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Claudia McNeil
Claudia McNeil (August 13, 1917 – November 25, 1993) was an American actress known for premiering the role of matriarch Lena Younger in both the stage and screen productions of ''A Raisin in the Sun''. She later appeared in a 1981 production of the musical version of the play, ''Raisin'' presented by Equity Library Theater. She was twice nominated for a Tony Award, first for her onstage performance in ''A Raisin in the Sun'' (1959), and again for the play ''Tiger Tiger Burning Bright'' in 1962. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA Award for the screen version of ''A Raisin in the Sun'' in 1961. Life and career McNeil was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Marvin Spencer McNeil, who was black, and Annie Mae (Anderson) McNeil, an Apache woman. The family moved to New York City soon after her birth. She was raised by her mother after her father left the family. At the age of 12, McNeil began working for The Heckscher Foundation for Children. There she met a ...
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Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was designated an independent city by the Constitution of Maryland in 1851, and today is the most populous independent city in the United States. As of 2021, the population of the Baltimore metropolitan area was estimated to be 2,838,327, making it the 20th largest metropolitan area in the country. Baltimore is located about north northeast of Washington, D.C., making it a principal city in the Washington–Baltimore combined statistical area (CSA), the third-largest CSA in the nation, with a 2021 estimated population of 9,946,526. Prior to European colonization, the Baltimore region was used as hunting grounds by the Susquehannock Native Americans, who were primarily settled further northwest than where the city was later built. Colonis ...
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52nd Street
52nd Street is a -long one-way street traveling west to east across Midtown Manhattan, New York City. A short section of it was known as the city's center of jazz performance from the 1930s to the 1950s. Jazz center Following the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, 52nd Street replaced 133rd Street as "Swing Street" of the city. The blocks of 52nd Street between Fifth Avenue and Seventh Avenue became renowned for the abundance of jazz clubs and lively street life. The street was convenient to musicians playing on Broadway and the 'legitimate' nightclubs and was also the site of a CBS studio. Musicians who played for others in the early evening played for themselves on 52nd Street. In the period from 1930 through the early 1950s, 52nd Street clubs hosted such jazz musicians as Louis Prima, Art Tatum, Fats Waller, Billie Holiday, Trummy Young, Harry Gibson, Nat Jaffe, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Marian McPartland, and many more. Although musici ...
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Black Girl (1972 Film)
''Black Girl'' is an American family drama film with a screenplay by J.E. Franklin, based on her 1969 play, and directed by Ossie Davis. The film explores issues and experiences of black womanhood in the 1970s, including how black women were depicted and common stereotypes of the period. According to Melvin Donalson in ''Black Directors in Hollywood'', "''Black Girl'' is a film that explores the intricate and sometimes painful connections between mothers and daughters." Plot Billie Jean, the youngest of three half-sisters, lives with her mother Mama Rosie and grandmother M'Dear. She desperately wishes to avoid the fate of her two sisters Norma Faye and Ruth Ann, neither of whom finished high school and are now trapped in dull marriages. Billie Jean dreams of becoming a successful dancer, but her mother and sisters belittle her attempts to improve herself. Mama Rosie compares her daughters unfavorably with the more ambitious Netta, a young lady from the neighborhood. When Netta c ...
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There Was A Crooked Man
"There Was a Crooked Man" is an English nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 1826. Origin The rhyme was first recorded in print by James Orchard Halliwell in 1842: :There was a crooked man and he went a crooked mile, :He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile; :He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse, :And they all liv'd together in a little crooked house. It gained popularity in the early twentieth century. I. Opie and P. Opie, ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), p. 340. One legend suggests that this nursery rhyme originated in the once prosperous wool merchant’s village of Lavenham, about 70 miles northeast of London, having been inspired by its multicolored half-timbered houses leaning at irregular angles as if they are supporting each other. Other sources state that the poem originates from British history, specifically the period of the Scottish Stuart King Charles I of ...
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The Last Angry Man
''The Last Angry Man'' is a 1959 drama film that tells the story of a television producer who profiles the life of a physician. It stars Paul Muni (in his last film appearance), David Wayne, Betsy Palmer, Billy Dee Williams (in his film debut), and Godfrey Cambridge. The movie was scripted by Richard Murphy from the novel by Gerald Green (who also adapted it), and was directed by Daniel Mann. The movie was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor (Paul Muni) and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White ( Carl Anderson, William Kiernan). The film was remade in 1974 as an ''ABC Movie of the Week'' with Pat Hingle in the lead role. Plot As the fiercely dedicated general practitioner who tries to help the sick, the poor, and the unfortunate in his decrepit neighborhood, Dr. Sam Abelman is a testy old man who faces life without compromise and Woodrow Thrasher is a troubled television executive fighting to preserve his career. Cast * Paul Muni as Dr. Samuel "Sam" ...
