title: Dream pop

text: In the 1990s, "dream pop" and "shoegazing" were interchangeable and regionally dependent terms, with "dream pop" being the name by which "shoegazing" was typically known in America. AllMusic describes the dream pop label as covering both the "loud, shimmering feedback" of My Bloody Valentine and the "post-Velvet Underground guitar rock" of Galaxie 500. My Bloody Valentine showcased a unique dream pop sound on their 1988 debut album "Isn't Anything", with guitarist Kevin Shields employing a tremolo-arm technique in order to produce "an amorphous drone, at once visceral and disembodied". Galaxie 500 provided a "cornerstone" of the genre in their 1989 album "On Fire", with their downtempo, reverb-laden sound becoming influential. UK bands acts as A.R. Kane, My Bloody Valentine and Ride played an influential role in the development of the movement. Other prominent acts to emerge from the movement include Slowdive and Chapterhouse.


title: Dream pop

text: The 1990 Cocteau Twins album "Heaven or Las Vegas" proved an iconic release in the genre. The UK band Lush became an influential act in the genre during the 1990s, with Robin Guthrie producing their 1992 debut album "Spooky". The 1993 album "So Tonight That I Might See" by American band Mazzy Star reflected a dream pop sound specific to "the glitzy decay that is L.A.", according to "Pitchfork"; that publication called the album a "dream pop classic". The late 1980s dream pop of A.R. Kane and My Bloody Valentine influenced 1990s acts such as Seefeel and Insides, who began incorporating elements such as samples and sequenced rhythms. Ambient pop music is described by AllMusic as "essentially an extension of the dream pop that emerged in the wake of the shoegazer movement", distinct for its incorporation of electronic textures and techniques such as sampling.


title: Dream pop

text: The 2007 album "Person Pitch" by Panda Bear combined Beach Boys-influenced dream pop with modern sampledelic techniques, winning acclaim and exerting a wide influence.


title: Dream pop

text: Much of the music associated with the 2009-coined term "chillwave" could be considered dream pop; In the opinion of "Grantland"s David Schilling, the critical discussion surrounding "chillwave" revealed that labels such as "shoegaze" and "dream pop" were ultimately "arbitrary and meaningless". The 2010 album "Teen Dream" by Baltimore duo Beach House established the group as purveyors of modern dream pop that drew on the "languid reveries" of Cocteau Twins, Mazzy Star and Galaxie 500. The group's success in the late 2000s solidified the popularity of dream pop with millennial listeners.


title: Rebecca Gayheart

text: Rebecca Gayheart (born August 12, 1971) is an American actress and model. She began her career as a teen model in the 1980s and subsequently appeared in a student short film by Brett Ratner, with whom she had an extensive relationship.


title: Rebecca Gayheart

text: In the early 1990s, Gayheart signed a contract with Noxzema and became a spokesperson for the company. On television, she had a starring role on the series "Earth 2" (1994–1995) and was a recurring guest star on "Beverly Hills, 90210" (1995). She made her feature film debut in the comedy "Nothing to Lose" (1997) and then had a lead role in the slasher film "Urban Legend" (1998). She subsequently starred in the black comedy film "Jawbreaker" (1999), followed by supporting roles in the thriller "Shadow Hours" (2000) and the independent comedy "Harvard Man" (2001).


title: Rebecca Gayheart

text: In June 2001, Gayheart fatally struck a young boy with her vehicle in Los Angeles, an event that was widely publicized, and was ultimately sentenced to probation and community service. She returned to acting several years later, appearing in recurring guest roles on the television series "Dead Like Me" (2003), "Nip/Tuck" (2004–2006), and "Vanished" (2006). In 2005, Gayheart made her Broadway debut in a production of "Steel Magnolias". She returned to Broadway again in a 2008 production of "Boeing-Boeing", opposite Mark Rylance and Christine Baranski. In 2019, Gayheart appeared in a minor supporting role in Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood".


title: Rebecca Gayheart

text: Gayheart was born August 12, 1971 in Hazard, Kentucky, the third of four children born to Floneva "Flo" Gayheart (née Slone), who worked as a Mary Kay independent beauty consultant, and Curtis Gayheart, a miner and coal-truck driver. She has two sisters, Elizabeth and Rachel, and one brother, Curtis Wayne Gayheart. She is of German, English, Scottish and Scots-Irish descent. Gayheart spent her early life in Pine Top, Kentucky. In her first year of high school, she starred in a stage play chronicling the life of Lizzie Borden, in which she played the titular Borden.


title: Rebecca Gayheart

text: At age 15, Gayheart won a local modeling contest, after which she relocated to New York City. There, she completed her high school education at the Professional Children's School and went on to attend the actors' conservatory of the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. Meanwhile, Gayheart earned a living appearing in commercials for Campbell's soup and Burger King, and also modeled for J. C. Penney catalogues.


title: Rebecca Gayheart

text: In her first film role, Gayheart appeared in Brett Ratner's New York University short film "Whatever Happened to Mason Reese?" (1990) starring Mason Reese. She also appeared in the Ratner-directed music video "Nuttin' But Love" performed by Heavy D and the Boyz.


title: Rebecca Gayheart

text: Gayheart's break into the television industry was a series of television commercials for Noxzema in the early 1990s, earning her the moniker "The Noxzema Girl". The commercials began airing in 1991 and brought her national recognition. In 1992, Gayheart was cast in her first major role on the soap opera "Loving" as Hannah Mayberry. In 1993 and 1994, she had a recurring role in the "Vanishing Son" action series as cellist Clair Rutledge, the love interest of Russell Wong's main character, Jian-Wa Chang. In 1994 and 1995, Gayheart played Bess Martin in the science-fiction series "Earth 2". In 1995, she played Antonia Marchette, a recurring character in the series "Beverly Hills, 90210", and Luke Perry's character's love interest; the character was killed off after a 10-episode storyline. She was subsequently cast in her feature film debut in the comedy "Nothing to Lose" (1997) opposite Tim Robbins and Martin Lawrence, portraying a flower shop employee who nearly woos an advertising executive (Robbins). The same year, she had a minor role as a sorority sister in Wes Craven's horror film "Scream 2" (1997).


title: Rebecca Gayheart

text: After completing "Scream 2", Gayheart was cast in a lead role in the slasher film "Urban Legend" (1998), in which she portrayed the best friend of a college student (Alicia Witt) who suspects their friends are being murdered according to urban legends. The same year, she appeared onstage at Toronto's Canon Theatre in a production of "The Last Night of Ballyhoo", opposite Rhea Perlman and Perrey Reeves. In 1999, Gayheart also starred in the black comedy film "Jawbreaker" with Rose McGowan, Julie Benz, and Judy Greer as girls in an exclusive clique in their high school who inadvertently kill their friend. Though the film was a box-office failure, it went on to earn a cult following in subsequent decades.


title: Rebecca Gayheart

text: In 2000, Gayheart had a lead role in the vampire film "", as well as a lead role in the thriller "Shadow Hours", opposite Balthazar Getty; she also had a cameo appearance in "", the sequel to "Urban Legend".


title: Rebecca Gayheart

text: In 2002, Gayheart was hired for the role of Inara Serra on the television series "Firefly" but was fired after only one day of filming. Show creator Joss Whedon said that a lack of chemistry existed between the rest of the cast and her. The role was recast with actress Morena Baccarin, who reportedly filmed her first scene the day she was accepted for the role. None of Gayheart's work was used.


title: Rebecca Gayheart

text: From March to July 2005, Gayheart starred in a Broadway production of "Steel Magnolias". David Rooney of "Variety" praised her performance, writing: "Exuding all the breezy confidence of a girl who's always been popular and pretty, Gayheart's Shelby provides a strong center, allowing only brief glimpses of the cracks in her cheerful, optimistic veneer and refusing to be treated as fragile goods by the clucking women around her." She also appeared in a minor role in the Christmas horror-comedy film "Santa's Slay" (2005). In 2007, Gayheart guest-starred on "Ugly Betty" as Jordan, an ex-girlfriend of Alexis Meade. The following year, she returned to Broadway in a revival of the comedy, "Boeing-Boeing" opposite Christine Baranski, Mark Rylance, Greg Germann, Paige Davis, and Missi Pyle. She had a guest role on "The Cleaner" in 2009.


title: Rebecca Gayheart

text: Gayheart returned to film in 2013, reuniting with "Jawbreaker" director Darren Stein for his comedy "G.B.F.", portraying the mother of a gay teenage boy. She also starred opposite her husband, Dane, in the 2017-released thriller film "Grey Lady", which was filmed in 2014.


title: Rebecca Gayheart

text: In 2019, Gayheart returned to film with a minor supporting role in Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood", playing Billie Booth, the wife of Brad Pitt's character.


title: Rebecca Gayheart

text: Gayheart had met Brett Ratner at age 15 on the day she moved to New York City in 1986, and the two carried on a romantic relationship that spanned 13 years. She and Ratner were engaged in 1997, but the couple eventually separated in 1999.


title: Rebecca Gayheart

text: On June 13, 2001, while driving a vehicle owned by Italian actor Marco Leonardi (her "From Dusk Till Dawn 3" co-star), Gayheart struck nine-year-old Jorge Cruz, Jr. as he walked across a street in Los Angeles. Cruz died the following day from his injuries. Gayheart paid the family $10,000 for Cruz's funeral expenses and was given permission by the family to attend the service, but ultimately chose not to. On August 7, 2001, Gayheart made her only public statement on the incident, in which she said: "The pain of this tragedy will live with me forever. Despite the allegations in the lawsuit, the facts will establish that this was a most unfortunate accident." On November 27, 2001, Gayheart pleaded no contest to vehicular manslaughter. She was sentenced to three years of probation, a one-year suspension of her license, a $2,800 fine, and 750 hours of community service. The parents of the boy filed a wrongful death lawsuit, which was eventually settled out of court.


title: Rebecca Gayheart

text: Gayheart married actor Eric Dane on October 29, 2004, in Las Vegas. Dane told "Flaunt" magazine about how they met: "It's probably one of the least interesting stories in the world. It went basically like this: 'You wanna go out?' 'Yeah, sure.' Ten months later, we were married."


title: Rebecca Gayheart

text: On August 17, 2009, a nude video was posted on the website gawker.com that showed former Miss Teen USA contestant Kari Ann Peniche with Gayheart and husband Eric Dane.


