Nipsey Russell
Julius "Nipsey" Russell (September 15, 1918 – October 2, 2005)Nipsey J. Russell, born September 15, 1918, died October 2, 2005. Social Security Administration. ''Social Security Death Index'' (Death Master File).U.S. Census, January 1, 1920, state of Georgia, county of DeKalb, city of Atlanta, enumeration district 180, page 4-A, family 75, Julius Russell, age 1 year 4 months. was an American entertainer best known for his appearances as a panelist on game shows from the 1960s through the 1990s, including ''Match Game'', ''Password'', ''Hollywood Squares'', ''To Tell the Truth'', and ''Pyramid''. His appearances were often distinguished by short, humorous poems he recited during the broadcast, which led to his nickname "the poet laureate of television". He had one of the leading roles in the film version of ''The Wiz'' as the Tin Man. He was a frequent guest on the '' Dean Martin Celebrity Roast'' series and often appeared on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' during the program' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georgia, Fulton County and extends into neighboring DeKalb County, Georgia, DeKalb County. With a population of 520,070 (2024 estimate) living within the city limits, Atlanta is the eighth most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast and List of United States cities by population, 36th most populous city in the United States according to the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census. Atlanta is classified as a Globalization and World Cities Research Network#Beta +, Beta + global city and is the principal city of the much larger Atlanta metropolitan area, the core of which includes Cobb County, Georgia, Cobb, Clayton County, Georgia, Clayton and Gwinnett County, Georgia, Gwinnett counties, in addition to Fulton and DeKalb. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United States Constitution (1789).See alsTitle 10, Subtitle B, Chapter 301, Section 3001 It operates under the authority, direction, and control of the United States Secretary of Defense, United States secretary of defense. It is one of the six armed forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. The Army is the most senior branch in order of precedence amongst the armed services. It has its roots in the Continental Army, formed on 14 June 1775 to fight against the British for independence during the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). After the Revolutionary War, the Congress of the Confederation created the United States Army on 3 June 1784 to replace the disbanded Continental Army.Library of CongressJournals ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bamboozled
''Bamboozled'' is a 2000 American satirical black comedy-drama film written and directed by Spike Lee about a modern televised minstrel show featuring black actors donning blackface makeup and the resulting violent fallout from the show's success. It features an ensemble cast including Damon Wayans, Jada Pinkett Smith, Savion Glover, Tommy Davidson, and Michael Rapaport. The film was given a limited release by New Line Cinema during the fall of 2000 and was released on DVD the following year. Critical reception was mixed, and the film was unsuccessful financially, becoming a box office bomb. Despite its initial reception, ''Bamboozled'' later achieved cult film status for its satirical look at stereotypical depictions of black people in both historical and contemporary American film and television productions. In 2023, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthe ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary life, urban crime and poverty, and other political issues. Lee has won numerous accolades for his work, including an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and two Peabody Awards. He has also been honored with an Honorary BAFTA Award in 2002, an Honorary César in 2003, and the Academy Honorary Award in 2015. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut with '' She's Gotta Have It'' (1986). He has since written and directed such films as '' School Daze'' (1988), '' Do the Right Thing'' (1989), '' Mo' Better Blues'' (1990), ''Jungle Fever'' (1991), '' Malcolm X'' (1992), '' Crooklyn'' (1994), '' Clockers'' (1995), '' 25th Hour'' (2002 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Savion Glover
Savion Glover (born November 19, 1973) is an American tap dancer, actor and choreographer. Early life The youngest of three sons, Glover was born to a white father, who left the family before he was born, and a black mother. Glover's great-grandfather on his mother's side, Dick Lundy, was a shortstop in the Negro leagues. He managed eleven Negro League baseball teams, including the Newark Eagles.Lahr, 270. His grandfather, Bill Lewis, was a big band pianist and vocalist. His grandmother, Anna Lundy Lewis, was the minister of music at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey. She played for Whitney Houston when she was singing in the gospel choir, and was the one who first noticed Savion's musical talent. She once held him and hummed some rhythms to him, and he smiled and joined along. Glover graduated from Newark Arts High School in 1991. Career Glover stated that his style is "young and funk." When asked to describe what funk is, he says it is the bass line. "Funk is any ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tommy Davidson
