Willa Pearl Curtis
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Willa Pearl Curtis
Willa Pearl Curtis (March 21, 1896 – December 19, 1970) was an American actress in film and television. She was active in the Negro Motion Picture Players Association in Los Angeles. Curtis started as a performer in theater and music in Texas."Pastor's Housekeeper is Mainstay of Rectory"
''Wilmington News-Journal'' (April 5, 1949): 17. via
When Curtis first arrived in Los Angeles, she worked as a maid to a stage actress. Like many black actresses of her generation, Curtis was often cast as a maid or cook, often uncredited bit parts, in films during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. Her credited appearances included roles in '' ...
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Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by both List of U.S. states and territories by area, area (after Alaska) and List of U.S. states and territories by population, population (after California). Texas shares borders with the states of Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the west, and the Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, states of Chihuahua (state), Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south and southwest; and has a coastline with the Gulf of Mexico to the southeast. Houston is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas and the List of United States cities by population, fourth-largest in the U.S., while San Antonio is the second most pop ...
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Death Valley Days
''Death Valley Days'' is an American old-time radio and television anthology series featuring true accounts of the American Old West, particularly the Death Valley country of southeastern California. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was broadcast on radio until 1945. From 1952 to 1970, it became a Broadcast syndication, syndicated television series, with reruns (updated with new narrations) continuing through August 1, 1975. The radio and television versions combined to make the show "one of the longest-running Western (genre), Western programs in broadcast history."French, Jack & Siegel, David S. (eds.) (2014). ''Radio Rides the Range: A Reference Guide to Western Drama on the Air, 1929–1967''. McFarland & Company, Inc. , p. 43–49. The series was sponsored by the Pacific Coast Borax Company (Twenty-Mule-Team Borax, 20 Mule Team Borax, Boraxo) and hosted by Stanley Andrews ("The Old Ranger") (1952–1964), Ronald Reagan (1964–1965), Rosemary DeCamp (1965), Robe ...
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Carson, California
Carson is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, in the South Bay region of Los Angeles, located south of downtown Los Angeles and approximately away from Los Angeles International Airport. Incorporated on February 20, 1968, Carson is the newest municipality in the South Bay region of Metropolitan Los Angeles. The city is locally known for its plurality of Filipino-Americans and immigrants. As of 2019, it was estimated that the city had a population of 91,394. History The year 1921 marked the first drilling for oil at Dominguez Hill, on the northwest side of the Rancho San Pedro (also called Rancho Domínguez), site of the famous battle during the Mexican–American War called the Battle of Rancho Domínguez in 1846. The mineral rights to this property were owned by Carson Estate Company, the Hellman Family, the Dominguez Estate Company, and the Burnham Exploration Company of Frederick Russell Burnham. On September 7, 1923, Burnham Exploration partneri ...
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First African Methodist Episcopal Church Of Los Angeles
The First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles (First A.M.E. or FAME) is a megachurch in Los Angeles, California, United States, part of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. It is the oldest church founded by African Americans in Los Angeles, dating to 1872. It has more than 19,000 members. History The church was established in 1872 under the sponsorship of Biddy Mason, an African American nurse and a California real estate entrepreneur and philanthropist, and her son-in-law Charles Owens. The organizing meetings were held in Mason's home on Spring Street and she donated the land on which the first church was built. The parent AME Church is a Methodist denomination founded by the Rev. Richard Allen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1816. The AME Church now has over 2,000,000 members in North and South America, Africa and Europe, and includes other major churches such as the Greater Allen A. M. E. Cathedral of New York with over 23,000 members and the Reid T ...
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Jester Hairston
Jester Joseph Hairston (July 9, 1901 – January 18, 2000) was an American composer, songwriter, arranger, choral conductor and actor. He was regarded as a leading expert on black spirituals and choral music. His notable compositions include "Amen," a gospel-tinged theme from the film '' Lilies of the Field'' and a 1964 hit for the Impressions, and the Christmas song " Mary's Boy Child." Early life Hairston was born in Belews Creek, a rural community on the border of Stokes, Forsyth, Rockingham and Guilford counties in North Carolina. His grandparents had been slaves. At an early age, he and his family moved to Homestead, Pennsylvania, just outside Pittsburgh, where he graduated from high school in 1921. Hairston was very young when his father was killed in a job-related accident. Hairston was raised by his grandmother while his mother worked. Hairston heard his grandmother and her friends talking and singing about plantation life and became determined to preserve this his ...
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Negro Motion Picture Players Association
In the English language, ''negro'' is a term historically used to denote persons considered to be of Black African heritage. The word ''negro'' means the color black in both Spanish and in Portuguese, where English took it from. The term can be construed as offensive, inoffensive, or completely neutral, largely depending on the region or country where it is used, as well as the context in which it is applied. It has various equivalents in other languages of Europe. In English Around 1442, the Portuguese first arrived in Southern Africa while trying to find a sea route to India. The term ', literally meaning "black", was used by the Spanish and Portuguese as a simple description to refer to the Bantu peoples that they encountered. ''Negro'' denotes "black" in Spanish and Portuguese, derived from the Latin word ''niger'', meaning ''black'', which itself is probably from a Proto-Indo-European root ''*nekw-'', "to be dark", akin to ''*nokw-'', "night". ''Negro'' was also used of th ...
