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Jiří Voskovec
Jiří Voskovec (), born Jiří Wachsmann and known in the United States as George Voskovec (June 19, 1905 – July 1, 1981) was a Czech actor, writer, dramatist, and director who became an American citizen in 1955. Throughout much of his career he was associated with actor and playwright Jan Werich. In the U.S., he is best known for his role as the polite Juror #11 in the 1957 film ''12 Angry Men''. Life and career Voskovec was born as Jiří Wachsmann in Sázava in Bohemia to Jiřina Valentina Marie ( Pinkasová; 1867-1939) and Václav Vilém Eduard ( Voskovec; later Wachsmann; 1864-1945). He had two siblings, Mrs. Olga Adriena Kluckaufová and Dr. Prokop Voskovec. His granduncle was Bedřich Wachsmann and his cousin was Alois Wachsman, both painters and architects. Another uncle was Austrian painter Julius Wachsmann (1866–1936). He immigrated to the US in 1939 and again in 1948 with the onset of the National Socialist and Stalinist regimes, respectively, in Czechoslovak ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kingdom Of Bohemia
The Kingdom of Bohemia ( cs, České království),; la, link=no, Regnum Bohemiae sometimes in English literature referred to as the Czech Kingdom, was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Central Europe, the predecessor of the modern Czech Republic. It was an Imperial State in the Holy Roman Empire, and the Bohemian king was a prince-elector of the empire. The kings of Bohemia, besides the region of Bohemia proper itself, also ruled other lands belonging to the Bohemian Crown, which at various times included Moravia, Silesia, Lusatia, and parts of Saxony, Brandenburg, and Bavaria. The kingdom was established by the Přemyslid dynasty in the 12th century from the Duchy of Bohemia, later ruled by the House of Luxembourg, the Jagiellonian dynasty, and from 1526 the House of Habsburg and its successor, the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. Numerous kings of Bohemia were also elected Holy Roman Emperors, and the capital, Prague, was the imperial seat in the late 14th century, and a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Osvobozené Divadlo
Osvobozené divadlo (1926–1938) (''Liberated Theatre'' or ''Prague Free Theatre'') was a Prague avant-garde theatre scene founded as the theatre section of an association of Czech avant-garde artists Devětsil (''Butterbur'') in 1926. The theatre's beginnings were strongly influenced by Dadaism and Futurism, later by Poetism (a specific Czech art movement). The theatre was very leftist oriented, but it could also be critical of the Communists. One of the founders, Jiří Frejka, came up with the name in 1926. In the theatre both authorial plays and works by well-established modern authors; such as G. Apollinaire, A. Jarry, J. Cocteau, A. Breton, F. T. Marinetti, and V. Nezval were performed. The modern conception of the scene also laid more emphasis on lighting and the theatrical conception adjured more cooperation and contacts between actors and audience. History Beginnings The first performance took place on 8 February 1926 with the play Georges Dandin by Molièr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Josef Škvorecký
Josef Škvorecký (; September 27, 1924 – January 3, 2012) was a Czech-Canadian writer and publisher. He spent half of his life in Canada, publishing and supporting banned Czech literature during the communist era. Škvorecký was awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 1980. He and his wife were long-time supporters of Czech dissident writers before the fall of communism in that country. Škvorecký's fiction deals with several themes: the horrors of totalitarianism and repression, the expatriate experience, and the miracle of jazz. Life Born the son of a bank clerk in Náchod, Czechoslovakia, Škvorecký graduated in 1943 from the Reálné '' gymnasium'' in his native Náchod. He had a youthful love-affair with jazz and was an amateur tenor saxophone player in the period just prior to the Second World War, an experience he drew upon for his novella ''The Bass Saxophone'' (1967). For two years during the War he was a slave labourer in a Messerschmitt aircr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gramophone Record
A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near the periphery and ends near the center of the disc. At first, the discs were commonly made from shellac, with earlier records having a fine abrasive filler mixed in. Starting in the 1940s polyvinyl chloride became common, hence the name vinyl. The phonograph record was the primary medium used for music reproduction throughout the 20th century. It had co-existed with the phonograph cylinder from the late 1880s and had effectively superseded it by around 1912. Records retained the largest market share even when new formats such as the compact cassette were mass-marketed. By the 1980s, digital media, in the form of the compact disc, had gained a larger market share, and the record left the mainstream in 1991. Since the 1990s, records con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gary Busey
Gary Busey (; born 1944) is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Buddy Holly in ''The Buddy Holly Story'' (1978), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and won the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor. His other starring roles include '' A Star is Born'' (1976), ''D.C. Cab'' (1983), ''Silver Bullet'' (1985), ''Lethal Weapon'' (1987), ''Predator 2'' (1990), ''Point Break'' (1991), ''Under Siege'' (1992), '' Rookie of the Year'' (1993), '' The Firm'' (1993), '' Black Sheep'' (1996) and '' Lost Highway'' (1997). Early life Busey was born in Goose Creek, Texas. While he was in fourth grade, Busey moved from Goose Creek to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he later attended Bell Junior High School, then attended and graduated from Nathan Hale High School. Busey attended Coffeyville Community College before attending Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas, on a football scholarship, where he became interested in acting. A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of ''Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (1978), made Nelson one of the most recognized artists in country music. He was one of the main figures of outlaw country, a subgenre of country music that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restrictions of the Nashville sound. Nelson has acted in over 30 films, co-authored several books, and has been involved in activism for the use of biofuels and the legalization of marijuana. Born during the Great Depression and raised by his grandparents, Nelson wrote his first song at age seven and joined his first band at ten. During high school, he toured locally with the Bohemian Polka as their lead singer and guitar player. After graduating from high school in 1950, he joined the U.S. Air Force but was later discharged d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barbarosa
