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Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg N.V., Rotterdam, no. 2029. Photo: Columbia Film / Ufa.
Last, Saturday, Irish born Maureen O’Hara, one of the icons of Hollywood’s Golden Age, has died. The feisty and fearless actress starred in John Ford’s Oscar-winning drama How Green Was My Valley (1941), set in Wales, and Ford’s Irish-set The Quiet Man (1952) opposite John Wayne. The famously red-headed actress also worked successfully with Charles Laughton at Jamaica Inn (1939) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), starred in the perennial Christmas hit Miracle on 34th Street (1947), and appeared in the Disney children’s hit The Parent Trap (1961). O'Hara was 95.
Maureen O’Hara was born Maureen FitzSimons in the Dublin suburb of Ranelagh in 1920. Her mother, Marguerita Lilburn FitzSimons, was an accomplished contralto. Her father, Charles FitzSimons, managed a business in Dublin and also owned part of the renowned Irish soccer team The Shamrock Rovers. From the age of 6 to 17, Maureen trained in drama, music and dance, and at the age of 10 she joined the Rathmines Theatre Company and worked in amateur theatre in the evenings after her lessons. O'Hara's dream at this time was to be a stage actress. By age 14 she was accepted to the prestigious Abbey Theater and pursued her dream of classical theater and operatic singing. Her first screen test was for a British film called Kicking the Moon Around (Walter Forde, 1938) at Elstree Studios, It was arranged by American bandleader Harry Richman, who was then appearing in Dublin. The result was deemed unsatisfactory, but when Charles Laughton later saw it he was intrigued by her large and expressive eyes. He arranged for her to co-star with him in the British film Jamaica Inn (Alfred Hitchcock, 1939). Laughton was so pleased with O'Hara's performance that she was cast in the role of Esmeralda opposite him in the Hollywood production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (William Dieterle, 1939). The epic film was an extraordinary success and international audiences were now alerted to her natural beauty and talent. From there, she went on to enjoy a long and highly successful career in Hollywood. Director John Ford cast her as Angharad in How Green Was My Valley (1941), which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. She starred in Swashbucklers such as The Black Swan (Henry King, 1942), opposite Tyrone Power, and Sinbad the Sailor (Richard Wallace, 1947), with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., She also starred as Doris Walker and the mother of a young Natalie Wood in Miracle on 34th Street (George Seaton, 1947), which became a perennial Christmas classic.
Maureen O'Hara made a number of films with John Wayne. She met Wayne through director John Ford, and the two hit it right off. O'Hara: "I adored him, and he loved me. But we were never sweethearts. Never, ever.” Opposite Wayne, she played Mary Kate Danaher in The Quiet Man (John Ford, 1952), an iconic film that is still very much celebrated in Ireland and abroad. In total, they made five films together between 1948 and 1972, also including Rio Grande (John Ford, 1950), The Wings of Eagles (John Ford, 1957), McLintock! (Andrew V. McLaglen, 1963) and Big Jake (George Sherman, 1971). O’Hara most often played strong and willful women, but offscreen she was the same. In 1957 her career was threatened by scandal, when the tabloid Confidential magazine claimed she and a man had engaged in 'the hottest show in town' in the back row of Hollywood’s Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. However, as she later told the Associated Press, at the time she “was making a movie in Spain, and I had the passport to prove it”. She testified against the magazine in a criminal libel trial and brought a lawsuit that was settled out of court. The magazine eventually went out of business.
Maureen O'Hara was married three times. In 1939, at the age of 19, O'Hara secretly married Englishman George H. Brown, a film producer, production assistant and occasional scriptwriter, who she had met on the set of Jamaica Inn. The marriage was annulled in 1941. Later that year, O'Hara married American film director William Houston Price (dialogue director in The Hunchback of Notre Dame), but the union ended in 1953, reportedly as a result of his alcohol abuse. They had one child, a daughter named Bronwyn FitzSimons Price (1944). In later life, Maureen O’Hara married her third husband, Brigadier General Charles Blair. The couple lived in the US Virgin Islands, where he operated an airline. He died in a plane crash in 1978 and O’Hara took over management of the airline, which she eventually sold. “Being married to Charlie Blair and traveling all over the world with him, believe me, was enough for any woman,” she said in 1995. “It was the best time of my life.” O'Hara remained retired from acting until 1991, when she starred in the film Only the Lonely (Chris Columbus, 1991), playing Rose Muldoon, the domineering mother of a Chicago cop played by John Candy. In the following years, she continued to work, starring in several made-for-TV films. Her autobiography, 'Tis Herself, was published in 2004 and was a New York Times Bestseller. She was never nominated for an Oscar, instead being given an honorary award in 2014. After accepting her statuette from a wheelchair, the then 94-year-old star protested when her speech of thanks was cut short. Maureen O'Hara died in her sleep at home in Boise, Idaho. She was 95 years old.
Dources: The Guardian, Wikipedia and IMDb.
247,040 items / 2,050,111 views
Whatever I am today a lot I owe to late Mukul S Anandji , I had the opportunity of working with him on Nitin Manmohans Insaf , Mahasangram , Khudagawah, Agneepath, Hum,Army and interacting with him on NMZ ..he was my mentor guide a great man and through this poem I pay my humble tribute to him..He Nitin Manmohan Sunil Manchanda were a great inseparable team and partners of cinematic adventure..
life after death
is also zindagi
you live in the
hearts souls
of those whom
you loved
immensely
attached
by a silken
thread
karmically
they remember you
on this day joyously
happy birthday
mukulji
you changed
their destiny
perhaps
amitji
might just
remember you too
when he baritones
kaun banega crorepati
rahul wont forget you
i know definitely
nor alishka mikhail
the core of your
essence soul
of your family tree
my humble tribute as you touched me too ... far too poetically khuda gawah hai ..ke hum apko yad karte hain aj bhi ...kaise bhulenge apko mukulji
image courtesy net
About Mukul Anand
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mukul S. Anand (11 October 1951 - 7 September 1997) was an Indian film director and producer. He was the nephew of veteran film scriptwriter Inder Raj Anand and cousin of actor and director Tinnu Anand.
Career
Mukul S. Anand made his debut as a director with the suspense thriller Kanoon Kya Karega (1984) which was inspired by the Hollywood film Cape Fear. His second film Aitbaar (1985) was inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's classic Dial M for Murder. The film which first brought him recognition was the epic film Sultanat (1986), a film which brought together real-life father and son Dharmendra and Sunny Deol for the first time and introduced actress Juhi Chawla. That same year he also directed the thriller Main Balwaan which was known for the hit songs "Rock n Roll" and "Halla Gulla".
His first box-office success was Insaaf (1987), the film responsible for "re-introducing" Vinod Khanna to films after a hiatus. His next film, Maha-Sangram (1990) reunited him with Vinod Khanna and was acclaimed for Aditya Pancholi's angry portrayal of a Thakur. At this point, Mukul was largely considered a skilful director, who held much promise but somehow never managed to deliver solid successes.
He finally hit the big league with the Scarface-inspired crime thriller Agneepath (1990) with Amitabh Bachchan in the lead role which won Amitabh a National Award for Best Actor. He reunited with Bachchan for the family drama Hum (1991) which was a box office success and featured the popular song "Jumma Chumma". He worked with Bachchan for the final time in the epic film Khuda Gawah (1992) which won him the Filmfare Best Director Award. His last completed film Trimurti (1995) which had a multi star cast including Jackie Shroff, Anil Kapoor and Shahrukh Khan failed to do well at the box office becoming one of his biggest flops. The last film he was working on at the time of his death was Dus which remained incomplete and unreleased after his death although the film's music did end up releasing.
[edit] Personal life
Inder Raj Anand who was a film scriptwriter from the late 1940s through to the late 1980s was Mukul Anand's uncle. Mukul's cousin is actor and director Tinnu Anand. Mukul was married to Anita and had two children Alishka and Mikhail. [1]
Mukul died of a heart attack at the age of 45 in September 1997. At the time of his death he was in the middle of filming the action movie Dus in Utah. The climax scenes and some action sequences were being filmed from May 1997 and 40% of the shooting had been completed by August. After his death the film was left incomplete and never released. Promo videos and clips from what was shot of the film can be seen on his official website which is maintained by his wife Anita and sister Beena.
In 2005 the producer of Dus Nitin Manmohan decided to make another film with the same title and two of the stars Sanjay Dutt and Shilpa Shetty also starred in that film.
[edit] Filmography
Dus (unfinished)
Army (1996) (producer only)
Trimurti (1995)
Khuda Gawah (1992)
Khoon Ka Karz (1991)
Hum (1991)
Agneepath (1990)
Maha-Sangram (1990)
Insaaf (1987)
Sultanat (1986)
Maa Ki Saugandh (1986)
Main Balwan (1986)
Aitbaar (1985)
Kanoon Kya Karega (1984)
#mukul3anand
#firozeshakir
#beggarpoet
This I presume is an older american ambulance ,owned here in Gotland Sweden by a guy named Kut or Kuten ??? not sure about that. Apparently he was a friend of the late film director Ingmar Bergman who is buried in his beloved Gotland not far from this place. One thing for sure is that if you ar ever in sweden here on the little island of Gotland come and eat at Kutens,and the name of the diner is Creperie Tati,best meal s ever.
Ernst Ingmar Bergman, born 14 juli 1918 in Uppsala, died 30 july 2007 in Fårö Gotland was a swedish film and theater director,playwriter,theaterchief, scriptwriter and author.
Dutch collectors card by Monty, no. 32, 1970. Photo: Gerard Soeteman. Ton Vos and Rutger Hauer in the TV series Floris (Paul Verhoeven, 1969).
The Dutch TV series Floris (1969) was the start of the successful careers of director Paul Verhoeven, scriptwriter Gerard Soeteman and of course actor Rutger Hauer. Hauer played the exiled knight Floris. With his Indian friend Sindala (Jos Bergman), he tries to get his birth right papers back from Maarten van Rossem (Hans Culeman), an evil lord. During their quest they get help from Wolter van Oldenstein (Ton Vos), a noble man who offers them a place in his castle. They also meet the pirate Lange Pier (Hans Boskamp).
Source: IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
《金瓶梅》Golden Lotus Jin Ping Mei Beijing Dance Theatre Stage Presentation Brings Chinese Erotic Arts to Canada - Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto北京当代芭蕾舞团剧目把中国色情艺术带到加拿大温哥华、多伦多、蒙特利尔巡游表演
《金瓶梅》Golden Lotus/Lotus d'or/Jin Ping Mei Ballet Stage Performance
This is a stage adaptation of the early 17th century erotic Chinese novel 'Jin Ping Mei'. The show was first produced in Hong Kong in 2011. However, it was banned (some say delayed due to content localization) in Mainland China for three years until 2014. After some racy scenes were toned down, the show was allowed to debut in China and now it is about to extend the work to oversea markets. This time around, the Beijing Dance Theatre took over the ballet presentation and it is now touring for the first time in Canada to entertain audiences in three cities – Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto.
The Golden Lotus or better known as Jing Ping Mei was written in the latter part of the Ming Dynasty by someone who used a pseudonym and the true authorship had not been satisfactorily proven to this day. Practically from day one of its existence, the work has been purged in society as a 'forbidden book' in China since its first printing in about 1610. Although generally regarded as pornography throughout the centuries, the book had nevertheless became known among many literal elites both in China and in the West as one of the most important works of Chinese literature in the same class as The Water Margin《水浒传》, Romance of the Three Kingdoms《三国演义》and Dream of the Red Chamber《红楼梦》. In fact, it could be said that The Golden Lotus was derived from The Water Margin as both shared some of the same historical and fictional characters as Wu Song武松, Xi Menqing西门庆, Pan Jinlian潘金莲 etc. But the plot concerning these characters are very different between the two novels.
Behind the scene, the Beijing Dance Theatre production has some big name attached to the project. The choreographer is Artistic Director Wang Yuanyuan（王媛媛）who was responsible for adapting the Ballet Raise The Red Lantern 《大红灯笼高高挂》from the movie that made director Zhang Yimou（张艺谋）a household name in Chinese entertainment. Costume Designer was Oscar-winning Set Designer and Artistic Director Tim Yip（叶锦添）of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 《卧虎藏龙》fame. Others such as the musical director, scriptwriters, effects masters and producers are mainly involved in the movies and stage productions.
《金瓶梅》Golden Lotus Stage Adaptation -
Vancouver: Sep 21-22, 2017 Queen Elizabeth Theatre 7:30PM
Montreal: Oct 01-02, 2017 Montreal Place des Arts 7:30PM
Toronto: Oct 5-6, 2017 Living Arts Centre 7:30PM
Tickets: $285/235/185/145/105/85/65
Online: www.MegaBoxOffice.com
Phone: 778-321-5829 | 778-680-8800 | 778-927-9265 | 778-251-9839 (English & 中文)
Hotline: 604-343-6260
English: vancouver.ca/news-calendar/beijing-dance-theatre-golden-l...
中文：http://www.bcbay.com/life/community/2017/04/07/487157.html
Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jin_Ping_Mei
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Ray Van Eng 雷云影 is an accomplished media professional, award-winning screenwriter and movie producer. His work has been part of the Hava Nagila Exhibit at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in Manhattan in New York, NY from Sep 2012 to May 2013.
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《金瓶梅》Golden Lotus Jin Ping Mei Beijing Dance Theatre Stage Presentation Brings Chinese Erotic Arts to Canada - Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto北京当代芭蕾舞团剧目把中国色情艺术带到加拿大温哥华、多伦多、蒙特利尔巡游表演
《金瓶梅》Golden Lotus/Lotus d'or/Jin Ping Mei Ballet Stage Performance
This is a stage adaptation of the early 17th century erotic Chinese novel 'Jin Ping Mei'. The show was first produced in Hong Kong in 2011. However, it was banned (some say delayed due to content localization) in Mainland China for three years until 2014. After some racy scenes were toned down, the show was allowed to debut in China and now it is about to extend the work to oversea markets. This time around, the Beijing Dance Theatre took over the ballet presentation and it is now touring for the first time in Canada to entertain audiences in three cities – Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto.
The Golden Lotus or better known as Jing Ping Mei was written in the latter part of the Ming Dynasty by someone who used a pseudonym and the true authorship had not been satisfactorily proven to this day. Practically from day one of its existence, the work has been purged in society as a 'forbidden book' in China since its first printing in about 1610. Although generally regarded as pornography throughout the centuries, the book had nevertheless became known among many literal elites both in China and in the West as one of the most important works of Chinese literature in the same class as The Water Margin《水浒传》, Romance of the Three Kingdoms《三国演义》and Dream of the Red Chamber《红楼梦》. In fact, it could be said that The Golden Lotus was derived from The Water Margin as both shared some of the same historical and fictional characters as Wu Song武松, Xi Menqing西门庆, Pan Jinlian潘金莲 etc. But the plot concerning these characters are very different between the two novels.
Behind the scene, the Beijing Dance Theatre production has some big name attached to the project. The choreographer is Artistic Director Wang Yuanyuan（王媛媛）who was responsible for adapting the Ballet Raise The Red Lantern 《大红灯笼高高挂》from the movie that made director Zhang Yimou（张艺谋）a household name in Chinese entertainment. Costume Designer was Oscar-winning Set Designer and Artistic Director Tim Yip（叶锦添）of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 《卧虎藏龙》fame. Others such as the musical director, scriptwriters, effects masters and producers are mainly involved in the movies and stage productions.
《金瓶梅》Golden Lotus Stage Adaptation -
Vancouver: Sep 21-22, 2017 Queen Elizabeth Theatre 7:30PM
Montreal: Oct 01-02, 2017 Montreal Place des Arts 7:30PM
Toronto: Oct 5-6, 2017 Living Arts Centre 7:30PM
Tickets: $285/235/185/145/105/85/65
Online: www.MegaBoxOffice.com
Phone: 778-321-5829 | 778-680-8800 | 778-927-9265 | 778-251-9839 (English & 中文)
Hotline: 604-343-6260
English: vancouver.ca/news-calendar/beijing-dance-theatre-golden-l...
中文：http://www.bcbay.com/life/community/2017/04/07/487157.html
Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jin_Ping_Mei
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Ray Van Eng 雷云影 is an accomplished media professional, award-winning screenwriter and movie producer. His work has been part of the Hava Nagila Exhibit at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in Manhattan in New York, NY from Sep 2012 to May 2013.
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British postcard by Pyramid, no. PC 8340.
Nicolas Cage (1964) is an American film actor and producer, who often plays eccentric wisecracking characters. His breakthrough came at the end of the 1980s with the Oscar-winning comedy Moonstruck (1988) and David Lynch's Wild at Heart (1990), which was awarded Best Film at the Cannes Film Festival. Cage won the Oscar for Best Actor with Leaving Las Vegas (1995). The action films The Rock (1996), Con Air (1997), Face/Off (1997) and Gone in 60 Seconds (2000) gave him four of his biggest box office successes in the years that followed. He received another Oscar nomination for his performance as twins Charlie and Donald Kaufman in Spike Jonze's Adaptation (2002).
Nicolas Kim Coppola was born in Long Beach, California, in 1964. He was the son of comparative literature professor August Coppola and dancer and choreographer Joy Vogelsang. His grandfather is the composer Carmine Coppola. His father is the brother of director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Talia Shire. His mother suffered from severe depression, which also led to hospitalisation. His parents divorced in 1976, but Nicolas always kept in touch with his mother. He was interested in the film business from an early age. He took professional acting lessons at the age of 15. Two years later, he dropped out of high school to concentrate on his career. Nicolas had a small role in his film debut Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Amy Heckerling, 1982), starring Sean Penn and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Most of his part was cut, dashing his hopes and leading to a job selling popcorn at the Fairfax Theater, thinking that would be the only route to a movie career. But a job reading lines with actors auditioning for uncle Francis' Rumble Fish (Francis Ford Coppola, 1983) landed him a role in that film. He changed his name to avoid taking advantage of his uncle's success and being accused of nepotism. He chose the name 'Cage' after comic book hero Luke Cage and the avant-garde artist John Cage. In the same year, he broke through with a lead role as a punk rocker in the comedy Valley Girl (Martha Coolidge, 1983). Many films followed. For his role in Birdy (Alan Parker, 1984) with Matthew Modine, he had a tooth extracted without anaesthetic to immerse himself in his role. His passion for method acting reached a personal limit when he smashed a street vendor's remote-control car to achieve the sense of rage needed for his gangster character in The Cotton Club (Francis Ford Coppola, 1984). In 1987, he starred in two of the most successful films of that year, proving his status as a major actor. In the Coen Brothers' Raising Arizona (Joel Coen, 1987), he played a dim-witted crook with a heart of gold who wants to start a family with agent Holly Hunter. In Moonstruck (Norman Jewison, 1987), he played the man Cher falls in love with. The latter film earned him many female admirers and a Golden Globe nomination.
In 1990, Nicolas Cage played a violent Elvis fan in David Lynch's Wild at Heart. Another important role was Leaving Las Vegas (1995), in which he plays a suicidal alcoholic who falls in love with a prostitute (played by Elisabeth Shue) in Las Vegas. For his role in Leaving Las Vegas, Nicolas Cage received the Academy Award for Best Actor. After proving himself as a serious actor in 1995, a series of big-budget action films followed, such as The Rock (Michael Bay, 1996), Con Air (Simon West, 1996) and Face/Off (John Woo, 1997). He played an angel who falls in love with Meg Ryan in City of Angels (Brad Silberling, 1998) and returned to action films with Gone in 60 Seconds (Dominic Sena, 2000). In the 21st century, he also started a new career, as a film producer. Among others, he produced The Life of David Gale (Alan Parker, 2003), with Kate Winslet and Kevin Spacey. In 2002, he played a heavy double role in Spike Jonze's Adaptation. in which he played both scriptwriter Charlie Kaufman and his (fictional) brother Donald. For this role, he received his second Oscar nomination. In World Trade Center (Oliver Stone, 2006), he played Brigadier John McLoughlin who became trapped under the collapsed WTC for three days. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor, 2012) was the sequel to the Marvel comic adaptation Ghost Rider (Mark Steven Johnson, 2007). In recent years, Cage has been facing major financial problems. Despite receiving over $150 million in total fees throughout his career, he had run out of funds and owed $14 million in taxes due to his lavish lifestyle (including buying exotic properties) after the housing bubble burst. In 2009, he had to sell two of his houses and several cars and boats. In 2022, Cage stated that he had paid off his debts. He also pointed out in a '60 Minutes' interview that he never went bankrupt to avoid having to pay off the debt. He earned renewed critical recognition for his starring roles in the action Horror film Mandy (Panos Cosmatos, 2018), the drama Pig (Michael Sarnoski, 2021), the action comedy The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (Tom Gormican, 2022) and the comedy fantasy Dream Scenario (Kristoffer Borgli, 2023). Cage was married to actress Patricia Arquette (1995-2001), Lisa Marie Presley (2002-2004), Alice Kim (2004-2016). and make-up artist Erika Koike (2019), but this marriage was annulled the same year. Cage married Riko Shibata in 2021. He has three sons. His eldest son, with Christina Fulton, Weston Coppola Cage a.k.a. Wes Cage, is the singer and guitarist of the oriental metal band Arsh Anubis. In 2014, Nicolas became a grandfather at age 50 when Weston welcomed a son, Lucian Augustus Coppola Cage. Alice Kim gave birth to Cage's second son Kal-El (2005), named after the Kryptonian name of Superman. Cage is a confessed comic book fan.
Sources: Dan Hartung (IMDb), Wikipedia (Dutch, German and English) and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
《金瓶梅》Golden Lotus Jin Ping Mei Beijing Dance Theatre Stage Presentation Brings Chinese Erotic Arts to Canada - Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto北京当代芭蕾舞团剧目把中国色情艺术带到加拿大温哥华、多伦多、蒙特利尔巡游表演
《金瓶梅》Golden Lotus/Lotus d'or/Jin Ping Mei Ballet Stage Performance
This is a stage adaptation of the early 17th century erotic Chinese novel 'Jin Ping Mei'. The show was first produced in Hong Kong in 2011. However, it was banned (some say delayed due to content localization) in Mainland China for three years until 2014. After some racy scenes were toned down, the show was allowed to debut in China and now it is about to extend the work to oversea markets. This time around, the Beijing Dance Theatre took over the ballet presentation and it is now touring for the first time in Canada to entertain audiences in three cities – Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto.
The Golden Lotus or better known as Jing Ping Mei was written in the latter part of the Ming Dynasty by someone who used a pseudonym and the true authorship had not been satisfactorily proven to this day. Practically from day one of its existence, the work has been purged in society as a 'forbidden book' in China since its first printing in about 1610. Although generally regarded as pornography throughout the centuries, the book had nevertheless became known among many literal elites both in China and in the West as one of the most important works of Chinese literature in the same class as The Water Margin《水浒传》, Romance of the Three Kingdoms《三国演义》and Dream of the Red Chamber《红楼梦》. In fact, it could be said that The Golden Lotus was derived from The Water Margin as both shared some of the same historical and fictional characters as Wu Song武松, Xi Menqing西门庆, Pan Jinlian潘金莲 etc. But the plot concerning these characters are very different between the two novels.