title: Rebecca Gayheart

text: On March 3, 2010, Gayheart gave birth to her first child with Dane, a daughter in Los Angeles. The following year, she gave birth to her second daughter with Dane on December 28, 2011.


title: Rebecca Gayheart

text: In February 2018, Gayheart filed for divorce from Dane after 14 years of marriage, citing "irreconcilable differences."


title: Steve Blum

text: Steven Jay Blum (; born April 29, 1960) is an American voice actor. Known for his distinctively deep voice, his most well-known roles include Spike Spiegel from the anime series "Cowboy Bebop", Garazeb Orrelios from the animated series "Star Wars Rebels", Wolverine from various Marvel projects, TOM (Toonami Operations Module) as the second and current host of Toonami and the current host of Toonami Latin America (2000–2008; 2012–present), Terence and Bomb on Angry Birds Live Action and Sub-Zero from the video game franchise "Mortal Kombat".


title: Steve Blum

text: He is sometimes credited as David Lucas, Richard Cardona, Roger Canfield, Tom Baron and Daniel Andrews in various anime and other live-action appearances.


title: Steve Blum

text: Blum began his career in 1992. His credits include the voice of Spike Spiegel in "Cowboy Bebop", Zeb Orrelios in "Star Wars Rebels", Mugen in "Samurai Champloo", Roger Smith from "The Big O", Orochimaru and Zabuza Momochi in "Naruto" and Wolverine in multiple Marvel productions. In video games, he provided the voice of main protagonist Jack Cayman in "MadWorld", Tank Dempsey in the "Call of Duty" series, Professor Galvez in "", Ares in "God of War" and "", main protagonist Grayson Hunt in "Bulletstorm", Brimstone in "Valorant", Zoltun Kulle in "Diablo III", Sub-Zero in "Mortal Kombat X" and "11", Hal Jordan / Green Lantern in "Injustice 2", Rytlock Brimstone in "Guild Wars 2", and main protagonist Capt. Devin Ross in "Clive Barker's Jericho".


title: Steve Blum

text: In September 2000, Blum voiced TOM, the robotic host of Cartoon Network's Toonami programming block. He replaced Sonny Strait in the character's subsequent appearances, until the cancellation of Toonami in 2008. When Toonami was revived on March 31, 2012, he returned as the voice of TOM. He is also the announcer for 7-Eleven's "Oh Thank Heaven" television and radio advertisements and partnered with Vic Mignogna in the series "Real Fans of Genius" (a parody of Anheuser-Busch's "Real Men of Genius" radio ad campaign).


title: Steve Blum

text: In animation, he is the voice of Heatblast, Ghostfreak and Vilgax in the "Ben 10" franchise, Starscream in "", Count Vertigo in "" and "Young Justice", Red Skull, Beta Ray Bill and Wolverine in "Wolverine and the X-Men" and "" and Amon in "The Legend of Korra".


title: Steve Blum

text: On June 5, 2012, he was awarded a Guinness World Record for being the most prolific video game voice actor, having 261 credited appearances as of May 10, 2012.


title: Steve Blum

text: Blum married voice actress Mary Elizabeth McGlynn in 2017. He has three sons from a prior relationship. One of them, Brandon, is also an actor, while another, Jeremy, is a teacher.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny West neighborhood and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris in 1903, and made France her home for the remainder of her life. She hosted a Paris salon, where the leading figures of modernism in literature and art, such as Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis, Ezra Pound, Sherwood Anderson and Henri Matisse, would meet.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: In 1933, Stein published a quasi-memoir of her Paris years, "The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas", written in the voice of Alice B. Toklas, her life partner. The book became a literary bestseller and vaulted Stein from the relative obscurity of the cult-literature scene into the limelight of mainstream attention. Two quotes from her works have become widely known: "Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose", and "there is no there there", with the latter often taken to be a reference to her childhood home of Oakland.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Her books include "Q.E.D." (1903), about a lesbian romantic affair involving several of Stein's friends; "Fernhurst", a fictional story about a love triangle; "Three Lives" (1905–06); "The Making of Americans" (1902–1911); and "Tender Buttons" (1914).


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Her activities during World War II have been the subject of analysis and commentary. As a Jew living in Nazi-occupied France, Stein may have only been able to sustain her lifestyle as an art collector, and indeed to ensure her physical safety, through the protection of the powerful Vichy government official and Nazi collaborator Bernard Faÿ. After the war ended, Stein expressed admiration for another Nazi collaborator, Vichy leader Marshal Pétain.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Stein, the youngest of a family of five children, was born on February 3, 1874, in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (which merged with Pittsburgh in 1907), to upper-middle-class Jewish parents, Daniel Stein and Amelia (née Keyser) Stein. Her father was a wealthy businessman with real estate holdings. German and English were spoken in their home. Gertrude's siblings were: Michael (1865), Simon (1868), Bertha (1870), and Leo (1872).


title: Gertrude Stein

text: When Stein was three years old, she and her family moved to Vienna, and then Paris. Accompanied by governesses and tutors, the Steins endeavored to imbue their children with the cultured sensibilities of European history and life. After a year-long sojourn abroad, they returned to America in 1878, settling in Oakland, California, where her father became director of San Francisco's streetcar lines, the Market Street Railway. Stein attended First Hebrew Congregation of Oakland's Sabbath school. During their residence in Oakland, they lived for four years on a ten-acre lot, and Stein built many memories of California there. She would often go on excursions with her brother, Leo, with whom she developed a close relationship. Stein found formal schooling in Oakland unstimulating, but she often read: Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Scott, Burns, Smollett, Fielding, and more.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: When Stein was 14 years old, her mother died. Three years later, her father died as well. Stein's eldest brother, Michael Stein, age 26, then took over the family business holdings, moved his four siblings to San Francisco, where he now was a director of the Market Street Cable Railway Company, and in 1892 arranged for Gertrude and another sister, Bertha, to live with their mother's family in Baltimore. Here she lived with her uncle David Bachrach, who in 1877 had married Gertrude's maternal aunt, Fanny Keyser.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: In Baltimore, Stein met Claribel and Etta Cone, who held Saturday evening salons that she would later emulate in Paris. The Cones shared an appreciation for art and conversation about it and modeled a domestic division of labor that Stein would replicate in her relationship with Alice B. Toklas.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Stein attended Radcliffe College, then an annex of Harvard University, from 1893 to 1897 and was a student of psychologist William James. With James's supervision, Stein and another student, Leon Mendez Solomons, performed experiments on "normal motor automatism", a phenomenon hypothesized to occur in people when their attention is divided between two simultaneous intelligent activities such as writing and speaking.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: These experiments yielded examples of writing that appeared to represent "stream of consciousness", a psychological theory often attributed to James and the style of modernist authors Virginia Woolf and James Joyce. In 1934, behavioral psychologist B. F. Skinner interpreted Stein's difficult poem "Tender Buttons" as an example of "normal motor automatism". In a letter Stein wrote during the 1930s, she explained that she never accepted the theory of automatic writing: "[T]here can be automatic movements, but not automatic writing. Writing for the normal person is too complicated an activity to be indulged in automatically." She did publish an article in a psychological journal on "spontaneous automatic writing" while at Radcliffe, but "the unconscious and the intuition (even when James himself wrote about them) never concerned her".


title: Gertrude Stein

text: At Radcliffe, she began a lifelong friendship with Mabel Foote Weeks, whose correspondence traces much of the progression of Stein's life. In 1897, Stein spent the summer in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, studying embryology at the Marine Biological Laboratory. She received her A.B. (Bachelor of Arts) magna cum laude from Radcliffe in 1898.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: William James, who had become a committed mentor to Stein at Radcliffe, recognizing her intellectual potential, and declaring her his "most brilliant woman student", encouraged Stein to enroll in medical school. Although Stein professed no interest in either the theory or practice of medicine, she enrolled at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1897. In her fourth year, Stein failed an important course, lost interest, and left. Ultimately, medical school had bored her, and she had spent many of her evenings not applying herself to her studies, but taking long walks and attending the opera.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Stein's tenure at Johns Hopkins was marked by challenges and stress. Men dominated the medical field, and the inclusion of women in the profession was not unreservedly or unanimously welcomed. Writing of this period in her life (in "Things As They Are", 1903) Stein often revealed herself as a depressed young woman dealing with a paternalistic culture, struggling to find her own identity, which she realized could not conform to the conventional female role. Her uncorseted physical appearance and eccentric mode of dress aroused comment and she was described as "Big and floppy and sandaled and not caring a damn." According to Linda Wagner-Martin, Stein's "controversial stance on women's medicine caused problems with the male faculty" and contributed to her decision to leave without finishing her degree.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Asked to give a lecture to a group of Baltimore women in 1899, Stein gave a controversial speech titled "The Value of College Education for Women", undoubtedly designed to provoke the largely middle-class audience. In the lecture Stein maintained:


title: Gertrude Stein

text: While a student at Johns Hopkins and purportedly still naïve about sexual matters, Stein experienced an awakening of her latent sexuality. Sometime in 1899 or 1900, she became infatuated with Mary Bookstaver who was involved in a relationship with a medical student, Mabel Haynes. Witnessing the relationship between the two women served for Stein as her "erotic awakening". The unhappy love triangle demoralized Stein, arguably contributing to her decision to abandon her medical studies. In 1902, Stein's brother Leo Stein left for London, and Stein followed. The following year the two relocated to Paris, where Leo hoped to pursue an art career.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: From 1903 until 1914, when they dissolved their common household, Gertrude and her brother Leo shared living quarters near the Luxembourg Gardens on the Left Bank of Paris in a two-story apartment (with the adjacent studio) located on the interior courtyard at 27 rue de Fleurus, 6th arrondissement. Here they accumulated the works of art that formed a collection that became renowned for its prescience and historical importance.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: The gallery space was furnished with imposing Renaissance-era furniture from Florence, Italy. The paintings lined the walls in tiers trailing many feet to the ceiling. Initially illuminated by gaslight, the artwork was later lit by electric light shortly prior to World War I.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Leo Stein cultivated important art world connections, enabling the Stein holdings to grow over time. The art historian and collector Bernard Berenson hosted Gertrude and Leo in his English country house in 1902, facilitating their introduction to Paul Cézanne and the dealer Ambroise Vollard. Vollard was heavily involved in the Cézanne art market, and he was the first important contact in the Paris art world for both Leo and Gertrude.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: The joint collection of Gertrude and Leo Stein began in late 1904 when Michael Stein announced that their trust account had accumulated a balance of 8,000 francs. They spent this at Vollard's Gallery, buying Gauguin's "Sunflowers" and "Three Tahitians", Cézanne's "Bathers", and two Renoirs.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: The art collection increased and the walls at Rue de Fleurus were rearranged continually to make way for new acquisitions. In "the first half of 1905" the Steins acquired Cézanne's "Portrait of Mme Cézanne" and Delacroix's "Perseus and Andromeda". Shortly after the opening of the Salon d'Automne of 1905 (on October 18, 1905), the Steins acquired Matisse's "Woman with a Hat" and Picasso's "Young Girl with a Flower Basket". In 1906, Picasso completed "Portrait of Gertrude Stein", which remained in her collection until her death.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Henry McBride (art critic for the "New York Sun") did much for Stein's reputation in the United States, publicizing her art acquisitions and her importance as a cultural figure. Of the art collection at 27 Rue de Fleurus, McBride commented: "[I]n proportion to its size and quality... [it is] just about the most potent of any that I have ever heard of in history." McBride also observed that Gertrude "collected geniuses rather than masterpieces. She recognized them a long way off."


title: Gertrude Stein

text: By early 1906, Leo and Gertrude Stein's studio had many paintings by Henri Manguin, Pierre Bonnard, Pablo Picasso, Paul Cézanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Honoré Daumier, Henri Matisse, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Their collection was representative of two famous art exhibitions that took place during their residence together in Paris, and to which they contributed, either by lending their art or by patronizing the featured artists. The Steins' elder brother, Michael, and sister-in-law Sarah (Sally) acquired a large number of Henri Matisse paintings; Gertrude's friends from Baltimore, Claribel and Etta Cone, collected similarly, eventually donating their art collection, virtually intact, to the Baltimore Museum of Art.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: While numerous artists visited the Stein salon, many of these artists were not represented among the paintings on the walls at 27 Rue de Fleurus. Where Renoir, Cézanne, Matisse, and Picasso's works dominated Leo and Gertrude's collection, the collection of Michael and Sarah Stein emphasized Matisse. In April 1914 Leo relocated to Settignano, Italy, near Florence, and the art collection was divided. The division of the Steins' art collection was described in a letter by Leo:


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Leo departed with sixteen Renoirs and, relinquishing the Picassos and most of Matisse to his sister, took only a portrait sketch Picasso had done of him. He remained dedicated to Cézanne, nonetheless, leaving all the artist's works with his sister, taking with him only a Cézanne painting of "5 apples". The split between brother and sister was acrimonious. Stein did not see Leo Stein again until after World War I, and then through only a brief greeting on the street in Paris. After this accidental encounter, they never saw or spoke to each other again. The Steins' holdings were dispersed eventually by various methods and for various reasons.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: After Stein's and Leo's households separated in 1914, she continued to collect examples of Picasso's art, which had turned to Cubism, a style Leo did not appreciate. At her death, Gertrude's remaining collection emphasized the artwork of Picasso and Juan Gris, most of her other pictures having been sold.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Gertrude Stein's personality has dominated the provenance of the Stein art legacy. It was, however, her brother Leo who was the astute art appraiser. Alfred Barr Jr., the founding director of New York's Museum of Modern Art, said that between the years of 1905 and 1907, "[Leo] was possibly the most discerning connoisseur and collector of 20th-century painting in the world." After the artworks were divided between the two Stein siblings, it was Gertrude who moved on to champion the works of what proved to be lesser talents in the 1930s. She concentrated on the work of Juan Gris, André Masson, and Sir Francis Rose. In 1932, Stein asserted: "Painting now after its great period has come back to be a minor art."


title: Gertrude Stein

text: In 1945, in a preface for the first exhibition of Spanish painter Francisco Riba Rovira (who painted a portrait of her), Stein wrote:I explained that for me, all modern painting is based on what Cézanne nearly made, instead of basing itself on what he almost managed to make. When he could not make a thing, he hijacked it and left it. He insisted on showing his incapacity: he spread his lack of success: showing what he could not do, became an obsession for him. People influenced by him were also obsessed with the things which they could not reach and they began the system of camouflage. It was natural to do so, even inevitable: that soon became an art, in peace and war, and Matisse concealed and insisted at the same time that Cézanne could not realize, and Picasso concealed, played, and tormented all these things.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: The only one who wanted to insist on this problem was Juan Gris. He persisted by deepening the things which Cézanne wanted to do, but it was too hard a task for him: it killed him. And now here we are, I find a young painter who does not follow the tendency to play with what Cézanne could not do, but who attacks any right the things which he tried to make, to create the objects which have to exist, for, and in themselves, and not in relation.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: The gatherings in the Stein home "brought together confluences of talent and thinking that would help define modernism in literature and art". Dedicated attendees included Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis, Ezra Pound, Gavin Williamson, Thornton Wilder, Sherwood Anderson, Francis Cyril Rose, Bob Brown, René Crevel, Élisabeth de Gramont, Francis Picabia, Claribel Cone, Mildred Aldrich, Jane Peterson, Carl Van Vechten and Henri Matisse. Saturday evenings had been set as the fixed day and time for formal congregation so Stein could work at her writing uninterrupted by impromptu visitors.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: It was Stein's partner Alice who became the de facto hostess for the wives and girlfriends of the artists in attendance, who met in a separate room. From "Alice Entertained the Wives" (New York Times, 1977): " 'I am a person acted upon, not a person who acts,' Alice told one of Gertrude's biographers (...) When guests showed up, Alice was called upon to entertain their wives. The ladies were, of course, 'second‐class citizens' "


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Gertrude attributed the beginnings of the Saturday evening salons to Matisse, as people began visiting to see his paintings and those of Cézanne: "Matisse brought people, everybody brought somebody, and they came at any time and it began to be a nuisance, and it was in this way that Saturday evenings began."


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Among Picasso's acquaintances who frequented the Saturday evenings were: Fernande Olivier (Picasso's mistress), Georges Braque (artist), André Derain (artist), Max Jacob (poet), Guillaume Apollinaire (poet), Marie Laurencin (artist, and Apollinaire's mistress), Henri Rousseau (painter), and Joseph Stella.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Hemingway frequented Stein's salon, but the two had an uneven relationship. They began as close friends, with Hemingway admiring Stein as a mentor, but they later grew apart, especially after Stein called Hemingway "yellow" in "The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas." Upon the birth of his son, Hemingway asked Stein to be the godmother of his child. While Stein has been credited with inventing the term "Lost Generation" for those whose defining moment in time and coming of age had been World War I and its aftermath, there are at least three versions of the story that led to the phrase, two by Hemingway and one by Stein.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: During the summer of 1931, Stein advised the young composer and writer Paul Bowles to go to Tangier, where she and Alice had vacationed.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Stein's writing can be placed in three categories: "hermetic" works best illustrated by "The Making of Americans: The Hersland Family"; popularized writing such as "The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas"; and speech writing and more accessible autobiographical writing of later years, of which "Brewsie and Willie" is a good example. Her works include novels, plays, stories, libretti, and poems written in a highly idiosyncratic, playful, repetitive, and humorous style. Typical quotes are: "Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose"; "Out of kindness comes redness and out of rudeness comes rapid same question, out of an eye comes research, out of selection comes painful cattle"; about her childhood home in Oakland, "There is no there there"; and "The change of color is likely and a difference a very little difference is prepared. Sugar is not a vegetable."


title: Gertrude Stein

text: A reader wrote to Stein in 1933 asking her to explain the rose quotation received a reply from Toklas as her secretary: "The device rose is a rose is a rose is a rose means just that. Miss Stein is unfortunately too busy herself to be able to tell you herself, but trusts that you will eventually come to understand that each and every word that she writes means exactly what she says, for she says very exactly what she means, and really nothing more, but, of course, nothing less."


title: Gertrude Stein

text: These stream-of-consciousness experiments, rhythmical essays or "portraits", were designed to evoke "the excitingness of pure being" and can be seen as literature's answer to visual art styles and forms such as Cubism, plasticity, and collage. Many of the experimental works such as "Tender Buttons" have since been interpreted by critics as a feminist reworking of patriarchal language. These works were well received by avant-garde critics but did not initially achieve mainstream success. Despite Stein's work on "automatic writing" with William James, she did not see her work as automatic, but as an 'excess of consciousness'.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Though Stein collected cubist paintings, especially those of Picasso, the largest visual arts influence on her literary work is that of Cézanne. Particularly, he influenced her idea of equality, distinguished from universality: "the whole field of the canvas is important". Rather than a figure/ground relationship, "Stein in her work with words used the entire text as a field in which every element mattered as much as any other." It is a subjective relationship that includes multiple viewpoints. Stein explained: "[T]he important thing... is that you must have deep down as the deepest thing in you a sense of equality."


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Her use of repetition is ascribed to her search for descriptions of the "bottom nature" of her characters, such as in "The Making of Americans" where the narrator is described through the repetition of narrative phrases such as "As I was saying" and "There will be now a history of her." Stein used many Anglo-Saxon words and avoided words with "too much association". Social judgment is absent in her writing, so the reader is given the power to decide how to think and feel about the writing. Anxiety, fear, and anger are also absent, and her work is harmonic and integrative.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Stein predominantly used the present progressive tense, creating a continuous presence in her work, which Grahn argues is a consequence of the previous principles, especially commonality and centeredness. Grahn describes "play" as the granting of autonomy and agency to the readers or audience: "rather than the emotional manipulation that is a characteristic of linear writing, Stein uses "play"." In addition, Stein's work is funny, and multilayered, allowing a variety of interpretations and engagements. Lastly, Grahn argues that one must ""inster"stand... engage with the work, to mix with it in an active engagement, rather than 'figuring it out.' Figure it in." In 1932, using an accessible style to appeal to a wider audience, she wrote "The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas"; the book would become her first best-seller. Despite the title, it was actually Stein's autobiography. The style was quite similar to that of "The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook", which was written by Toklas. Many critics speculated that Toklas actually had written "The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas", despite Toklas repeatedly denying authorship.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Several of Stein's writings have been set to music by composers, including Virgil Thomson's operas "Four Saints in Three Acts" and "The Mother of Us All", and James Tenney's setting of "Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose" as a canon dedicated to Philip Corner, beginning with "a" on an upbeat and continuing so that each repetition shuffles the words, e.g. "a/rose is a rose/is a rose is/a rose is a/rose."


title: Gertrude Stein

text: While living in Paris, Stein began submitting her writing for publication. Her earliest writings were mainly retellings of her college experiences. Her first critically acclaimed publication was "Three Lives". In 1911, Mildred Aldrich introduced Stein to Mabel Dodge Luhan and they began a short-lived but fruitful friendship during which the wealthy Mabel Dodge promoted Gertrude's legend in the United States.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Mabel was enthusiastic about Stein's sprawling publication "The Makings of Americans" and, at a time when Stein had much difficulty selling her writing to publishers, privately published 300 copies of "Portrait of Mabel Dodge at Villa Curonia". Dodge was also involved in the publicity and planning of the 69th Regiment Armory Show in 1913, "the first avant-garde art exhibition in America".


title: Gertrude Stein

text: In addition, she wrote the first critical analysis of Stein's writing to appear in America, in "Speculations, or Post-Impressionists in Prose", published in a special March 1913 publication of "Arts and Decoration". Foreshadowing Stein's later critical reception, Dodge wrote in "Speculations":


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Stein and Carl Van Vechten, the noted critic and photographer, became acquainted in Paris in 1913. The two became lifelong friends, devising pet names for each other: Van Vechten was "Papa Woojums", and Stein, "Baby Woojums". Van Vechten served as an enthusiastic champion of Stein's literary work in the United States, in effect becoming her American agent.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: In October 1934, Stein arrived in America after a 30-year absence. Disembarking from the ocean liner in New York, she encountered a throng of reporters. Front-page articles on Stein appeared in almost every New York City newspaper. As she rode through Manhattan to her hotel, she was able to get a sense of the publicity that would hallmark her US tour. An electric sign in Times Square announced to all that "Gertrude Stein Has Arrived." Her six-month tour of the country encompassed 191 days of travel, criss-crossing 23 states and visiting 37 cities. Stein prepared her lectures for each stop-over in a formally structured way, and the audience was limited to five hundred attendees for each venue. She spoke, reading from notes, and provided for an audience question and answer period at the end of her presentation.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Stein's effectiveness as a lecture speaker received varying evaluations. At the time, some maintained that "Stein's audiences by and large did not understand her lectures." Some of those in the psychiatric community weighed in, judging that Stein suffered from a speech disorder, palilalia, which caused her "to stutter over words and phrases". The predominant feeling, however, was that Stein was a compelling presence, a fascinating personality who could hold listeners with the "musicality of her language".


title: Gertrude Stein

text: In Washington, D.C. Stein was invited to have tea with the President's wife, Eleanor Roosevelt. In Beverly Hills, California, she visited actor and filmmaker Charlie Chaplin, who reportedly discussed the future of cinema with her. Stein left America in May 1935, a newly minted American celebrity with a commitment from Random House, who had agreed to become the American publisher for all of her future works. The "Chicago Daily Tribune" wrote after Stein's return to Paris: "No writer in years has been so widely discussed, so much caricatured, so passionately championed."


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Stein completed "Q.E.D.", her first novel, on October 24, 1903. One of the earliest coming out stories, it is about a romantic affair involving Stein and her friends Mabel Haynes, Grace Lounsbury and Mary Bookstaver, and occurred between 1897 and 1901 while she was studying at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: In 1904, Stein began "Fernhurst", a fictional account of a scandalous three-person romantic affair involving a dean (M. Carey Thomas), a faculty member from Bryn Mawr College (Mary Gwinn) and a Harvard graduate (Alfred Hodder). Mellow asserts that "Fernhurst" "is a decidedly minor and awkward piece of writing". It includes some commentary that Gertrude mentioned in her autobiography when she discussed the "fateful twenty-ninth year" during which:


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Mellow observes that, in 1904, 30-year-old Gertrude "had evidently determined that the 'small hard reality' of her life would be writing".


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Stein attributed the inception of "Three Lives" to the inspiration she received from a portrait Cézanne had painted of his wife and which was in the Stein collection. She credited this as a revelatory moment in the evolution of her writing style. Stein described:


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Gertrude Stein stated the date for her writing of "The Making of Americans" was 1906–1908. Her biographer has uncovered evidence that it actually began in 1902 and did not end until 1911. Stein compared her work to James Joyce's "Ulysses" and to Marcel Proust's "In Search of Lost Time". Her critics were less enthusiastic about it. Stein wrote the bulk of the novel between 1903 and 1911, and evidence from her manuscripts suggests three major periods of revision during that time. The manuscript remained mostly hidden from public view until 1924 when, at the urging of Ernest Hemingway, Ford Madox Ford agreed to publish excerpts in the "transatlantic review". In 1925, the Paris-based Contact Press published a limited run of the novel consisting of 500 copies. A much-abridged edition was published by Harcourt Brace in 1934, but the full version remained out of print until Something Else Press republished it in 1966. In 1995, a new, definitive edition was published by Dalkey Archive Press with a foreword by William Gass.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Gertrude's "Matisse" and "Picasso" descriptive essays appeared in Alfred Stieglitz's August 1912 edition of "Camera Work", a special edition devoted to Picasso and Matisse, and represented her first publication. Of this publication, Gertrude said, "[h]e was the first one that ever printed anything that I had done. And you can imagine what that meant to me or to any one."


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Stein's descriptive essays apparently began with her essay of Alice B. Toklas, "a little prose vignette, a kind of happy inspiration that had detached itself from the torrential prose of "The Making of Americans"". Stein's early efforts at word portraits are catalogued by Mellow and under individual's names in Kellner, 1988. Matisse and Picasso were subjects of early essays, later collected and published in "Geography and Plays" and "Portraits and Prayers".


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Her subjects included several ultimately famous personages, and her subjects provided a description of what she observed in her Saturday salons at 27 Rue de Fleurus: "Ada" (Alice B. Toklas), "Two Women" (The Cone sisters, Claribel Cone and Etta Cone), "Miss Furr and Miss Skeene" (Ethel Mars and Maud Hunt Squire), "Men" (Hutchins Hapgood, Peter David Edstrom, Maurice Sterne), "Matisse" (1909, Henri Matisse), "Picasso" (1909, Pablo Picasso), "Portrait of Mabel Dodge at the Villa Curonia" (1911, Mabel Dodge Luhan), and "Guillaume Apollinaire" (1913).


title: Gertrude Stein

text: "Tender Buttons" is the best known of Stein's "hermetic" works. It is a small book separated into three sections—"Food, Objects and Rooms", each containing prose under subtitles. Its publication in 1914 caused a great dispute between Mabel Dodge Luhan and Stein, because Mabel had been working to have it published by another publisher. Mabel wrote at length about what she viewed as the bad choice of publishing it with the press Gertrude selected. Evans wrote Gertrude:


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Stein ignored Mabel's exhortations and published 1,000 copies of the book in 1914. An antiquarian copy was valued at over $1,200 in 2007. It is currently in print, and was re-released as "Tender Buttons: The Corrected Centennial Edition" by City Lights Publishers in March 2014.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: In an interview with in "A Transatlantic Interview – 1946", Stein insisted that this work was completely "realistic" in the tradition of Gustave Flaubert, stating the following: "I used to take objects on a table, like a tumbler or any kind of object and try to get the picture of it clear and separate in my mind and create a word relationship between the word and the things seen." Commentators have indicated that what she meant was that the "reference" of objects remained central to her work, although the "representation" of them had not. Scholar Marjorie Perloff had said of Stein that "[u]nlike her contemporaries (Eliot, Pound, Moore), she does not give us an image, however fractured, of a carafe on a table; rather, she forces us to reconsider how language actually constructs the world we know."


title: Gertrude Stein

text: The publication of "The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas" lifted Gertrude Stein from literary obscurity to almost immediate celebrity in the United States. Although popular with the American public, Stein received considerable backlash from individuals portrayed in her book. Eugene Jolas, editor of the avant-garde journal "Transition", published a pamphlet titled "Testimony against Gertrude Stein" in which artists such as Henri Matisse and Georges Braque expressed their objections to Stein's portrayal of the Parisian community of artists and intellectuals. Braque, in his response, criticized, "she had entirely misunderstood cubism which she sees simply in terms of personalities".


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Published posthumously by Yale University Press in 1947, with an introduction by Thornton Wilder, "Four in America" creates alternative biographies of Ulysses S. Grant as a religious leader, Wilbur Wright as a painter, George Washington as a novelist, and Henry James as a military general.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Stein met her life partner Alice B. Toklas on September 8, 1907, on Toklas's first day in Paris, at Sarah and Michael Stein's apartment. On meeting Stein, Toklas wrote:


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Soon thereafter, Stein introduced Toklas to Pablo Picasso at his Bateau-Lavoir studio, where he was at work on "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon".


title: Gertrude Stein

text: In 1908, they summered in Fiesole, Italy, Toklas staying with Harriet Lane Levy, the companion of her trip from the United States, and her housemate until Alice moved in with Stein and Leo in 1910. That summer, Stein stayed with Michael and Sarah Stein, their son Allan, and Leo in a nearby villa. Gertrude and Alice's summer of 1908 is memorialized in images of the two of them in Venice, at the piazza in front of Saint Mark's.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Toklas arrived in 1907 with Harriet Levy, with Toklas maintaining living arrangements with Levy until she moved to 27 Rue de Fleurus in 1910. In an essay written at the time, Stein humorously discussed the complex efforts, involving much letter-writing and Victorian niceties, to extricate Levy from Toklas's living arrangements. In "Harriet", Stein considers Levy's nonexistent plans for the summer, following her nonexistent plans for the winter:


title: Gertrude Stein

text: During the early summer of 1914, Stein bought three paintings by Juan Gris: "Roses", "Glass and Bottle", and "Book and Glasses". Soon after she purchased them from Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler's gallery, the Great War began, Kahnweiler's stock was confiscated and he was not allowed to return to Paris. Gris, who before the war had entered a binding contract with Kahnweiler for his output, was left without income. Stein attempted to enter an ancillary arrangement in which she would forward Gris living expenses in exchange for future pictures. Stein and Toklas had plans to visit England to sign a contract for the publication of "Three Lives", to spend a few weeks there, and then journey to Spain. They left Paris on July 6, 1914, and returned on October 17. When Britain declared war on Germany, Stein and Toklas were visiting Alfred North Whitehead in England. After a supposed three-week trip to England that stretched to three months due to the War, they returned to France, where they spent the first winter of the war.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: With money acquired from the sale of Stein's last Matisse "Woman with a Hat" to her brother Michael, she and Toklas vacationed in Spain from May 1915 through the spring of 1916. During their interlude in Majorca, Spain, Gertrude continued her correspondence with Mildred Aldrich who kept her apprised of the War's progression, and eventually inspired Gertrude and Alice to return to France to join the war effort.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Toklas and Stein returned to Paris in June 1916, and acquired a Ford automobile with the help of associates in the United States; Gertrude learned to drive it with the help of her friend William Edwards Cook. Gertrude and Alice then volunteered to drive supplies to French hospitals, in the Ford they named "Auntie", "after Gertrude's aunt Pauline, 'who always behaved admirably in emergencies and behaved fairly well most times if she was flattered.'"


title: Gertrude Stein

text: During the 1930s, Stein and Toklas became famous with the 1933 mass-market publication of "The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas". She and Alice had an extended lecture tour in the United States during this decade. They also spent several summers in the town of Bilignin, in the Ain district of eastern France situated in the picturesque region of the Rhône-Alpes. The two women doted on their beloved poodle named "Basket" whose successor, "Basket II", comforted Alice in the years after Gertrude's death.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: With the outbreak of World War II, Stein and Toklas relocated to a country home that they had rented for many years previously in Bilignin, Ain, in the Rhône-Alpes region. Stein and Alice, who were both Jewish, escaped persecution probably because of their friendship to Bernard Faÿ who was a collaborator with the Vichy regime and had connections to the Gestapo, or possibly because Stein was an American and a famous author. Stein's book "Wars I Have Seen" written before the German surrender and before the liberation of German concentration camps, likened the German army to Keystone cops. When Faÿ was sentenced to hard labor for life after the war, Stein and Alice campaigned for his release. Several years later, Toklas would contribute money to Faÿ's escape from prison. After the war, Stein was visited by many young American soldiers. The August 6, 1945, issue of "Life" magazine featured a photo of Stein and American soldiers posing in front of Hitler's bunker in Berchtesgaden. They are all giving the Nazi salute and Stein is wearing the traditional Alpine cap, accompanied by the text: "Off We All Went To See Germany."


title: Gertrude Stein

text: In the 1980s, a cabinet in the Yale University Beinecke Library, which had been locked for an indeterminate number of years, was opened and found to contain some 300 love letters written by Stein and Toklas. They were made public for the first time, revealing intimate details of their relationship. Stein's endearment for Toklas was "Baby Precious", in turn Stein was for Toklas, "Mr. Cuddle-Wuddle".


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Stein is the author of one of the earliest coming out stories, ""Q.E.D."" (published in 1950 as "Things as They Are"), written in 1903 and suppressed by the author. The story, written during travels after leaving college, is based on a three-person romantic affair in which she became involved while studying at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. The affair was complicated, as Stein was less experienced with the social dynamics of romantic friendship as well as her own sexuality and any moral dilemmas regarding it. Stein maintained at the time that she detested "passion in its many disguised forms". The relationships of Stein's acquaintances Mabel Haynes and Grace Lounsbury ended as Haynes started one with Mary Bookstaver (also known as May Bookstaver). Stein became enamored of Bookstaver but was unsuccessful in advancing their relationship. Bookstaver, Haynes, and Lounsbury all later married men.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Stein began to accept and define her pseudo-masculinity through the ideas of Otto Weininger's "Sex and Character" (1906). Weininger, though Jewish by birth, considered Jewish men effeminate and women as incapable of selfhood and genius, except for female homosexuals who may approximate masculinity. As Stein equated genius with masculinity, her position as a female and an intellectual becomes difficult to synthesize and modern feminist interpretations of her work have been called into question.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: More positive affirmations of Stein's sexuality began with her relationship with Alice B. Toklas. Ernest Hemingway describes how Alice was Gertrude's "wife" in that Stein rarely addressed his (Hemingway's) wife, and he treated Alice the same, leaving the two "wives" to chat.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: The more affirming essay "Miss Furr and Miss Skeene" is one of the first homosexual revelation stories to be published. The work, like "Q.E.D.", is informed by Stein's growing involvement with a homosexual community, though it is based on lesbian partners Maud Hunt Squire and Ethel Mars. The work contains the word "gay" over 100 times, perhaps the first published use of the word "gay" in reference to same-sex relationships and those who have them. A similar essay of gay men begins more obviously with the line "Sometimes men are kissing" but is less well known.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: In "" Stein comments on lesbian sexuality and the work abounds with "highly condensed layers of public and private meanings" created by wordplay including puns on the words "box", "cow", and in titles such as "tender buttons".


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Along with Stein's widely known "Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose" quotation, "there is no there there" is one of her most famous. It appears in her work "Everybody's Autobiography" (Random House 1937, p. 289) and is often applied to the city of her childhood, Oakland, California. Defenders and critics of Oakland have debated what she really meant when she said this in 1933, after coming to San Francisco on a book tour. She took a ferry to Oakland to visit the farm she grew up on, and the house she lived in near what is now 13th Avenue and E. 25th Street in Oakland. The house had been razed, and the farmland had been developed with new housing in the three decades since her father had sold the property and moved closer to the commercial hub of the neighborhood on Washington Street (now 12th Avenue).


title: Gertrude Stein

text: According to Janet Malcolm's contested account in "Two Lives: Gertrude and Alice", Stein was a vocal critic of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Some stress Stein's queer, feminist, pro-immigration, and democratic politics, although her statements on immigration need to be seen in context of the time and world events. In a 1934 interview published in "The New York Times" she stated: That is the reason why I do not approve of the stringent immigration laws in America today. We need the stimulation of new blood. It is best to favor healthy competition. There is no reason why we should not select our immigrants with greater care, nor why we should not bar certain peoples and preserve the color line for instance. But if we shut down on immigration completely we shall become stagnant. The French may not like the competition of foreigners, but they let them in. They accept the challenge and derive the stimulus. I am surprised that there is not more discussion of immigration in the United States than there is. We have got rid of prohibition restrictions, and it seems to me the next thing we should do is to relax the severity of immigration restrictions.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: She publicly endorsed General Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War and admired Vichy leader Marshal Philippe Pétain. Some have argued for a more nuanced view of Stein's collaborationist activity, arguing that it was rooted in her wartime predicament and status as a Jew in Nazi-occupied France. Similarly, Stein commented in 1938 on Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky: "There is too much fathering going on just now and there is no doubt about it fathers are depressing."


title: Gertrude Stein

text: While identified with the modernist movements in art and literature, Stein's political affiliations were a mix of reactionary and progressive ideas. She was outspoken in her hostility to some liberal reforms of progressive politics. To Stein, the industrial revolution had acted as a negative societal force, disrupting stability, degrading values, and subsequently affecting cultural decline. Stein idealized the 18th century as the golden age of civilization, epitomized in America as the era of its founding fathers and what was in France, the glory of its pre-revolutionary Ancien Régime. At the same time, she was pro-immigrant, pro-democratic, and anti-patriarchal. Her last major work was the libretto of the feminist opera "The Mother of Us All" (1947) about the socially progressive suffragette movement and another work from this time, "Brewsie and Willie" (1946), expressed strong support for American G.I.s.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: A compendium of source material confirms that Stein may have been able to save her life and sustain her lifestyle through the protection of powerful Vichy government official Bernard Faÿ. Stein had met Faÿ in 1926, and he became her "dearest friend during her life", according to Alice B. Toklas. Faÿ had been the primary translator of Stein's work into French and subsequently masterminded her 1933–34 American book tour, which gave Stein celebrity status and proved to be a highly successful promotion of her memoir, "The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas". Faÿ's influence was instrumental in avoiding Nazi confiscation of Stein's historically significant and monetarily valuable collection of artwork, which throughout the war years was housed in Stein's Paris rue Christine apartment, under locked safeguard.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: In 1941, at Faÿ's suggestion, Stein consented to translate into English some 180 pages of speeches made by Marshal Philippe Pétain. In her introduction, Stein crafts an analogy between George Washington and Pétain. She writes of the high esteem in which Pétain is held by his countrymen; France respected and admired the man who had struck an armistice with Hitler. Conceived and targeted for an American readership, Stein's translations were ultimately never published in the United States. Random House publisher Bennett Cerf had read the introduction Stein had written for the translations and been horrified by what she had produced.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Although Jewish, Stein collaborated with Vichy France, a regime that deported more than 75,000 Jews to Nazi concentration camps, of whom only three percent survived the Holocaust. In 1944, Stein wrote that Petain's policies were "really wonderful so simple so natural so extraordinary". This was Stein's contention in the year when the town of Culoz, where she and Toklas resided, saw the removal of its Jewish children to Auschwitz. It is difficult to say, however, how aware Stein was of these events. As she wrote in "Wars I Have Seen", "However near a war is it is always not very near. Even when it is here." Stein had stopped translating Petain's speeches three years previously, in 1941.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Stein was able to condemn the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor while simultaneously maintaining the dissonant acceptance of Hitler as conqueror of Europe. Journalist Lanning Warren interviewed Stein in her Paris apartment in a piece published in "The New York Times Magazine" on May 6, 1934. Stein, seemingly ironically, proclaimed that Hitler merited the Nobel Peace Prize.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: The Saxon element is always destined to be dominated. The Germans have no gift at organizing. They can only obey. And obedience is not organization. Organization comes from community of will as well as community of action. And in America, our democracy has been based on community of will and effort... I say Hitler ought to have the peace prize ... because he is removing all elements of contest and struggle from Germany. By driving out the Jews and the democratic Left elements, he is driving out everything that conduces to activity. That means peace.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Given that after the war Stein commented that the only way to ensure world peace was to teach the Germans disobedience, this 1934 Stein interview has come to be interpreted as an ironic jest made by a practiced iconoclast hoping to gain attention and provoke controversy. In an effort to correct popular mainstream misrepresentations of Stein's wartime activity, a dossier of articles by critics and historians has been gathered for the online journal "Jacket2".


title: Gertrude Stein

text: How much of Stein's wartime activities were motivated by the real exigencies of self-preservation in a dangerous environment can only be speculated upon. However, her loyalty to Pétain may have gone beyond expedience. She had been urged to leave France by American embassy officials, friends and family when that possibility still existed, but declined to do so. In an essay written for the "Atlantic Monthly" in November 1940, Stein wrote about her decision not to leave France: "it would be awfully uncomfortable and I am fussy about my food." Stein continued to praise Pétain after the war ended, this at a time when Pétain had been sentenced to death by a French court for treason.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Author Djuna Barnes provided a caustic assessment of Stein's book, "Wars I Have Seen": "You do not feel that she [Stein] is ever really worried about the sorrows of the people. Her concerns at its highest pitch is a well-fed apprehension."


