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Mornin' Letty, this songs very apt this morning......


Gerry And The Pacemakers Lyrics - Ferry 'cross The Mersey

Life goes on day after day
Hearts torn in every way

So ferry 'cross the Mersey
'cause this land's the place I love
and here I'll stay

People they rush everywhere
Each with their own secret care

So ferry 'cross the Mersey
and always take me there
The place I love

People around every corner
They seem to smile and say
We don't care what your name is boy
We'll never turn you away

So I'll continue to say
Here I always will stay

So ferry 'cross the Mersey
'cause this land's the place I love
and here I'll stay
and here I'll stay
Here I'll stay



....and it looks as if they will be staying there for a while longer......

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/4984944.stm

Well, listeners, there's our Lord. Nice to see you back in our studio, Brit.

Yes, that is a perfect song for today as I read your news item. It seems that you folks in England have a lot of those left overs lying around. I do hope that all goes well for the people on the ferry, dear. A grim reminder of what was and what may be again.

Shall we enjoy a bit of Robert Browning's optimism then?

Song, from Pippa Passes

The year's at the spring,
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hill-side's dew-pearled;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn;
God's in his Heaven -
All's right with the world!

-- Robert Browning

Henry Fonda
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Henry Fonda in the classic 1957 film 12 Angry Men.Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 - August 12, 1982) was a highly acclaimed American film, stage, and television actor, best known for his roles as plain-speaking idealists. Fonda's subtle, naturalistic acting style preceded by many years the popularization of method acting. He was the patriarch of a family of famous actors, including son Peter Fonda, daughter Jane Fonda, granddaughter Bridget Fonda, and grandson Troy Garity.

Fonda was born to William Brace Fonda and Herberta Jaynes. From his humble upbringing in a Nebraskan Christian Scientist family, Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor, and made his Hollywood debut in 1935. Fonda's career gained momentum after his Academy Award-nominated performance in 1940's The Grapes of Wrath, an adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel about an Oklahoma family who moved west during the Dust Bowl. Throughout six decades in Hollywood, Fonda cultivated a versatile career and a concrete screen image in such classics as The Ox-Bow Incident, Mister Roberts, and 12 Angry Men.

Later in his life, Fonda moved both toward more challenging and lighter roles in such epics as Once Upon a Time in the West and family comedies like Yours, Mine and Ours. He earned a Tony nomination for his role in 1974's Clarence Darrow (having previously won a Tony in Mister Roberts in 1948), and finished his career with a critically-acclaimed performance in On Golden Pond in 1981, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Fonda was also honored with "Lifetime Achievement" Academy Awards, Golden Globes, and Tony Awards. He died in 1982, leaving behind a legacy of classic performances, many of which are considered the finest examples of the "Golden Age of Hollywood."

Life and career

Family history and early life
He was born in Grand Island, Nebraska to William Brace Fonda and Herberta Krueger Jaynes, observant Christian Scientists. The Fonda family had emigrated westward from New York in the 1800s, and can trace its ancestry from Genoa, Italy, to The Netherlands in the 1500s, and then to the United States of America in the 1600s, where they founded a still-extant town called Fonda, New York.[1] In Henry Fonda's autobiography, he wrote,

"Early records show the family ensconced in northern Italy in the sixteenth century where they fought on the side of the Reformation, fled to Holland, intermarried with Dutch burghers' daughters, picked up the first names of the Low Countries, but retained the Italianate Fonda. Before Pieter Stuyvesant surrendered Nieuw Amsterdam to the English the Fondas, instead of settling in Manhattan, canoed up the Hudson River to the Indian village of Caughawaga. Within a few generations, the Mohawks and the Iroquois were butchered or fled and the town became known to mapmakers as Fonda, New York."[2]

As a youth in Nebraska, Fonda was active in the Boy Scouts of America as a youth and was a Scoutmaster, but was not an Eagle Scout as some report.[1] He then attended the University of Minnesota, majoring in journalism[3], although he did not graduate. At age twenty, he started his acting career at the Omaha Community Playhouse when his mother's friend Dodie Brando, mother of Marlon Brando, needed a young man to play the lead in You and I. He went East to perform with the Provincetown Players and Joshua Logan's University Players, an intercollegiate summer stock company and incubator of rising stars, where he worked with Margaret Sullavan, his future wife, and began a lifelong friendship with Jimmy Stewart.

Early career

The Grapes of WrathAlong with Stewart, Fonda headed for New York City, where the two were roommates and honed their skills on Broadway. Fonda appeared in theatrical productions from 1926 to 1934, and earned his first film appearance (1935) as the leading man in 20th Century Fox's screen adaptation of The Farmer Takes a Wife. He reprised his role from the Broadway production of the same name. When Fonda joined Stewart in Hollywood, Fonda shared Stewart's house, and the two young glamorous stars gained a reputation for womanizing.[4]

Fonda's film career blossomed, as he followed up with an appearance in The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, the first outdoor Technicolor movie, and the lead role in You Only Live Once, (1937), directed by Fritz Lang. A critical success opposite Bette Davis in the film Jezebel (1938) was followed by the title role in Young Mr. Lincoln and his first collaboration with director John Ford. Fonda's successes with Ford led Ford to recruit him to play "Tom Joad" in the film version of John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath (1940), but a reluctant Darryl Zanuck, who preferred Tyrone Power, insisted on Fonda's signing a seven-year contract with the studio, Twentieth Century-Fox.[5] Fonda agreed, and was ultimately nominated for an Academy Award for his work in the 1940 film, which many consider to be his finest role. Although his performance is often listed among the greatest in Hollywood history, Fonda was edged out by Jimmy Stewart, who won the award for his role as "Macaulay 'Mike' Connor" in The Philadelphia Story.

World War II service
Fonda played opposite Barbara Stanwyck in The Lady Eve (1941), and was acclaimed for his role in The Ox-Bow Incident, but he then enlisted in the Navy to fight in World War II, saying, "I don't want to be in a fake war in a studio."[6]

Previously, he and Stewart had helped raise funds for the defense of Britain from the Nazis.[7] Fonda served for three years, initially as a Quartermaster 3rd Class on the destroyer USS Satterlee; he was later commissioned as a Lieutenant Junior Grade in Air Combat Intelligence in the Central Pacific and won a Presidential Citation and the Bronze Star.[8][9]


Post-war career
After the war, Fonda appeared in the film Fort Apache (1948), and his contract with Fox expired. Refusing another long-term studio contract, Fonda returned to Broadway, wearing his own officer's cap to originate the title role in Mister Roberts, a comedy about the Navy. He won a 1948 Tony Award for the part, and later reprised his performance in the national tour and 1955 film version opposite James Cagney, continuing a pattern of bringing his acclaimed stage roles to life on the big screen. On the set of Mister Roberts, Fonda came to blows with John Ford and vowed never to work for him again. He never did.

Career in the '50s and '60s
After a six-year break from Hollywood, Fonda returned in the critically acclaimed Mister Roberts, as Lt. Douglas Roberts, a role he had originated in the play. He followed this success with a string of classic films, the first being the big-budget Paramount Pictures production of the Leo Tolstoy epic War and Peace, in which Fonda played Pierre Bezukhov opposite Audrey Hepburn. Fonda worked with Alfred Hitchcock in 1956, playing a man falsely accused of murder in The Wrong Man.


Facing Lee J. Cobb in 12 Angry MenIn 1957, Fonda made his first foray into production with 12 Angry Men, based on a script by Reginald Rose and directed by Sidney Lumet. The intense film about twelve jurors deciding the fate of a young man accused of murder was well-received by critics worldwide. Fonda shared the Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations with coproducer Reginald Rose and won the 1958 BAFTA Award for Best Actor for his performance as the logical "Juror #8." Henry Fonda vowed that he would never produce a movie ever again. After a series of ordinary western movies, Fonda returned to the production seat for the NBC series The Deputy, in which he also starred.

