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Loney Haskell
Loney Haskell (1870 – October 20, 1933) was an American veteran vaudeville entertainer and theatre manager. He was a writer, a monologist, and a master of ceremonies. Haskell worked as the secretary of the Jewish Theatrical Guild of America and in that capacity eulogized his friend Harry Houdini. Career Haskell was born as Lorne Levy in Newark, New Jersey in 1870 and he took up a mercantile career. By 1898 he had chosen to retire from that business and he gained employ with burlesque producers Hurtig and Seaman as a librettist and performer. Haskell had an interest in entertainment having recorded the short silent film ''Facial Expressions by Loney Haskell'' in 1897 in which he demonstrated a variety of emotions with the camera close in to his face. The Fourteenth Street Theatre featured a production of ''In New York Town'' between October 30 and November 4, 1905. The comedy musical was based on the work of Haskell and Willard Holcomb with music by Albert Von Tilzer. Haskell ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition or light poetry, interspersed with songs or ballets. It became popular in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s, but the idea of vaudeville's theatre changed radically from its French antecedent. In some ways analogous to music hall from Victorian Britain, a typical North American vaudeville performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill. Types of acts have included popular and classical musicians, singers, dancers, comedians, trained animals, magicians, ventriloquists, strongmen, female and male impersonators, acrobats, clowns, illustrated songs, jugglers, one-act plays or scenes from plays, athletes, lecturing celebrities, minstrels, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Willie Hammerstein
William Hammerstein (September 26, 1875 – June 10, 1914) was an American theater manager. He ran the Victoria Theatre on what became Times Square, Manhattan, presenting very popular vaudeville shows with a wide variety of acts. He was known for "freak acts", where celebrities or people notorious for scandals appeared on stage. Hammerstein's Victoria Theatre became the most successful in New York. Early years William Hammerstein was born in New York City on September 26, 1875,"New York, New York City Births, 1846-1909," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:271S-4VN : accessed September 21, 2015), William Hamerstein, September 26, 1875; citing Birth, Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, New York Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 1,322,094. son of Oscar Hammerstein, the theater impresario, and his first wife, née Rose Blau. He started work as a press agent, then built a vaudeville theatre on 110th Street, Manhattan, called Little Con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1870 Births
Year 187 ( CLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Quintius and Aelianus (or, less frequently, year 940 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 187 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 * Septimius Severus marries Julia Domna (age 17), a Syrian princess, at Lugdunum (modern-day Lyon). She is the youngest daughter of high-priest Julius Bassianus – a descendant of the Royal House of Emesa. Her elder sister is Julia Maesa. * Clodius Albinus defeats the Chatti, a highly organized German tribe that controlled the area that includes the Black Forest. By topic Religion * Olympianus succeeds Pertinax as bishop of Byzantium (until 198). Births * Cao Pi, Chinese emperor of the Cao Wei stat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded on August 10, 1846, it operates as a trust instrumentality and is not formally a part of any of the three branches of the federal government. The institution is named after its founding donor, British scientist James Smithson. It was originally organized as the United States National Museum, but that name ceased to exist administratively in 1967. Called "the nation's attic" for its eclectic holdings of 154 million items, the institution's 19 museums, 21 libraries, nine research centers, and zoo include historical and architectural landmarks, mostly located in the District of Columbia. Additional facilities are located in Maryland, New York, and Virginia. More than 200 institutions and museums in 45 states,States without Smithsonian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) is an international news agency and wire service, founded in 1917, serving Jewish community newspapers and media around the world as well as non-Jewish press, with about 70 syndication clients listed on its web site. Editorial policy The JTA is a not-for-profit corporation governed by an independent board of directors. It claims no allegiance to any specific branch of Judaism or political viewpoint. "We respect the many Jewish and Israel advocacy organizations out there, but JTA has a different mission — to provide readers and clients with balanced and dependable reporting", wrote JTA editor-in-chief and CEO and publisher Ami Eden. He gave as an example of the JTA's coverage of the ''Mavi Marmara'' activist ship. JTA is an affiliate of 70 Faces Media, a not-for-profit American media company. Other sites under the 70 Faces Media company include Kveller, ''Alma'', and Nosher. History The JTA was founded on February 6, 1917, by Jacob Landau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Hammerstein
