|
The Court Jester
''The Court Jester'' is a 1955 American historical musical comedy film starring Danny Kaye, Glynis Johns, Basil Rathbone, Angela Lansbury and Cecil Parker. The film was written, produced, and directed by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama for distribution by Paramount Pictures. It was released in Technicolor and the VistaVision widescreen format. The film centers on Hubert Hawkins, a carnival entertainer. He is a member of the Black Fox's band of rebels (a parody of Robin Hood and his Merry Men) who are protecting the true infant King of Medieval England from a usurper. Events cause Hawkins to take the identity of an apparent court jester, who is actually an assassin, so he can spy in the usurping King's castle, where there are many people who wish to make use of the Jester for their own villainous ends. The film contains several songs (all sung by Kaye), makes heavy use of slapstick comedy and quick-witted wordplay, and is best remembered for the tongue twister "The pelle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Melvin Frank
Melvin Frank (13 August 1913 – 13 October 1988) was an American screenwriter, film producer and film director. He is known for his partnership with Norman Panama and their work on films such as '' Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House'' (1948), '' White Christmas'' (1954), and '' The Court Jester'' (1956). He also directed films such as '' Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell'' (1968) and '' A Touch of Class'' (1973). Life and career Born to a Jewish family, Frank met his future collaborator Norman Panama in 1933 when they were both at the University of Chicago. After graduating, they formed a partnership in 1935 which endured for four decades; first writing for Milton Berle before becoming writers for Bob Hope's radio show. In 1941, they sold their first script to Paramount Pictures, '' My Favorite Blonde'' (1942), which starred Hope. They worked for Paramount for five years where, among others, they wrote '' Road to Utopia'' (1946), starring Hope and Bing Crosby, for which they rec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Medieval England
England in the Middle Ages concerns the history of England during the Middle Ages, medieval period, from the end of the 5th century through to the start of the Early modern Britain, early modern period in 1485. When England emerged from the collapse of the Roman Empire, the Economy of England in the Middle Ages, economy was in tatters and many of the towns abandoned. After several centuries of Germanic immigration, new identities and cultures began to emerge, developing into kingdoms that competed for power. A rich Anglo-Saxon art, artistic culture flourished under the Anglo-Saxons, producing Epic poetry, epic poems such as ''Beowulf'' and sophisticated metalwork. The Anglo-Saxons converted to Christianity in the 7th century, and a network of monastery, monasteries and convents were built across England. In the 8th and 9th centuries, England faced fierce Viking attacks, and the fighting lasted for many decades. Eventually, Wessex was established as the most powerful kingdom and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pestle
A mortar and pestle is a set of two simple tools used to prepare ingredients or substances by compression (physics), crushing and shear force, grinding them into a fine Paste (rheology), paste or powder in the kitchen, laboratory, and pharmacy. The ''mortar'' () is characteristically a bowl, typically made of hardwood, metal, ceramic, or hard stone such as granite. The ''pestle'' (, also ) is a blunt, club-shaped object. The substance to be ground, which may be wet or dry, is placed in the mortar where the pestle is pounded, pressed, or rotated into the substance until the desired texture is achieved. Mortars and pestles have been used in cooking since the Stone Age; today they are typically associated with the pharmacy profession due to their historical use in preparing medicines. They are used in chemistry settings for pulverizing small amounts of chemicals; in arts and cosmetics for pulverizing pigments, binders, and other substances; in ceramics for making Grog (clay), grog; ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carrier Pigeon
The homing pigeon is a variety of domestic pigeon (''Columba livia domestica''), selectively bred for its ability to find its way home over extremely long distances. Because of this skill, homing pigeons were used to carry messages, a practice referred to as " pigeon post". Until the introduction of telephones, they were used commercially to deliver communication; when used during wars, they were called "war pigeons". The homing pigeon is also called a mail pigeon or messenger, and colloquially a homer. Perhaps most commonly, the homing pigeon is called a carrier pigeon; this nomenclature can be confusing, though, since it is distinct from the English carrier, an ancient breed of fancy pigeon. Modern-day homing pigeons do have English carrier blood in them because they are in part descendants of the old-style carriers. The domestic pigeon is derived from the wild rock dove (''Columba livia'' sspp.); the rock dove has an innate homing ability, meaning that it will generally r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hostler
A hostler ( or ) or ostler was traditionally a groom or stableman who was employed in a stable to take care of horses, usually at an inn, in the era of transportation by horse or horse-drawn carriage. In the twentieth century the word came to be used in the railroad industry for a type of train driver in rail yards with switcher locomotives or a type of truck driver in similar work with terminal tractors. Etymology The word is spelled "hostler" in American English, but "ostler" in British English. It traces to , meaning "one who tends to horses at an inn"—and also, occasionally, " innkeeper"—is derived from Anglo-French ''hostiler'' (modern French ), itself from Medieval Latin "the monk who entertains guests at a monastery", from ''hospitale'' "inn" (compare hospital, hospitaller, hospitality). A similar word, (innkeeper, the one that took care of a hostal), exists in Spanish. Modern uses According to the '' Dictionary of Occupational Titles'', an ostler in mot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Midget