The sixties found Fonda in a number of war and western epics, including 1962's The Longest Day and How the West Was Won, 1965's In Harm's Way and Battle of the Bulge, and the 1964 suspense film Fail-Safe, about possible nuclear holocaust. He also returned to more light hearted cinema in 1963's Spencer's Mountain, the inspiration for the television program The Waltons, and 1968's Yours, Mine, and Ours.


Henry Fonda as the villain of Once Upon a Time in the WestHe appeared against type as the villain "Frank" in 1968's Once Upon a Time in the West. After turning down the role, he was talked into it by actor Eli Wallach and director Sergio Leone, who flew from Italy to the United States to persuade him to play the part. Fonda had planned on wearing a pair of brown-colored contact lenses, but Leone had worked important close-up shots of Fonda's blue eyes into the film.

Fonda's relationship with Jimmy Stewart survived their disagreements over politics?-Fonda was a liberal Democrat, and Stewart a conservative Republican. After a heated argument, they avoided talking politics with each other. In 1970, Fonda and Stewart costarred in the western The Cheyenne Social Club, a minor film in which the two humorously argued politics. Previously, they had appeared together in On Our Merry Way, a 1948 comedy featuring Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer which also paired actors William Demarest and Fred MacMurray.[10]

Marriages and children
Henry Fonda was married five times. His marriage to Margaret Brooke Sullavan in 1931 soon ended in separation, which was finalized in a 1933 divorce. In 1936, he married Frances Ford Seymour. They had two children, Peter and Jane. In 1950, Seymour committed suicide. Fonda married in 1950 Susan Blanchard, the stepdaughter of Oscar Hammerstein II. Together, they adopted a daughter, Amy (born 1953) [11], but divorced three years later, and in 1957 Fonda married Italian Countess Afdera Franchetti photo. They remained married until 1961. Soon after, Fonda married Shirlee Mae Adams and remained with her for seventeen years, until his death in 1982.

His relationship with his children has been described as "emotionally distant." In Peter Fonda's 1998 autobiography Don't Tell Dad, he described how he was never sure how his father felt about him, and that he did not tell his father he loved him until his father was elderly and he finally heard the words, "I love you, son."[12] Jane Fonda rejected her father's patriotism and his friendships with Republican actors such as John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart, and as a result the father/daughter relationship was extremely strained.

Jane Fonda also reported feeling detached from her father, especially during her early acting career. Henry Fonda introduced her to Lee Strasberg, who became her acting teacher, and as she developed as an actress using the techniques of "The Method," she found herself frustrated and unable to understand her father's effortless acting style. In the late 1950s, when she asked him how he prepared before going on stage, he baffled her by answering, "I don't know, I stand there, I think about my wife, Afdera, I don't know."[13] Writer Al Aronowitz, while working on a profile of Jane Fonda for The Saturday Evening Post in the 1960s, asked Henry Fonda about Method acting:

"I can't articulate about the Method," he told me, "because I never studied it. I don't mean to suggest that I have any feelings one way or the other about it...I don't know what the Method is and I don't care what the Method is. Everybody's got a method. Everybody can't articulate about their method, and I can't, if I have a method?-and Jane sometimes says that I use the Method, that is, the capital letter Method, without being aware of it. Maybe I do, it doesn't matter." [14]

Fonda's daughter shared this view: "My father can't articulate the way he works." Jane said. "He just can't do it. He's not even conscious of what he does, and it made him nervous for me to try to articulate what I was trying to do. And I sensed that immediately, so we did very little talking about it...he said, 'Shut up, I don't want to hear about it.' He didn't want me to tell him about it, you know. He wanted to make fun of it."[15]

Late career

Despite approaching his seventies, Henry Fonda continued to work in both television and film through the seventies. 1970 found Fonda in three films, the most successful of these ventures being The Cheyenne Social Club. The other two films were Too Late the Hero, which did not feature Henry Fonda in a very important role, and There Was a Crooked Man, about Paris Pitman Jr. (played by Kirk Douglas) trying to escape from an Arizonan prison.

Fonda made a return to both foreign and television productions, which provided career sustenance through a decade in which many aging screen actors suffered waning careers. He starred in the ABC television series The Smith Family between 1971 and 72. 1973's TV-movie The Red Pony, an adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel, earned Fonda an Emmy nomination. After the unsuccessful Hollywood melodrama, Ash Wednesday, he filmed three Italian productions released in 1973 and 74. The most successful of these, Il Mio nome è Nessuno (My Name Is Nobody), presented Fonda in a rare comedic performance as an old gunslinger whose plans to retire are dampened by a "fan" of sorts.

Henry Fonda continued stage acting throughout his last years, including several demanding roles in Broadway plays. He returned to Broadway in 1974 for the biographical drama, Clarence Darrow, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award. Fonda's health had been deteriorating for years, but his first outward symptoms occurred after a performance of the play in April 1974, when he collapsed from exhaustion. After the appearance of a heart arrhythmia, a pacemaker was installed and Fonda returned to the play in 1975. After the run of a 1978 play, First Monday of October, he took the advice of his doctors and quit plays, though he continued to star in films and television.

In 1976, Fonda appeared in several notable television productions, the first being Collision Course, the story of the volatile relationship between President Harry Truman (E.G. Marshall) and General MacArthur (Fonda), produced by ABC. After an appearance in the acclaimed Showtime broadcast of Almos' a Man, based on a story by Richard Wright, he starred in the epic NBC miniseries Captains and Kings, based on Taylor Caldwell's novel. Three years later, he appeared in ABC's Roots: The Next Generation, but the miniseries was overshadowed by its predecessor, Roots. Also in 1976, Fonda starred in the World War II blockbuster Midway.

Like many aging actors, Fonda finished the seventies with a number of disaster movies, which cashed in on big names to drive box office sales. The first of these came in 1977 with the Italian killer octopus thriller Tentacoli (Tentacles) and the mediocre Rollercoaster, which found Fonda cast with Richard Widmark and a young Helen Hunt. He appeared once again with Widmark, Olivia de Havilland, Fred MacMurray, and José Ferrer in the killer bee actioner The Swarm. With the disaster genre's popularity fading, Fonda filmed two last films; first the global disaster, Meteor, with Natalie Wood and Martin Landau; and then the Canadian production, City on Fire, which also featured Shelley Winters and Ava Gardner.

As Fonda's health continued to suffer and he took longer breaks between filming, critics began to take notice of his extensive body of work. In 1979, the Tony Awards committee gave Fonda a special award for his achievements on Broadway. Lifetime Achievement awards from the Golden Globes and Academy Awards followed in 1980 and 1981, respectively.

Fonda continued to act into the early eighties, though all but one of the productions he was featured in before his death were for television. These television works included the critically acclaimed live performance of Preston Jones' The Oldest Living Graduate, the Emmy nominated Gideon's Trumpet, and 1981's Summer Solstice, which teamed Fonda with Myrna Loy. This is the last film that Henry Fonda is credited for, and work began on it after the release of On Golden Pond.

Before Summer Solstice was made, however, 1981 brought Fonda's last cinematic film, an adaptation of Ernest Thompson's On Golden Pond. The film, directed by Mark Rydell, provided unprecedented (and, as it turned out, never-to-be-repeated) collaborations between Fonda, Katharine Hepburn, and Fonda's daughter, Jane. When premiered in December 1981, the film was well received by critics, and after a limited release on December 4th On Golden Pond developed enough of an audience to be widely released on January 22nd. Thanks to eleven Academy Award nominations, the film earned nearly $120 million at box office, becoming an unexpected blockbuster. In addition to wins for Hepburn (Best Actress), and Thompson (Screenplay), Pond finally brought Fonda his first, and as fate would have it, his only Oscar for Best Actor (it also earned him a Golden Globe Best Actor award). After Fonda's death, some film critics called his Pond performance "his last and greatest role". Indeed, his performance was the most critically acclaimed of all his roles.


