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Spoken Word Album
A spoken word album is a recording of spoken material, a predecessor of the contemporary audiobook genre. Rather than featuring music or songs, the content of spoken word albums include political speeches, dramatic readings of historical documents, dialogue from a film soundtrack, dramatized versions of literary classics, stories for children, comedic material, and instructional recordings. The Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album has been awarded annually since 1959. Early beginnings Spoken word albums have been made since the early days of recording; examples include the popular Ronald Colman 1941 version of Charles Dickens' ''A Christmas Carol'' on American Decca Records. However, a true milestone was reached when Columbia Masterworks, which had previously released an album of excerpts from Shakespeare's '' Richard II'' with Maurice Evans, made a complete recording of Margaret Webster's famed (and never filmed) 1943 Broadway production of ''Othello'', starring Paul Robeson, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spoken Word
Spoken word is an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a 20th-century continuation of an oral tradition, ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of recitation and word play, such as the performer's live Intonation (linguistics), intonation and voice inflection. Spoken word is a "catchall" term that includes any kind of poetry recited aloud, including poetry readings, poetry slams, jazz poetry, pianologues, musical readings, and hip hop music, and can include Sketch comedy, comedy routines and prose monologues. Unlike written poetry, the quality of spoken word is shaped less by the visual aesthetics on a page, and more from phonaesthetics or the aesthetics of sound. History Spoken word has existed for many years; long before writing, through a cycle of practicing, listening and memorizing, each language drew on its resources of sound structure for aural patterns that made spoken p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uta Hagen
Uta Thyra Hagen (12 June 1919 – 14 January 2004) was a German-American actress and theatre practitioner. She originated the role of Martha in the 1962 Broadway premiere of '' Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' by Edward Albee, who called her "a profoundly truthful actress." Because Hagen was on the Hollywood blacklist, in part because of her association with Paul Robeson, her film opportunities dwindled and she focused her career on New York theatre. She later became a highly influential acting teacher at New York's Herbert Berghof Studio and authored best-selling acting texts, '' Respect for Acting'', with Haskel Frankel, and ''A Challenge for the Actor''. Her most substantial contributions to theatre pedagogy were a series of "object exercises" that built on the work of Konstantin Stanislavski and Yevgeny Vakhtangov. She was elected to the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1981. She twice won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play and received a Special Tony Award for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?
''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' is a play by Edward Albee first staged in October 1962. It examines the complexities of the marriage of middle-aged couple Martha and George. Late one evening, after a university faculty party, they receive unwitting younger couple Nick and Honey as guests, and draw them into their bitter and frustrated relationship. The three-act play normally takes just under three hours to perform, with two 10 minute intermissions. The title is a pun on the song " Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" from Walt Disney's '' Three Little Pigs'' (1933), substituting the name of the celebrated English author Virginia Woolf. Martha and George repeatedly sing this version of the song throughout the play. ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' won both the 1963 Tony Award for Best Play and the 1962–1963 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play. It is frequently revived on the modern stage. The film adaptation was released in 1966, written by Ern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raymond Massey
Raymond Hart Massey (August 30, 1896 – July 29, 1983) was a Canadian actor known for his commanding stage-trained voice. For his lead role in '' Abe Lincoln in Illinois'' (1940), Massey was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. He reprised his role as Lincoln on television and in '' How the West Was Won'' (1962). Among his other well-known roles were Dr. Gillespie in the NBC television series '' Dr. Kildare'' (1961–1966), John Brown in ''Santa Fe Trail'' (1940), '' Seven Angry Men'' (1955), Abraham Farlan in '' A Matter of Life and Death'' (1946), and Jonathan Brewster in '' Arsenic and Old Lace'' (1944). Early life Massey was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Anna Vincent, who was American-born, and her husband Chester Daniel Massey, the wealthy co-owner of the Massey-Harris tractor company. He was the grandson of businessman Hart Massey and great-grandson of company founder Daniel Massey. His branch of the Massey family immigrated to Canada from New Engl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Judith Anderson
Dame Frances Margaret Anderson (10 February 18973 January 1992), known professionally as Judith Anderson, was an Australian actress who had a successful career in stage, film, and television. A pre-eminent stage actress in her era, she won two Emmy Awards and a Tony Award, and was also nominated for a Grammy Award and an Academy Award. She is considered one of the 20th century's greatest classical stage actors. Early life Frances Margaret Anderson was born in 1897 in Adelaide, South Australia, the youngest of four children born to Jessie Margaret (née Saltmarsh; 19 October 1862 – 24 November 1950), a former nurse, and Scottish-born James Anderson Anderson, a sharebroker and pioneering prospector. She attended a private school, Norwood, where her education ended before graduation. Career Early acting She made her professional debut (as Francee Anderson) in 1915, playing Stephanie at the Theatre Royal, Sydney, in ''A Royal Divorce''. Leading the company was Scottish actor J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tyrone Power