Midget (from ''midge'', a tiny biting insect) is a term for a person of unusually short stature that is considered by some to be pejorative due to its etymology. While not a Medical terminology, medical term like ''dwarf'' (for a person with dwarfism, a medical condition with a number of causes, most often achondroplasia), ''midget'' long described anyone, or indeed any animal, exhibiting proportionate dwarfism. The word has a history of association with the Performance art, performance arts, as dwarfism, little people were often employed by acts in the circus, professional wrestling and vaudeville. The term may also refer to anything of much smaller than normal size, as a synonym for "miniature" or "mini", such as midget cell, midget crabapple, midget flowerpecker, midget submarine, MG Midget, Daihatsu Midget, and the Midget Mustang airplane; or to anything that regularly uses anything that is smaller than normal (other than a person), such as midget car racing and Quarter Mid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minstrel
A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. The term originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist entertainer who sang songs and played musical instruments. Description Minstrels performed songs which told stories of distant places or of existing or imaginary historical events. Although minstrels created their own tales, often they would memorize and embellish the works of others. Frequently they were retained by royalty and high society. As the courts became more sophisticated, minstrels were eventually replaced at court by the troubadours, and many became wandering minstrels, performing in the streets; a decline in their popularity began in the late 15th century. Minstrels fed into later traditions of travelling entertainers, which continued to be moderately strong into the early 20th century, and which has some continuity in the form of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Library Of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law of the United States, copyright law through the United States Copyright Office, and it houses the Congressional Research Service. Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the oldest Cultural policy of the United States, federal cultural institution in the United States. It is housed in three buildings on Capitol Hill, adjacent to the United States Capitol, along with the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Virginia, and additional storage facilities at Fort Meade, Fort George G. Meade and Cabin Branch in Hyattsville, Maryland. The library's functions are overseen by the librarian of Congress, and its buildings are maintained by the architect of the Capitol. The LOC is one of the List of largest libraries, largest libra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation (library and archival science), preservation, each selected for its cultural, historical, and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB's inception in 1988. History Throughout the 1980s, several prominent filmmakers and industry personalities in the United States, such as Frank Capra and Martin Scorsese, advocated for Congress to enact a film preservation bill in order to avoid commercial modifications (such as pan and scan and editing for TV) of classic films, which they saw as negative. In response to the controversy over the Film colorization#Entertainment make-overs, colorization of originally black and white films in the decade specifically, Representatives Robert J. Mrazek and Sidney R. Yates introduced the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, which established the National Film Registry, its purpose, and the criteria for selecti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang. Although the name "Rotten Tomatoes" connects to the practice of audiences throwing rotten tomatoes in disapproval of a poor Theatre, stage performance, the direct inspiration for the name from Duong, Lee, and Wang came from an equivalent scene in the 1992 Canadian film ''Léolo''. Since January 2010, Rotten Tomatoes has been owned by Flixster, which was in turn acquired by Warner Bros. in 2011. In February 2016, Rotten Tomatoes and its parent site Flixster were sold to Comcast's Fandango Media, Fandango ticketing company. Warner Bros. retained a minority stake in the merged entities, including Fandango. The site is influential among moviegoers, a third of whom say they consult it before going to the cinema in the U.S. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tongue Twister
A tongue twister is a phrase that is designed to be difficult to articulate properly, and can be used as a type of spoken (or sung) word game. Additionally, they can be used as exercises to improve pronunciation and fluency. Some tongue twisters produce results that are humorous (or humorously vulgar) when they are mispronounced, while others simply rely on the confusion and mistakes of the speaker for their amusement value. Types of tongue twisters Some tongue twisters rely on rapid alternation between similar but distinct phonemes (e.g., ''s'' and ''sh'' ), combining two different alternation patterns, familiar constructs in loanwords, or other features of a spoken language in order to be difficult to articulate. For example, the following sentence was said to be "the most difficult of common English-language tongue twisters" by William Poundstone. These deliberately difficult expressions were popular in the 19th century. The popular "she sells seashells" tongue twister wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
