The Racket (1928 Film)
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The Racket (1928 Film)
''The Racket'' is a 1928 American silent crime drama film directed by Lewis Milestone and starring Thomas Meighan, Marie Prevost, Louis Wolheim, and George E. Stone. The film was produced by Howard Hughes, written by Bartlett Cormack and Tom Miranda, and was distributed by Paramount Pictures. It was adapted from Cormack's 1927 Broadway play '' The Racket. Background Due to the controversial portrayal of a corrupt police force and city government, both the film and the play were banned at the time in Chicago. The main antagonist Nick Scarsi was modeled after Al Capone while "The Old Man" was modeled after Chicago Mayor William Hale "Big Bill" Thompson. Plot Chicago Police Department officer James "Mac" McQuigg tries to keep the peace in Chicago during the Prohibition gang wars but is hampered by massive corruption. After a shootout McQuigg manages to arrest mob boss Nick Scarsi's henchman Spike Corcoran, the political boss "The Old Man" arranges to have all charges dropped. Af ...
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Lewis Milestone
Lewis Milestone (born Leib Milstein (Russian: Лейб Мильштейн); September 30, 1895 – September 25, 1980) was a Moldovan-American film director. He is known for directing ''Two Arabian Knights'' (1927) and '' All Quiet on the Western Front'' (1930), both of which received Academy Awards for Best Director. He also directed ''The Front Page'' (1931 – nomination), ''The General Died at Dawn'' (1936), ''Of Mice and Men'' (1939), ''Ocean's 11'' (1960), and received the directing credit for ''Mutiny on the Bounty'' (1962), though Marlon Brando largely appropriated his responsibilities during its production. Early life Milestone was born Lev (or Leib) Milstein near the Russian Empire's Black Sea port of Odessa, Ukraine, into a wealthy and distinguished family of Jewish heritage. In 1900, when Milestone was five, his father moved his household to the provincial town of Kishinev, capital of Bessarabia of the Russian Empire (now Chișinău, Moldova). Milestone's primar ...
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Government Of Chicago
The government of the City of Chicago, Illinois, United States is divided into executive and legislative branches. The Mayor of Chicago is the chief executive, elected by general election for a term of four years, with no term limits. The mayor appoints commissioners and other officials who oversee the various departments. In addition to the mayor, Chicago's two other citywide elected officials are the City Clerk and the treasurer. The City Council is the legislative branch and is made up of 50 aldermen, one elected from each ward in the city. The council takes official action through the passage of ordinances and resolutions and approves the city budget. Government priorities and activities are established in a budget ordinance usually adopted each November. Organization Generally speaking, the mayor and city departments comprise the executive branch of the city government, and the city council comprises the legislative branch. However, the mayor does have some formal legis ...
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Academy Award For Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted in 1929. This award goes to the producers of the film and is the only category in which every member of the Oscars is eligible to submit a nomination and vote on the final ballot. The Best Picture category is often the final award of the night and is widely considered as the most prestigious honor of the ceremony. The Grand Staircase columns at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, where the Academy Awards ceremonies have been held since 2002, showcase every film that has won the Best Picture title since the award's inception. There have been 581 films nominated for Best Picture and 94 winners. History Category name changes At the 1st Academy Awards ceremony (for 1927 and 1928), there were two categories of awards that were each considered the top award of the night: ''Outstanding Picture'' and '' Unique and Artistic P ...
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The Racket (1928) Film Poster
The Racket may refer to: Film, television and theatre * ''The Racket'' (play), a 1927 Broadway crime play by Bartlett Cormack * ''The Racket'' (1928 film), an American adaptation of the play, directed by Lewis Milestone * ''The Racket'' (1951 film), an American remake of the 1928 film, starring Robert Mitchum * "The Racket" (''Vinyl''), a 2016 TV episode Other uses * ''The Racket'' (book), a 2015 book by Matthew Kennard * ''The Racket'' (radio program), an Australian heavy metal program See also * Racket (other) {{DEFAULTSORT:Racket, The ...
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Lee Moran
Lee Moran (June 23, 1888 – April 24, 1961) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. Moran was active in vaudeville before he began performing in films at Nestor Studios in 1909. He transcended the silent film era of motion pictures to the talkies. Moran appeared in more than 460 films, directed 109 and wrote for 92 between 1912 and 1935. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, and was often paired with actor Eddie Lyons. The two made one- and two-reel comedic films together for 10 years. Moran retired from films in 1936. Moran's wife, Esther, sued him for divorce, but her attorneys asked that the suit be dismissed in September 1922. The couple agreed to an out-of-court settlement. He died from a heart ailment on April 24, 1961, in Woodland Hills, California. He is buried in San Fernando Mission Cemetery. Selected filmography *'' When the Heart Calls'' (1912) *''Almost a Rescue'' (1913) *'' An Elephant on His Hands'' (1913) *'' When Lizzie Got Her Polish'' ...