Tyrone Edmund Power III (May 5, 1914 – November 15, 1958) was an American actor. From the 1930s to the 1950s, Power appeared in dozens of films, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads. His better-known films include ''Jesse James (1939 film), Jesse James'', ''The Mark of Zorro (1940 film), The Mark of Zorro'', ''Marie Antoinette (1938 film), Marie Antoinette'', ''Blood and Sand (1941 film), Blood and Sand'', ''The Black Swan (film), The Black Swan'', ''Prince of Foxes (film), Prince of Foxes'', ''Witness for the Prosecution (1957 film), Witness for the Prosecution'', ''The Black Rose'', and ''Captain from Castile''. Power's own favorite film among those in which he starred was ''Nightmare Alley (1947 film), Nightmare Alley''. Though largely a matinee idol in the 1930s and early 1940s and known for his striking good looks, Power starred in films in a number of genres, from drama to light comedy. In the 1950s he began placing limits on the number of films he would make ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Brown's Body (poem)
''John Brown's Body'' (1928) is an American epic poem written by Stephen Vincent Benét. The poem's title references the radical abolitionist John Brown, who raided the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia in October 1859. He was captured and hanged later that year. Benét's poem covers the history of the American Civil War. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1929. It was written while Benét was living in Paris after receiving a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1926. The poem was performed on Broadway in 1953 in a staged dramatic reading starring Tyrone Power, Judith Anderson, and Raymond Massey, and directed by Charles Laughton. In 2002, the poem, transformed into a play, was performed in San Quentin State Prison by prisoners. The 2013 documentary film ''John Brown's Body at San Quentin Prison'' recounts the story of the production of the play. In 2015, a recorded performance from 1953 was selected for inclusion in the Library of Congress's National Recording Regist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agnes Moorehead
Agnes Robertson Moorehead (December 6, 1900April 30, 1974) was an American actress. In a career spanning five decades, her credits included work in radio, stage, film, and television.Obituary '' Variety'', May 8, 1974, page 286. Moorehead was the recipient of such accolades as a Primetime Emmy Award and two Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for four Academy Awards. Moorehead had joined Orson Welles' Mercury Players, as one of his principal performers in 1937. She also had notable roles in films such as ''Citizen Kane'' (1941), '' Dark Passage'' (1947), ''Show Boat'' (1951), and '' All That Heaven Allows'' (1955). Moorehead garnered four nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, for her performances in: ''The Magnificent Ambersons'' (1942), '' Mrs. Parkington'' (1944), '' Johnny Belinda'' (1948), and '' Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte'' (1964). She is also known for the radioplay '' Sorry, Wrong Number'' (1943). She gained acclaim for her role as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cedric Hardwicke
Sir Cedric Webster Hardwicke (19 February 1893 – 6 August 1964) was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned over 50 years. His theatre work included notable performances in productions of the plays of Shakespeare and Shaw, and his film work included leading roles in several adapted literary classics. Early life Hardwicke was born in Lye, Worcestershire (now West Midlands) to Edwin Webster Hardwicke and his wife, Jessie (née Masterson). He initially attended Stourbridge Grammar School moving to Bridgnorth Grammar School in Shropshire in September 1907 until July 1911. He intended to train as a doctor but failed to pass the necessary examinations."Hardwicke, Sir Cedric Webster" ''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edition, |
Charles Boyer
Charles Boyer (; 28 August 1899 – 26 August 1978) was a French-American actor who appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1976. After receiving an education in drama, Boyer started on the stage, but he found his success in American films during the 1930s. His memorable performances were among the era's most highly praised, in romantic dramas such as ''The Garden of Allah (1936 film), The Garden of Allah'' (1936), ''Algiers (1938 film), Algiers'' (1938), and ''Love Affair (1939 film), Love Affair'' (1939), as well as the mystery-thriller ''Gaslight (1944 film), Gaslight'' (1944). He received four Academy Awards, Oscar nominations for Best Actor. He also appeared as himself on the CBS sitcom ''I Love Lucy''. Life and career Early years Boyer was born in Figeac, Lot, France, the son of Augustine Louise Durand and Maurice Boyer, a merchant. Boyer (whose surname comes from , the Occitan language, Occitan word for "cowherd") was a shy small-town boy who discovered the movies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Juan In Hell
''Man and Superman'' is a four-act drama written by George Bernard Shaw in 1903, in response to a call for Shaw to write a play based on the Don Juan theme. ''Man and Superman'' opened at the Royal Court Theatre in London on 21 May 1905 as a four-act play produced by the Stage Society, and then by John Eugene Vedrenne and Harley Granville-Barker on 23 May, without Act III ("Don Juan in Hell"). A part of the third act (Scene 2), was performed when the drama was staged on 4 June 1907 at the Royal Court. The play was not performed in its entirety until 1915, when the Travelling Repertory Company played it at the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh. Summary Mr. Whitefield has recently died, and his will indicates that his daughter Ann should be left in the care of two men, Roebuck Ramsden and John Tanner. Ramsden, a venerable old man, distrusts John Tanner, an eloquent youth with revolutionary ideas, whom Shaw's stage directions describe as "prodigiously fluent of speech, restless, excitabl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16, 1923, as an animation studio, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy Oliver Disney as Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio; it later operated under the names Walt Disney Studio and Walt Disney Productions before adopting its current name in 1986. In 1928, Disney established itself as a leader in the animation industry with the short film ''Steamboat Willie.'' The film used synchronized sound to become the first post-produced sound cartoon, and popularized Mickey Mouse, who became Disney's mascot and corporate icon. After becoming a success by the early 1940s, Disney diversified into live-action films, television, and theme parks in the 1950s. However, following Walt Disney's death in 1966, the company's profits, especially in the animation sector, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
