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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] |
Caesar (Mercury Theatre)
''Caesar'' is the title of Orson Welles, Orson Welles's innovative 1937 adaptation of William Shakespeare's ''Julius Caesar (play), Julius Caesar'', a modern-dress bare-stage production that evoked comparison to contemporary Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. Considered Welles's highest achievement in the theatre, it premiered November 11, 1937, as the first production of the Mercury Theatre, an independent repertory theatre company that presented an acclaimed series of productions on Broadway theatre, Broadway through 1941. Production Breaking with the Federal Theatre Project in 1937, Orson Welles and John Houseman founded their own repertory company, which they called the Mercury Theatre. The name was inspired by the title of the iconoclastic magazine, ''The American Mercury''. The original company included such actors as Joseph Cotten, George Coulouris, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Ruth Ford (actress), Ruth Ford, Arlene Francis, Martin Gabel, John Hoyt, J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Kenosha () is a city in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Wisconsin, fourth-most populous city in Wisconsin, with a population of 99,986 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, Kenosha is a satellite city located roughly south of Milwaukee and north of Chicago via Interstate 94 in Wisconsin, Interstate 94 and has significant cultural and economic connections to both cities. It is the principal city of the Kenosha metropolitan statistical area (consisting only of Kenosha County) with roughly 169,000 residents. Kenosha was once a center of industrial activity; it was home to large automotive industry, automotive factories which fueled its economy during the 20th century. Like some other Rust Belt cities, Kenosha Deindustrialization, lost these factories in the 1980s, causing it to gradually transition into a services-based economy. In the 2010s, the city and sur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Voodoo Macbeth
The Voodoo ''Macbeth'' is a common nickname for the Federal Theatre Project's 1936 New York production of William Shakespeare's ''Macbeth''. Orson Welles adapted and directed the production, moved the play's setting from Scotland to a fictional Caribbean island, recruited an entirely Black cast, and earned the nickname for his production from the Haitian ''vodou'' that fulfilled the role of Scottish witchcraft. A box office sensation, the production is regarded as a landmark theatrical event for several reasons: its innovative interpretation of the play, its success in promoting African-American theatre, and its role in securing the reputation of its 20-year-old director. Background The Works Project Administration provided economic stimulus during the Great Depression and, under its aegis was Federal Project Number One, was responsible for generating jobs in the arts for which the Federal Theatre Project was created. The Negro Theatre Unit was split into two halves, the " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PM Magazine
''PM/Evening Magazine'' is a television series with a news and entertainment format. It was syndicated to stations throughout the United States. In most areas, ''Evening/PM Magazine'' was broadcast from the late 1970s into the late 1980s. Origins During the summer of 1976, KPIX in San Francisco, California, a CBS affiliate then owned by Westinghouse (Group W) Broadcasting, premiered a local weeknight television news and entertainment series titled ''Evening: The MTWTF Show''. The show was designed to add localism as suggested by the newly enacted "Prime Time Access Rule." At its inception, the rule was created by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to give back the half-hour preceding primetime (7:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the Eastern and Pacific time zones; 6:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in the Central and Mountain time zones) to local network-affiliated stations in the top fifty television markets, prohibiting them from accepting network-originated progr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cecilia Ager
Cecelia Ager ( Rubinstein; January 23, 1902 – April 3, 1981) was an American film critic and star reporter for ''Variety'' and the ''New York Times Magazine''. Life and career Ager was born Cecelia Rubenstein in Grass Valley, California, a mining town, the daughter of Fannie (Meyer) and Zalkin H. Rubenstein. Her parents were Polish Jewish immigrants. She married Milton Ager four months after meeting him; Mayor Jimmy Walker of New York, also a songwriter, presided at the wedding in his office. Ager was the first female reporter for ''Variety'', and was known as one of the best dressed women in America. Ager was the movie critic for the New York newspaper '' PM'' and a contributor to ''The New York Times'' and several national magazines. Her sense of style became an asset to advance her work as a writer. It has been said that "she used fashion as her entry into examining the constricting roles women were asked to play, in real life and onscreen.” Her astute and often witt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Foster Kane
Charles Foster Kane is a fictional character who is the subject of Orson Welles' 1941 film ''Citizen Kane''. Welles played Kane (receiving an Academy Award nomination), with Buddy Swan playing Kane as a child. Welles also produced, co-wrote and directed the film, winning an Oscar for writing the film. Inspiration The general consensus is that publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst is the primary inspiration behind Charles Foster Kane. In the film, Kane is given the line "You provide the prose poems; I'll provide the war," undeniably similar to "You furnish the pictures, and I'll furnish the war," a quotation widely attributed to Hearst. Also, an overhead shot of Hearst's ranch is shown in the film as Xanadu, the lavish estate where Kane resides. In addition, Kane's unsuccessful attempt to make his second wife an opera star parallels Hearst's effort to make his mistress Marion Davies a serious dramatic movie actress despite critics' complaints that she was miscast and bett ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Screenplay For Citizen Kane
