title: Brooklyn Museum

text: Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and its negative impact on museum revenue, the museum raised funds for an endowment to pay for collections care by selling or deaccessioning works of art. The endowment will allow the museum to direct annual fundraising revenues dedicated to conservation and collection care to other purposes. The October 2020 sale consisted of 12 works by artists including Lucas Cranach the Elder, Gustave Courbet, and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. Other sales throughout October 2020 included Modernist artists. Though usually prohibited by the Association of Art Museum Directors, the association allowed such sales to proceed for a two-year window through 2022 in response to the effects of the pandemic.


title: Brooklyn Museum

text: The Brooklyn Museum exhibits collections that seek to embody the artistic heritage of world cultures. The museum is well known for its expansive collections of Egyptian and African art, in addition to 17th-, 18th-, 19th-, and 20th-century paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts throughout a wide range of schools.


title: Brooklyn Museum

text: In 2002, the museum received the work "The Dinner Party", by feminist artist Judy Chicago, as a gift from The Elizabeth A. Sackler Foundation. Its permanent exhibition began in 2007, as a centerpiece for the museum's Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art. In 2004, the Brooklyn Museum featured "Manifest Destiny", an oil-on-wood mural by Alexis Rockman that was commissioned by the museum as a centerpiece for the second-floor Mezzanine Gallery and marked the opening of the museum's renovated Grand Lobby and plaza. Other exhibitions have showcased the works of various contemporary artists including Patrick Kelly, Chuck Close, Denis Peterson, Ron Mueck, Takashi Murakami, Mat Benote, Kiki Smith, Jim Dine, Robert Rauschenberg, Ching Ho Cheng, Sylvia Sleigh and William Wegman, and a 2004 survey show of work by Brooklyn artists, "Open House: Working in Brooklyn".


title: Brooklyn Museum

text: In 2008, curator Edna Russman announced that she believes 10 out of 30 works of Coptic art held in the museum's collection—second-largest in North America are fake. The artworks were exhibited starting in 2009.


title: Brooklyn Museum

text: Costumes from "The Crown" and "The Queen's Gambit" television series were put on display as part of its virtual exhibition ""The Queen and the Crown"" in November 2020.


title: Brooklyn Museum

text: The Brooklyn Museum has been building a collection of Egyptian artifacts since the beginning of the twentieth century, incorporating both collections purchased from others, such as that of American Egyptologist Charles Edwin Wilbour, whose heirs also donated his library to become the museum's Wilbour Library of Egyptology, and objects obtained during museum-sponsored archeological excavations. The Egyptian collection includes objects ranging from statuary, such as the well-known "Bird Lady" terra cotta figure, to papyrus documents (among others the Brooklyn Papyrus).


title: Brooklyn Museum

text: The Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Near Eastern collections are housed in a series of galleries in the museum. Egyptian artifacts can be found in the long-term exhibit, "Egypt Reborn: Art for Eternity", as well as in the Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Galleries. Near Eastern artifacts are located in the Hagop Kevorkian Gallery.


title: Brooklyn Museum

text: The museum's collection of American art dates its first bequest of Francis Guy's "Winter Scene in Brooklyn" in 1846. In 1855, the museum officially designated a collection of American Art, with the first work commissioned for the collection being a landscape painting by Asher B. Durand. Items in the American Art collection include portraits, pastels, sculptures, and prints; all items in the collection date to between c. 1720 and c. 1945.


title: Brooklyn Museum

text: Represented in the American art collection are works by artists such as William Edmondson ("Angel", date unknown), John Singer Sargent's "Paul César Helleu sketching his wife Alice Guérin" (ca. 1889); Georgia O'Keeffe's "Dark Tree Trunks" (ca. 1946), and Winslow Homer's "Eight Bells" (ca. 1887). Among the most famous works in the collection are Gilbert Stuart's portrait of George Washington and Edward Hicks's "The Peaceable Kingdom". The museum also holds a collection by Emil Fuchs.


title: Brooklyn Museum

text: Works from the American art collection can be found in various areas of the museum, including in the Steinberg Family Sculpture Garden and in the exhibit, "American Identities: A New Look", which is contained within the museum's "Visible Storage ▪ Study Center". In total, there are approximately 2,000 American Art objects held in storage.


title: Brooklyn Museum

text: In 2019, the museum reopened its Japanese and Chinese exhibits, after reinstalling its Korean section in 2017. The Chinese section offers pieces from more than 5,000 years of Chinese art and will show contemporary pieces on a regular schedule. The Japanese gallery, with its 7,000 pieces, is the largest of the museum's Asian collection and is known for its works from the Ainu people. The museum is also home to works from Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and southeast Asia.


title: Brooklyn Museum

text: The oldest acquisitions in the African art collection were collected by the museum in 1900, shortly after the museum's founding. The collection was expanded in 1922 with items originating largely in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 1923 the museum hosted one of the first exhibitions of African art in the United States.


title: Brooklyn Museum

text: With more than 5,000 items in its collection, the Brooklyn Museum boasts one of the largest collections of African art in any American art museum. Although the title of the collection suggests that it includes art from all of the African continent, works from Africa are sub-categorized among a number of collections. Sub-Saharan art from West and Central Africa are collected under the banner of African Art, while North African and Egyptian art works are grouped with the Islamic and Egyptian art collections, respectively.


title: Brooklyn Museum

text: The African art collection covers 2,500 years of human history and includes sculpture, jewellery, masks, and religious artifacts from more than 100 African cultures. Noteworthy items in this collection include a carved "ndop" figure of a Kuba king, believed to be among the oldest extant "ndop" carvings, and a Lulua mother-and-child figure.


title: Brooklyn Museum

text: In 2018, the museum drew criticism from groups including Decolonize This Place for its hiring of a white woman as Consulting Curator of African Arts.


title: Brooklyn Museum

text: The museum's collection of Pacific Islands art began in 1900 with the acquisition of 100 wooden figures and shadow puppets from New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia); since that base, the collection has grown to encompass close to 5,000 works. Art in this collection is sourced to numerous Pacific and Indian Ocean islands including Hawaii and New Zealand, as well as less-populous islands such as Rapa Nui and Vanuatu. Many of the Marquesan items in the collection were acquired by the museum from famed Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl.


title: Brooklyn Museum

text: Art objects in this collection are crafted from a wide variety of materials. The museum lists "coconut fiber, feathers, shells, clay, bone, human hair, wood, moss, and spider webs" as among the materials used to make artworks that include masks, tapa cloths, sculpture, and jewellery.


title: Brooklyn Museum

text: The museum also has art objects and historical texts produced by Muslim artists or about Muslim figures and cultures.


title: Brooklyn Museum

text: The Museum has a collection of Native America Artifacts acquired by Dr. Nathan Sturges Jarvis (surgeon) who was stationed at Fort Snelling, Minnesota 1833–36.


title: Brooklyn Museum

text: The museum's center for feminist art opened in 2007; it is dedicated to preserving the history of the movement since the late 20th century, as well as raising awareness of feminist contributions to art, and informing the future of this area of artistic dialogue. Along with an exhibition space and library, the center features a gallery housing a masterwork by Judy Chicago, a large installation called "The Dinner Party" (1974-1979).


title: Brooklyn Museum

text: The Brooklyn Museum has among others late Gothic and Early Italian Renaissance paintings by Lorenzo di Niccolo ("Scenes from the life of Saint Lawrence"), Sano di Pietro, Nardo di Cione, Lorenzo Monaco, Donato de' Bardi ("Saint Jerome"), Giovanni Bellini. It has Dutch paintings by Frans Hals, Gerard Dou, and Thomas de Keyser as well as others. It has 19th-century French paintings by Charles Daubigny, Narcisse Virgilio Díaz, Eugène Boudin ("Port, Le Havre"), Berthe Morisot, Edgar Degas, Gustave Caillebotte ("Railway Bridge at Argenteuil"), Claude Monet ("Doges Palace, Venice"), the French sculptor Alfred Barye, Camille Pissarro, and Paul Cézanne as well as many others.


title: Brooklyn Museum

text: The Brooklyn Museum Libraries and Archives hold approximately 300,000 volumes and over of archives. The collection began in 1823 and is housed in facilities that underwent renovations in 1965, 1984 and 2014.


title: Brooklyn Museum

text: In 2000, the Brooklyn Museum started the Museum Apprentice Program in which the museum hires teenage high schoolers to give tours in the museum's galleries during the summer, assist with the museum's weekend family programs throughout the year, participate in talks with museum curators, serve as a teen advisory board to the museum, and help plan teen events.


title: Brooklyn Museum

text: The first Saturday of each month, the Brooklyn Museum stays open until 11pm. General admission is waived from 5 to 11pm, although some ticketed exhibitions may require an entrance fee. Regular first Saturday activities include educational family-oriented activities such as collection-based art workshops, gallery tours, lectures, live performances dance parties.


title: Brooklyn Museum

text: The museum has posted many pieces to a digital collection online which features a user-based tagging system that allows the public to tag and curate sets of objects online, as well as solicit additional scholarship contributions.


title: Brooklyn Museum

text: The Museum Education Fellowship Program is a ten-month position in which Fellows acquire theoretical and practical skills to lead K-12 school group visits with a focus on various topics from the collection.


title: Brooklyn Museum

text: School Youth and Family Fellows teach Gallery Studio Programs and School Partnerships while Adult and Public Programs Fellows curate and organize Thursday night as well as First Saturday Programming.


title: Brooklyn Museum

text: The museum has also received attention for its recent ASK App in which visitors can interface with staff and educators regarding works in the collection through a mobile application downloadable through the Apple and Google application stores.


title: Brooklyn Museum

text: Attendance at the Brooklyn Museum has been in decline in recent years, from a high "decades ago" of nearly one million visitors per year to more recent figures of 585,000 (1998) and 326,000 (2009).


title: Brooklyn Museum

text: "The New York Times" attributed this drop partially to the policies instituted by then-current director Arnold Lehman, who has chosen to focus the museum's energy on "populism", with exhibits on topics such as "Star Wars movies and hip-hop music" rather than on more classical art topics. Lehman had also brought more controversial exhibits, such as a 1999 show that included Chris Ofili's infamous dung-decorated "The Holy Virgin Mary", to the museum. According to the "Times":


title: Brooklyn Museum

text: The quality of their exhibitions has lessened", said Robert Storr, the dean of the Yale University School of Art and a Brooklynite. ""Star Wars" shows the worst kind of populism. I don't think they really understand where they are. The middle of the art world is now in Brooklyn; it's an increasingly sophisticated audience and always was one.


