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Lord Dundreary
Lord Dundreary is a character of the 1858 English play ''Our American Cousin'' by Tom Taylor. He is a good-natured, brainless aristocrat. The role was created on stage by Edward Askew Sothern. The most famous scene involved Dundreary reading a letter from his even sillier brother. Sothern expanded the scene considerably in performance. A number of spin-off works were also created, including a play about the brother. His name gave rise to two eponyms rarely heard today – "Dundrearies" and "Dundrearyisms". The former referred to a particular style of facial hair taking the form of exaggeratedly bushy sideburns, also called "dundreary whiskers" (or "Piccadilly weepers" in England) which were popular between 1840 and 1870. The latter eponym was used to refer to expanded malapropisms in the form of twisted and nonsensical aphorisms in the style of Lord Dundreary (''e.g.'', "birds of a feather gather no moss"). Charles Kingsley Charles Kingsley (12 June 1819 – 23 January ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Askew Sothern As Lord Dundreary, By Napoleon Sarony, C
Edward is an English male name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortunate; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Saxon England, but the rule of the Norman and Plantagenet dynasties had effectively ended its use amongst the upper classes. The popularity of the name was revived when Henry III named his firstborn son, the future Edward I, as part of his efforts to promote a cult around Edward the Confessor, for whom Henry had a deep admiration. Variant forms The name has been adopted in the Iberian peninsula since the 15th century, due to Edward, King of Portugal, whose mother was English. The Spanish/Portuguese forms of the name are Eduardo and Duarte. Other variant forms include French Édouard, Italian Edoardo and Odoardo, German, Dutch, Czech and Romanian Eduard and Scandinavian Edvard. Short forms include Ed, Eddy, Eddie, Ted, Teddy and Ned. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Our American Cousin
''Our American Cousin'' is a three-act play by English playwright Tom Taylor. It is a farce featuring awkward, boorish American Asa Trenchard, who is introduced to his aristocratic English relatives when he goes to England to claim the family estate. The play premiered with great success at Olympic Theatre, New York, Laura Keene's Theatre in New York City in 1858, with Laura Keene in the cast, the title character played by Joseph Jefferson, and Edward Askew Sothern playing Lord Dundreary. The play's long-running London production in 1861 was also successful. The play quickly rose to great renown during its first few years and remained very popular throughout the second half of the 19th century. Despite achieving critical and audience acclaim throughout its production history, ''Our American Cousin'' is best known as the play that U.S. president Abraham Lincoln was attending in Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. when Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, he was assassinated by John W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Taylor
Tom Taylor (19 October 1817 – 12 July 1880) was an English dramatist, critic, biographer, public servant, and editor of Punch (magazine), ''Punch'' magazine. Taylor had a brief academic career, holding the professorship of English literature and language at University of London, University College, London in the 1840s, after which he practised law and became a civil servant. At the same time he became a journalist, most prominently as a contributor to, and eventually editor of, ''Punch'', a humour magazine. In addition to these vocations, Taylor began a theatre career and became best known as a playwright, with up to 100 plays staged during his career. Many were adaptations of French plays, but these and his original works cover a range from farce to melodrama. Most fell into neglect after Taylor's death, but ''Our American Cousin'' (1858), which achieved great success in the 19th century, remains famous as the piece that was being performed in the presence of Abraham Linco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Askew Sothern
Edward Askew Sothern (1 April 182620 January 1881) was an English actor known for his comic roles in Britain and America, particularly Lord Dundreary in ''Our American Cousin''. He was also known for his many practical jokes. Life and career Early years Sothern was born in Liverpool, the son of a merchant. He began studying medicine, and his parents hoped that he would become a minister,''The Times'' obituary, 22 January 1881, p. 9, col. F but he decided against pursuing those professions. He worked as a clerk in the late 1840s and married Frances Emily "Fannie" Stewart (died 1882). He began acting as an amateur in 1848 under the stage name of Douglas Stewart.Holder, Heidi J"Sothern, Edward Askew (1826–1881)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved 7 November 2008. In 1849 he appeared in his first professional engagement at Saint Helier in Jersey, as Claude Melnotte in Bulwer Lytton's ''The Lady of Lyons''. In the early 185 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spinoff (media)
A spinoff or spin-off is any narrative work derived from an already existing work that focuses on different aspects from the original work. History One of the earliest spin-offs of the modern media era, if not the first, happened in 1941 when the supporting character Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve from the Golden Age of Radio, old time radio comedy show ''Fibber McGee and Molly'' became the star of his own program ''The Great Gildersleeve'' (1941–1957). Description A spin-off (also spelled spinoff) is derived from already existing works that focus on more details and different aspects from the original work (e.g. particular topics, characters or events), and includes books, radio programs, television show, television programs, films, video games, or any narrative work in any medium. In genre fiction, the term parallels its usage in television; it is usually meant to indicate a substantial change in narrative viewpoint and activity from that (previous) Narrative thread, storylin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eponym
