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Warner Theatre (Washington, D.C.)
Warner Theatre is a theatre located at 513 13th Street, N.W. in downtown Washington, D.C. The theatre is part of an office building called the Warner Building located on 1299 Pennsylvania Avenue. History The Warner Theatre was originally developed by Aaron and Julian Brylawski in 1922. Originally named the Earle Theatre, it was built in 1924 as a movie palace presenting live vaudeville and first run silent movies. It was designed by theatre architect C. Howard Crane of Detroit and Kenneth Franzheim. The Earle Theatre opened December 27, 1924. It had a rooftop garden, basement ballroom, and restaurant. It was said to be "just about the last word in theatre construction, a thing of beauty, a valuable addition to the architectural wealth of the nation's capital." In the 1930s, the basement of the theatre had a restaurant called the Neptune Room. On August 12, 1943, the movie ''This Is the Army'' premiered there. In 1945, the theatre began showing movies exclusively. The Earle feat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenneth Franzheim II
Kenneth Franzheim II (September 12, 1925 – October 29, 2007) was a Houston oilman, philanthropist, and envoy. He served under U.S. President Richard Nixon as the United States Ambassador to New Zealand, Western Samoa, Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ... and Fiji from 1969 to 1972. References External links Selections from the Franzheim Rare Books RoomKenneth Franzheim II Rare Books Room, William R. Jenkins Architecture and Art Library, University of Houston Digital Library. 1925 births 2007 deaths Ambassadors of the United States to New Zealand Ambassadors of the United States to Samoa Ambassadors of the United States to Tonga Ambassadors of the United States to Fiji Businesspeople from Houston 20th-century American businesspeople 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian. As his contributions to comedy and charity made him a global figure in pop culture, Lewis was nicknamed "The King of Comedy". Starting in 1946, he teamed with singer Dean Martin to form the famous Martin and Lewis, then in 1956, went on as a solo act on stage, top-grossing movie star, a staple on television and filmmaker. He starred in 60 films, directed 13 movies and was an early and prominent user of video assist, which allows real-time review of how a scene looks on camera. During his years as national chairman of the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA), Lewis supported fundraising for muscular dystrophy research and hosted '' The Jerry Lewis Telethon'', which raised $2.6 billion. Early life Lewis was born Joseph Levitch on March 16, 1926, in Newark, New Jersey, to a Jewish family. His parents were Daniel "Danny" Levitch (190 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its coverage of rock music and political reporting by Hunter S. Thompson. In the 1990s, the magazine broadened and shifted its focus to a younger readership interested in youth-oriented television shows, film actors, and popular music. It has since returned to its traditional mix of content, including music, entertainment, and politics. The first magazine was released in 1967 and featured John Lennon on the cover and was published every two weeks. It is known for provocative photography and its cover photos, featuring musicians, politicians, athletes, and actors. In addition to its print version in the United States, it publishes content through Rollingstone.com and numerous international editions. Penske Media Corporation is the current own ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically driven sound that came to define hard rock. Their first stable line-up consisted of vocalist Mick Jagger, multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones, guitarist Keith Richards, bassist Bill Wyman, and drummer Charlie Watts. During their formative years, Jones was the primary leader: he assembled the band, named it, and drove their sound and image. After Andrew Loog Oldham became the group's manager in 1963, he encouraged them to write their own songs. Jagger and Richards became the primary creative force behind the band, alienating Jones, who had developed a drug addiction that interfered with his ability to contribute meaningfully. Rooted in blues and early rock and roll, the Rolling Stones started out playing covers and were at the forefron ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pornographic Film
Pornographic films (pornos), erotic films, sex films, and 18+ films are films that present sexually explicit subject matter in order to arouse and satisfy the viewer. Pornographic films present sexual fantasies and usually include erotically stimulating material such as nudity ( softcore) and sexual intercourse ( hardcore). A distinction is sometimes made between "erotic" and "pornographic" films on the basis that the latter category contains more explicit sexuality, and focuses more on arousal than storytelling; the distinction is highly subjective. Pornographic films are produced and distributed on a variety of media, depending on the demand and technology available, including traditional film stock in various formats, home video, DVDs, Internet download, cable TV, in addition to other media. Today, pornographic films are sold or rented on DVD; shown through Internet streaming, special channels and pay-per-view on cable and satellite; and viewed in rapidly disappea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hello, Dolly! (film)
''Hello, Dolly!'' is a 1969 American musical romantic comedy film based on the 1964 Broadway production of the same name, which was based on Thornton Wilder's play '' The Matchmaker''. Directed by Gene Kelly and written and produced by Ernest Lehman, the film stars Barbra Streisand, Walter Matthau, Michael Crawford, Danny Lockin, Tommy Tune, Fritz Feld, Marianne McAndrew, E. J. Peaker and Louis Armstrong (whose recording of the title tune had become a number-one single in May 1964). The film follows the story of Dolly Levi, a strong-willed matchmaker who travels to Yonkers, New York in order to find a match for the miserly "well-known unmarried half-a-millionaire" Horace Vandergelder. In doing so, she convinces his niece, his niece's intended and Horace's two clerks to travel to New York. Released on December 16, 1969, by 20th Century Fox, the film won three Academy Awards for Best Art Direction, Best Score of a Musical Picture and Best Sound and was nominated for a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doctor Zhivago (film)
