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Frank Wong
Frank Wong (born September 22, 1932) is a San Francisco, California artist who creates miniature dioramas that depict the San Francisco Chinatown of Wong's youth during the 1930s and 1940s. His works include his grandmother's kitchen, the family's living room at Christmas, an herb shop, Chinese laundry, shoeshine stand, and life in a single room occupancy hotel common in Chinatown. Early life and career Frank Wong was born in Los Angeles, California on September 22, 1934. His family moved to Chinatown in San Francisco shortly after his birth. After high school, Wong enlisted in the U.S. Navy. Following a 4-year stint, he settled in Honolulu, Hawaii and found work making props for a costume store and magicians. Eventually, he became a prop master for film and television productions including '' Magnum, P.I.''. In the late 1980s, Wong became homesick for San Francisco and he moved back to the city. However, the city of Wong's youth had changed and his family had moved on. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
San Francisco, California
San Francisco (; Spanish for "Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th most populous in the United States, with 815,201 residents as of 2021. It covers a land area of , at the end of the San Francisco Peninsula, making it the second most densely populated large U.S. city after New York City, and the fifth most densely populated U.S. county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs. Among the 91 U.S. cities proper with over 250,000 residents, San Francisco was ranked first by per capita income (at $160,749) and sixth by aggregate income as of 2021. Colloquial nicknames for San Francisco include ''SF'', ''San Fran'', ''The '', ''Frisco'', and ''Baghdad by the Bay''. San Francisco and the surrounding San Francisco Bay Area are a global center of economic activity and the arts and sciences, spurred ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
San Francisco Public Library
The San Francisco Public Library is the public library system of the city and county of San Francisco. The Main Library is located at Civic Center, at 100 Larkin Street. The library system has won several awards, such as '' Library Journal'''s Library of the Year award in 2018. The library is well-funded due to the city's dedicated Library Preservation Fund that was established by a 1994 ballot measure, which was subsequently renewed until 2022 by a ballot measure in 2007. History In August 1877 a residents' meeting was called by state senator George H. Rogers and Andrew Smith Hallidie who advocated the creation of a free public library for San Francisco. A board of trustees for the Library was created in 1878 through the Free Library Act, signed by Governor of California William Irwin on March 18, which also created a property tax to fund the Library project. The San Francisco Public Library (then known as the San Francisco Free Library) opened on June 7, 1879 at Pacific Hal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1932 Births
Year 193 ( CXCIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sosius and Ericius (or, less frequently, year 946 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 193 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * January 1 – Year of the Five Emperors: The Roman Senate chooses Publius Helvius Pertinax, against his will, to succeed the late Commodus as Emperor. Pertinax is forced to reorganize the handling of finances, which were wrecked under Commodus, to reestablish discipline in the Roman army, and to suspend the food programs established by Trajan, provoking the ire of the Praetorian Guard. * March 28 – Pertinax is assassinated by members of the Praetorian Guard, who storm the imperial palace. The Empire is a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Lady From Shanghai
''The Lady from Shanghai'' is a 1947 American film noir directed by Orson Welles (uncredited) and starring Welles, his estranged wife Rita Hayworth, and Everett Sloane. It is based on the novel ''If I Die Before I Wake'' by Sherwood King. Although it initially received mixed reviews, it has grown in stature over the years, and many critics have praised its set designs and camerawork. In 2018, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Plot Irish sailor Michael O'Hara meets the beautiful blonde Elsa as she rides a horse-drawn coach in Central Park. Three hooligans waylay the coach. Michael rescues Elsa and escorts her home. Michael reveals he is a seaman and learns Elsa and her husband, disabled criminal defense attorney Arthur Bannister, are newly arrived in New York City from Shanghai. They are on their way to San Francisco via the Panama ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Film Noir
Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ''film noir''. Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key, black-and-white visual style that has roots in German Expressionist cinematography. Many of the prototypical stories and much of the attitude of classic noir derive from the hardboiled school of crime fiction that emerged in the United States during the Great Depression. The term ''film noir'', French for 'black film' (literal) or 'dark film' (closer meaning), was first applied to Hollywood films by French critic Nino Frank in 1946, but was unrecognized by most American film industry professionals of that era. Frank is believed to have been inspired by the French literary publishing imprint Série noire, founded in 1945. Cinema historians and critics defined the category ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rita Hayworth
Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918May 14, 1987) was an American actress, dancer and producer. She achieved fame during the 1940s as one of the era's top stars, appearing in 61 films over 37 years. The press coined the term "The Love Goddess" to describe Hayworth after she had become the most glamorous screen idol of the 1940s. She was the top Pin-up model, pin-up girl for G.I. (military), GIs during World War II. Hayworth is perhaps best known for her performance in the 1946 film noir ''Gilda'', opposite Glenn Ford, in which she played the ''femme fatale'' in her first major dramatic role. She is also known for her performances in ''Only Angels Have Wings'' (1939), ''The Strawberry Blonde'' (1941), ''Blood and Sand (1941 film), Blood and Sand'' (1941), ''The Lady from Shanghai'' (1947), ''Pal Joey (film), Pal Joey'' (1957), and ''Separate Tables (film), Separate Tables'' (1958). Fred Astaire, with whom she made two films, ''You'll Never Get Rich'' (19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time. While in his 20s, Welles directed high-profile stage productions for the Federal Theatre Project, including an adaptation of ''Macbeth'' with an entirely African-American cast and the political musical '' The Cradle Will Rock''. In 1937, he and John Houseman founded the Mercury Theatre, an independent repertory theatre company that presented a series of productions on Broadway through 1941, including '' Caesar'' (1937), an adaptation of William Shakespeare's '' Julius Caesar''. In 1938, his radio anthology series '' The Mercury Theatre on the Air'' gave Welles the platform to find international fame as the director and narrator of a radio adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel '' The War of the Worlds'', which cau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese American
Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, as well as other regions which are inhabited by large populations of the Chinese diaspora, especially Southeast Asia and some other countries such as Australia, Canada, France, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Chinese-Americans include Chinese from the Chinese circle and around the world who became naturalized U.S. citizens and their natural-born descendants in the United States. The Chinese American community is the largest overseas Chinese community outside Asia. It is also the third largest community in the Chinese diaspora, behind the Chinese communities in Thailand and Malaysia. The 2016 Community Survey of the US Census estimates a popula ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Flower Drum Song
''The Flower Drum Song'' is a novel by Chinese-American author C. Y. Lee, first published in 1957. The novel tells the story of Chinese immigrants in San Francisco, and was a bestseller in its time. It is the basis of 1958 musical ''Flower Drum Song'', and later a movie of the same title was released in 1961, starring Nancy Kwan and James Shigeta. Background Author C. Y. Lee fled war-torn China in the 1940s and came to the United States, where he attended Yale University's playwriting program, graduating in 1947 with a Master of Fine Arts degree. By the 1950s, he was barely making a living writing short stories and working as a Chinese teacher, translator and journalist for San Francisco Chinatown newspapers.Shin, Andrew"'Forty Percent Is Luck': An Interview with C. Y. (Chin Yang) Lee" MELUS, vol. 29, no. 2, ''Elusive Illusions: Art and Reality'' (Summer, 2004), pp. 77–104, The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States. Retrieved December 3, 201 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Rodgers And Oscar Hammerstein II
Rodgers and Hammerstein was a theater-writing team of composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and lyricist-dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960), who together created a series of innovative and influential American musicals. Their popular Broadway productions in the 1940s and 1950s initiated what is considered the "golden age" of musical theater. Gordon, John Steele''Oklahoma'!'. Retrieved June 13, 2010 Five of their Broadway shows, ''Oklahoma!'', ''Carousel'', ''South Pacific'', ''The King and I'' and ''The Sound of Music'', were outstanding successes, as was the television broadcast of ''Cinderella'' (1957). Of the other four shows that the team produced on Broadway during their lifetimes, ''Flower Drum Song'' was well-received, and none was an outright flop. Most of their shows have received frequent revivals around the world, both professional and amateur. Among the many accolades their shows (and film versions) garnered were thirty-four Tony Awards, fifteen Academy Aw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flower Drum Song (film)
''Flower Drum Song'' is a 1961 American musical film directed by Henry Koster, adapted from the 1958 Broadway musical ''Flower Drum Song'', written by the composer Richard Rodgers and the lyricist/librettist Oscar Hammerstein II, in turn based on the 1957 novel of the same name by the Chinese American author Chin Yang Lee. The film stars Nancy Kwan, James Shigeta, Miyoshi Umeki, Jack Soo, Benson Fong and Juanita Hall. It was nominated for five Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. ''Flower Drum Song'' became the first major Hollywood feature film to have a majority Asian-American cast in a contemporary Asian-American story. It would be the last film to do so for more than 30 years, until ''The Joy Luck Club'' (1993). In 2008, ''Flower Drum Song'' was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Plot A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tenderloin, San Francisco
The Tenderloin is a neighborhood in downtown San Francisco, in the flatlands on the southern slope of Nob Hill, situated between the Union Square shopping district to the northeast and the Civic Center office district to the southwest. It encompasses about 50 square blocks, and is a large wedge/triangle in shape (point faces East). It is historically bounded on the north by Geary Street, on the east by Mason Street, on the south by Market Street and on the west by Van Ness Avenue. The northern boundary with Lower Nob Hill has historically been set at Geary Street. The area has among the highest levels of homelessness and crime in the city. The terms "Tenderloin Heights" and " The Tendernob" refer to the area around the indefinite boundary between the Upper Tenderloin and Lower Nob Hill. The eastern extent, near Union Square, overlaps with the Theater District. Part of the western extent of the Tenderloin, Larkin and Hyde Streets between Turk and O'Farrell, was officially ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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