Death and legacy

Commemorative U.S. Postage Stamp featuring Henry Fonda.Fonda died at his Los Angeles home on August 12, 1982, at the age of 77 after suffering from both heart disease and prostate cancer. Fonda's wife Shirlee and daughter Jane were at his side when he died.

In the years since his death, his career has been held in even higher regard than during his life. He is widely recognized as one of the Hollywood greats of the classic era. On his 100th birthday, May 16, 2005, Turner Classic Movies honored him with a marathon of his films. Also in May of 2005, the United States Post Office released a thirty-seven cent postage stamp with an artist's drawing of Fonda as part of their "Hollywood legends" series. [16]

Major Major Major Major
A character in Joseph Heller's absurdist novel, Catch-22, Major Major Major Major's resemblance to Henry Fonda caused him great difficulty when trying to be absorbed by the enlisted men.[citation needed]

Filmography


From the beginning of Henry Fonda's career in 1935 through his last projects in 1981, Fonda appeared in 106 films, television programs, and shorts. Through the course of his career he appeared in many critically acclaimed films, including such classics as 12 Angry Men and The Ox-Bow Incident. His roles in 1940's The Grapes of Wrath and 1981's On Golden Pond earned him Academy Award nominations (he won for the latter). Fonda made his mark in westerns and war films, and made frequent appearances in both television and foreign productions late in his career

Woody Herman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Woodrow Charles Herman (May 16, 1913-October 29, 1987), better known as Woody Herman, was an American jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and Big band leader.

Herman was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As a child he worked as a singer in vaudeville, then became a professional saxophone player at age 15. When Isham Jones's band, of which Herman had been a member, broke up in 1936, he formed his own band, the Woody Herman Orchestra, with some of his band mates. This band became known for its orchestrations of the blues and were sometimes billed as "The Band That Plays The Blues".

On April 12,1939 Woody Herman recorded his greatest commercial and mega popular hit record "Woodchoppers' Ball", featuring Woody on clarinet, Neal Ried on trombone, Saxie Mansfield on Sax, Steady Nelson on trumpet and Hy White on Guitar. Other big early hits were "Blue Flame," "Dupree Blues", "Blues Upstairs and Downstairs" and "Blues in the Night" with Joe Bishop on flugelhorn, Tommy Linehans on piano, Cappy Lewis on trumpet, and the strong rhythm team of Walt Yoder and Frankie Carlson.

This popular swing band "took off" and was listed number three in the country in a popularity poll by Down Beat Magazine in 1940. The band was first pinned "Herman's Herd" in a Martin band instrument advertisement in the same magazine on April 1, 1941.

This band's music was heavily influenced by Duke Ellington and Count Basie. Its lively, swinging arrangements, combining bop themes with swing rhythm parts, were greatly admired; Igor Stravinsky wrote "Ebony Concerto" for this band. Other pieces for which the band was known include "Caldonia" and "Northwest Passage." Featured musicians were trumpeter Sonny Berman,trumpeter/arranger Neil Hefti, trumpeter/vocalist Steady Nelson, tenor saxist Flip Phillips, trombonist Bill Harris, vibraphonist Red Norvo, pianist/arranger Ralph Burns, drummers Davey Tough and Don Lamond and bassist Chubby Jackson, who was the driving force/talent scout behind the bands progressive development. Herman disbanded the orchestra in 1946 to spend more time with his wife and family, but in 1947 organized the Second Herd. This band featured a cooler sound, provided by such musicians as Stan Getz, Zoot Sims, Serge Chaloff, Al Cohn, Gene Ammons, Lou Levy, Oscar Pettiford, Terry Gibbs, Shelly Manne, and Herbie Steward. Among this band's hits were "Early Autumn," "The Goof and I," and "Four Brothers" (this band was also known as the Four Brothers band).

Herman's many later bands included the Third Herd and the New Thundering Herd. He was known for hiring the best young musicians and using their arrangements. His band's book consequently came to be heavily influenced by rock and roll.

He continued to perform into the 1980s, chiefly to pay back taxes caused by a band manager in the 1960s. When he became ill and was forced to give up the band, the Internal Revenue Service seized his assets, including his home. While still ill, he picked the leader of the reed section, Frank Tiberi, as his successor. Tiberi leads the band in performances to this day. It should be recognized that after the death of Herman, Charles Mingus, and other jazz greats a sort of retirement fund was created by ASCAP in 1991 to which artists were given the opportunity to fund their latter years when they no longer were recording artists. Woody Herman was discovered dead on October 29, 1987 on a New York City street. He had been homeless for sometime and was tagged a John Doe until some of the locals in the neighborhood couldn't find him a called the police to file a missing persons report.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woody_Herman"

Liberace
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Liberace shows off his rings (circa 1980).Wladziu Valentino Liberace (May 16, 1919 - February 4, 1987), better known by the stage name Liberace and known to his friends as Lee, was a charismatic American entertainer.

Early life and stage name

Liberace was born in West Allis, Wisconsin, and grew up in a musical family of Polish-Italian heritage. He had a twin who died at birth. He was classically trained as a pianist and gained wide experience playing popular music. Lee followed the advice of famous Polish pianist and family friend Paderewski and billed himself under his last name only. As his classical career developed he found that his whimsical encores, in which he played pop songs and marches, went over better with audiences than his renditions of classical pieces, so he changed his act to "pop with a bit of classics". At other times, he referred to his act as "classical music with the boring parts left out." During the mid and late 1940s he performed in dinner clubs and nightclubs in major cities around the United States.

Television

He had a network television program in the 1950s which for a time had higher ratings than I Love Lucy. His brother George led the program's backing band. He became known for his extravagant costumes, personal charm and self-deprecating wit. His public image became linked with one ever present stage prop, a silver candelabrum perched on his piano. By 1955 he was making $50,000 per week at the Riviera nightclub in Las Vegas and had over 160 official fan clubs with a quarter of a million member fans (who throughout his career were mostly middle-aged women). He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 for his contributions to the television industry.

In 1966 he appeared in two highly rated episodes of the campy U.S. television series Batman. During the 1970s his appearances included guest roles on episodes of Here's Lucy and Kojak.

Liberace was also the guest host in an episode of The Muppet Show. His performances included a "Concerto for the Birds" and an amusing rendition of "Chopsticks." In the 1980s he guest starred on television shows such as Saturday Night Live (on a season 10 episode hosted by Hulk Hogan and Mr. T), The Tonight Show and the 1984 film Special People.


Recordings

He released several recordings through Columbia Records (later on Dot and through direct television advertising) and sold over 2,000,000 records in 1953 alone. Liberace's highly colored style of piano playing was characterized by some critics as fluid and lyrical but technically careless.


Films

He was at the height of his career in 1955 when he starred in Sincerely Yours with Dorothy Malone, playing 31 songs. The film was a commercial and critical failure and some of the problems were attributed to his having been overexposed on television.

In 1965 he had a small part in the movie When the Boys Meet the Girls starring Connie Francis, essentially playing himself.

In 1966 Liberace received kudos for his brief role as a casket salesman in the film adaptation of The Loved One, Evelyn Waugh's satire of the funeral business and movie industry in Southern California. It was the only film Liberace made in which he did not play the piano.


Lawsuits

His fame in the US was paralleled for a time in the UK. In 1957 an article in The Daily Mirror by veteran columnist "Cassandra" (William Connor) mentioned that Liberace was "...the summit of sex--the pinnacle of masculine, feminine, and neuter. Everything that he, she, and it can ever want. . .a deadly, winking, sniggering, snuggling, chromium-plated, scent-impregnated, luminous, quivering, giggling, fruit-flavored, mincing, ice-covered heap of mother love," a description which did everything it could to imply he was homosexual without saying so. Liberace sued the newspaper for libel, testified in a London court that he was not a homosexual, had never taken part in homosexual acts, and won the suit.

For years Liberace had joked, "I don't mind the bad reviews, but George [his brother and business partner] cries all the way to the bank." The £8,000 ($22,400) damages he received from The Daily Mirror led Liberace to alter this catchphrase to "I cried all the way to the bank!" [1]

In 1982, Liberace's live-in boyfriend of some five years, Scott Thorson, sued the pianist for $113 million in palimony after an acrimonious split-up. Liberace continued to publicly deny that he was homosexual. In 1984, most of Thorson's claim was dismissed although he received a $95,000 settlement.[2]

Later career

Liberace Museum, Las Vegas, 2003In 1960 Liberace performed at the London Palladium with Nat King Cole and Sammy Davis Jr. (this was the first televised "command performance" for Queen Elizabeth II). His career then went into a slump but he skillfully built it back up by appealing directly to his fan base through live appearances in Las Vegas and elsewhere. Liberace was a favorite subject of tabloid magazines throughout his life and he published an autobiography in 1973. He had a keen interest in cooking, often preparing meals for friends and associates, owned a restaurant in Las Vegas for many years and published cookbooks.

In 1975 Liberace's live shows were major box office attractions in Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe and he sometimes earned as much as $125,000 a week. These glitzy shows were a continued success for the next eleven years, helped along by infrequent but flamboyant television appearances and the opening of a promotional museum of his extravagant jewelry and stage costumes in 1979.


Death

Liberace's final stage performance was at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on November 2, 1986. He died of complications related to AIDS at the age of 67 on February 4, 1987 at his winter house in Palm Springs, California. His obvious weight loss in the months prior to his death was attributed to a "watermelon diet" by his longtime and steadfast manager Seymour Heller. But he had been in ill health since 1985 with other health problems including emphysema from his daily smoking off-stage, as well as heart and liver troubles. How and exactly when he contracted AIDS will probably never be determined for Liberace vehemently denied to the end that he had AIDS, and that he was a homosexual. He is interred in Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.

The Liberace Museum in Las Vegas contains many of his stage costumes, cars, jewelry, and lavishly-decorated pianos, along with numerous citations for philanthropic acts.

Trivia
He appeared on the cover of TV Guide five times.
He achieved a boyhood dream of playing at Carnegie Hall in 1953.
His devotion to his mother was widely publicized.
In 1953 Liberace was named by Ripley's Believe It Or Not as "The Fastest Piano Player In The World" for playing 6,000 notes in two minutes.
He had a piano-shaped swimming pool.
He was the first performer to demand and receive US$50,000 per week to play in Las Vegas.
After seeing professional wrestler Gorgeous George perform in Las Vegas he began to wear a gold-lame dinner jacket in his performances there. Elvis Presley reportedly saw this and asked Liberace if he would mind if he copied the jacket, whereupon Liberace suggested an entire tuxedo of gold-lame, starting Elvis on the road to the rhinestone-encrusted jumpsuits of his later career. Elvis subsequently surpassed Liberace as Las Vegas' highest-paid performer but after Presley died Liberace reclaimed the distinction and held it for the rest of his life.
Liberace is widely credited with helping singer Barbra Streisand's early career.
During the 1960s he briefly owned and promoted an interior decorating shop in Hollywood.
During a 1969 appearance on CBS' The Ed Sullivan Show, he said his favorite song was "The Impossible Dream," from the musical Man of La Mancha.
He appeared onstage in hotpants for the first time in 1971 (the costume was red, white and blue with cowboy fringe).
He appeared at the first WWF WrestleMania in 1985 as a special guest timekeeper in the main event match.
After his death from complications related to AIDS, Liberace's extravagant house in Las Vegas, which he had purchased for $3,000,000, was offered for sale by his estate but no buyers came forward. The house was eventually sold for $325,000 at a public auction and converted into a banquet and reception center.
Due to botched plastic surgery, Liberace was unable to close his eyes totally.

References in popular culture

Entertainers inspired by him include Little Richard (who called himself "the bronze Liberace"), James Brown (who also cited Gorgeous George as a stage influence), and Elton John, whose costumes early in his career often included feathers and furs as Liberace's sometimes did.
Liberace is mentioned in "My Baby Just Cares For Me" by Nina Simone, "The Lonely" by British Sea Power, "California Love" by Dr. Dre and Tupac Shakur, "Mr. Sandman" by the Chordettes, "We Didn't Start The Fire" by Billy Joel, "American Bad Ass" by Kid Rock, "Hustler's Ambition" by 50 Cent, "Stunt 101" by G-Unit, "Criminal" by Eminem,"Fight Music" by D12, "Revelation" by D12 and "It's So Hard" by Big Pun.
In the 2005 film Good Night, and Good Luck Liberace is shown (using real footage) being interviewed by Edward R. Murrow (played by David Strathairn). In retrospect, the footage shown has Liberace "coming out" as looking for a man to marry.
That 70's Show (TV series): In episode 4-10, "Red and Stacey," Steven compares Eric to Liberace ("He's as soft as Liberace at the Playboy Mansion.")
Home Improvement (TV series): Tim Taylor smells potpourri in the garage and remarks to his wife "This is the garage, not the Liberace museum!"
Friends (TV series): Chandler sarcastically asks if Joey purchased his bracelet from the "Liberace House of Crap"
Several Looney Tunes cartoons (and other theatrical cartoons) have either caricatured Liberace or used his catchphrase, "I wish my brother George was here."
In Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery: "Yeah, and I can't believe Liberace was gay. I mean, women loved him! I didn't see that one coming."
One episode of Reno 911 has two of the police officers guarding a lucite piano supposedly once owned by Liberace. In that episode, the piano is a player piano that is supernaturally capable of granting wishes.
The Futurama episode "Less Than Hero" (where Fry, Leela, and Bender become superheroes), Leela mentions an audio version of an exhibition at a museum called "The Treasures of Liberace's Tomb"
Season One, Episode 15 of CSI, "Table Stakes", visits the Liberace Museum to retrieve some DNA from a headdress worn by one of the dancers for a show of his.
On the South Park episode "Chinpokomon", after the South Park kids are shown the fake commercial for Alabama Man (a Ken doll/action figure who goes bowling, chews tobacco, drinks beer, and beats up his wife), Kyle refers to the toy as "Liberace gay".
In the 1986 Prince movie Under The Cherry Moon, Christopher's friend Tricky tells Katy, "I'm my own man! Just like Liberace!"

Martine Carol
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Martine Carol (May 16, 1920 - February 6, 1967) was a French film actress.

Born Marie Louise Jeanne Mourer in the resort town of Biarritz, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, she studied acting under René Simon (1898-1966), making her stage debut in 1940 and her first motion picture in 1943. One of the most beautiful women in film, she was frequently cast as an elegant blonde seductress. During the late 1940s and early 1950s she was the leading sex symbol and a top box office draw of French cinema.

Despite her fame and fortune, Martine Carol's personal life was filled with turmoil that included a suicide attempt, drug abuse, and four marriages.

She died at the age of forty-four of a reported heart attack in a Monte Carlo hotel room and was interred in the Cimetière du Grand Jas in Cannes, France.


Partial filmography
Love and the Frenchwoman (1961)
Ten Seconds to Hell (1959)
Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
Lola Montes (1955)
Nana (1955)
Les Belles de nuit (1952)
Caroline chérie (1950)

Pierce Brosnan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Pierce Brosnan at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.Pierce Brendan Brosnan (Honorary) OBE (born May 16, 1951) is an Irish film actor and producer. He is best known for portraying James Bond in four films: GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, and Die Another Day. His fans credit him with reviving the James Bond film series after a six year hiatus caused by the major legal and financial issues of MGM, the distributor of the series.