Arthur Hammerstein (December 21, 1872 – October 12, 1955) was an American songwriter, dramatist, playwright and theater manager. Biography Born and educated to a Jewish family in New York City, Hammerstein was the son of the theater impresario and composer Oscar Hammerstein I. Arthur started out as a bricklayer and plasterer, working on projects with his father including the Victoria Theater and Manhattan Opera House. In 1908 Hammerstein started working on becoming a producer, signing Italian singer Luisa Tetrazzini to the family's Manhattan Center and negotiating with Otto Kahn before moving to London in 1910. While there Arthur and his father had a disagreement with money spending and Arthur vowed never to speak to him again. With his father's support, Arthur embarked on his first production, ''Naughty Marietta''. Arthur's brother Willie Hammerstein died in June 1914, and Arthur took over management of the family's Victoria Theater. However, the theater was not finan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victoria Theatre (Hammerstein's)
The Victoria Theatre (1899–1915) was a prominent American vaudeville house during the early years of the twentieth century. Theatre mogul Oscar Hammerstein I opened it in 1899 on the northwest corner of Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street, along New York City’s Longacre Square (now Times Square).“Hammerstein’s Victoria,” New York Times, 3 March 1899. The theatre was closely associated with the Paradise Roof Garden above it, and the two venues came to be known collectively as ''Hammerstein’s''.“Rialto Theatre to Close Tonight,” New York Times, 15 May 1935, 23. Construction Undaunted by the failure of his massive[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oscar Hammerstein I
Oscar Hammerstein I (8 May 18461 August 1919) was a German-born businessman, theater impresario, and composer in New York City. His passion for opera led him to open several opera houses, and he rekindled opera's popularity in America. He was the grandfather of American playwright/lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II and the father of theater manager William Hammerstein and American producer Arthur Hammerstein. Early life Oscar Hammerstein I was born in Stettin (capital of the province of Pomerania), Kingdom of Prussia (now Szczecin, Poland), to German Jewish parents Abraham and Berthe Hammerstein. He took up the flute, piano, and violin at an early age. His mother died when he was fifteen years old. During his youth, Hammerstein's father wanted him to continue with his education and to specialize in subjects such as algebra, but Hammerstein wanted to pursue music. After Oscar went skating in a park one day, his father found out and whipped him as punishment, goading Hammerstein to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Variety (magazine)
''Variety'' is an American media company owned by Penske Media Corporation. The company was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville. In 1933 it added ''Daily Variety'', based in Los Angeles, to cover the motion-picture industry. ''Variety.com'' features entertainment news, reviews, box office results, cover stories, videos, photo galleries and features, plus a credits database, production charts and calendar, with archive content dating back to 1905. History Foundation ''Variety'' has been published since December 16, 1905, when it was launched by Sime Silverman as a weekly periodical covering theater and vaudeville with its headquarters in New York City. Silverman had been fired by ''The Morning Telegraph'' in 1905 for panning an act which had taken out an advert for $50. As a result, he decided to start his own publication "that ouldnot be influenced by advertising." With a loan of $1,500 from his fa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Escapology
Escapology is the practice of escaping from restraints or other traps. Escapologists (also classified as escape artists) escape from handcuffs, straitjackets, cages, coffins, steel boxes, barrels, bags, burning buildings, fish-tanks, and other perils, often in combination. History The art of escaping from restraints and confined spaces has been a skill employed by performers for a very long time. It was not originally displayed as an overt act in itself but was instead used secretly to create illusions such as a disappearance or transmutation. In the 1860s, the Davenport Brothers, who were skilled at releasing themselves from rope ties, used the art to convey the impression they were restrained while they created spirit phenomena. Other illusionists, including John Nevil Maskelyne, worked out how the Davenports did their act and re-created the tricks to debunk the brothers' claims of psychic power. However, the re-creations did not involve overt escape, merely a replicat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dime Museum
Dime museums were institutions that were popular at the end of the 19th century in the United States. Designed as centers for entertainment and moral education for the working class ( lowbrow), the museums were distinctly different from upper middle class cultural events ( highbrow). In urban centers like New York City, where many immigrants settled, dime museums were popular and cheap entertainment. The social trend reached its peak during the Progressive Era (c. 1890–1920). Although lowbrow entertainment, they were the starting places for the careers of many notable vaudeville-era entertainers, including Harry Houdini, Lew Fields, Joe Weber, and Maggie Cline. Baltimore In Baltimore, Maryland, Peale's Museum is credited as one of the first serious museums in the country. This type of attraction was re-created in the American Dime Museum in 1999, which operated for eight years before closing permanently and auctioning off its exhibits in late February 2007. Boston Kimball ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
