Jack Gwynne
Jack Gwynne (April 12, 1895 – December 7, 1969) was an American illusionist, actor and creator of magic effects. Early life Born Joseph McCloud Gwynne in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Gwynne was inspired to become a magician after seeing a performance by Harry Kellar and Howard Thurston in 1908. With little money to procure magic props from professional outlets, Gwynne began designing and building his own tricks and illusions. He married Anne Apel (1896–1979) in 1915 and had two children; Margaret (Peggy) Gwynne (1916–1973) and Virden “Buddy” Gwynne (1917–1978). During the 1910s and early 1920s, Gwynne was employed by the Edgar Thompson Steel Mill (Carnegie Steel) in Pittsburgh during the day and performed and built magic at night. In 1925, after seeing a performance by Gwynne at Kaufman's Department Store in Pittsburgh, legendary magician Harry Houdini hired Jack to build several props for the Houdini show. These included an original “Disappearing Chicken” trick that ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of United States cities by population, 67th-most populous city in the U.S., with a population of 302,971 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is located in Western Pennsylvania, southwestern Pennsylvania at the confluence of the Allegheny River and Monongahela River, which combine to form the Ohio River. It anchors the Greater Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh metropolitan area, which had a population of 2.457 million residents and is the largest metro area in both the Ohio Valley and Appalachia, the Pennsylvania metropolitan areas, second-largest in Pennsylvania, and the List of metropolitan statistical areas, 26th-largest in the U.S. Pittsburgh is the principal city of the greater Pittsburgh–New Castle–Weirton combined statistic ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Model Wife (film)
''Model Wife'' is a 1941 American comedy film directed by Leigh Jason and written by Charles Kaufman, Horace Jackson and Grant Garett. The film stars Joan Blondell, Dick Powell, Charlie Ruggles, Lee Bowman, Lucile Watson, Ruth Donnelly and Billy Gilbert. The film was released on April 18, 1941, by Universal Pictures. Synopsis Joan and Fred Chambers are a married couple, struggling financially, who both work at Bensons department store. Company policy forbids the employment of married people and so they both pretend to be single. Things take a complicated turn when the wastrel son of the owner gets Joan as his secretary and decides she would make the perfect wife for him. Cast *Joan Blondell as Joan Keating Chambers * Dick Powell as Fred Chambers * Charlie Ruggles as Milo Everett * Lee Bowman as Ralph Benson *Lucile Watson as J.J. Benson * Ruth Donnelly as Mrs. Milo Everett *Billy Gilbert William Gilbert Barron (September 12, 1894 – September 23, 1971), know ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1895 Births
Events January * January 5 – Dreyfus affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his army rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island (off French Guiana) on what is much later admitted to be a false charge of treason. * January 6 – The Wilcox rebellion, an attempt led by Robert Wilcox to overthrow the Republic of Hawaii and restore the Kingdom of Hawaii, begins with royalist troops landing at Waikiki Beach in O'ahu and clashing with republican defenders. The rebellion ends after three days and the remaining 190 royalists are taken prisoners of war. * January 12 – Britain's National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty is founded by Octavia Hill, Robert Hunter and Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley. * January 13 – First Italo-Ethiopian War: Battle of Coatit – Italian forces defeat the Ethiopians. * January 15 – A warehouse fire and dynamite explosion kills 57 people, including 13 firefighters in Butt ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1964 New York World's Fair
The 1964 New York World's Fair (also known as the 1964–1965 New York World's Fair) was an world's fair, international exposition at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City, United States. The fair included exhibitions, activities, performances, films, art, and food presented by 80 nations, 24 U.S. states, and nearly 350 American companies. The five sections of the fairground were the Federal and State, International, Transportation, Lake Amusement, and Industrial areas. The fair's theme was "Peace through Understanding", and its symbol was the Unisphere, a stainless-steel model of Earth. Initially, the fair had 1964 New York World's Fair pavilions, 139 pavilions, and 34 concessions and shows. The site had previously hosted the 1939 New York World's Fair. In the 1950s, several businessmen devised plans for a similar event in 1964, and the New York World's Fair 1964 Corporation (WFC) was formed in 1959. Although U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower approved the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Parable
A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, whereas parables have human characters. A parable is a type of metaphorical analogy. Some scholars of the canonical gospels and the New Testament apply the term "parable" only to the parables of Jesus, although that is not a common restriction of the term. Etymology The word ''parable'' comes from the Greek παραβολή (''parabolē''), literally "throwing" (''bolē'') "alongside" (''para-''), by extension meaning "comparison, illustration, analogy." It was the name given by Greek rhetoricians to an illustration in the form of a brief fictional narrative. History The Bible contains numerous parables in the Gospels of the New Testament ( Jesus' parables). These are believed by some scholars (such as John P. Meier) to have been inspir ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Super Circus
