The following are given passages.
Passage 1:
Thelma Hopkins (athlete)
Thelma Elizabeth Hopkins (born 16 March 1936) is a Northern Irish athlete, who competed in the high and the long jump.
On 5 May 1956 she broke the world record in high jump in Belfast with a jump of 1.74 metres, breaking the record of 1.73 metres set by Aleksandra Chudina of the USSR on 22 May 1954. Her record was broken on 14 July 1956 in Bucharest by Iolanda Balaș of Romania.Her achievement in breaking the world record is commemorated by a plaque in Cherryvale Playing Fields, South Belfast.
Hopkins was born in Kingston upon Hull. She competed for Great Britain in the 1956 Summer Olympics held in Melbourne, Australia, in the high jump event, where she won the silver medal jointly with Maria Pisareva. In the 1954 Commonwealth Games she won a gold medal for Northern Ireland.
As well as athletics she excelled at hockey where she was a regular choice for the Ireland women's national field hockey team, playing at forward and winning 40 caps. She also represented Ireland as an international Squash player.
She was one of many signatories in a letter to The Times on 17 July 1958 opposing 'the policy of apartheid' in international sport and defending 'the principle of racial equality which is embodied in the Declaration of the Olympic Games'.
Passage 2:
That Certain Something
That Certain Something is a 1941 Australian musical film directed by Clarence G. Badger and starring Megan Edwards and Thelma Grigg. The plot concerns an American film director who decides to make a musical in Australia. It was the last film directed by Badger, a noted silent era director.

Plot
A famous director, Robert Grimble, comes to Australia to make a film about pioneering women and seeks for an unknown to play the lead role. He casts socialist Miss Hemingway, who soon proves to be temperamental. She is tricked into walking off the job by Jimmie Jones who wants his girlfriend Patsy cast. He succeeds and Patsy becomes a star.

Cast
Production
The film was the first from Argosy Films and was made with the assistance of a bank overdraft from the New South Wales government. It was directed by Clarence Badger, a Hollywood director who had retired to Australia. The original title was Daughters of Australia.Megan Edwards had only appeared in a few stage shows before being cast in the lead. She later received a three-year contract from a Hollywood manager.The seven-week shoot took place at Pagewood Studios, the first movie made there in three years. The colonial sequence was especially researched. The camera crew included notable cameraman John Howes, who died aged 29.

Release
Despite securing distribution from RKO, reception to the film from critics and the public was poor.
Passage 3:
The Proud and Profane
The Proud and Profane is a dramatic war romance made by William Perlberg-George Seaton Productions for Paramount Pictures  released in theaters on June 13, 1956. It was directed by George Seaton and produced by William Perlberg, from a screenplay by George Seaton, based on the 1953 novel The Magnificent Bastards by Lucy Herndon Crockett. The film stars William Holden and Deborah Kerr with Thelma Ritter, Dewey Martin, William Redfield and Peter Hansen in supporting roles.

Plot
In 1943, Lee Ashley, the widow of a Paramarine lieutenant killed in the Battle of Bloody Ridge on Guadalcanal has joined the American Red Cross un Noumea, New Caledonia, to entertain American servicemen. Her leader at the service club, Kate Connors, had initially been reluctant to have her assigned there lest she use her position as a pilgrimage to find out about her late husband. In addition to entertaining, serving the soldiers and giving French lessons, the Red Cross women are expected to help with the wounded — which Lee initially refuses to do.
A Marine Raider battalion comes to New Caledonia after fighting in the South Pacific. Their commander, Lieutenant Colonel Colin Black, objects to the Red Cross women treating his men softly; he states that the only place for women in war are "skirts" that the men chase and the "sweethearts" that wait for them back home. He changes his mind when he tries to seduce the attractive Lee, who initially refuses his advances. Black decides to gain her interest by pretending he knew Lee's late husband and was with him shortly before he died. Though Lee despises the colonel's arrogance and demands, she is fascinated by him and falls in love with him.
Another member of the battalion is the Navy chaplain, Lieutenant Junior Grade Holmes, whom Kate notices is a changed, silent, and saddened man since she last knew him. During a battle, Holmes had gathered some Marines together in prayer. A Japanese soldier, thought to be dead, threw a hand grenade, killing several and wounding their sergeant. Black demotes the wounded sergeant because he should have known better than to let his men gather in the open and never lets him forget that his presence caused their deaths, with the bodies of the Marines shielding the chaplain from injury. Holmes's guilt is compounded by a tropical fever and exhaustion from working that has taken its toll.
Another man in the battalion is Private Eddie Wodcik, whom Kate had adopted and raised in New York. Kate loves him like her own child and he reciprocates when he is not being watched by his fellow Marines. Eddie feels that Lee looks exactly like his sister would have if she had not died and becomes her protector. Wodcik throws a disrespectful sailor to the floor using jiu jitsu.
Lee and the colonel have dinner on board an American warship. A former neighbor of Lee is now a naval officer aboard and is present at dinner. Lee and the naval officer spend the evening talking about their pre-war civilian lives in a wealthy community. An angry Black later relates to Lee his life of childhood poverty as a half-Indian in Montana. When the Raiders are shipped out for a couple of months, Lee discovers she is pregnant and that the colonel has a wife in Washington. She later learns things about her husband that she never knew. The hot-headed Wodcik also discovers what his colonel has done to Lee.