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Sam De Grasse
Samuel Alfred De Grasse (June 12, 1875 – November 29, 1953) was a Canadian actor. He was the uncle of cinematographer Robert De Grasse. Biography Samuel Alfred De Grasse was born in Bathurst, New Brunswick to Lange De Grasse (1828–1891) and Helene ( Comeau; 1836-?), both of French-Canadian descent. He trained to be a dentist, and married Annie McDonnell in 1904. Their daughter, Clementine Bell, was born in 1906. Annie died in 1909 while giving birth to another daughter, Olive, who also died. In 1910, Samuel was practicing dentistry and he and his daughter Clementine were living in Providence, Rhode Island along with his older sister, Mrs. Clementine Fauchy, and her 14-year-old son, Jerome Fauchy. He married British actress Ada Fuller Golden and became a step-father to her three children. His own elder brother, Joe, went into the fledgling movie business and Sam decided to also give it a try. He traveled to New York City and, in 1912, he appeared in his first motion pictu ...
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Henry Sedley (actor)
Henry McDonald Sedley (1881–1962) was an American actor. He caused the death of a fellow student while a freshman at Yale University in 1901, which may have been the reason for a young woman being banned by her grandmother from marrying him. Prior to achieving fame in silent film, he owned several racehorses and was a champion jockey. Born in New York in 1881, he attended St. Paul's school, Andover, and the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale University, though he did not complete a degree at Yale. He bought a 70 foot racing yacht from Alfred G. Vanderbilt, and was described as a bon vivant. When a freshman at Yale in 1901, he caused the death of a classmate, Edward F. Corrigan. He was expelled from Yale in the aftermath. In 1907 he reached a settlement for $300. About the same time, Oliver Barnes, a wealthy friend from Reno, Nevada, took Sedley under his wing and assisted his transition into the film industry. In 1912, he was in the news when a young woman's grandmother forba ...
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Political Machine
In the politics of Representative democracy, representative democracies, a political machine is a party organization that recruits its members by the use of tangible incentives (such as money or political jobs) and that is characterized by a high degree of leadership control over member activity. The machine's power is based on the ability of the boss or group to get out the vote for their candidates on election day. While these elements are common to most Political party, political parties and organizations, they are essential to political machines, which rely on hierarchy and rewards for political power, often enforced by a strong Whip (politics), party whip structure. Machines sometimes have a political boss, typically rely on patronage, the spoils system, "behind-the-scenes" control, and longstanding political ties within the structure of a representative democracy. Machines typically are organized on a permanent basis instead of a single election or event. The term "machine ...
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Writ Of Habeas Corpus
''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, to bring the prisoner to court, to determine whether the detention is lawful. The writ of ''habeas corpus'' was described in the eighteenth century by William Blackstone as a "great and efficacious writ in all manner of illegal confinement". It is a summons with the force of a court order; it is addressed to the custodian (a prison official, for example) and demands that a prisoner be brought before the court, and that the custodian present proof of authority, allowing the court to determine whether the custodian has lawful authority to detain the prisoner. If the custodian is acting beyond their authority, then the prisoner must be released. Any prisoner, or another person acting on their behalf, may petition the court, or a judge, for a w ...
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Corruption In The United States
Corruption in the United States is the act of government officials Political corruption, abusing their political powers for private gain, typically through bribery or other methods, in the United States government. Corruption in the United States has been a perennial political issue, peaking in the Jacksonian era and the Gilded Age before declining with the reforms of the Progressive Era. As of 2022 the United States is the 27th least corrupt country according to the Corruption Perceptions Index. History 18th century Corruption in the United States dates back to the founding of the country. The American Revolution was, in part, a response to the perceived corruption of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British monarchy. Separation of powers was developed to enable accountability. Freedom of association also served this end, allowing citizens to organize independently of the government. This was in contrast to some European powers at the time where all associations and econo ...
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Prohibition In The United States
In the United States from 1920 to 1933, a Constitution of the United States, nationwide constitutional law prohibition, prohibited the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages. The alcohol industry was curtailed by a succession of state legislatures, and finally ended nationwide under the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified on January 16, 1919. Prohibition ended with the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution, Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment on December 5, 1933. Led by Pietism, pietistic Protestantism in the United States, Protestants, prohibitionists first attempted to end the trade in alcoholic drinks during the 19th century. They aimed to heal what they saw as an ill society beset by alcohol-related problems such as alcoholism, Domestic violence, family violence, and Saloon bar, saloon-based political corruption. Many communities introduced al ...
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Chicago Police Department
The Chicago Police Department (CPD) is the municipal law enforcement agency of the U.S. city of Chicago, Illinois, under the jurisdiction of the City Council. It is the second-largest municipal police department in the United States, behind the New York City Police Department. CPD currently has 11,710 sworn officers on duty, and over 1,925 other employees. Tracing its roots back to the year of 1835, the Chicago Police Department is one of the oldest modern police departments in the world. The Chicago Police Department has a history of police brutality, particularly targeting the African-American community in Chicago. In 2017, the United States Department of Justice strongly criticized the department for poor training, lack of oversight and routine use of excessive force. Department structure Office of the Superintendent The Superintendent of Police leads the Chicago Police Department. David O. Brown, former Chief of the Dallas Police Department, is the current Superin ...
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