Behind the scene, the Beijing Dance Theatre production has some big name attached to the project. The choreographer is Artistic Director Wang Yuanyuan（王媛媛）who was responsible for adapting the Ballet Raise The Red Lantern 《大红灯笼高高挂》from the movie that made director Zhang Yimou（张艺谋）a household name in Chinese entertainment. Costume Designer was Oscar-winning Set Designer and Artistic Director Tim Yip（叶锦添）of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 《卧虎藏龙》fame. Others such as the musical director, scriptwriters, effects masters and producers are mainly involved in the movies and stage productions.
《金瓶梅》Golden Lotus Stage Adaptation -
Vancouver: Sep 21-22, 2017 Queen Elizabeth Theatre 7:30PM
Montreal: Oct 01-02, 2017 Montreal Place des Arts 7:30PM
Toronto: Oct 5-6, 2017 Living Arts Centre 7:30PM
Tickets: $285/235/185/145/105/85/65
Online: www.MegaBoxOffice.com
Phone: 778-321-5829 | 778-680-8800 | 778-927-9265 | 778-251-9839 (English & 中文)
Hotline: 604-343-6260
English: vancouver.ca/news-calendar/beijing-dance-theatre-golden-l...
中文：http://www.bcbay.com/life/community/2017/04/07/487157.html
Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jin_Ping_Mei
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Ray Van Eng 雷云影 is an accomplished media professional, award-winning screenwriter and movie producer. His work has been part of the Hava Nagila Exhibit at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in Manhattan in New York, NY from Sep 2012 to May 2013.
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Dutch collectors card, no. 39 by Monty, 1970. Photo: Gerard Soeteman. Publicity still for the TV series Floris (Paul Verhoeven, 1969). Caption: Kanonnier van Van Rossum (Gunner of Van Rossum).
Finally I found some collectors cards of my favourite series, Floris (1969). The series was the start of the successful vareers of director Paul Verhoeven, scriptwriter Gerard Soeteman and of course Rutger Hauer. Hauer played the exiled knight Floris van Rosemondt. With his Indian friend Sindala (Jos Bergman), he tries to get his birth right papers back from Maarten van Rossem (Hans Culeman), an evil lord. During their quest they get help from Wolter van Oldenstein (Ton Vos), a noble man who offers them a place in his castle. They also meet the pirate Lange Pier (Hans Boskamp).
Source: IMDb.
《金瓶梅》Golden Lotus Jin Ping Mei Beijing Dance Theatre Stage Presentation Brings Chinese Erotic Arts to Canada - Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto北京当代芭蕾舞团剧目把中国色情艺术带到加拿大温哥华、多伦多、蒙特利尔巡游表演
《金瓶梅》Golden Lotus/Lotus d'or/Jin Ping Mei Ballet Stage Performance
This is a stage adaptation of the early 17th century erotic Chinese novel 'Jin Ping Mei'. The show was first produced in Hong Kong in 2011. However, it was banned (some say delayed due to content localization) in Mainland China for three years until 2014. After some racy scenes were toned down, the show was allowed to debut in China and now it is about to extend the work to oversea markets. This time around, the Beijing Dance Theatre took over the ballet presentation and it is now touring for the first time in Canada to entertain audiences in three cities – Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto.
The Golden Lotus or better known as Jing Ping Mei was written in the latter part of the Ming Dynasty by someone who used a pseudonym and the true authorship had not been satisfactorily proven to this day. Practically from day one of its existence, the work has been purged in society as a 'forbidden book' in China since its first printing in about 1610. Although generally regarded as pornography throughout the centuries, the book had nevertheless became known among many literal elites both in China and in the West as one of the most important works of Chinese literature in the same class as The Water Margin《水浒传》, Romance of the Three Kingdoms《三国演义》and Dream of the Red Chamber《红楼梦》. In fact, it could be said that The Golden Lotus was derived from The Water Margin as both shared some of the same historical and fictional characters as Wu Song武松, Xi Menqing西门庆, Pan Jinlian潘金莲 etc. But the plot concerning these characters are very different between the two novels.
Behind the scene, the Beijing Dance Theatre production has some big name attached to the project. The choreographer is Artistic Director Wang Yuanyuan（王媛媛）who was responsible for adapting the Ballet Raise The Red Lantern 《大红灯笼高高挂》from the movie that made director Zhang Yimou（张艺谋）a household name in Chinese entertainment. Costume Designer was Oscar-winning Set Designer and Artistic Director Tim Yip（叶锦添）of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 《卧虎藏龙》fame. Others such as the musical director, scriptwriters, effects masters and producers are mainly involved in the movies and stage productions.
《金瓶梅》Golden Lotus Stage Adaptation -
Vancouver: Sep 21-22, 2017 Queen Elizabeth Theatre 7:30PM
Montreal: Oct 01-02, 2017 Montreal Place des Arts 7:30PM
Toronto: Oct 5-6, 2017 Living Arts Centre 7:30PM
Tickets: $285/235/185/145/105/85/65
Online: www.MegaBoxOffice.com
Phone: 778-321-5829 | 778-680-8800 | 778-927-9265 | 778-251-9839 (English & 中文)
Hotline: 604-343-6260
English: vancouver.ca/news-calendar/beijing-dance-theatre-golden-l...
中文：http://www.bcbay.com/life/community/2017/04/07/487157.html
Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jin_Ping_Mei
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Ray Van Eng 雷云影 is an accomplished media professional, award-winning screenwriter and movie producer. His work has been part of the Hava Nagila Exhibit at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in Manhattan in New York, NY from Sep 2012 to May 2013.
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American postcard by Fotofolio, NY, NY, no. F526. Photo: Greg Gorman. Caption: Nina Hagen, Los Angeles, 1995. Proceeds from the sale of this card benefit The AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
German singer, songwriter, and actress Nina Hagen (1955) is known for her theatrical vocals and is often referred to as the ‘Godmother of Punk due to her prominence during the punk and new wave movements in the late 1970s and early 1980s. During her 50-year career, she appeared in several European films.
Catharina ’Nina’ Hagen was born in 1955) in the former East Berlin, German Democratic Republic. She was the daughter of scriptwriter Hans Hagen and actress and singer Eva-Maria Hagen (née Buchholz). Her paternal grandfather died in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp (her father was Jewish). Her parents divorced when she was two years old, and growing up, she saw her father infrequently. At age four, she began to study ballet and was considered an opera prodigy by the time she was nine. When Hagen was 11, her mother married Wolf Biermann, an anti-establishment singer-songwriter. Biermann's political views later influenced young Hagen. Hagen left school at age sixteen and went to Poland, where she began her career. She later returned to Germany and joined the cover band, Fritzens Dampferband (Fritzen's Steamboat Band). She added songs by Janis Joplin and Tina Turner to the ‘allowable’ set lists during shows.
From 1972 to 1973, Hagen enrolled in the crash-course performance program at The Central Studio for Light Music in East Berlin. Upon graduating, she formed the band Automobil and released in 1974 the single 'Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen' (You Forgot the Colour Film), a subtle dig mocking the sterile, grey, Communist state. Nina became one of the country's best-known young stars. She also appeared in several East-German films and TV films sometimes alongside her mother Eva-Maria Hagen, including Heiraten/Weiblich/Marrying/Female (Christa Kulosa, 1975), Heute ist Freitag/Today is Friday (Klaus Gendries, 1975), Liebesfallen/Love Traps (Werner W. Wallroth, 1976) and Unser stiller Mann/Our Quite Man (Bernhard Stephan, 1976). Her career in the GDR was cut short after her stepfather Wolf Biermann's East German citizenship was withdrawn from him in 1976. Hagen and her mother followed him westwards to Hamburg. The circumstances surrounding the family's emigration were exceptional: Biermann was granted permission to perform a televised concert in Cologne but denied permission to re-cross the border to his adopted home country.
Nina Hagen was offered a record deal from CBS Records. Her label advised her to acclimatise herself to Western culture through travel, and she arrived in London during the height of the punk rock movement. Hagen was quickly taken up by a circle that included The Slits and Sex Pistols. Back in Germany by mid-1977, Hagen formed the Nina Hagen Band in West Berlin's Kreuzberg district. In 1978 they released their self-titled debut album, 'Nina Hagen Band', which included the single 'TV-Glotzer' (a cover of 'White Punks on Dope' by The Tubes, though with entirely different German lyrics), and 'Auf'm Bahnhof Zoo', about West Berlin's then-notorious Berlin Zoologischer Garten station. The album also included a version of 'Rangehn' (Go for It), a song she had previously recorded in East Germany, but with different music. The album received critical acclaim for its hard rock sound and Hagen's theatrical vocals, far different from the straightforward singing of her East German recordings. It was a commercial success selling over 250,000 copies. Relations between Hagen and the other band members deteriorated throughout the subsequent European tour. The band released one more album 'Unbehagen' (Unease) before their break-up in 1979. It included the single African Reggae and Wir Leben Immer... Noch, a German language cover of Lene Lovich's Lucky Number. Meanwhile, Hagen's public persona was steadily creating media uproar. She starred in two films. In Germany, she made the experimental film Bildnis Einer Trinkerin/Portrait of a Female Drunkard (Ulrike Ottinger, 1979) with Tabea Blumenschein, Magdalena Montezuma and Eddie Constantine. She also acted with Dutch rocker Herman Brood and singer Lene Lovich in the Dutch film Cha Cha (Herbert Curiel, 1979). Brood and Hagen would have a long romantic relationship that would end when Hagen could no longer tolerate Brood's drug abuse. She would refer to Brood as her ‘soulmate’ long after Brood committed suicide in 2001. In late 1980, Hagen discovered she was pregnant, broke up with the father-to-be the Dutch guitarist Ferdinand Karmelk who died in 1988, and moved to Los Angeles. Her daughter, Cosma Shiva Hagen, was born in Santa Monica in 1981. In 1982, Hagen signed a new contract with CBS and released her debut solo album 'NunSexMonkRock', a dissonant mix of punk, funk, reggae, and opera. Her first English-language album became also her first record to chart in the United States. She then went on a world tour with the No Problem Orchestra. Her next album the Giorgio Moroder-produced 'Fearless' (1983), generated two major club hits in America, 'Zarah' (a cover of the Zarah Leander song 'Ich weiss, es wird einmal ein Wunder geschehen' and the disco/punk/opera song, 'New York New York', which reached no. 9 in the USA dance charts. She followed this with one more album, 'Nina Hagen in Ekstasy' (1985), which featured a 1979 recording of her hardcore punk take on Paul Anka's 'My Way'. The album fared less well and her contract with CBS expired in 1986 and was not renewed. Hagen's public appearances became stranger and frequently included discussions of God, UFOs, her social and political beliefs, animal rights and vivisection, and claims of alien sightings. In 1987 she released the Punk Wedding EP independently, celebrating her marriage to an 18-year-old punk South African nicknamed 'Iroquois'.
In 1989, Nina Hagen was offered a record deal from Mercury Records. She released three albums on the label: 'Nina Hagen' (1989), 'Street' (1991), and 'Revolution Ballroom' (1993). However, none of the albums achieved notable commercial success. In 1989 she had a relationship with Frank Chevallier from France, with whom she has a son, Otis Chevallier-Hagen (1990). In 1992 Hagen became the host of a TV show on RTLplus. She also collaborated with Adamski on the single 'Get Your Body' (1992). In the 1990s, Hagen lived in Paris with her daughter Cosma Shiva and son Otis. In 1996, she married David Lynn, who is fifteen years younger, but divorced him at the beginning of 2000. In 1999, Hagen became the host of Sci-Fright, a weekly science fiction show on the British Sci-Fi Channel. In 1999, she played the role of Celia Peachum in 'The Threepenny Opera' by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht, alongside Max Raabe. She also appeared as a witch in the German-Russian fairy-tale film Vasilisa (Elena Shatalova, 2000). At IMDb, Howard Roarschawks writes: “I saw this eye-popping film at the 2001 Sarasota Film Festival. I entered the theatre without expectations, having chosen the film randomly. From shot one, my jaw dropped slack and my eyes waxed wide. Vasilisa is a gorgeously filmed, brilliantly scripted, boldly acted, confidently directed, lushly designed masterpiece of unseen cinema.” Hagen made her musical comeback with the release of her album Return of the Mother (2000). In 2001 she collaborated with Rosenstolz and Marc Almond on the single 'Total Eclipse/Die schwarze Witwe' which reached no. 22 in Germany. Later albums include 'Big Band Explosion' (2003), in which she sang numerous swing covers with her then-husband, Danish singer and performer, Lucas Alexander. This was followed by 'Heiß', a greatest hits album. The following album, Journey to the Snow Queen, is more of an audiobook — she reads the Snow Queen fairy tale with Tchaikovsky's 'The Nutcracker' in the background. Besides her musical career, Hagen is also a voice-over actress. She dubbed the voice of Sally in Der Albtraum vor Weihnachten, the German release of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), and she has also done voice work on the German animation film Hot Dogs: Wau - wir sind reich!/Millionaire Dogs (Michael Schoemann, 1999). She appeared as the Queen opposite Otto Waalkes and her daughter Cosma Shiva Hagen as Snowwhite in the comedy7 Zwerge – Männer allein im Wald/7 Dwarves – Men Alone in the Wood (Sven Unterwaldt Jr., 2004) which follows the fairytale by the Brothers Grimm. It was the second most popular film in German cinemas in 2004, reaching an audience of almost 7 million. She returned in the sequel 7 Zwerge – Der Wald ist nicht genug/Seven Dwarves - The Forest Is Not Enough (Sven Unterwaldt, 2006). Hagen wrote three autobiographies: 'Ich bin ein Berliner' (1988), Nina Hagen: That's Why the Lady Is a Punk (2003), and 'Bekenntnisse' (2010). She is also noted for her human and animal rights activism. After a four-year lapse, Nina Hagen released the album Personal Jesus in 2010. William Ruhlmann at AllMusic: “Personal Jesus, which featured 13 faith-based tracks that dutifully blend rock, blues, soul, and gospel into a sound that’s distinctly hers.” It was followed by Volksbeat (2011). Her latest films are Desire Will Set You Free (Yony Leyser, 2015) with Amber Benson and Rosa von Praunheim and Gutterdämmerung (Bjorn Tagemose, 2016) with Henry Rollins, Grace Jones and Iggy Pop.
Sources: William Ruhlmann (AllMusic), Wikipedia and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Dutch collectors card by Monty, no. 13, 1970. Photo: Gerard Soeteman. Lex Schoorel in the TV series Floris (Paul Verhoeven, 1969).
The Dutch TV series Floris (1969) was the start of the successful careers of director Paul Verhoeven, scriptwriter Gerard Soeteman and of course actor Rutger Hauer. Hauer played the exiled knight Floris. With his Indian friend Sindala (Jos Bergman), he tries to get his birth right papers back from Maarten van Rossem (Hans Culeman), an evil lord. During their quest they get help from Wolter van Oldenstein (Ton Vos), a noble man who offers them a place in his castle. They also meet the pirate Lange Pier (Hans Boskamp).
Source: IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Cyber raced to the art room and found the painting he saw earlier. With a mad dash back to the sewer he ran ahead of the barge in time to hang the picture on the wall. As Queen Chloe passed, Cyber shouted “Pirates off the starboard bow! “
The mighty canons roared and caught the Queen of Terror right between the midships. With the barge scuttled the game was over. And so it was that Cyber Duck had saved the treasures of the world.
The End.
Producer's Note:
This story was based on events that happened in 1998.
Queen Chloe served seven years in the pen where she learnt the more respectable trade of Pole Dancer. Chloe is currently performing at fire stations around the country.
Gator started an orphanage for little gators that are flushed into NYC sewers everyday. The orphanage is doing well thanks to sponsorship from a major handbag manufacturer.
Cyber was last seen heading to England in 1999. It is believed he is deep undercover within a major political party. Some even suggest he could now be the current Prime Minister....surely that is not possible........
( Many thanks to all you scriptwriters out there. Your ideas were wonderful and I greatly enjoyed working on this production – krap )
oh..I almost forgot “Sid the Assassin”... Sid is right now in.............ARRRGGGHHHH !
French postcard by Pathé. Photo: Katharina / Renn Productions / TF 1 Films / Bavaria / Melampo. Laetitia Casta in Astérix & Obélix contre César / Asterix & Obelix Take on Caesar (Claude Zidi, 1999).
French comic book hero Astérix by Alberto Uderzo and René Goscinny has become a major film franchise, both in animated and live-action form. Most notable is the feature Astérix & Obélix contre César/Asterix & Obelix Take on Caesar (Claude Zidi, 1999), starring Christian Clavier, Gerard Depardieu, and Roberto Benigni. At the time of its release, the film was the most expensive production in French cinema of all time. It was a box-office success and would be followed by several sequels.
In 1927, the French comic book artist and scriptwriter Albert Uderzo was born in the town of Fismes, in the Marne department of north-eastern France. In the 1930s, Albert developed a fascination for American comic and animated cartoons and was particularly impressed with the works of Walt Disney. He was a poor student at school but received good grades in sketching and art-related lessons. By the 1950s, Albert had become a professional artist, and he met his partner René Goscinny in 1951. During the 1950s, Uderzo provided the artwork for moderately successful series such as the historical fiction series 'Oumpah-pah' and 'Jehan Pistolet' (both written by Goscinny) and the aviation comic series 'Tanguy et Laverdure' (written by Jean-Michel Charlier). Asterix debuted in October 1959 in the French magazine Pilote, created by René Goscinny and Uderzo. In 1961, the first stand-alone effort, 'Astérix le Gaulois' (Asterix the Gaul), was released. It was turned into an animation film, Astérix le Gaulois/Asterix the Gaul (Ray Goossens, 1965). The comic book series centres around the titular Asterix, the bravest warrior in a small town in the middle of Roman-occupied Gaul in the year 50 B.C. — and the one burg that has not surrendered to the occupation. Instead, with the help of a magic potion that gives him super-strength (and his best friend Obélix, who fell into a cauldron of the potion as a child, and as such is permanently superhumanly strong), he spends each instalment fighting and defeating the Roman army and keeping his village safe from harm. Asterix became one of the most successful European comic book series. There were many film adaptations, including the animation films Astérix et Cléopâtre/Asterix & Cleopatra (René Goscinny, Albert Uderzo, 1968), and Les 12 travaux d'Astérix/The Twelve Tasks of Asterix (René Goscinny, Henri Gruel, Albert Uderzo, Pierre Watrin, 1976). After the success of Astérix & Obélix contre César/Asterix & Obelix Take on Caesar (Claude Zidi, 1999) with Christian Clavier as Asterix and Gérard Dépardieu as Obélix, followed more live-action adaptations including Astérix & Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre/Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra (Alain Chabat, 2002) with Monica Bellucci as Cleopatra, and Astérix aux jeux olympiques/Asterix at the Olympic Games (Frédéric Forestier, Thomas Langmann, 2008) with Alain Delon as Julius Caesar. Astérix & Obélix contre César/Asterix & Obelix Take on Caesar combines plots of several Asterix stories, mostly Asterix the Gaul (Getafix's abduction), Asterix and the Soothsayer, Asterix and the Goths (the Druid conference), Asterix the Legionary (Obelix becoming smitten with Panacea) and Asterix the Gladiator (the characters fighting in the circus) but jokes and references from many other albums abound, including a humorous exchange between Caesar and Brutus taken from Asterix and Cleopatra, and the villain Lucius Detritus is based on Tullius Detritus, the main antagonist of Asterix and the Roman Agent (known as Tortuous Convolvulus in the English translation of the comic). "Asterix and Obelix Take on Caesar is not a masterpiece in any shape or form and has its problems but it is not an awful movie", Bethany Cox writes on IMDb: "In the French version there are enough deft touches in the script to amuse I think. The pacing is good, while the acting is fine. Christian Clavier and Gerard Depardieu are well cast in the title roles, while Roberto Benigni sinks his teeth into his role as the scheming centurion. In conclusion, nothing fantastic, but it isn't that bad."
The Asterix series has gone on to sell more than 400 million copies, translated into more than 100 languages internationally. It makes the series the best-selling European comic book series, and the second best-selling comic book series in history after 'One Piece'. René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo collaborated on the comic until the death of Goscinny in 1977. Uderzo then took over the writing until 2009. Since 1951, Uderzo was married to Ada Milani, with whom he had a daughter Sylvie Uderzo. He sold his shares of the company Editions Albert René (which owns the rights to Astérix) to the publishing company Hachette in 2007. He had a public falling out with daughter Sylvie who also owned shares of the original company and disagreed with her father's decision. After a few years of mostly working on short stories and comic strips, Uderzo announced his retirement in 2011. Since Uderzo's retirement, the work on Asterix has been handled by writer Jean-Yves Ferri and artist Didier Conrad under a deal that allows Lagardere-owned publisher Hachette to continue producing the series. The most recent book is 'L'Iris blanc' (Asterix and the White Iris), published in 2023. It is the first to be written by Fabcaro, and the sixth to be illustrated by Didier Conrad. Parc Astérix, a French theme park based on the property, has brought in 50 million visitors since opening outside Paris in 1989.
Sources: The Hollywood Reporter, Wikipedia, and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
PHOTO: Financial District, Lower Manhattan, New York ca.1930
www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=34300&page=29
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" PLEASE CASH IT ! " -
BIG TOWN ( DC ) # 40 August 1957 Cover: Gil KANE & Joe GIELLA
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Big Town @ Wikipedia
Big Town is a popular long-running radio drama series which was later adapted to both film and television and a comic book published by DC Comics.
Comic book
DC's Big Town comic book ran 50 issues, from January, 1951 to March-April, 1958. The comic book was edited by Whitney Ellsworth, and the contributing artists included Dan Barry, Carmine Infantino, Gil Kane, John Lehti, Manny Stallman and Alex Toth, with most of the later scripts written by John Broome.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Town
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Big Town ( DC )
# 1 January 1951 - # 50 March-April 1958
Publication Notes
Actual editors: Jack Schiff (#1-2); Julius Schwartz (#3-50).
Script and art credits confirmed by copies of DC editorial records received by Gene Reed from E. Nelson Bridwell in 1986. Changes in the handwriting on the editorial records indicate that Schwartz start keeping the records with one story in issue #3 and all records thereafter. This would indicate that Schwartz took over and finished work on issue #3 and assumed full assignment of script and art and editorial with issue #4.
Notes
Licensed title based on the radio and television shows.
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Big Town # 40 @ Classic Comic Books ( mikegrost.com )
# 40 (July-August 1956) The Casebook of Unsolved Mysteries
The Casebook of Unsolved Mysteries (1956). Panelists on a TV show moderated by Steve Wilson try to solve a mysterious bank vault robbery.
This story resembles "The Impossible Alibi" (1953). In both, Steve is a member of a prominent institution made up of crime experts, who re-examine and try to solve old mystery cases. In both, the institution itself is fascinating. Details about it furnish the opening of the story. Big Town often focused on "admirable things about America". It showed its readers the wonders of New York City, and life in a great metropolis. Institutions like these are part of the life of an advanced civilization. The young readers of the magazine could learn about exciting aspects of modern life.
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Big Town @ @ Classic Comic Books ( mikegrost.com )
All Big Town stories are written by John Broome, with art by Manny Stallman, unless otherwise noted.
Big Town starred Steve Wilson, a talented newsman. Although Steve was the editor of the daily newspaper the Illustrated Press, he seemed to spend most of his time as a reporter, tracking down big stories.
The tales took place in a city named Big Town, which was clearly a thinly fictionalized version of New York City. Big Town was a detective comic book. Nearly all of the stories in Big Town had an element of crime. However, in many of the tales the crime element was fairly downplayed, with greater concentration on the life of a newspaperman, and the glamorous world of Big Town itself in the 1950's. Even in the pure detective tales, the creators were far more interested in the reporter detectives and their efforts to solve the case, than in the crooks.
Big Town was a popular radio program (1937-1951) and TV show (1950-1956). The comic book lasted a year and a half longer than the TV show, then folded. The phenomenon of a program existing in several different media forms - radio, TV, comics - is today called "convergence". Some pundits describe it as a feature of today's world, when most of the media are controlled by a few corporations.
But in actual fact,, a large number of DC's pre-Silver Age comics of the earlier 1950's were based on TV programs. Even Superman was a TV series during much of the 1950's. I have no statistics on how profitable this was for DC. Were these TV-tie comic books lucrative? Or were they a desperate attempt by the comic book industry to keep afloat in tough times? These are questions for which I have no answer.
By contrast, the Silver Age revival of super-heroes around 1958 led to comic books that were much more divorced in content from the rest of the mass media. Silver Age super-hero comics were largely a world unto themselves, utterly different from the TV shows and paperback books of their era.
Big Town was never noir. During the Broome years, the tales were optimistic. This was not the smug optimism sometimes associated with the 1950's.
Big Town was among the most realistic of comic books. "Realism" is a loaded word, one with many meanings. Big Town focused on non-science fiction stories about honest people who lived in modern day New York City. It was partly in the tradition of such prose mystery story collections about typical New Yorkers as William MacHarg's The Affairs of O'Malley (collected 1940) and Ellery Queen's Q.B.I. (1950 - 1953).
New York City itself was considered a fascinating subject in those days, and people wanted to read about the fascinating lives of people who lived there. These people did not have to be criminals or sleazy to be interesting; rather, readers wanted to know about the actual inhabitants of the city.
During its early issues (#1-13), Big Town was scripted by a huge variety of writers. Most of these pieces are not very good, although a few were excellent, especially the handful of scripts by France E. Herron and Robert Kanigher. From issue #14, many of the scripts were by John Broome, who had occasionally contributed scripts before; he eventually became the sole scriptwriter of the magazine. In #17, the magazine got its permanent artist, Manny Stallman. There is little discussion in this article of the early, poorer quality scripts.
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COVER GALLERY >> Big Town
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comicbookdb.com/title.php?ID=17964
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www.atomicavenue.com/atomic/TitleDetail.aspx?TitleID=15064
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French postcard. Les Cinématographes Méric. Ausonia (Mario Guaita) in the French silent film La course à l'amour (Paul Barlatier / Charles Keppens, 1924).
Athletic muscleman Mario Guaita aka Ausonia (1881-1956) was an Italian actor, director, producer and scriptwriter in the silent era. He had his international breakthrough with Spartaco (Enrico Vidali 1913) and became a major actor in the Italian forzuto genre. In the early 1920s he moved to Marseille, made a few films there and ran a cinema.
《金瓶梅》Golden Lotus Jin Ping Mei Beijing Dance Theatre Stage Presentation Brings Chinese Erotic Arts to Canada - Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto北京当代芭蕾舞团剧目把中国色情艺术带到加拿大温哥华、多伦多、蒙特利尔巡游表演
《金瓶梅》Golden Lotus/Lotus d'or/Jin Ping Mei Ballet Stage Performance
This is a stage adaptation of the early 17th century erotic Chinese novel 'Jin Ping Mei'. The show was first produced in Hong Kong in 2011. However, it was banned (some say delayed due to content localization) in Mainland China for three years until 2014. After some racy scenes were toned down, the show was allowed to debut in China and now it is about to extend the work to oversea markets. This time around, the Beijing Dance Theatre took over the ballet presentation and it is now touring for the first time in Canada to entertain audiences in three cities – Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto.
The Golden Lotus or better known as Jing Ping Mei was written in the latter part of the Ming Dynasty by someone who used a pseudonym and the true authorship had not been satisfactorily proven to this day. Practically from day one of its existence, the work has been purged in society as a 'forbidden book' in China since its first printing in about 1610. Although generally regarded as pornography throughout the centuries, the book had nevertheless became known among many literal elites both in China and in the West as one of the most important works of Chinese literature in the same class as The Water Margin《水浒传》, Romance of the Three Kingdoms《三国演义》and Dream of the Red Chamber《红楼梦》. In fact, it could be said that The Golden Lotus was derived from The Water Margin as both shared some of the same historical and fictional characters as Wu Song武松, Xi Menqing西门庆, Pan Jinlian潘金莲 etc. But the plot concerning these characters are very different between the two novels.
Behind the scene, the Beijing Dance Theatre production has some big name attached to the project. The choreographer is Artistic Director Wang Yuanyuan（王媛媛）who was responsible for adapting the Ballet Raise The Red Lantern 《大红灯笼高高挂》from the movie that made director Zhang Yimou（张艺谋）a household name in Chinese entertainment. Costume Designer was Oscar-winning Set Designer and Artistic Director Tim Yip（叶锦添）of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 《卧虎藏龙》fame. Others such as the musical director, scriptwriters, effects masters and producers are mainly involved in the movies and stage productions.
《金瓶梅》Golden Lotus Stage Adaptation -
Vancouver: Sep 21-22, 2017 Queen Elizabeth Theatre 7:30PM
Montreal: Oct 01-02, 2017 Montreal Place des Arts 7:30PM
Toronto: Oct 5-6, 2017 Living Arts Centre 7:30PM
Tickets: $285/235/185/145/105/85/65
Online: www.MegaBoxOffice.com
Phone: 778-321-5829 | 778-680-8800 | 778-927-9265 | 778-251-9839 (English & 中文)
Hotline: 604-343-6260
English: vancouver.ca/news-calendar/beijing-dance-theatre-golden-l...
中文：http://www.bcbay.com/life/community/2017/04/07/487157.html
Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jin_Ping_Mei
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Ray Van Eng 雷云影 is an accomplished media professional, award-winning screenwriter and movie producer. His work has been part of the Hava Nagila Exhibit at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in Manhattan in New York, NY from Sep 2012 to May 2013.
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《金瓶梅》Golden Lotus Jin Ping Mei Beijing Dance Theatre Stage Presentation Brings Chinese Erotic Arts to Canada - Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto北京当代芭蕾舞团剧目把中国色情艺术带到加拿大温哥华、多伦多、蒙特利尔巡游表演
《金瓶梅》Golden Lotus/Lotus d'or/Jin Ping Mei Ballet Stage Performance
This is a stage adaptation of the early 17th century erotic Chinese novel 'Jin Ping Mei'. The show was first produced in Hong Kong in 2011. However, it was banned (some say delayed due to content localization) in Mainland China for three years until 2014. After some racy scenes were toned down, the show was allowed to debut in China and now it is about to extend the work to oversea markets. This time around, the Beijing Dance Theatre took over the ballet presentation and it is now touring for the first time in Canada to entertain audiences in three cities – Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto.
The Golden Lotus or better known as Jing Ping Mei was written in the latter part of the Ming Dynasty by someone who used a pseudonym and the true authorship had not been satisfactorily proven to this day. Practically from day one of its existence, the work has been purged in society as a 'forbidden book' in China since its first printing in about 1610. Although generally regarded as pornography throughout the centuries, the book had nevertheless became known among many literal elites both in China and in the West as one of the most important works of Chinese literature in the same class as The Water Margin《水浒传》, Romance of the Three Kingdoms《三国演义》and Dream of the Red Chamber《红楼梦》. In fact, it could be said that The Golden Lotus was derived from The Water Margin as both shared some of the same historical and fictional characters as Wu Song武松, Xi Menqing西门庆, Pan Jinlian潘金莲 etc. But the plot concerning these characters are very different between the two novels.
Behind the scene, the Beijing Dance Theatre production has some big name attached to the project. The choreographer is Artistic Director Wang Yuanyuan（王媛媛）who was responsible for adapting the Ballet Raise The Red Lantern 《大红灯笼高高挂》from the movie that made director Zhang Yimou（张艺谋）a household name in Chinese entertainment. Costume Designer was Oscar-winning Set Designer and Artistic Director Tim Yip（叶锦添）of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 《卧虎藏龙》fame. Others such as the musical director, scriptwriters, effects masters and producers are mainly involved in the movies and stage productions.
《金瓶梅》Golden Lotus Stage Adaptation -
Vancouver: Sep 21-22, 2017 Queen Elizabeth Theatre 7:30PM
Montreal: Oct 01-02, 2017 Montreal Place des Arts 7:30PM
Toronto: Oct 5-6, 2017 Living Arts Centre 7:30PM
Tickets: $285/235/185/145/105/85/65
Online: www.MegaBoxOffice.com
Phone: 778-321-5829 | 778-680-8800 | 778-927-9265 | 778-251-9839 (English & 中文)
Hotline: 604-343-6260
English: vancouver.ca/news-calendar/beijing-dance-theatre-golden-l...
中文：http://www.bcbay.com/life/community/2017/04/07/487157.html
Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jin_Ping_Mei
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Ray Van Eng 雷云影 is an accomplished media professional, award-winning screenwriter and movie producer. His work has been part of the Hava Nagila Exhibit at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in Manhattan in New York, NY from Sep 2012 to May 2013.
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It all started in 1994. TV scriptwriter Stefan Struik had an interview with a meditating hermit in Baarn (NL) who was complaining about gnomes who disturbed the power network in his house. A month later he ran into trolls in a Norwegian clothing store in the Dutch-Frisian village Dokkum. A year before he got surprised by the amount of one meter high garden gnomes just across the border between Germany and Poland. It all seemed to point into a new direction he would hit a few months later. In December 1994 he opened with his sister a small game and bookstore in Delft (NL), named Elf Fantasy Shop. The games were a golden opportunity. Three years later the duo could open an second store in The Hague.
In 1995 Stefan also started a new adventure with a free magazine called Elf Fantasy Magazine. In 2001 the magazine became professionalized and despite it never realised any profits it existed until 2009.
Stefan and his sister already organised lectures in the Elf Fantasy Shops about druidism, Tolkien and other fantasy related subjects. In 2001 Stefan decided to combine a few things into a totally new and unique festival concept that later would be copied many times: the Elf Fantasy fair. Starting in the historical theme parc Archeon (NL) it moved the year after to the largest castle in the Netherlands: castle de Haar. With the exception of 2004 (castle Keukenhof, Lisse) it remained in castle de Haar, Haarzuilens since then. In 2009 a second version of the Elf Fantasy Fair started 400 meters from the border with Germany in the small village Arcen in Northern Limburg. In January 2013 the name Elf Fantasy Fair™ was replaced by the name Elfia™. The spring edition of Elfia is also called the 'Light Edition', while the autumn edition is characterized as the 'dark edition'.
French postcard. Les Cinématographes Méric. Ausonia (Mario Guaita) in the French silent film La course à l'amour (Paul Barlatier / Charles Keppens, 1924).
Athletic muscleman Mario Guaita aka Ausonia (1881-1956) was an Italian actor, director, producer and scriptwriter in the silent era. He had his international breakthrough with Spartaco (Enrico Vidali 1913) and became a major actor in the Italian forzuto genre. In the early 1920s he moved to Marseille, made a few films there and ran a cinema.
Italian postcard. I gladiatori discendono dall'accampamento del Vesuvio (The gladiators descend from their camps at Mount Vesuvius). Led by Spartacus, they will conquer Crassus' army and capture the consul.
Mario Guaita aka Ausonia (1881-1956) was an Italian actor, director, producer and scriptwriter in the silent era. He had his international breakthrough with Spartaco (Enrico Vidali 1913).
TITLE: The Raven
YEAR RELEASED: 1963
DIRECTOR: Roger Corman
CAST: Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Hazel Court and Peter Lorre.
MINI-REVIEW BY STEPHEN JACOBS: “Roger Corman’s comedy is great fun. Vincent Price plays Dr. Erasmus Craven, a magician who discovers his wife [Hazel Court] is not dead but resides with rival sorcerer Dr. Scarabus [Boris Karloff]. Peter Lorre, however, steals the picture as Dr. Bedlo, a grouchy wizard who had been transformed into a raven by Scarabus. Also noteworthy as featuring a young Jack Nicholson as Lorre’s son, Rexford.”
MAIN REVIEW BY ADAM SCOVELL
With its rather ominous opening, the viewer would perhaps be forgiven for thinking that Roger Corman’s adaptation of Poe’s The Raven would be in similar ilk to his other dark Poe films. What at first seems like yet another gothic retelling of a Poe classic turns out to be a swiftly delivered curve ball that has, at its core, a desire for fun and mischief rather than for scares and dark forebodings.
Vincent Price plays Dr Erasmus Craven, one of many sorcerers to appear in the film. He may be on the side of good but this implies that the villains are genuinely bad. Boris Karloff plays the closest to what the film has to a villain in the form of Dr Scarabus but this is a film about having a laugh at the absurdity of the fantasy genre rather than genuine battles of good vs. evil. To add to an already impressive cast is Peter Lorre as the hilarious Dr. Bedlo who appears first in the form of a raven and then proceeds to be one of the most hilariously inept sorcerers in fantasy.
Bedlo was turned into a raven by Scarabus but the action taken by the sorcerers seems more in line with playground antics than fantasy action. Jack Nicholson also makes an early film appearance as the dashing hero of the piece though is sidelined in the film in place wizardry and joyfully silly battles. Though very clearly aiming at a younger market, Corman still manages to add a few spine tingling elements to the film. These are mainly to be found in the film’s opening twenty minutes and revolve around Craven trying to find the rather gruesome ingredients to cure Bedlo from of his raven form. It must be stated that though the connection to the original adaptation of The Raven (1935) through Boris Karloff is its only link. The original was a tense, gothic tale of murder far more in line with Poe’s original prose. This is the polar opposite in almost every conceivable way.
Corman’s Raven is far more laxed about its source material to the point where it’s all but abandoned after the film’s introduction. Though this may perhaps not do it any favours among the horror purists, criticisms of the film based around its lack of seriousness misses the point entirely. Perhaps also with Corman’s excellent track record for Poe adaptations, it comes as a shock to find him playing so freely with the material but it’s something he would come back to again and again (also remembering his previous horror comedy Little Shop of Horrors (1960)).
Though more in line with the TV series Bewitched than with the likes of Pit and the Pendulum (1961), The Raven is a perfect film for the winter. Its silly nature gives it the feel of a Christmas film, however, boasting an extremely strong cast of horror royalty and providing some genuine laughs along with its witty wizardry, The Raven is a film that can be forgiven for straying array from the purely horrific and should instead be enjoyed for what it is; fun.
synopsis
Although Roger Corman narrowly managed to avoid self-mockery in his pulpy, flamboyant adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe tales, it appears that the director chose this opportunity to let loose with outright parody; the result is a wonderfully entertaining romp with tongue planted firmly in cheek. The first screen teaming of legendary horror stars Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, and Peter Lorre -- later billed as "The Triumvirate of Terror" -- this so-called "adaptation" uses Poe's most famous poem as a springboard for Grand Guignol comedy from scriptwriter Richard Matheson. Melancholy magician Erasmus Craven (Price), having recently relinquished his membership in the Brotherhood of Sorcerers after the apparent death of his wife Lenore (Hazel Court), is paid a visit by a foul-mouthed talking raven, claiming to be small-time wizard Adolphus Bedlo (Lorre). After some persuasion, Craven returns Bedlo to human form, reversing a spell placed by the evil Dr. Scarabus (Karloff), Craven's chief rival. After learning that a woman bearing a strong likeness to Lenore was seen in the Doctor's company, Craven accompanies Bedlo to Scarabus' castle, where the resulting battle of wills escalates into all-out magical warfare between the two embittered sorcerers. Corman and company relished the opportunity to poke fun at the staid Poe series, and the distinguished leads contribute to the spirit of fun by lampooning their own cinematic reputations. Fans of Jack Nicholson (who cut his acting teeth on this and other AIP productions) should enjoy his melodramatic performance here as Bedlo's straight-arrow son; Nicholson would later co-star with Karloff in Corman's The Terror, which was shot in two days using the same sets!
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no.566. Photo: G.F.F.A. (Gaumont-Franco-Film-Aubert), a company existing between 1930 and 1938.
Jean Toulout (1887-1962) was a French stage and screen actor, director and scriptwriter. He was married to the actress Yvette Andreyor between 1917 and 1926.
Jean Toulout was born in Paris in 1887. While no real online biography has been written about him, this bio is largely based on Toulout’s filmography. According to Wikipedia, Toulout started to act on stage at least from 1907, when he played in the Victor Hugo play Marion Delorme at the Comédie Française. One year later, he was already acting at the Théàtre des Arts, so if he ever was a member of the Comédie Française, then not for long. In 1911, he travelled around with Firmin Gémier’s wandering stage company, while at least from 1913, he settled in Paris playing with André Antoine’s 1913 staging of Paul Lindau’s The Prosecutor Hallers. At the same time, Toulout debuted in French film, which quickly would become much more intense than his stage career. All in all, he would act in some 100 films within four decades. Toulout started in short films by Abel Gance for Gance’s own company Le film français (Il y a des pieds au plafond, Le Nègre blanc, La Digue, Le Masque d’horreur, all 1912), but soon after he had also various parts at Gaumont, Pathé and smaller companies, under direction of Louis Feuillade (La Maison des lions, 1912), Henri Andréani (L’Homme qui assassina, 1913; Jacques l’honneur, 1913; Les Enfants d'Édouard, 1914), in addition to films directed by and Gaston Leprieur, René Leprince, Gérard Bourgeois and Alexandre Devarennes. For instance in L’homme qui assassina he is the evil, adulterous Lord Falkland [!], who presses his equally adulterous but goodhearted wife (Mlle Michelle) to either say goodbye to her child or publicly confess her sin, but her lover (Firmin Gémier) kills the husband and is even acquitted by the local Turkish commissionary (Adolphe Candé), who is very understanding in these matters. NB Les Enfants d'Édouard was, of course, based on William Shakespeare. While Toulout didn’t act on screen in 1915 (he may have been involved in the military during the First World War), he was back on track from late 1916 in several Gaumont films by Feuillade and others. In 1917, he played in Feuillade’s L’Autre, where he met the actress Yvette Andreyor, famous for her parts in Feuillade’s Fantomas and Judex, and they married on 12 June 1917. Toulout and Andreyor would perform together in various films until their divorce in 1926. In 1918, Toulout was the evil antagonist of Emmy Lynn in Gance’s La Dixième Symphonie, blackmailing her for having accidentally killed his sister, thus risking wrecking her new marriage with a composer (Séverin-Mars) but also the life of the composer’s daughter (Elizabeth Nizan). Luckily for the other, he doesn’t kill them, only himself. As English Wikipedia writes, “Gance's mastery of lighting, composition and editing was accompanied by a range of literary and artistic references which some critics found pretentious and alienating.” While Toulout would be reunited with Emmy Lynn in La faute d’Odette Marchal (Henri Roussel 1920), he would also be reunited as – again – a jealous, evil husband with Séverin-Mars in Jacques Landauze (1920) by André Hugon, a director with whom Toulout would do several films in the 1920s and 1930s: in the 1920s Le Roi de Camargue (1921), Notre Dame d'amour (1922), Le Diamant noir (1922), La Rue du pavé d'amour (1923), and the first French sound film, Les Trois masques (1929), shot at the London Elstree studios in 15 days.
In the early 1920s Toulout also acted in films by Pierre Bressol (Le Mystère de la villa Mortain, La Mission du docteur Klivers), Germaine Dulac (La fète espagnole, La belle dame sans-merci), Jacques Robert, Henri Fescourt, Armand du Plessis, and others. In La belle dame sans-merci, he is a local count who understands that the playful femme fatale he brought home is wrecking his whole family, so he has them reunited. In Chantelouve (Georges Monca, 1921), he was once more the jealous husband who threatens to kill his wife (Yvette Andreyor). In La conquête des Gaules (Yan B. Dyl, Marcel Yonnet, 1923), he is a film director who tries to film the conquest of the Gauls with modest means. In Le Crime de Monique (Robert Péguy, 1923), Yvette Andreyor is accused of killing her brutal, violent husband (Toulout, of course). Toulout also acted in Abel Gance’s hilarious comedy Au secours! (1924), starring Max Linder as a man who takes a bet to stay a night in a haunted house. Instead Toulout masterfully performed the persistent commissionary Javert in Les Misérables (Henri Fescourt ,1925), opposite Gabriel Gabrio as Jean Valjean. When a restored version was shown at the Giornate del Cinema Muto in Pordenone in October 2015, Peter Walsh on his blog Burnt Retina wrote: “Gabriel Gabrio as Jean Valjean was a towering presence on screen, and his redemptive arc, and gradual aging were shown in a convincing way. Jean Toulout as Javert was also superb, at times overpowered by some of the mightiest brows and mutton chops I’ve seen in a long time. The climax of his personal crisis, and collapse of his moral world was incredibly striking, with extreme close-ups capturing a bristling performance.” After smaller parts as in Germaine Dulac’s Antoinette Sabrier (1927), in which Toulout would be paired with Gabrio again, Toulout left the set in 1928 and instead returned to the stage for Le Carnaval de l'amour at the Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin.
In 1929, however, Toulout returned as Mr de Villefort in the late silent film Monte Christo (Henri Fescourt) – the last big silent French production - as well as in the first French sound film Les Trois masques (see above) as a Corsican whose son (François Rozet) makes a girl (Renée Heribel) pregnant, after which her brothers take revenge during the carnival. Toulout had the lead in the Henry Bataille adaptation La Tendresse (André Hugon, 1930) as a famous, older academician who discovers his much younger wife (Marcelle Chantal) isn’t that much in love with him as he is with her. When he gravely falls ill he discovers she still gave the best of her life to him. In 1930 Toulout also tried his luck in film direction and with Joe Francis he directed Le Tampon du Capiston, a comical operetta film on an old spinster (Hélène Hallier), a captain’s sister, who wants to marry the captain’s aide (Rellys) who presumably has inherited a fortune. In the same year Toulout also wrote the scripts for two other films, both by Hugon: La Femme et le Rossignol and Lévy & Cie. The collaboration continued in 1931 when Toulout scripted and starred in Hugon’s Le Marchand de sable, while he had a supporting part in Hugon’s La Croix du Sud. The collaboration with Hugon would last till well into the mid-1940s with Le Faiseur (1936), Monsieur Bégonia (1937), La Rue sans joie (1938), Le Héros de la Marne (1938), La Sévillane (1943), and Le Chant de l'exilé (1943). In 1931 Toulout also scripted Moritz macht sein Glück, a German film by Dutch director Jaap Speijer. All through the 1930s Toulout had a steady, intense career as actor, but in 1934 he also directed his second film, La Reine du Biarritz, in which he himself had only a small part. Elenita de Sierra Mirador (Alice Field) is the toast of Biarritz. For her, a young groom leaves his wife. For her, a forty-year-old inflamed suddenly and deceives his young wife. But Elenita watched by her mother resigns herself to becoming honest and returns to her husband. Otherwise Toulout had mostly supporting parts, as in Le petit roi (1933) by Julien Duvivier, Fédora (1934) by Louis Gasnier, Les Nuits moscovites (Alexis Granowsky, 1934), and Le Bonheur (Marcel L’Herbier 1934). He could act the jealous, shooting husband again in Paul Schiller’s Le Vertige (1935), again starring Alice Field. He was the judge who forces Henri Garat and Lilian Harvey to marry on the spot in Les Gais lurons (Jacques Natanson, Paul Martin), the French version of Martin’s Glückskinder. He is the prosecutor in La Danseuse rouge (Jean-Paul Paulin, 1937) , a courtcase drama starring Vera Korène and inspired by Mata Hari’s trial. Toulout continued to act minor film parts in the late 1930s, during the war years and the late 1940s and quite continuously: fathers, judges, doctors, officers, aristocrats. But a major part among the first three actors of the film he didn’t have anymore. Memorable were his parts in Édouard et Caroline (Jacques Becker, 1951), starring Daniel Gélin and Anne Vernon, and – again, a judge - in Obsession (Jean Delannoy 1952) with Michèle Morgan and Raf Vallone. Toulout also worked as voice actor in France, playing Donald Crisp’s part in How Green Was My Valley (1941, released in France in 1946), and Nigel Bruce’s part in Limelight (1952). In the late 1950s, Toulout also acted on television. Jean Toulout died in Paris on 23 October 1962.