title: Brooklyn Museum

text: On the other hand, Lehman points out that the demographics of museum attendees are showing a new level of diversity. According to "The New York Times", "the average age [of museum attendees in a 2008 survey] was 35, a large portion of the visitors (40 percent) came from Brooklyn, and more than 40 percent identified themselves as people of color." Lehman asserts that the museum's interest is in being welcoming and attractive to all potential museum attendees, rather than simply amassing large numbers of them.


title: The Royal Tailor

text: The Royal Tailor () is a 2014 South Korean period film directed by Lee Won-suk, and starring Han Suk-kyu, Go Soo, Park Shin-hye and Yoo Yeon-seok. It tells the story of a rivalry between two tailors at the Sanguiwon, where the attire worn by royalty were made during the Joseon era, plunges the court into scandal and tragedy. The film was released in South Korea on December 24, 2014.


title: The Royal Tailor

text: The film starts with a modern-day press conference, in which Jo Dol-seok is introduced as the only royal tailor, who single-handedly revolutionized the fashion of Korea's Joseon dynasty. Before one of his works is shown, the scene changes to the kingdom of Joseon, where a different story is told: Jo Dol-seok has tailored clothes for three generations of kings before finally becoming the head of the Sanguiwon, the department responsible for the royal attire. Jo was born a commoner, and looks forward to upgrading his social status after serving the royal family for thirty years. Careful to use the traditional rules and patterns, Dol-seok denies the Queen's request when she asks him to replace the king's robe that was accidentally burnt by a gungnyeo (female attendant). He insists that to do so would be against court customs, but also simply impossible in the short time before the robe is needed. Anxious to cover her mistake, the Queen looks for a designer elsewhere. She is introduced to Lee Gong-jin, a young designer whose good looks and expertise at making unconventional hanboks have charmed many women in the capital. He invented the bell-shaped design of hanboks and introduced new colors. Gong-jin falls in love with the Queen at first sight and uses his extraordinary gift as a tailor to save the dress. He subsequently becomes a tailor at the Sanguiwon and begins a prosperous career. He repeatedly uses his craft to support the Queen, who is at risk of being dethroned and replaced because she and the King - who never visits her - have no children.


title: The Royal Tailor

text: Soon Dol-seok becomes jealous of the young designer's talent, whose creativeness he cannot rival with his use of the traditional shapes. He fears his own position will be undermined. He lets the King use him to frame Gong-jin for attempting to assassinate the King. The King then tries to lay the blame on the Queen for inciting the young tailor, but Gong-jin saves the Queen by claiming he acted on his own motives. Even when the young designer awaits his execution, the head tailor vows to have his name erased from history. Only when Gong-jin is dead, not only the queen, but eventually also Dol-seok silently mourn his death.


title: The Royal Tailor

text: At the end of the film, women of Joseon are seen wearing Gong-jin's bell-shaped, merrily colored hanboks. In the last shot, Gong-jin's design of the queen's royal ceremonial dress is shown at the modern press conference, but as was hinted in the first scene, it is wrongly attributed to Jo Dol-seok.


title: The Royal Tailor

text: More than 1,000 hanbok appear in the film, with actress Park Shin-hye wearing 30 intricately embroidered pieces. () was spent on costumes, a significant portion of the film's total budget. Costume designer Jo Sang-gyeong said she was inspired by the clothing during King Yeongjo's reign (1694–1776), which according to historical records was when a short jeogori, the jacket that sits on top of the dress, and jar-shaped skirts started to become fashionable.


title: Om Shivpuri

text: Om Shivpuri (14 July 1938 – 15 October 1990) was an Indian theatre actor-director and character actor in Hindi films.


title: Om Shivpuri

text: A National School of Drama, New Delhi alumnus, Shivpuri became the first chief of the National School of Drama Repertory Company (1964) and one of its actors. He later founded an important theatre group of its era in New Delhi, Dishantar.


title: Om Shivpuri

text: Born in Patiala, Om Shivpuri started his career by working at Jalandhar Radio Station, where Sudha Shivpuri (who later became his wife) was working at the time.


title: Om Shivpuri

text: Later, they joined National School of Drama, New Delhi and were trained under theatre doyen Ebrahim Alkazi. After graduating in 1963, they joined the newly formed, NSD Repertory Company as actors. Om Shivpuri was also the first chief of the NSD Repertory Company and remained so till 1976, when Manohar Singh followed him.


title: Om Shivpuri

text: Meanwhile, Om Shivpuri and Sudha Shivpuri got married in 1968 and started their own theatre group, Dishantar, which went on to become one of Delhi pioneering important theatre groups of its era and produced many plays with him as a director, the most important being "Aadhe Adhure", a classic Hindi play written by Mohan Rakesh; "Khamosh! Adalat Jari Hai", Hindi version of Vijay Tendulkar's Marathi play "Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe" ("Silence! The Court is in Session"), with his wife Sudha Shivpuri in the lead role; and their most famous production, Girish Karnad’s historical play "Tughlaq", which was performed at ridges of Talkatora Gardens, New Delhi.


title: Om Shivpuri

text: Om Shivpuri started his film career in 1971 with Mani Kaul’s "Ashadh Ka Ek Din", soon followed by Gulzar’s "Koshish" in 1972.


title: Om Shivpuri

text: He shifted to Bombay in 1974. In a career spanning about two decades, he acted in over 175 Hindi films playing roles as varied as villains to supporting cast.


title: Om Shivpuri

text: His wife Sudha Shivpuri was also a noted TV actor and most known for her role as Baa in the TV serial "Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi". The couple has a daughter, Ritu Shivpuri, who is a Hindi film actress and had a son, Vineet.


title: Om Shivpuri

text: Rajasthan Sangeet Natak Akademi organises a drama festival every year, in the memory of Om Shivpuri. The Om Shivpuri Memorial Drama Festival is a five-day festival that opens on 16 October (Om Shivpuri's death anniversary).


title: Return of the Living Dead (film series)

text: Return of the Living Dead is a zombie comedy film series that consists of five films beginning with the 1985 film "The Return of the Living Dead". While the first film was a commercial success, none of the four sequels have enjoyed anything near the success and cult status of the first film.


title: Return of the Living Dead (film series)

text: The series came about as a dispute between John A. Russo and George A. Romero over how to handle sequels to their 1968 film, "Night of the Living Dead". The two reached a settlement wherein Romero's sequels would be referred to as the "Dead" movies, and Russo's sequels would bear the suffix "Living Dead". Thus, each man was able to do what he pleased with the series, while still having one another's work distinct and be considered canon. Following this decision, Russo wrote a horror novel, "Return of the Living Dead", which he planned on adapting into a film script. Although the film rights were initially sold in 1979, they were passed along by several different studios and directors before finally being obtained by Tobe Hooper, for whom Russo wrote a script. Hooper dropped out of the project, though, and the script never came to fruition.


title: Return of the Living Dead (film series)

text: Following Hooper's departure from the project, Russo, along with his new partner, Dan O'Bannon, wrote a new script (with Russo adapting it into an accompanying novel), also titled "The Return of the Living Dead". This project alleviated confusion by including a scene in which a character acknowledges the George Romero films and explains that while they are based on true events, the events of the "Return" series are the "true story". In addition to this separation of the storylines, the films in the "Return" series are markedly more comedic than Romero's films, with slapstick humor.


title: Return of the Living Dead (film series)

text: Although Russo and O'Bannon were only directly involved with the first film in the series, the rest of the films, to varying degrees, stick to their outline and "rules" established in the first film.


title: Return of the Living Dead (film series)

text: The fourth and fifth films in the series were filmed simultaneously near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant station in Ukraine. Despite being intended for a theatrical release, edited versions of both films made their debut on the SciFi Channel on October 15, 2005 and were later released on DVD.


title: Return of the Living Dead (film series)

text: Medical supply warehouse foreman Frank (James Karen) informs his new protege, Freddy (Thom Mathews) that "Night of the Living Dead" was a true story, based on events that occurred when a gas (2-4-5 Trioxin) was released into the morgue in the basement of a VA hospital. The warehouse was the inadvertent recipient of several canisters, one of them containing a corpse – dubbed "Tarman" (Allan Trautman) due to his rotten appearance in thick black tar – sealed inside. Due to the canister's less than stellar durability, a light tap causes it to burst open, releasing Trioxin. The gas leaks out of control, which poisons Frank and Freddy and releases "Tarman" from his imprisonment but he goes into hiding, and remains unseen until halfway through the movie. Frank and Freddy awaken to discover that various body parts (and bodies) in the warehouse are now alive, as well as the cadaver locked in the freezer and even a split dissected dog. Unaware that they are slowly turning into zombies due to the effects of the gas, Frank and Freddy enlist the help of the warehouse owner, Burt (Clu Gulager), and his mortician friend, Ernie (Don Calfa), to cremate the cadaver's body parts (they had tried to chop it up to kill it). Unfortunately, the resulting smoke carries the evaporated Trioxin with it, which then mixes with an overhead raincloud. It rains on a nearby cemetery, resulting in the reanimation of the buried corpses.


title: Return of the Living Dead (film series)

text: The zombies differ in this movie, in that they are as fast, strong and intelligent as they were in their previous lives, and can form words even when they are merely very degraded bodies. Instead of hunting humans for their flesh, they hunt for the humans' brains, stating that brains can ease the pain of their decomposition. It appears that injuries to their brains do not have any effect, and the only way to fully destroy them is to cremate their bodies, although the ensuing smoke also spreads the contagious gas. It also seems that their bites are not infectious, as Suicide, who was killed by Tarman, never reanimated while Trash, killed by several zombies in the graveyard later, did reanimate, probably due to the contaminated rain falling on her corpse.


title: Return of the Living Dead (film series)

text: The second film was written and directed by Ken Wiederhorn. The plot follows seven people as they attempt to escape their town after a mass of undead are awoken due to a barrel full of Trioxin gas that was left over from the first film. In this film, it is revealed that powerful electric discharges are the only secure way of destroying the zombies without the risk of reanimating more corpses (it seems the electric energy completely annihilates the re-animative effect of the Trioxin).


