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The Jerk (film)
''The Jerk'' is a 1979 American comedy film directed by Carl Reiner and written by Steve Martin, Carl Gottlieb, and Michael Elias (from a story by Steve Martin and Carl Gottlieb). This was Martin's first starring role in a feature film. The film also features Bernadette Peters, M. Emmet Walsh, and Jackie Mason. Plot Navin R. Johnson is the white adopted son of black sharecroppers, who grows to adulthood naïvely unaware of his obvious adoption. He stands out in his family not just because of his skin color but because of his utter lack of rhythm when his adoptive family plays spirited blues music. One night, he hears a champagne-style rendition of "Crazy Rhythm" on the radio and spontaneously begins to dance; he excitedly sees this as a calling and decides to leave for St. Louis, from which the song was broadcast. On the way, he stops at a motel, where a dog wakes him up by barking at his door. Navin thinks the dog is trying to warn of a fire. He wakes up the other hotel guests ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carl Reiner
Carl Reiner (March 20, 1922 – June 29, 2020) was an American actor, stand-up comedian, director, screenwriter, and author whose career spanned seven decades. He was the recipient of many awards and honors, including 11 Primetime Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1999. During the early years of television comedy from 1950 to 1957, he acted on and contributed sketch material for ''Your Show of Shows'' and '' Caesar's Hour'', starring Sid Caesar, writing alongside Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, and Woody Allen. Reiner teamed up with Brooks and together they released several iconic comedy albums beginning with '' 2000 Years with Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks'' (1960). Reiner was best known as the creator and producer of, and a writer and actor on, ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' which ran from 1961 to 1966.Van Dyke, Dick (2012), ''My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business: A Memoir'', Three Rivers PressW ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sharecropping
Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range of different situations and types of agreements that have used a form of the system. Some are governed by tradition, and others by law. The Italian ''mezzadria'', the French ''métayage'', the Catalan '' masoveria'', the Castilian ''mediero'', the Slavic ''połowcy'' and ''izdolshchina'', and the Islamic system of ''muzara‘a'' (المزارعة), are examples of legal systems that have supported sharecropping. Overview Sharecropping has benefits and costs for both the owners and the tenant. Under a sharecropping system, the landowner provided a share of land to be worked by the sharecropper, and usually provided other necessities such as housing, tools, seed, or working animals. Local merchants usually provided food and other supplies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helena Carroll
Helena Winifred Carroll (13 November 1928 – 31 March 2013) was a veteran film, television and stage actress. Early life Born to clothing designer Helena Reilly and Abbey Theatre playwright Paul Vincent Carroll, she was the youngest of three sisters. Her elder sisters were Theresa Elizabeth Perez (1924–2001), a classically trained musician and the producer/founder of the ''People's Pops Concerts'' in Phoenix, Arizona, and journalist Kathleen Moira Carroll (1927–2007). Carroll attended Clerkhill Notre Dame High School, a Roman Catholic convent school in Dumbarton. Stage career Carroll received her acting training at the Central School which later became the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art London, appearing in three plays in London's West End and a film, ''Midnight Episode'', by age 20. She made her Broadway debut in ''Separate Tables'' by Terence Rattigan. She moved to the U.S. during the 1950s, touring and performing on Broadway and co-founded, with Dermot Mc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maurice Evans (actor)
Maurice Herbert Evans (3 June 1901 – 12 March 1989) was an English actor, noted for his interpretations of Shakespearean characters. His best-known screen roles are Dr. Zaius in the 1968 film ''Planet of the Apes'' and Samantha Stephens's father, Maurice, on ''Bewitched''. Early years Evans was born at 28 Icen Way in Dorchester, Dorset. He was the son of Laura (Turner) and Alfred Herbert Evans, a Welsh dispensing chemist and keen amateur actor who made adaptations of novels by Thomas Hardy for the local amateur company. Young Maurice made his first stage appearance as a small boy in '' Far from the Madding Crowd''. He first appeared on the stage in 1926 at the Cambridge Festival Theatre and joined the Old Vic Company in 1934, playing Hamlet, Richard II, and Iago. He was selected by Terence Gray to appear in the opening production in November 1926 at the Festival Theatre, taking the part of Orestes in two parts of the sensational production of the ''Oresteia'' of Aeschylus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dick O'Neill
Richard Francis O'Neill (August 29, 1928 – November 17, 1998) was an American stage, film and television character actor best known for playing Irish cops, fathers, judges and army generals. He began his acting career as an original company member of Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. Biography Early life and television roles O'Neill studied at Syracuse University. He served in the Navy then returned to the theater. In the late 1950s, he began appearing on television. His television credits include ''Car 54, Where Are You?'', ''The Honeymooners'', ''Barney Miller'', ''Sanford and Son'', ''Good Times'', '' Kaz'', ''M*A*S*H'', ''The Feather and Father Gang'', '' The Facts of Life'', ''Family Matters'', ''Mad About You'', ''Murder, She Wrote'', ''Father Dowling Mysteries'', ''Three's Company'', ''Wonder Woman'', '' One Day at a Time'', ''Magnum, P.I.'', ''A Man Called Intrepid'', ''Growing Pains'', ''Dark Justice'', ''Cheers'', ''Dharma & Greg'', ''Cybill'', ''The Fresh Prince of Be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Macy
Wolf Martin Garber (May 18, 1922 – October 17, 2019), known professionally as Bill Macy, was an American television, film and stage actor, best known for his role in the CBS television series '' Maude'' (1972–1978). Early life Bill Macy was born Wolf Martin Garber on May 18, 1922, in Revere, Massachusetts, the son of Mollie (née Friedopfer; 1889–1986) and Michael Garber (1884–1974), a manufacturer. He was raised Jewish in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York. After graduating from Samuel J. Tilden High School he served in the United States Army from 1942 to 1946 with the 594th Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment, stationed in the Philippines, Japan and New Guinea. He worked as a cab driver for a decade before being cast as Walter Matthau's understudy in ''Once More, with Feeling'' on Broadway in 1958. He portrayed a cab driver on the soap opera ''The Edge of Night'' in 1966. Macy was an original cast member of the 1969–1972 Off-Broadway sensation ''O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dick Anthony Williams
Richard Anthony Williams (August 9, 1934 – February 16, 2012) was an American actor. Williams is best known for his starring performances on Broadway in ''The Poison Tree'', ''What the Wine-Sellers Buy'' and ''Black Picture Show''. Williams also had notable roles in 1970s blaxploitation films such as ''The Mack'' and ''Slaughter's Big Rip-Off''. Early life Born in Chicago, Illinois, Williams was raised in the Bronzeville neighborhood. During his early childhood, Williams spent several years in a local hospital due to having polio. For high school, Williams attended Hyde Park Academy High School. Williams later attended Herzl Junior College (now known as City Colleges of Chicago). Career Williams began his career during his late teens as a member of Williams Brothers Quartet, singing group founded in Chicago. He later moved to Los Angeles and began his acting career. Some of Williams roles included Pretty Tony in ''The Mack'' (1973), the limo driver in ''Dog Day Afternoon'' (19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Ward (actor)
Richard Ward (March 15, 1915 – July 1, 1979) was a gravel-voiced African American actor on the stage, television, and in films, from 1949 until his death. Though best known through his TV appearances late in life, both in sitcoms and police procedurals, Ward also had an extensive film resume and a distinguished stage career, one of the highlights of the latter being his portrayal of Willy Loman in the 1972 production of ''Death of a Salesman'', staged in Baltimore's Center Stage (the first African American production of Arthur Miller's signature opus, produced with the playwright's blessing). Ward's own favorite among his theatrical vehicles was ''Ceremonies in Dark Old Men''. Life and career Ward was born in Glenside, Pennsylvania. He worked as a New York City police detective for ten years before beginning his acting career. An Actors Studio alumnus, Ward belatedly made his television debut in 1950 on the '' Perry Como Show'', later appearing on dramatic anthology series s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mabel King
Mabel Elizabeth King (née Washington; December 25, 1932 – November 9, 1999) was an American actress and singer. She is known for her role as Mabel "Mama" Thomas on the ABC sitcom ''What's Happening!!'' from its premiere in 1976 until the end of its second season in 1978. King is also known for portraying Evillene the Witch, a role she originated in the stage musical ''The Wiz'' and reprised in Sidney Lumet's 1978 film adaptation. She recorded on the Rama Records and Amy Records labels. Early life King was born Mabel Elizabeth Washington in Charleston, South Carolina, the daughter of Rosalie Washington and Joseph Washington on Christmas Day 1932. She was raised in Harlem, New York where she eventually became a gospel and nightclub singer. Career Stage work She did not start acting until her mid thirties, in 1966, when she played the role of Maria in the national touring play of ''Porgy and Bess''. The following year she played the role of Ernestina in the Broadway musical ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pick A Bale Of Cotton
"Pick a Bale of Cotton" is a traditional American folk song and work song first recorded by Texas inmates James "Iron Head" Baker (1933) and Mose "Clear Rock" Platt (1939) and later popularized by Lead Belly (Huddie William Ledbetter). Lyrics and criticism The song, particularly its original lyrics, has been criticized as racist and reminiscent and glorifying of the slavery period in American history. The original lyrics contained the racial slur ''nigger'' multiple times. One of the verses, according to John Lomax's ''American Ballads and Folk Songs'', includes: Dat nigger from Shiloh Kin pick a bale o' cotton Dat nigger from Shiloh Kin pick a bale a day Amended better-known lyrics are: Gonna jump down, turn around Pick a bale of cotton Gonna jump down, turn around Pick a bale a day Oh lordy, pick a bale of cotton Oh lordy, pick a bale a day The song is sung with increasing speed as it progresses, with ensuing verses having references to "me and my wife" replaced with the likes of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cornet
The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a soprano cornet in E and cornets in A and C. All are unrelated to the Renaissance and early Baroque cornett. History The cornet was derived from the posthorn by applying rotary valves to it in the 1820s, in France. However, by the 1830s, Parisian makers were using piston valves. Cornets first appeared as separate instrumental parts in 19th-century French compositions.''Encyclopædia Britannica'', Micropedia, Volume III, William Benton, Chicago Illinois, 1974, p. 156 The instrument could not have been developed without the improvement of piston valves by Silesian horn players Friedrich Blühmel (or Blümel) and Heinrich Stölzel, in the early 19th century. These two instrument makers almost simultaneously invented valves, though it is likely th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ukulele
The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and construction. Ukuleles commonly come in four sizes: soprano, concert, tenor, and baritone. History Developed in the 1880s, the ukulele is based on several small, guitar-like instruments of Portuguese origin, the ''machete'', '' cavaquinho'', ''timple'', and ''rajão'', introduced to the Hawaiian Islands by Portuguese immigrants from Madeira, the Azores and Cape Verde. Three immigrants in particular, Madeiran cabinet makers Manuel Nunes, José do Espírito Santo, and Augusto Dias, are generally credited as the first ukulele makers. Two weeks after they disembarked from the SS ''Ravenscrag'' in late August 1879, the ''Hawaiian Gazette'' reported that "Madeira Islanders recently arrived here, have been delighting the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