Sources: English, French and Italian Wikipedia, IMDb, DVD-Toile, Burnt retina.
French postcard by Cartcom. Photo: Derek Hudson / Télérama.
Lars von Trier (1956) is a Danish film director, well known for his original way of working and for such films as Breaking the Waves (1996) and Dancer in the Dark (2002), and the television series Riget / The Kingdom (1994-2022). Together with colleague Thomas Vinterberg, he conceived and started the ambitious, provocative, and technically innovative avant-garde movement Dogma 95 and founded the Danish film company Zentropa with Peter Aalbæk. Their films have sold more than 350 million cinema tickets and received eight Oscar nominations. Since Von Trier was little, he suffered from depression and phobias, which he reflected in his famous Depression Trilogy: Antichrist (2009), Melancholia (2011), and Nymphomaniac (2013).
Lars von Trier was born Lars Trier in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1956. He was the second son of Inger Høst and Ulf Trier. His parents met in the resistance during the German occupation of Denmark, where they helped Jews flee to Sweden. By Von Trier's own admission, his mother was a communist. His parents belonged to a group of nudists and raised their son to be anti-authoritarian. His mother told him shortly before her death that his biological father was Fritz Michael Hartmann, her former superior at the Ministry of Social Affairs, who had also been a resistance leader during the war. His maternal uncle was Børge Høst, a film director who sparked Lars's interest in filmmaking. As early as primary school, he shot small animation films with a Super-8 camera, and later followed short films with his friends. His first documented animated film, Turen til Squashland / The Journey to Cockaigne (1967), lasted one minute. Von Trier suffered from stress in his youth and sometimes missed school, for which he received psychiatric support. Despite this, he played in the Danish-Swedish children's television series Hemmelig sommer / Secret Summer (Thomas Winding, 1969). Von Trier studied film science at the Københavns Universitet (the University of Copenhagen). From 1976, he made short films. He then studied at the Den Danske Filmskole (Danish Film School) from 1979 to 1982. His fellow students nicknamed him 'Von Trier'. This was good-natured teasing because 'von' suggested a noble background, which contradicted his mother's communist background. According to some sources, he retained his nickname as an homage to the self-titled directors Erich von Stroheim and Josef von Sternberg. He graduated with his short film Befrielsesbilleder / Images of Relief (1982), which won the Best Film award at the Munich Film Festival the following year. His first feature-length film was the crime drama Forbrydelsens element / The Element of Crime (1984). At IMDb, Michael Brooke writes: "A highly distinctive blend of film noir and German Expressionism with stylistic nods to Dreyer, Andrei Tarkovsky and Orson Welles, its combination of yellow-tinted monochrome cinematography (pierced by shafts of blue light) and doom-haunted atmosphere made it an unforgettable visual experience. ". It received twelve awards at seven different international festivals, including the Technical Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and a nomination for the Palme d'Or. Von Trier always refers to his films as being divided into thematic and stylistic trilogies. Forbrydelsens element belongs to his Europa trilogy. These three films deal with traumatic periods in Europe, past and present, and also include Epidemic (1987) and Europa (1991). Epidemic (1987) is an experimental Horror drama, starring Von Trier himself and scriptwriter Niels Vørsel. It describes the last five days of the lives of two film scriptwriters, Lars and Niels. The theme of the film is idealism and its destructive consequences, a theme that recurred in Von Trier's later film Manderlay. Epidemic was shot in black and white, but throughout almost the entire film, the text ‘EPIDEMIC’ is visible in red in the upper left corner. Music from Richard Wagner's opera Tannhäuser supports the story. Then followed a Danish television film, Medea (1988), based on an unrealised screenplay by Carl Theodor Dreyer about the mythological character Medea, described in Euripides' play. The lead roles were played by Udo Kier as Jason and Kirsten Olesen as Medea. Kier also played a leading role in his next film, the drama Europa / Zentropa (1991), co-starring Jean Marc Barr and Barbara Sukowa. Seeking more financial independence and creative control over their projects, von Trier and producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen founded the film production company Zentropa Entertainment in 1992, which as of 2006 had sold more than 350 million tickets and been nominated for Academy Awards. Zentropa has produced more films than just Trier's own, as well as several television series. An international success was the Danish television series Riget / The Kingdom (Lars von Trier, 1994-2022), consisting of two four-part episodes, Riget (1994) and Riget II (1997). The third season, Riget Exodus, was aired in 2022. The TV soap opera blending hospital drama, ghost story and David Lynch-like surrealism is set around the hospital's neurology department and follows both patients and staff members. Strange things happen on the ward that are inexplicable to science. The series was made in a sepia colour and with an unsteady moving camera, reminiscent of the Dogma 95 films of which Von Trier was one of the forerunners.
Together with Thomas Vinterberg and other Danish colleagues, Lars von Trier conceived and started the Dogma 95 collective in Copenhagen in 1995. The Danish name is Dogme 95. The participants agreed to abide by ten strict rules (dogmas) when making films. These rules are listed in Dogma 95's manifesto, and together form The Vow of Purity:
1. Shooting must be done on location. Props and sets must not be brought in (if a particular prop is necessary for the story, a location must be chosen where this prop is to be found).
2. The sound must never be produced apart from the images or vice versa. (Music must not be used unless it occurs where the scene is being shot.)
3. The camera must be handheld. Any movement or immobility attainable in the hand is permitted.
4. The film must be in colour. Special lighting is not acceptable. (If there is too little light for exposure, the scene must be cut or a single lamp must be attached to the camera.)
5. Optical work and filters are forbidden.
6. The film must not contain superficial action. (Murders, weapons, etc., must not occur.)
7. Temporal and geographical alienation are forbidden. (That is to say that the film takes place here and now.)
8. Genre movies are not acceptable.
9. The film format must be an Academy 35 mm.
10. The director must not be credited.
The first and also best-known Dogma 95 film is Festen / The Feast (1998), directed by Thomas Vinterberg. Von Trier made only one Dogma film himself: the controversial film Idioterne / The Idiots (1998). His later films did have Dogma elements, but Von Trier no longer lived up to all the dogmas. For instance, Breaking the Waves also featured only one handheld camera, so that the actors were as unaware as possible of the presence of the camera and technology. The result was therefore a 'natural' way of acting. In Dogville, Von Trier went one step further than Dogma 95: buildings were also missing. The Dogma 95 concept set off a wave in the Danish and international film world, and in the following decade, a large number of Danish and international films were produced that followed the Dogme rules. In total, 35 films made between 1998 and 2005 are considered to be part of the Dogma 95 movement.
In his first marriage, Lars von Trier was married from 1987 to 1995 to Danish director, screenwriter and actress Cæcilia Holbek, who also studied at the Danish Film Academy. During his wife's second pregnancy, he fell in love with nanny Bente Frøge. In 1995, three weeks after the birth of his second daughter, he officially left his wife to be with Frøge. Apart from causing much misunderstanding with his wife, this led to a media circus in Denmark. He divorced Frøge in 2015. Von Trier shot his next film, Breaking the Waves (1996), with Emily Watson and Stellan Skarsgard, in the Scottish Highlands. It was his first film in the Guldhjerte-trilogi (Golden Heart trilogy) and was followed by Idioterne / The Idiots (1998) and Dancer in the Dark (2000). All the films in the trilogy feature naïve heroines who retain their ‘golden hearts’ despite the tragedies they have been through. Idioterne / The Idiots (1998) is about a group of ‘anti-bourgeois’ adults living in a residential community in rural Lolland. They go in search of their ‘inner idiot’ to provoke, by breaking established norms. This creates strange situations, especially in public places. The film contains explicit sex scenes and was therefore shown censored in several countries. Despite mixed reviews, Idioterne won several film awards. The most famous of these was at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. Others include the European Film Award (1998) and the Danish Bodil Prize (1999). The emotions during the filming of Dancer in the Dark (2000) were very intense. Lead actress Björk even walked away from the film set because she disagreed with a green blouse she had to wear. She recordedly even tore the blouse with her teeth. Björk did not want to see the final result. The film won the Golden Palm at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. Björk won the award for best actress. A song from the film, 'I've seen it all' (co-written with von Trier), was nominated for the Oscar for Best Original Song, but ultimately did not win. The film received several other international awards, including one from the European Film Academy. Afterwards, Von Trier said he regretted making the film because of all the conflicts and emotions. Winning several awards for the film meant a slight mitigation for this. Lars von Trier then made with Jørgen Leth the documentary The Five Obstructions (2003), which incorporates lengthy sections of experimental films. The premise is that von Trier challenges Leth, his friend and mentor, to remake his 1967 experimental short The Perfect Human five times, each time with a different obstacle. His next trilogy, Land of Opportunities, consisted of Dogville (2003), Manderlay (2005), and the unmade Washington. The trilogy is set in the United States during the 1930s crisis, when issues of intolerance, freedom and slavery pervaded American society. The first two instalments were shot with the same distinctive, extremely stylised approach, with the actors performing on a bare sound stage with no decoration, buildings' walls marked by chalk lines on the floor, a style inspired by 1970s televised theatre. Dogville (2003) starred Nicole Kidman as Grace Margaret Mulligan, a role taken by Bryce Dallas Howard for Manderlay (2005). Both films featured an ensemble cast including Harriet Andersson, Lauren Bacall, James Caan, Danny Glover, and Willem Dafoe. In 2006, von Trier released the Danish-language comedy film Direktøren for det hele / The Boss of It All (2006), which was shot using an experimental process he named Automavision, involving the director choosing the best possible fixed camera position, then allowing a computer to randomly choose when to tilt, pan, or zoom. He followed this with an autobiographical film, De unge år: Erik Nietzsche sagaen del 1 / The Early Years: Erik Nietzsche Part 1 (2007), which von Trier wrote and Jacob Thuesen directed, a film that tells the story of von Trier's years as a student at the National Film School of Denmark. It stars Jonatan Spang as von Trier's alter ego, called 'Erik Nietzsche', and is narrated by von Trier himself, with all main characters being based on real people from the Danish film industry. The thinly veiled portrayals include Jens Albinus as director Nils Malmros, Dejan Čukić as screenwriter Mogens Rukov, and Søren Pilmark.
Lars von Trier's Depression trilogy consists of Antichrist (2009), Melancholia (2011), and Nymphomaniac (2013). The three films star Charlotte Gainsbourg and deal with characters who suffer depression or grief. This trilogy is said to represent the depression that Trier himself experienced. Antichrist (2009), starring Willem Dafoe and Gainsbourg, follows a grieving couple who retreat to their cabin in the woods, hoping a return to Eden will repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage. Nature takes its course, and things go from bad to worse. At the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, the jury gave the Best Actress award to Gainsbourg. Melancholia (2011) is an apocalyptic drama about two depressive sisters played by Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Dunst marries just before a rogue planet is about to collide with Earth. Von Trier is known to be provocative in interviews. His Nazi joke during the press conference before the premiere of Melancholia at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival caused controversy in the media. The festival declared him persona non grata and banned him from Cannes for one year. Melancholia still competed in that year's competition, and Kirsten Dunst won the Best Actress award. The director of the Cannes Film Festival later stated that the whole controversy was as ‘unfair’ and 'silly' as von Trier's bad joke, declaring that his films were welcome at the festival and that von Trier was considered a ‘friend’ of the festival. His next film, Nymphomaniac (2013), tells about the sexual awakening of a woman played by Charlotte Gainsbourg. In early December 2013, a four-hour version was shown to the press in a private preview session. The cast also included Stellan Skarsgård (in his sixth film for von Trier), Shia LaBeouf, Willem Dafoe, Jamie Bell, Christian Slater, and Uma Thurman. For its public release, the film was divided into two volumes. In February 2014, an uncensored version of Volume I was shown at the Berlin Film Festival. The complete version premiered at the 2014 Venice Film Festival and was shortly afterwards released in a limited theatrical run worldwide. In 2015, Lars von Trier began work on a new feature film, The House That Jack Built (2018), which was originally planned as an eight-part television series. The story is about a serial killer, seen from the murderer's point of view. It starred Matt Dillon in the title role, alongside Bruno Ganz, Riley Keough and Sofie Gråbøl. In 2017, von Trier explained that the film "celebrates the idea that life is evil and soulless, which is sadly proven by the recent rise of the Homo trumpus – the rat king". At the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, despite more than a hundred walkouts by audience members, the film still received a 10-minute standing ovation. Von Trier then produced a belated third and final season of The Kingdom, titled The Kingdom Exodus (2022), with Søren Pilmark returning as Jørgen 'Hook' Krogshøj, Ghita Nørby as Rigmor Mortensen, alongside a new cast including Mikael Persbrandt as Dr. Helmer, Jr. The miniseries premiered out of competition at the Venice Film Festival as a five-hour feature-length film and received mixed reviews from critics. On 8 August 2022, it was announced that von Trier had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Von Tier was working on a new film starring Stellan Skarsgård. Von Trier's health conditions would be reflected in the plot of the film. On 12 February 2025, Zentropa producer Louise Vesth announced via Instagram that von Trier had moved into a care centre in Bredebro near Kongens Lyngby. In 2018, Lars von Trier was awarded the Danish culture prize, the Sonningprisen. He has two daughters with his first wife, Cæcilia Holbek, Agnes and Selma Sunniva, and twin sons with his second wife, Bente Frøge, Benjamin and Ludvig.
Sources: Michael Brooke (IMDb), Wikipedia (English, Dutch and Danish) and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Dutch collectors card by Monty, no. 10, 1970. Photo: Gerard Soeteman. Publicity still for the TV series Floris (Paul Verhoeven, 1969).
Finally I found some collectors cards of my favourite series, Floris (1969). The series was the start of the successful vareers of director Paul Verhoeven, scriptwriter Gerard Soeteman and of course Rutger Hauer. Hauer played the exiled knight Floris. With his Indian friend Sindala (Jos Bergman), he tries to get his birth right papers back from Maarten van Rossem (Hans Culeman), an evil lord. During their quest they get help from Wolter van Oldenstein (Ton Vos), a noble man who offers them a place in his castle. They also meet the pirate Lange Pier (Hans Boskamp).
Source: IMDb.
Production stills for Seattle based creative agency and film and video production company Spin Creative. The production stills feature behind the scenes of a shoot for a Treehouse brand film and commercial shot in February 2013 on the Canon C300. Treehouse is a Seattle-based non-profit committed to improving the lives of kids living in foster care. The film will debut at the Treehouse annual fundraising luncheon, “Champions for Foster Kids,” on March 20th at the Seattle Sheraton.
The brand film that Spin Creative is crafting will be constructed in TV commercial form and will have multiple uses and delivery channels after its initial viewing at the “Champions” event. Spin developed the creative strategy and script for the spot and tells the story of who Treehouse is today, its future and the legacy its building upon. Beyond the fundraising event, the spot will be used for awareness-building and as a tool to convey the Treehouse story in an emotive, powerful way.
A huge thanks to all of the organizations and people who donated services and time to make this project happen, including:
•Treehouse clients for doing a superb job sourcing and coordinating locations, casting and talent for the project. Emily Lubenow in particular put in countless hours finding talent, locations and sourcing props and did an amazing job.
•Our crew and project team who donated additional time and services.
•Blanchet High School, Fairview Christian School and All That Dance who donated locations and provided on-camera talent.
Project Credits:
Tom Skerritt, Narrator
Matthew Billings, Director + Editor
Jim Lombardo, Scriptwriter + Producer
Ty Migota, DP
Siobhan Macdona, Stylist
Scott Gwin, DIT + Grip
Miguel Cornelio, Casting + Props + Production Stills
Drew Hisey, PA
Eric Lee, PA
Nick Denke at Electric Muses, Music Composer + Audio Mix
TITLE: The Raven
YEAR RELEASED: 1963
DIRECTOR: Roger Corman
CAST: Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Hazel Court and Peter Lorre.
MINI-REVIEW BY STEPHEN JACOBS: “Roger Corman’s comedy is great fun. Vincent Price plays Dr. Erasmus Craven, a magician who discovers his wife [Hazel Court] is not dead but resides with rival sorcerer Dr. Scarabus [Boris Karloff]. Peter Lorre, however, steals the picture as Dr. Bedlo, a grouchy wizard who had been transformed into a raven by Scarabus. Also noteworthy as featuring a young Jack Nicholson as Lorre’s son, Rexford.”
MAIN REVIEW BY ADAM SCOVELL
With its rather ominous opening, the viewer would perhaps be forgiven for thinking that Roger Corman’s adaptation of Poe’s The Raven would be in similar ilk to his other dark Poe films. What at first seems like yet another gothic retelling of a Poe classic turns out to be a swiftly delivered curve ball that has, at its core, a desire for fun and mischief rather than for scares and dark forebodings.
Vincent Price plays Dr Erasmus Craven, one of many sorcerers to appear in the film. He may be on the side of good but this implies that the villains are genuinely bad. Boris Karloff plays the closest to what the film has to a villain in the form of Dr Scarabus but this is a film about having a laugh at the absurdity of the fantasy genre rather than genuine battles of good vs. evil. To add to an already impressive cast is Peter Lorre as the hilarious Dr. Bedlo who appears first in the form of a raven and then proceeds to be one of the most hilariously inept sorcerers in fantasy.
Bedlo was turned into a raven by Scarabus but the action taken by the sorcerers seems more in line with playground antics than fantasy action. Jack Nicholson also makes an early film appearance as the dashing hero of the piece though is sidelined in the film in place wizardry and joyfully silly battles. Though very clearly aiming at a younger market, Corman still manages to add a few spine tingling elements to the film. These are mainly to be found in the film’s opening twenty minutes and revolve around Craven trying to find the rather gruesome ingredients to cure Bedlo from of his raven form. It must be stated that though the connection to the original adaptation of The Raven (1935) through Boris Karloff is its only link. The original was a tense, gothic tale of murder far more in line with Poe’s original prose. This is the polar opposite in almost every conceivable way.
Corman’s Raven is far more laxed about its source material to the point where it’s all but abandoned after the film’s introduction. Though this may perhaps not do it any favours among the horror purists, criticisms of the film based around its lack of seriousness misses the point entirely. Perhaps also with Corman’s excellent track record for Poe adaptations, it comes as a shock to find him playing so freely with the material but it’s something he would come back to again and again (also remembering his previous horror comedy Little Shop of Horrors (1960)).
Though more in line with the TV series Bewitched than with the likes of Pit and the Pendulum (1961), The Raven is a perfect film for the winter. Its silly nature gives it the feel of a Christmas film, however, boasting an extremely strong cast of horror royalty and providing some genuine laughs along with its witty wizardry, The Raven is a film that can be forgiven for straying array from the purely horrific and should instead be enjoyed for what it is; fun.
synopsis
Although Roger Corman narrowly managed to avoid self-mockery in his pulpy, flamboyant adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe tales, it appears that the director chose this opportunity to let loose with outright parody; the result is a wonderfully entertaining romp with tongue planted firmly in cheek. The first screen teaming of legendary horror stars Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, and Peter Lorre -- later billed as "The Triumvirate of Terror" -- this so-called "adaptation" uses Poe's most famous poem as a springboard for Grand Guignol comedy from scriptwriter Richard Matheson. Melancholy magician Erasmus Craven (Price), having recently relinquished his membership in the Brotherhood of Sorcerers after the apparent death of his wife Lenore (Hazel Court), is paid a visit by a foul-mouthed talking raven, claiming to be small-time wizard Adolphus Bedlo (Lorre). After some persuasion, Craven returns Bedlo to human form, reversing a spell placed by the evil Dr. Scarabus (Karloff), Craven's chief rival. After learning that a woman bearing a strong likeness to Lenore was seen in the Doctor's company, Craven accompanies Bedlo to Scarabus' castle, where the resulting battle of wills escalates into all-out magical warfare between the two embittered sorcerers. Corman and company relished the opportunity to poke fun at the staid Poe series, and the distinguished leads contribute to the spirit of fun by lampooning their own cinematic reputations. Fans of Jack Nicholson (who cut his acting teeth on this and other AIP productions) should enjoy his melodramatic performance here as Bedlo's straight-arrow son; Nicholson would later co-star with Karloff in Corman's The Terror, which was shot in two days using the same sets!
Dutch postcard by Art Unlimited, Amsterdam, no. C 2884. Photo: Erwin Olaf, 1986. Caption: Theo & Thea 'Happy Birthday'. Arjan Ederveen and Tosca Niterink as Theo & Thea.
Arjan Ederveen (1956) is a Dutch actor, comedian, TV scriptwriter and TV director. He participated in the classical satirical Dutch TV series Theo en Thea / Theo and Thea (1985-1989), Kreatief met Kurk / Creative with Cork (1993-1994) and 30 minuten / 30 Minutes (1995-1997). He also played in the stage musicals 'Hairspray' and 'Lang en Gelukkig' (Happily Ever After) and appeared in several films.