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Ben Casey
''Ben Casey'' is an American medical drama series that aired on ABC from 1961 to 1966. The show was known for its opening titles, which consisted of a hand drawing the symbols " ♂, ♀, ✳, †, ∞" on a chalkboard, as cast member Sam Jaffe uttered, "Man, woman, birth, death, infinity." Neurosurgeon Joseph Ransohoff served as a medical consultant for the show. Plot The series stars Vince Edwards as medical doctor Ben Casey, the young, intense, and idealistic neurosurgeon at County General Hospital. His mentor is chief of neurosurgery Doctor David Zorba, played by Sam Jaffe, who, in the pilot episode, tells a colleague that Casey is "the best chief resident this place has known in 20 years." In its first season, the series and Vince Edwards were nominated for Emmy awards. Additional nominations at the 14th Primetime Emmy Awards on May 22, 1962, went to Sam Jaffe, Jeanne Cooper (for the episode "But Linda Only Smiled"), and Joan Hackett (for the episode "A Certain Time, a Ce ...
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The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' is an American television anthology series created, hosted and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, aired on CBS and NBC between 1955 and 1965. It features dramas, thrillers and mysteries. Between 1962 and 1965 it was renamed ''The Alfred Hitchcock Hour''. Hitchcock himself directed only 18 episodes during its run. By the time the show premiered on October 2, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades. ''Time'' magazine named ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' as one of "The 100 Best TV Shows of All Time". The Writers Guild of America ranked it #79 on their list of the 101 Best-Written TV Series, tying it with ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'', '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' and '' Upstairs, Downstairs''. In 2021, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it 18th on its list of 30 Best Horror TV Shows of All Time. A series of literary anthologies with the running title ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' were issued to capitalize on the success of the telev ...
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Wide Country (TV Series)
''Wide Country'' was an American Western television series that aired on NBC from September 20, 1962 to April 25, 1963. Synopsis The series stars Earl Holliman and Andrew Prine as brothers, Mitch and Andy Guthrie, respectively, who are traveling rodeo competitors. In the recurring story line, older, wiser brother Mitch, a champion bronco rider, discourages Andy from following in Mitch's footsteps. The pilot for the series entitled "Second Chance" was aired on March 13, 1962, on the anthology series ''Alcoa Premiere'' on ABC. ''Wide Country'' is similar to the ABC series '' Stoney Burke'', starring Jack Lord as a rodeo performer, which aired thirty-two episodes during the same season. ''Wide Country'' faced tough competition from ABC's ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'' and ''The Donna Reed Show'' and CBS's ''Mr. Ed'' and the first half of the legal drama, ''Perry Mason''. The series was cancelled after one season. Episode list Guest stars * Claude Akins * Eddie Alber ...
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The Adventures Of Jim Bowie
''The Adventures of Jim Bowie'' is an American Western television series that aired on ABC from 1956 to 1958. Its setting was the 1830s-era Louisiana Territory. The series was an adaptation of the book ''Tempered Blade'', by Monte Barrett. Synopsis The series stars Scott Forbes as the real-life adventurer Jim Bowie. The series initially portrayed Jim Bowie as something of an outdoors-man, riding his horse through the wilderness near his home in Opelousas, where he would stumble across someone needing his assistance. He was aided by the Bowie Knife, his ever-present weapon. He designed it in the first episode, ''The Birth of the Blade.'' Although Bowie used the blade quite a bit in early episodes, its prominence was downplayed as the show went on. Use of the knife in the initial episode led a reviewer for ''The New York Times'' to write, " would seem like a wise idea for parents to keep young viewers away from the television set when the show is on." The show was one of the fi ...
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Cavalcade Of America
''Cavalcade of America'' is an anthology drama series that was sponsored by the DuPont Company, although it occasionally presented musicals, such as an adaptation of ''Show Boat'', and condensed biographies of popular composers. It was initially broadcast on radio from 1935 to 1953, and on television from 1952 to 1957. Originally on CBS, the series pioneered the use of anthology drama for company audio advertising. ''Cavalcade of America'' documented historical events using stories of individual courage, initiative and achievement, often with feel-good dramatizations of the human spirit's triumph against all odds. The series was intended to improve DuPont's public image after World War I. The company's motto, "Maker of better things for better living through chemistry," was read at the beginning of each program, and the dramas emphasized humanitarian progress, particularly improvements in the lives of women, often through technological innovation. Background The show started as ...
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Stories Of The Century
''Stories of the Century'' is a 39-episode Western historical fiction television series starring Jim Davis that ran in syndication through Republic Pictures between 1954 and 1955. Synopsis Jim Davis, who became famous decades later as the patriarch Jock Ewing in the ''Dallas'' television series, held a dual role as the show's narrator and Southwest Railroad detective Matt Clark. Mary Castle co-starred in twenty-six episodes as Clark's assistant, Frankie Adams; she was replaced by Kristine Miller, who appeared in thirteen episodes as Margaret "Jonesy" Jones. Clark and his female associates traveled the American West weekly, seeking to capture the most notorious badmen. They placed Clark at the right place and the right time to capture great moments in the history of the American Old West. Clark's appearances often seemed contrived, as when he appears just at the time young Robert Ford was assassinating Jesse James. Though Clark himself was fictional, the events he encou ...
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