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Others have argued that some of the accounts of Stein's war time activities have amounted to a "witch hunt".


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Stein died on July 27, 1946, at the age of 72 after surgery for stomach cancer at the American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris. She was interred in Paris in Père Lachaise Cemetery. Later Alice B. Toklas was buried alongside her. According to the famous version of her last moments, before having been taken into surgery, Stein asked her partner Toklas: "What is the answer?" After Toklas replied to Stein that there was no answer, Stein countered by sinking back into her bed, murmuring: "Then, there is no question!"


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Her companion Toklas, however, has given two other versions of the encounter—neither of which agrees with the "canonical" version above. Writing in the June 2005 edition of "The New Yorker", Janet Malcolm describes:


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Sherwood Anderson in his public introduction to Stein's 1922 publication of "Geography and Plays" wrote:


title: Gertrude Stein

text: In a private letter to his brother Karl, Anderson said, "As for Stein, I do not think her too important. I do think she had an important thing to do, not for the public, but for the artist who happens to work with words as his material.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: In his 1938 biographical novel "The Green Fool," Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh describes the works of Gertrude Stein fondly as being "like whisky to me; her strange rhythms broke up the cliché formation of my thought".


title: Gertrude Stein

text: In Bryant Park, in New York City, there is cast replica of sculptor Jo Davidson's bronze bust of Stein. The original, created in 1923, is now in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: In 2005, playwright/actor Jade Esteban Estrada portrayed Stein in the solo musical "ICONS: The Lesbian and Gay History of the World, Vol. 1" at Princeton University. In 2006, theatre director/actor Luiz Päetow created his solo, "Plays", portraying Stein's 1934 homonymous lecture, and toured Brazil for several years. "Loving Repeating" is a musical by Stephen Flaherty based on the writings of Gertrude Stein. Stein and Toklas are both characters in the eight-person show. Stein is a central character in Nick Bertozzi's 2007 graphic novel "The Salon".


title: Gertrude Stein

text: The posthumously published "Journals of Ayn Rand" contain several highly hostile references to Stein. From Rand's working notes for her novel "The Fountainhead", it is clear that the character Lois Cook in that book was intended as a caricature of Stein.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Stein (played by Bernard Cribbins) and Toklas (played by Wilfrid Brambell) were depicted in the Swedish 1978 absurdist fiction film "Picassos äventyr" "(The Adventures of Picasso)" by director Tage Danielsson, with Gösta Ekman as Picasso.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Stein was portrayed in the 2011 Woody Allen film "Midnight in Paris" by Kathy Bates, and by Tracee Chimo in the 2018 season of the television series "Genius" which focuses on the life and career of Pablo Picasso.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: "Waiting for the Moon", a movie starring Linda Bassett that was released in 1987."The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles", a TV series starring Alice Dvoráková that was released in 1993.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Stein is added to a list of great artists and notables in the popular Broadway musical "Rent" in the song "La Vie Boheme".


title: Gertrude Stein

text: She is also mentioned in the Fred Astaire–Ginger Rogers 1935 film "Top Hat" and in the song "Roseability" by the Scottish rock group Idlewild.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Composer Ricky Ian Gordon and librettist Royce Vavrek's opera "27" about Stein and Toklas premiered at Opera Theatre of St. Louis in June 2014 with Stephanie Blythe as Stein.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: In 2014 Stein was one of the inaugural honorees in the Rainbow Honor Walk, a walk of fame in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood noting LGBTQ people who have "made significant contributions in their fields".


title: Gertrude Stein

text: Edward Einhorn wrote the play "The Marriage of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein", a farce about their fantasy marriage that also told the story of their life. It premiered in May 2017 at HERE Arts Center in New York.


title: Gertrude Stein

text: The 2018 artwork "Words Doing As They Want to Do" by Eve Fowler involved recording trans and lesbian Californians reading Stein's 1922 work called "Miss Furr and Miss Skeene".


title: Gertrude Stein

text: The Gertrude Stein Society (GSS) at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, an organization for LGBTQ+ students at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, is named after her.


title: .38 Special

text: The .38 Special, also commonly known as .38 S&W Special (not to be confused with .38 S&W), .38 Smith & Wesson Special, .38 Spl, .38 Spc, (pronounced "thirty-eight special"), or 9x29mmR is a rimmed, centerfire cartridge designed by Smith & Wesson.


title: .38 Special

text: The .38 Special was the standard service cartridge for the majority of United States police departments from the 1920s to the 1990s. It was also a common sidearm cartridge used by United States military personnel in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. In other parts of the world, it is known by its metric designation of 9×29.5mmR or 9.1×29mmR.


title: .38 Special

text: Known for its accuracy and manageable recoil, the .38 Special remains one of the most popular revolver cartridges in the world more than a century after its introduction. It is used for recreational target shooting, formal target competition, personal defense, and small-game hunting.


title: .38 Special

text: The .38 Special was designed and entered production in 1898 as an improvement over the .38 Long Colt which, as a military service cartridge, was found to have inadequate stopping power against the charges of Filipino Muslim warriors during the Philippine–American War. Upon its introduction, the .38 Special was originally loaded with black powder, but the cartridge's popularity caused manufacturers to offer smokeless powder loadings within a year of its introduction.


title: .38 Special

text: Despite its name, the caliber of the .38 Special cartridge is actually .357 inches (36 caliber/9.07 mm), with the ".38" referring to the approximate diameter of the loaded brass case. This came about because the original 38-caliber cartridge, the .38 Short Colt, was designed for use in converted .36-caliber cap-and-ball Navy revolvers, which had untapered cylindrical firing chambers of approximately diameter that required heeled bullets, the exposed portion of which was the same diameter as the cartridge case.


title: .38 Special

text: Except for case length, the .38 Special is identical to the .38 Short Colt, .38 Long Colt, and .357 Magnum. This nearly identical nature of the three rounds allows a .38 Special round to be safely fired in revolvers chambered for .357 Magnum. It also allows .38 Short Colt and .38 Long Colt rounds to be safely fired in revolvers chambered for 38 Special. Thus the .38 Special round and revolvers chambered for it have a unique versatility. However, the longer and more powerful .357 Magnum cartridge will usually not chamber and fire in weapons rated specifically for .38 Special (e.g., all versions of the Smith & Wesson Model 10), which are not designed for the greatly increased pressure of the magnum rounds. Both .38 Special and .357 Magnum will chamber in Colt New Army revolvers in 38 Long Colt due to their straight walled chambers, but this should not be done under any circumstances, due to dangerous pressure levels up to three times what the New Army is designed to withstand.


title: .38 Special

text: The .38 Special was designed and produced in 1898 to be a higher velocity round, with better penetration properties than the .38 Long Colt that was in Government Service in the Philippines during the Spanish–American War. The .38 Long Colt revolver round would not penetrate the shields of the insurgent Philippine Moro warriors, and the Government contracted with Smith & Wesson for a new revolver round. The .38 Special held a minimum of 21 grains of black powder, 3 grains more than the then-current .38 Long Colt, and muzzle velocity (with a 158 grain bullet) was 100-150 feet per second greater.


title: .38 Special

text: During the late 1920s, in response to demands for a more effective law-enforcement version of the cartridge, a new standard-velocity loading for the .38 Special was developed by Western Cartridge Company. This .38 Special variant, which incorporated a round-nosed lead 'Lubaloy' bullet, was named the ".38 Super Police". Remington-Peters also introduced a similar loading. Testing revealed that the longer, heavier .357-calibre bullet fired at low velocity tended to 'keyhole' or tumble upon impact, providing more shock effect against unprotected personnel. At the same time, authorities in Great Britain, who had decided to adopt the .38 caliber revolver as a replacement for their existing .455 service cartridge, also tested the same bullet in the smaller .38 S&W cartridge. This cartridge was called the .38 S&W Super Police or the 38/200. Britain later adopted the 38/200 as its standard military handgun cartridge.


title: .38 Special

text: In 1930, Smith & Wesson introduced a large frame 38 Special revolver with a 5-inch barrel and fixed sights intended for police use, the Smith & Wesson "38/44 Heavy Duty". The following year, a new high-power loading called the "38 Special Hi-Speed" with a metal-tip bullet was developed for these revolvers in response to requests from law enforcement agencies for a handgun bullet that could penetrate auto bodies and body armor. That same year, Colt Firearms announced that their Colt Official Police would also handle 'high-speed' .38 Special loadings. The 38/44 high-speed cartridge came in three bullet weights: , , and , with either coated lead or steel jacket, metal-piercing bullets. The media attention gathered by the 38/44 and its ammunition eventually led Smith & Wesson to develop a completely new cartridge with a longer case length in 1934, this was the .357 Magnum.


title: .38 Special

text: During World War II, some U.S. aircrew (primarily Navy and Marine Corps) were issued .38 Special S&W Victory revolvers as sidearms for use in the event of a forced landing. In May 1943, a new .38 Special cartridge with a , full-steel-jacketed, copper flash-coated bullet meeting the requirements of the Hague Convention was developed at Springfield Armory and adopted for the Smith & Wesson revolvers. The new military .38 Special loading propelled its bullet at a standard from a revolver barrel. During the war, many U.S. naval and Marine aircrew were also issued red-tipped 38 Special tracer ammunition using either a bullet for emergency signaling purposes.


title: .38 Special

text: In 1956, the U.S. Air Force adopted the "Cartridge, Caliber 38, Ball M41", a military variant of the .38 Special cartridge designed to conform to Hague Convention rules. The original 38 M41 ball cartridge used a 130-grain full-metal-jacketed bullet, and was loaded to an average pressure of only , giving a muzzle velocity of approximately from a barrel. This ammunition was intended to prolong the life of S&W M12 and Colt Aircrewman revolvers equipped with aluminum cylinders and frames, which were prone to stress fractures when fired with standard 38 Special ammunition.


