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Blanche Yurka
Blanche Yurka (born Blanch Jurka, June 19, 1887 – June 6, 1974) was an American stage and film actress and director. She was an opera singer with minor roles at the Metropolitan Opera and later became a stage actress, making her Broadway debut in 1906 and established herself as a character actor of the classical stage, also appearing in several films of the 1930s and 1940s. In addition to her many stage roles, which included Queen Gertrude opposite John Barrymore's ''Hamlet'', she was an occasional director and playwright. She remained active in theater and film until the late 1960s. Her most famous film role was Madame Defarge in MGM's version of ''A Tale of Two Cities'' (1935), but she was also the compassionate aunt in '' The Song of Bernadette'' (1943). Another memorable role was as Zachary Scott's widowed mother in '' The Southerner'' (1945). Early life Born Blanch Jurka, apparently in St. Paul, Minnesota, she was the fourth of five children of Karolína and Antonín Ju ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the List of United States cities by population density, most densely populated major city in the United States, and is more than twice as populous as second-place Los Angeles. New York City lies at the southern tip of New York (state), New York State, and constitutes the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass. With over 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York is one of the world's most populous Megacity, megacities, and over 58 million people live within of the city. New York City is a global city, global Culture of New ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most opera composers, Wagner wrote both the libretto and the music for each of his stage works. Initially establishing his reputation as a composer of works in the romantic vein of Carl Maria von Weber and Giacomo Meyerbeer, Wagner revolutionised opera through his concept of the ''Gesamtkunstwerk'' ("total work of art"), by which he sought to synthesise the poetic, visual, musical and dramatic arts, with music subsidiary to drama. He described this vision in a series of essays published between 1849 and 1852. Wagner realised these ideas most fully in the first half of the four-opera cycle ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (''The Ring of the Nibelung''). His compositions, particularly those of his later period, are notable for their complex textures, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Hopkins
Arthur Hopkins (October 4, 1878 – March 22, 1950) was a well-known Broadway theater director and producer in the early twentieth century. Between 1912 and 1948, he produced and staged more than 80 plays – an average of more than two per year – occasionally writing and directing as well. His repertoire included plays by playwrights in American Expressionism (theatre), Expressionist theater, including Elmer Rice, Sophie Treadwell, and Eugene O'Neill. Biography Hopkins was born on October 4, 1878, in Cleveland. He was the youngest of ten children born to a Welsh couple, David and Mary Jane Hopkins. His autobiography is titled ''To a Lonely Boy''. After leaving high school, he began life as a reporter and then worked for a while as a theater press agent. This led to his writing a play, ''The Fatted Calf'' (1912) and to producing a show, ''Poor Little Rich Girl'', in 1913; it was a hit and launched his Broadway theatre, Broadway career. Arthur Hopkins married Australian actres ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Our American Cousin
''Our American Cousin'' is a three-act play by English playwright Tom Taylor. It is a farce featuring awkward, boorish American Asa Trenchard, who is introduced to his aristocratic English relatives when he goes to England to claim the family estate. The play premiered with great success at Laura Keene's Theatre in New York City in 1858, with Keene in the cast, the title character played by Joseph Jefferson, and Edward Askew Sothern playing Lord Dundreary. The play's long-running London production in 1861 was also successful. The play achieved great renown during its first few years and remained very popular throughout the second half of the 19th century. It is best known in modern times as the play that U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was attending in Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., when he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at the end of the American Civil War. Theatrical acclaim and "Lord Dundreary" Among ''Our American Cousins cast was British actor Edward Askew ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jane Cowl
Jane Cowl (December 14, 1883 – June 22, 1950) was an American film and stage actress and playwright "notorious for playing lachrymose parts". Actress Jane Russell was named in Cowl's honor. Biography Cowl was born Jane Bailey in Boston, Massachusetts, to Charles Bailey and Grace Avery. She attended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, New York City. And she also took some courses at Columbia University. She made her Broadway debut in New York City in '' Sweet Kitty Bellairs'' in 1903. Her first leading role was ''Fanny Perry'' in 1909 in Leo Ditrichstein's ''Is Matrimony a Failure?'', produced by David Belasco, and then she played stock. This was followed by ''The Gamblers'' (1910), her first great success, and by '' Within the Law'' (1912), '' Common Clay'' (1915), and other successes ( New International Encyclopedia). She was known for her interpretation of Shakespearean roles, playing Juliet, Cleopatra, and Viola on Broadway. She made Broadway history by playing ''Juli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Is Matrimony A Failure?