An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovations, biological nomenclature, astronomical objects, works of art and media, and tribal names. Various orthographic conventions are used for eponyms. Usage of the word The term ''eponym'' functions in multiple related ways, all based on an explicit relationship between two named things. ''Eponym'' may refer to a person or, less commonly, a place or thing for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. ''Eponym'' may also refer to someone or something named after, or believed to be named after, a person or, less commonly, a place or thing. A person, place, or thing named after a particular person share an eponymous relationship. In this way, Elizabeth I of England is the eponym of the Elizabethan era, but the Elizabethan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Malapropism
A malapropism (; also called a malaprop, acyrologia or Dogberryism) is the incorrect use of a word in place of a word with a similar sound, either unintentionally or for comedic effect, resulting in a nonsensical, often humorous utterance. An example is the statement attributed to baseball player Yogi Berra, regarding switch hitters, "He hits from both sides of the plate. He's amphibious", with the accidental use of '' amphibious'' rather than the intended '' ambidextrous''. Malapropisms often occur as errors in natural speech and are sometimes the subject of media attention, especially when made by politicians or other prominent individuals. Etymology The word "malapropism" (and its earlier form, "malaprop") comes from a character named "Mrs. Malaprop" in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's 1775 play '' The Rivals''. Mrs. Malaprop frequently misspeaks (to comic effect) by using words which do not have the meaning that she intends but which sound similar to words that do. Sheridan ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Kingsley
Charles Kingsley (12 June 1819 – 23 January 1875) was a broad church priest of the Church of England, a university professor, social reformer, historian, novelist and poet. He is particularly associated with Christian socialism, the working men's college, and forming labour cooperatives, which failed, but encouraged later working reforms. Life and character Kingsley was born in Holne, Devon, the elder son of the Reverend Charles Kingsley and his wife, Mary Lucas Kingsley. His brother Henry Kingsley (1830–1876) and sister Charlotte Chanter (1828–1882) also became writers. He was the father of the novelist Lucas Malet (Mary St. Leger Kingsley, 1852–1931) and the uncle of the traveller and scientist Mary Kingsley (1862–1900). Charles Kingsley's childhood was spent in Clovelly, Devon, where his father was curate in 1826–1832 and rector in 1832–1836, and at Barnack, Northamptonshire. He was educated at Bristol Grammar School and Helston Grammar School befo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Hippocampus Question
The Great Hippocampus Question was a 19th-century scientific controversy about the anatomy of ape and human uniqueness. The dispute between Thomas Henry Huxley and Richard Owen became central to the scientific debate on human evolution that followed Charles Darwin's publication of ''On the Origin of Species''. The name comes from the title of a satire the Reverend Charles Kingsley wrote about the arguments, which in modified form appeared as "the great hippopotamus test" in Kingsley's 1863 book for children, '' The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby''. Together with other humorous skits on the topic, this helped to spread and popularise Darwin's ideas on evolution. The key point that Owen asserted was that only humans had part of the brain then known as the hippocampus minor (now called the calcar avis), and that this gave us our unique abilities. Careful dissection eventually showed that apes and monkeys also have a hippocampus minor. Background In October 1836 Charles ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Characters In Plays
Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to Theophrastus Music * ''Character'' (Dark Tranquillity album), 2005 * ''Character'' (Julia Kent album), 2013 * ''Character'', an album by Rachael Sage, 2020 * ''Characters'' (John Abercrombie album), 1977 * ''Characters'' (Stevie Wonder album), 1987 * "Character", a song by Ryokuoushoku Shakai, 2022 Types of entity * Character (arts), an agent within a work of art, including literature, drama, cinema, opera, etc. ** Character actor, an actor known for playing unusual, eccentric or interesting characters in supporting roles ** Character sketch or character, a literary description of a character type * Game character (other), various types of characters in a video game or role playing game ** Player character, as above but who is c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Male Characters In Theatre
Male (symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or Egg cell, ovum, in the process of fertilisation. A male organism cannot sexual reproduction, reproduce sexually without access to at least one ovum from a female, but some organisms can reproduce both sexually and Asexual reproduction, asexually. Most male mammals, including male humans, have a Y chromosome, which codes for the production of larger amounts of testosterone to develop male reproductive organs. In humans, the word ''male'' can also be used to refer to gender, in the social sense of gender role or gender identity. Overview The existence of separate sexes has evolved independently at different times and in different lineage (evolution), lineages, an example of convergent evolution. The repeated pattern is sexual reproduction in isogamy, isogamous species with two or more mating types with gametes of identical form and beha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comedy Theatre Characters
Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greece: in Athenian democracy, the public opinion of voters was influenced by political satire performed by comic poets in theaters. The theatrical genre of Greek comedy can be described as a dramatic performance pitting two groups, ages, genders, or societies against each other in an amusing ''agon'' or conflict. Northrop Frye depicted these two opposing sides as a "Society of Youth" and a "Society of the Old". A revised view characterizes the essential agon of comedy as a struggle between a relatively powerless youth and the societal conventions posing obstacles to his hopes. In this struggle, the youth then becomes constrained by his lack of social authority, and is left with little choice but to resort to ruses which engender dramatic irony, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