title: Return of the Living Dead (film series)

text: The third film was produced and directed by Brian Yuzna, noted for making the "Re-Animator" series. This film switches gears from the first two films' comedy/horror formula, instead being a romantic drama/teen romance/horror film. The story involves Curt, whose father, a Colonel in the US Army, is overseeing experiments being performed with Trioxin. After Curt's girlfriend, Julie, is killed in a motorcycle accident, he exposes her corpse to the gas, bringing her back to life as a zombie. Throughout the film, Julie, now one of the living dead, grows hungrier and hungrier for human brains. She discovers, though, that by causing herself pain via a series of more and more extreme body piercings with springs, nails, glass, basically whatever sharp objects she can find, that she can stave off, although only temporarily, the ghastly hunger growing within her. The two begin a trek to escape the US Army that ends in the city sewers when Curt, after witnessing Julie kill and eat Riverman, a friendly homeless man who gives them shelter, steps aside to let his father finally put Julie down. The film ends with Curt rescuing Julie from a fate worse than living death as a biomechanical killer for the military. In the end, after himself being bitten by a zombie, Curt and Julie step into an incinerator and embrace in a final kiss as the flames engulf them.


title: Return of the Living Dead (film series)

text: This film is currently available in its unedited form on Blu-Ray in the U.S. and on the U.K. Region 2 DVD.


title: Return of the Living Dead (film series)

text: The film received a limited theatrical release on October 29, 1993, where it was a financial failure, making back only $54,000 of its $2,000,000 budget at the box office in the U.S.


title: Return of the Living Dead (film series)

text: "Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis", the fourth film in the series, was filmed in Romania and Ukraine. The film stars Peter Coyote and Aimee Lynn Chadwick. The plot revolves around a group of teenagers attempting to rescue their friend from an evil corporation. In doing so, they wind up releasing a horde of bloodthirsty zombies. An edited version of the film aired on the SciFi Channel on October 15, 2005. The R-rated version of the film was released on DVD on April 18, 2006. The film was originally advertised as "Return of the Living Dead 4: Necropolis" but once it was finally released, the number 4 was removed from the title. Both "Necropolis" (4) and "Rave" (5) are criticized for straying from the series' rules.


title: Return of the Living Dead (film series)

text: Most notable of these changes is that Trioxin (spelled Tryoxin in these particular films) zombies are no longer the indestructible juggernauts of the first movie, but instead much weaker than even "Romero zombies." Several times throughout the movie they are seen to be dispatched with no more than a few body shots, sometimes as few as two hits will end their undead life. Prior to this film, nothing short of incineration or electrocution with extreme high voltage would terminate a Tryoxin zombie.


title: Return of the Living Dead (film series)

text: However, this may be a different form of Trioxin; here, it is referred to as "Tryoxin-5," in lieu of "2-4-5 Trioxin", which may explain why the zombies are weaker.


title: Return of the Living Dead (film series)

text: "Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave" was filmed immediately after "Necropolis" using the same locations of Romania and Ukraine. Cory Hardrict,


title: Return of the Living Dead (film series)

text: John Keefe, Peter Coyote and Aimee Lynn Chadwick returned from the previous installment. The film takes place one year after "Necropolis" and the returning teenage characters, from the previous film, are now college freshmen. They discover that Tryoxin-5 can be used as a recreational drug named 'Z', but the drug will eventually turn the user into a zombie. The speed of "zombification" depends on the dose of Tryoxin consumed. An edited version of the film aired along with "Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis" on the SciFi Channel on October 15, 2005. As was the case with "Return of the Living Dead 4: Necropolis" switching to "Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis", "Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave" was advertised as "Return of the Living Dead 5: Rave to the Grave" before removing the number 5 from the title. The R-rated version of the film was released on DVD on March 20, 2007 by Lionsgate.


title: Return of the Living Dead (film series)

text: The film also features a humorous cameo appearance by Tarman from the original movie and its first sequel. However, as opposed to being a major threat like he initially was, the character is mostly used for comedy, though when he first appears in the film, he tries to attack the protagonists, but later gives up and desperately tries to hitchhike a ride to the party, but to no avail. After scaring away a woman who almost gave him a ride, he has no choice but to walk to the party, yelling his trademark "Brains!" as he goes.


title: Return of the Living Dead (film series)

text: A documentary titled "More Brains! A Return to the Living Dead", was released in 2011. The film is an account of the tongue-in-cheek, stylish and apocalyptic zombie movie, and features contributions from all the main cast as well as clips, photographs, storyboards, conceptual art, publicity materials, archival documents and behind-the-scenes footage.


title: Return of the Living Dead (film series)

text: The documentary includes interviews with over 30 cast and crew members from the first three "Return of the Living Dead" films, including Thom Mathews, Beverly Randolph, Jewel Shepard, John Philbin, Brian Peck, Linnea Quigley, Miguel A. Nunez, Jr., James Karen, Clu Gulager, Don Calfa, Allan Trautman, Stacey Q, William Stout, Suzanne Snyder, Michael Kenworthy, J. Trevor Edmond, Brian Yuzna and more.


title: Return of the Living Dead (film series)

text: The documentary is directed by Bill Philputt, written by the authors of "The Complete History of The Return of the Living Dead", Christian Sellers and Gary Smart, produced by Thommy Hutson and executive produced by Beverly Randolph and Michael Perez for Michael Perez Entertainment and was released on October 18, 2011. The documentary is included on the UK special edition DVD and Blu-ray Disc of "Return of the Living Dead", which was released on 4 June 2012.


title: German identity card

text: The German Identity Card (, ) is issued to German citizens by local registration offices in Germany and diplomatic missions abroad, while they are produced at the Bundesdruckerei in Berlin.


title: German identity card

text: According to the German law of obligation of identification, it is compulsory for everyone in Germany age 16 or older to possess either an identity card or a passport. While police officers and some other government officials have a right to demand to see one of these documents, the law does not stipulate that one is obliged to submit the document at that very moment.


title: German identity card

text: As everyone in Germany must possess an ID card or a passport, acceptance of other official documents (like driving licences) as proof of identity is not guaranteed, especially for old driving licences with less security. Driving licences issued before 2013 are not replaced in Germany, so the same document is kept.


title: German identity card

text: German citizens travelling inside Europe (except Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and United Kingdom) or to Egypt, French overseas territories, Georgia, Montserrat (max.14 days), Turkey, and on organized tours to Tunisia can use their ID card, which is a machine-readable travel document, instead of a passport.


title: German identity card

text: Just like German passports, German identity cards are valid for ten years (six years if the holder is under 24 on the date of issue).


title: German identity card

text: In 1938, the Nazis obliged men of military age and Jews (who had a 'J' marked on their card) to carry identity cards. Shortly after the start of World War II, this was extended to apply to all citizens over the age of 15.


title: German identity card

text: In 1951, both the West German and the East German authorities began issuing booklet identity cards in the ID-2 format.


title: German identity card

text: In West Germany an improved identity card was developed in the 1980s and issued from April 1987 on. The card consisted of a single laminated sheet of paper with a machine-readable zone. To prevent counterfeiting, it contained watermarks, , microprinting, fluorescent dyes, and multi-colour fluorescent fibres. In addition, the holder's name was laser engraved into the plastic film and the holder's picture was printed on the document, so it could not be removed and replaced by a different one (unlike the older ID cards, where the picture was just glued to the document).


title: German identity card

text: When East Germany joined West Germany on 3 October 1990, the West German identity card was introduced in the former East German territory; unexpired East German identity cards could still be used until 31 December 1995.


title: German identity card

text: In November 2001, the so-called "" feature was added – a number of holographic security elements, including a three-dimensional German Eagle, a holographic copy of the holder's picture (the so-called "Holographic Shadow Picture"), a holographic copy of the machine-readable zone, holographic microprinting, and kinematic elements.


title: German identity card

text: The current ID-1 type has been issued since November 2010. It contains an RFID chip similar to that in biometric passports. The chip stores the information given on the ID card (like name or date of birth), the holder's picture (which, unlike the picture on older ID cards, has to be a biometric one), and, if the holder wishes so, also his/her fingerprints. In addition, the new ID card can be used for online authentication (such as for age verification or for e-government applications). An electronic signature, provided by a private company, can also be stored on the chip.


title: German identity card

text: The current ID card is an ID-1 (credit card size) plastic card with an embedded RFID chip. It is covered with multi-colour guillochés and appears green-brown from a distance. All the information on it (except for nationality and colour of eyes) is given in German, English, and French.


title: German identity card

text: The front side shows the German Eagle and the words " / FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY / " and " / IDENTITY CARD / ". It contains the following information:


title: German identity card

text: The three possible spelling variants of the same name (e.g. ) in different documents sometimes lead to confusion, and the use of two different spellings within the same document may give persons unfamiliar with German orthography the impression that the document is a forgery.


title: German identity card

text: Names originally written in a non-Latin writing system may pose another problem if there are various internationally recognised transcription standards.


title: German identity card

text: German identity documents use the in Germany officially registered name in Latin letters, normally based on transcription into German.


title: German identity card

text: German naming law accepts umlauts and/or in family names as a reason for an official name change (even just the change of the spelling, e.g. from to or from to is regarded as a name change).


title: German identity card

text: Newer ID cards contain an ISO 18000-3 and ISO 14443 compatible 13.56 MHz RFID chip that uses the ISO 7816 protocols. The chip stores the information given on the ID card (like name or date of birth), the holder's picture and, if the holder wishes so, also his/her fingerprints. In addition, the new ID card can be used for online authentication (e.g. for age verification or for e-government applications). An electronic signature, provided by a private company, can also be stored on the chip. According to EU rules cards issued after 2021 need to have fingerprints stored in the chip.


title: German identity card

text: The document number, the photo, and the fingerprints can be read only by law enforcement agencies and some other authorities. All ID card


title: German identity card

text: To use the online authentication function, the holder needs a six-digit decimal PIN. If the holder types in the wrong PIN, he has to type in the six-digit decimal access code given on the ID card to prove he/she really possesses the ID card. If the wrong PIN is used three times, a PUK must be used to unlock the chip.


title: German identity card

text: The benefits and even the existence of the electronic ID cards are largely unknown to German citizens which is why the vast majority does not use it. In 2019, only 6 percent of all German citizens made use of their electronic ID. 32% have not even activated the service, mostly because they do not know what to do with it or what it is or they do not see additional value in it. The German government, therefore, has failed to communicate the potential value that it adds to the lives of the citizens and to build trust in it. The government's attempt to boost the usage by automatically enabling the service on newly issued ID cards does not address the issue of trust and value proposition.


title: German identity card

text: Additionally, the eID is not applicable for many transactions compared to other countries. Only 45 services are available which can be used by all German citizens, the remaining 86 are only usable in specific municipalities and federal states (BCG, 2020). Introducing the electronic services is costly, which means that there also exist adaptation barriers from the site of the provider, especially for small administrative offices.


title: German identity card

text: The slow development is also problematic for the introduction of future electronic services in other areas. For example, the eID is a requirement for digital medical records offered by health insurances (BCG, 2020). This implies that the slow adaptation of the eID also slows down digitalisation in other areas.


title: German identity card

text: In developed countries such as Germany, electronic ID cards were the inevitable option, given their feasibility and widespread availability. Placing a microchip in the ID card and storing the required data provides electronic identification and signature for every person who possesses it. To get an ID card, a person must undergo identification verification at the Ministry of the Interior (MUP). An eID enables the conduct of various online administrative processes but the carriers of financial services are considered to benefit from this innovation and support it the most. All of that is being a part of the digitization policy.


title: German identity card

text: Identity cards in East Germany came in the form of paper booklets in a blue plastic cover, much like modern day passports. On the outside, the Emblem of the German Democratic Republic as well as the words """" (""German Democratic Republic"") are embossed. Inside the cover page there is a notice to the bearer:


title: German identity card

text: 1. diesen Personalausweis stets bei sich zu tragen, sorgfältig zu behandeln, vor Verlust zu schützen und auf Verlangen der Volkspolizei vorzuzeigen bzw. auszuhändigen;


title: German identity card

text: 2. keine eigenmächtigen Eintragungen im Ausweis vorzunehmen, diesen nicht als Pfand oder zur Benutzung anderen Personen zu überlassen bzw. von anderen Personen entgegenzunehmen;


title: German identity card

text: 1. carry this identity card with you at all times, handle it with care, protect it from loss, and show or hand it to the on demand;


title: German identity card

text: 2. not make any entries into this identity card, give it to another person as a pawn or to be used, or accept it as such;


title: Weezer (White Album)

text: Weezer, also known as the White Album, is the tenth studio album by the American rock band Weezer, released on April 1, 2016. The album marks their first produced by Jake Sinclair. It is the first release through Crush Music and was distributed by Atlantic Records.


title: Weezer (White Album)

text: For the album, band frontman Rivers Cuomo explored new songwriting techniques, such as using a cut-up technique, and adding potential lyrics to a spreadsheet and including them on songs, such as "Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori" and "L.A. Girlz", based on their syllable count and word stress. The album explores themes of gender dynamics, modern dating experiences and references to religious iconography. Musically, the album serves as a throwback to the band's first two albums, "Weezer" (1994) and "Pinkerton" (1996), while also serving as a tribute to the Beach Boys.


title: Weezer (White Album)

text: "Weezer" continued the critical success of the band's previous release, "Everything Will Be Alright in the End", while commercially improving on the previous release, reaching number four on the US "Billboard" 200 with 49,000 copies sold in its first week. The album produced three singles: "Thank God for Girls", "Do You Wanna Get High?" and "King of the World". "Weezer" received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rock Album at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards.


title: Weezer (White Album)

text: Following the release of "Everything Will Be Alright in the End" and the proceeding, small-scale promotional tour, Weezer separated from their management and instead signed with Crush Management. Immediately, the band's new manager, Jonathan Daniel, suggested the band produce a "beach album", a suggestion that band frontman Rivers Cuomo deemed "so obvious that we never even realized it". Also through Crush, Cuomo was able to meet producer Jake Sinclair, former engineer for the band's 2009 single, "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To", who at one point fronted a Weezer cover band named Wannabeezer. Sinclair invited Cuomo to his home studio and the two recorded an acoustic demo for "California Kids". Using the demo as a "centerpoint of the next album", the band hired Sinclair as producer, first recording the single, "Do You Wanna Get High?".


title: Weezer (White Album)

text: Cuomo described his relationship with Sinclair as "constantly pulling each other in these different directions", the former wishing to "evolve and try crazy experiments", while the latter served as "the voice of the fans, very conservative"; Cuomo concluded that Sinclair had largely "won". Sinclair would often even interrupt Cuomo in the midst of a vocal take if Cuomo lost his Long Island accent, featured heavily on the Blue Album. Rhythm guitarist Brian Bell stated that "[Sinclair] knew how we should sound more than we knew how we should sound". Following the composition of each song, Sinclair would take the individual band member and work privately with them on their individual's instrument arrangement. Cuomo stated that this would allow for more "fresh and layered" ideas.


title: Weezer (White Album)

text: "Weezer" has been categorized as alternative rock, power pop and pop punk by music journalists. Rivers Cuomo described "Weezer" as a "beach album", based on his experiences "hanging around the Westside of Los Angeles, [...] with people in Venice and Santa Monica, the beach, the Hare Krishnas, the Sikh on roller blades with the guitar, girls on Tinder within a 4 mile radius, seeing other bands, the kids from La Sera." Cuomo specifically used Tinder to meet people for song ideas. Sonically, Cuomo credited The Beach Boys as a major influence, describing the album as "a ’90s grungy take on ’60s pop songs". The album's producer, Jake Sinclair, was also "determined to return Weezer to their Nineties glory", combining the "brashness and unpredictability of "Pinkerton" with the summer Beach Boys grunge pop of the Blue Album".


title: Weezer (White Album)

text: Appearing on the Song Exploder podcast, Rivers explained his songwriting process for the album, particularly for the song "Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori". Cuomo maintained several Spotify playlists of music with "cool" chord progressions that he used to find musical inspiration. He used piano to write vocal melodies his vocal muscles would be "too lazy" to create themselves, while, conversely, improvising vocal melodies to write guitar solos, to avoid typical guitar habits and create solos with "space in [them] because I have to breathe" and "something you can sing along to". Cuomo also wrote stream-of-consciousness thoughts in his journal, then highlighted interesting lines, adding them to a spreadsheet of potential lyrics organized by number of syllables and strong-weak emphasis. When he came to write the songs on the album, he found lines that fit the melody and assembled them in a way that suggested a story. This method was also explored in "California Kids" and "L.A. Girlz".


title: Weezer (White Album)

text: Several critics described "Weezer" to be a concept album, their first since "Pinkerton", with "Pitchfork" reviewer Zoe Camp labeling it a "a three-act tale of geek-meets-girl, followed en suite by boy-gets-heart-torn-asunder". In contrast, Mikael Wood described the songs as "[talking] vividly about desperate people in a would-be paradise", while "Noisey" commentator Emma Garland characterized them as a "vulnerable, weird, and intelligent outpouring from a dude who finds the world a difficult place to live in." As with previous Weezer albums, several references are made to pop culture, such as the 2014 film, "Whiplash", the online dating app, Tinder and Australian rock band, 5 Seconds of Summer; however, several music critics noted more varied and obscure historical and religious-themed references throughout the album, such as the extinction of the Great auk, American composer Burt Bacharach, the concept of a female God, Brahmin youth reciting the veda and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Music critics also noted several musical references to previous songs recorded by the band. Substream writer Scott Heisel commented on the similarities between "L.A. Girlz" and Weezer's 1994 B-side, "Susanne", as well as references to the guitar riff from the 1996 single, "El Scorcho", in "California Kids", and the bass line from Blue Album closer "Only in Dreams" being featured in the bridge to "King of the World". Zoe Camp also noted the album's opening riff as similar to that of their 1996 single, "Pink Triangle", and described some of "The White Album"'s tracks as "[Blue Album] retreads".


title: Weezer (White Album)

text: The album's first song, "California Kids", written by Cuomo and Dan Wilson, was chosen from Cuomo's "backlog of 250 songs", based on the song "California" by Cuomo's Japanese band, Scott & Rivers. Cuomo based the titular phrase on the contrast of his kids' West Coast background, in comparison to his East Coast background and ultimately served as the primary inspiration for the album's beach theme. "Wind in Our Sail" introduces the "boy-meets-girl story with appearances [references] by Darwin, Mendel, and Sisyphus, while the album's debut single, "Thank God for Girls", plays "with some gender stereotypes", examining modern online dating experiences with apps like Tinder, as well as God's creation of Adam. Cuomo picked a "big, mainstream-ish title" to contrast with the "weirdness" of the track. The song features replayed elements from the December's Children track, "Trilogy". "(Girl We Got A) Good Thing", as described by Cuomo, is written in a "60s-style...major key boppy feel" combined with "the big 90s guitars we love". The song was originally titled "Co-Dependent" and described a relationship as it was "getting ugly", though he found melody did not combine well with the lyrical theme. In response, he chose the title "Good Thing" from his spreadsheets and wrote lyrics that, instead, described Cuomo's experiences on Venice Beach. The second single, "Do You Wanna Get High?", deals with Cuomo's prescription drug addiction in 2001, as well as his girlfriend at the time, describing it as "a really yucky and intentionally uncomfortable portrayal of the addict’s life. There’s nothing sexy, fun or funny about it." The unnamed woman also served as inspiration for the Green Album's closer, "O Girlfriend".


title: Weezer (White Album)

text: "King of the World", the album's third single, deals directly with Cuomo's marriage to Kyoko Cuomo and her issues with anxiety. "Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori", written solely by Cuomo, featured a key change into the chorus, as well as a "pretty extended satisfying guitar solo that I get to play [... as well as] this sublimated sexual longing in the lyrics. It's an energy I've long identified with going back to Weezer's first two albums. It's not sexual [...] it's more like, it gets repressed and has to come out in these gorgeous soaring melodies like Brian Wilson." Cuomo listed the track as his favorite off the album. "L.A. Girlz", written by Cuomo, rhythm guitarist Brian Bell and Luther Russell–featuring references to "The Divine Comedy", "Whiplash", and the Lewis Carroll poem "Jabberwocky"–serves as a "throwback to the Blue Album, with Wall of Sound-like production values, sweeping guitars" and deals with the lyrical theme of longing, with "Cuomo’s voice [quivering] right along the borderline between hope and fear even as he makes an undisguised declaration of love in the bridge." Bell and Russell composed the melody, chords and the title, while Cuomo wrote the lyrics. "Jacked Up", written by Cuomo, Jonny Coffer and British DJ Redlight, "introduces a [...] shade of melancholy", using "bordello piano pulse and Cuomo’s falsetto to inject anticipation of regret into a one-night stand". "Endless Bummer", co-written by Cuomo, Bell and Russell, serves as the "acoustic closing track where the summer fun finally dies out and the narrator laments [...] the emptiness of it all."


title: Weezer (White Album)

text: In late 2015, the band released two singles in a two-week succession: "Thank God for Girls" and "Do You Wanna Get High?", though Cuomo confirmed they had no official plans for an album. The band announced the album on January 14, 2016, along with the third single "King of the World". On February 17, 2016, "L.A. Girlz" was premiered on through Apple Music, a song which was released on February 18, 2016. A fifth song from the album, "California Kids", was released on March 10, 2016. On February 25, 2016, it was announced that Warner Music Group via Atlantic Records would release the album via their new joint venture with Crush Management, Crush Music.


title: Weezer (White Album)

text: In promotion of the album, Weezer performed with Panic! at the Disco on the Weezer & Panic! at the Disco Summer Tour 2016. Coinciding with the start of the tour, the band released a five-track acoustic EP through Spotify, featuring two songs off the album: "California Kids" and "King of the World".


title: Weezer (White Album)

text: On October 7, 2016, Weezer released a deluxe edition of the White Album on digital outlets, containing an additional four tracks: "I Love the USA", a song the band had previously released on June 30 as part of Apple Music and NASA's celebration of the Juno space probe's impending landing on Jupiter; a remix of "Jacked Up" with guest vocals from Michael "Fitz" Fitzpatrick of Fitz and the Tantrums and Nadya Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot; and two previously-unreleased songs from the White Album sessions, "Friend of a Friend" and "Fake Smiles and Nervous Laughter". Later in the year, two White Album outtakes, "The Last Days of Summer" and "Prom Night", were released as a 7" vinyl single for the official Weezer Fan Club.


title: Weezer (White Album)

text: According to Metacritic, "Weezer" has received an aggregated score of 71/100 based on 28 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Weezer (White Album)

text: Stephen Thomas Erlewine at AllMusic stated that "The White Album winds up existing in a fantasy world that's entirely the band's own creation", calling it "Weezer's version of Southern California". Erlewine specifically highlighted the tracks "California Kids", "Thank God for Girls" and "Jacked Up". Evan Lucy of "Alternative Press" declared the album as Weezer's best material in 15 years, stating "feel free to call it a resurgence, a comeback, a resurrection or whatever else you will. All that really matters is that the White Album's songs are great, and not just great for the 2016 version of Weezer." In a positive review for Chorus.fm, Aaron Mook writes, "what I "can" say for certain about "The White Album" (and its predecessor) is that for the first time since 2002, it sounds like Weezer are not only enjoying the music they’re making, but living up to the admittedly impossible standards some "Blue Album" and "Pinkerton" purists tend to hold. With "The White Album", Weezer solidify their place as a more-than-capable modern pop-rock band." Staff reviewer SowingSeason at Sputnikmusic described the album as "long awaited and worthy successor to "Pinkerton"", stating "The White Album manages to deliver on the promise showed by the Blue Album and "Pinkerton" without spending the entire time treading on familiar ground." "The A.V. Club" reviewer John Hugar praised Cuomo for "[writing] some ridiculously fun, optimistic tunes", positively comparing the tracks to the band's 90's work, as well as "Pet Sounds"-era Beach Boys.


title: Weezer (White Album)

text: Sputnikmusic described "Thank God for Girls" as "perhaps the greatest song Weezer has written in over a decade [...] the creative highlight of the band’s late career" and using the album to describe the band as achieving a "successful comeback." Philip Cosores of "Consequence of Sound", in contrast, criticized the singles "Thank God for Girls" and "King of the World", commenting "the great thing about their last two albums is that these moments are rarities and, considering the band's standing in the rock world, might be a necessary evil. If it takes a couple bullshit alt singles to anchor a collection of vintage Weezer melodies, then it's a worthy sacrifice." Not all reviews were positive. In a largely mixed review, "Pitchfork" reviewer Zoe Camp criticized the largely pop-oriented background of the album's personnel, as well as songs such as "Wind in Our Sail" and "(Girl We Got A) Good Thing"; though she did comment positively on the singles "L.A. Girlz" and "King of the World", calling the former "the group's best single since "Island in the Sun.".


title: Weezer (White Album)

text: The album appeared on several annual "best-of" lists in 2016. In early July "Spin" listed the album as among the best album releases of 2016 thus far. "Pitchfork" readers named "Weezer" the 34th best album of the year and the eighth most underrated album of the year NPR readers listed the album as the 62nd best of the year, while "Verge Campus" named it the album of the year. Meanwhile, NPR listed "California Kids" as the 55th best song of 2016, while "Entertainment Weekly" named "King of the World" as the 94th.


title: Weezer (White Album)

text: "Weezer" debuted at number four on the "Billboard" 200 with 49,000 units sold, making it Weezer's sixth top five album, as well as the band's eighth top 10 album in a row. However, it stayed only two weeks in the top 100 of the chart.The album debuted at number 10 on the Canadian Albums Chart, selling 3,600 copies. As of September 2, 2016 the record has sold over 75,000 copies worldwide.


title: The Merry Widow

text: The Merry Widow ( ) is an operetta by the Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt to keep her money in the principality by finding her the right husband – on an 1861 comedy play, ("The Embassy Attaché") by Henri Meilhac.


title: The Merry Widow

text: The operetta has enjoyed extraordinary international success since its 1905 premiere in Vienna and continues to be frequently revived and recorded. Film and other adaptations have also been made. Well-known music from the score includes the "Vilja Song", "" ("You'll Find Me at Maxim's"), and the "Merry Widow Waltz".


title: The Merry Widow

text: In 1861, Henri Meilhac premiered a comic play in Paris, ("The Embassy Attaché"), in which the Parisian ambassador of a poor German grand duchy, Baron Scharpf, schemes to arrange a marriage between his country's richest widow (a French woman) and a Count to keep her money at home, thus preventing economic disaster in the duchy. The play was soon adapted into German as "Der Gesandschafts-Attaché" (1862) and was given several successful productions. In early 1905, Viennese librettist Leo Stein came across the play and thought it would make a good operetta. He suggested this to one of his writing collaborators, Viktor Léon and to the manager of the Theater an der Wien, who was eager to produce the piece. The two adapted the play as a libretto and updated the setting to contemporary Paris, expanding the plot to reference an earlier relationship between the widow (this time a countrywoman) and the Count, and moving the native land from a dour German province to a colourful little Balkan state. In addition, the widow admits to an affair to protect the Baron's wife, and the Count's haven is changed to the Parisian restaurant and nightclub Maxim's. They asked Richard Heuberger to compose the music, as he had a previous hit at the Theater an der Wien with a Parisian-themed piece, "Der Opernball" (1898). He composed a draft of the score, but it was unsatisfactory, and he gladly left the project.


title: The Merry Widow

text: The theatre's staff next suggested that Franz Lehár might compose the piece. Lehár had worked with Léon and Stein on "Der Göttergatte" the previous year. Although Léon doubted that Lehár could invoke an authentic Parisian atmosphere, he was soon enchanted by Lehar's first number for the piece, a bubbly galop melody for "Dummer, dummer Reitersmann". The score of "Die Lustige Witwe" was finished in a matter of months. The theatre engaged Mizzi Günther and Louis Treumann for the leading roles. They had starred as the romantic couple in other operettas in Vienna, including a production of "Der Opernball" and a previous Léon and Lehár success, "Der Rastelbinder" (1902). Both stars were so enthusiastic about the piece that they supplemented the theatre's low-budget production by paying for their own lavish costumes. During the rehearsal period, the theatre lost faith in the score and asked Lehár to withdraw it, but he refused. The piece was given little rehearsal time on stage before its premiere.


title: The Merry Widow

text: "Die Lustige Witwe" was first performed at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna on 30 December 1905, with Günther as Hanna, Treumann as Danilo, Siegmund Natzler as Baron Zeta and Annie Wünsch as Valencienne. It was a major success (after a couple of shaky weeks at the box-office), receiving good reviews and running for 483 performances. The production was also toured in Austria in 1906. The operetta originally had no overture; Lehár wrote one for the 400th performance, but it is rarely used in productions of the operetta, as the original short introduction is preferred. The Vienna Philharmonic performed the overture at Lehár's 70th birthday concert in April 1940.


title: The Merry Widow

text: The embassy in Paris of the poverty-stricken Balkan principality of Pontevedro is holding a ball to celebrate the birthday of the sovereign, the Grand Duke. Hanna Glawari, who has inherited twenty million francs from her late husband, is to be a guest at the ball – and the Pontevedrin ambassador, Baron Zeta, is scheming to ensure that she will keep her fortune in the country, saving Pontevedro from bankruptcy. The Baron intends that Count Danilo Danilovitsch, the first secretary of the embassy, should marry the widow; unfortunately for this plan, Danilo is not at the party, so Zeta sends Danilo's assistant Njegus to fetch him from Maxim's.


title: The Merry Widow

text: Danilo arrives and meets Hanna. It emerges they were in love before her marriage, but his uncle had interrupted their romance because Hanna had had nothing to her name. Though they still love each other, Danilo now refuses to court Hanna for her fortune, and Hanna vows that she will not marry him until he says "I love you" – something he claims he will never do.


title: The Merry Widow

text: Meanwhile, Baron Zeta's wife Valencienne has been flirting with the French attaché to the embassy, Count Camille de Rosillon, who writes "I love you" on her fan. Valencienne puts off Camille's advances, saying that she is a respectable wife. However, they lose the incriminating fan, which is found by embassy counsellor Kromow. Kromow jealously fears that the fan belongs to his own wife, Olga, and gives it to Baron Zeta. Not recognising it, Baron Zeta decides to return the fan discreetly, in spite of Valencienne's desperate offers to take it "to Olga" herself.


title: The Merry Widow

text: On his way to find Olga, the Baron meets Danilo, and his diplomatic mission takes precedence over the fan. The Baron orders Danilo to marry Hanna. Danilo refuses, but offers to eliminate any non-Pontevedrin suitors as a compromise.


title: The Merry Widow

text: As the "Ladies' Choice" dance is about to begin, Hanna becomes swarmed with hopeful suitors. Valencienne volunteers Camille to dance with Hanna, privately hoping that the Frenchman will marry her and cease to be a temptation for Valencienne herself. True to his bargain with the Baron, Danilo circulates the ballroom, rounding up ladies to claim dances and thin the crowd around the wealthy widow. Hanna, however, chooses the one man who is not apparently interested in dancing with her: Danilo, who immediately announces that he will sell his dance with Hanna Glawari for ten thousand francs, with the proceeds to benefit charity. This extinguishes the remaining suitors' interest in the dance. After they have left, Danilo attempts to dance with Hanna, who refuses in annoyance. Nonchalantly he proceeds to waltz by himself, eventually wearing down Hanna's resistance, and she falls into his arms.


title: The Merry Widow

text: The next evening, everyone is dressed in Pontevedrin clothing for a garden party at Hanna's house, now celebrating the Grand Duke's birthday in his own country's fashion. Hanna entertains by singing an old Pontevedrin song: "" ("There lived a Vilja, a maid of the woods"). Meanwhile, Baron Zeta fears that Camille will spoil his plan for Hanna to marry a Pontevedrin. Still not recognising the fan as Valencienne's, the Baron orders Danilo to discover the identity of its owner, whom he correctly assumes to be Camille's married lover. The two men, along with Njegus, arrange to meet that evening in Hanna's garden pavilion to discuss Danilo's findings, as well as the problem of securing the widow's fortune for Pontevedro. Seeing the fan, Hanna takes the message on it to be Danilo's declaration of love for her, which he denies. His inquiries regarding the fan prove fruitless, but do reveal infidelities committed by some of the wives of embassy personnel.


title: The Merry Widow

text: That evening, Camille and Valencienne meet in the garden, where Valencienne insists that they must part. Discovering the fan, accidentally left behind by Danilo, Camille begs Valencienne to let him have it as a keepsake. Valencienne agrees, writing "I'm a respectable wife" on it as a rejoinder to Camille's "I love you." Camille persuades Valencienne to join him in the pavilion so that they can say their goodbyes in private. This is of course the same pavilion where Danilo, the Baron, and Njegus have agreed to meet, and the latter, arriving first, locks the door when he spots people inside. Baron Zeta and Danilo follow, but Njegus quickly arranges with Hanna to change places with Valencienne. Camille emerges from the pavilion with Hanna, who announces that they plan to marry, leaving the Baron distraught at the thought of Pontevedro losing Hanna's millions and Valencienne distraught at losing Camille. Danilo is furious, and tells the story of a Princess who cheated on her Prince (")" before storming off to seek distraction at Maxim's. Hanna realises that Danilo's anger over her engagement to another man proves that he loves her, and she rejoices amid the general despair.


title: The Merry Widow

text: Act 3 is set at a theme party in Hanna's ballroom, which she has decorated to look like Maxim's, complete with Maxim's grisettes (can-can dancers). Valencienne, who has dressed herself as a grisette, entertains the guests (""). When Danilo arrives, having found the real Maxim's empty, he tells Hanna to give up Camille for the sake of Pontevedro. Much to Danilo's delight, Hanna replies truthfully that she was never engaged to Camille but was protecting the reputation of a married woman. Danilo comes very close to declaring his love for Hanna, but stops himself from doing so when he remembers her money and his proud refusal to court her for it. Njegus produces the fan, which he picked up earlier, and Baron Zeta finally remembers that it belongs to Valencienne. He swears to divorce his wife and marry the widow himself, but Hanna stops him by declaring that she will lose her fortune if she remarries. At this, Danilo promptly confesses his love for her and asks Hanna to marry him. Hanna triumphantly accepts, adding that she will lose her fortune only because it will become the property of her new husband. Valencienne assures Baron Zeta of her fidelity by pointing out her reply to Camille's declaration of love written on the fan: "" ("I'm a respectable wife"). All ends happily.


title: The Merry Widow

text: The operetta was produced in 1906 in Hamburg's Neues Operetten-Theater, Berlin's with Max Monti's company before Monti moved the production to the Theater des Westens (Gustav Matzner as Danilo and Marie Ottmann as Hanna starred and, with the Berlin cast in 1907, made the work's first complete recording, including dialogue, for Deutsche Grammophon), and Budapest's Magyar Színház in a faithful Hungarian translation. The piece became an international sensation, and translations were quickly made into various languages: in 1907, Buenos Aires theatres were playing at least five productions, each in a different language. Productions also swiftly followed in Stockholm, Copenhagen, Milan, Moscow and Madrid, among other places. It was eventually produced in every city with a theatre industry. Bernard Grün, in his book "Gold and Silver: The Life and Times of Franz Lehar", estimates that "The Merry Widow" was performed about half a million times in its first sixty years. Global sheet music sales and recordings totalled tens of millions of dollars. Its popularity influenced fashions and inspired merchandising and product tie-ins, from corsets to chocolates. According to theatre writer John Kenrick, no other play or musical up to the 1960s had enjoyed such international commercial success.


title: The Merry Widow

text: In its English adaptation by Basil Hood, with lyrics by Adrian Ross, "The Merry Widow" became a sensation at Daly's Theatre in London, opening on 8 June 1907, starring Lily Elsie and Joseph Coyne and featuring George Graves as the Baron, Robert Evett as Camille and W. H. Berry as Nisch, with costumes by Lucile and Percy Anderson. Gabrielle Ray was a replacement as the Maxim's dancer Frou-Frou. It was produced by George Edwardes. The production ran for an extraordinary 778 performances in London and toured extensively in Great Britain.


title: The Merry Widow

text: The adaptation renamed many of the characters, to avoid offense to Montenegro, where the royal family's surname was Njegus, the crown prince was named Danilo, and Zeta was the principal founding state. Hood changed the name of the principality to Marsovia, Danilo is promoted to the title of Prince, Hannah is Sonia, the Baron is Popoff, Njegus is Nisch, Camille's surname is de Jolidon and Valencienne is Natalie, among other changes. The final scene was relocated into Maxim's itself, rather than the original theme-party setting, to take further advantage of the fame of the nightclub. Graves ad-libbed extensive "business" in the role of the Baron. Edwardes engaged Lehár to write two new songs, one of which, "Quite Parisien" (a third act solo for Nisch) is still used in some productions. Lehár also made changes for a Berlin production in the 1920s, but the definitive version of the score is basically that of the original production.


title: The Merry Widow

text: The first American production opened on 21 October 1907 at the New Amsterdam Theatre on Broadway for another very successful run of 416 performances, and was reproduced by multiple touring companies across the US, all using the Hood/Ross libretto. It was produced by Henry Wilson Savage. The New York cast starred Ethel Jackson as Sonia and Donald Brian as Danilo. The operetta first played in Australia in 1908 using the Hood/Ross libretto. Since then, it has been staged frequently in English. It was revived in London's West End in 1923, running for 239 performances, and in 1924 and 1932. A 1943 revival ran for 302 performances. Most of these productions featured Graves as Popoff. Madge Elliott and Cyril Ritchard starred in the 1944 production, while June Bronhill and Thomas Round led the 1958 cast and recording. Lizbeth Webb and John Rhys Evans starred in a brief 1969 revival. Revivals were mounted in major New York theatres in 1921, 1929, 1931 and 1943–1944. The last of these starred Marta Eggerth and her husband Jan Kiepura, with sets by Howard Bay and choreography by George Balanchine. It ran for 322 performances at the Majestic Theatre and returned the next season at the New York City Center for another 32 performances.


title: The Merry Widow

text: Glocken Verlag Ltd, London, published two different English translation editions in 1958. One English-language libretto is by Phil Park, which was adapted and arranged by Ronald Hanmer. The other is by Christopher Hassall, based on the edition by Ludwig Doblinger, Vienna. The Park version is a whole-tone lower than the original. Danilo and Hanna's hummed waltz theme becomes a chorus number, and the ending of the "Rosebud Romance" is sung mostly in unison rather than as a conversation. In the Hassall version, the action of act 3 takes place at Maxim's. Valencienne and the other Embassy wives arrive to seek out Danilo and convince him to return to Hanna, closely followed by their husbands, seeking to achieve the same purpose. The Grisettes, Parisian cabaret girls, make a grand entrance, led by the voluptuous ZoZo. Zeta finds the brokenhearted Danilo, and as they argue, Hanna enters. Hanna, Danilo and Zeta separately bribe the Maitre'd to clear the room so Hanna and Danilo can be alone. Danilo sets aside his pride and asks Hanna to give up Camille for the sake of the country. Much to Danilo's delight, Hanna tells him that she was never engaged to Camille, but that she was protecting the reputation of a married woman. Danilo is ready to declare his love for Hanna, and is on the point of doing so when he remembers her money, and stops himself. When Njegus produces the fan, which he had picked up earlier, Baron Zeta suddenly realizes that the fan belongs to Valencienne. Baron Zeta swears to divorce his wife and marry the widow himself, but Hanna tells him that she loses her fortune if she remarries. Hearing this, Danilo confesses his love for her and asks Hanna to marry him, and Hanna triumphantly points out that she will lose her fortune only because it will become the property of her husband. Valencienne produces the fan and assures Baron Zeta of her fidelity by reading out what she had replied to Camille's declaration: "I'm a highly respectable wife".


title: The Merry Widow

text: In the 1970s, the Light Opera of Manhattan, a year-round professional light opera repertory company in New York City, commissioned Alice Hammerstein Mathias, the daughter of Oscar Hammerstein II, to create a new English adaptation, which was revived many times until the company closed at the end of the 1980s. Essgee Entertainment staged productions of "The Merry Widow" in capital cities around Australia during 1998 and 1999. A prologue was added featuring a narrative by Jon English and a ballet introducing the earlier romance of Anna and Danilo. The production opened in Brisbane, with Jeffrey Black as Danilo, Helen Donaldson as "Anna", Simon Gallaher as Camille and English as Baron Zeta. In some performances, during the production's Brisbane run, Jason Barry-Smith appeared as Danilo. In Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide in 1999, John O'May appeared as Danilo, Marina Prior as "Hanna", Max Gillies as Zeta, Gallaher as Camille and Donaldson as Valencienne.


title: The Merry Widow

text: Numerous opera companies have mounted the operetta. New York City Opera mounted several productions from the 1950s through the 1990s, including a lavish 1977 production starring Beverly Sills and Alan Titus with a new translation by Sheldon Harnick. An Australian Opera production starred Joan Sutherland, and PBS broadcast a production by the San Francisco Opera in 2002, among numerous other broadcasts. The Metropolitan Opera had mounted the opera 18 times by 2003. The first performance by The Royal Opera in London was in 1997.


title: The Merry Widow

text: The first production in Paris was at the Théâtre Apollo on 28 April 1909 as "La Veuve joyeuse". Although Parisians were worried about how their city would be portrayed in the operetta, the Paris production was well received and ran for 186 performances. In this translation, Hanna is an American raised in "Marsovie" named "Missia". Danilo was a prince with gambling debts. The third act was set in Maxim's. The following year, the operetta played in Brussels.


title: The Merry Widow

text: "The Merry Widow" is frequently revived in Vienna and is part of the Vienna Volksopera's repertory. The Volksopera released a complete live performance on CD, interpolating the "Can-Can" from Offenbach's "Orpheus in the Underworld", which was copied in many other productions worldwide. Best known as Danilo in the German version was the actor Johannes Heesters, who played the part thousands of times for over thirty years.


title: The Merry Widow

text: The operetta has been recorded both live and in the studio many times, and several video recordings have been made. In 1906, the original Hanna and Danilo, Mizzi Günther and Louis Treumann, recorded their arias and duets, and also some numbers written for Camille and Valencienne; CD transfers were made in 2005. The first recording of a substantially complete version of the score was made of the Berlin 1907 production, with Ottmann and Matzner in their lead roles and Bruno Seidler-Winkler conducting the "Grammophon Streich-Orchester"; it includes a considerable amount of the operetta's dialogue. After that, excerpts appeared periodically on disc, but no new full recording was issued until 1950, when Columbia Records released a set sung in English with Dorothy Kirsten and Robert Rounseville.


title: The Merry Widow

text: In 1953, EMI's Columbia label released a near-complete version produced by Walter Legge, conducted by Otto Ackermann, with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf as Hanna, Erich Kunz as Danilo, Nicolai Gedda as Camille and Emmy Loose as Valencienne. It was sung in German, with abridged spoken dialogue. Loose sang Valencienne again for Decca in the first stereophonic recording, produced in 1958 by John Culshaw, with Hilde Gueden, Per Grundén and Waldemar Kmentt in the other main roles, and the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Robert Stolz. A second recording with Schwarzkopf as Hanna was issued by Columbia in 1963; the other main roles were sung by Eberhard Wächter, Gedda and Hanny Steffek. This set, conducted by Lovro von Matačić, has been reissued on CD in EMI's "Great Recordings of the Century" series. Among later complete or substantially complete sets are those conducted by Herbert von Karajan with Elizabeth Harwood as Hanna (1972); Franz Welser-Möst with Felicity Lott (1993); and John Eliot Gardiner with Cheryl Studer (1994).


title: The Merry Widow

text: The Ackermann recording received the highest available rating in the 1956 "The Record Guide" and the later EMI set under Matačić is highly rated by the 2008 "The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music", but Alan Blyth in his "Opera on CD" regrets the casting of a baritone as Danilo in both sets and prefers the 1958 Decca version. Among the filmed productions on DVD, the Penguin Guide recommends the one from the San Francisco Opera, recorded live in 2001, conducted by Erich Kunzel and directed by Lotfi Mansouri, with Yvonne Kenny as Hanna and Bo Skovhus as Danilo.


title: The Merry Widow

text: With the permission of the Franz Lehár Estate, Sir Robert Helpmann adapted the operetta's plot scenario, while John Lanchbery and Alan Abbot adapted the operetta's music and composed additional music, for a three-act ballet. "The Merry Widow" ballet, choreographed by Ronald Hynd with designs by Desmond Heeley, was first performed on 13 November 1975 at the Palais Theatre, Melbourne, by The Australian Ballet. The ballet has been performed by American Ballet Theatre, among other major companies.


title: Ferrocerium

text: Ferrocerium (also known in Europe as Auermetall) is a synthetic pyrophoric alloy of mischmetal (cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, other trace lanthanides and some iron – about 95% lanthanides and 5% iron) hardened by blending in oxides of iron and/or magnesium. When struck with a harder material, the mixture produces hot sparks that can reach temperatures of when rapidly oxidized by the process of striking the rod. Striking both scrapes fragments off, exposing them to the oxygen in the air, and easily ignites them by friction heat due to cerium's remarkably low ignition temperature of ~.


title: Ferrocerium

text: Its easy flammability gives ferrocerium many commercial applications, such as the ignition source for lighters, strikers for gas welding and cutting torches, deoxidization in metallurgy, and ferrocerium rods. Because of ferrocerium's ability to ignite in adverse conditions, rods of ferrocerium (also called ferro rods, spark rods, and flint-spark-lighters) are commonly used as an emergency fire lighting device in survival kits. The ferrocerium is referred to as a "flint" in this case despite being dissimilar to natural flint as both are used in conjunction for fire lighting, albeit with opposite mechanical operation.


title: Ferrocerium

text: Ferrocerium alloy was invented in 1903 by the Austrian chemist Carl Auer von Welsbach. It takes its name from its two primary components: iron (from ), and the rare-earth element cerium, which is the most prevalent of the lanthanides in the mixture. Except for the extra iron and magnesium oxides added to harden it, the mixture is approximately the combination found naturally in tailings from thorium mining, which Auer von Welsbach was investigating. The pyrophoric effect is dependent on the brittleness of the alloy and its low autoignition temperature.


title: Ferrocerium

text: In Auer von Welsbach's first alloy, 30% iron (ferrum) was added to purified cerium, hence the name "ferro-cerium". Two subsequent Auermetalls were developed: the second also included lanthanum to produce brighter sparks, and the third added other heavy metals.


title: Ferrocerium

text: A modern ferrocerium firesteel product is composed of an alloy of rare-earth metals called mischmetal, containing approximately 20.8% iron, 41.8% cerium, about 4.4% each of praseodymium, neodymium, and magnesium, plus 24.2% lanthanum. A variety of other components are added to modify the spark and processing characteristics. Most contemporary flints are hardened with iron oxide and magnesium oxide.


title: Ferrocerium

text: Ferrocerium is used in fire lighting in conjunction with steel, similarly to natural flint-and-steel, though ferrocerium takes on the opposite role to the traditional system; instead of a natural flint rock striking tiny iron particles from a firesteel, a steel striker (which may be in the form of hardened steel wheel) strikes particles of ferrocerium off of the "flint". This manual rubbing action, done by squeezing the handle, creates a spark due to cerium's low ignition temperature between . Carbon steel works better than most other materials, in much the same way natural flint and firesteel are used.


title: Timmy Chang

text: Timothy Kealii'okaaina Awa Chang (born October 9, 1981) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is currently the head coach of the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors. During his playing career at Hawaii, he set several major college football passing records, including the NCAA record for most all-time passing yards; this record was later eclipsed by Case Keenum in 2011.


title: Timmy Chang

text: Chang has also played for the Arizona Cardinals, Detroit Lions, Philadelphia Eagles, Rhein Fire, Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Winnipeg Blue Bombers.


title: Timmy Chang

text: Born in Waipahu, Hawaii, Chang attended St. Louis School in Honolulu and was an honors student and a three-year letterman in football and basketball. Chang was selected a prep All-American by eight major organizations and publications. As a member of the St. Louis School football team, Chang completed 464 passes for 8,001 yards and 113 touchdowns in his three-year career. Chang graduated from Saint Louis High School in 2000.


title: Timmy Chang

text: Following high school, Chang played five seasons (2000–2004) for the University of Hawai'i Warriors where he started 50 of 53 career games at quarterback. Chang completed 1,388 of 2,436 passes (57.0 percent) for 17,072 yards and 117 touchdowns, breaking the old NCAA Division I-A all-time records of 1,231 completions in 1,883 attempts by Kliff Kingsbury of Texas Tech University (1999–2002) and 15,031 yards by Ty Detmer of Brigham Young University (1989–91). Chang participated in 2,587 plays, breaking the old NCAA career record of 2,156 by Kingsbury. Chang's 16,910 yards in total offense broke the previous NCAA record of 14,465 by Detmer. Chang also had six rushing touchdowns and was a four-time All-Western Athletic Conference selection.


title: Timmy Chang

text: Chang currently holds NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision all-time records for total plays (2,587), passes attempted (2,436), and interceptions (80). He ranks second in total offensive yards (16,910) and career passing yards (17,072) and is eleventh in touchdown passes (117). Chang holds the school record for career passing yards and total offense, and is second in career passing touchdowns and total touchdowns.


title: Timmy Chang

text: Chang was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2003 Hawaii Bowl in a triple-overtime victory over the University of Houston, and was named Co-MVP, with Chad Owens, of the 2004 Hawaii Bowl in a victory over the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Chang was a finalist for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award for the 2004 season. He made a cameo in NCAA Football 06.


title: Timmy Chang

text: Chang was signed by the Arizona Cardinals after going undrafted in the 2005 NFL Draft, but was cut in training camp. That year, Chang also played in the preseason for the Detroit Lions but did not make the final roster. He then signed with the Philadelphia Eagles, who allocated him to the NFL Europe in 2006. He played for the Rhein Fire of NFL Europa for the 2006 season, in which he completed 50 of 89 passes for 656 yards, 4 touchdowns and 3 interceptions, while sharing playing time with Drew Henson. He was in training camp with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2006, but was cut before the start of the regular season.


title: Timmy Chang

text: The Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL acquired the negotiating rights to Chang in a February 12, 2007 trade with the Edmonton Eskimos. Chang signed with Hamilton on March 13, 2007.


title: Timmy Chang

text: During the 2007 season, he started two of 18 games played, completing 42 of 89 pass attempts for 467 yards, one touchdown, and seven interceptions. Chang played in his first regular season game on June 30, 2007 against the Calgary Stampeders when he replaced the struggling Jason Maas towards the end of the fourth quarter, completing his first career CFL pass, a 51-yard pass to Jesse Lumsden, overall finishing 4 of 7 for 86 yards. He threw his first career CFL touchdown on July 14 during the Ticats 29-20 loss to Montreal, a 71-yard pass to Brock Ralph.


title: Timmy Chang

text: Chang was released by the Tiger-Cats on August 29, 2008 and signed by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers the following day. He retired in 2009 and returned to the University of Hawaii to complete his bachelor's degree.


title: Timmy Chang

text: Southern Methodist University head football coach June Jones, who coached Chang at Hawai'i, announced in May 2012 that Chang would join his staff as a graduate assistant. Chang was chosen as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Jackson State in February 2014, assisting newly named head coach Harold Jackson. In his first season as offensive coordinator, Jackson State averaged 25.8 points per game. QB La Montiez Ivy threw for 3,209 yards and 22 touchdowns. WR Daniel Williams finished the season with 73 catches for 1,004 yards and 9 touchdowns. Both were named to the All-SWAC team.


title: Timmy Chang

text: It was announced in December 2016 that Chang would join Nevada as an inside wide receivers coach. He moved to the tight ends coaching position in 2018 before moving back to coach wide receivers in 2021.


title: Timmy Chang

text: When Nevada's head coach Jay Norvell was hired by Colorado State following the 2021 season, Chang followed him to Fort Collins and was named the wide receivers coach for the Rams.


title: Timmy Chang

text: Chang was named the 25th head coach in program history at his alma mater, Hawaii, on January 22, 2022. He signed a four-year deal.


title: Timmy Chang

text: On July 2, 2009, Chang was arrested on suspicion of robbery. Police stated that he had seen a woman filming a fight in Honolulu's Pearlridge neighborhood, demanded that she stop filming, and upon her refusal and a subsequent struggle, had taken her camera and thrown it to the roof of a nearby building. Booked on criminal property damage and harassment, Chang pleaded guilty to both crimes in February 2010. His plea deal included six months probation.