Cast
Production
Lucy Herndon Crockett (born 4 April 1914 in Honolulu) was a Red Cross worker in the Pacific during World War II. She traveled with Basil O'Connor, national chairman of the American Red Cross, during the war as his secretary and speechwriter. An author of nine books, she wrote the 1953 book The Magnificent Bastards about her experiences with the U.S. Marine Corps.

Filming
The film was made with Defense Department cooperation in the United States Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico with production design reflecting New Caledonia in 1943. Technical advisors were Major John W. Antonelli former 1st Marine Raider Battalion and Mary Louise Dowling, Louise A. Wood and Margaret Hagan of the American Red Cross. 
Paramount picked up the film rights for The Magnificent Bastards in 1954 and announced Deborah Kerr for the lead.  Paramount also stated they would release the film under a different title.

Score and original music
Composer Victor Young wrote the film's score. Ross Bagdasarian Sr. wrote a tie-in song The Ballad of Colin Black.

Reception
Film critic Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote in his review: "ANOTHER exhaustive contemplation of the effects of a wartime romance on a sensitive and susceptible woman is put forth in The Proud and Profane, a William Perlberg-George Seaton production for Paramount that came to the Astor yesterday. The lady who runs the emotional gamut for all to behold in this film is an American Red Cross worker at Noumea in the South Pacific during World War II, and the gentleman with whom she dilly-dallies more than somewhat is a major of American marines. With Deborah Kerr as the lady and William Holden as the marine, two earnest and versatile performances are initially guaranteed. That is the virtue of this picture. Miss Kerr does a continuously interesting job as a nervous and self-pitying widow of a marine killed on Guadalcanal who falls for the rough, tough, ruthless major that Mr. Holden plays. And he, in turn, commands attention with the unrelenting vigor and sting that he gives to this hardbitten soldier who starts the chase with only one thing in mind."

Awards
The Proud and Profane was nominated for two Academy Awards, for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White (Hal Pereira, A. Earl Hedrick, Samuel M. Comer, Frank R. McKelvy) and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White (Edith Head).

See also
List of American films of 1956
Passage 4:
The Wiz (film)
The Wiz is a 1978 American musical adventure fantasy film directed by Sidney Lumet. A reimagining of L. Frank Baum's classic 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz featuring an all African-American cast, the film was adapted from the 1974 Broadway musical of the same title. It follows the adventures of Dorothy, a shy, twenty-four year old Harlem schoolteacher who finds herself magically transported to the urban fantasy Land of Oz, which resembles a dream version of New York City. Befriended by a Scarecrow, a Tin Man and a Cowardly Lion, she travels through the city to seek an audience with the mysterious Wiz, who they say is the only one powerful enough to send her home.
Produced by Universal Pictures and Motown Productions, filming took place in Queens, New York from October to December 1977, with a cast starring Diana Ross, Michael Jackson (in his feature film debut), Nipsey Russell, Ted Ross, Mabel King, Theresa Merritt, Thelma Carpenter, Lena Horne and Richard Pryor. Its story was reworked from William F. Brown's Broadway libretto by Joel Schumacher, and Quincy Jones supervised the adaptation of Charlie Smalls and Luther Vandross' songs for it. A handful of new songs, written by Jones and the songwriting team of Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson, were added for the project.
The Wiz was theatrically released on October 24, 1978 to critical and commercial failure, marking the end of the resurgence of African-American films that began with the blaxploitation movement of the early 1970s. The film received generally negative reviews from critics, with many unfavorably comparing the film to its source material, and criticizing the casting of Diana Ross as Dorothy. Despite its initial failure, it became a cult classic among audiences, Jackson's fanbase and Oz enthusiasts. It also received four Oscar nominations at the 51st Academy Awards (Best Score, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design). 
Certain aspects influenced The Wiz Live!, a live television adaptation of the musical, aired on NBC in 2015.