''Barbarosa'' is a 1982 American Western film starring Willie Nelson and Gary Busey about a young cowboy on the run from the law who partners with a famous ''bandito'' and learns about life from him. "One of the best overlooked westerns of the last 20 years" according to reviewer LG Writer, and featured on an episode of the television show ''Siskel & Ebert'' dedicated to uncovering worthy sleepers, it is "a tale of betrayal, vendetta, honor, and dignity". ''Barbarosa'' was the first American-made film by noted Australian director Fred Schepisi. Plot Young Karl Westover, a post-Civil War Texas farm boy, accidentally kills his brother-in-law and must flee to Mexico. Early into his flight he is met by the outlaw Barbarosa, who, seconds later, kills a man who was following him, whom he seems to know. Barbarosa takes pity on Karl and shows him how to find water, make a fire, and catch an armadillo for his supper. He leaves and tells Karl to go home to Texas. Karl makes his way to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Hurkos
Pieter van der Hurk (21 May 1911 – 1 June 1988) known as Peter Hurkos, was a Dutchman who allegedly manifested extrasensory perception (ESP) after recovering from a head injury and coma caused by a fall from a ladder when aged 30. He came to the United States in 1956 for psychic experiments, later becoming a professional psychic who sought clues in the Manson Family murders and the Boston Strangler case. With the help of businessman Henry Belk and parapsychologist Andrija Puharich, Hurkos became a popular entertainer known for performing psychic feats before live and television audiences. Testing and analysis Hurkos stated in a 1960 episode of the television series ''One Step Beyond'', after giving a lecture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology to a scientific panel, that he would participate in any scientific experiment under any circumstances. However, author and stage magician James Randi contended that Hurkos refused to allow his skill to be tested by scientists e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Boston Strangler (film)
''The Boston Strangler'' is a 1968 American biographical crime film loosely based on the true story of the Boston Strangler and the 1966 book by Gerold Frank. It was directed by Richard Fleischer and stars Tony Curtis as Albert DeSalvo, the strangler, and Henry Fonda as John S. Bottomly, the chief detective who came to fame for obtaining DeSalvo's confession. Curtis was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his performance. The cast also featured George Kennedy, Murray Hamilton and Sally Kellerman. Plot After three murders of elderly women, the victims being strangled and penetrated with foreign objects, the Boston police conclude that they have a serial killer to catch. As the murders stretch over several police jurisdictions, Massachusetts Attorney General Edward W. Brooke appoints John S. Bottomly as head of a "Strangler Bureau" to coordinate the investigation. Several suspects are interrogated and released. As the body count grows, Bottomly, in desperation, calls in a psy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French People
The French people (french: Français) are an ethnic group and nation primarily located in Western Europe that share a common French culture, history, and language, identified with the country of France. The French people, especially the native speakers of langues d'oïl from northern and central France, are primarily the descendants of Gauls (including the Belgae) and Romans (or Gallo-Romans, western European Celtic and Italic peoples), as well as Germanic peoples such as the Franks, the Visigoths, the Suebi and the Burgundians who settled in Gaul from east of the Rhine after the fall of the Roman Empire, as well as various later waves of lower-level irregular migration that have continued to the present day. The Norse also settled in Normandy in the 10th century and contributed significantly to the ancestry of the Normans. Furthermore, regional ethnic minorities also exist within France that have distinct lineages, languages and cultures such as Bretons in Brittany, Occi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ellis Island
Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, that was the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 million immigrants arriving at the Port of New York and New Jersey were processed there under federal law. Today, it is part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument and is accessible to the public only by ferry. The north side of the island is the site of the main building, now a national museum of immigration. The south side of the island, including the Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital, is open to the public only through guided tours. In the 19th century, Ellis Island was the site of Fort Gibson and later became a naval magazine. The first inspection station opened in 1892 and was destroyed by fire in 1897. The second station opened in 1900 and housed facilities for medical quarantines and processing immigrants. After 1924, Ellis Island ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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