title: .38 Special

text: By 1961, a slightly revised M41 38 cartridge specification known as the "Cartridge, Caliber 38 Ball, Special, M41" had been adopted for U.S. armed forces using 38 Special caliber handguns. The new M41 "Special" cartridge used a 130-grain FMJ bullet loaded to a maximum allowable pressure of for a velocity of approximately in a solid test barrel, and about from a revolver barrel. The M41 ball cartridge was first used in .38 Special revolvers carried by USAF aircrew and Strategic Air Command security police, and by 1961 was in use by the U.S. Army for security police, dog handlers, and other personnel equipped with 38 Special caliber revolvers. A variant of the standard M41 cartridge with a semi-pointed, unjacketed lead bullet was later adopted for CONUS (Continental United States) police and security personnel. At the same time, .38 Special tracer cartridges were reintroduced by the US Navy, Marines, and Air Force to provide a means of emergency signaling by downed aircrew. Tracer cartridges in .38 Special caliber of different colors were issued, generally as part of a standard aircrew survival vest kit.


title: .38 Special

text: A request for more powerful .38 Special ammunition for use by Air Police and security personnel resulted in the "Caliber 38 Special, Ball, PGU-12/B High Velocity" cartridge. Issued only by the U.S. Air Force, the PGU-12/B had a greatly increased maximum allowable pressure rating of 20,000 psi, sufficient to propel a 130-grain FMJ bullet at from a solid test barrel, and about 950–1,000 ft/s from a revolver barrel. The PGU-12/B "High Velocity" cartridge differs from M41 "Special" ammunition in two important respects—the "PGU-12/B" is a much higher-pressure cartridge, with a bullet deeply set and crimped into the cartridge case.


title: .38 Special

text: In response to continued complaints over ineffectiveness of the standard .38 Special 158-grain cartridge in stopping assailants in numerous armed confrontations during the 1950s and 1960s, ammunition manufacturers began to experiment with higher-pressure (18,500 CUP) loadings of the .38 Special cartridge, known as 38 Special +P (+P or +P+ designation indicates that the cartridge is using higher pressures, therefore it is overpressure ammunition). In 1972, the Federal Bureau of Investigation introduced a new .38 Special +P loading that became known as the "FBI Load". The FBI Load combined a more powerful powder charge with a 158-grain unjacketed soft lead semi-wadcutter hollow-point bullet designed to readily expand at typical .38 Special velocities obtained in revolvers commonly used by law enforcement. The FBI Load proved very satisfactory in effectively stopping adversaries in numerous documented shootings using 2- to 4-inch barreled revolvers. The FBI Load was later adopted by the Chicago Police Department and numerous other law enforcement agencies.


title: .38 Special

text: Demand for a .38 Special cartridge with even greater performance for law enforcement led to the introduction of the +P+ .38 Special cartridge, first introduced by Federal and Winchester. Originally labeled "For Law Enforcement Only", +P+ ammunition is intended for heavier-duty .38 Special and .357 Magnum revolvers, as the increased pressure levels can result in accelerated wear and significant damage to firearms rated for lower-pressure .38 Special loadings (as with all .38 Special loadings, the .38 Special +P+ can also be fired safely in .357 Magnum revolvers).


title: .38 Special

text: Due to its black-powder heritage, the .38 Special is a low-pressure cartridge, one of the lowest in common use today at 17,500 psi. By modern standards, the 38 Special fires a medium-sized bullet at rather low speeds. In the case of target loads, a bullet is propelled to only . The closest comparisons are the 380 ACP, which fires much lighter bullets slightly faster than most .38 Special loads; the 9×19mm Parabellum, which fires a somewhat lighter bullet significantly faster; and the .38 Super, which fires a comparable bullet considerably faster. All of these cartridges are usually found in semi-automatic pistols.


title: .38 Special

text: The higher-pressure .38 Special +P loads at 20,000 psi offer about 20% more muzzle energy than standard-pressure loads and places it between the .380 ACP and the 9mm Parabellum; similar to that of the 9×18mm Makarov. A few specialty manufacturers' +P loads for this cartridge can attain even higher energies than that, especially when fired from longer barrels, produce energies in the range of the 9mm Parabellum. These loads are generally not recommended for older revolvers or ones not specifically "+P" rated.


title: .38 Special

text: All of the above specifications for 38 loadings, and the .357 Magnum, are applicable when fired from a barreled revolver. The velocity is reduced when using the more standard barreled guns. Power (muzzle energy) will, of course, decrease accordingly.


title: .38 Special

text: Although only a few US police departments now issue or authorize use of the .38 Special revolver as a standard-duty weapon, the caliber remains popular with some police officers for use in short-barreled revolvers carried when off duty or for undercover-police investigations. It is also widely used in revolvers purchased for civilian home defense or for concealed carry by individuals with a CCW permit.


title: .38 Special

text: There are many companies that manufacture 38 Special ammunition. It can range from light target loads to more powerful defensive ammunition. Because of the relatively low pressure that the .38 Special cartridge and even its more powerful +P version can be loaded to, most 38 Special bullets do not expand reliably, even when using hollow-point designs, especially if fired from a short-barreled or 'snub-nose' revolver. In 2004, Speer Bullets introduced the "Gold Dot" jacketed hollow-point .38 Special cartridge in an attempt to solve this very problem. Another solution is to use an unjacketed soft lead hollow-point bullet as found in the "FBI Load". The latter's 158-grain soft lead hollow point is loaded to +P pressures and velocity, which ensures more reliable expansion in unprotected flesh, even when fired in a 2-inch short-barreled revolver.


title: .38 Special

text: The .38 Special is particularly popular among handloaders. The cartridge's straight walls, headspacing on the rim, ready availability of previously-fired cases, and ability to be fired in .357 Magnum firearms, all contribute to this popularity. Additionally, the .38 Special's heritage as a black powder cartridge gives it a case size capable of accommodating many types of powders, from slower-burning (e.g., Hodgdon H-110 or Hercules 2400) to fast-burning (e.g., Alliant Bullseye, the traditional smokeless powder for this cartridge). This flexibility in powders translates directly to versatility in muzzle energy that a handloader can achieve. Thus, with proper care, a suitably-strong revolver, and adherence to safe handloading practices, the .38 Special can accommodate ammunition ranging from light-recoiling target loads to +P+ self-defense rounds. The 38 Special, handloaded with premium to regular lead bullets can be loaded safely to equal the now popular 9x19mm Parabellum round. The round is as viable today as a self-defense round as it was back in 1898.


title: Billy Porter (actor)

text: William Ellis Porter II (born September 21, 1969) is an American actor, singer, writer and director. He graduated from Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama, and he achieved fame performing on Broadway before starting a solo career as a singer and actor.


title: Billy Porter (actor)

text: Porter won the 2013 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his role as Lola in "Kinky Boots". He credits the part for "cracking open" his feminine side to confront toxic masculinity. For the role, Porter also won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical and Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical. In 2014 Porter won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album for "Kinky Boots". Porter starred in all three seasons of the television series "Pose", for which he was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards and won the 2019 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, becoming the first gay black man to be nominated and win in any lead acting category at the Primetime Emmys. In 2020, he was included on "Time"s list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2022, he won another Tony Award, for Best Musical as a producer for the musical "A Strange Loop". He made his directorial debut in 2022 with the romantic comedy film "Anything's Possible".


title: Billy Porter (actor)

text: Porter was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to William Ellis Porter and Cloerinda Jean Johnson Porter Ford. His sister is Mary Martha E. Ford. He grew up in a "very religious" Pentecostal family and has described being sexually abused by his stepfather between the ages of 7 and 12.


title: Billy Porter (actor)

text: He attended Reizenstein Middle School and Allderdice High School, before graduating from the Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School in 1987. He graduated from the College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama and earned a certification from the graduate-level Professional Program in Screenwriting at UCLA.


title: Billy Porter (actor)

text: During the summers of 1985 through 1987, Porter was a member of entertainment groups "Spirit" and "Flash," which performed daily at Kennywood, a Pittsburgh-area amusement park.


title: Billy Porter (actor)

text: Porter appeared on American Talent Show "Star Search" in 1992 and won $100,000. He appeared on the same show as other future stars, such as a young Britney Spears.


title: Billy Porter (actor)

text: Porter played Teen Angel in the 1994 Broadway revival of "Grease". Other shows he has been in include "Topdog/Underdog" at City Theatre (2004), "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Dreamgirls" at Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera (2004), and the song cycles "Myths and Hymns" and "Songs for a New World" (Off-Broadway, 1995).


title: Billy Porter (actor)

text: Porter wrote and performed in his one-person autobiographical show, "Ghetto Superstar (The Man That I Am)" at Joe's Pub in New York City in February and March 2005. He was nominated for "Outstanding New York Theater: Broadway & Off Broadway Award" at the 17th GLAAD Media Awards.


title: Billy Porter (actor)

text: In September 2010, Porter appeared as Belize in Signature Theatre Company's 20th Anniversary production of Tony Kushner's "Angels in America".


title: Billy Porter (actor)

text: Porter originated the role of "Lola" in "Kinky Boots" on Broadway in 2013, with songs by Cyndi Lauper, book by Harvey Fierstein and directed/choreographed by Jerry Mitchell. Porter won both the 2013 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical and Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for this role.


title: Billy Porter (actor)

text: Porter has also appeared in many films. He played a major role as Shiniqua, a drag queen who befriends Angel (David Norona) and Lee (Keivyn McNeill Graves) in Seth Michael Donsky's "Twisted" (1997), an adaptation of "Oliver Twist". He has also appeared on "The RuPaul Show".


title: Billy Porter (actor)

text: He has had a musical career with three solo albums released, "Billy Porter" on DV8/A&M Records in 1997, "At the Corner of Broadway + Soul" in 2005 on Sh-K-Boom Records and "Billy's Back on Broadway" (Concord Music Group) in 2014. He featured in a number of songs in the tribute album; "It's Only Life: The Songs of John Bucchino" in 2006 released on PS Classics. He sings on Adam Guettel's 1999 album "Myths and Hymns" studio cast album on Nonesuch Records. He also covered "Only One Road" that was included on the Human Rights Campaign compilation album "Love Rocks".