''Super Circus'' is an American television program that aired live on Sunday afternoons from 5 to 6pm Eastern Time from 1949 to 1956 on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The show was produced in Chicago by WENR-TV, continuing through its call letter change to WBKB (today's WLS-TV) through 1955, and its production moved to New York City and WABC-TV for its final season. The award-winning show featured circus and clown acts performing in front of a studio audience. Mary Hartline and Claude Kirchner were the hosts (Jerry Colonna (entertainer), Jerry Colonna succeeded Kirchner as "Ringmaster" in the final New York season), and Bruce Chase conducted the band. Phil Patton was the producer, and Ed Skotch was the director. Sponsors for the show included Kellogg's, Mars, Incorporated, Mars, Canada Dry Ginger Ale, and Sweetheart Soap. History Hartline, known for her short skirts, white boots and long blonde hair, became one of television's first sex symbols, spawning merchandise such as ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mark Wayne Clark
Mark Wayne Clark (1 May 1896 – 17 April 1984) was a United States Army officer who fought in World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. He was the youngest four-star general in the U.S. Army during World War II. During World War I, he was a company commander and served in France in 1918, as a 22-year-old captain, where he was seriously wounded by shrapnel. After the war, the future US Army Chief of Staff, General George C. Marshall, noticed Clark's abilities. During World War II, he commanded the United States Fifth Army, and later the 15th Army Group, in the Italian campaign. He is known for leading the Fifth Army when it captured Rome in June 1944, around the same time as the Normandy landings. He was also the head of planning for Operation Torch, the largest seaborne invasion at the time. On 10 March 1945, at the age of 48, Clark became one of the youngest American officers promoted to the rank of four-star general. Dwight D. Eisenhower, a close friend, considered ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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United Service Organization
The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed Forces and their families. Since 1941, it has worked in partnership with the Department of War, and later with the Department of Defense (DoD), relying heavily on private contributions and on funds, goods, and services from various corporate and individual donors. Although it is congressionally chartered, it is not a government agency. Founded during World War II, the USO sought to be the GI's "home away from home" and began a tradition of entertaining the troops and providing social facilities. Involvement in the USO was one of the many ways in which the nation had come together to support the war effort, with nearly 1.5 million people having volunteered their services in some way. The USO initially disbanded in 1947, but was reviv ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilising all resources in pursuit of total war. Tanks in World War II, Tanks and Air warfare of World War II, aircraft played major roles, enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, first and only nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II is the List of wars by death toll, deadliest conflict in history, causing World War II casualties, the death of 70 to 85 million people, more than half of whom were civilians. Millions died in genocides, including the Holocaust, and by massacres, starvation, and disease. After the Allied victory, Allied-occupied Germany, Germany, Allied-occupied Austria, Austria, Occupation of Japan, Japan, a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Citizen Kane
''Citizen Kane'' is a 1941 American Drama (film and television), drama film directed by, produced by and starring Orson Welles and co-written by Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz. It was Welles's List of directorial debuts, first feature film. The film à clef, quasi-biographical film examines the life and legacy of Charles Foster Kane, played by Welles, a composite character based on American Media proprietor, media barons William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, Chicago tycoons Samuel Insull and Harold Fowler McCormick, Harold McCormick, as well as aspects of the screenwriters' own lives. After the Broadway theatre, Broadway success of Welles's Mercury Theatre and the controversial 1938 radio broadcast "The War of the Worlds (1938 radio drama), The War of the Worlds" on ''The Mercury Theatre on the Air'', Welles was courted by Hollywood. He signed a contract with RKO Pictures in 1939. Although it was unusual for an untried director, he was given freedom to develop his own ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Orson Welles
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American director, actor, writer, producer, and magician who is remembered for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre. He is among the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time. Aged 21, Welles directed high-profile stage productions for the Federal Theatre Project in New York City—starting with a celebrated Voodoo Macbeth, 1936 adaptation of ''Macbeth'' with an African-American cast, and ending with the political musical ''The Cradle Will Rock'' in 1937. He and John Houseman founded the Mercury Theatre, an independent repertory theatre company that presented productions on Broadway through 1941, including a modern, politically charged ''Caesar (Mercury Theatre), Caesar'' (1937). 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 The War of the Worlds (1938 radio drama), a radio adaptation ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hello, Sucker
''Hello, Sucker'' is a 1941 American comedy film directed by Edward F. Cline and written by Maurice Leo and Paul Gerard Smith. The film stars Hugh Herbert, Tom Brown, Peggy Moran, Lewis Howard, June Storey, Walter Catlett and Robert Emmett Keane. The film was released on July 11, 1941, by Universal Pictures. Synopsis A young couple take over a failing booking agency for vaudeville performers and try to turn the business around with the assistance of Hubert Worthington Clippe. Cast *Hugh Herbert as Hubert Worthington Clippe * Tom Brown as Bob Wade * Peggy Moran as Rosalie Watson *Lewis Howard as Walter Guggin * June Storey as Trixie Medcalf *Walter Catlett as G. Remington 'Max' Conway *Robert Emmett Keane as Connors *Mantan Moreland as Elevator Boy * Janet Warren as Receptionist *Nell O'Day Nell O'Day (September 22, 1909 – January 5, 1989) was an accomplished American equestrian and B-movie actress of the 1930s and 1940s. Biography O'Day was born in Pra ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |