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What A Way To Go!
''What a Way to Go!'' is a 1964 American black comedy film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Shirley MacLaine, Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum, Dean Martin, Gene Kelly, Bob Cummings and Dick Van Dyke. In the film, a wealthy widow wants to donate most of her fortune to the Internal Revenue Service. She narrates her life story to her psychiatrist. Each of her past husbands found wealth and success, but met with tragic deaths. She thinks she is cursed, and she would instead prefer a "simple life" inspired by the writings of Henry David Thoreau. Plot In a dream-like pre-credit sequence, Louisa, a black-clad widow, descends a pink staircase inside a pink mansion. She is followed by pallbearers carrying a pink coffin. The pallbearers slip and drop the coffin, which slides down the stairs, leading into the opening titles. Louisa wants to give her $211 million to the U.S. government Internal Revenue Service, who believes it is an April Fools' Day joke. Sobbing to her unstab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur P
Arthur is a masculine given name of uncertain etymology. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur. In Spanish and Italian it is Arturo. Etymology The earliest attestation of the name Arthur is in the early 9th century Welsh-Latin text '' Historia Brittonum'', where it refers to a circa 5th century Romano-British general who fought against the invading Saxons, and who later gave rise to the famous King Arthur of medieval legend and literature. A possible earlier mention of the same man is to be found in the epic Welsh poem '' Y Gododdin'' by Aneirin, which some scholars assign to the late 6th century, though this is still a matter of debate and the poem only survives in a late 13th century manuscript entitled the Book of Aneirin. A 9th-century Breton landowner named Arthur witnessed several charters collected in the '' Cartulary of Redon''. The Irish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax law. It is an agency of the United States Department of the Treasury, Department of the Treasury and led by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, who is appointed to a five-year term by the President of the United States. The duties of the IRS include providing tax assistance to taxpayers; pursuing and resolving instances of erroneous or fraudulent tax filings; and overseeing various benefits programs, including the Affordable Care Act. The IRS originates from the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, a federal office created in 1862 to assess the nation's first income tax to fund the American Civil War. The temporary measure funded over a fifth of the Union's war expens ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wally Vernon
Walter J. Vernon (May 27, 1905 – March 7, 1970) was an American comic and character actor and dancer. Early life Vernon was born in New York City in 1905. He was in show business from the age of three, appearing in vaudeville and stock theater; he made his first Hollywood appearance in 1937's '' Mountain Music''. Career He made more than 75 films, almost always playing a Brooklynese wiseguy and/or the hero's assistant. He was a fixture in Twentieth Century Fox features of the late 1930s and early 1940s; Vernon is seen as an eccentric dancer in Fox's ''Alexander's Ragtime Band'' (1938), where he appears as himself. Vernon freelanced at other studios after leaving Fox. He became the sidekick to cowboy star Don "Red" Barry at Republic Pictures, and when Barry began producing his own features in 1949, he remembered Vernon and brought him back as his sidekick. In 1948 Columbia Pictures producer Jules White paired Vernon with Eddie Quillan, another comedian with a vaudevi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maurice Marsac
Maurice Marsac (23 March 1915 – 6 May 2007) was a French actor who had a long career, with over 150 appearances in American films and television. He was also a nationally ranked croquet player. Career Born in La Croix-Valmer, France, he was a member of the French Resistance in World War II. He made his (uncredited) film debut in '' Paris After Dark'' (1943); his last part was as a maitre d' in '' Dragnet'' (1987). He was noted for portraying waiters and maitre d's. In addition to ''Dragnet'', he played one in the films ''The Razor's Edge'' (1946, uncredited), ''Herbie Rides Again'' (1974) and ''The Jerk'' (1979), as well as episodes of ''I Love Lucy'' ("Ricky Asks for a Raise", 1952; "Paris at Last", 1956), ''Hazel'' (1966), ''Columbo'' ( "Publish or Perish", 1975), ''Wonder Woman'' ( "Death in Disguise", 1978), ''Soap'' (1979) and ''L.A. Law'' ( "The Douglas Fur Ball", 1987), among others. He also played Nicodemus in the 1961 biblical epic ''King of Kings''. He was a mem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fifi D'Orsay
Fifi D'Orsay (born Marie-Rose Angelina Yvonne Lussier; April 16, 1904 – December 2, 1983) was a Canadian-American actress and singer. Early life Fifi D'Orsay was born Marie-Rose Angelina Yvonne Lussier in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to a father who was a postal clerk. The D'Orsays were a large family, with Fifi having 11 siblings. She was educated at the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Montreal before graduating and finding work as a secretary. Biography As a young stenographer, she wished to become an actress, and moved to New York City. Once there she found work with the Greenwich Village Follies, after an audition in which she sang "Yes! We Have No Bananas" in French. When asked where she was from, she told the director she was from Paris, France, and that she had worked in the Folies Bergère. The impressed director hired her, billing her as "Mademoiselle Fifi". While working in the Follies, she became involved with Ed Gallagher, a veteran actor who was half of the success ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lou Nova
Lou Nova (March 16, 1913 – September 29, 1991) also called the Cosmic Puncher was an American boxer and actor. Born in Los Angeles, California, the Nova was the U.S. and World Amateur Boxing Champion in 1935. After turning pro, he remained undefeated in his first 22 matches, and won 40 fights in total. He was the first top rated boxer to practice yoga, and reportedly did headstands in the dressing room before his title bout with Joe Louis. Boxing career In 1938, Nova gained an upset win over Britain's Tommy Farr in a 15-round decision. Nova had Farr near a knockout in the 14th round when Referee Eddie Josephs started counting as he lay in the ropes. However, Farr resumed the fight after the count reached two. Both men were in a state of exhaustion in the last round. This fight put Nova on the American boxing map as a potential heavyweight title contender. He went on to defeat Max Baer in the first televised heavyweight prizefight June 1, 1939, on WNBT-TV in New York. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Margaret Dumont