Biography

Early life

Born an only child in the Republic of Ireland in Drogheda, County Louth, Brosnan lived in nearby Navan, County Meath. He was educated by the Irish Christian Brothers and would later condemn their brutality. Brosnan's mother moved to London for work after his father abandoned the family; in 1964, at the age of 13, he joined her. His mother subsequently divorced his father and married a Scottish World War II veteran who was quickly embraced as a father figure by his young stepson. He trained as an actor at the Drama Centre, London.


Early career

In the early-1980s, he became a television star in the United States with his leading role in the popular miniseries Manions of America, which he followed in 1982 by playing the title role in the high-rated NBC detective series Remington Steele. He was actually offered the job as James Bond before the Remington Steele series could be completed, but Brosnan was unable to break the contract with the producers.


James Bond

Pierce Brosnan as James Bond in 1999's The World Is Not Enough.In 1986, with Roger Moore's retirement from the role, Timothy Dalton was offered the role of James Bond once again after previously having turned it down when Sean Connery left the role in 1971. The 1986 film adaptation of Brenda Starr, however, kept Dalton from being able to immediately accept the role. A number of actors were then screentested for the role, notably Sam Neill, but ultimately were passed over by Cubby Broccoli. Brosnan (whose Remington Steele series had just ended), was offered the role, but publicity revived the Remington Steele programme and forced Brosnan to back out of the role due to his contract with the show. Dalton then became available and accepted the role. Dalton's second turn as 007 Licence to Kill (1989) was a disappointment at the American box office, and legal squabbles about ownership of the film franchise resulted in cancellation of a proposed third Dalton film in 1991 (rumoured title: The Property of a Lady) and would put the series in a six-year hiatus. During that time, Dalton acted upon a clause in his contract and resigned, which left the door open for Brosnan, in 1994.

Brosnan's appointment as Bond brought things full circle for the actor, who stated in interviews that the very first movie he ever saw was Goldfinger and that Sean Connery's performance as Bond inspired him to enter show business.

Aware of the danger of being typecast as James Bond, Brosnan asked EON Productions, when accepting the role, to be allowed to work in other projects between Bond series films. The request was granted, and for every Bond series film, Brosnan appeared in at least two mainstream films, including several he had produced. For a time, rumour was that Brosnan's Bond contract forbade him from wearing a dinner suit in any non-Bond film; that rumour was false. Brosnan played a wide range of roles in-between his Bond film appearances, ranging from a nerdy scientist in Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! to Canadian conservationist Grey Owl in the biopic of the same name.

Brosnan was signed for a four-film deal and first appeared as agent 007 in 1995's GoldenEye to much critical praise. GoldenEye more than doubled the gross of Dalton's previous film in worldwide ticket box office sales. Pierce returned as Bond in 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies and 1999's The World Is Not Enough to virtually the same success. In 2002 Brosnan appeared for his fourth and final time as the super suave secret agent in Die Another Day, which, while controversial to fans as being perhaps one of the weaker entries in the series, shattered all previous Bond films in terms of worldwide box office gross and is currently the highest grossing Bond film ever (although not with inflation counted.)

In early 2004, Brosnan starred in the James Bond video game Everything or Nothing, allowing his likeness to be used as well as doing the voice work for the character.

Shortly after, the media began questioning whether or not Brosnan would reprise the role for a fifth and final time. Brosnan kept in mind that aficionados and critics both were unhappy with Moore playing the role well into his 50s, but he received popular support from both critics and the franchise fanbase for a fifth. For this reason, he remained enthusiastic about reprising his role after his initial contract expired, despite earlier reservations about doing so. Throughout 2004, Brosnan was rumoured numerous times to have been "fired" from the role to make way for a new and younger actor. This was denied by MGM, EON Productions, and even Brosnan himself. In October 2004, however, Brosnan had been quoted as saying "it's absolutely over" and that he considered himself fired from the role. Although Brosnan had been rumoured frequently as still being in the running to play 007, he had denied it several times and in February 2005 posted on his website that he was finished with the role. In spite of this, rumours continued to circulate that he was in negotiations with the producers up until Daniel Craig was signed and announced on October 14, 2005. After the announcement of Craig as the next 007, Brosnan's Bond wax figures at all Madame Tussauds ?- including London, New York City, and Las Vegas ?- were removed.

Personal life

When Brosnan was in high school, his nickname was "Irish"

Brosnan's first wife, the Australian actress Cassandra Harris, died of ovarian cancer in 1991, after eleven years of marriage. Brosnan was said to have been devastated by her death. In 2001, Brosnan married American journalist Keely Shaye Smith.

In July 2003, Queen Elizabeth II awarded Brosnan an honorary OBE for his "outstanding contribution to the British film industry". As an Irish citizen, he is ineligible to receive the full OBE honour, which is awarded only to a British citizen.

On September 23, 2004, Brosnan became a naturalized citizen of the United States. He is the father of three American sons, and has lived in the United States for more than twenty years. He currently resides in Malibu Beach, California.

Good day to all. Someone just cannot wait…


I Want It All
Words and music by Queen

Adventure seeker on an empty street
Just an alley creeper light on his feet
A young fighter screaming with no time for doubt
With the pain and anger can't see a way out
It ain't much I'm asking I heard him say
Gotta find me a future move out of my way
I want it all I want it all I want it all and I want it now
I want it all I want it all I want it all and I want it now

Listen all you people come gather round
I gotta get me a game plan gotta shake you to the ground
Just give me what I know is mine
People do you hear me just give me the sign
It ain't much I'm asking if you want the truth
Here's to the future for the dreams of youth
I want it all (give it all) I want it all I want it all and I want
it now
I want it all (yes I want it all) I want it all (hey)
I want it all and I want it now

I'm a man with a one track mind
So much to do in one life time (people do you hear me)
Not a man for compromise and where's and why's and living
lies
So I'm living it all (yes I'm living it all)
And I'm giving it all (and I'm giving it all)

Yeah yeah
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
I want it all all all all

It ain't much I'm asking if you want the truth
Here's to the future
Hear the cry of youth (hear the cry hear the cry of youth)
I want it all I want it all I want it all and I want it now
I want it all (yeah yeah yeah) I want it all I want it all and I
want it now

Olga Korbut
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Olympic Medal Record

Women's Artistic Gymnastics
Gold 1972 Munich Balance beam
Gold 1972 Munich Floor exercise
Gold 1972 Munich Team competition
Gold 1976 Montreal Team competition
Silver 1972 Munich Uneven bars
Silver 1976 Montreal Balance beam
Olga Valentinovna Korbut (Belarusian: Вольга Валянцінаўна Корбут, Vol'ha Valyantsinawna Korbut; Russian: Ольга Валентиновна Корбут) (b. May 16, 1955 in Hrodna), also known as the Sparrow from Minsk, is a Soviet Belarusian gymnast who won four gold medals and two silver medals at the Summer Olympics, where she competed in 1972 and 1976. Olga Korbut remained a darling with the crowds. She was instantly recognisable and famous everywhere due in part to her cheeky smile and her daring and risky performances.


Early life

Korbut, who started training at age 8, entered a Belarusian sports school headed by coach Renald Knysh at age 11. Korbut's first trainer was Elena Volchetskaya (a 1964 Olympian); she was moved to Knysh's group a year later. With him, she learned a difficult backward somersault on the balance beam.

She ended fifth at her first competition in the 1969 USSR championships. The next year, she won a gold medal in the vault. Due to illness and injury she was unable to compete in many of the tournaments prior to the 1972 Olympics.


The Olympics

At the Olympics, her acrobatics diminutive prettiness captivated the Munich audiences, and there she became the first person ever to do a backward somersault on the balance beam. She also was the first to do standing backward somersalt on bars, and a back somersalt to swingdown (Korbut Flip) on beam. Her bars move is no longer seen in high level gymnastics but the tuck back and Korbut Flip are still very popular (2003 world beam champion Fan Ye performed both in her routine). This excellence in technical skills overthrew the sport's traditional emphasis on gracefulness.