Plot
A crowded Thanksgiving dinner brings a host of family together in a small Harlem apartment, where shy, twenty-four-year-old elementary schoolteacher Dorothy Gale lives with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry ("The Feeling That We Once Had"). Extremely introverted, she is teased by Aunt Em for having delayed moving out to start her life as an adult ("Can I Go On?"). While Dorothy cleans up after the meal, her dog Toto runs out the open kitchen door into a snowstorm. She succeeds in retrieving him but finds herself trapped in the storm. A magical whirlwind made of snow materializes and transports them to the realm of Oz, depicted as a dystopian version of New York City.
As Dorothy descends from the atmosphere she smashes through an electric "Oz" sign, which falls upon and kills Evermean, the Wicked Witch of the East who rules Munchkinland. As a result, she frees the Munchkins who populate the playground into which she lands. Dorothy soon meets the Munchkins' main benefactress, Miss One, the Good Witch of the North, a magical "numbers runner" who gives her Evermean's charmed silver slippers. Dorothy declares she just wants to get home to Aunt Em. Miss One urges her to follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City and seek the help of the powerful "Wiz" ("He's the Wiz"). After telling her never to take the silver shoes off, Miss One and the Munchkins disappear and Dorothy is left to search for the road on her own ("Soon As I Get Home").
The next morning, Dorothy happens upon a mysterious scarecrow made of garbage and saves him from being teased by a group of humanoid crows ("You Can't Win"). The Scarecrow hopes the Wiz might be able to give him the one thing he feels that he lacks: a brain. They discover the yellow brick road and begin to "Ease on Down the Road". Along the way, they meet the Tin Man in an abandoned amusement park ("If I Could Feel"/"Slide Some Oil to Me") and a Cowardly Lion, banished from the jungle ("I'm a Mean Ol' Lion"). The Tin Man and Lion join them on their quest to find the Wiz, hoping to gain a heart and courage, respectively. En route to the Emerald City, the adventurers escape from a haunted subway station and a group of flamboyant prostitutes known as the "Poppy Girls", who seduce the Lion. The Lion feels deeply ashamed of leading Dorothy into a trap, but she and the rest of the gang cheer him up ("Be a Lion").
Finally reaching the Emerald City, the four friends are granted an audience with the Wiz, who appears to them as a giant fire-breathing metallic head. He will only grant their wishes if they kill the sister of the Wicked Witch of the East, Evillene, the Wicked Witch of the West, who runs a sweatshop in the underground sewers of Oz. Before they can reach her domain, Evillene learns of their quest to kill her and sends out the Flying Monkeys to capture them ("Don't Nobody Bring Me No Bad News").
Vengeful for Dorothy having killed her sister, she dismembers the Scarecrow, flattens the Tin Man, and hangs the Lion up by his tail in hopes of making Dorothy give her the silver shoes. When she threatens to throw Toto into a fiery cauldron, Dorothy nearly gives in until the Scarecrow hints to her to activate a fire sprinkler switch. The sprinklers put out the fire and melt Evillene. With Evillene dead, her spells lose their power, resulting in the freedom of all her sweat shop workers and prisoners ("A Brand New Day").
The Flying Monkeys give Dorothy and her friends a triumphant ride back to the Emerald City, where they discover that the Wiz is actually Herman Smith, a failed politician from Atlantic City. The Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion are distraught that they will never receive their brain, heart, and courage, but Dorothy makes them realize that they already have had these things all along ("Believe in Yourself") even as she fears she will never find her own way home. Glinda appears and implores her to use the magic of the silver slippers ("Believe in Yourself (Reprise)"). After thanking Glinda and saying goodbye to her friends, she reminisces about "Home". She clicks her heels together three times and discovers she is back near home with Toto in her arms.

Cast
Music
All songs written by Charlie Smalls, unless otherwise noted.

Production
Pre-production and development
The Wiz was the eighth feature film produced by Motown Productions, the film/television division of Berry Gordy's Motown Records label. Gordy originally wanted the teenaged future R&B singer Stephanie Mills, who had originated the role on Broadway, to be cast as Dorothy. When Motown star Diana Ross asked Gordy if she could be cast as Dorothy, he declined, saying that Ross—then 33 years old—was too old for the role. Ross went around Gordy and convinced executive producer Rob Cohen at Universal Pictures to arrange a deal where he would produce if Ross was cast as Dorothy. Gordy and Cohen agreed to the deal. Pauline Kael, a film critic, described Ross's efforts to get the film into production as "perhaps the strongest example of sheer will in film history."After filmmaker John Badham learned that Ross was cast as Dorothy, he decided not to direct, and Cohen replaced him with Sidney Lumet. Of his decision not to direct The Wiz, Badham recalled telling Cohen that he thought Ross was "a wonderful singer. She's a terrific actress and a great dancer, but she's not this character. She's not the little six-year-old girl Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz." Lumet’s hiring was met with skepticism, as he was known as a dramatic filmmaker with no previous musical directing experience.Though 20th Century Fox had financially backed the stage musical, they ended up exercising their first refusal rights to the film production, which gave Universal an opening to finance the film. Initially, Universal was so excited about the film's prospects that they did not set a budget for production.

Writing
Joel Schumacher's script was influenced by Werner Erhard's teachings and his Erhard Seminars Training ("est") movement, as both Schumacher and Ross were "very enamored of Werner Erhard". "Before I knew it," said Rob Cohen, "the movie was becoming an est-ian fable full of est buzzwords about knowing who you are and sharing and all that. I hated the script a lot. But it was hard to argue with [Ross] because she was recognizing in this script all of this stuff that she had worked out in est seminars." Schumacher spoke positively of the results of the est training, stating that he was "eternally grateful for learning that I was responsible for my life." However, he also complained that "everybody stayed exactly the way they were and went around spouting all this bull shit." Of est and Erhard references in the film itself, The Grove Book of Hollywood notes that the speech delivered by Glinda the Good Witch at the end of the film was "a litany of est-like platitudes", and the book also makes est comparisons to the song "Believe in Yourself". Although Schumacher had seen the Broadway play before writing the script, none of the play's writing was incorporated into the film, a fact that was noted and heavily criticized after release.During production, Lumet felt that the finished film would be "an absolutely unique experience that nobody has ever witnessed before." When asked about any possible influence from MGM's popular 1939 film adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, Lumet stated that "there was nothing to be gained from [the 1939 film] other than to make certain we didn't use anything from it. They made a brilliant movie, and even though our concept is different – they're Kansas, we're New York; they're white, we're black, and the score and the books are totally different – we wanted to make sure that we never overlapped in any area."

Casting
Michael Jackson, a former Motown star and close friend of Ross, was cast as the Scarecrow. By the start of development, he and his brothers The Jacksons (with the exception of Jermaine Jackson) had left Motown for Epic Records in 1975, after the release of their tenth album Moving Violation, though Michael had yet to release a solo album since Forever, Michael. Cohen, head of Motown Productions, thought Jackson would be perfect for the role of the Scarecrow, and approached Gordy with the idea, who agreed, though Lumet was harder to convince. Lumet wanted Jimmie Walker, star of CBS-TV's Good Times, telling Cohen “Michael Jackson’s a Vegas act. The Jackson 5’s a Vegas act.” Quincy Jones was also skeptical of Jackson, but after Cohen arranged a meeting, flying 19-year-old Jackson to New York, Lumet and Jones saw the qualities that Cohen saw. Jackson's father, Joseph, was wary of the project and saw it as a threat to the Jacksons group cohesion. Cohen moved Michael and his sister La Toya into a Manhattan apartment, allowing him to be on his own for the first time. During production, he became a frequent visitor to New York's famous Studio 54. Jackson was dedicated to the Scarecrow role, and watched videotapes of gazelles, cheetahs and panthers in order to learn graceful movements for his part. The long hours of uncomfortable prosthetic makeup by Stan Winston did not bother him. During production, Jackson asked Quincy Jones who he would recommend as a producer on a yet unrecorded solo album project. Jones, impressed by Jackson's professionalism, talent and work ethic, offered to be producer of what became Off The Wall (1979), then later on the hugely successful albums Thriller (1982) and Bad (1987).
Ted Ross and Mabel King were brought in to reprise their respective roles from the stage musical, while Nipsey Russell was cast as the Tin Man. Lena Horne, mother-in-law to Lumet during the time of production, was cast as Glinda the Good Witch, and comedian Richard Pryor portrayed The Wiz. The film's choreographer was Louis Johnson.

