie Dennehy, offered to him in, Gleason, however, was headstrong. His friend Sammy Birch made room for him in the room he shared with another comedian. Birch also told him of a gig in Reading, Pennsylvania. The booking agent advanced him bus fare for the trip against his salary and this was Gleasons first job as a professional comedian, henceforth, he would always have regular work in small clubs. Gleason worked his way up to a job at New Yorks Club 18, Gleason greeted noted skater Sonja Henie by handing her an ice cube and saying, Okay, now do something
2.
Karl Malden
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Karl Malden was an American actor. Malden was also President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts, Karl Malden, the eldest of three sons, was born Mladen Sekulovich in Chicago, Illinois on March 22,1912, he was born on his mothers 20th birthday and was raised in Gary, Indiana. His Bosnian Serb father, Petar Sekulović, worked in the mills and as a milkman. The Sekulovich familys roots trace back to Podosoje near Bileća, Bosnia, Malden only spoke Serbian until he was in kindergarten and was fluent in the language until his death. Maldens father had a passion for music, and organized a choir, as a teenager, Malden joined the Karageorge Choir at Saint Sava Serbian Orthodox Church. His father then produced Serbian plays at his church and taught acting, a young Malden took part in many of these plays, which included a version of Jack and the Beanstalk but mostly centered on the communitys Serbian heritage. In high school, he was a student and the star of the basketball team. He participated in the department and was narrowly elected senior class president. Among other roles, he played Pooh-Bah in The Mikado, from 1931 until 1934, he worked in the steel mills, as had his father. He changed his name from Mladen Sekulovich to Karl Malden at age 22 and he anglicized his first name by swapping its letters l and a and used it as his last and taking his grandfathers first name as his own. This was because the first theatre company he was in wanted him to shorten his name for its marquee. He thought that they wanted to him and were using his name as an excuse, although that was not the case. Malden often found ways to say Sekulovich in films and television shows in which he appeared, for example, as General Omar Bradley in Patton, as his troops slog their way through enemy fire in Sicily, Malden says Hand me that helmet, Sekulovich to another soldier. In Dead Ringer, as a detective in the squad room, Malden tells another detective, Sekulovich. In Fear Strikes Out, Malden, playing Jimmy Piersalls father John, in Birdman of Alcatraz, as a prison warden touring the cell block, Malden recites a list of inmates names, including Sekulovich. In On the Waterfront, in which Malden plays the priest, among the names of the officers of Local 374 called out in the scene is Mladen Sekulovich. Perhaps the most notable usage of his name, however, was in the television series The Streets of San Francisco. In September 1934, Malden decided to leave his home in Gary, Indiana, to pursue formal training at the Goodman School
3.
Scott Joplin
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Scott Joplin was an African American composer and pianist. Joplin achieved fame for his compositions and was dubbed the King of Ragtime Writers. During his brief career, he wrote 44 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, One of his first, and most popular pieces, the Maple Leaf Rag, became ragtimes first and most influential hit, and has been recognized as the archetypal rag. Joplin was born into a family of railway laborers in Northeast Texas. Joplin grew up in Texarkana, where he formed a vocal quartet, during the late 1880s he left his job as a laborer with the railroad, and travelled around the American South as an itinerant musician. He went to Chicago for the Worlds Fair of 1893, which played a part in making ragtime a national craze by 1897. Joplin moved to Sedalia, Missouri, in 1894 and earned a living as a teacher, there he taught future ragtime composers Arthur Marshall, Scott Hayden. Joplin began publishing music in 1895, and publication of his Maple Leaf Rag in 1899 brought him fame and this piece had a profound influence on subsequent writers of ragtime. It also brought the composer a steady income for life, though Joplin did not reach this level of success again, in 1901 Joplin moved to St. Louis, where he continued to compose and publish music, and regularly performed in the St. Louis community. The score to his first opera A Guest of Honor was confiscated in 1903 with his belongings because of a non-payment of bills and he continued to compose and publish music, and in 1907 moved to New York City to find a producer for a new opera. He attempted to go beyond the limitations of the form that made him famous. His second opera, Treemonisha, was not received well at its partially staged performance in 1915, in 1916 Joplin descended into dementia as a result of syphilis. He was admitted to an institution in January 1917. His music was rediscovered and returned to popularity in the early 1970s with the release of an album recorded by Joshua Rifkin. This was followed by the Academy Award–winning 1973 movie The Sting that featured several of his compositions including The Entertainer, the opera Treemonisha was finally produced in full to wide acclaim in 1972. In 1976, Joplin was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize, according to author Edward A. Berlin, One tenacious myth tells us that Joplin was born in Texarkana, Texas, on November 24,1868. The location is easily dispensed with, Texarkana was not established until 1873, consequently, it appears possible that Joplin, born 12 years later, could have been born in Texarkana. Despite evidence to such a conclusion, some insist that Joplin was born in Linden, Texas
4.