Arjan Ederveen Janssen was born in 1956 in Hilversum, The Netherlands. His mother, Greetje van Schaik, was an actress, who appeared in the popular radio show De bonte dinsdagavondtrein. He had two brothers, who both died young, respectively of AIDS and a rare blood disease. Ederveen did his high school education at Comenius College in Hilversum. During a school project, he made his first film, Appel aan de Stok: De Musical (1971). With this film, he won a local film competition. Ederveen studied at the Academie voor Kleinkunst in Amsterdam where he met fellow student Kees Prins. After graduating, they started their career together as The Duos. Between 1981 and 1984, they created four theatre performances and the television programme De Duo's doen alsof / The Duos are pretending. Ederveen made his screen debut in the German Werktheater production Waldeslust / Bosch en Lucht (Friedrich Schaller, 1981) with Joop Admiraal and Kees Prins. He also appeared in two Dutch films, the Virginia Woolf adaptation Golven / Waves (Annette Apon, 1981) and another Werktheater production, Een zwoele zomeravond / A Hot Summer Night (Frans Weisz, Shireen Strooker, 1982) with Gerard Thoolen. He also played a bellboy in the American comedy Still Smokin' (Tommy Chong, 1983) in which Cheech and Chong fly to the marijuana capital of the world, Amsterdam. Together with Tosca Niterink, Ederveen formed a new TV duo Theo & Thea (Robert Wiering, Pieter Kramer, 1985-1989). The characters became hugely famous in The Netherlands and a whole generation remembers the duo with the big front teeth. Although Theo & Thea was a children's programme, it also became popular among students. Incidentally, the series was not always popular with parents. The programme was criticised for its adult themes, such as drugs, sexual harassment and prostitution. Theo and Thea returned in the film Theo en Thea en de Ontmaskering van het Tenenkaasimperium / Theo and Thea and the Unmasking of the Toe Cheese Empire (Pieter Kramer, 1989) with Adèle Bloemendaal and Marco Bakker. Other features in which Ederveen appeared were Everybody Wants to Help Ernest (Alejandro Agresti, 1991) and Filmpje! (Paul Ruven, 1995) starring Paul de Leeuw. In the 1990s Ederveen made the mockumentary TV series Kreatief met Kurk / Creative with Cork (Pieter Kramer, 1993-1994), 30 minuten / 30 Minutes (Pieter Kramer, 1995-1997) and Borreltijd / Schnaps Time (Pieter Kramer, 1996), in which he also played recurring roles. All his shows were critically praised. Especially 30 minuten, a stylistic satire of documentaries and reality television, earned Ederveen and director Pieter Kramer several awards, including the Zilveren Nipkowschijf (Silver Nipkow Disk) and a Gouden Kalf (Golden Calf). The title refers to its half-hour length and was inspired by the BBC documentary series Sixty Minutes. The series is filmed in a mockumentary style with tragicomic undertones.
In 2001, Arjan Ederveen starred in a spin-off of 30 minuten, 25 minuten / 25 Minutes (Pieter Kramer, 2001), which was more absurd in its mockumentary style. In 2004, he wrote and acted in the VPRO television series De Troubabroers (Pieter Kramer, 2004), together with Alex Klaasen. The following year, he made the garden show Wroeten / Rooting (Lernert Engelberts, 2005). Ederveen also took part in several children's films, including as the choreographer in the musical Ja zuster, nee zuster / Yes Nurse! No Nurse! (Pieter Kramer, 2002) starring Loes Luca, chemist Geelman in Pietje Bell / Peter Bell (Maria Peters, 2002), Mr. Pen and his brother, a hermit, in Pluk van de Petteflet / Puffin's Pluck (Ben Sombogaart, Pieter van Rijn, 2004) and Professor Lupardi in Kapitein Rob en het Geheim van Professor Lupardi / Captain Rob and the secret of Professor Lupardi (Hans Pos, 2007) with Thijs Römer en Katja Schuurman. In 2010 he was a recurring panel member in the game show Wie van de drie? / To Tell the Truth. Besides his television and film work, Ederveen was also active as a stage actor. He performed the role of Cinderella's stepmother in the Ro Theater's show 'Lang en Gelukkig', which was also filmed as Lang & Gelukkig / Happily Ever After (Pieter Kramer, 2010). He played Fabio, the right-hand man of the Greek goddess Hera, in 'Hera, de goddelijke musical' (Hera, the Divine Musical) (2008-2009). In 2009, he starred with Jack Wouterse at the Ro Theatre in the play 'Tocht' (Journey), an Easter play he wrote himself. In the 2009/2010 season, he performed the role of Edna Turnblad in the musical 'Hairspray'. In the 2010/2011 season, he wrote and starred in the Ro Theatre's play 'Moord in de Kerststal' (Murder in the Nativity Scene). In 2018, he played the role of Pontius Pilate in The Passion (David Grifhorst, 2018). As a voice actor, Ederveen provided the voice of Rex in the Dutch version of Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995) and the sequels. He also dubbed Gonzo in The Muppets (James Bobin, 2011) and Muppets Most Wanted (James Bobin, 2014) as well as Vlad in Hotel Transylvania 2 (Genndy Tartakovsky, 2015) and Hotel Transylvania 3 (Genndy Tartakovsky, 2018). Ederveen played Doctor Feelgood in My Foolish Heart (Rolf van Eijk, 2018) about the mysterious demise of jazz icon Chet Baker and he was James in the comedy Bon Bini: Judeska in da House (Jonathan Herman, 2020) starring Jandino Asporaat. Last year, Arjan Ederveen appeared in the television show The Masked Singer. He also played the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in Scrooge Live (David Grifhorst, 2024). This year, he appeared in the American film Jimpa (Sophie Hyde, 2025) starring John Lithgow and Olivia Coleman. The film is a celebration of LGBTQI+ culture. Arjan Ederveen is openly gay and has an American husband, Howie.
Sources: Theater.nl (Dutch), Wikipedia (Dutch and English) and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
《金瓶梅》Golden Lotus Jin Ping Mei Beijing Dance Theatre Stage Presentation Brings Chinese Erotic Arts to Canada - Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto北京当代芭蕾舞团剧目把中国色情艺术带到加拿大温哥华、多伦多、蒙特利尔巡游表演
《金瓶梅》Golden Lotus/Lotus d'or/Jin Ping Mei Ballet Stage Performance
This is a stage adaptation of the early 17th century erotic Chinese novel 'Jin Ping Mei'. The show was first produced in Hong Kong in 2011. However, it was banned (some say delayed due to content localization) in Mainland China for three years until 2014. After some racy scenes were toned down, the show was allowed to debut in China and now it is about to extend the work to oversea markets. This time around, the Beijing Dance Theatre took over the ballet presentation and it is now touring for the first time in Canada to entertain audiences in three cities – Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto.
The Golden Lotus or better known as Jing Ping Mei was written in the latter part of the Ming Dynasty by someone who used a pseudonym and the true authorship had not been satisfactorily proven to this day. Practically from day one of its existence, the work has been purged in society as a 'forbidden book' in China since its first printing in about 1610. Although generally regarded as pornography throughout the centuries, the book had nevertheless became known among many literal elites both in China and in the West as one of the most important works of Chinese literature in the same class as The Water Margin《水浒传》, Romance of the Three Kingdoms《三国演义》and Dream of the Red Chamber《红楼梦》. In fact, it could be said that The Golden Lotus was derived from The Water Margin as both shared some of the same historical and fictional characters as Wu Song武松, Xi Menqing西门庆, Pan Jinlian潘金莲 etc. But the plot concerning these characters are very different between the two novels.
Behind the scene, the Beijing Dance Theatre production has some big name attached to the project. The choreographer is Artistic Director Wang Yuanyuan（王媛媛）who was responsible for adapting the Ballet Raise The Red Lantern 《大红灯笼高高挂》from the movie that made director Zhang Yimou（张艺谋）a household name in Chinese entertainment. Costume Designer was Oscar-winning Set Designer and Artistic Director Tim Yip（叶锦添）of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 《卧虎藏龙》fame. Others such as the musical director, scriptwriters, effects masters and producers are mainly involved in the movies and stage productions.
《金瓶梅》Golden Lotus Stage Adaptation -
Vancouver: Sep 21-22, 2017 Queen Elizabeth Theatre 7:30PM
Montreal: Oct 01-02, 2017 Montreal Place des Arts 7:30PM
Toronto: Oct 5-6, 2017 Living Arts Centre 7:30PM
Tickets: $285/235/185/145/105/85/65
Online: www.MegaBoxOffice.com
Phone: 778-321-5829 | 778-680-8800 | 778-927-9265 | 778-251-9839 (English & 中文)
Hotline: 604-343-6260
English: vancouver.ca/news-calendar/beijing-dance-theatre-golden-l...
中文：http://www.bcbay.com/life/community/2017/04/07/487157.html
Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jin_Ping_Mei
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Ray Van Eng 雷云影 is an accomplished media professional, award-winning screenwriter and movie producer. His work has been part of the Hava Nagila Exhibit at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in Manhattan in New York, NY from Sep 2012 to May 2013.
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"ZEMO" is a comic serie that I still doing with the fabulous scriptwriter Jorge García for the magazine "BDBanda", now we publish by chapters in the magazine and in a few time that will publish in one album.
Is the history of a boy who contains a demon in his heart, it's a scary and comedy serie with more action, heaven & hell wars, pyrokinetics girls, giant robots, vampires, psi-detectives and a lot of crazy, scary and funny things.
Dutch collectors card by Monty, no. 43, 1970. Photo: Gerard Soeteman. Hans Culeman and Eric Herfst in the TV series Floris (Paul Verhoeven, 1969).
The Dutch TV series Floris (1969) was the start of the successful careers of director Paul Verhoeven, scriptwriter Gerard Soeteman and of course actor Rutger Hauer. Hauer played the exiled knight Floris. With his Indian friend Sindala (Jos Bergman), he tries to get his birth right papers back from Maarten van Rossem (Hans Culeman), an evil lord. During their quest they get help from Wolter van Oldenstein (Ton Vos), a noble man who offers them a place in his castle. They also meet the pirate Lange Pier (Hans Boskamp).
Source: IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
The Postcard
A postcard published by J. Beagles & Co. of London E.C. The photography was by Ellis & Walery of Conduit Street and later Regent Street, London, and the card was printed in England.
The card was posted in Bath on Saturday the 28th. May 1904 to:
Miss Nancy Aust,
64 Queen's Road,
Bayswater,
London W.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"Only three cards came
to you and one for Sue.
Glad you arrived safely".
J. Beagles & Co.
The firm of J. Beagles & Co. was started by John Beagles (1844-1909). The company produced a variety of postcards including an extensive catalogue of celebrity (stage and screen) portrait postcards. After Beagle’s death, the business continued under its original name until it closed in 1939.
Sir Seymour Hicks
Sir Edward Seymour Hicks (30th. January 1871 - 6th. April 1949), was a British actor, music hall performer, playwright, screenwriter, actor-manager and producer.
He became known, early in his career, for writing, starring in and producing Edwardian musical comedy, often together with his famous wife, Ellaline Terriss. His most famous acting role was that of Ebeneezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens's 'A Christmas Carol'.
Making his stage début at the age of nine and performing professionally by sixteen, Hicks joined a theatrical company and toured America before starring in 'Under the Clock' in 1893, the first musical revue ever staged in London. Following this, he starred in a revival of 'Little Jack Sheppard' at the Gaiety Theatre, London which brought him to the attention of impresario George Edwardes.
Edwardes cast Hicks in his next show, 'The Shop Girl', in 1894. Its success led to his participation in two more of Edwardes's hit "girl" musicals, 'The Circus Girl' (1896) and 'A Runaway Girl' (1898), both starring Terriss.
He first played the role of Ebeneezer Scrooge in 1901, and eventually played it thousands of times onstage.
Hicks, along with his wife, joined the producer Charles Frohman in his theatre company and wrote and starred in a series of extraordinarily successful musicals, including 'Bluebell in Fairyland' (1901), 'Quality Street' (1902), 'The Earl and the Girl' (1903) and 'The Catch of the Season' (1904).
Hicks used his fortune from these shows to commission the building of the Aldwych Theatre in 1905 and the Hicks Theatre in 1906, opening the latter with a new hit show, 'The Beauty of Bath'.
His stage performances were less successful in later years, and he opted instead to star in music hall tours, including 'Pebbles on the Beach' (1912). He continued to write light comedies, the most popular of which was 'The Happy Day' (1916).
On film, he first appeared in 'Scrooge' and 'David Garrick', both from 1913. Later notable films included 'The Lambeth Walk' (1939) and 'Busman's Honeymoon' (1940), and his last film was in the year of his death, 1949.
George Formby
So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?
Not a lot, but two days earlier, on the 26th. May 1904, George Formby OBE was born. He was an English actor, singer-songwriter and comedian who frequently played the ukulele when on the stage or in films.
George Formby (born George Hoy Booth) became known to a worldwide audience through his films of the 1930's and 1940's.
On stage, screen and record he sang light, comic songs, usually playing the ukulele or banjolele, and became the UK's highest-paid entertainer.
Born in Wigan, Lancashire, he was the son of George Formby Senior. After an early career as a stable boy and jockey, Formby took to the music hall stage after the early death of his father in 1921.
His early performances were taken exclusively from his father's act, including the same songs, jokes and characters. In 1923 he made two career-changing decisions – he purchased a ukulele, and married Beryl Ingham, a fellow performer who became his manager and who transformed his act.
Beryl insisted that he appear on stage formally dressed, and introduced the ukulele to his performance.
He started his recording career in 1926 and, from 1934, he increasingly worked in film to develop into a major star by the late 1930's and 1940's, and became the UK's most popular entertainer during those decades.
Media historian Brian McFarlane writes that on film, Formby portrayed gormless Lancastrian innocents who would win through against some form of villainy, gaining the affection of an attractive middle-class girl in the process.
During the Second World War Formby worked extensively for the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA), and entertained civilians and troops. By 1946 it was estimated that George had performed in front of three million service personnel.
After the war his career declined, although he toured the Commonwealth, and continued to appear in variety and pantomime.
George's last television appearance was in December 1960, two weeks before the death of Beryl.
He surprised people by announcing his engagement to a school teacher, Pat Howson, seven weeks after Beryl's funeral, but died in Preston three weeks later, at the age of 56; he was buried in Warrington, alongside his father.
Formby's biographer, Jeffrey Richards, considers that:
"The actor had been able to embody
simultaneously Lancashire, the working
classes, the people, and the nation".
Formby was considered Britain's first properly home-grown screen comedian. He was an influence on future comedians—particularly Charlie Drake and Norman Wisdom—and, culturally, on entertainers such as the Beatles, who referred to him in their music.
Since his death, Formby has been the subject of five biographies, two television specials and two works of public sculpture.
George Formby - The Early Years 1904 - 1921
George Formby was born in Wigan, Lancashire, on the 26th. May 1904. He was the eldest of seven surviving children born to James Lawler Booth and his wife Eliza, née Hoy. The marriage was in fact bigamous because Booth was still married to his first wife, Martha Maria Salter, a twenty-year-old music hall performer.
Booth was a successful music hall comedian and singer who performed under the name George Formby (he is now known as George Formby Senior).
Formby Senior suffered from a chest ailment, identified variously as bronchitis, asthma or tuberculosis, and would use the cough as part of the humour in his act, saying to the audience:
"Bronchitis, I'm a bit tight tonight."
Alternatively:
"Coughing better tonight."
One of his main characters was that of John Willie, an "archetypal Lancashire lad". In 1906 Formby Sr was earning £35 a week in the music halls, which rose to £325 a week by 1920. This meant that George Formby grew up in an affluent home.
Formby Senior was so popular that Marie Lloyd, the influential music hall singer and actress, would only watch two acts: his and that of Dan Leno.
George Formby was born blind owing to an obstructive caul, although his sight was restored during a violent coughing fit or sneeze when he was a few months old.
After briefly attending school—at which he did not prosper, and did not learn to read or write—Formby was removed from formal education at the age of seven and sent to become a stable boy, briefly in Wiltshire and then in Middleham, Yorkshire.
Formby Senior sent his son away to work as he was worried that he would watch him on stage; he was against Formby following in his footsteps, saying:
"One fool in the family is enough."
After a year working at Middleham, young George was apprenticed to Thomas Scholfield in Epsom, where he ran his first professional races at the age of 10, when he weighed less than 56 lb (25 kg).
In 1915 Formby Senior allowed his son to appear on screen, taking the lead in By the Shortest of Heads, a thriller directed by Bert Haldane in which Formby played a stable boy who outwits a gang of villains and wins a £10,000 prize when he comes first in a horse race.
The film is now considered lost, with the last-known copy having been destroyed in 1940.
Later in 1915, and with the closure of the English racing season because of the Great War, Formby moved to Ireland where he continued as a jockey until November 1918.
Later that month he returned to England and raced for Lord Derby at his Newmarket stables. Formby continued as a jockey until 1921, although he never won a race.
-- Beginning a Stage Career: 1921–1934
On the 8th. February 1921, Formby Senior succumbed to his bronchial condition and died at the young age of 45; he was laid to rest in the Catholic section of Warrington Cemetery.
After his father's funeral Eliza took the young Formby to London to help him cope with his grief. While there, they visited the Victoria Palace Theatre—where Formby Senior had previously been so successful—and saw a performance by the Tyneside comedian Tommy Dixon.
Dixon was performing a copy of Formby Senior's act, using the same songs, jokes, costumes and mannerisms, and billed himself as "The New George Formby", a name which angered Eliza and Formby even more.
The performance prompted Formby to follow in his father's profession, a decision which was supported by Eliza. As he had never seen his father perform live, Formby found the imitation difficult, and he had to learn his father's songs from records, and the rest of his act and jokes from his mother.
On the 21st. March 1921 Formby gave his first professional appearance in a two-week run at the Hippodrome in Earlestown, Lancashire, where he received a fee of £5 a week.
In the show he was billed as George Hoy, using his mother's maiden name—he explained later that he did not want the Formby name to appear in small print. His father's name was used in the posters and advertising, George Hoy being described as:
"Comedian (Son of George Formby)."
While still appearing in Earlestown, Formby was hired to appear at the Moss Empire chain of theatres for £17 10s a week. His first night was unsuccessful, and he later said of it:
"I was the first turn, three minutes,
and died the death of a dog."
George toured venues in Northern England, although he was not well received, and was booed and hissed while performing in Blyth, Northumberland. As a result he experienced frequent periods of unemployment—up to three months at one point.
Formby spent two years as a support act touring round the northern halls, and although he was poorly paid, his mother supported him financially.
In 1923 Formby started to play the ukulele, although the exact circumstances of how he came to play the instrument are unknown. He introduced it into his act during a run at the Alhambra Theatre in Barnsley.
When the songs—still his father's material—were well received, he changed his stage name to George Formby, and stopped using the John Willie character.
Another significant event was his appearance in Castleford, West Yorkshire, where appearing on the same bill was Beryl Ingham, an Accrington-born champion clogdancer and actress who had won the All England Step Dancing title at the age of 11.
Beryl, who had formed a dancing act with her sister, May, called "The Two Violets", had a low opinion of Formby's act. She later said that:
"If I'd had a bag of rotten tomatoes
with me I'd have thrown them at him".
Nevertheless Formby and Beryl entered into a relationship and married two years later, on the 13th. September 1924, at a register office in Wigan, with Formby's aunt and uncle as witnesses.
Upon hearing the news, George's mother Eliza insisted on the couple having a church wedding, which followed two months later.
Beryl took over as George's manager, and changed aspects of his act, including the songs and jokes. She instructed him on how to use his hands, and how to work his audience.
She also persuaded him to change his stage dress to black tie—although he appeared in a range of other costumes too—and to take lessons in how to play the ukulele properly.
By June 1926 George was proficient enough to earn a one-off record deal—negotiated by Beryl—to sing six of his father's songs for the Edison Bell/Winner label.
Formby spent the next few years touring, largely in the north, but also appearing at the Shepherd's Bush Empire, his official London debut.
George had a further recording session in October 1929, performing two songs for Dominion Records. However according to David Bret, Formby's biographer:
"Beryl's avaricious demands would
prevent any serious contract from
coming George's way."
That changed in 1932, when Formby signed a three-year deal with Decca Records. One of the songs he recorded in July 1932 was "Chinese Laundry Blues", telling the story of Mr Wu, which became one of his standard songs, and part of a long-running series of songs about the character.
Over the course of his career Formby went on to record over 200 songs, around 90 of which were written by Fred Cliffe and Harry Gifford.
In the 1932 winter season Formby appeared in his first pantomime, Babes in the Wood, in Bolton, after which he toured with the George Formby Road Show around the north of England, with Beryl acting as the commère; the show also toured in 1934.
-- George Formby's Burgeoning Film Career: 1934–1940
With Formby's growing success on stage, Beryl decided that it was time for him to move into films. In 1934 she approached the producer Basil Dean, the head of Associated Talking Pictures (ATP). Although he expressed an interest in Formby, he did not like the associated demands from Beryl.
She also met the representative of Warner Brothers in the UK, Irving Asher, who was dismissive, saying that Formby was:
"Too stupid to play the bad guy
and too ugly to play the hero."
Three weeks later Formby was approached by John E. Blakeley of Blakeley's Productions, who offered him a one-film deal.
The film, Boots! Boots!, was shot on a budget of £3,000 in a one-room studio in Albany Street, London. Formby played the John Willie character, while Beryl also appeared, and the couple were paid £100 for the two weeks' work, plus 10 per cent of the profits.
The film followed a revue format, and Jo Botting, writing for the British Film Institute, described it as having:
"A wafer-thin plot that
is "almost incidental."
Botting also considered the film to have:
"Poor sound quality, static
scene set-ups and a lack
of sets."
However while it did not impress the critics, audience figures were high.
Formby followed this up with Off the Dole in 1935, again for Blakeley, who had re-named his company Mancunian Films. The film cost £3,000 to make, and earned £80,000 at the box office.
As with Boots! Boots!, the film was in a revue format, and Formby again played John Willie, with Beryl as his co-star. According to Formby's biographer, Jeffrey Richards:
"The two films for Blakeley are
an invaluable record of the
pre-cinematic Formby at work".
The success of the pictures led Basil Dean to offer Formby a seven-year contract with ATP, which resulted in the production of 11 films, although Dean's fellow producer, Michael Balcon, considered Formby to be:
"... an odd and not particularly
loveable character".
The first film from the deal was released in 1935. No Limit features Formby as an entrant in the Isle of Man annual Tourist Trophy (TT) motorcycle race. Monty Banks directed, and Florence Desmond took the female lead.
According to Richards, Dean did not try to play down Formby's Lancashire character in the film, and in fact employed Walter Greenwood, the Salford-born author of the 1933 novel Love on the Dole, as the scriptwriter.
Filming was troubled, with Beryl being difficult to everyone present. The writer Matthew Sweet described the set as "a battleground" because of her actions, and Monty Banks unsuccessfully requested that Dean bar Beryl from the studio.
The Observer thought that:
"Parts of No Limit are pretty dull
stuff, but the race footage was
shot and cut to a maximum of
excitement."
Regarding the star of the film, the reviewer thought that:
"Our Lancashire George is a grand
lad; he can gag and clown, play the
banjo and sing with authority ...
Still and all, he doesn't do too bad."
The film was so popular that it was reissued in 1938, 1946 and 1957.
The formula used for No Limit was repeated in George's following works: Formby played the 'urban little man' -- defeated, but refusing to admit it.
George portrayed a good-natured, but accident-prone and incompetent Lancastrian, who was often in a skilled trade, or the services.
The plots were geared to Formby trying to achieve success in a field unfamiliar to him (in horse racing, the TT Races, as a spy or a policeman), and by winning the affections of a middle-class girl in the process.
Interspersed throughout each film is a series of songs by Formby, in which he plays the banjo, banjolele or ukulele. The films are, in the words of the academic Brian McFarlane:
"... unpretentiously skilful in their
balance between broad comedy
and action, laced with Formby's
shy ordinariness".
No Limit was followed by Keep Your Seats, Please in 1936, which was again directed by Banks with Desmond returning as the co-star.
Tensions arose in pre-production with Banks and some of the cast requesting to Dean that Beryl be banned from the set. Tempers had also become strained between Formby and Florence Desmond, who were not on speaking terms except to film scenes.