During the Olympics, Korbut was one of the favourites for the all-around after her dynamic performance in the team competition. But memorably, she fell from bars and the title went to her teammate Ludmilla Tourischeva. However Olga did get three gold medals, for the balance beam, floor exercise and team, and one silver medal in the uneven parallel bars.

In 1973 she won the Russian and World Student (i.e., University) Games and a silver medal in the all-around at the European Championships.

The Soviet coaches and officials had designated Olga as the woman who could beat Romanian prodigy Nadia Comaneci in the 1976 Olympic Games at Montreal. But Olga was injured and no longer in love with the sport, and her performances were under-par. She was overshadowed not only by Comaneci but by her own teammate Nellie Kim. But she did collect a team gold medal and an individual silver medal for the balance beam.

She graduated from the Grodno Pedagogical Institute in 1977 and retired from Olympic competition thereafter. She married Leonid Bortkevich, who was a member of a popular Belarusan folk band Pesniary. The couple had a son, Richard, in 1979.

Legacy

Korbut was of course a highly decorated athlete, with four Olympic golds to her credit. But it is not her results for which she is most remembered. The media whirl that surrounded her after her Olympic debut in 1972 caused a surge of young girls to join their local gymnastic clubs. A sport which had previously seldom been noticed now made headlines. She also contributed to a change in the whole direction of the sport. Prior to 1972, the athletes were rather older and there was a greater focus on elegance than on acrobatics. In the decade after Korbut first came to the world's attention, this completely changed.

Debra Winger
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Debra Winger (born May 16, 1955) is an American actress.

Born Marie Debra Winger in Cleveland Heights, Ohio to a Jewish family, she spent several years in Israel, and served in the Israel Defense Forces. After returning to the United States, she was involved in an automobile accident and suffered a cerebral haemorrhage as a result. She was left partially paralyzed and blind for ten months, although she was initially told that she would never see again. With time on her hands to think about her life, she decided that, if she recovered, she would move to California and become an actress.

Her first acting role was as Princess Diana's younger sister Drusilla (Wonder Girl) in the Wonder Woman television series. She got her first starring role in Urban Cowboy in 1980, opposite John Travolta for which she received a BAFTA award nomination.

In 1982 she starred opposite Richard Gere in An Officer and a Gentleman, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for Terms of Endearment in 1984, and Best Actress for Shadowlands in 1993 for which she also received her second BAFTA award nomination. In 1995 Winger left the film industry.

In 2001, a critically acclaimed documentary film titled Searching For Debra Winger was made by director/writer/actor Rosanna Arquette and released in 2002 after Winger returned to performing.

Other films include Made in Heaven, Everybody Wins, The Sheltering Sky, Leap of Faith, Black Widow, Betrayed, Wilder Napalm and A Dangerous Woman.

Winger also contributed to the voice of the title character in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, although her role is uncredited.

She also earned an Emmy Award nomination for her performance in Dawn Anna in 2005, marking her return to acting.

She has been married to actor Timothy Hutton and is currently married to actor Arliss Howard, and has a son from each marriage: Noah Hutton (born in 1987) and Babe Ruth Howard (born in 1997). She dated then-Gov. Bob Kerrey while filming Terms of Endearment in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Janet Jackson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Born May 16, 1966
Origin Gary, Indiana, United States

Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter, producer, dancer, actress, and the youngest child of the famed Jackson music family. She is the sister of pop icon Michael Jackson. Breaking away from the shadows of her siblings, Jackson now ranks as the ninth most successful artist in the history of rock and roll, according to Billboard magazine in 2004.

Early life

Janet was born the last of nine children in Gary, Indiana to parents Joseph and Katherine Jackson. Living in a two-bedroom house with eight older siblings, Janet's father, Joseph worked as a crane operator in a steel mill and before she became a devout Jehovah's Witness, her mother Katherine worked as a store clerk for Sears. Before Janet's birth, her father decided to try a hand at a music career fronting the R&B band the Falcons, but never got as far as the top nightclubs in Indiana. According to reports, Janet's father was gregarious and stern while her mother was deeply religious and seemed saintly.

By the time she was a toddler, Janet's older brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael had already begun to perform on stage at nightclubs and theaters as the Jackson 5. In March 1969, the group signed to Motown Records, and by the end of the year, the group recorded their first of their four consecutive number-one singles. By the time the Jackson 5 had achieved success the entire family moved to Southern California, eventually settling in a gated mansion they named Hayvenhurst in 1971.

Aspiring to be a horse jockey during her early years, Janet had no intention of entering show business. However, her father thought otherwise, as he saw her career potential. After the success of the Jackson 5 began to diminish, Joseph decided to bring the rest of his children into the spotlight, including Janet. On April 9, 1974, Janet made her public debut performance at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas with nearly all nine members of the Jackson family. Janet quickly became the star of the show, emulating and imitating various celebrities of the day such as Cher, Marie Osmond, Toni Tennille, and Mae West, in particular.

By 1976, the Jackson family's Vegas act had caught the attention of CBS president Fred Silverman. The network was desperately trying to find a new variety act to replace the recently ended Sonny & Cher Show, since ABC had a competing show featuring Donny and Marie Osmond. Debuting on June 16, 1976, The Jacksons show became the first African-American family to have a variety show on TV. The show lasted only two seasons and was canceled in 1977.


Recording career

1982?-1985: Janet Jackson and Dream Street

Jackson always had an interest in music, writing her first song at the age of nine, but she never aspired to be a professional singer. Nonetheless, she agreed to participate in music just to help her family out. Her first ever recording was a duet with her brother Randy on a song titled "Love Song for Kids" in 1978. She would participate in her family's other recordings, particularly with sister LaToya and brother Michael.

In 1981, Jackson and her two older sisters LaToya and Rebbie had wanted to start their own musical group, but disagreements between the older sisters forced the group to disband before ever making a record. Instead Janet was featured on LaToya's 1981 album called My Special Love on the song "Camp Kuchi Kaiai".

Although she was asked by her father Joseph to start a singing career, Jackson was uncomfortable with being in the recording studio, feeling she was not as talented vocally as her sister Rebbie or brother Michael, who was becoming a solo pop superstar. Nonetheless, at the age of sixteen, she released her debut album simply called Janet Jackson (1982), though the teenager protested that her last name should not have been on the cover. Produced by soul singers Angela Winbush, Rene Moore and Leon Sylvers of the famed Sylvers family music group, the album reached the top ten of the Billboard R&B album charts, and spent forty-five weeks in the top fifty of that chart but was much less successful on the Billboard pop albums chart. The album yielded three singles, "Young Love", "Say You Do" and "Come Give Your Love to Me". Janet Jackson sold over 250 thousand copies at the time of its release.

In 1984, Jackson, then eighteen, released her second album, titled Dream Street. It marked a musical progression from her debut, with funkier, up-tempo production by brother Marlon and famed disco producer Giorgio Moroder, producer of songs for artists such as Donna Summer. The album failed to make the top one hundred of the Billboard pop album charts but did reach number nineteen on the R&B chart. Though Dream Street scored a Top 10 R&B hit with "Don't Stand Another Chance", sales of Dream Street were about half of her debut's, critics soon began to dismiss Jackson's career as a pop star.

Around the same time, Jackson fell in love and eloped with James DeBarge, member of the Motown family group DeBarge. The marriage was annulled in March 1985, with DeBarge's drug habit often cited as the reason. After the marriage was annulled and after years of dealing with being a member of a world-famous family, Jackson began to search for independence.


1986?-1988: Control

After the limited success of her first two albums, A&M A&R John McClain recruited producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis to enliven the music career of the nineteen-year-old. Before leaving for Minneapolis, however, the producers were given the blessing of Jackson's father, who was her manager at the time, after they promised him that Jackson would not sound anything like Prince. Within months, Jackson, Jam & Lewis crafted the record Control, in which Jackson told her life through a musical basis.