Filming
Principal photography began on October 3, 1977 and concluded on December 29, 1977. It took place at Astoria Studios in Queens, New York. The decaying New York State Pavilion from the 1964 New York World's Fair was used as the set for Munchkinland, Astroland at Coney Island was used for the Tinman scene with The Cyclone as a backdrop, while the World Trade Center served as the Emerald City. The Emerald City scenes were elaborate, using 650 dancers, 385 crew members and 1,200 costumes. Costume designer Tony Walton enlisted the help of high fashion designers in New York City for the Emerald City sequence, and obtained exotic costumes and fabric from designers such as Oscar de la Renta and Norma Kamali. Albert Whitlock created the film's visual special effects, while Stan Winston served as the head makeup artist.

Songs and score
Quincy Jones served as musical supervisor and music producer. He later wrote that he initially did not want to work on the film, but did it as a favor to Lumet. The film marked Jones' first time working with Jackson, and Jones later produced three hit albums for Jackson: Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982) and Bad (1987). Jones recalled working with Jackson as one of his favorite experiences from The Wiz, and spoke of Jackson's dedication to his role, comparing his acting style to Sammy Davis, Jr. Jones had a brief cameo during the "Gold" segment of the Emerald City sequence, playing what looks like a fifty-foot grand piano.
Of the 28 numbers originally composed by Charlie Smalls and company, 17 were retained in full or in part for the film. “Tornado Ballet”, “I Was Born On The Day Before Yesterday”, “Kalidah Battle”, “Lion's Dream”, “Emerald City Ballet (Psst)”, “So You Wanted to Meet the Wizard”, the Act 2 Entr'acte, “Funky Monkeys”, “Who Do You Think You Are?”, “Y'all Got It”, and “A Rested Body” were cut.
Four new numbers were added, "Can I Go On?", the instrumental "Poppy Girls Theme", "Emerald City Sequence" and "Is This What Feeling Gets? (Dorothy's Theme)". “You Can't Win”, a song originally written for the musical’s Baltimore run that was cut after it was transferred to Broadway, was reincorporated.

Release and reception
Box office
The Wiz proved to be a commercial failure, as the $24 million production only earned $13.6 million at the box office. Though prerelease television broadcast rights had been sold to CBS for over $10 million, in the end, the film produced a net loss of $10.4 million for Motown and Universal. At the time, it was the most expensive film musical ever made. The film's failure steered Hollywood studios away from producing the all-black film projects that had become popular during the blaxploitation era of the early to mid-1970s for several years.

Home media
The film was first released on VHS home video in 1981 by MCA/Universal Home Video (with a reissue in 1992) and was first broadcast on television on CBS on October 11, 1980 then on May 5, 1984 (edited to 100 minutes), to capitalize on Jackson's massive popularity at the time. It continues to be broadcast periodically on Black-focused networks such as BET, TVOne, BET Her, and was the inaugural broadcast on the Bounce TV digital broadcast network. The Wiz is often broadcast on Thanksgiving Day (attributed to the opening scene of Dorothy's family gathered for a Thanksgiving dinner).The film was released on DVD in 1999; a remastered version entitled The Wiz: 30th Anniversary Edition was released in 2008. Extras on both DVD releases include a 1978 featurette about the film's production and the original theatrical trailer. A Blu-ray version was released in 2010.

