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Howard Athenaeum
The Howard Athenæum (1845–1953), also known as Old Howard Theatre, in Boston, Massachusetts, was one of the most famous theaters in Boston history. Founded in 1845, it remained an institution of culture and learning for most of its years, finally closing in 1953. It was demolished in 1962 after a fire in June 1961. History Of all the theaters founded in Boston, the Howard Athenæum was one of the most famous as well as the most lamented. Popular throughout New England, the theater was affectionately called "The Old Howard." Built in 1843 as a church by the Millerite sect, the flimsy tent-like structure housed a small but loyal congregation who eventually abandoned the site following disappointment with the minister's promise that the world would end in 1844. After Armageddon failed to materialize, the founder of the sect, William Miller, an ex-Deputy Sheriff from Poultney, Vermont, was discredited and the Millerites moved on. The temple was then rebuilt as a playhouse in 18 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bel Canto
Bel canto (Italian for "beautiful singing" or "beautiful song", )—with several similar constructions (''bellezze del canto'', ''bell'arte del canto'')—is a term with several meanings that relate to Italian singing. The phrase was not associated with a "school" of singing until the middle of the 19th century, when writers in the early 1860s used it nostalgically to describe a manner of singing that had begun to wane around 1830. Nonetheless, "neither musical nor general dictionaries saw fit to attempt definition f bel cantountil after 1900". The term remains vague and ambiguous in the 21st century and is often used to evoke a lost singing tradition. History of the term and its various definitions As generally understood today, the term ''bel canto'' refers to the Italian-originated vocal style that prevailed throughout most of Europe during the 18th and early 19th centuries. Late 19th- and 20th-century sources "would lead us to believe that ''bel canto'' was restricted to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gypsy Rose Lee
Gypsy Rose Lee (born Rose Louise Hovick, January 8, 1911 – April 26, 1970) was an American burlesque entertainer, stripper and vedette famous for her striptease act. Also an actress, author, and playwright, her 1957 memoir was adapted into the 1959 stage musical ''Gypsy''. Early life Rose Louise Hovick was born in Seattle, Washington, on January 8, 1911;Karen Abbott (2010) ''American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare, The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee'', New York: Random House; ; however, she always gave January 9 as her date of birth. She was known as Louise to her family. Her sister, actress June Havoc, was born in 1912. Their mother, Rose Thompson Hovick, forged various birth certificates for each of her daughters—older when needed to evade varying state child labor laws, and younger for reduced or free train fares. The girls were unsure until later in life what their years of birth were. Their mother had married Norwegian-American John Olaf Hovick, a newspaper-advertising ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sally Rand
Sally Rand (born Helen Gould Beck; April 3, 1904 – August 31, 1979) was an American burlesque dancer, vedette, and actress, famous for her ostrich feather fan dance and balloon bubble dance. She also performed under the name Billie Beck. Early life Rand was born in the village of Elkton, Hickory County, Missouri. Her father, William Beck, was a West Point graduate and retired U.S. Army colonel, while her mother, Nettie (Grove) Beck, was a school teacher and part-time newspaper correspondent.''Dictionary of Missouri Biography'', Lawrence O. Christensen, University of Missouri Press, 1999. The family moved to Jackson County, Missouri while she was still in grade school. Helen got her start on the stage quite early, working as a chorus girl at Kansas City's Empress Theater when she was only 13. An early supporter of her talent was Goodman Ace, drama critic for the ''Kansas City Journal'' who saw her performing in a Kansas City nightclub and wrote glowing reviews. After st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ann Corio
Ann Corio (born Ann Coiro; November 29, 1909 – March 1, 1999) was a prominent American burlesque stripper and actress. Her original surname was Coiro, changing it to Corio for stage purposes and because some family members did not approve of her profession. Biography Born in Hartford, Connecticut, she was one of twelve children of Italian immigrant parents. While still in her teens, Corio's good looks and shapely physique landed her showgirl roles that led to her becoming a hugely popular striptease artist. Her rise to stardom as a featured performer began on the Mutual burlesque circuit in 1925. She later worked at Minsky's Burlesque in New York City and Boston's Old Howard Theatre. Career After Mayor Fiorello La Guardia closed down New York City's burlesque houses in 1939, Corio made her way to Los Angeles. Between 1941 and 1944 she appeared in several Hollywood "B" motion pictures which featured her in scanty costumes (beginning with 1941 ''Swamp Woman''), the bes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burlesque
A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects."Burlesque" ''Oxford English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, accessed 16 February 2011 The word derives from the Italian ', which, in turn, is derived from the Italian ' – a joke, ridicule or mockery. Burlesque overlaps in meaning with caricature, parody and travesty, and, in its theatrical sense, with extravaganza, as presented during the Victorian burlesque, Victorian era. "Burlesque" has been used in English in this literary and theatrical sense since the late 17th century. It has been applied retrospectively to works of Geoffrey Chaucer, Chaucer and William Shakespeare, Shakespeare and to the Graeco-Roman classics.Baldick, Chris [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boston Theatre
