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Gongman
The Gongman (also known as the "man-with-the-gong") is a company trademark for the J. Arthur Rank Organisation. It was used as the introduction to all Rank films, many of which were shot at their Pinewood Studios, and included those Rank distributed. The Gongman logo first appeared on films distributed by General Film Distributors, which was established in 1935 by the British producer C. M. Woolf and J. Arthur Rank; it was C.M. Woolf's secretary who thought of the man-with-a-gong trademark.The Independent 1 July 1999: Obituary: Sir John Woolf Retrieved 2011-09-02 When the Rank Organisation was established in 1937, with General Film Distributors as one of its cornerstones, the logo was adopted for the whole organisation. The Gongman film logo sequence ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bombardier Billy Wells
William Thomas Wells, better known as Bombardier Billy Wells (31 August 1889 – 12 June 1967), was an English heavyweight boxer. Fighting under the name "Bombardier Billy Wells", he was British and British Empire Champion from 1911 until 1919, defending his title fourteen times. In 1911 he became the first Heavyweight to win the Lonsdale Belt, which had been introduced for British champions at all weights in 1909. Phil Grant held his Lonsdale belt when he was in the TA. Wells, who was and was between , fought with an orthodox style. Early life Wells was born at 250 Cable Street, Stepney, in the East End of London. He was the eldest of five brothers and was one of nine children. His parents were William Thomas Wells, a musician, and Emily Rhoda Farrier, a laundress. He attended Broad Street elementary school, Queensbury until about the age of twelve, then becoming a messenger boy. He began to box as an amateur during this period. In 1906, Wells joined the Royal Ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenneth Richmond
Kenneth Alan "Ken" Richmond (10 July 1926 – 3 August 2006) was an English heavyweight wrestler. Richmond was born in London. His father abandoned the family when Richmond was 3. Before he got into freestyle wrestling, he was a whale ship crewman. At 6'5" and 265 lbs, he won a bronze medal at the 1952 Olympics, as well as a bronze medal at the 1950 British Empire Games, and a gold medal at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. He stayed fit enough into his later years to win medals for rollerblading and windsurfing in his 60s. Though he appeared as the wrestler Nikolas in Jules Dassin's film noir, ''Night and the City'' (1950), ''Slant Magazine,'' DVD review of ''Night and the City,'' 16 February 2005. Last accessed: 3 December 2009. Richmond was perhaps most recognisable as the shirtless |
The Rank Organisation
The Rank Organisation was a British entertainment conglomerate founded by industrialist J. Arthur Rank in April 1937. It quickly became the largest and most vertically integrated film company in the United Kingdom, owning production, distribution and exhibition facilities. It also diversified into the manufacture of radios, TVs and photocopiers (as one of the owners of Rank Xerox). The company name lasted until February 1996, when the name and some of the remaining assets were absorbed into the newly structured Rank Group plc. The company itself became a wholly owned subsidiary of Xerox and was renamed XRO Limited in 1997. The company logo, the Gongman, first used in 1935 by the group's distribution company General Film DistributorsThe Independent July 16, 199 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (also known as The Bonzo Dog Band or The Bonzos) was created by a group of British art-school students in the 1960s. Combining elements of music hall, trad jazz and psychedelia with surreal humour and avant-garde art, the Bonzos came to public attention through a 1968 ITV comedy show, ''Do Not Adjust Your Set.'' History Formation and early years (1962–1966) The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band was officially formed on 25 September 1962, at 164c Rosendale Road, West Dulwich, when Vivian Stanshall (lead vocals, tuba and other wind instruments) and fellow art student Rodney Slater (saxophone/clarinet) bonded over the late-night transatlantic broadcast of a boxing match between Floyd Patterson and Sonny Liston, after being introduced by Slater's flatmate Tom Parkinson. At the time, Slater was already playing in a traditional jazz band at college with Parkinson on sousaphone, and Chris Jennings on trombone. Trumpeter Roger ('Happy' Wally) Wilkes and banjo-player ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Mickey Mouse Club
''The Mickey Mouse Club'' is an American variety television show that aired intermittently from 1955 to 1996 and returned to social media in 2017. Created by Walt Disney and produced by Walt Disney Productions, the program was first televised for four seasons, from 1955 to 1959, by ABC. This original run featured a regular, but ever-changing cast of mostly teen performers. ABC broadcast reruns weekday afternoons during the 1958–1959 season, airing right after '' American Bandstand''. The show was revived three times after its initial 1955–1959 run on ABC, first from 1977 to 1979 for first-run syndication as ''The New Mickey Mouse Club'', then from 1989 to 1996 as ''The All-New Mickey Mouse Club'' (also known to fans as ''MMC'' from 1993 to 1996) airing exclusively on cable television's The Disney Channel, and again in 2017 with the moniker ''Club Mickey Mouse'' airing exclusively on internet social media. It ended in 2018. The character of Mickey Mouse appeared in every sho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Macskafogó
''Cat City'' ( hu, Macskafogó (Cat Catcher)) is a 1986 Hungarian animated comic science fiction film, directed by Béla Ternovszky and written by József Nepp. The title ''Cat City'' was used in the United States distribution. The film was selected as the Hungarian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 59th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated. Plot The film opens with a Star Wars opening crawl, which explains the film's premise: ''In year 80 AM (Anno Mickey Mouse), the mice of Planet X are threatened by humiliation and total apocalypse. The well-organized, fully equipped gangs of evil cats are aiming for the total obliteration of mice, not caring for the old conventions between mice and cats. But in the last moment, when the mouse leaders are beginning to consider leaving the planet, a new hope rises...'' The film is a parody of several famous feature films, mainly the James Bond series. It tells the story of a special agent who is sent to the city of "Pokyo" t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gilligan's Island