Control, released in 1986, became a smash hit spawning five top ten singles, including her first number one single When I Think Of You. The album became a breakthrough record for Jackson partly due to the singles' music videos that showcased a different side of Jackson, containing dynamic dance moves choreographed by Paula Abdul. Fall 1986, the album went to the top of the Billboard 200 album chart, by the end of 1986, the album had sold over five million copies in America alone. Control was awarded a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year, six Billboard Music Awards, four American Music Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards and three Soul Train Music Awards including Album of the Year.


1989?-1991: Rhythm Nation 1814

In 1989, Jackson began recording her fourth album, Rhythm Nation 1814 (1814 is the year the song "The Star Spangled Banner" was written; also, 'R' is the 18th letter of the alphabet and 'N' is the 14th, hence 1814). Executives at A&M wanted a record that was similar to Control, but Jackson was determined to do the exact opposite. Instead, she presented a mixed bag of socially-conscious tracks (inspired by the work of Marvin Gaye and Joni Mitchell), danceable New Jack Swing tunes, a rare rock number and several romantic ballads.

Released in 1989, Rhythm Nation 1814 went straight to number one on the Billboard 200 album chart, and R&B album chart. The album sold six million copies by the end of the following year, and became the first album to spawn seven top five singles, as well as four number one singles. In 1990 Billboard awarded the album with the #1 Selling Album of the Year award. Jackson won multiple awards including fifteen Billboard Music Awards, five American Music Awards, four Soul Train Music Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, and her first Grammy Award.


Jackson performing live from Japan on her sold-out Rhythm Nation world tour.Jackson went on a top-selling tour to promote the album that has since been regarded as the most successful debut tour of any artist. Janet also became the first artist to score a #1 hit simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100 and Mainstream Rock singles chart with "Black Cat" in 1990. By the end of its run, the album scored four number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100, Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart and three number one singles on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart.

1992?-1995: janet. and Design of a Decade

Before Jackson released her follow-up the to mega successful Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814, she was freed from her contract with A&M Records, it was headline news. Once Jackson signed to Virgin Records in 1992 it was a media event, Her US$40 million deal was the largest recording deal in history, it set the stage for her Virgin debut, the album, titled janet.. The albums lead single "That's The Way Love Goes", became an instant hit when it became the first and only single in radio history to enter the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart at number one. Within weeks it became a number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100.

janet. became the first of the Nielsen SoundScan era to debut in the U.S. at number one, and it reached number one in twenty-two countries, sold seventeen million copies and won several awards, including a Grammy Award. It was the fourth best-selling album of the year in the U.S., and the eighth biggest selling album of the following year on the year end Billboard Top Albums chart.


Jackson on the cover of Rolling Stone in 1993In September 1993, Jackson appeared topless on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. The magazine cover became one of the most celebrated photos ever taken of a rock artist, and Rolling Stone named it their "Most Popular Cover Ever" in 2000. In a precursor of her Super Bowl controversy, Jackson was criticized for the explicitness of the photograph, but she abashedly insisted that the male hands covering her breasts belonged to her husband.

In 1995, she released her first Greatest Hits package, Design of a Decade 1986/1996. The collection contained two new songs, Runaway , and Twenty Foreplay. Janet, hoping to land the part of Dorothy Dandridge, inspired her look after the star.

[edit]
1996?-1999: The Velvet Rope

In 1996, Jackson re-signed with Virgin for a reported $80 million, which made her the highest paid female recording artist of all time. Around the same time, she was busy trying to create a concept around her seventh album, and went through clinical depression. The result was The Velvet Rope (1997), her fourth number-one album on the Billboard 200. Alongside a love song ("I Get Lonely"), sex song ("Rope Burn") and anti-racism anthem (the hidden track "Can't Be Stopped"), most of the album showcased pain, life lost, and spiritual growth. The album's became another multi-platinum effort for the singer, and yielded a total of four hit singles.

In 1999 Janet sang a duet with Ricky Martin on Pepsi commercial. The song called "Ask for more" became another Jackson's smash.

Following her failed marriage to James DeBarge in 1985, Jackson had begun an on-again, off-again courtship with former dancer Rene Elizondo that resulted in a secret marriage in March 1991. Around the release of The Velvet Rope the media speculated that their marriage had begun to fall apart, with both Jackson and Elizondo admitting that they had become more business partners than a couple, cultivating the sounds that made Jackson's music popular. By 1999 their marriage was over, though it was not made public until the following year. Jackson explained in interviews that, having been in the public spotlight herself at a young age, she felt that announcing her marriage publicly would have a negative effect on the relationship, which was already struggling.

2000?-2002: All for You

MTV Icon ad featuring Jackson.In March 2001 Jackson was awarded a top honor American Music Award "Award of Merit", and was named MTV's first "Icon", which resulted in a performance featuring Destiny's Child, N'Sync, Usher, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and others. Shortly after, Jackson's eighth studio album, All for You, was released in 2001. The album's number-one title track helped the album debut at number-one in its first week of sales with more than 605,000 copies sold in the U.S. All for You would go on to sell more than three million copies in America alone, and spawned the Billboard hit "Someone To Call My Lover". By the end of the year, All for You won Jackson her fifth Grammy award.

After scoring a top forty single with "Son of a Gun" and performing her last concert for her tour in Hawaii, she collaborated with reggae singer Beenie Man on the top forty song "Feel It Boy". Jackson began work on her next album the following year, and accepted an invitation to join that following year's Super Bowl festivities.

In 2001 Rene Elizondo later sued Jackson for spousal support, their court battle finally ending in 2002 with the divorce finalized and Elizondo receiving half the multi-million dollar pay-off he was hoping for. In 2002, Jackson began a relationship with hip-hop producer Jermaine Dupri.


2004?-2005: Super Bowl and Damita Jo
Main article: Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy

The "wardrobe malfunction".During the halftime show of Super Bowl XXXVIII on February 1, 2004, Jackson performed with Justin Timberlake to an audience of more than one hundred million people. During this live performance, Jackson sang along with Timberlake on his song "Rock Your Body". When Justin sang the lyric "gonna have you naked by the end of this song", her top was torn open by Timberlake, exposing Jackson's right breast; the nipple was partially covered by a nipple shield. Timberlake called the incident a "wardrobe malfunction". Jackson apologized, calling it an accident and that Timberlake was supposed to pull away the bustier and leave the red-lace bra intact; however, she later said to an interviewer for Genre magazine that she wishes she had not apologized at all.

CBS, the NFL, and MTV (then one of CBS's corporate siblings), which produced the halftime show, disclaimed all responsibility under a hailstorm of controversy. Jackson and Timberlake confirmed those denials, but the FCC continued with its investigation. As a result, CBS invited Jackson to appear at the 2004 Grammy Awards ceremony to make another public apology. She declined, but Justin Timberlake apologized and appeared as both a performer and a presenter.

Starting in 2001, Jackson and Jermaine Dupri had begun a secret courtship, and Dupri left his post on the Grammy Awards committee after Jackson refused to apologize again for what happened at the Superbowl. Since 2004, there have been rumours that the couple married, though they have constantly denied these reports. Dupri appeared in Jackson's video for "I Want You" while Janet returned the favor by appearing in Dupri's video for his single "Gotta Getcha".

In April 2004 she released her ninth studio effort, Damita Jo. with a high debut at number two and opening week sales of nearly 400,000 copies which would usually guarantee a number one debut, but opening sales were one of the biggest for a female artist. The songs released from the album, including the Prince-inspired "Just a Little While", the Motown/Supremes-inspired ballad "I Want You" and "All Nite (Don't Stop)" also performed modestly on the charts. Even though Damita Jo was considered a failure by her previous standards, the album sold over 3 million copies world wide and received nominations from the American Music Awards, Billboard Awards, Source Music Awards, BET Music Awards and Grammy Awards including Contemporary R&B Album of the Year.

