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Bette Middler
Bette Midler (;'' Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received numerous accolades, including four Golden Globe Awards, three Grammy Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards and a Kennedy Center Honor, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards and a British Academy Film Award. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Midler began her professional career in several off-off-Broadway plays, prior to her engagements in ''Fiddler on the Roof'' and ''Salvation'' on Broadway in the late 1960s. She came to prominence in 1970 when she began singing in the Continental Baths, a local gay bathhouse where she managed to build up a core following. Since 1970, Midler has released 14 studio albums as a solo artist, selling over 30 million records worldwide, and has received four Gold, three Platinum, and three Multiplatinum albums by RIAA. Many of her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kennedy Center Honors
The Kennedy Center Honors are annual honors given to those in the performing arts for their lifetime of contributions to American culture. They have been presented annually since 1978, culminating each December in a gala celebrating five honorees in the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, D.C. While the awards are primarily given to individuals, they have occasionally been given to couples or musical groups, as well as to one Broadway musical and one television show. History George Stevens Jr. created the Kennedy Center Honors with Nick Vanoff and produced the first gala in 1978. He was the producer and co-writer through the 2014 awards, after which he sold the production rights to the Kennedy Center. The Kennedy Center Honors started in 1977, after that year's 10th-anniversary White House reception and Kennedy Center program for the American Film Institute (AFI). Roger L. Stevens, the founding chairman of the Kennedy Center, asked George Stevens Jr. (no relation), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grammy Awards
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the music industry worldwide. It was originally called the Gramophone Awards, as the trophy depicts a gilded gramophone. The Grammys are the first of the Big Three networks' major music awards held annually, and is considered one of the four major annual American entertainment awards, alongside the Academy Awards (for films), the Emmy Awards (for television), and the Tony Awards (for theater). The first Grammy Awards ceremony was held on May 4, 1959, to honor the musical accomplishments of performers for the year 1958. After the 2011 ceremony, the Recording Academy overhauled many Grammy Award categories for 2012. History The Grammys had their origin in the Hollywood Walk of Fame project in the 1950s. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Do You Want To Dance
"Do You Want to Dance" is a song written by American singer Bobby Freeman and recorded by him in 1958. It reached number No. 5 on the United States Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Top 100 Sides Pop music, pop chart and No. 2 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, ''Billboard'' R&B chart. Cliff Richard and the Shadows' version of the song reached No. 2 in the United Kingdom in 1962, despite being a B-side. The Beach Boys' version reached No. 12 as "Do You Wanna Dance?" in the United States in 1965, and a 1972 cover by Bette Midler ("Do You Want to Dance?") reached No. 17. A different song called "Do You Wanna Dance?" was a UK hit for Barry Blue in 1973. Bobby Freeman version San Francisco-born teenager Bobby Freeman had been a member of doo-wop groups the Romancers and the Vocaleers. When asked by a local DJ if he had written any songs, he wrote several and recorded them as solo demo (music), demos. These included "Do You Want to Dance", which was heard by a visiting record label execu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wind Beneath My Wings
"Wind Beneath My Wings" (sometimes titled "The Wind Beneath My Wings" and "Hero") is a song written in 1982 by Jeff Silbar and Larry Henley. The song was first recorded by Kamahl in 1982 for a country and western album he was recording. Kamahl talked about being the first to record the song in an appearance on Australian TV show '' Spicks and Specks'', but stated it was not commercially released because it was felt he did not suit the country and western style. Instead, Roger Whittaker recorded the song, as well as Sheena Easton and Lee Greenwood. The song appeared shortly thereafter in charted versions by Colleen Hewett (1982), Lou Rawls (1983), Gladys Knight & the Pips (1983), and Gary Morris (1983). The highest-charting version of the song to date was recorded in 1988 by singer and actress Bette Midler for the soundtrack to the film ''Beaches''. This version was released as a single in early 1989, spent one week at No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart in June 1989, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Rose (song)
"The Rose" is a pop song written by Amanda McBroom. Bette Midler made the song famous when she recorded it for her 1979 film '' The Rose'', in which it plays during the closing credits. It has been recorded multiple times, including by Conway Twitty and Westlife who had US Country & Western and UK number one hits with the song, respectively. Background and Bette Midler version "The Rose" was first recorded by Bette Midler for the soundtrack of the 1979 film '' The Rose'', in which it plays under the closing credits. However, the song was not written for the movie: Amanda McBroom recalls, "I wrote it in 1977 r1978, and I sang it occasionally in clubs. ... Jim Nabors had a local talk show, and I sang The Rose"on his show once." According to McBroom, she wrote "The Rose" in response to her manager's suggestion that she write "some Bob Seger-type tunes" to expedite a record deal: McBroom obliged by writing "The Rose" in 45 minutes. Said McBroom: "'The Rose' is ... just ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gay Bathhouse