Universal Pictures
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Universal Pictures is an American film studio owned by Comcast through the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. The company was founded in 1912 by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley and its studios are located in Universal City, California, and its corporate offices are located in New York City. Universal Pictures is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America and is one of Hollywoods Big Six studios. Universal Studios was founded by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, Robert H. Cochrane, one story has Laemmle watching a box office for hours, counting patrons and calculating the days takings. Within weeks of his Chicago trip, Laemmle gave up dry goods to buy the first several nickelodeons, for Laemmle and other such entrepreneurs, the creation in 1908 of the Edison-backed Motion Picture Trust meant that exhibitors were expected to pay fees for Trust-produced films they showed. Soon, Laemmle and other disgruntled nickelodeon owners decided to avoid paying Edison by producing their own pictures, in June 1909, Laemmle started the Yankee Film Company with partners Abe Stern and Julius Stern. Laemmle broke with Edisons custom of refusing to give billing and screen credits to performers, by naming the movie stars, he attracted many of the leading players of the time, contributing to the creation of the star system. In 1910, he promoted Florence Lawrence, formerly known as The Biograph Girl, the Universal Film Manufacturing Company was incorporated in New York on April 30,1912. Laemmle, who emerged as president in July 1912, was the figure in the partnership with Dintenfass, Baumann, Kessel, Powers, Swanson, Horsley. Eventually all would be out by Laemmle. Following the westward trend of the industry, by the end of 1912 the company was focusing its efforts in the Hollywood area. On March 15,1915, Laemmle opened the worlds largest motion picture production facility, Universal City Studios, studio management became the third facet of Universals operations, with the studio incorporated as a distinct subsidiary organization. Unlike other movie moguls, Laemmle opened his studio to tourists, Universal became the largest studio in Hollywood, and remained so for a decade. However, it sought an audience mostly in towns, producing mostly inexpensive melodramas, westerns. In its early years Universal released three brands of feature films — Red Feather, low-budget programmers, Bluebird, more ambitious productions, and Jewel, their prestige motion pictures. Directors included Jack Conway, John Ford, Rex Ingram, Robert Z. Leonard, George Marshall and Lois Weber, despite Laemmles role as an innovator, he was an extremely cautious studio chief. Unlike rivals Adolph Zukor, William Fox, and Marcus Loew and he also financed all of his own films, refusing to take on debt. Character actor Lon Chaney became a card for Universal in the 1920s
5.