Jackson appeared as Condoleezza Rice in a skit parodying the incident on Saturday Night Live, and it was the highest rated episode of the show in sixteen months since Al Gore had hosted. Jackson also appeared in the sitcom Will & Grace, playing herself as Jack auditioned to be her back-up dancer. It was her first appearance in decades on the small screen.

As a result of the media attention, Jackson became the most-searched for person on the Internet in 2004. Jackson was searched 50 times for every request for Super Bowl commercials. Janet was also the most-searched name of 2005 according to Google.com. [1]


2006?-present: 20 Years Old

Jackson is currently preparing to release her ninth studio album, scheduled for a September 2006 release. Jermaine Dupri is one of the executive producers of the album and has said the new album will be titled 20 Years Old, a nod to the 20th anniversary of Control, and also references to how old Janet 'currently feels.' [2]

On May 1, 2006, Jackson revealed a new song called "Weekend" on her official website and left a message stating that she had finished working on 20 Years Old. On May 2, 2006, Jackson left a new message on her website, saying that "Weekend" will not appear on 20 Years Old, that the first single from the album, entitled "Call on Me", which features Nelly, will be released on June 19, 2006, and that a tour in support of the album is being planned.

Janet is set to collaborate with rappers Khia, on the song "So Excited" due August 2006 [3], and Chingy, on a track on his new album, Hood Star [4].


Acting career

In 1977, 11-year-old Jackson's enthusiasm for acting caught television producer Norman Lear's ear. Lear was looking for someone to reawaken one of his groundbreaking shows from TV ruin - the family sitcom Good Times. Lear cast Jackson in Good Times as an abused child named Penny Gordon Woods. The show's star, J.J. Evans, played by Jimmie Walker, was the apple of Penny's eye on the show, a fact the character would make known every time she saw him. Jackson became one of the show's starring cast members during the 1977-1978 season, and would remain in the show until it was canceled in 1979.

Jackson continued her acting career, appearing briefly in a short-lived but Emmy Award nominated sitcom titled A New Kind of Family which also starred Rob Lowe, but was cancelled in early 1980. In 1981, she landed a recurring role on another family sitcom, Diff'rent Strokes, playing Charlene Duprey, the love interest of Willis (played by Todd Bridges). In 1984 Jackson reluctantly took the role of Cleo Hewitt in the musical series, Fame. She later told interviewers that her father told her to do the role. After a year, Jackson asked to be let go of her contract, and did not appear in another television series for nineteen years.


Jackson in 1993's Poetic JusticeAfter finding success as a singer, Jackson was given a chance to resume her acting career when director John Singleton allowed her to audition for his film Poetic Justice, as a tough, poetic hairdresser from South Central, Los Angeles. Jackson won the role in the romantic drama, starring opposite rapper Tupac Shakur. The film opened at No. 1 opening weekend in 1993, and depicted a very different image of Jackson than what had been seen before; her character cursed and even threatened people who ever crossed her. This coincided with a change in Jackson's music as she entered the studio to record her fifth album, whose music was brasher and more sexually charged than her previous work.

In 2000, nearly seven years since her last film Janet starred with Eddie Murphy in Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, the film went on to gross $142.7 million at the box office. Jackson recorded a single for the film's soundtrack, "Doesn't Really Matter", which reached number-one on the Billboard pop charts within a few weeks of its release, earning a gold disc. She was paid $3 million for Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, and paid an extra $1 million for the song "Doesn't Really Matter" for the film's soundtrack.

A hungry lion was roaming through the jungle looking for something to
eat. He came across two men. One was sitting under a tree and reading
a book. The other was typing away on his typewriter. The lion quickly
pounced on the man reading the book and devoured him. Even the king
of the jungle knows that readers digest, and writers cramp.

Well, folks. We know our Bob is through when he ends with a real groaner. Thanks, hawkman, for the background info. I, for one, certainly did NOT know that Pierce Brosnan was Irish. What a surprise.

Hey, Try. liked your Queen song, soooo as the woman once said, "All I want is what's coming to me." Unfortunately, she got it.

Back later to review more carefully the familiar Boston Bio's.

Good afternoon. A real groaner? I thought Bob's joke was funny.

Picture time:


(I saw Henry Fonda on stage in Mr. Roberts. He was wonderful.)

Well, there's our Raggedy, listeners. Great pictures as usual, PA. Unfortunately, I don't know Rosie. Well, honey, a play on words usually results in a groan accompanied by a smile.

Terms of Endearment was at once funny and sad, just as life often is. I loved the opening scene when Shirley climbed into the crib and utterd:

"We have a crib death here." She shook the baby until the little girl began to cry, and then said. "There. That's better."

Quote of the day:

My old friend-- look at me,
And tell me how much hope remains for me
With its protuberance! Oh, I have no more
Illusions! Now and then-- bah! I may grow
Tender, walkling alone in the blue cool
Of evening, through some garden fresh with flowers
After the benediction of the rain;
My poor big devil of a nose inhales
April... and so I follow with my eye
Where some boy, with a girl upon his arm,
Passes a patch of silver... and I feel
Somehow, I wish I had a woman too,
Walking with little steps under the moon,
And holding my arm so, and smiling. Then
I dream--- and I forget...
And then I see
The shadow of my profile on the wall

Who said that?

Oooh, "my profile on the wall" - that has to be Cyrano. That is so sad.
Am I right, Letty?

Ah, Raggedy. Once again you are right. Yes, Cyrano. What a marvelous play.

We'll dedicate that to Lord Ellpus and Francis.<smile>

From Brian Wilson:

My Jeanine

Van Dyke Parks

I carry the torch for her in the orchard
Apples were last name
My Jeanine my Jeanine
Each tree would ignite with blossoms of white
And apple her hair enflame
My Jeanine my Jeanine
Jeanine in jean and calico
A streak of mean don't let it show
So when she tells her let her go
Her yes may mean no
I love her so
We would meander now hand in hand in
Our appalachian clime
My Jeanine my Jeanine
We bring in the spring and toss from the swing
Along apple blossom time
My Jeanine my Jeanine

Remember when life was North Carolina
Two bits for Cokes and jokes at the diner
Time was a magazine
My Jeanine
My Jeanine my Jeanine
My Jeanine my Jeanine

I think it only fair for our friend Francis who supplies so many songs in English that we supply one en francais.

Je Ne Regrette Rien :: Édith Piaf

Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
Ni le bien qu'on m'a fait, ni le mal
Tout ça m'est bien égal
Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
C'est payé, balayé, oublié
Je me fous du passé
Avec mes souvenirs
J'ai allumé le feu
Mes chagrins, mes plaisirs
Je n'ai plus besoin d'eux
Balayés mes amours
Avec leurs trémolos
Balayés pour toujours
Je repars à zéro

Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
Ni le bien qu'on m'a fait, ni le mal
Tout ça m'est bien égal
Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
Car ma vie
Car mes joies
Aujourd'hui
Ça commence avec toi...

Nothing is fair in love and war, Bob.

And an answer to Edith's "No Regrets", an elevator song:


Miss Otis regrets she's unable to lunch today, Madam,
Miss Otis regrets she's unable to lunch today,
She's so sorry to be delayed,
But last evening down in Lover's Lane she strayed, Madam,
Miss Otis regrets she's unable to lunch today, madam,

When she woke up and found that her dream of love had gone, Madam,
She ran to the man who led her so far astray,
And from under her velvet gown,
She drew a forty-four pistol,
And she shot that dirty rascal down, Madam,
Now, Old Lady Otis regrets she's disabled and she can't lunch today.

And the moment before she died,
She lifted her lovely head and cried, "Oh, Madam,
Miss Otis regrets she's unable to lunch today."

My friend, Bill ,referred to that song as Miss Otis egrets.

Merci thank you, for you both...