Critical reception
Critics panned The Wiz upon its October 1978 release. Many reviewers directed their criticism at Diana Ross, whom they believed was too old to play Dorothy. Most agreed that what had worked so successfully on stage simply did not translate well to the screen. Hischak's Through the Screen Door: What Happened to the Broadway Musical When It Went to Hollywood criticized "Joel Schumacher's cockamamy screenplay", and called "Believe in Yourself" the score's weakest song. He described Diana Ross's portrayal of Dorothy as: "cold, neurotic and oddly unattractive"; and noted that the film was "a critical and box office bust". In his work History of the American Cinema, Harpole characterized the film as "one of the decade's biggest failures", and, "the year's biggest musical flop". The Grove Book of Hollywood noted that "the picture finished off Diana Ross's screen career", as the film was Ross's final theatrical feature. In his 2004 book Blockbuster, Tom Shone referred to The Wiz as "expensive crud". In the book Mr. and Mrs. Hollywood, the author criticized the script, noting, "The Wiz was too scary for children, and too silly for adults." Ray Bolger, who played the Scarecrow in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, did not think highly of The Wiz, stating "The Wiz is overblown and will never have the universal appeal that the classic MGM musical has obtained."The decision to hire Sidney Lumet, a dramatic filmmaker without any prior experience directing musicals, was criticized, with many critics believing his style was unsuited to the material or genre. The cinematography and production design, which replaced the fantastical Oz settings of the stage version with gritty urban cityscapes, were likewise criticized. Critics also questioned the decision to cut large portions of the original score, in some cases substituting original compositions that were regarded as inferior.Jackson's performance as the Scarecrow was one of the few positively reviewed elements, with critics noting that Jackson possessed "genuine acting talent" and "provided the only genuinely memorable moments." Of the results of the film, Jackson stated: "I don't think it could have been any better, I really don't." In 1980, Jackson stated that his time working on The Wiz was "my greatest experience so far . . . I'll never forget that." Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert gave the film some of its most positive reviews on Sneak Previews. Siskel called it "superior musical theater," said Diana Ross was "superb," "terrific" and came across as "a real star" but had reservations about the film's "heavy message." Ebert praised other cast members and numerous technical aspects of the film, saying it was "fun" and in the "great tradition of the American musical." The film received another positive critique for its elaborate set design in the book American Jewish Filmmakers, which noted that it "features some of the most imaginative adaptations of New York locales since the glory days of the Astaire-Rogers films." In a 2004 review of the film, Christopher Null wrote positively of Ted Ross and Richard Pryor's performances. However, Null's overall review of the film was critical, and he wrote that other than the song "Ease on Down the Road", "the rest is an acid trip of bad dancing, garish sets, and a Joel Schumacher-scripted mess that runs 135 agonizing minutes." A 2005 piece by Hank Stuever in The Washington Post described the film as "a rather appreciable delight, even when it's a mess", and felt that the singing – especially Diana Ross's – was "a marvel".The New York Times analyzed the film within a discussion of the genre of blaxploitation: "As the audience for blaxploitation dwindled, it seemed as if Car Wash and The Wiz might be the last gasp of what had been a steadily expanding black presence in mainstream filmmaking." The St. Petersburg Times noted, "Of course, it only took one flop like The Wiz (1978) to give Hollywood an excuse to retreat to safer (i.e., whiter) creative ground until John Singleton and Spike Lee came along. Yet, without blaxploitation there might not have been another generation of black filmmakers, no Denzel Washington or Angela Bassett, or they might have taken longer to emerge." The Boston Globe commented, "the term 'black film' should be struck from the critical vocabulary. To appreciate just how outmoded, deceptive and limiting it is, consider the following, all of which have been described as black films, . . ." and characterized The Wiz in a list that also featured 1970s films Shaft (1971), Blacula (1972), and Super Fly (1972).Despite its lack of critical or commercial success in its original release, The Wiz became a cult classic, especially because it features Michael Jackson in his first starring theatrical film role. Jackson later starred in films such as Disney's Captain EO in 1986, the anthology film Moonwalker in 1988 and the posthumous documentary This Is It in 2009.As of November 2021, The Wiz holds a 41% rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 34 reviews, with the consensus; "This workmanlike movie musical lacks the electricity of the stage version (and its cinematic inspiration), but it's bolstered by strong performances by Diana Ross and Michael Jackson." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 53 out of 100 based on 11 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Accolades
