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Madame De Thèbes
Madame de Thèbes is the pseudonym of two fortunetellers living in Europe between the late nineteenth century and the end of World War II. The usage of the name has also entered popular culture, which includes characters based loosely on the life experiences of the historical figures. Origin ''de Thèbes'' means "of Thebes" in French, which refers to the city of Thebes, Egypt, Thebes in ancient Egypt. The name was suggested by French writer and playwright Alexandre Dumas fils, Alexandre Dumas ''fils'' to Anne-Victorine Savigny with inspiration from his psychological drama ''La Route de Thèbes'' about a mysterious woman, which was his final work and was never finished. Historical figures France Anne-Victorine Savigny (1844–1916), or Anne-Victorine de Savigny, was a French clairvoyant and palm reader. She is the main source of reference for the name Madame de Thèbes. Savigny was born in Ménilmontant, a Arrondissements of Paris, neighborhood in Paris. She first worked as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boer War
The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South African Republic and the Orange Free State) over the Empire's influence in Southern Africa from 1899 to 1902. Following the discovery of gold deposits in the Boer republics, there was a large influx of "foreigners", mostly British from the Cape Colony. They were not permitted to have a vote, and were regarded as "unwelcome visitors", invaders, and they protested to the British authorities in the Cape. Negotiations failed and, in the opening stages of the war, the Boers launched successful attacks against British outposts before being pushed back by imperial reinforcements. Though the British swiftly occupied the Boer republics, numerous Boers refused to accept defeat and engaged in guerrilla warfare. Eventually, British scorched eart ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ragna Wettergreen
Ragna Wettergreen (19 September 1864 – 27 June 1958) was a Norwegian actress. Biography Ragna Wettergreen was born in Christiania (now Oslo), Norway. She was the daughter of Olaus Olsen and Inger Marie Rynning Kristianisen. She was the sister of the actress Marta Frogg and the aunt of the actor Odd Frogg. In 1889 she married the defense attorney Haakon Ingolf Wettergreen (1858–1902). She married a second time in 1903, to the artillery captain Roald Skancke (1876–1932). She made her stage début at Christiania Theatre in 1886. She performed at Christiania Theatre until it closed in 1899, and from then mainly at Nationaltheatret. For the 1905 to 1909 seasons, she was at the Fahlstrøm Theater. She is particularly known for several title roles or principal characters in plays by Henrik Ibsen, such as ''Lady Inger of Ostrat'', ''Hedda Gabler'', ''The Vikings at Helgeland'', ''Rosmersholm'', ''John Gabriel Borkman'', ''Little Eyolf'', and ''The Wild Duck''. She also partici ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mauritz Stiller
Mauritz Stiller (born Moshe Stiller, 17 July 1883 – 18 November 1928) was a Swedish film director of Finnish Jewish origin, best known for discovering Greta Garbo and bringing her to America. Stiller had been a pioneer of the Swedish film industry, writing and directing many short films from 1912. When Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer invited him to Hollywood as a director, he arrived with his new discovery Greta Gustafsson, whose screen name Greta Garbo is believed to have been his suggestion. After frequent disagreements with studio executives at MGM and Paramount Pictures, Stiller returned to Sweden, where he died soon afterwards. Life Moshe Stiller was born in Helsinki. His family was of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage, having lived in Russia and Poland before settling in Finland, these countries being part of the Russian Empire. After his father's death when he was four, his mother committed suicide. He was raised by family friends. From an early age, Stiller was interested in acting. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Silent Film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when necessary, be conveyed by the use of intertitle, title cards. The term "silent film" is something of a misnomer, as these films were almost always accompanied by live sounds. During the silent era that existed from the mid-1890s to the late 1920s, a piano, pianist, theatre organ, theater organist—or even, in large cities, a small orchestra—would often play music to accompany the films. Pianists and organists would play either from sheet music, or musical improvisation, improvisation. Sometimes a person would even narrate the inter-title cards for the audience. Though at the time the technology to synchronize sound with the film did not exist, music was seen as an essential part of the viewing experie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Third Reich
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a dictatorship. Under Hitler's rule, Germany quickly became a totalitarian state where nearly all aspects of life were controlled by the government. The Third Reich, meaning "Third Realm" or "Third Empire", alluded to the Nazi claim that Nazi Germany was the successor to the earlier Holy Roman Empire (800–1806) and German Empire (1871–1918). The Third Reich, which Hitler and the Nazis referred to as the Thousand-Year Reich, ended in May 1945 after just 12 years when the Allies defeated Germany, ending World War II in Europe. On 30 January 1933, Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany, the head of governmen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate oceanic climate, with relatively warm summers and chilly winters. Prague is a political, cultural, and economic hub of central Europe, with a rich history and Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architectures. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia and residence of several Holy Roman Emperors, most notably Charles IV (r. 1346–1378). It was an important city to the Habsburg monarchy and Austro-Hungarian Empire. The city played major roles in the Bohemian and the Protestant Reformations, the Thirty Years' War and in 20th-century history as the capital of Czechoslovakia between the World Wars and the post-war Communist era. Prague is home to a number of well-known cultural attractions, many of which survived ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Golden Lane