The authorship of the screenplay for ''Citizen Kane'', the 1941 American motion picture that marked the feature film debut of Orson Welles, has been one of the film's long-standing controversies. With a story spanning 60 years, the quasi-biographical film examines the life and legacy of Charles Foster Kane, played by Welles, a fictional character based in part upon the American newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst and Chicago tycoons Samuel Insull and Harold McCormick. A rich incorporation of the experiences and knowledge of its authors, the film earned an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Herman J. Mankiewicz and Welles. Mankiewicz as co-writer Screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz was a notorious personality in Hollywood. "His behavior, public and private, was a scandal," wrote John Houseman. "A neurotic drinker and a compulsive gambler, he was also one of the most intelligent, informed, witty, humane and charming men I have ever known." Orson Welles told Pe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martian
Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, has appeared as a setting in works of fiction since at least the mid-1600s. Trends in the planet's portrayal have largely been influenced by advances in planetary science. It became the most popular celestial object in fiction in the late 1800s, when it became clear that there was no life on the Moon. The predominant genre depicting Mars at the time was utopian fiction. Around the same time, the mistaken belief that there are canals on Mars emerged and made its way into fiction, popularized by Percival Lowell's speculations of an ancient civilization having constructed them. '' The War of the Worlds'', H. G. Wells's novel about an alien invasion of Earth by sinister Martians, was published in 1897 and went on to have a major influence on the science fiction genre. Life on Mars appeared frequently in fiction throughout the first half of the 1900s. Apart from enlightened as in the utopian works from the turn of the century, or evil as in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The War Of The Worlds
''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells. It was written between 1895 and 1897, and serialised in '' Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US in 1897. The full novel was first published in hardcover in 1898 by William Heinemann. ''The War of the Worlds'' is one of the earliest stories to detail a conflict between humankind and an extraterrestrial race. The novel is the first-person narrative of an unnamed protagonist in Surrey and his younger brother who escapes to Tillingham in Essex as London and Southern England are invaded by Martians. It is one of the most commented-on works in the science fiction canon. The plot is similar to other works of invasion literature from the same period and has been variously interpreted as a commentary on the theory of evolution, imperialism, and Victorian era fears, superstitions and prejudices. Wells later noted that inspiration for the plot was the catastrophic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The War Of The Worlds (1938 Radio Drama)
"The War of the Worlds" was a Halloween episode of the radio drama, radio series ''The Mercury Theatre on the Air'' directed and narrated by Orson Welles as an adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel ''The War of the Worlds'' (1898) that was performed and broadcast live at 8 pm Eastern Time Zone, ET on October 30, 1938, over the CBS News Radio, CBS Radio Network. The episode is infamous for inciting a panic by convincing some members of the listening audience that a Martian (The War of the Worlds), Martian invasion was taking place, though the scale of panic is disputed, as the program had relatively few listeners. The first half of Welles's broadcast had a "breaking news" style of storytelling which, alongside the ''Mercury Theatre on the Air'' lack of commercial interruptions, meant that the first break in the drama came after all of the alarming "news" reports had taken place. Popular legend holds that some of the radio audience may have been listening to ''The Chase and Sanborn Ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Mercury Theatre On The Air
''The Mercury Theatre on the Air'' is a radio series of live radio dramas created and hosted by Orson Welles. The weekly hour-long show presented classic literary works performed by Welles's celebrated Mercury Theatre repertory company, with music composed or arranged by Bernard Herrmann. The series began July 11, 1938, as a sustaining program on the CBS Radio network, airing Mondays at 9 pm ET. On September 11, the show moved to Sundays at 8 pm. The show made headlines with its "The War of the Worlds (1938 radio drama), The War of the Worlds" broadcast on October 30, one of the most famous broadcasts in the history of radio due to the panic it allegedly caused, after which the Campbell Soup Company signed on as sponsor. ''The Mercury Theatre on the Air'' made its last broadcast on December 4 of that year, and ''The Campbell Playhouse (radio series), The Campbell Playhouse'' began five days later, on December 9. Production After the theatrical successes of the Mercury Theatre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Repertory Theatre
A repertory theatre, also called repertory, rep, true rep or stock, which are also called producing theatres, is a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation. United Kingdom Annie Horniman founded the first modern repertory theatre in Manchester after withdrawing her support from the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. Horniman's Gaiety Theatre opened its first season in September 1908. The opening of the Gaiety was followed by the Citizens' Theatre in Glasgow, the Liverpool Repertory Theatre and the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Previously, regional theatre relied on mostly London touring ensembles. During the time the theatre was being run by Annie Horniman, a wide variety of types of plays were produced. Horniman encouraged local writers who became known as the Manchester School of playwrights. They included Allan Monkhouse, Harold Brighouse—writer of '' Hobson's Choice''—and Stanley Houghton, who wrote ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