Tommy Davidson (born Anthony Reed, November 10, 1963) is an American actor and comedian. He was an original cast member on the sketch comedy TV show ''In Living Color'', and portrayed Mitchell on '' Between Brothers'' (1997–1999), Dexter on '' Malcolm & Eddie'' (1999–2000), the voice of Oscar Proud on ''The Proud Family'' (2001–2005) and its 2022 revival series, Rushon in '' Booty Call'' (1997), Womack in ''Bamboozled'' (2000), and Cream Corn in ''Black Dynamite'' (2009) and its subsequent television series. In 2022, Davidson appeared on '' Storybound'' reading from his book, ''Living in Color: What's Funny about Me''. Early life Born Anthony Reed in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, Davidson was abandoned in the trash at 18 months old, before being rescued by a white woman who became his adoptive mother. His parents changed his name to Thomas Davidson when they adopted him. He has two older siblings, Michael and Beryle. He and his family had moved from Colorado to Wyoming to O ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan is a fictional Honolulu Police Department, Honolulu police detective created by author Earl Derr Biggers for a series of mystery novels. Biggers loosely based Chan on Hawaiian detective Chang Apana. The benevolent and heroic Chan was conceived as an alternative to Yellow Peril stereotypes and villains like Fu Manchu. Many stories feature Chan traveling the world beyond Hawaii as he investigates mysteries and solves crimes. Chan first appeared in Biggers' novels and then was featured in a number of media. Over four dozen films featuring Charlie Chan were made, beginning in 1926. The character, featured only as a supporting character, was first portrayed by East Asian actors, and the films met with little success. In 1931, for the first film centering on Chan, ''Charlie Chan Carries On (film), Charlie Chan Carries On'', the Fox Film Corporation cast Swedish people, Swedish actor Warner Oland; the film became popular, and Fox went on to produce 15 more Chan films wit ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle 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 and dances. Vaudeville became popular in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s, while changing over time. 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, and films. A vaudeville performer ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Comic Foil
A double act (also known as a comedy duo) is a form of comedy originating in the British music hall tradition, and American vaudeville, in which two comedians perform together as a single act, often highlighting differences in their characters' personalities. Pairings are typically long-term, in some cases for the artists' entire careers. Double acts perform on the stage, television and film. The format is particularly popular in the UK where successful acts have included Peter Cook and Dudley Moore (Cook's deadpan delivery contrasted with Moore's buffoonery), Flanagan and Allen, Morecambe and Wise, ''The Two Ronnies'', and French and Saunders. The tradition is also present in the US with acts like Wheeler and Woolsey, Abbott and Costello, Gallagher and Shean, Burns and Allen, and Lyons and Yosco. The British-American comedy double act Laurel and Hardy has been described as the most popular in the world. Format Humor is often derived from the uneven relationship between ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ben Carter (actor)
Ben Carter (February 10, 1910/1907 – December 12, 1946) was an American actor and casting agent. He appeared in numerous Hollywood feature films including '' The Harvey Girls'', '' Dixie Jamboree'', '' Crash Dive'', and '' Born to Sing''. Early life Carter was born in Fairfield, Iowa. His father was a barber and his mother was a housemaid. He graduated from high school in Aurora, Illinois. Career Carter headed to Los Angeles to work in movies. As a booking agent he focused on African American performers in New York City and Los Angeles. He was one of the first African American performers to land a seven-year contract at 20th Century-Fox. He opened his agency office in 1935. Carter appeared in ''Gone With the Wind'' (1939) as well as casting all the other African American actors and actresses in it, ''Maryland'' (1940) and ''Tin Pan Alley'' (1940). Carter often performed in comic roles and in scenes which allowed him to display his singing ability such as in '' The Harvey G ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mantan Moreland
Mantan Moreland (September 3, 1902 – September 28, 1973) was an American actor and comedian most popular in the 1930s and 1940s. He starred in numerous films. His daughter Marcella Moreland appeared as a child actor in several films. Early years He was born in Monroe, Louisiana, to Frank, an old-time Dixieland bandleader, and Marcella. Moreland began acting by the time he was an adolescent; some sources say he ran away to join a minstrel show in 1910, at age eight, but his daughter told Moreland's biographer she doubts this date is correct. She and other sources agree it is more likely he left home when he was fourteen. Career After "nearly ten years of working the small, small time", Moreland gained an opportunity in 1927 when he was hired as a comedian in ''Connie's Inn Frolics'' in Harlem. He next worked in the musical revue ''Blackbirds of 1928'', which ran for 518 performances. By the late 1920s, Moreland had made his way through vaudeville, working with various sho ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Varsity (restaurant)
The Varsity is a restaurant chain in Atlanta, Georgia. The main branch of the chain was the largest drive-in fast food restaurant in the world, taking up two city blocks and accommodating up to 800 diners. The main location ended car-side service in 2020. There are now six other branches across metropolitan Atlanta. History Originally named "The Yellow Jacket", The Varsity was established in 1928 at the corner of Luckie Street and Hemphill Avenue in Midtown Atlanta. Its founder, Frank Gordy of Thomaston, Georgia, a Reinhardt University graduate, briefly attended The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), studying industrial management. Popular legend states that Gordy dropped out, but according to Janice McDonald, he actually transferred to Oglethorpe College. As the business grew, Gordy was forced to move the restaurant to 61 North Avenue (on the northwest corner of Spring Street). To accommodate the crowds, the present structure now covers two city blocks. It wa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |