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Francis Lederer
Francis Lederer (November 6, 1899 – May 25, 2000) was an Austro-Hungarian Empire-born American film and stage actor with a successful career, first in Europe, then in the United States. His original name was František (Franz) Lederer. Early years František (Franz) Lederer was born in Karlín, a working-class suburb of Prague, to a Jewish family. His mother was Rosa (Růžena) née Ornstein from Třebíč, his father Josef Lederer was a leather merchant. Until František was thirteen, his only recreation was wrestling. His parents separated when he was nine years old, and his brother Pavel died in World War I. His mother and younger brother Rudolf later moved to Los Angeles. Franz worked in a store that sold dry goods, and his first theatrical experience came when he was tasked with cleaning shelves in the background in a play while the main actors performed. He lost that role when he drew attention away from the stars to himself. Acting career Europe Lederer started acting ...
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Prague
Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its Prague metropolitan area, metropolitan area is home to approximately 2.3 million people. Prague is a historical city with Romanesque architecture, Romanesque, Czech Gothic architecture, Gothic, Czech Renaissance architecture, Renaissance and Czech Baroque architecture, Baroque architecture. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia and residence of several Holy Roman Emperors, most notably Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, Charles IV (r. 1346–1378) and Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II (r. 1575–1611). It was an important city to the Habsburg monarchy and Austria-Hungary. The city played major roles in the Bohemian Reformation, Bohemian and the Protestant Reformations, the Thirty Years' War and in 20th-century history a ...
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Louise Brooks
Mary Louise Brooks (November 14, 1906 – August 8, 1985) was an American film actress during the 1920s and 1930s. She is regarded today as an cultural icon, icon of the flapper culture, in part due to the bob cut, bob hairstyle that she helped popularize during the prime of her career. At the age of 15, Brooks began her career as a dancer and toured with the Denishawn school, Denishawn School of Dancing and Related Arts where she performed opposite Ted Shawn. After being fired, she found employment as a chorus girl in ''George White's Scandals'' and as a semi-nude dancer in the ''Ziegfeld Follies'' in New York City. While dancing in the ''Follies'', Brooks came to the attention of Walter Wanger, a producer at Paramount Pictures, and signed a five-year contract with the studio. She appeared in supporting roles in various Paramount films before taking the heroine's role in ''Beggars of Life'' (1928). During this time, she became an intimate friend of actress Marion Davies and join ...
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Confessions Of A Nazi Spy
''Confessions of a Nazi Spy'' is a 1939 American spy political thriller film directed by Anatole Litvak for Warner Bros. It was the first explicitly anti-Nazi film to be produced by a major Hollywood studio, being released in May 1939, four months before the beginning of World War II in Europe, and two and a half years before the United States' official entry into the war. The film stars Edward G. Robinson, Francis Lederer, George Sanders, Paul Lukas, and a large cast of German actors, including some who had emigrated from their country after the rise of Adolf Hitler. Many of the German actors who appeared in the film changed their names for fear of reprisals against relatives still living in Germany. Harry, Albert, and Jack Warner, who then owned Warner Bros, were Jewish.Maddow, Rachel (2023). ''Prequel'' (1st ed.). Crown. pp. 144. . The film's story is based on a series of articles by FBI officer Leon G. Turrou, recounting his investigation of Nazi spy rings in the ...
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German American Bund
The German American Bund, or the German American Federation (, ''Amerikadeutscher Volksbund'', AV), was a German-American Nazi organization which was established in 1936 as a successor to the Friends of New Germany (FONG, FDND in German) and disbanded in 1941. The organization chose its new name in order to emphasize its American credentials after the press accused it of being unpatriotic. The Bund was allowed to consist only of American citizens of German descent. Its main goal was to promote a favorable view of Nazi Germany. History Friends of New Germany In May 1933, Nazi Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess gave German immigrant and German Nazi Party member Heinz Spanknöbel authority to form an American Nazi organization. Shortly thereafter, with help from the German consul in New York City, Spanknöbel created the Friends of New Germany by merging two older organizations in the United States, Gau-USA and the Free Society of Teutonia, which were both small groups with only a fe ...
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Edward G
Edward is an English male name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortunate; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Saxon England, but the rule of the Norman and Plantagenet dynasties had effectively ended its use amongst the upper classes. The popularity of the name was revived when Henry III named his firstborn son, the future Edward I, as part of his efforts to promote a cult around Edward the Confessor, for whom Henry had a deep admiration. Variant forms The name has been adopted in the Iberian peninsula since the 15th century, due to Edward, King of Portugal, whose mother was English. The Spanish/Portuguese forms of the name are Eduardo and Duarte. Other variant forms include French Édouard, Italian Edoardo and Odoardo, German, Dutch, Czech and Romanian Eduard and Scandinavian Edvard. Short forms include Ed, Eddy, Eddie, Ted, Teddy a ...