Great Depression
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The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression that took place during the 1930s. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, in most countries it started in 1929 and it was the longest, deepest, and most widespread depression of the 20th century. In the 21st century, the Great Depression is commonly used as an example of how far the economy can decline. The depression originated in the United States, after a fall in stock prices that began around September 4,1929. Between 1929 and 1932, worldwide GDP fell by an estimated 15%, by comparison, worldwide GDP fell by less than 1% from 2008 to 2009 during the Great Recession. Some economies started to recover by the mid-1930s, however, in many countries, the negative effects of the Great Depression lasted until the beginning of World War II. The Great Depression had devastating effects in both rich and poor. Personal income, tax revenue, profits and prices dropped, while international trade plunged by more than 50%, unemployment in the U. S. rose to 25% and in some countries rose as high as 33%. Cities all around the world were hit hard, especially dependent on heavy industry. Construction was virtually halted in many countries, farming communities and rural areas suffered as crop prices fell by about 60%. Facing plummeting demand with few sources of jobs, areas dependent on primary sector industries such as mining and logging suffered the most. Even after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 optimism persisted for some time, john D. Rockefeller said These are days when many are discouraged. In the 93 years of my life, depressions have come, prosperity has always returned and will again. The stock market turned upward in early 1930, returning to early 1929 levels by April and this was still almost 30% below the peak of September 1929. Together, government and business spent more in the first half of 1930 than in the period of the previous year. On the other hand, consumers, many of whom had suffered losses in the stock market the previous year. In addition, beginning in the mid-1930s, a severe drought ravaged the agricultural heartland of the U. S, by mid-1930, interest rates had dropped to low levels, but expected deflation and the continuing reluctance of people to borrow meant that consumer spending and investment were depressed. By May 1930, automobile sales had declined to below the levels of 1928, prices in general began to decline, although wages held steady in 1930
6.
Harry James
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Harry Haag James was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet playing band leader who led a big band from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a period in 1947. He was also an actor in a number of pictures that usually featured his bands in some way. Harry James was born in Albany, Georgia, the son of Myrtle Maybelle, an acrobat and horseback rider, and Everett Robert James, a bandleader in a traveling circus, the Mighty Haag Circus. By the age of 10 he was taking lessons from his father. Each day, James was given one page to learn from the Arbans book and was not allowed to any other pastime until he had learned that particular page. In 1931, his family settled in Beaumont, Texas and it was here, at 15 years of age, that James began playing in local dance bands. James played regularly with Herman Waldmans band, and at one performance was noticed by nationally popular Ben Pollack, in 1935 he joined Pollacks band, but at the start of 1937 left to join Benny Goodmans orchestra, where he stayed through 1938. He was nicknamed The Hawk early in his career for his ability to sight-read, a common joke was that if a fly landed on his written music, Harry James would play it. His low range had an associated with the cornet and even the flugelhorn. With financial backing from Goodman, in January 1939 James debuted his own big band in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and this big band became known as Harry James and His Music Makers. His hit You Made Me Love You was in the Top 10 during the week of December 7,1941 and he and his band were featured in three films, Private Buckaroo, Two Girls and a Sailor and Springtime in the Rockies. He toured with the band into the 1980s, and to day the Harry James Orchestra still exists. His was the first name band to employ vocalist Frank Sinatra, in 1939, James signed Sinatra to a one-year contract, of which Sinatra worked seven months before leaving to sing for Tommy Dorsey He wanted to change Sinatras name to Frankie Satin but Sinatra refused. His later band included drummer Buddy Rich and his featured vocalist was Helen Forrest. Johnny MacAfee was featured on the sax and vocals and Corky Corcoran was a youthful sax prodigy and his orchestra succeeded Glenn Millers on a program sponsored by Chesterfield Cigarettes in 1942, when Miller disbanded his orchestra to enter the Army. In 1945, James and his orchestra had a replacement program for Danny Kayes program on CBS. He also led the orchestra for Call for Music, which was broadcast on CBS February 13,1948 - April 16,1948 and he played trumpet in the 1950 film Young Man with a Horn, dubbing Kirk Douglas
7.
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
8.