title: Betty Lou Gerson

text: Betty Lou Gerson (April 20, 1914 – January 12, 1999) was an American actress, predominantly active in radio but also in film and television and as a voice actress. She is best known as the original voice of Cruella de Vil from the Disney animated film "One Hundred and One Dalmatians" (1961) for which she was named a Disney Legend in 1996.


title: Betty Lou Gerson

text: Gerson was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on April 20, 1914, but raised in Birmingham, Alabama, where her father was an executive with a steel company. She was Jewish. She was educated in private schools in Birmingham and Miami, Florida. At age 16, she moved with her family to Chicago, where she performed in the radio serial "The First Nighter Program". She later moved to New York City.


title: Betty Lou Gerson

text: She began her acting career in radio drama in 1935, while still in her 20s, and became a mainstay of soap operas during this period, appearing on "Arnold Grimm's Daughter" (as the titular daughter Constance in 1938), "Midstream" (in the lead role of Julia), "Women in White" (as Karen Adams), "Road of Life" (as Nurse Helen Gowan), "Lonely Women" (as Marilyn Larimore), and the radio version of "The Guiding Light", as Charlotte Wilson in the mid-1940s. She co-starred with Jim Ameche in the 1938 summer drama "Win Your Lady" and was the resident romantic lead on romantic anthologies such as "Curtain Time" and "Grand Hotel".


title: Betty Lou Gerson

text: Moving to Los Angeles in the 1940s, she established herself on series such as "The Whistler", "Mr. President" (as the presidential secretary), "Crime Classics," "Escape", and "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar". She was heard in several episodes of "Lux Radio Theater," cast in such roles as Glinda in a 1950 dramatization of "The Wizard of Oz." She also played a variety of roles on "Johnny Modero, Pier 23". In an early example of the comic genius that her Cruella later showcased, she parodied her main radio persona in the Sam Spade detective series, "The Soap Opera Caper" episode which aired on February 16, 1951.


title: Betty Lou Gerson

text: Around this time, she was cast as the narrator in Walt Disney's animated version of "Cinderella" (1950). Eleven years later, she provided the voice of the villainous, selfish socialite Cruella de Vil in Disney's animated feature "One Hundred and One Dalmatians" (1961).


title: Betty Lou Gerson

text: Her few on-camera film roles include appearances in "The Fly" (1958), "The Miracle on the Hills" (1959), and "Mary Poppins" (1964) in a small cameo as an old crone. In television, she made three guest appearances on "Perry Mason", including the role of murderer Marjory Davis in the episode, "The Case of the Foot-Loose Doll" (1959). She also guest starred on "The Twilight Zone", "The Dick Van Dyke Show", "Hazel", "Wanted Dead or Alive", and "The Rifleman".


title: Betty Lou Gerson

text: In 1936, Gerson married Joseph T. Ainley at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago. At that time, he was radio director of the Leo Burnett Company, Incorporated. The couple remained married until his death in 1965. The union was childless.


title: Betty Lou Gerson

text: Gerson retired in 1966, though still using her voice, working at the telephone answering service of her second husband, Louis R. "Lou" Lauria, to whom she was married from 1966 until his death in 1994. That union was also childless.


title: Betty Lou Gerson

text: She was honored as a Disney Legend in 1996. She returned to films one last time in 1997, providing the voice of Frances in "Cats Don't Dance".


title: Muni Metro

text: Muni Metro is a light rail system serving San Francisco, California, United States. Operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni), a part of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), Muni Metro served an average of 157,700 passengers per weekday in the fourth quarter of 2019, making it the second-busiest light rail system in the United States. Six services – J Church, K Ingleside, L Taraval, M Ocean View, N Judah, and T Third Street run on separate surface alignments and merge into a single downtown tunnel. The supplementary S Shuttle service operates within the tunnel. Muni Metro operates a fleet of 151 Breda high-floor light rail vehicles (LRVs), which are currently being replaced by a fleet of 249 Siemens S200 LRVs. The system has 113 stations, of which 59 (52%) are accessible.


title: Muni Metro

text: Muni Metro is one of the surviving first-generation streetcar systems in North America. The San Francisco Municipal Railway was created in 1909 and opened its first streetcar lines in 1912. Five of the current lines were added in the following decades: the J in 1917, the K (including the Twin Peaks Tunnel) in 1918, the L in 1919, the M in 1925, and the N in 1928. The other Municipal Railway streetcar lines, and those of the privately owned Market Street Railway, were converted to buses in the 1920s to 1950s, but these five lines were retained as streetcars because of their private rights of way. The system was converted to light rail, with larger US Standard Light Rail Vehicles, in the late 1970s and early 1980s. This included the opening of the Market Street subway as well as extension of three lines to Balboa Park station. An extension along The Embarcadero to the Caltrain terminal at 4th and King Street opened in 1998. The T Third Street line opened in 2007, serving the southeastern portion of the city. The Central Subway, with three new subway stations and one new surface station opened on November 19, 2022.


title: Muni Metro

text: The first street railroad in San Francisco was the San Francisco Market Street Railroad Company, which was incorporated in 1857 and began operating in 1860, with track along Market Street from California to Mission Dolores. Muni Metro descended from the municipally-owned traditional streetcar system started on December 28, 1912, when the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni) was established. The first streetcar line, the A Geary, ran from Kearny and Market Streets in the Financial District to Fulton Street and 10th Avenue in the Richmond District. The system slowly expanded, opening the Twin Peaks Tunnel in 1917, allowing streetcars to run to the southwestern quadrant of the city. By 1921, the city was operating of electric trolley lines and of cable car lines. The last line to start service before 2007 was the N Judah, which started service after the Sunset Tunnel opened in 1928.


title: Muni Metro

text: In the 1940s and 1950s, as in many North American cities, public transit in San Francisco was consolidated under the aegis of a single municipal corporation, which then began phasing out much of the streetcar network in favor of buses. However, five heavily used streetcar lines traveled for at least part of their routes through tunnels or otherwise reserved right-of-way, and thus could not be converted to bus lines. As a result, these lines, running PCC streetcars, continued in operation.


title: Muni Metro

text: Original plans for the BART system drawn up in the 1950s envisioned a double-decked subway tunnel under Market Street (known as the Market Street subway) in downtown San Francisco; the lower deck would be dedicated to express trains, while the upper would be served by local trains whose routes would spread south and west through the city. However, by 1961 these plans were altered; only a single BART route would travel through the city on the lower deck, while the upper deck would be served by the existing Muni streetcar routes. The new tunnel would be connected to the existing Twin Peaks Tunnel. The new underground stations would feature high platforms, and the older stations would be retrofitted with the same, which meant that the PCCs could not be used in them. Hence, a fleet of new light rail vehicles was ordered from Boeing-Vertol, but were not delivered until 1979–80, even though the tunnel was completed in 1978. The K and M lines were extended to Balboa Park during this time, providing further connections to BART. (The J line also saw an extension there in 1991, which provided yet another BART connection at Glen Park.)


title: Muni Metro

text: On February 18, 1980, the Muni Metro was officially inaugurated, with weekday N line service in the subway. The Metro service was implemented in phases, and the subway was served only on weekdays until 1982. The K Ingleside line began using the entire Metro subway on weekdays on June 11, 1980, the L Taraval and M Ocean View lines on December 17, 1980, and lastly the J Church line on June 17, 1981. Meanwhile, weekend service on all five lines (J, K, L, M, N) continued to use PCC cars operating on the surface of Market Street through to the Transbay Terminal, and the Muni Metro was closed on weekends. At the end of the service day September 19, 1982, streetcar operations on the surface of Market Street were discontinued entirely, the remaining PCC cars taken out of service, and weekend service on the five light rail lines was temporarily converted to buses. Finally, on November 20, 1982, the Muni Metro subway began operating seven days a week.


title: Muni Metro

text: At the time, there were no firm plans to revive any service on the surface of Market Street or return PCCs to regular running. However, tracks were rehabilitated for the 1983 Historic Trolley Festival, and the inauguration of the F line, served by heritage streetcars, followed in 1995.


title: Muni Metro

text: By the late 1980s, Muni scheduled 20 trains per hour (TPH) through the Market Street subway at peak periods, with all trains using the crossover west of Embarcadero station to reverse direction. To allow for high frequencies on the surface branches, eastbound trains were combined at West Portal and Duboce Portal, and westbound trains split at those locations. Two-car N Judah trains and one-car J Church trains (each 10TPH) combined at the Duboce Portal, while two-car L Taraval trains (10TPH) alternately combined with two-car M Ocean View and K Ingleside (each 5 TPH) trains at West Portal to form four-car trains. However, this provided suboptimal service; many inbound trains did not arrive at the portals in time to combine into longer trains.


title: Muni Metro

text: In the mid- to late-1990s, San Francisco grew more prosperous and its population expanded with the advent of the dot-com boom, and the Metro system began to feel the strain of increased commuter demand. Muni criticism had been something of a feature of life in San Francisco, and not without reason. The Boeing trains were sub-par and grew crowded quickly. And the difficulty in running a hybrid streetcar and light rail system, with five lines merging into one, led to scheduling problems on the main trunk lines with long waits between arrivals and commuter-packed trains sometimes sitting motionless in tunnels for extended periods of time.


title: Muni Metro

text: Muni did take steps to address these problems. Newer, larger Breda cars were ordered, an extension of the system towards South Beach — where many of the new dot-coms were headquartered — was built, and the underground section was switched to Automatic Train Operation (ATO). The Breda cars, however, came in noisy, overweight, oversized, under-braked, and over-budget (their price grew from US$2.2million per car to nearly US$3million over the course of their production). In fact, the new trains were so heavy ( more than the Boeing LRVs they replaced) that some homeowners, claiming that the exceptional weight of the Breda cars damaged their foundations, sued the city of San Francisco. The Breda cars are longer and wider than the previous Boeing cars, necessitating the modification of subway stations and maintenance yards, as well as the rear view mirrors on the trains themselves. Furthermore, the Breda cars do not run in three car trains, like the Boeing cars used to, as doing so had, in some instances, physically damaged the overhead power wires. The Breda trains were so noisy that San Francisco budgeted over $15million to quiet them down, while estimates range up to $1million per car to remedy the excessive noise. To this day, the Breda cars are noisier than the PCC or Boeing cars. In 1998, federal inspectors mandated a lower speed limit of , down from , because the brakes were problematic.