The situation became so bad that Dean avoided visiting his studios for the month of filming. The film contained the song "The Window Cleaner" (popularly known as "When I'm Cleaning Windows"), which was soon banned by the BBC.
The corporation's director John Reith stated that:
"If the public wants to listen to Formby
singing his disgusting little ditty, they'll
have to be content to hear it in the
cinemas, not over the nation's airwaves."
Reith particularly objected to two of the verses:
"To overcrowded flats I've been,
Sixteen in one bed I've seen,
With the lodger tucked up in between,
When I'm cleaning windows!
Now lots of girls I've had to jilt,
For they admire the way I'm built,
It's a good job I don't wear a kilt,
When I'm cleaning windows!"
31 years later, in 1967, the BBC banned the Beatles' 'Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds' because of the song's alleged references to drugs. However writer of the song John Lennon claimed in a 1971 interview that Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds has no connection to LSD. He explained that he was inspired to write the song after his son brought him a drawing that he made in nursery school:
“It never was about LSD, and nobody
believes me. This is the truth: My son
came home with a drawing and showed
me this strange-looking woman flying
around. I said, ‘What is it?’ and he said,
‘It’s Lucy in the sky with diamonds,’ and
I thought, ‘That’s beautiful.’
I immediately wrote a song about it.
The song had gone out, the whole
album had been published and
somebody noticed that the letters
spelled out LSD, and I had no idea
about it. … It wasn’t about LSD at all.”
Formby and Beryl were furious that their song was blocked. In May 1941 Beryl informed the BBC that the song was a favourite of the royal family, particularly Queen Mary, while a statement by Formby pointed out that:
"I sang it before the King and
Queen at the Royal Variety
Performance."
The BBC relented and started to broadcast the song.
When production finished on Keep Your Seats, Please, Beryl insisted that for the next film there should be:
"No Eye-Ties and stuck-up
little trollops involved."
Beryl was referring to Banks and Desmond, respectively.
By then Dean had tired of the on-set squabbles, and for the third ATP film, Feather Your Nest, he appointed William Beaudine as the director, and Polly Ward, the niece of the music hall star Marie Lloyd, as the female lead.
Bret noted:
"The songs in the film are comparatively
bland, with the exception of the one
which would become immortal: 'Leaning
on a Lamp-post'."
By the time of the next production, Keep Fit in 1937, Dean had begun to assemble a special team at Ealing Studios to help develop and produce the Formby films; key among the members were the director Anthony Kimmins, who went on to direct five of Formby's films.
Kay Walsh was cast as the leading lady and, in the absence of Beryl from the set, Formby and Walsh had an affair, after she fell for his flirtatious behaviour off-camera.
Although Beryl was furious with Walsh, and tried to have her removed from the film, a showdown with Dean proved fruitless. Dean informed her that Walsh was to remain the lead in both Keep Fit, and in Formby's next film (I See Ice, 1938). In order to mollify Beryl, Dean raised Formby's fee for the latter film to £25,000.
When filming concluded on I See Ice, Formby spent the 1937 summer season performing in the revue King Cheer at the Opera House Theatre, Blackpool, before appearing in a 12-minute slot at the Royal Variety Performance in November.
The popularity of George's performances meant that in 1937 he was the top British male star in box office takings, a position he held every subsequent year until 1943.
Additionally, between 1938 and 1942 he was also the highest-paid entertainer in Great Britain, and by the end of the 1930's was earning £100,000 a year.
In early 1938 Dean informed the Formbys that in the next film, It's in the Air, Banks would return to direct and Walsh would again be the leading lady. Beryl objected strongly, and Kimmins continued his directorial duties, while Ward was brought in for the female lead.
Beryl, as she did with all Formby's female co-stars, read the 'keep-your-hands-off-my-husband' riot act to the actress.
In May 1938, while filming It's in the Air, Formby purchased a Rolls-Royce, with the personalised number plate GF 1. Every year afterwards he would purchase either a new Rolls-Royce or Bentley, buying 26 over the course of his life.
In the autumn of 1938 Formby began work on Trouble Brewing, released the following year with 19-year-old Googie Withers as the female lead; Kimmins again directed.
Withers later recounted that Formby did not speak to her until, during a break in filming when Beryl was not present, he whispered out of the corner of his mouth:
"I'm sorry, love, but you know,
I'm not allowed to speak to you."
Googie thought that this was "very sweet."
George's second release of 1939—shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War—was Come On George!, which cast Pat Kirkwood in the female lead.
Formby and Kirkwood disliked each other intensely, and neither of the Formbys liked several of the other senior cast members. Come On George! was screened for troops serving in France before being released in Great Britain.
-- George Formby and the Second World War
At the outbreak of the Second World War Dean left ATP and became the head of the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA), the organisation that provided entertainment to the British Armed Forces.
Over the course of five months Formby requested to sign up for ENSA, but was denied; Dean however relented in February 1940, and Formby was signed on a fixed salary of £10 per week, although he still remained under contract to ATP.
George undertook his first tour in France in March, where he performed for members of the British Expeditionary Force.
Basil Dean commented on Formby's work for the organisation:
"Standing with his back to a tree or a wall
of sandbags, with men squatting on the
ground in front of him, he sang song after
song, screwing up his face into comical
expressions of fright whenever shells
exploded in the near distance, and
making little cracks when the firing
drowned the point lines in his songs".
The social research organisation Mass-Observation recorded that Formby's first film of 1940, Let George Do It!, gave a particularly strong boost to early-war British civilian morale.
In a dream sequence after being drugged, Formby's character punches Hitler during a Nuremberg Rally. According to Richards:
"The scene provides the visual
encapsulation of the people's
war, with the English Everyman
flooring the Nazi Superman."
The scene was so striking that the film became Formby's first international release, in the US, under the title To Hell With Hitler.
Let George Do It! was also shown in Moscow, where it was released in 1943 under the title Dinky Doo. The film attracted packed houses, and received record box-office takings for over ten months.
The critics also praised the film, and the Kinematograph Weekly called it Formby's "best performance to date", and the film, "a box office certainty".
Formby's ENSA commitments were heavy, touring factories, theatres and concert halls around Great Britain. He also gave free concerts for charities and worthy causes, and raised £10,000 for the Fleetwood Fund on behalf of the families of missing trawlermen.
George and Beryl also set up their own charities, such as the OK Club for Kids, whose aim was to provide cigarettes for Yorkshire soldiers, and the Jump Fund, to provide home-knitted balaclavas, scarves and socks to servicemen.
Formby also joined the Home Guard as a dispatch rider, where he took his duties seriously, and fitted them around his other work whenever he could.
Formby continued filming with ATP, and his second film of 1940, Spare a Copper, was again focused on an aspect of the war, this time combating fifth columnists and saboteurs in a Merseyside dockyard.
However cinema-goers had begun to tire of war films, and so his next venture, Turned Out Nice Again returned to less contentious issues, with Formby's character caught in a domestic battle between his new wife and mother.
Early in the filming schedule, he took time to perform in an ENSA show that was broadcast on the BBC from Aldwych tube station as Let the People Sing. George sang four songs, and told the audience:
"Don't forget, it's wonderful
to be British!"
Towards the end of 1940 Formby tried to enlist for active military service, despite Beryl informing him that by being a member of ENSA he was already signed up. However the examining board rejected him as being unfit, because he had sinusitis and arthritic toes.
George spent the winter season in pantomime at the Opera House Theatre, Blackpool, portraying Idle Jack in Dick Whittington. When the season came to an end, the Formbys moved to London and, in May 1941, performed for the royal family at Windsor Castle.
George had commissioned a new set of inoffensive lyrics for "When I'm Cleaning Windows", but was informed that he should sing the original, uncensored version, which was enjoyed by the royal party, particularly Queen Mary, who asked for a repeat of the song.
King George VI presented Formby with a set of gold cuff links, and advised him to "wear them, not put them away".
With the ATP contract at an end, Formby decided not to renew or push for an extension. Robert Murphy, in his study of wartime British cinema, points out that:
"Balcon, Formby's producer at the
time, seems to have made little
effort to persuade him not to transfer
his allegiance."
This was despite the box office success enjoyed by Let George Do It! and Spare a Copper. Numerous offers came in, and Formby selected the American company Columbia Pictures, in a deal worth in excess of £500,000. The contract was to make a minimum of six films—seven were eventually made.
Formby set up his own company, Hillcrest Productions, to distribute the films, and had the final decision on the choice of director, scriptwriter and theme, while Columbia would have the choice of leading lady.
Part of Formby's reasoning behind the decision was a desire for parts with more character, something that would not have happened at ATP.
At the end of August 1941 production began on Formby's first film for Columbia, South American George, which took six weeks to complete.
Formby's move to an American company was controversial, and although his popular appeal seemed unaffected, John Mundy noted in 2007 that:
"His films were treated with
increasing critical hostility."
The reviewer for The Times wrote that the story was "confused," and considered that "there is not sufficient comic invention in the telling" of it.
Murphy commented that:
"The criticism had more to do with
the inadequate vehicles which he
subsequently appeared in than in
any diminution of his personal
popularity."
In early 1942 Formby undertook a three-week, 72-show tour of Northern Ireland, largely playing to troops, but also undertaking fund-raising shows for charity—one at the Belfast Hippodrome raised £500.
He described his time in Ulster as:
"The pleasantest tour
I've ever undertaken".
George returned to the mainland by way of the Isle of Man, where he entertained the troops guarding the internment camps. After further charity shows—raising £8,000 for a tank fund—Formby was the associate producer for the Vera Lynn film We'll Meet Again (1943).
In March he also filmed Much Too Shy which was released in October that year. Although the film was poorly received by the critics, the public still attended in large numbers, and the film was profitable.
In the summer of 1942 Formby was involved in a controversy with the Lord's Day Observance Society, who had filed law suits against the BBC for playing secular music on Sunday.
The society began a campaign against the entertainment industry, claiming that all theatrical activity on a Sunday was unethical, and cited a 1667 law which made it illegal.
With 60 leading entertainers already avoiding Sunday working, Dean informed Formby that his stance would be crucial in avoiding a spread of the problem. Formby issued a statement:
"I'll hang up my uke on Sundays only
when our lads stop fighting and getting
killed on Sundays ... as far as the Lord's
Day Observance Society are concerned,
they can mind their own bloody business.
And in any case, what have they done for
the war effort except get on everyone's
nerves?"
The following day it was announced that the pressure from the society was to be lifted.
At the end of 1942 Formby started filming Get Cracking, a story about the Home Guard, which was completed in under a month, the tight schedule brought about by an impending ENSA tour of the Mediterranean.
Between the end of filming Get Cracking and the release of the film in May 1943, Formby undertook a tour of Northern Scotland and the Orkney Islands, and had nearly completed shooting on his next film, Bell-Bottom George.
The reviewer for The Times opined that:
"Get Cracking, although a distinct
improvement on other films in which
Mr. Formby has appeared, is cut too
closely to fit the demands of an
individual technique to achieve any
real life of its own."
Bell-Bottom George was described 60 years later by the academic Baz Kershaw as being:
"Unashamedly gay and peppered
with homoerotic scenes."
Bret concurs, and notes that:
"The majority of the cast and almost
every one of the male extras was
unashamedly gay."
The film was a hit with what Bret describes as Formby's "surprisingly large, closeted gay following".
The reviewer for The Manchester Guardian was impressed with the film, and wrote that:
"There is a new neatness of execution
and lightness of touch about this
production ... while George himself
can no longer be accused of trailing
clouds of vaudevillian glory."
The reviewer also considered Formby:
"... our first authentic and strictly
indigenous film comedian."
After completing filming, the Formbys undertook a further ENSA tour. Although Dean personally disliked the Formbys, he greatly admired the tireless work they did for the organisation.
In August 1943 Formby undertook a 53-day tour of a significant portion of the Mediterranean, including Italy, Sicily, Malta, Gibraltar, Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon and Palestine.
He entertained 750,000 troops in thirteen countries, touring 25,000 miles (40,000 km) in the process and returning to England in October.
The couple travelled around the countryside in a Ford Mercury that Formby had purchased from the racing driver Sir Malcolm Campbell, which had been converted to sleep two in the back.
In January 1944 Formby described his experiences touring for ENSA in Europe and the Middle East in a BBC radio broadcast. He said that:
"The troops are worrying quite a lot
about you folks at home, but we soon
put them right about that.
We told them that after four and a half
years, Britain was still the best country
to live in."
Shortly after he began filming He Snoops to Conquer—his fifth picture for Columbia—he was visited on set by the Dance Music Policy Committee (DMPC).
The DMPC was responsible for vetting music for broadcast, and for checking if music was sympathetic towards the enemy during the war.
The DMPC interviewed Formby about three songs that had been included in Bell-Bottom George: "Swim Little Fish", "If I Had a Girl Like You" and "Bell-Bottom George".
Formby was summoned to the BBC's offices to perform his three songs in front of the committee, with his song checked against the available sheet music. A week later, on the 1st. February, the committee met and decided that the songs were innocuous, although Formby was told that he would have to get further clearance if the lyrics were changed.
Bret concluded that George had been the victim of a plot by a member of the Variety Artists' Federation, following Formby's scathing comments on entertainers who were too scared to leave London to entertain the troops.
The comments, which appeared in the forces magazine Union Jack, were then widely reported in the press in Britain. The Variety Artists' Federation demanded that Formby release names, and threatened him with action if he did not do so, but he refused to give in to their pressure.
Formby went to Normandy in July 1944 in the vanguard of a wave of ENSA performers. He and Beryl travelled over on a rough crossing to Arromanches giving a series of impromptu concerts to troops in improvised conditions, including on the backs of farm carts and army lorries, or in bomb-cratered fields.
In one location the German front line was too close for him to perform, so he crawled into the trenches and told jokes with the troops there. He then boarded HMS Ambitious for his first scheduled concert before returning to France to continue his tour.
During dinner with General Bernard Montgomery, whom he had met in North Africa, Formby was invited to visit the glider crews of 6th. Airborne Division, who had been holding a series of bridges without relief for 56 days.
He did so on the 17th. August in a one-day visit to the front line bridges, where he gave nine shows, all standing beside a sandbag wall, ready to jump into a slit trench in case of problems; much of the time his audience were in foxholes.
After the four-week tour of France, Formby returned home to start work on I Didn't Do It (released in 1945), although he continued to work on ENSA concerts and tours in Britain.
Between January and March 1945, shortly after the release of He Snoops to Conquer, he left on an ENSA tour that took in Burma, India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).
The concerts in the Far East were his last for ENSA, and by the end of the war it was estimated that he had performed in front of three million service personnel.
-- George Formby's Post-War Career: 1946–1952
In 1946 the song "With My Little Stick of Blackpool Rock", which Formby had recorded in 1937, began to cause problems at the BBC for broadcasts of Formby or his music.
The producer of one of Formby's live television programmes received a letter from a BBC manager that stated:
"We have no record that "With My Little
Stick of Blackpool Rock" is banned. We
do however know, and so does Formby,
that certain lines in the lyric must not be
broadcast."
Between July and October 1946, Formby filmed George in Civvy Street, which would be his final film. The story concerns the rivalry between two pubs: the Unicorn, bequeathed to Formby's character, and the Lion, owned by his childhood sweetheart—played by Rosalyn Boulter—but run by an unscrupulous manager.
Richards wrote:
"The film has symbolic significance;
at the end, with the marriage between
the two pub owners, Formby bowed
out of films, unifying the nation mythically,
communally, and matrimonially".
The film was less successful at the box office than George's previous works, as audience tastes had changed in the post-war world. Fisher opines that because of his tireless war work, Formby had become too synonymous with the war, causing the public to turn away from him, much as they had from the wartime British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill.
Bret believes that post-war audiences wanted intrigue, suspense and romance, through the films of James Mason, Stewart Granger, David Niven and Laurence Olivier.
Bret also indicates that Formby's cinematic decline was shared by similar performers, including Gracie Fields, Tommy Trinder and Will Hay.
Formby's biographers, Alan Randall and Ray Seaton, write that in his late 40s, Formby "was greying and thickening out", and was too old to play the innocent young Lancashire lad.
The slump in his screen popularity hit Formby hard, and he became depressed. In early 1946 Beryl checked him into a psychiatric hospital under her maiden name, Ingham. He came out after five weeks, in time for a tour of Scandinavia in May.
On his return from Scandinavia, Formby went into pantomime in Blackpool; while there, he learned of his appointment as Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1946 King's Birthday Honours. Although delighted, he was upset that Beryl went without official recognition, and said:
"If somethin' was comin' our way,
ah'd like it to be somethin' Beryl
could have shared."
Later that year the Formbys toured South Africa shortly before formal racial apartheid was introduced. While there they refused to play racially-segregated venues. When Formby was cheered by a black audience after embracing a small black girl who had presented his wife with a box of chocolates, National Party leader Daniel François Malan (who later introduced apartheid) telephoned to complain; Beryl replied:
"Why don't you piss off,
you horrible little man?"
Formby returned to Great Britain at Christmas and appeared in Dick Whittington at the Grand Theatre, Leeds for nine weeks, and then, in February 1947, he appeared in variety for two weeks at the London Palladium. Reviewing the show, The Times thought:
"Formby was more than ever the
mechanized perfection of naive
jollity. His smile, though fixed, is
winning, and his songs are catchy."
In September 1947 he went on a 12-week tour of Australia and New Zealand. On his return he was offered more film roles, but turned them down, saying:
"When I look back on some of the films
I've done in the past it makes me want
to cringe. I'm afraid the days of being a
clown are gone. From now on I'm only
going to do variety."
George began suffering increasing health problems, including a gastric ulcer, and was treated for breathing problems resulting from his heavy smoking. He finished the year in pantomime, appearing as Buttons in Cinderella at the Liverpool Empire Theatre, with Beryl playing Dandini.
In September 1949 Formby went on a 19 city coast-to-coast Canadian tour, from which he returned unwell. While subsequently appearing in Cinderella in Leeds, he collapsed in his dressing room. The attending doctor administered morphine, to which Formby briefly became addicted.
Further poor health plagued George into 1950, with a bout of dysentery, followed by appendicitis, after which he recuperated in Norfolk, before giving another royal command performance that April.
He undertook two further international tours that year: one to Scandinavia, and a second to Canada. His earnings of Ca$200,000 were heavily taxed: Canadian taxes took up $68,000, and UK taxes took 90% of the balance.
Formby complained to reporters about the level of taxation, saying:
"That's it. So long as the government
keeps bleeding me dry, I shan't be in
much of a hurry to work again!"
He and Beryl spent the rest of the year resting in Norfolk, in temporary retirement.
Formby was tempted back to work by the theatrical impresario Emile Littler, who offered him the lead role of Percy Piggott in Zip Goes a Million, a play based on the 1902 novel Brewster's Millions by G. B. McCutcheon; Formby was offered £1,500, plus a share of the box-office takings.
The show premiered at the Coventry Hippodrome in September 1951 before opening at the Palace Theatre, London on the 20th. October. The Times commented unfavourably, saying that:
"Although the audience were appreciative
of the play, they could not conceivably
have detected a spark of wit in either the
lyrics or the dialogue."
The paper was equally dismissive of Formby, writing that:
"He has a deft way with a song or
a banjo, but little or no finesse in
his handling of a comic situation".
A month after the play opened in London, Formby was the guest star on Desert Island Discs, where one of his choices was his father's "Standing on the Corner of the Street".
In early 1952 Formby's health began to decline and, on the 28th. April, he decided to withdraw from Zip Goes a Million. On the way to the theatre to inform Littler, Formby suffered a heart attack, although it took the doctors five days to diagnose the coronary and admit him to hospital.
George was treated for both the attack, and his morphine addiction. He stayed in hospital for nine weeks before returning home to Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, where he announced his retirement.
-- George Formby's Health Problems and Intermittent Work: 1952–1960
During his recuperation, Formby contracted gastroenteritis and had a suspected blood clot on his lung, after which he underwent an operation to clear a fishbone that was stuck in his throat.
He had recovered sufficiently by April 1953 to undertake a 17-show tour of Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), before a special appearance at the Southport Garrick Theatre. That September he turned on the Blackpool Illuminations.
From October to December 1953 Formby appeared at the London Palladium in 138 performances of the revue Fun and the Fair, with Terry-Thomas and the Billy Cotton band; Formby appeared in the penultimate act of the evening, with Terry-Thomas closing the show.
Although Formby's act was well-received, the show was not as successful as had been hoped, and Terry-Thomas later wrote that:
"Formby put the audience in a certain
mood which made them non-receptive
to whoever followed. Even though my
act was the star spot, I felt on this
occasion that my being there was an
anti-climax."
He requested that the order be changed to have Formby close the show, but this was turned down.
Formby suffered from stage fright during the show's run—the first time he had suffered from the condition since his earliest days on stage—and his bouts of depression returned, along with stomach problems.
Formby took a break from work until mid-1954, when he starred in the revue Turned Out Nice Again, in Blackpool. Although the show was initially scheduled to run for 13 weeks, it was cut short after six when Formby suffered again from dysentery and depression.
George again announced his retirement, but continued to work. After some television appearances on Ask Pickles and Top of the Town, in late 1954 and early 1955 respectively,
Formby then travelled to South Africa for a tour, where Beryl negotiated an agreement with the South African premier Johannes Strijdom to play in venues of Formby's choice.
They then sailed to Canada for a ten-day series of performances. On the return voyage George contracted bronchial pneumonia, but still joined the cast of the non-musical play Too Young to Marry on his arrival in Britain.
In August 1955 Beryl felt unwell and went for tests: she was diagnosed with cancer of the uterus and was given two years to live.
The couple reacted to the news in different ways, and while Beryl began to drink heavily—up to a bottle of whisky a day to dull the pain—George began to work harder, and began a close friendship with a school teacher, Pat Howson.
Too Young to Marry toured between September 1955 and November 1956, but still allowed Formby time to appear in the Christmas pantomime Babes in the Wood at the Liverpool Empire Theatre.
The touring production was well received everywhere except in Scotland, where Formby's attempted Scottish accent is thought to have put people off.
For Christmas 1956 George appeared in his first London pantomime, playing Idle Jack in Dick Whittington and His Cat at the Palace Theatre, although he withdrew from the run in early February after suffering from laryngitis.
According to Bret, Formby spent the remainder of 1957 "doing virtually nothing", although he appeared in two television programmes, Val Parnell's Saturday Spectacular in July and Top of the Bill in October.
From March 1958 Formby appeared in the musical comedy Beside the Seaside, a Holiday Romp in Hull, Blackpool, Birmingham and Brighton. However by the time it reached Brighton the play was playing to increasingly smaller audiences, and the run was cut short as a result.
The play may not have been to southern audiences' tastes—the plot centres on a northern family's holiday in Blackpool—but those in the north, particularly Blackpool, thought highly of it and the show was a nightly sell-out. When the show closed Formby was disappointed, and vowed never to appear in another stage musical.
The year 1958 was professionally quiet for George; in addition to Beside the Seaside, he also worked in one-off appearances in three television shows.
He began 1959 by appearing in Val Parnell's Spectacular: The Atlantic Showboat in January, and in April hosted his own show, Steppin' Out With Formby.
During the summer season he appeared at the Windmill Theatre, Great Yarmouth, although he missed two weeks of performances when he was involved in a car crash on the August Bank Holiday.
When doctors examined him, they were concerned with his overall health, partly as a result of his forty cigarettes-a-day smoking habit. He also had high blood pressure, was overweight and had heart problems.
Formby's final year of work was 1960. That May he recorded his last session of songs, "Happy Go Lucky Me" and "Banjo Boy", the former of which peaked at number 40 in the UK Singles Chart.
He then spent the summer season at the Queen's Theatre in Blackpool in The Time of Your Life—a performance which was also broadcast by the BBC. One of the acts in the show was the singer Yana, with whom Formby had an affair, made easier because of Beryl's absence from the theatre through illness.
George's final televised performance, a 35-minute BBC programme, The Friday Show: George Formby, was aired on the 16th. December. Bret considered the programme to be:
"Formby's greatest performance—
it was certainly his most sincere."
However reviewing for The Guardian, Mary Crozier thought it "too slow". She went on to say:
"George Formby is really a music-hall
star, and it needs the warmth and
sociability of the theatre to bring out
his full appeal."
Beryl's illness was worsening. Worn down by the strain, and feeling the need to escape, Formby took the part of Mr Wu in Aladdin in Bristol, having turned down a more lucrative part in Blackpool.
-- George Formby's Final Months: a New Romance, Death, and a Family Dispute
Two hours before the premiere of Aladdin—on Christmas Eve 1960—Formby received a phone call from Beryl's doctor, saying that she was in a coma and was not expected to survive the night.
Formby went through with the performance, and was told early the next morning that Beryl had died. Her cremation took place on the 27th. December, and an hour after the service Formby returned to Bristol to appear in that day's matinee performance of Aladdin.
He continued in the show until the 14th. January when a cold forced him to rest, on doctors' advice. He returned to Lytham St. Annes and communicated with Pat Howson; she contacted his doctor and Formby was instructed to go to hospital, where he remained for the next two weeks.
On Valentine's Day 1961, seven weeks after Beryl's death, Formby and Howson announced their engagement. Eight days later he suffered a heart attack which was so severe that he was given the last rites of the Catholic Church on his arrival at hospital in Preston.
He was revived and, from his hospital bed, he and Howson planned their wedding, which was due to take place in May. He was still there when, on the 6th. March, he had a further heart attack and died at the age of 56.
The obituarist for The Times wrote that:
"He was the amateur of the old smoking
concert platform turned into a music-hall
professional of genius."
Donald Zec, writing in the Daily Mirror, called him:
"As great an entertainer as any
of the giants of the music-hall".
The Guardian considered that:
"With his ukulele, his songs, and his
grinning patter, the sum was greater
than any of those parts: a Lancashire
character."
In the eyes of the public, Formby's passing was genuinely and widely mourned.
Formby was laid to rest alongside his father in Warrington Cemetery with over 150,000 mourners lining the route. The undertaker was Bruce Williams who, as Eddie Latta, had written songs for Formby.
An hour after the ceremony the family read the will, which had been drawn up two weeks previously. Harry Scott—Formby's valet and factotum—was to receive £5,000, while the rest was to go to Howson; at probate Formby's estate was valued at £135,000.
Formby's mother and siblings were angered by the will, and contested it. In the words of Bret:
"Mourning Formby was marred by
a greedy family squabbling over
his not inconsiderable fortune."
Because the will was contested, Formby's solicitor insisted that a public auction was held for the contents of Formby's house, which took place over three days in June.
Howson offered to honour an earlier will by providing £5,000 for Eliza and £2,000 each for Formby's sisters, but the offer was rejected, and the matter went to the High Court in London.
The case was heard in May 1963 before Mr Justice Ormrod. At the end, Eliza was granted £5,000, and the sisters received £2,000 each. Formby's solicitor, John Crowther, acted for Howson, and explained that the bequest to Formby's sisters from the older will was made "with reluctance" by Formby, who had described his family as "a set of scroungers".
The family appealed the decision, and the matter lasted until September 1965, when it was finally dismissed in Howson's favour.
-- George Formby's Screen Persona and Technique
George once said:
"I'm just a clown without the make-up,
the circus clown who magnifies the
reactions of ordinary people to the
things that happen around them".
Richards considered that:
"Formby had been able to embody
simultaneously Lancashire, the
working classes, the people, and
the nation."
Geoff King, in his examination of film comedy, also saw Formby as an icon, and wrote that:
"Gracie Fields and Formby gained the
status of national as well as regional
figures, without sacrificing their
distinctive regional personality traits."
While the national aspect was important for success outside the north, the Lancashire accent remained to enhance his homely comic appeal.
The media historian Brian McFarlane wrote that:
"On film, Formby portrayed essentially
gormless incompetents, aspiring to various
kinds of professional success ... and even
more improbably to a middle-class girlfriend,
usually in the clutches of some caddish type
with a moustache.
Invariably he scored on both counts".
In an edition of ITV's The South Bank Show in November 1992, Richards commented that:
"Formby embodied qualities that people
admired and found reassuring in the
depression ... and you thought that here's
a man whom whatever is thrown at him,
will come through and come out smiling—
and people wanted that."
H.J. Igoe, contributing to The Catholic Herald, wrote that:
"Formby has a common English touch.
We warm to the kindly turnip face, the
revolving eyes, the mouth like a slashed
coconut, the silly little songs ... the
melodiously tinny voice and twanging
banjo.
The comedian is the universal works—
platoon and bar-room simpleton—
mother's boy—the beloved henpeck—
the father who cannot hang a picture
and underlying his everyday folly there
is the sublime wisdom of the ordinary
fool who loves and trusts the world.
His comedy is earthy, but never
lascivious."
Formby himself said of his suggestive lyrics:
"You know, some of the songs are a bit
near. But they'll take them from me in
evening dress; they wouldn't take them
if I wore baggy pants and rednose".
Richards identified in Formby:
"An innocence that was essentially
childlike ... which explains why
George was as popular with children
as he was with adults."
Formby's screen and stage persona of innocence and simplicity was not seen as ignorance or stupidity, although Basil Dean disagreed, and claimed:
"Formby didn't act gormless as
many successful Lancashire
comedians have done - he was
gormless."
Much of the innocence in Formby's performance is connected to sex, and the use of double entendres within his songs. John Caughie and Kevin Rockett, in their examination of British film, see a connection between Formby's approach to sex and the saucy seaside postcards of Donald McGill.
Richards also sees the function of Formby's humour as being the same as McGill's:
"The harmless diffusion of a major
source of tension in a deeply
repressed and conventional
society."
Formby's delivery of the sexual content—what McFarlane identifies as being "sung with such a toothy grin and air of innocence"—negated any possible indignation, and this contrasts with the more overtly sexual delivery of other performers of the time, such as Max Miller and Frank Randle.
George's musical skills have also been praised; ukulele expert Steven Sproat considers that:
"Formby was incredible ... There hasn't
really been a uke player since Formby—
or even before Formby—who played
quite like him."
Much of Formby's virtuosity came from his right-hand technique, the split stroke, and he developed his own fast and complicated syncopated musical style with a very fast right-hand strum.
Joe Cooper, writing in New Society, considered that:
"Nobody has ever reproduced
the casual devastating right-hand
syncopation, which so delicately
synchronised with deft left-hand
chord fingering".
-- George Formby's Legacy
Formby's screen persona influenced Norman Wisdom in the 1950's and Charlie Drake in the following decade, although both these performers used pathos, which Formby avoided.
Shortly after Formby's death a small group of fans formed the George Formby Society, which had its inaugural meeting at the Imperial Hotel Blackpool. George Harrison was a fan of Formby, a member of the Society and an advocate of the ukulele.
The rest of the Beatles were also fans—they improvised with ukuleles during the recording breaks on Let It Be—and Formby's influence can be heard in the song "Her Majesty".
The Beatles' penultimate song, "Free as a Bird", ends with a slight coda including a strummed ukulele by Harrison and the voice of John Lennon played backwards, saying:
"Turned out nice again".
As of 2014 there are two public statues of Formby. The first, by the Manx artist Amanda Barton, is in Douglas, Isle of Man, and shows him leaning on a lamp-post and dressed in the motorcycle leathers of a TT racer.
Barton was also commissioned to provide a second statue for the Lancashire town of Wigan, which was unveiled in September 2007 in the town's Grand Arcade shopping centre.
Formby has been the subject of five biographies as of 2014.
In the late 1960's, Harry Scott published his reminiscences of Formby, The Fabulous Formby, in 14 issues of The Vellum, the magazine of the George Formby Society.
Alan Randall and Ray Seaton published their book on Formby in 1974, and John Fisher published George Formby in 1975.
David Bret produced George Formby: A Troubled Genius in 1999.
The last of the five to be published was by Sue Smart and Richard Bothway Howard in 2011, It's Turned Out Nice Again!.
There have also been two documentaries on British television, an edition of The South Bank Show in 1992, and Frank Skinner on George Formby in 2011.
In 2004 Formby was inducted into the Ukulele Hall of Fame, a non-profit organisation for the preservation of ukulele history. His citation reads, in part:
"He won such love and respect for his
charismatic stage presence, technical
skill and playful lyrics that he remains
popular forty years after his death."
In June 2012, a Blackpool Boat Car tram, number 604, was repainted and returned to service with sponsorship from the George Formby Society. The tram was named "George Formby OBE," and images of him are affixed within the trolley.
TITLE: The Raven
YEAR RELEASED: 1963
DIRECTOR: Roger Corman
CAST: Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Hazel Court and Peter Lorre.
MINI-REVIEW BY STEPHEN JACOBS: “Roger Corman’s comedy is great fun. Vincent Price plays Dr. Erasmus Craven, a magician who discovers his wife [Hazel Court] is not dead but resides with rival sorcerer Dr. Scarabus [Boris Karloff]. Peter Lorre, however, steals the picture as Dr. Bedlo, a grouchy wizard who had been transformed into a raven by Scarabus. Also noteworthy as featuring a young Jack Nicholson as Lorre’s son, Rexford.”
MAIN REVIEW BY ADAM SCOVELL
With its rather ominous opening, the viewer would perhaps be forgiven for thinking that Roger Corman’s adaptation of Poe’s The Raven would be in similar ilk to his other dark Poe films. What at first seems like yet another gothic retelling of a Poe classic turns out to be a swiftly delivered curve ball that has, at its core, a desire for fun and mischief rather than for scares and dark forebodings.
Vincent Price plays Dr Erasmus Craven, one of many sorcerers to appear in the film. He may be on the side of good but this implies that the villains are genuinely bad. Boris Karloff plays the closest to what the film has to a villain in the form of Dr Scarabus but this is a film about having a laugh at the absurdity of the fantasy genre rather than genuine battles of good vs. evil. To add to an already impressive cast is Peter Lorre as the hilarious Dr. Bedlo who appears first in the form of a raven and then proceeds to be one of the most hilariously inept sorcerers in fantasy.
Bedlo was turned into a raven by Scarabus but the action taken by the sorcerers seems more in line with playground antics than fantasy action. Jack Nicholson also makes an early film appearance as the dashing hero of the piece though is sidelined in the film in place wizardry and joyfully silly battles. Though very clearly aiming at a younger market, Corman still manages to add a few spine tingling elements to the film. These are mainly to be found in the film’s opening twenty minutes and revolve around Craven trying to find the rather gruesome ingredients to cure Bedlo from of his raven form. It must be stated that though the connection to the original adaptation of The Raven (1935) through Boris Karloff is its only link. The original was a tense, gothic tale of murder far more in line with Poe’s original prose. This is the polar opposite in almost every conceivable way.
Corman’s Raven is far more laxed about its source material to the point where it’s all but abandoned after the film’s introduction. Though this may perhaps not do it any favours among the horror purists, criticisms of the film based around its lack of seriousness misses the point entirely. Perhaps also with Corman’s excellent track record for Poe adaptations, it comes as a shock to find him playing so freely with the material but it’s something he would come back to again and again (also remembering his previous horror comedy Little Shop of Horrors (1960)).
Though more in line with the TV series Bewitched than with the likes of Pit and the Pendulum (1961), The Raven is a perfect film for the winter. Its silly nature gives it the feel of a Christmas film, however, boasting an extremely strong cast of horror royalty and providing some genuine laughs along with its witty wizardry, The Raven is a film that can be forgiven for straying array from the purely horrific and should instead be enjoyed for what it is; fun.
synopsis
Although Roger Corman narrowly managed to avoid self-mockery in his pulpy, flamboyant adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe tales, it appears that the director chose this opportunity to let loose with outright parody; the result is a wonderfully entertaining romp with tongue planted firmly in cheek. The first screen teaming of legendary horror stars Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, and Peter Lorre -- later billed as "The Triumvirate of Terror" -- this so-called "adaptation" uses Poe's most famous poem as a springboard for Grand Guignol comedy from scriptwriter Richard Matheson. Melancholy magician Erasmus Craven (Price), having recently relinquished his membership in the Brotherhood of Sorcerers after the apparent death of his wife Lenore (Hazel Court), is paid a visit by a foul-mouthed talking raven, claiming to be small-time wizard Adolphus Bedlo (Lorre). After some persuasion, Craven returns Bedlo to human form, reversing a spell placed by the evil Dr. Scarabus (Karloff), Craven's chief rival. After learning that a woman bearing a strong likeness to Lenore was seen in the Doctor's company, Craven accompanies Bedlo to Scarabus' castle, where the resulting battle of wills escalates into all-out magical warfare between the two embittered sorcerers. Corman and company relished the opportunity to poke fun at the staid Poe series, and the distinguished leads contribute to the spirit of fun by lampooning their own cinematic reputations. Fans of Jack Nicholson (who cut his acting teeth on this and other AIP productions) should enjoy his melodramatic performance here as Bedlo's straight-arrow son; Nicholson would later co-star with Karloff in Corman's The Terror, which was shot in two days using the same sets!
West German Kolibri postcard by Friedrich-W. Sander-Verlag, Minden/Westf., no. 2311. Nancy Kwan in Tamahine (Philip Leacock, 1963).
Chinese-American actress Nancy Kwan (1939) played a pivotal role in the acceptance of actors of Asian ancestry in major Hollywood film roles. She is best known for her debut as a free-spirited Hong Kong prostitute who captivates artist William Holden in The World of Suzie Wong (Richard Quine, 1960). She followed it the next year with the hit musical, Flower Drum Song (1961). Kwan spent the 1960s commuting between film roles in America and Europe.
Nancy Kwan Ka Shen (Chinese: 關家蒨) was born in Hong Kong in 1939 and grew up in Kowloon Tong. She is the daughter of Kwan Wing Hong, a Cantonese architect and Marquita Scott, a European model of English and Scottish ancestry. Kwan has an older brother, Ka Keung. In fear of the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong during World War II, Wing Hong, in the guise of a coolie, escaped from Hong Kong to North China in Christmas 1941 with his two children, whom he hid in wicker baskets. Kwan and her brother were transported by servants, evading Japanese sentries. They remained in exile in western China for five years until the war ended, after which they returned to Hong Kong and lived in a spacious, contemporary home her father designed. Scott escaped to England and never rejoined the family. Kwan's parents divorced when she was two years old. Her mother later moved to New York and married an American. Remaining in Hong Kong with the children, her father married a Chinese woman, whom Kwan called "Mother". Her father and her stepmother raised her, in addition to her brother and five half-brothers and half-sisters Five of Kwan's siblings became lawyers. Kwan attended the Catholic Maryknoll Convent School until she was 13 years old, after which she travelled to Kingsmoor School in Glossop, England a boarding school that her brother, Ka Keung, was then attending. Her brother studied to become an architect and she studied to become a dancer, soon also at the Royal Ballet School in London. Afterwards, she travelled back to Hong Kong, where she started a ballet school. Stage producer Ray Stark posted an advertisement in the Hong Kong Tiger Standard (later renamed The Standard) regarding auditions for the character Suzie Wong for a play. Kwan was discovered by Stark in a film studio constructed by her architect father. After auditioning for Stark, she was asked to screen test to play a character in the film The World of Suzie Wong. Kwan did three screen tests, and a deadlock existed between whether to choose Kwan or France Nuyen, who played Suzie Wong on stage. Owing to Kwan's lack of acting experience, at Stark's request, she travelled to the United States, where she attended acting school in Hollywood and resided in the Hollywood Studio Club, a chaperoned dormitory, with other junior actresses. She later moved to New York. Kwan signed a seven-year contract with Stark's Seven Arts Productions at a beginning salary of $300 a week though she was not given a distinct role. When The World of Suzie Wong began to tour, Kwan was assigned the part of a bargirl. In addition to her small supporting character role, Kwan became an understudy for France Nuyen. Though Stark and the male lead William Holden preferred Kwan, despite her somewhat apprehensive demeanour during the screen test, she did not get the role. Paramount favoured the eminent France Nuyen, who had been widely praised for her performance in the film South Pacific (1958) Stark acquiesced to Paramount's wishes. Nuyen received the role and Kwan later took the place of Nuyen on Broadway. In a September 1960 interview with Associated Press journalist Bob Thomas, she said, "I was bitterly disappointed, and I almost quit and went home when I didn't get the picture." In 1959, one month after Nuyen was selected for the film role and while Kwan was touring in Toronto, Stark told her to screen test again for the film. Nuyen, who was in an unstable relationship with Marlon Brando, had a nervous breakdown and was fired from the role because of her erratic actions. The film's director, Jean Negulesco, was fired and replaced by Richard Quine. Kwan began filming in London with co-star William Holden.
The World of Suzie Wong (Richard Quine, 1960) was a "box-office sensation". Critics lavished praise on Kwan for her performance. She was given the nickname "Chinese Bardot" for her unforgettable dance performance. Kwan and two other actresses, Ina Balin and Hayley Mills were awarded the Golden Globe for the "Most Promising Newcomer–Female" in 1960. Scholar Jennifer Leah Chan of New York University wrote that Suzie provided an Asian actress—Kwan—with the most significant Hollywood role since actress Anna May Wong's success in the 1920s. Kwan was on the October 1960 cover of Life, cementing her status as an eminent sex symbol in the 1960s. In 1961, Nancy Kwan starred in Flower Drum Song (Henry Koster, 1961) in a related role. The film, based on the Broadway musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein, was distinguished for being the first major Hollywood feature film with an all-Asian cast. It would be also the last film to do so for more than 30 years. Her prior ballet education provided a strong foundation for her role in Flower Drum Song, where she had much space to dance. After starring in The World of Suzie Wong and Flower Drum Song, Kwan's fame peaked in 1962. As a Hollywood icon, Kwan lived in a house atop Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles. She commuted in a white British sports car and danced to Latin verses. The 22-year-old Kwan was dating Swiss actor Maximilian Schell. Kwan's success in her early career was not mirrored in later years, due to the cultural nature of 1960s America. Kwan had to journey to Europe and Hong Kong to escape the ethnic typecasting in Hollywood that confined her largely to Asian roles despite her Eurasian appearance. Her third film was the British drama The Main Attraction (Daniel Petrie, 1962) with Pat Boone. She played an Italian circus performer who was the love interest of Boone's character. While she was filming in the Austrian Alps, she met Peter Pock, a hotelier and ski teacher, with whom she immediately fell in love. After several weeks, the two married and resided in Innsbruck, Austria. Kwan later gave birth to Bernhard "Bernie" Pock. Her contract with Seven Arts led her to travel around the world to make films. In 1963, Kwan starred as the title character of the comedy Tamahine (Philip Leacock, 1963), opposite Dennis Price. She played an English-Tahitian ward of the headmaster at an old English public school. In the aviation disaster film Fate Is the Hunter (Ralph Nelson, 1964), her seventh film, Kwan played an ichthyologist opposite Glenn Ford. It was her first role as a Eurasian character. Kwan's roles were predominantly comic characters. She divorced Peter Pock in 1968. Kwan met Bruce Lee when he choreographed the martial arts moves in the spy comedy The Wrecking Crew (Phil Karlson, 1969), starring Dean Martin as Matt Helm. In Kwan's role in the film, she fought the character played by Sharon Tate by throwing a flying kick. Her martial arts move was based not on karate training, but on her dance foundation. In 2019, the film was referenced and briefly seen in Quentin Tarantino's film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, in which Tate is shown enjoying the film at the Fox Bruin Theater. She became close friends with Lee and met his wife and two children. In the 1970s, both Kwan and Lee returned to Hong Kong, where they carried on their companionship.
Nancy Kwan married Hollywood scriptwriter David Giler in July 1970 in a civil ceremony in Carson City, Nevada. That year, Kwan returned to Hong Kong with her son because her father was sick. She initially intended to remain for one year to assist him, but ultimately remained for about seven years. In 1972 she divorced Giler. She did not stop her work, starring as Dr. Sue in the action film Wonder Women (Robert Vincent O'Neil, 1973), Supercock (Gus Trikonis, 1975), and Fear/Night Creature (Lee Madden, 1978) with Donald Pleasance and Ross Hagen. The latter introduced her to filmmaker Norbert Meisel, who became her third husband. While in Hong Kong, Kwan founded a production company, Nancy Kwan Films, which made dozens of commercials for the Southeast Asia market. In 1979, she returned to the United States, because Kwan wanted her son Bernie to finish his schooling there. There she played characters in the television series Fantasy Island (1978), Knots Landing (1984), and The A-Team (1986). In 1987, Nancy Kwan co-owned the dim sum restaurant, Joss. Kwan, producer Ray Stark, restaurateur and Hong Kong film director Cecile Tang financed the restaurant, located on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood. In 1993, Kwan played Gussie Yang, a tough-talking, soft-hearted Hong Kong restaurateur, in the fictional Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (Rob Cohen, 1993). starring Jason Scott Lee. She played a pivotal role in the film, a character based on Seattle restaurateur and political leader Ruby Chow who hires Bruce Lee as a dishwasher and gives him the funds to open a martial arts school. She also wrote, directed, and starred in a film about Eurasians, Loose Woman With No Face (Nancy Kwan, 1993). She was asked about whether she was confronted with racism as a leading Asian Hollywood actress in the 1960s. Kwan replied, "That was 30 years ago and (prejudice) wasn't such a heavy issue then. I was just in great Broadway productions that were turned into films. I personally never felt any racial problems in Hollywood." In the 1990s, she faced a severe shortage of strong roles. She attributed this to both her age and the movie enterprise's aversion to selecting Asians for non-Asian roles. In earlier years, she was able to play an Italian and a Tahitian. She passed on a role in The Joy Luck Club (1993) because the filmmakers refused to excise a line calling The World of Suzie Wong a "...horrible racist film". In 1993, Kwan co-starred in the two-character play Arthur and Leila about two siblings who struggle with their Chinese identities, and in 1994 she assumed the role of 52-year-old Martha in Singapore Repertory Theatre's showing 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' by Edward Albee. She and her husband produced the feature film Biker Poet. of which Bernie was the director and an actor. In 1996, when he was 33, Kwan's son, Bernie, died after contracting AIDS. Four years after his death, poet and actress Amber Tamblyn compiled her debut poetry book 'Of the Dawn' and dedicated it to Pock. She acted in the film Biker Poet with him when she was nine. Into the 1990s, Kwan appeared in television commercials and appeared in infomercials as the spokesperson for the cosmetic Oriental Pearl Cream. Kwan has been involved in philanthropy for AIDS awareness. In 1997, she published 'A Celebration of Life – Memories of My Son'. In 2006, Kwan reunited with Flower Drum Song co-star James Shigeta to perform A. R. Gurney's two-person play Love Letters. Kwan appeared in the documentary Hollywood Chinese (Arthur Dong, 2007). Kwan and her husband Norbert Meisel wrote, directed, and produced Ray of Sunshine (Norbert Meisel, 2007), a Bildungsroman film starring Cheyenne Rushing and with Kwan in a supporting role. Kwan wrote an introduction for the 2008 book 'For Goodness Sake: A Novel of the Afterlife of Suzie Wong' by James Clapp. During her career, Kwan has appeared in two television series and over 50 films. Kwan currently resides in Los Angeles and has family members in Hong Kong. She recently appeared in the feature Paint It Black (Amber Tamblyn, 2016), and the documentary Be Water (Bao Nguyen, 2020) about Bruce Lee.
Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Dutch collectors card by Monty, no. 16, 1970. Photo: Gerard Soeteman. Publicity still for the TV series Floris (Paul Verhoeven, 1969). The man in the foreground is stuntman Henk Ornemond,
The Dutch TV series Floris (1969) was the start of the successful careers of director Paul Verhoeven, scriptwriter Gerard Soeteman and of course actor Rutger Hauer. Hauer played the exiled knight Floris. With his Indian friend Sindala (Jos Bergman), he tries to get his birth right papers back from Maarten van Rossem (Hans Culeman), an evil lord. During their quest they get help from Wolter van Oldenstein (Ton Vos), a noble man who offers them a place in his castle. They also meet the pirate Lange Pier (Hans Boskamp).
Source: IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
It all started in 1994. TV scriptwriter Stefan Struik had an interview with a meditating hermit in Baarn (NL) who was complaining about gnomes who disturbed the power network in his house. A month later he ran into trolls in a Norwegian clothing store in the Dutch-Frisian village Dokkum. A year before he got surprised by the amount of one meter high garden gnomes just across the border between Germany and Poland. It all seemed to point into a new direction he would hit a few months later. In December 1994 he opened with his sister a small game and bookstore in Delft (NL), named Elf Fantasy Shop. The games were a golden opportunity. Three years later the duo could open an second store in The Hague.
In 1995 Stefan also started a new adventure with a free magazine called Elf Fantasy Magazine. In 2001 the magazine became professionalized and despite it never realised any profits it existed until 2009.
Stefan and his sister already organised lectures in the Elf Fantasy Shops about druidism, Tolkien and other fantasy related subjects. In 2001 Stefan decided to combine a few things into a totally new and unique festival concept that later would be copied many times: the Elf Fantasy fair. Starting in the historical theme parc Archeon (NL) it moved the year after to the largest castle in the Netherlands: castle de Haar. With the exception of 2004 (castle Keukenhof, Lisse) it remained in castle de Haar, Haarzuilens since then. In 2009 a second version of the Elf Fantasy Fair started 400 meters from the border with Germany in the small village Arcen in Northern Limburg. In January 2013 the name Elf Fantasy Fair™ was replaced by the name Elfia™. The spring edition of Elfia is also called the 'Light Edition', while the autumn edition is characterized as the 'dark edition'.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4655/1, 1929-1930. Photo: Atelier Badekow, Berlin.
Grit Haid (1900-1938) was an Austrian film actress who was active in Austrian and German cinema from the 1910s to the 1930s.
Born 14, March 1900 in Vienna, as Margarete Haid, Grit Haid was the sister of actress Liane Haid. She did her ballet classes and became solo dancer at the Viennese Volksoper. Already at a young age she started her film career (her first films are from 1915), and soon was typecasted as the typical merry Wiener Mädel. After the First World War she worked a.o. for the Viennese Filmag. Haid mainly played in comedies, sometimes also in dramas, and from 1926 on she also appeared in German films. It was then that her career really set off, with films such as Der Soldat der Marie (Erich Schönfelder 1926) starring Xenia Desni, Menschen untereinander (Gerhard Lamprecht 1926) starring Alfred Abel, Der Mann ohne Kopf (Nunzio Malasomma 1927) starring Carlo Aldini, Der alte Fritz (Gerhard Lamprecht 1927) starring Otto Gebühr, Saxophon-Susi (Carl Lamac 1928) starring Anny Ondra, Sein bester Freund (Harri Piel 1929) and Andreas Hofer (Hans Prechtl 1929), starring Fritz Greiner. She also played in two of the adventure movies that serial film hero Eddy Polo did in Germany in the late 1920s: Der gefesselte Polo (1928) and Eddy Polo im Wespennest (1930). In the mean while Haid remained engaged at the Berlinese and Viennese theater and 1926/27 she performed under Max Reinhardt’s direction as Fräulein Roboz in Molnar’s one act play Das Veilchen, as well as Nannie in Maugham’s Viktoria. In the 1930s Grit Haid, who was married to scriptwriter Than, became only small parts. All in all Haid played in some 50 films. Gritt Haid tragically died in a plane crash at the Schwarzwald, on 13. August, 1938.
Sources: German Wikipedia, IMDB, www.cyranos.ch/smhaig-d.htm.
I had to leave before the TDU Cyclists passed by -
Andre Greipel sprints to win the third stage of the Santos Tour Down Under in Victor Harbor and regain the leader's ochre jersey
.... as it happened I was involved in a social history project that was way more exciting to me than the TDU, namely oral history, and that of letting an elder citizen pour out their personal history to you ~ commitment, affection, service to humanity and pride of family being the main themes ~ I may well be the first and last to hear this senior citizens confidential outpourings ~ I think we both appreciated greatly this opportunity ...
local governments (Alexandrina above and City of Victor Harbor nearby) pay TDU, maybe $15,000 each to have the cyclists cycle thru
gsf & tdu - gross state fitness and the tour down under - comment heard
that the TDU creates an atmosphere of fitness and wellbeing
cost to local government compared to benefit is also talked about ~ many believe the TDU is a waste of public money and huge disruption to daily life
OMG ~ Z Cars is mentioned below ~ a TV show popular when I was a teenager
"when you use a prostitute and sit and talk to them" ~ quote from Liverpool actress and writer Lynda La Plante (link to full context below)
www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bookshow/crime-quee...
the book show abc radio national - fri 20th jan 2012
Lynda La Plante
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lynda La Plante, CBE (born Lynda J. Titchmarsh on 15 March 1943)[1][2][3] is an English author, screenwriter and former actress, best known for writing the Prime Suspect television crime series.
La Plante's father was a salesman in Liverpool. She attended RADA and began her career as an actress, mainly on television. As Lynda Marchal, she appeared in several popular series including Z-Cars, The Sweeney, The Professionals and Bergerac. However as an actress she is perhaps best remembered as the hay-fever suffering ghost Tamara Novek in the BBC children's series Rentaghost.
Her first TV series as a scriptwriter was the ITV children's sitcom The Kids from 47A in the early 1970s. However she did not find fame until the six part robbery series Widows was produced in 1983. The plot concerned the widows of four armed robbers carrying out a heist planned by their deceased husbands.
In 1991 ITV released Prime Suspect which has now run to seven series and stars Helen Mirren as DCI Jane Tennison. (In the United States Prime Suspect airs on PBS as part of the anthology program Mystery!) In 1993 La Plante won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for her work on the series. In 1992 she wrote a TV movie called Seekers, starring Brenda Fricker and Josette Simon, produced by Sarah Lawson.
She formed her own television production company, La Plante Productions, in 1994 and as La Plante Productions she wrote and produced the sequel to Widows, the equally gutsy She's Out (ITV, 1995). The name "La Plante" comes from her marriage to writer Richard La Plante, author of the book Mantis and Hog Fever. La Plante divorced Lynda in the early 1990s.
Her output continued with The Governor (ITV 1995-96), a series focusing on the female governor of a high security prison, and was followed by a string of ratings-pulling mini-series: Trial & Retribution (ITV 1997-), Bella Mafia (1997) (starring Vanessa Redgrave), (ITV 1998), Killer Net (Channel 4 1998) and Mind Games (ITV 2001).
Two additions to the Trial & Retribution miniseries were broadcast during 2006.
Her latest novel, Blood Line, was released in summer 2011. It is another Anna Travis novel following Above Suspicion, The Red Dahlia, Clean Cut, Deadly Intent, Silent Scream and Blind Fury.
She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours.[4]
Dutch collectors card by Monty, no. 30, 1970. Photo: Gerard Soeteman. Publicity still for the TV series Floris (Paul Verhoeven, 1969).
Finally I found some collectors cards of my favourite series, Floris (1969). The series was the start of the successful vareers of director Paul Verhoeven, scriptwriter Gerard Soeteman and of course Rutger Hauer. Hauer played the exiled knight Floris. With his Indian friend Sindala (Jos Bergman), he tries to get his birth right papers back from Maarten van Rossem (Hans Culeman), an evil lord. During their quest they get help from Wolter van Oldenstein (Ton Vos), a noble man who offers them a place in his castle. They also meet the pirate Lange Pier (Hans Boskamp).
Source: IMDb.
《金瓶梅》Golden Lotus Jin Ping Mei Beijing Dance Theatre Stage Presentation Brings Chinese Erotic Arts to Canada - Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto北京当代芭蕾舞团剧目把中国色情艺术带到加拿大温哥华、多伦多、蒙特利尔巡游表演
《金瓶梅》Golden Lotus/Lotus d'or/Jin Ping Mei Ballet Stage Performance
This is a stage adaptation of the early 17th century erotic Chinese novel 'Jin Ping Mei'. The show was first produced in Hong Kong in 2011. However, it was banned (some say delayed due to content localization) in Mainland China for three years until 2014. After some racy scenes were toned down, the show was allowed to debut in China and now it is about to extend the work to oversea markets. This time around, the Beijing Dance Theatre took over the ballet presentation and it is now touring for the first time in Canada to entertain audiences in three cities – Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto.
The Golden Lotus or better known as Jing Ping Mei was written in the latter part of the Ming Dynasty by someone who used a pseudonym and the true authorship had not been satisfactorily proven to this day. Practically from day one of its existence, the work has been purged in society as a 'forbidden book' in China since its first printing in about 1610. Although generally regarded as pornography throughout the centuries, the book had nevertheless became known among many literal elites both in China and in the West as one of the most important works of Chinese literature in the same class as The Water Margin《水浒传》, Romance of the Three Kingdoms《三国演义》and Dream of the Red Chamber《红楼梦》. In fact, it could be said that The Golden Lotus was derived from The Water Margin as both shared some of the same historical and fictional characters as Wu Song武松, Xi Menqing西门庆, Pan Jinlian潘金莲 etc. But the plot concerning these characters are very different between the two novels.
Behind the scene, the Beijing Dance Theatre production has some big name attached to the project. The choreographer is Artistic Director Wang Yuanyuan（王媛媛）who was responsible for adapting the Ballet Raise The Red Lantern 《大红灯笼高高挂》from the movie that made director Zhang Yimou（张艺谋）a household name in Chinese entertainment. Costume Designer was Oscar-winning Set Designer and Artistic Director Tim Yip（叶锦添）of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 《卧虎藏龙》fame. Others such as the musical director, scriptwriters, effects masters and producers are mainly involved in the movies and stage productions.
《金瓶梅》Golden Lotus Stage Adaptation -
Vancouver: Sep 21-22, 2017 Queen Elizabeth Theatre 7:30PM
Montreal: Oct 01-02, 2017 Montreal Place des Arts 7:30PM
Toronto: Oct 5-6, 2017 Living Arts Centre 7:30PM
Tickets: $285/235/185/145/105/85/65
Online: www.MegaBoxOffice.com
Phone: 778-321-5829 | 778-680-8800 | 778-927-9265 | 778-251-9839 (English & 中文)
Hotline: 604-343-6260
English: vancouver.ca/news-calendar/beijing-dance-theatre-golden-l...
中文：http://www.bcbay.com/life/community/2017/04/07/487157.html
Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jin_Ping_Mei
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Ray Van Eng 雷云影 is an accomplished media professional, award-winning screenwriter and movie producer. His work has been part of the Hava Nagila Exhibit at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in Manhattan in New York, NY from Sep 2012 to May 2013.
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Dutch collectors card by Monty, no. 4, 1970. Photo: Gerard Soeteman. Publicity still for the TV series Floris (Paul Verhoeven, 1969).
Finally I found some collectors cards of my favourite series, Floris (1969). The series was the start of the successful vareers of director Paul Verhoeven, scriptwriter Gerard Soeteman and of course Rutger Hauer. Hauer played the exiled knight Floris. With his Indian friend Sindala (Jos Bergman), he tries to get his birth right papers back from Maarten van Rossem (Hans Culeman), an evil lord. During their quest they get help from Wolter van Oldenstein (Ton Vos), a noble man who offers them a place in his castle. They also meet the pirate Lange Pier (Hans Boskamp).
Source: IMDb.
It all started in 1994. TV scriptwriter Stefan Struik had an interview with a meditating hermit in Baarn (NL) who was complaining about gnomes who disturbed the power network in his house. A month later he ran into trolls in a Norwegian clothing store in the Dutch-Frisian village Dokkum. A year before he got surprised by the amount of one meter high garden gnomes just across the border between Germany and Poland. It all seemed to point into a new direction he would hit a few months later. In December 1994 he opened with his sister a small game and bookstore in Delft (NL), named Elf Fantasy Shop. The games were a golden opportunity. Three years later the duo could open an second store in The Hague.
In 1995 Stefan also started a new adventure with a free magazine called Elf Fantasy Magazine. In 2001 the magazine became professionalized and despite it never realised any profits it existed until 2009.
Stefan and his sister already organised lectures in the Elf Fantasy Shops about druidism, Tolkien and other fantasy related subjects. In 2001 Stefan decided to combine a few things into a totally new and unique festival concept that later would be copied many times: the Elf Fantasy fair. Starting in the historical theme parc Archeon (NL) it moved the year after to the largest castle in the Netherlands: castle de Haar. With the exception of 2004 (castle Keukenhof, Lisse) it remained in castle de Haar, Haarzuilens since then. In 2009 a second version of the Elf Fantasy Fair started 400 meters from the border with Germany in the small village Arcen in Northern Limburg. In January 2013 the name Elf Fantasy Fair™ was replaced by the name Elfia™. The spring edition of Elfia is also called the 'Light Edition', while the autumn edition is characterized as the 'dark edition'.
French postcard by Cinématographes Méric. Mario Ausonia in Mes p'tits/Le Calvaire d'une saltimbanque/My Little Ones (Paul Barlatier, Charles Keppens, 1923). The woman in the middle could be Jane (Jeanne) Rollette.
Athletic muscleman Mario Guaita aka Ausonia (1881-1956) was an Italian actor, director, producer and scriptwriter in the silent era. He had his international breakthrough with Spartaco (Enrico Vidali 1913) and became a major actor in the Italian forzuto genre. In the early 1920s he moved to Marseille, made a few films there and ran a cinema.
Dutch collectors card by Monty, no. 5 (?), 1970. Photo: Gerard Soeteman. Hans Culeman in the TV series Floris (Paul Verhoeven, 1969).
Finally I found some collectors cards of my favourite series, Floris (1969). The series was the start of the successful vareers of director Paul Verhoeven, scriptwriter Gerard Soeteman and of course Rutger Hauer. Hauer played the exiled knight Floris. With his Indian friend Sindala (Jos Bergman), he tries to get his birth right papers back from Maarten van Rossem (Hans Culeman), an evil lord. During their quest they get help from Wolter van Oldenstein (Ton Vos), a noble man who offers them a place in his castle. They also meet the pirate Lange Pier (Hans Boskamp).
Source: IMDb.
It all started in 1994. TV scriptwriter Stefan Struik had an interview with a meditating hermit in Baarn (NL) who was complaining about gnomes who disturbed the power network in his house. A month later he ran into trolls in a Norwegian clothing store in the Dutch-Frisian village Dokkum. A year before he got surprised by the amount of one meter high garden gnomes just across the border between Germany and Poland. It all seemed to point into a new direction he would hit a few months later. In December 1994 he opened with his sister a small game and bookstore in Delft (NL), named Elf Fantasy Shop. The games were a golden opportunity. Three years later the duo could open an second store in The Hague.
In 1995 Stefan also started a new adventure with a free magazine called Elf Fantasy Magazine. In 2001 the magazine became professionalized and despite it never realised any profits it existed until 2009.
Stefan and his sister already organised lectures in the Elf Fantasy Shops about druidism, Tolkien and other fantasy related subjects. In 2001 Stefan decided to combine a few things into a totally new and unique festival concept that later would be copied many times: the Elf Fantasy fair. Starting in the historical theme parc Archeon (NL) it moved the year after to the largest castle in the Netherlands: castle de Haar. With the exception of 2004 (castle Keukenhof, Lisse) it remained in castle de Haar, Haarzuilens since then. In 2009 a second version of the Elf Fantasy Fair started 400 meters from the border with Germany in the small village Arcen in Northern Limburg. In January 2013 the name Elf Fantasy Fair™ was replaced by the name Elfia™. The spring edition of Elfia is also called the 'Light Edition', while the autumn edition is characterized as the 'dark edition'.
TITLE: The Raven
YEAR RELEASED: 1963
DIRECTOR: Roger Corman
CAST: Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Hazel Court and Peter Lorre.
MINI-REVIEW BY STEPHEN JACOBS: “Roger Corman’s comedy is great fun. Vincent Price plays Dr. Erasmus Craven, a magician who discovers his wife [Hazel Court] is not dead but resides with rival sorcerer Dr. Scarabus [Boris Karloff]. Peter Lorre, however, steals the picture as Dr. Bedlo, a grouchy wizard who had been transformed into a raven by Scarabus. Also noteworthy as featuring a young Jack Nicholson as Lorre’s son, Rexford.”
MAIN REVIEW BY ADAM SCOVELL
With its rather ominous opening, the viewer would perhaps be forgiven for thinking that Roger Corman’s adaptation of Poe’s The Raven would be in similar ilk to his other dark Poe films. What at first seems like yet another gothic retelling of a Poe classic turns out to be a swiftly delivered curve ball that has, at its core, a desire for fun and mischief rather than for scares and dark forebodings.
Vincent Price plays Dr Erasmus Craven, one of many sorcerers to appear in the film. He may be on the side of good but this implies that the villains are genuinely bad. Boris Karloff plays the closest to what the film has to a villain in the form of Dr Scarabus but this is a film about having a laugh at the absurdity of the fantasy genre rather than genuine battles of good vs. evil. To add to an already impressive cast is Peter Lorre as the hilarious Dr. Bedlo who appears first in the form of a raven and then proceeds to be one of the most hilariously inept sorcerers in fantasy.
Bedlo was turned into a raven by Scarabus but the action taken by the sorcerers seems more in line with playground antics than fantasy action. Jack Nicholson also makes an early film appearance as the dashing hero of the piece though is sidelined in the film in place wizardry and joyfully silly battles. Though very clearly aiming at a younger market, Corman still manages to add a few spine tingling elements to the film. These are mainly to be found in the film’s opening twenty minutes and revolve around Craven trying to find the rather gruesome ingredients to cure Bedlo from of his raven form. It must be stated that though the connection to the original adaptation of The Raven (1935) through Boris Karloff is its only link. The original was a tense, gothic tale of murder far more in line with Poe’s original prose. This is the polar opposite in almost every conceivable way.
Corman’s Raven is far more laxed about its source material to the point where it’s all but abandoned after the film’s introduction. Though this may perhaps not do it any favours among the horror purists, criticisms of the film based around its lack of seriousness misses the point entirely. Perhaps also with Corman’s excellent track record for Poe adaptations, it comes as a shock to find him playing so freely with the material but it’s something he would come back to again and again (also remembering his previous horror comedy Little Shop of Horrors (1960)).
Though more in line with the TV series Bewitched than with the likes of Pit and the Pendulum (1961), The Raven is a perfect film for the winter. Its silly nature gives it the feel of a Christmas film, however, boasting an extremely strong cast of horror royalty and providing some genuine laughs along with its witty wizardry, The Raven is a film that can be forgiven for straying array from the purely horrific and should instead be enjoyed for what it is; fun.
synopsis
Although Roger Corman narrowly managed to avoid self-mockery in his pulpy, flamboyant adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe tales, it appears that the director chose this opportunity to let loose with outright parody; the result is a wonderfully entertaining romp with tongue planted firmly in cheek. The first screen teaming of legendary horror stars Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, and Peter Lorre -- later billed as "The Triumvirate of Terror" -- this so-called "adaptation" uses Poe's most famous poem as a springboard for Grand Guignol comedy from scriptwriter Richard Matheson. Melancholy magician Erasmus Craven (Price), having recently relinquished his membership in the Brotherhood of Sorcerers after the apparent death of his wife Lenore (Hazel Court), is paid a visit by a foul-mouthed talking raven, claiming to be small-time wizard Adolphus Bedlo (Lorre). After some persuasion, Craven returns Bedlo to human form, reversing a spell placed by the evil Dr. Scarabus (Karloff), Craven's chief rival. After learning that a woman bearing a strong likeness to Lenore was seen in the Doctor's company, Craven accompanies Bedlo to Scarabus' castle, where the resulting battle of wills escalates into all-out magical warfare between the two embittered sorcerers. Corman and company relished the opportunity to poke fun at the staid Poe series, and the distinguished leads contribute to the spirit of fun by lampooning their own cinematic reputations. Fans of Jack Nicholson (who cut his acting teeth on this and other AIP productions) should enjoy his melodramatic performance here as Bedlo's straight-arrow son; Nicholson would later co-star with Karloff in Corman's The Terror, which was shot in two days using the same sets!
It all started in 1994. TV scriptwriter Stefan Struik had an interview with a meditating hermit in Baarn (NL) who was complaining about gnomes who disturbed the power network in his house. A month later he ran into trolls in a Norwegian clothing store in the Dutch-Frisian village Dokkum. A year before he got surprised by the amount of one meter high garden gnomes just across the border between Germany and Poland. It all seemed to point into a new direction he would hit a few months later. In December 1994 he opened with his sister a small game and bookstore in Delft (NL), named Elf Fantasy Shop. The games were a golden opportunity. Three years later the duo could open an second store in The Hague.
In 1995 Stefan also started a new adventure with a free magazine called Elf Fantasy Magazine. In 2001 the magazine became professionalized and despite it never realised any profits it existed until 2009.
Stefan and his sister already organised lectures in the Elf Fantasy Shops about druidism, Tolkien and other fantasy related subjects. In 2001 Stefan decided to combine a few things into a totally new and unique festival concept that later would be copied many times: the Elf Fantasy fair. Starting in the historical theme parc Archeon (NL) it moved the year after to the largest castle in the Netherlands: castle de Haar. With the exception of 2004 (castle Keukenhof, Lisse) it remained in castle de Haar, Haarzuilens since then. In 2009 a second version of the Elf Fantasy Fair started 400 meters from the border with Germany in the small village Arcen in Northern Limburg. In January 2013 the name Elf Fantasy Fair™ was replaced by the name Elfia™. The spring edition of Elfia is also called the 'Light Edition', while the autumn edition is characterized as the 'dark edition'.