See also
Adaptations of The Wizard of Oz
Passage 5:
A League of Their Own
A League of Their Own is a 1992 American sports comedy-drama film directed by Penny Marshall that tells a fictionalized account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). It stars Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Madonna, Lori Petty, Rosie O'Donnell, Jon Lovitz, David Strathairn, Garry Marshall and Bill Pullman. It was written by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel from a story by Kelly Candaele and Kim Wilson.
A League of Their Own was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $132.4 million worldwide and garnering acclaim for Marshall's direction and the performances of its ensemble cast. In 2012, the Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot
In 1988, Dottie Hinson attends the opening of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League exhibit at the Baseball Hall of Fame. She sees many former teammates and friends, prompting a flashback to 1943.
When World War II threatens to shut down Major League Baseball, Chicago Cubs owner Walter Harvey persuades his fellow owners to bankroll a women's league. Ira Lowenstein is put in charge. Scout Ernie Capadino attends an industrial-league softball game in Oregon and likes what he sees in Dottie, the catcher for a local dairy. She is not interested; she is happy with her life while waiting for her husband Bob to return from the war. Her younger sister Kit Keller, however, is desperate to get away and make something of herself. Capadino is unimpressed by Kit's batting and refuses to watch her pitch, but agrees to take her along if she changes Dottie's mind. Dottie agrees for her sister's sake.
Dottie and Kit travel to Harvey Field in Chicago for the tryout. They meet taxi dancer Mae "All the Way Mae" Mordabito and her best friend, bouncer Doris Murphy, soft-spoken right fielder Evelyn Gardner, illiterate left fielder Shirley Baker, pitcher/shortstop and former Miss Georgia beauty queen Ellen Sue Gotlander, left field/relief pitcher Betty "Spaghetti" Horn, second baseman Marla Hooch, first baseman Helen Haley, and Alice "Skeeter" Gaspers. They and five others constitute the Rockford Peaches, while 48 others make up the Racine Belles, Kenosha Comets, and South Bend Blue Sox.
The Peaches are managed by former star Cubs slugger Jimmy Dugan, a cynical alcoholic. He initially treats the whole thing as a joke, forcing Dottie to take over as on-field leader initially. Dugan is also abrasive toward his players. The team travels with Evelyn's spoiled bratty son Stillwell and tightly wound team chaperone Miss Cuthburt. With a Life magazine photographer in the stands, Lowenstein begs the players to do something spectacular, as the league has attracted little attention. Dottie obliges, catching a popped-up ball behind home plate while doing a split. The resulting photograph makes the magazine cover. A publicity campaign draws more people to the ballgames, but the owners remain unconvinced.
The teammates bond. Marla marries a man named Nelson whom she met on a raucous roadhouse outing and leaves the team for the rest of the season, Mae teaches Shirley to read, and Evelyn writes a team song. Lowenstein makes Dottie the face of the league, making Kit resentful. Their sibling rivalry intensifies, resulting in Kit's trade to the Racine Belles.
The Peaches end the season with the league's best record, qualifying for the World Series. Jimmy gives Betty a telegram informing her that her husband was killed in action in the Pacific Theater. Grief-stricken, she leaves the team. That evening, Dottie receives a surprise when Bob shows up, having been wounded and discharged from the Army. Jimmy discovers that Dottie is going home with Bob. Unable to persuade her to play in the World Series, he tells her she will regret her decision.
The Peaches face the Belles in the World Series, which goes the full seven games. Dottie rejoins the Peaches for the seventh game, while Kit is the starting pitcher for the Belles. With the Belles leading by a run in the top of the ninth, Dottie drives in the go-ahead run. Kit is distraught, but gets a second chance when she comes to bat with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. She gets a hit and, ignoring the third base coach's sign to stop, scores the winning run by knocking her sister over at the plate and dislodging the ball from Dottie's hand.
The sellout crowd convinces Harvey to give Lowenstein the owners' support. After the game, the sisters reconcile before Dottie leaves with Bob.
In the present, Dottie is reunited with the other players, including Kit, Capadino and Lowenstein. The surviving Peaches sing Evelyn's team song and pose for a photo. During the closing credits, they play baseball at Doubleday Field.