''Is Matrimony a Failure?'' is a 1922 American silent comedy film directed by James Cruze and written by Walter Woods based upon a play of the same name by Leo Ditrichstein, which itself was an adaptation of the German play ''Die Tür ins Freie'' by Oscar Blumenthal and Gustav Kadelburg.Progressive Silent Film List: ''Is Matrimony a Failure?'' at silentera.com The film stars T. Roy Barnes, , Lois Wilson, , |
Leo Ditrichstein
Leo Ditrichstein (January 6, 1865 – June 28, 1928) was an Austrian-American actor and playwright. Biography He was born on January 6, 1865, in Temesvár, Austria-Hungary. He was educated in Vienna and was naturalized as an American citizen in 1897. His grandfather was Hungarian novelist József Eötvös who is sometimes listed as Joseph von Etooes. He made his New York début in ''Die Ehre'' (1890). This was followed by '' Mr. Wilkinson's Widows'', ''Trilby'', ''Are You a Mason?'' and other plays. He was the author of numerous plays, among which are: ''Gossip'' (with Clyde Fitch, 1895); ''A Southern Romance'' (1897); ''The Last Appeal'' (1901); ''What's the Matter with Susan?'' (1904); ''The Ambitious Mrs. Susan'' (1907); ''The Million'' (from the French, 1911); '' The Concert'' (1910); ''Temperamental Journey'' (1912); ''The Great Lover'' (1915); ''The Judge of Zalmea ''(1917). Ditrichstein appeared in one motion picture, in a cameo as himself, in ''How Molly Mad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Warrens Of Virginia (play)
''The Warrens of Virginia'' is a dramatic play set during the American Civil War by playwright William C. de Mille. It was produced on Broadway by David Belasco in 1907 and was the basis for two films in 1915 (directed by the playwright's brother, Cecil B. DeMille) and in 1924. The play was also the basis for a novelization by author George Cary Eggleston in 1908. Broadway run ''The Warrens of Virginia'' premiered in New York at the Belasco Theater (formerly the Stuyvesant Theater) on December 3, 1907. The production ran for a total of 380 performances, finally closing in October, 1908. The producer was Broadway impresario David Belasco, and the show starred Charles Waldron as Lt. Ned Burton and Charlotte Walker as Agatha Warren. The production marked the Broadway debut of supporting player Mary Pickford as Betty Warren, her first major professional role after years of touring in small regional troupes under her given name, Gladys Smith. It was at Belasco's insistence that she ad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Belasco
David Belasco (July 25, 1853 – May 14, 1931) was an American theatrical producer, impresario, director, and playwright. He was the first writer to adapt the short story ''Madame Butterfly'' for the stage. He launched the theatrical career of many actors, including James O'Neill, Mary Pickford, Lenore Ulric, and Barbara Stanwyck. Belasco pioneered many innovative new forms of stage lighting and special effects in order to create realism and naturalism.Osnes, Beth, and Gill, Sam. ''Acting: An International Encyclopedia'', ABC-CLIO (2001) p. 34Marker, Lise-Lone, ''David Belasco: Naturalism in the American Theater'', Princeton Univ. Press (1975) Early years David Belasco was born in 1853 in San Francisco, California, the son of Abraham H. Belasco (1830–1911) and Reyna Belasco (née Nunes, 1830–1899), Sephardic Jews who had immigrated to the United States from London's Spanish and Portuguese Jewish community during the California Gold Rush. He began working as a youth in a San ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elite drama, music, and dance schools in the world. History Early years: 1905-1946 In 1905, the Institute of Musical Art, Juilliard's predecessor institution, was founded by Frank Damrosch, the godson of Franz Liszt and head of music education for New York City's public schools, on the premise that the United States did not have a premier music school and too many students were going to Europe to study music. In 1919, a wealthy textile merchant named Augustus Juilliard died and left the school in his will the largest single bequest for the advancement of music at that time. In 1968, the school's name was changed from the Juilliard School of Music to The Juilliard School to reflect its broadened mission to educate musicians, directors, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Il Trovatore
''Il trovatore'' ('The Troubadour') is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto largely written by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play ''El trovador'' (1836) by Antonio García Gutiérrez. It was García Gutiérrez's most successful play, one which Verdi scholar Julian Budden describes as "a high flown, sprawling melodrama flamboyantly defiant of the Aristotelian unities, packed with all manner of fantastic and bizarre incident." The premiere took place at the Teatro Apollo in Rome on 19 January 1853, where it "began a victorious march throughout the operatic world," a success due to Verdi's work over the previous three years. It began with his January 1850 approach to Cammarano with the idea of ''Il trovatore''. There followed, slowly and with interruptions, the preparation of the libretto, first by Cammarano until his death in mid-1852 and then with the young librettist Leone Emanuele Bardare, which gave the composer the opportunity to propose signifi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the help of a local patron. Verdi came to dominate the Italian opera scene after the era of Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, and Vincenzo Bellini, whose works significantly influenced him. In his early operas, Verdi demonstrated a sympathy with the Risorgimento movement which sought the unification of Italy. He also participated briefly as an elected politician. The chorus "Va, pensiero" from his early opera ''Nabucco'' (1842), and similar choruses in later operas, were much in the spirit of the unification movement, and the composer himself became esteemed as a representative of these ideals. An intensely private person, Verdi did not seek to ingratiate himself with popular movements. As he became professionally successful, he was able ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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