A gay bathhouse, also known as a gay sauna or a gay steambath (uncommonly known as a gay spa), is a commercial space for gay, bisexual, and other men to have sex with men. In gay slang, a bathhouse may be called just "the baths", "the sauna", or "the tubs". In general, a gay bath is used for having sexual activity rather than only bathing. Bathhouses offering similar services for women are rare, but some men's bathhouses occasionally have a " lesbian" or "women only" night. Some, such as Hawks PDX, offer so-called "bisexual" nights, where anyone is welcome regardless of gender. Bathhouses vary considerably in size and amenities – from small establishments with 10 or 20 rooms and a handful of lockers to multi-story saunas with a variety of room styles or sizes and several steam baths, hot tubs, and sometimes swimming pools. Most have a steam room (or wet sauna), dry sauna, showers, lockers, and small private rooms. In some countries, bathhouses are "membership only" (fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Continental Baths
The Continental Baths was a gay bathhouse in the basement of The Ansonia Hotel in New York City, which was operated from 1968-1976 by Steve Ostrow. It was advertised as reminiscent of "the glory of ancient Rome". It opened after Ostorow observed the crowds at Everard Baths and he wanted to improve on the Everard atmosphere of being "sleazy, secretive, unkempt, not to mention unfriendly." Ostorow said “from the first night, there were lines around the corner” Some patrons said they would have 150 sexual encounters in a single visit. Opened a year before the Stonewall riots the bath was raided by the police about 200 times, Ostorow said. While the baths utilized the Ansonia's lavish Gilded Age décor for a Roman style bath, it is probably best remembered as being an influential offbeat music venue. Ostrow (born September 16, 1932) was a singer for the New York City Opera. He installed a stage designed specifically for a DJ -- claimed to the first of its type in the w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Broadway Theatre
Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Theatre'' as the proper noun in their names (12 others used neither), with many performers and trade groups for live dramatic presentations also using the spelling ''theatre''. or Broadway, are the theatrical performances presented in the 41 professional theatres, each with 500 or more seats, located in the Theater District and the Lincoln Center along Broadway, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Broadway and London's West End together represent the highest commercial level of live theater in the English-speaking world. While the thoroughfare is eponymous with the district and its collection of 41 theaters, and it is also closely identified with Times Square, only three of the theaters are located on Broadway itself (namely the Broadwa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salvation (musical)
''Salvation'' is a 1969 Off-Broadway rock musical with music, lyrics, and book by Peter Link & C.C. Courtney. The production opened on September 24, 1969, at the Jan Hus Playhouse and ended on April 19, 1970, after 239 performances. Production The idea came from Courtney and his frustration with organized religion. Both Link and he wrote the show, and appeared in it as well. Courtney said of the show, "I was walking through Central Park, and the whole show just sort of came to me on that 20-minute walk. I usually did the concept and the book and the lyrics, and Peter did the music. So I hit him with the idea and he was hot to do that. In fact, he probably was more anxious to do it than I was...He's very productive. So I said let's do it, and I started working on the lyrics and giving them to him as fast as I could. So it became, in effect, well, the plot is pretty much my life story." Both were actors looking for the next thing. Courtney was appearing on the NBC daytime drama '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiddler On The Roof
''Fiddler on the Roof'' is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in or around 1905. It is based on ''Tevye and his Daughters'' (or ''Tevye the Dairyman'') and other tales by Sholem Aleichem. The story centers on Tevye, a milkman in the village of Anatevka, who attempts to maintain his Jewish religious and cultural traditions as outside influences encroach upon his family's lives. He must cope with the strong-willed actions of his three older daughters who wish to marry for love; their choices of husbands are successively less palatable for Tevye. An edict of the tsar eventually evicts the Jews from their village. The original Broadway production of the show, which opened in 1964, had the first musical theatre run in history to surpass 3,000 performances. ''Fiddler'' held the record for the longest-running Broadway musical for almost 10 years until '' Grease'' surpassed its run. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Off-off-Broadway
Off-off-Broadway theaters are smaller New York City theaters than Broadway and off-Broadway theaters, and usually have fewer than 100 seats. The off-off-Broadway movement began in 1958 as part of a response to perceived commercialism of the professional theatre scene and as an experimental or avant-garde movement of drama and theatre. Over time, some off-off-Broadway productions have moved away from the movement's early experimental spirit. History The off-off-Broadway movement began in 1958 as a "complete rejection of commercial theatre". Michael Smith gives credit for the term's coinage to Jerry Tallmer in 1960. Among the first venues for what would soon be called "off-off-Broadway" theatre were coffeehouses in Greenwich Village, particularly the Caffe Cino at 31 Cornelia Street, operated by the eccentric Joe Cino, who early on took a liking to actors and playwrights and agreed to let them stage plays there without bothering to read the plays first, or to even find out much ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Academy Film Award
The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The ceremonies were initially held at the flagship Odeon cinema in Leicester Square in London, before being held at the Royal Opera House from 2007 to 2016. Since 2017, the ceremony has been held at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The statue awarded to recipients depicts a theatrical mask. The first BAFTA Awards ceremony was held in 1949, and the ceremony was first broadcast on the BBC in 1956 with Vivien Leigh as the host. The ceremony was initially held in April or May; since 2001, it typically takes place in February. History The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) was founded in 1947 as The British Film Academy, by David Lean, Alexander Korda, Carol Reed, Charles Laughton, Roger Manvell, Laurence Olivier, Emeric Pressburge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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