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John Barrymore
John Barrymore (born John Sidney Blyth; February 14 or 15, 1882 – May 29, 1942) was an American actor on stage, screen, and radio. A member of the Drew and Barrymore theatrical families, he initially tried to avoid the stage, and briefly attempted a career as an artist, but appeared on stage together with his father Maurice in 1900, and then his sister Ethel the following year. He began his career in 1903 and first gained attention as a stage actor in light comedy, then high drama, culminating in productions of ''Justice'' (1916), ''Richard III'' (1920), and ''Hamlet'' (1922); his portrayal of Hamlet led to him being called the "greatest living American tragedian". After a success as ''Hamlet'' in London in 1925, Barrymore left the stage for 14 years and instead focused entirely on films. In the silent film era, he was well received in such pictures as ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' (1920), ''Sherlock Holmes'' (1922) and '' The Sea Beast'' (1926). During this period, he gain ...
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Claudette Colbert
Claudette Colbert (koʊlˈbɛər/ kohl-BAIR, born Émilie "Lily" Claudette Chauchoin (ʃoʃwɛ̃/ show-shwan); September 13, 1903 – July 30, 1996) was an American actress. Colbert began her career in Broadway theater, Broadway productions during the late 1920s and progressed to films with the advent of Sound film, talking pictures. Initially contracted to Paramount Pictures, Colbert became one of the few major actresses of the period who worked freelance; that is to say, independently of the studio system. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Colbert the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, 12th-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema. With her Good American Speech, Mid-Atlantic accent, versatility, witty dialogues, aristocratic demeanor, and flair for light comedy and emotional drama, Colbert became one of the most popular stars of the 1930s and 1940s. In all, Colbert acted in more than 60 movies. Among her frequent co-stars were Fred MacMurray in seven films (1935–1 ...
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Midnight (1939 Film)
''Midnight'' is a 1939 American screwball comedy film directed by Mitchell Leisen and starring Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche, John Barrymore, Francis Lederer, Mary Astor, and Elaine Barrie. Written by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder and based on a story by Edwin Justus Mayer and Franz Schulz, the film is about an unemployed American showgirl stranded in Paris who is set up by a millionaire to break up his wife's affair with another man. In 2013, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Plot American showgirl Eve Peabody arrives in Paris from Monte Carlo during a rainstorm with nothing but her clothes (an evening gown). With no money and no place to stay, she persuades soft-hearted Hungarian taxi driver Tibor Czerny to drive her to nightclubs looking for a job in exchange for her doubling his fare. After an unsuccessful search, Tibor buys her ...
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Mitchell Leisen
James Mitchell Leisen (October 6, 1898 – October 28, 1972) was an American film director, director, art director, and costume designer. Film career He entered the film industry in the 1920s, beginning in the art and costume departments. He directed his first film in 1933 with ''Cradle Song (1933 film), Cradle Song'' and became known for his keen sense of aesthetics in the glossy Hollywood melodramas and screwball comedies he turned out. His best known films include Alberto Casella's adaptation of ''Death Takes a Holiday'' and ''Murder at the Vanities'', a musical mystery story (both 1934), as well as ''Midnight (1939 film), Midnight'' (1939) and ''Hold Back the Dawn'' (1941), both scripted by Billy Wilder. ''Easy Living (1937 film), Easy Living'' (1937), written by Preston Sturges and starring Jean Arthur, was another hit for the director, who also directed ''Remember the Night'' (1940), the last film written by Sturges before he started directing his scripts as well. ''Lad ...
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Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemitic tendencies may be motivated primarily by negative sentiment towards Jewish peoplehood, Jews as a people or negative sentiment towards Jews with regard to Judaism. In the former case, usually known as racial antisemitism, a person's hostility is driven by the belief that Jews constitute a distinct race with inherent traits or characteristics that are repulsive or inferior to the preferred traits or characteristics within that person's society. In the latter case, known as religious antisemitism, a person's hostility is driven by their religion's perception of Jews and Judaism, typically encompassing doctrines of supersession that expect or demand Jews to turn away from Judaism and submit to the religion presenting itself as Judaism's suc ...
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Nazi
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequently referred to as Hitler Fascism () and Hitlerism (). The term "neo-Nazism" is applied to other far-right groups with similar ideology, which formed after World War II, and after Nazi Germany collapsed. Nazism is a form of fascism, with disdain for liberal democracy and the parliamentary system. Its beliefs include support for dictatorship, fervent antisemitism, anti-communism, anti-Slavism, anti-Romani sentiment, scientific racism, white supremacy, Nordicism, social Darwinism, homophobia, ableism, and the use of eugenics. The ultranationalism of the Nazis originated in pan-Germanism and the ethno-nationalist ''Völkisch movement, Völkisch'' movement which had been a prominent aspect of German nationa ...
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Internet Broadway Database
The Internet Broadway Database (IBDB) is an online database of Broadway theatre productions and their personnel. It was conceived and created by Karen Hauser in 1996 and is operated by the Research Department of The Broadway League, a trade association for the North American commercial theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ... community. History Karen Hauser, research director for the Broadway League, developed the Internet Broadway Database, which was launched in 1996 or 2001. Prior to that, she served as the League's media director. She has written on the economic health of Broadway and how it contributes to New York City's economy as well as that of the cities that touring productions visit. Hauser co-produced the 2000 production of Keith Reddin's ''The Perp ...
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