Golden Lane ( cs, Zlatá ulička) is a street situated in Prague Castle, Czech Republic. Originally built in the 16th century to house Rudolf II's castle guards, it takes its name from the goldsmiths that lived there in the 17th century. Golden Lane consists of small houses, painted in bright colours in the 1950s. The street originally had houses on both sides, but one side was demolished in the 19th century. Today, the lane is a part of the ''small'' and ''big'' castle rings (i.e. a fee must be paid to enter), while there is free entry after the Prague Castle interiors close. Many of the houses are now souvenir shops, and there is a museum of medieval armory within the former 14th-century fortification accessible from Golden Lane. A sister of writer Franz Kafka rented the house number 22 in the summer of 1916; Kafka used this house to write for approximately one year. Jaroslav Seifert, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1984 and who was one of the signatories of Charter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Père Lachaise Cemetery
Père Lachaise Cemetery (french: Cimetière du Père-Lachaise ; formerly , "East Cemetery") is the largest cemetery in Paris, France (). With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Notable figures in the arts buried at Père Lachaise include Michel Ney, Frédéric Chopin, Émile Waldteufel, Édith Piaf, Marcel Proust, Georges Méliès, Marcel Marceau, Sarah Bernhardt, Oscar Wilde, Thierry Fortineau, J.R.D. Tata, Jim Morrison and Sir Richard Wallace. The Père Lachaise is located in the 20th arrondissement and was the first garden cemetery, as well as the first municipal cemetery in Paris. It is also the site of three World War I memorials. The cemetery is located on the Boulevard de Ménilmontant. The Paris Métro station Philippe Auguste on Line 2 is next to the main entrance, while the station Père Lachaise, on both Line 2 and Line 3, is 500 meters away near a side entrance. History and description Origin The cemetery of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henriette Caillaux
Henriette Caillaux (5 December 1874 – 29 January 1943) was a Parisian socialite and second wife of the former Prime Minister of France, Joseph Caillaux. On March 16, 1914, she shot and killed Gaston Calmette, editor of the newspaper ''Le Figaro''. Early life and marriages Henriette Caillaux was born Henriette Raynouard, at Rueil-Malmaison on 5 December 1874. At the age of 19, she married Léo Claretie, a writer twelve years her senior. They had two children. In 1907 she began an affair with Joseph Caillaux while both he and she were still married. In 1908, she divorced Claretie; Caillaux had more difficulties in divorcing his wife, but he eventually did so and they married in October 1911. She claimed she found in her second marriage "the most complete happiness"; their joint assets were worth around 1.5 million francs, placing them among France's wealthiest couples and allowing them to live in what she described as "great comfort". The circumstances of the marriage, along wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Thomas Stead
William Thomas Stead (5 July 184915 April 1912) was a British newspaper editor who, as a pioneer of investigative journalism, became a controversial figure of the Victorian era. Stead published a series of hugely influential campaigns whilst editor of ''The Pall Mall Gazette'', including his 1885 series of articles, '' The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon''. These were written in support of a bill, later dubbed the " Stead Act", that raised the age of consent from 13 to 16. Stead's "new journalism" paved the way for the modern tabloid in Great Britain. He has been described as "the most famous journalist in the British Empire". He is considered to have influenced how the press could be used to influence public opinion and government policy, and advocated " Government by Journalism".Joseph O. Baylen"Stead, William Thomas (1849–1912)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online ed., September 2010. Retrieved 3 May 2011. He was known for his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catulle Mendès
Catulle Mendès (22 May 1841 – 8 February 1909) was a French poet and man of letters. Early life and career Of Portuguese Jewish extraction, Mendès was born in Bordeaux. After childhood and adolescence in Toulouse, he arrived in Paris in 1859 and quickly became one of the protégés of the poet Théophile Gautier. He promptly attained notoriety with the publication in the ''La Revue fantaisiste'' (1861) of his ''Roman d'une nuit'', for which he was condemned to a month's imprisonment and a fine of 500 francs. He was allied with Parnassianism from the beginning of the movement and displayed extraordinary metrical skill in his first volume of poems, ''Philoméla'' (1863). His critics have noted that the elegant verse of his later volumes is distinguished rather by dexterous imitation of different writers than by any marked originality. The versatility and fecundity of Mendès' talent is shown in his critical and dramatic writings, including several libretti, and in his novels an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