:''See Federal Street Theatre for an earlier theatre known also as the Boston Theatre'' The Boston Theatre was a theatre in Boston, Massachusetts. It was first built in 1854 and operated as a theatre until 1925. Productions included performances by Thurlow Bergen, Charles A. Bigelow, Edwin Booth, Anna Held Helene Anna Held (19 March 1872 – 12 August 1918) was a Polish-French stage performer on Broadway. While appearing in London, she was spotted by impresario Florenz Ziegfeld, who brought her to America as his common-law wife. From 1896 through ..., James O'Neill Jennie Kimball, and others. Images Image:1854 BostonTheatre Bostonian1894 v1 no1.png, Boston Theatre street view, ca.1854 Image:BostonTheatre3 Midgley SightsInBoston.png, Interior, ca.1850s Image:BostonTheatre BalPict.JPG, '' Macbeth'' at the Boston Theatre, 1850s Image:1869 WestSt Nanitz map Boston detail BPL10490.png, Detail of 1869 map of Boston, showing Boston Theatre on Washington Street Image:1899 BostonTh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gaetano Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian composer, best known for his almost 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the '' bel canto'' opera style during the first half of the nineteenth century and a probable influence on other composers such as Giuseppe Verdi. Donizetti was born in Bergamo in Lombardy. At an early age he was taken up by Simon Mayr who enrolled him with a full scholarship in a school which he had set up. There he received detailed musical training. Mayr was instrumental in obtaining a place for Donizetti at the Bologna Academy, where, at the age of 19, he wrote his first one-act opera, the comedy ''Il Pigmalione'', which may never have been performed during his lifetime. An offer in 1822 from Domenico Barbaja, the impresario of the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, which followed the composer's ninth opera, led to his move to Naples and his residency there until productio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarah Parker Remond
Sarah Parker Remond (June 6, 1826 – December 13, 1894) was an American lecturer, activist and abolitionist campaigner. Born a free woman in the state of Massachusetts, she became an international activist for human rights and women's suffrage. Remond made her first public speech against the institution of slavery when she was 16 years old, and delivered abolitionist speeches throughout the northeastern United States. One of her brothers, Charles Lenox Remond, became known as an orator and they occasionally toured together for their abolitionist lectures. Eventually becoming an agent of the American Anti-Slavery Society, in 1858 Remond chose to travel to Britain to gather support for the growing abolitionist cause in the United States. While in London, Remond also studied at Bedford College, lecturing during term breaks. During the American Civil War, she appealed for support among the British public for the Union and their blockade of the Confederacy. After the conclu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Warren (actor)
William Warren (1812–1888) was an American actor. For decades he performed with the theatre at the old Boston Museum. Biography Warren was born in Philadelphia on November 17, 1812, the son of actor William Warren and his third wife, Esther Fortune. He was educated at the Franklin Institute, then a boys' school, in that city. After his father's death in 1832, he made his début a week later at the Arch Street Theatre in Philadelphia in the part of '' Young Norval''. His father had been an actor, first in Britain, and began his career on stage with that character. The young Warren first performed in New York City in 1841, in London in 1845, and in Boston in 1846. He played a wide variety of characters, from broad and eccentric comedy to juvenile tragedy, with general acceptance. During the last few years of this period he performed in a company headed by his brother-in-law, John Blake Rice. In 1847 Warren became a member of the Boston Museum theatre. For decades he performed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Rivals
''The Rivals'' is a comedy of manners by Richard Brinsley Sheridan in five acts which was first performed at Covent Garden Theatre on 17 January 1775. The story has been updated frequently, including a 1935 musical and a 1958 List of Maverick episodes, episode of the TV series ''Maverick (TV series), Maverick'' (see below) starring James Garner and Roger Moore, with attribution. History Production ''The Rivals'' was Sheridan's first play. At the time, he was a young newlywed living in Bath, Somerset, Bath. At Sheridan's insistence, upon marriage his wife Eliza (born Elizabeth Ann Linley, Elizabeth Linley) had given up her career as a singer. This was proper for a gentleman's wife, but it was difficult because Eliza would have earned a substantial income as a performer. Instead, the Sheridans lived beyond their means as they entertained the gentry and nobility with Eliza's singing (in private parties) and Richard's wit. Finally, in need of funds, Richard turned to the only ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The School For Scandal
''The School for Scandal'' is a comedy of manners written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. It was first performed in London at Drury Lane Theatre on 8 May 1777. Plot Act I Scene I: Lady Sneerwell, a wealthy young widow, and her hireling Snake discuss her various scandal-spreading plots. Snake asks why she is so involved in the affairs of Sir Peter Teazle, his ward Maria, and Charles and Joseph Surface, two young men under Sir Peter's informal guardianship, and why she has not yielded to the attentions of Joseph, who is highly respectable. Lady Sneerwell confides that Joseph wants Maria, who is an heiress, and that Maria wants Charles. Thus she and Joseph are plotting to alienate Maria from Charles by putting out rumours of an affair between Charles and Sir Peter's new young wife, Lady Teazle. Joseph arrives to confer with Lady Sneerwell. Maria herself then enters, fleeing the attentions of Sir Benjamin Backbite and his uncle, Crabtree. Mrs. Candour enters and ironically talks ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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