Teri Garr
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Terry Ann Garr —known as Teri Garr—is an American actress, singer, comedian, dancer, and voice artist. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1982 film and she notably appeared on television as Phoebe Abbott in three episodes of the sitcom Friends, and had a starring guest appearance in the 1968 Star Trek episode Assignment, Earth. Garr was born in Lakewood, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. Her father, Eddie Garr, was a performer, comedian. He changed his surname before Teris birth and her mother, Phyllis Lind, was a dancer, a Rockette, wardrobe mistress, and model. Her father was of Irish descent and her grandparents were Austrian immigrants. Early in her career she was credited as Terri Garr, Terry Garr, Teri Hope and her movie debut was as an extra in A Swingin Affair. Winters cast her in many of his movies and projects. Garr began as a dancer in uncredited roles for youth-oriented films and TV shows choreographed by Winters, including Pajama Party. Hullabaloo, Movin with Nancy, and nine Elvis Presley features, so he was chosen to do Viva Las Vegas. Her first speaking role in a picture was a brief appearance as a damsel in distress in the Monkees film Head. She landed her first significant motion picture role in Francis Ford Coppolas The Conversation and her career breakthrough came in the Mel Brooks comedy Young Frankenstein as Inga. She appeared in a string of successful films, including Close Encounters of the Third Kind as the wife of Richard Dreyfusss character, Oh. Garr was nominated for an Academy Award for her role as Dustin Hoffmans characters actress friend in Tootsie. She also appeared frequently on television and she began as a go-go dancer on several musical variety shows, along with friend Toni Basil, such as Shindig. and Hullabaloo. In 1966 Garr made one appearance on Batman, in 1968 she appeared in both The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry R. F. D. and was in two episodes of It Takes a Thief. In 1968 she was featured as secretary Roberta Lincoln in the Star Trek episode Assignment, Earth, in the early 1970s, she was a regular cast member on The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, dancing and acting in comedy sketches. She had a role on McCloud, and appeared on M*A*S*H, The Bob Newhart Show, The Odd Couple, Maude, Barnaby Jones
9.
Frances Bergen
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Frances Bergen was an American actress and fashion model. She was the wife of ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and the mother of actress Candice Bergen and film, Bergen was born in Birmingham, Alabama, the daughter of Lille Mabel and William Westerman. Her paternal grandparents were both from German families, in 1932, her father died of tuberculosis, when Frances was ten years old. Shortly after, her mother moved the family to Los Angeles, in 1936, she suffered a skull fracture in an auto accident, at age 14. While recuperating, she was given a Charlie McCarthy doll to cheer her up, while in New York City, she became a successful John Robert Powers model. She was the Chesterfield Girl and the Ipana Girl in magazines and she was thereafter professionally known as Frances Westcott. As an actress, Bergen had supporting or minor roles in a number of films and she made her debut in Titanic, after which she appeared in Robert Z. Leonards Her Twelve Men, and Douglas Sirks Interlude. Frances also made other appearances on television, with guest starring roles on The Millionaire, The Dick Powell Show, Barnaby Jones, MacGyver. She returned to films in the 1980s, with roles in American Gigolo, The Sting II, The Star Chamber, The Muppets Take Manhattan, Hollywood Wives, The Morning After. She also had a part in Henry Jagloms independently made film Eating. She appeared on two episodes of Murphy Brown, her daughters hit show, including Part One of the finale in 1998. In 1941, Frances Westerman met Edgar Bergen after a program when he was 38. Westerman, who graduated from Los Angeles High School the year before, was in the audience of Edgar Bergens radio program as the guest of a member of his staff. Sitting in the front row, the fashion models long legs caught the attention of Bergen. The two were married in Mexico, after years of a long courtship, on June 28,1945. On May 9,1946, the couple welcomed their first child Candice Bergen and it was 15 years later, on October 12,1961, they had a son, Kris Edgar Bergen, who would later become a film and television editor. Bergen died at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles of undisclosed causes on October 2,2006 and she was buried beside her husband Edgar Bergen in Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, California. She was survived by her daughter Candice Bergen, her son Kris, and her granddaughter Chloé Malle. me
10.