title: Billy Porter (actor)

text: Porter wrote the play "While I Yet Live", which premiered Off-Broadway at Primary Stages in September 2014 in previews, officially on October 12. In addition to Porter, the cast included Lillias White and S. Epatha Merkerson.


title: Billy Porter (actor)

text: Porter released "Billy Porter Presents the Soul of Richard Rodgers" in April 2017. The album, which features new, soulful takes on classic Richard Rodgers songs, includes solos and duets from the following artists (in addition to Porter himself): Tony and Grammy Award winners Cynthia Erivo ("The Color Purple"), Renée Elise Goldsberry ("Hamilton") and Leslie Odom Jr. ("Hamilton"), Tony Award-winner Patina Miller ("Pippin"), Grammy Award winners Pentatonix, India Arie and Ledisi, Tony Award nominees Brandon Victor Dixon ("Shuffle Along"), Joshua Henry ("Violet"), and Christopher Jackson ("Hamilton"), alongside YouTube and "Kinky Boots" star Todrick Hall and multiple Grammy Award nominee Deborah Cox.


title: Billy Porter (actor)

text: Porter reprised the role of Lola in "Kinky Boots" in September 2017 on Broadway, where he did a 15-week run.


title: Billy Porter (actor)

text: In 2018, Porter starred in the FX show "Pose" in the role of Pray Tell. In 2019, "Pose" earned its renewal for a third season after airing just one episode from the second season. In August 2018, Porter confirmed via Instagram that he was joining the cast of "American Horror Story" for its eighth season, subtitled "". Porter duetted with "Pose" co-star Dyllón Burnside and sang from his album in a benefit concert emceed by Burnside on July 23, 2018, to celebrate the season 1 finale and to raise money for GLSEN. In June 2019, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, sparking the start of the modern LGBTQ rights movement, Queerty named him one of the Pride50 "trailblazing individuals who actively ensure society remains moving towards equality, acceptance, and dignity for all queer people". Also in June 2019 he presented the Excellence in Theatre Education Award at the 73rd Tonys at Radio City Music Hall. However, he earned media coverage for his haute couture red and pink gown, upcycled from "Kinky Boots"' stage curtains, in a uterine shape, and his impromptu performance of "Everything's Coming up Roses" from "Gypsy," for host James Corden's "Broadway karaoke". In September 2019, he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for "Pose", becoming the first openly gay black man to be nominated and win in any lead acting category at the Primetime Emmys.


title: Billy Porter (actor)

text: Also, in 2019, Porter had a cameo appearance in Taylor Swift's "You Need to Calm Down" music video that featured twenty LGBTQ icons.


title: Billy Porter (actor)

text: Porter performed "For What It's Worth" with Stephen Stills during the 2020 Democratic National Convention.


title: Billy Porter (actor)

text: Porter attributes his love of fashion from an early age to growing up in the black church which he describes as "a fashion show". His style has gone through many phases over the years, including vintage, Abercrombie and Fitch and geek chic. He has said that he intentionally set out to use fashion in a political way, to be a "walking piece of political art". Porter's stylist Sam Ratelle estimated that as of January 2020 they had worked on 150 red carpet looks together many designed by Porter himself. , Porter's stylist is Ty Hunter who has previously worked with Beyoncé.


title: Billy Porter (actor)

text: At the 2019 Golden Globes, Porter gained attention for wearing an embroidered suit and pink cape designed by Randi Rahm. He said the fact that people were surprised that he wore a cape inspired him to ask Christian Siriano if he could create him a ball gown because it was something he had always wanted to wear. He felt it seemed like a way to challenge people's ideas of masculinity. He continued to make fashion waves that year when he wore a fitted tuxedo jacket and a velvet gown by Christian Siriano with 6" Rick Owens boots to the 91st Academy Awards.


title: Billy Porter (actor)

text: In February 2019, Porter was an Official Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Ambassador for New York Fashion Week: Mens. Porter attended the 2019 Met Gala and embraced the "" theme by being carried on a litter by six shirtless men while sporting a "Sun God" ensemble. The Blonds designed Porter's outfit, and it included a bejeweled catsuit outfitted with wings, a 24-karat gold headpiece, as well as custom gold-leaf Giuseppe Zanotti shoes and fine jewels by Andreoli, John Hardy, and Oscar Heyman.


title: Billy Porter (actor)

text: In 2020, Porter wore a floor-length pink poncho style gown with a wide brimmed black hat, a look he characterized as ""Handmaid's Tale" realness", to the AFI Awards and to the Golden Globes he wore an all-white ensemble that included a tuxedo jacket with a feathered train. He wore a sparkling turquoise bodysuit with matching bolero and a motorised hat to the Grammy awards.


title: Billy Porter (actor)

text: Porter has performed at various venues in New York City, including Lincoln Center, which was broadcast on PBS in 2015 and Joe's Pub in New York City. In 2019 Porter headlined at London Pride.


title: Billy Porter (actor)

text: Porter performed "For What It's Worth" with Stephen Stills at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.


title: Billy Porter (actor)

text: Porter is gay, having come out at the age of 16, "in the middle of the AIDS crisis". He married his husband, Adam Smith, on January 14, 2017, after meeting him in 2009. He was very keen to get married "while Obama was still president and before January 20th, 2017" so the two got engaged on December 29, 2016, and married 2 weeks later.


title: Billy Porter (actor)

text: Porter shared his views on race in the US in a 2020 interview with "Vanity Fair", saying, "The reason why our country is in the mess we're in is simply because of whiteness. White supremacy. White people choke-holding power and sucking the life out of humanity".


title: Billy Porter (actor)

text: In May 2021, Porter told "The Hollywood Reporter" that he had been diagnosed with HIV in June 2007; he was also diagnosed with type-2 diabetes in February 2007 and filed for bankruptcy in March 2007. In the same interview, he talked about renting a house on Long Island during the COVID-19 pandemic due to a pre-existing health condition and about having intermittently attended psychotherapy since the age of 25.


title: 2001 anthrax attacks

text: The 2001 anthrax attacks, also known as Amerithrax (a portmanteau of "America" and "anthrax", from its FBI case name), occurred in the United States over the course of several weeks beginning on September 18, 2001, one week after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to several news media offices and to Democratic Senators Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy, killing five people and infecting 17 others. According to the FBI, the ensuing investigation became "one of the largest and most complex in the history of law enforcement".


title: 2001 anthrax attacks

text: A major focus in the early years of the investigation was bioweapons expert Steven Hatfill, who was eventually exonerated. Bruce Edwards Ivins, a scientist at the government's biodefense labs at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland, became a focus around April 4, 2005. On April 11, 2007, Ivins was put under periodic surveillance and an FBI document stated that he was "an extremely sensitive suspect in the 2001 anthrax attacks". On July 29, 2008, Ivins committed suicide with an overdose of acetaminophen (Tylenol).


title: 2001 anthrax attacks

text: Federal prosecutors declared Ivins the sole perpetrator on August 6, 2008, based on DNA evidence leading to an anthrax vial in his lab. Two days later, Senator Chuck Grassley and Representative Rush D. Holt, Jr. called for hearings into the Department of Justice and FBI's handling of the investigation. The FBI formally closed its investigation on February 19, 2010.


title: 2001 anthrax attacks

text: In 2008, the FBI requested a review of the scientific methods used in their investigation from the National Academy of Sciences, which released their findings in the 2011 report "Review of the Scientific Approaches Used During the FBI's Investigation of the 2001 Anthrax Letters". The report cast doubt on the government's conclusion that Ivins was the perpetrator, finding that the type of anthrax used in the letters was correctly identified as the Ames strain of the bacterium, but that there was insufficient scientific evidence for the FBI's assertion that it originated from Ivins's laboratory. The FBI responded by pointing out that the review panel asserted that it would not be possible to reach a definite conclusion based on science alone, and said that a combination of factors led the FBI to conclude that Ivins had been the perpetrator. Some information is still sealed concerning the case and Ivins's mental health. The government settled lawsuits that were filed by the widow of the first anthrax victim Bob Stevens for $2.5 million with no admission of liability. The settlement was reached solely for the purpose of "avoiding the expenses and risks of further litigations", according to a statement in the agreement.


title: 2001 anthrax attacks

text: The anthrax attacks began just a week after the September 11 attacks, which had caused the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York City, damage to The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and the crash of an airliner in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The attacks came in two waves. The first set of letters containing anthrax had a Trenton, New Jersey, postmark dated September 18, 2001. Five letters are believed to have been mailed at this time to ABC News, CBS News, NBC News and the "New York Post", all located in New York City, and to the "National Enquirer" at American Media, Inc. (AMI) in Boca Raton, Florida.


title: 2001 anthrax attacks

text: The first known victim of the attacks, Robert Stevens, who worked at the "Sun" tabloid, also published by AMI, died on October 5, 2001, four days after entering a Florida hospital with an undiagnosed illness that caused him to vomit and be short of breath. The presumed letter that contained the anthrax that killed Stevens was never found. Only the "New York Post" and NBC News letters were actually identified; the existence of the other three letters is inferred because individuals at ABC, CBS and AMI became infected with anthrax. Scientists examining the anthrax from the "New York Post" letter said it was a clumped coarse brown granular material which looked similar to dog food.


title: 2001 anthrax attacks

text: Two more anthrax letters, bearing the same Trenton postmark, were dated October 9, three weeks after the first mailing. The letters were addressed to two U.S. Senators, Tom Daschle of South Dakota and Patrick Leahy of Vermont. At the time, Daschle was the Senate majority leader and Leahy was head of the Senate Judiciary Committee; both were members of the Democratic Party. The Daschle letter was opened by an aide, Grant Leslie, on October 15, after which the government mail service was immediately shut down. The unopened Leahy letter was discovered in an impounded mailbag on November 16. The Leahy letter had been misdirected to the State Department mail annex in Sterling, Virginia, because a ZIP code was misread; a postal worker there, David Hose, contracted inhalational anthrax.


title: 2001 anthrax attacks

text: More potent than the first anthrax letters, the material in the Senate letters was a highly refined dry powder consisting of about one gram of nearly pure spores. A series of conflicting news reports appeared, some claiming the powders had been "weaponized" with silica. Bioweapons experts who later viewed images of the anthrax used in the attacks saw no indication of "weaponization". Tests at Sandia National Laboratories in early 2002 confirmed that the attack powders were not weaponized.