''Doctor Zhivago'' () is a 1965 epic historical romance film directed by David Lean with a screenplay by Robert Bolt, based on the 1957 novel by Boris Pasternak. The story is set in Russia during World War I and the Russian Civil War. The film stars Omar Sharif in the title role as Yuri Zhivago, a married physician and poet whose life is altered by the Russian Revolution and subsequent civil war, and Julie Christie as his love interest Lara Antipova. Geraldine Chaplin, Tom Courtenay, Rod Steiger, Alec Guinness, Ralph Richardson, Siobhán McKenna, and Rita Tushingham play supporting roles. While immensely popular in the West, Pasternak's book was banned in the Soviet Union for decades. For this reason, the film could not be made in the Soviet Union and was instead filmed mostly in Spain. It was an international co-production between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Italian producer Carlo Ponti. Contemporary critics were critical of its length at over three hours and claimed t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ben-Hur (1959 Film)
''Ben-Hur'' is a 1959 American religious epic film directed by William Wyler, produced by Sam Zimbalist, and starring Charlton Heston as the title character. A remake of the 1925 silent film with a similar title, it was adapted from Lew Wallace's 1880 novel '' Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ''. The screenplay is credited to Karl Tunberg, but includes contributions from Maxwell Anderson, S. N. Behrman, Gore Vidal, and Christopher Fry. ''Ben-Hur'' had the largest budget ($15.175 million), as well as the largest sets built, of any film produced at the time. Costume designer Elizabeth Haffenden oversaw a staff of 100 wardrobe fabricators to make the costumes, and a workshop employing 200 artists and workmen provided the hundreds of friezes and statues needed in the film. Filming commenced on May 18, 1958, and wrapped on January 7, 1959, with shooting lasting for 12 to 14 hours a day and six days a week. Pre-production began in Italy at Cinecittà around October 1957, and post-product ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cinerama
Cinerama is a widescreen process that originally projected images simultaneously from three synchronized 35mm projectors onto a huge, deeply curved screen, subtending 146° of arc. The trademarked process was marketed by the Cinerama corporation. It was the first of a number of novel processes introduced during the 1950s, when the movie industry was reacting to competition from television. Cinerama was presented to the public as a theatrical event, with reserved seating and printed programs, and audience members often dressed in their best attire for the evening. The Cinerama projection screen, rather than being a continuous surface like most screens, is made of hundreds of individual vertical strips of standard perforated screen material, each about inch (~22 mm) wide, with each strip angled to face the audience, so as to prevent light scattered from one end of the deeply curved screen from reflecting across the screen and washing out the image on the opposite end ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based in New York City from the mid-1920s and gained a national profile through his orchestra's appearances at the Cotton Club in Harlem. A master at writing miniatures for the three-minute 78 rpm recording format, Ellington wrote or collaborated on more than one thousand compositions; his extensive body of work is the largest recorded personal jazz legacy, and many of his pieces have become standards. He also recorded songs written by his bandsmen, such as Juan Tizol's " Caravan", which brought a Spanish tinge to big band jazz. At the end of the 1930s, Ellington began a nearly thirty-year collaboration with composer-arranger-pianist Billy Strayhorn, whom he called his writing and arranging companion. With Strayhorn, he composed mu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sophie Tucker
Sophie Tucker (born Sofia Kalish; January 13, 1886 – February 9, 1966) was an American singer, comedian, actress, and radio personality. Known for her powerful delivery of comical and risqué songs, she was one of the most popular entertainers in the U.S. during the first half of the 20th century. She was known by the nickname "The Last of the Red-Hot Mamas". Early life Tucker was born Sofiya "Sonya" Kalish (in Russian, Софья «Соня» Калиш; ) in 1886 to a Jewish family in Tulchyn, Russian Empire, now Vinnytsia Oblast, Ukraine. (Sonya is a pet name for Sofiya in both Russian and Ukrainian as well as for Sofya, the Yiddish form of the name Sophia.) They arrived in Boston on September 26, 1887. The family adopted the surname Abuza before immigrating, her father fearing repercussions for having deserted from the Imperial Russian Army. The family lived in Boston's North End for eight years, then settled in Hartford, Connecticut, and opened a restaurant. At a yo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Benny
Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky, February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American entertainer who evolved from a modest success playing violin on the vaudeville circuit to one of the leading entertainers of the twentieth century with a highly popular comedic career in radio, television, and film. He was known for his comic timing and the ability to cause laughter with a long pause or a single expression, such as his signature exasperated summation "''Well!''" His radio and television programs, popular from 1932 until his death in 1974, were a major influence on the sitcom genre. Benny portrayed himself as a miser who obliviously played his violin badly and claimed perpetually to be 39 years of age. Early life Benny was born Benjamin Kubelsky in Chicago, Illinois, on February 14, 1894, and grew up in nearby Waukegan. He was the son of Jewish immigrants Meyer Kubelsky (1864–1946) and Emma Sachs Kubelsky (1869–1917), sometimes called "Naomi". Meyer was a saloon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