Mac Davis
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Morris Mac Davis, known as Mac Davis, is a country music singer, songwriter, and actor, originally from Lubbock, Texas, who has enjoyed much crossover success. His early work writing for Elvis Presley produced the hits Memories, In the Ghetto, Dont Cry Daddy, a subsequent solo career in the 1970s produced hits such as Baby, Dont Get Hooked on Me, making him a well-known name in pop music. He also starred in his own variety show, a Broadway musical, Davis graduated at 16 from Lubbock High School in Lubbock, Texas. Davis describes his father, who was divorced from Davis mother, as religious, very strict. Though Davis was physically small, he had a penchant for getting into fistfights, in those days, it was all about football, rodeo, and fistfights. Oh, man, I got beat up so much while I was growing up in Lubbock, Davis said in a March 2,2008, I was 5 feet,9 inches, and weighed 125 pounds. I joined Golden Gloves, but didnt do good even in my division, after he finished high school, Davis moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where his mother lived, to get out of Lubbock. Once he was settled in Atlanta, he organized a rock and roll group called the Zots, Davis also worked for the Vee Jay record company as a regional manager, and later also served as a regional manager for Liberty Records. Davis became famous as a songwriter and got his start as an employee of Nancy Sinatras company, Boots Enterprises, during his time there, he played on many of Sinatras recordings, and she worked him into her stage shows. Davis left Boots Enterprises in 1970 to sign with Columbia Records, One of the songs he wrote in 1968, called A Little Less Conversation, was recorded by Elvis Presley. Shortly after, Presley recorded Davis song In the Ghetto in his sessions in Memphis, Davis, the only Caucasian man in the room at the time, eventually told Bowen, I dont know whether to thank ya, or to kill ya. Davis eventually recorded the tune after Presleys version became a success and it was later released on a campy Rhino Records Golden Throats compilation in 1991. The song became a success for Presley and he continued to more of Davis material, such as Memories. Bobby Goldsboro also recorded some of Daviss songs, including Watching Scotty Grow, other artists who recorded his material included Vikki Carr, O. C. Smith, and Kenny Rogers and The First Edition, I Believe in Music, often considered to be Daviss signature song, was recorded by several artists before it finally became a success in 1972 for the group Gallery. Later, he became known as a country singer. Also, during the 1970s, he was active as an actor, appearing in several movies. Davis soon decided to pursue a career of his own in country music, after several years of enriching the repertoires of other artists, his big success came two years after signing with Columbia
11.
Oliver Reed
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Robert Oliver Reed was an English actor known for his upper-class, macho image, hellraiser lifestyle, and tough guy roles. Notable films include The Trap, Oliver, Women in Love, Hannibal Brooks, The Devils, The Three Musketeers, Tommy, Lion of the Desert, Castaway, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and Funny Bones. For Gladiator, his film, Reed was posthumously nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. At the peak of his career, in 1971, British exhibitors voted Reed 5th most popular star at the box office, Reed was born at 9 Durrington Park Road, Wimbledon, to sports journalist Peter Reed and his wife Marcia. He was the nephew of film director Sir Carol Reed, and grandson of the actor-manager Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and his mistress, Reed claimed to have been a descendant of Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia. Reed attended Ewell Castle School in Surrey, olivers brother Simon Reed, a sports journalist, works for British Eurosport. In 1959–1960, Reed married Kate Byrne, the couple had one son, Mark, before their divorce in 1969. While filming his part of Bill Sikes in Oliver and he met Jacquie Daryl, a classically trained dancer who was also in the film. They became lovers and subsequently had a daughter named Sarah, in 1985, he married Josephine Burge, to whom he was still married at the time of his death. In his last years, Reed and Burge lived in Churchtown, County Cork, Reeds face was scarred in a 1963 bar fight, after which he received 63 stitches and was in danger of losing his film career over his facial damage. He claimed to have turned down roles in two Hollywood movies, including The Sting. When the UK government raised taxes on income, Reed initially declined to join the exodus of major British film stars to Hollywood. In the late 1970s Reed finally relocated to Guernsey as a tax exile and he had sold his large house, Broome Hall, between the villages of Coldharbour and Ockley some years earlier and initially lodged at the Duke of Normandie Hotel in Saint Peter Port. In 2013, the writer Robert Sellers published What Fresh Lunacy Is This, – The Authorised Biography of Oliver Reed. Reed was known for his alcoholism and binge drinking. Numerous anecdotes exist, such as Reed and 36 friends of his drinking in one evening,60 gallons of beer,32 bottles of scotch,17 bottles of gin, four crates of wine, and a bottle of Babycham. Steve McQueen told the story that in 1973 he flew to the UK to discuss a project with Reed and suggested the two men visit a London nightclub. They ended up on a pub crawl during which Reed got so drunk he vomited on McQueen
12.