Margaret Dumont (born Daisy Juliette Baker; October 20, 1882 – March 6, 1965) was an American stage and film actress. She is best remembered as the comic foil to the Marx Brothers in seven of their films; Groucho Marx called her "practically the fifth Marx brother." Early life Dumont was born Daisy Juliette Baker in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of William and Harriet Anna (née Harvey) Baker. Her mother was a music teacher and encouraged Daisy's singing career from an early age. Career Dumont trained as an operatic singer and actress in her teens and began performing on stage in the US and Europe, at first under the name Daisy Dumont and later as Margaret (or Marguerite - French for Daisy) Dumont. Her theatrical debut was in ''Sleeping Beauty and the Beast'' at the Chestnut Theater in Philadelphia; in August 1902, two months before her 20th birthday, she appeared as a singer/comedian in a vaudeville act in Atlantic City. The dark-haired soubrette, described by a theater ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reginald Gardiner
William Reginald Gardiner (27 February 1903 – 7 July 1980) was an English actor on the stage, in films and on television. Early years Gardiner was born in Wimbledon, England, and he was a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.Katz, Ephraim (1979). ''The Film Encyclopedia: The Most Comprehensive Encyclopedia of World Cinema in a Single Volume''. Perigee Books. . pp. 465–466. His parents wanted him to be an architect, but he insisted on a career as an actor. Stage and radio Gardiner started as a ''super'' on stage and eventually became well known on the West End stage. "He appeared in British revues, plays and films before delighting Broadway audiences in 1935 with a wallpaper imitation act in ''At Home Abroad''." His other Broadway credits include ''Little Glass Clock'' and ''An Evening with Beatrice Lillie''. He was also well known to radio listeners, and was known on the air for his amusing train and car noises. Film Gardiner worked in almost 100 movies. He s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hudson River
The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the town of Newcomb, New York, Newcomb, and flows south to the New York Bay , New York Bay, a tidal estuary between New York City, New York and Jersey City, Jersey City, before draining into the Atlantic Ocean , Atlantic Ocean. The river marks boundaries between several County (New York), New York counties and the eastern border between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey , New Jersey. The lower half of the river is a tidal estuary, deeper than the body of water into which it flows, occupying the Hudson Fjord, an inlet that formed during the most recent period of North American Quaternary glaciation, glaciation, estimated at 26,000 to 13,300 years ago. Even as far north as the city of Troy, New York, Troy, the flow of the river chan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bohemian Lifestyle
Bohemianism is a social and cultural movement that has, at its core, a way of life away from society's conventional norms and expectations. The term originates from the French ''bohème'' and spread to the English-speaking world. It was used to describe mid-19th-century non-traditional lifestyles, especially of artists, writers, journalists, musicians, and actors in major European cities. Bohemian is a 19th-century historical and literary topos that places the milieu of young metropolitan artists and intellectuals—particularly those of the Latin Quarter in Paris—in a context of poverty, hunger, appreciation of friendship, idealization of art and contempt for money. Based on this topos, the most diverse real-world subcultures are often referred to as "bohemian" in a figurative sense, especially (but by no means exclusively) if they show traits of a precariat. Bohemians were associated with unorthodox or anti-establishment political or social viewpoints expressed through fre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
April Fools' Day
April Fools' Day or April Fool's Day (rarely called All Fools' Day) is an annual custom on the 1st of April consisting of practical jokes, hoaxes, and pranks. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fool[s]!" at the recipient. Mass media can be involved with these pranks, which may be revealed as such the following day. The custom of setting aside a day for playing harmless pranks upon one's neighbor has been relatively common in the world historically. Origins Although many theories have been proposed throughout the years, the origin of April Fools' Day is not exactly known. A disputed association between 1 April and foolishness is in Geoffrey Chaucer's ''The Canterbury Tales'' (1392). In the "Nun's Priest's Tale", a vain cock, Chauntecleer, is tricked by a fox "Since March began, full thirty days and two," i.e. the 32nd day from 1 March, which is 1 April. However, it is not clear that Chaucer was referencing 1 April since the text of the "Nun's Priest's Tale" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pallbearers
A pallbearer is one of several participants who help carry the casket at a funeral. They may wear white gloves in order to prevent damaging the casket and to show respect to the deceased person. Some traditions distinguish between the roles of pallbearers and casket bearer. The former is a ceremonial position, carrying a tip of the pall or a cord attached to it. The latter do the actual heavy lifting and carrying. There may otherwise be pallbearers only in the symbolic sense if the casket is on an animal or vehicle. In Western cultures, the pallbearers are usually male family members, close friends, or colleagues of the deceased. A notable exception was the funeral of Lee Harvey Oswald, in which reporters, pressed into service to carry the coffin, outnumbered the mourners. In some African cultures, pallbearers are not family members but are staffs of professional funeral agencies who are paid for their services. The first duty of a pallbearer is to appear at least thirty mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