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Sidney Poitier
Sidney Poitier ( ; February 20, 1927 – January 6, 2022) was an American actor, film director, and diplomat. In 1964, he was the first black actor and first Bahamian to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. He received two competitive Golden Globe Awards, a competitive British Academy of Film and Television Arts award (BAFTA), and a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album. Poitier was one of the last major stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema. Poitier's family lived in the Bahamas, then still a Crown colony, but he was born unexpectedly in Miami, Florida, while they were visiting, which automatically granted him U.S. citizenship. He grew up in the Bahamas, but moved to Miami at age 15, and to New York City when he was 16. He joined the American Negro Theatre, landing his breakthrough film role as a high school student in the film ''Blackboard Jungle'' (1955). In 1958, Poitier starred with Tony Curtis as chained-together escaped convicts in ''The Defiant Ones ...
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The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid digital subscribers. It also is a producer of popular podcasts such as '' The Daily''. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones, it was initially published by Raymond, Jones & Company. The ''Times'' has won 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, and has long been regarded as a national " newspaper of record". For print it is ranked 18th in the world by circulation and 3rd in the U.S. The paper is owned by the New York Times Company, which is publicly traded. It has been governed by the Sulzberger family since 1896, through a dual-class share structure after its shares became publicly traded. A. G. Sulzberger, the paper's publisher and the company's chairman, is the fifth generation of the family to head the pa ...
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A Raisin In The Sun (1961 Film)
''A Raisin in the Sun'' is a 1961 American drama film directed by Daniel Petrie and starring Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Claudia McNeil, Diana Sands, Roy Glenn, and Louis Gossett Jr. (in his film debut), and adapted from the 1959 play of the same name by Lorraine Hansberry. It follows a black family that wants a better life away from the city. ''A Raisin in the Sun'' was released by Columbia Pictures on May 29, 1961. In 2005, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Plot Members of the Younger family are anticipating a life insurance check in the amount of $10,000 and each of them has an idea as to what he or she would like to do with the money. Matriarch Lena Younger wants to buy a house to fulfill the dream she shared with her deceased husband. Walter Lee, her son, would rather use the money to invest in a liquor store, believing the income ...
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Claudia McNeil A Raisin In The Sun 1959
Claudia may refer to: People Ancient Romans *Any woman from the Roman Claudia gens *Claudia (vestal), a Vestal Virgin who protected her father Appius Claudius Pulcher in 143 BC *Claudia Augusta (63–63 AD), infant daughter of Nero by his second wife *Claudia Capitolina, princess of Commagene originally from Roman Egypt * Claudia Marcella, women of the Claudii Marcelli *Claudia Octavia (died 62 AD), first wife of Nero *Claudia Procula, a name traditionally attributed to Pontius Pilate's wife *Claudia Pulchra, a relative of the imperial family, accused of immorality and treason * Claudia Rufina, a woman of British descent who lived in Rome c. 90 AD and was known to the poet Martial *Claudia Quinta, who helped bring the statue of Cybele from Pessinus to Rome *Claudia Tisamenis, sister of Herodes Atticus * Saint Claudia, mentioned in 2 Timothy Modern people *Claudia (given name) Media Television * ''Claudia'' (American TV series) * ''Claudia'' (telenovela), Mexican TV se ...
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Simply Heavenly
''Simply Heavenly'' is a musical comedy with book and lyrics by Langston Hughes and music by David Martin, based on Hughes' novel ''Simple Takes A Wife'' and other ''Simple'' stories. The story is concerned with Jess Simple, an honest, easy-going man trying to raise enough money to divorce a wife he does not love in order to marry his new love while attempting unsuccessfully to escape a “hussy” called Zarita, who is bent on leading him astray. In the background are the many aspects of Harlem at the time—its jazz, its humor, and the universal problems of paying the rent and buying a shot of gin. It was first produced Off-Broadway at the 85th Street Playhouse for 44 performances from May 21, 1957, before transferring to the Playhouse Theatre on Broadway for 62 performances from August 20, 1957. A London West End production played at the Adelphi Theatre, running for 16 performances from 20 May 1958. The musical was revived by the Young Vic in London in March to April 2003. ...
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Langston Hughes
James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance. He famously wrote about the period that "the Negro was in vogue", which was later paraphrased as "when Harlem was in vogue." Growing up in a series of Midwestern towns, Hughes became a prolific writer at an early age. He moved to New York City as a young man, where he made his career. He graduated from high school in Cleveland, Ohio, and soon began studies at Columbia University in New York City. Although he dropped out, he gained notice from New York publishers, first in ''The Crisis'' magazine and then from book publishers, and became known in the creative community in Harlem. He eventually graduated from Lincoln University. In addition to poetry, Hughes wrote plays and short sto ...
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Martin Beck Theater
The Al Hirschfeld Theatre, originally the Martin Beck Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 302 West 45th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1924, it was designed by G. Albert Lansburgh in a Moorish and Byzantine style and was constructed for vaudevillian Martin Beck. It has 1,404 seats across two levels and is operated by Jujamcyn Theaters. Both the facade and the interior are New York City landmarks. The Al Hirschfeld's auditorium and stage house share a design for their facade. There is a double-height arcade with cast-stone columns at the base of the theater. The eastern section of the arcade contains the auditorium entrance, the center section includes a staircase with emergency exits, and the western section leads to the stage house. Red brick is used for the upper stories of the facade. Albert Herter, a muralist who frequently collaborated with Lansburgh, oversaw much of the interior design. A square ticket lobby is directly insid ...
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