The Sting
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The Sting is a 1973 American caper film set in September 1936, involving a complicated plot by two professional grifters to con a mob boss. The film was directed by George Roy Hill, who had directed Newman and Redford in the western Butch Cassidy, the title phrase refers to the moment when a con artist finishes the play and takes the marks money. If a con is successful, the mark does not realize he has been taken, the film is played out in distinct sections with old-fashioned title cards, the lettering and illustrations rendered in a style reminiscent of the Saturday Evening Post. The film is noted for its use of ragtime, particularly the melody The Entertainer by Scott Joplin. The films success created a resurgence of interest in Joplins work, the Sting was hugely successful at the 46th Academy Awards, being nominated for 10 Oscars and winning seven, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. The film takes place in 1936, at the height of the Great Depression, johnny Hooker, a grifter in Joliet, Illinois, cons $11,000 in cash in a pigeon drop from an unsuspecting victim with the aid of his partners Luther Coleman and Joe Erie. Buoyed by the windfall, Luther announces his retirement and advises Hooker to seek out an old friend, Henry Gondorff, unfortunately, their victim was a numbers racket courier for vicious crime boss Doyle Lonnegan. Corrupt Joliet police Lieutenant William Snyder confronts Hooker, revealing Lonnegans involvement, having already spent his share, Hooker pays Snyder in counterfeit bills. Lonnegans men murder both the courier and Luther, and Hooker flees for his life to Chicago, Hooker finds Henry Gondorff, a once-great con-man now hiding from the FBI, and asks for his help in taking on the dangerous Lonnegan. Gondorff is initially reluctant, but he relents and recruits a team of experienced con men to con Lonnegan. They decide to resurrect an elaborate obsolete scam known as the wire, aboard the opulent 20th Century Limited, Gondorff, posing as boorish Chicago bookie Shaw, buys into Lonnegans private, high-stakes poker game. Shaw infuriates Lonnegan with his obnoxious behavior, then out-cheats him to win $15,000, Hooker, posing as Shaws disgruntled employee, Kelly, is sent to collect the winnings and instead convinces Lonnegan that he wants to take over Shaws operation. Kelly reveals that he has a partner named Les Harmon in the Chicago Western Union office, at the same time, Lonnegan has grown frustrated with the inability of his men to find and kill Hooker. Unaware that Kelly is Hooker, he demands that Salino, his best assassin, a mysterious figure with black leather gloves is then seen following and observing Hooker. Kellys connection appears effective, as Harmon provides Lonnegan with the winner of one horse race, Lonnegan agrees to finance a $500,000 bet at Shaws parlor to break Shaw and gain revenge. Shortly thereafter, Snyder captures Hooker and brings him before FBI Agent Polk, Polk forces Hooker to betray Gondorff by threatening to incarcerate Luther Colemans widow. The night before the sting, Hooker sleeps with Loretta, a waitress from a local restaurant, as Hooker leaves the building the next morning, he sees Loretta walking toward him. The black-gloved man appears behind Hooker and shoots her dead – she was Lonnegans hired killer, Loretta Salino, armed with Harmon’s tip to place it on Lucky Dan, Lonnegan makes the $500,000 bet at Shaw’s parlor on Lucky Dan to win