''Gilligan's Island'' is an American sitcom created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz. The show's ensemble cast features Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr., Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer, Tina Louise, Russell Johnson and Dawn Wells. It aired for three seasons on the CBS network from September 26, 1964, to April 17, 1967. The series follows the comic adventures of seven castaways as they try to survive on an island where they are shipwrecked. Most episodes revolve around the dissimilar castaways' conflicts and their unsuccessful attempts to escape their plight, with Gilligan usually being responsible for the failures. ''Gilligan's Island'' ran for 98 episodes. All 36 episodes of the first season were filmed in black and white and were later colorized for syndication. The show's second and third seasons (62 episodes) and the three television film sequels (aired between 1978 and 1982) were filmed in color. The show received solid ratings during its original run, then grew in popularit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Troll
A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human beings. In later Scandinavian folklore, trolls became beings in their own right, where they live far from human habitation, are not Christianized, and are considered dangerous to human beings. Depending on the source, their appearance varies greatly; trolls may be ugly and slow-witted, or look and behave exactly like human beings, with no particularly grotesque characteristic about them. Trolls are sometimes associated with particular landmarks in Scandinavian folklore, which at times may be explained as formed from a troll exposed to sunlight. Trolls are depicted in a variety of media in modern popular culture. Etymology The Old Norse nouns ''troll'' and ''trǫll'' (variously meaning "fiend, demon, werewolf, jötunn") and Middle High Germa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moving Pictures (novel)
''Moving Pictures'' is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett, published in 1990, the tenth book in his ''Discworld'' series.Fantastic FictioMoving Pictures (Discworld, book 10) Terry PratchettRetrieved 2009-05-9 The book takes place in Discworld's most famous city, Ankh-Morpork and a hill called "Holy Wood". It is the first ''Discworld'' novel to feature Mustrum Ridcully, Archchancellor of Unseen University, as a character. Plot The alchemists of the Discworld have invented moving pictures. Many hopefuls are drawn by the siren call of Holy Wood, home of the fledgling " clicks" industry – among them Victor Tugelbend, a dropout from Ankh-Morpork's Unseen University and Theda "Ginger" Withel, a girl "from a little town you never ever heard of", and the Discworld's most infamous salesman, Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler, who introduces commerce to the equation and becomes a successful producer. The business of making movies grows rapidly, and eventually Victor and Ginger beco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terry Pratchett
Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English humourist, satirist, and author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his ''Discworld'' series of 41 novels. Pratchett's first novel, ''The Carpet People'', was published in 1971. The first ''Discworld'' novel, ''The Colour of Magic'', was published in 1983, after which Pratchett wrote an average of two books a year. The final ''Discworld'' novel, ''The Shepherd's Crown'', was published in August 2015, five months after his death. With more than 85 million books sold worldwide in 37 languages, Pratchett was the UK's best-selling author of the 1990s. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1998 and was knighted for services to literature in the 2009 New Year Honours. In 2001 he won the annual Carnegie Medal for ''The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents'', the first ''Discworld'' book marketed for children. He received the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Great Gonzo
Gonzo, also known as The Great Gonzo or Gonzo the Great, is a Muppet. Aside from his trademark enthusiasm for performance art, another defining trait of Gonzo is the ambiguity of his species, which has become a running gag in the franchise. He has been considered to be of various origins, including a Frackle, in his debut appearance in ''The Great Santa Claus Switch''; extraterrestrial in ''Muppets from Space''; or avian creature. Developed and performed by Dave Goelz, Gonzo made his first appearance in the 1970 special ''The Great Santa Claus Switch'', as the "Cigar Box Frackle". Originally a minor figure in ''The Muppet Show'', he soon evolved into one of the franchise's primary characters. Gonzo has appeared in every Muppet film, including ''The Muppet Christmas Carol'', where he portrayed author Charles Dickens and developed a double act with Rizzo the Rat. History The prototype of Gonzo appeared in ''The Great Santa Claus Switch'', "as a generic gruff baddie". Jim Henson s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Muppet Show
''The Muppet Show'' is a sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and featuring the Muppets. The series originated as two pilot episodes produced by Henson for ABC in 1974 and 1975. While neither episode was moved forward as a series and other networks in the United States rejected Henson's proposals, British producer Lew Grade expressed enthusiasm for the project and agreed to co-produce ''The Muppet Show'' for the British channel ATV. Five seasons, totalling 120 episodes, were broadcast on ATV and other ITV franchises in the United Kingdom and in later first-run syndication in the US from 1976 to 1981. The programme was produced and recorded at ATV Elstree Studios, England. ''The Muppet Show'' is presented as a variety show, featuring recurring sketches and musical numbers interspersed with plotlines taking place backstage and in other areas of the venue. Within its context, Kermit the Frog (performed by Henson) acts as showrunner and host, who tries to mainta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