Cast
Rockford Peaches
Others
Production
Development
Director Penny Marshall was inspired by the 1987 TV documentary A League of their Own, about the AAGPBL. She had never heard of the league, and contacted the film's creators, Kelly Candaele and Kim Wilson, to collaborate with the scriptwriters, Babaloo Mandel and Lowell Ganz, on producing a screenplay for 20th Century Fox. Fox eventually passed on the script and Marshall signed with Sony Pictures, who were eager to produce it.

Casting
On MLB Network's Costas at the Movies in 2013, director Penny Marshall talked about her initial interest in Demi Moore for the part of Dottie Hinson: "Demi Moore, I liked, but by the time we came around, she was pregnant." Debra Winger was then cast as Dottie and spent three months training with the Chicago Cubs in preparation. However, she dropped out of the production four weeks before the start of principal photography, later saying that the casting of Madonna was the reason for her decision. Marshall chose Geena Davis to replace Winger.USC assistant baseball coach Bill Hughes was the film’s technical adviser and put the film’s ensemble cast through baseball camp three months before filming.

Filming
Principal photography began July 10, 1991. Filming the game scenes involved many physical mishaps: Anne Ramsay (Helen Haley) broke her nose with a baseball mitt while trying to catch a ball, and the large bruise seen on actress Renée Coleman's thigh was real.
Discussing the skirts they wore playing in the film, Geena Davis said on MLB Network's Costas at the Movies in 2013, "Some of our real cast, from sliding into home, had ripped the skin off their legs. It was nutty." In a 2021 interview, Petty claimed to have broken her foot during filming, but reiterated her enjoyment of the shoot and the understanding of the film's importance at the time.The tryout scene, at a fictional Major League Baseball stadium in Chicago called Harvey Field, was filmed at the Chicago Cubs' home stadium, Wrigley Field. The Rockford Peaches' home games were filmed at League Stadium in Huntingburg, Indiana, and the championship game against Racine was filmed at Bosse Field in Evansville, Indiana. Additional games were filmed at Jay Littleton Ball Park in Ontario, California. The final week of shooting was during late October 1991 in Cooperstown, New York, where 65 original AAGPBL members appeared in scenes recreating the induction of the league into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988. Due to the length of the schedule, the cast entertained themselves by putting on an elaborate amateur production, "Jesus Christ Superstar Goes Hawaiian."

Soundtrack
A League of Their Own soundtrack was released on CD and cassette tape by Columbia Records on June 30, 1992. The album peaked at #159 on the US Billboard 200 albums chart on July 25, 1992. Although Madonna contributed "This Used to Be My Playground" to the film, featured over the closing credits, her recording was not included on the soundtrack album for contractual reasons.

Reception
Box office
A League of Their Own was released on July 1, 1992, and grossed $13.2 million in its first weekend, finishing second at the box office behind Batman Returns. In its second weekend it dropped just 15%, making $11.5 million and finishing first. It ended up a commercial success, making $107.5 million in the United States and Canada, but only $24.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $132.4 million against a production budget of $40 million.

Critical response
The film was well received by critics, who praised the cast.
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, it holds an approval rating of 81% based on 79 reviews, with an average score of 7/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Sentimental and light, but still thoroughly charming, A League of Their Own is buoyed by solid performances from a wonderful cast." On Metacritic, the film received a weighted average score of 69 based 21 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote: "Though big of budget, A League of Their Own is one of the year's most cheerful, most relaxed, most easily enjoyable comedies. It's a serious film that's lighter than air, a very funny movie that manages to score a few points for feminism in passing." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it 3 out of 4 stars and wrote: "The movie has a real bittersweet charm. The baseball sequences, we've seen before. What's fresh are the personalities of the players, the gradual unfolding of their coach and the way this early chapter of women's liberation fit into the hidebound traditions of professional baseball."

Accolades
On December 19, 2012, it was announced that A League of Their Own would be preserved in the United States National Film Registry.Jimmy Dugan's (Tom Hanks) remark to Evelyn Gardner (Bitty Schram), "There's no crying in baseball!", was ranked 54th on the American Film Institute's 2005 list AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes.

20th anniversary Blu-ray edition
A League of Their Own was released as a 20th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray on October 16, 2012.47 former AAGPBL players reunited in New York to celebrate the film and the real women who inspired it. Events included a trip to Cooperstown for a special program at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, reminiscent of the film's final scene depicting AAGPBL players and family meeting to honor the Women's Professional Baseball League. The reunion wrapped up with a game of softball held at Alliance Bank Stadium in nearby Syracuse.Former players also made an appearance at Bosse Field in Evansville, Indiana on June 6, 2012, where many of the film's game scenes were filmed. Bosse Field still retains many of the Racine Belles themes from the movie. The event included an outdoor screening of the film, and a display of cars featured in the film. In addition to Bosse Field, the production used Huntingburg, Indiana's League Stadium, another Southwestern Indiana field older than Bosse, that was renovated for it.

Spinoffs
A short-lived series of the same title based on the film aired on CBS in April 1993, with Garry Marshall, Megan Cavanagh, Tracy Reiner, Freddie Simpson, and Jon Lovitz reprising their roles. Carey Lowell took over Geena Davis's role. Only five of the six episodes made were broadcast.
On August 6, 2020, Amazon Video ordered a reboot series with the same title as the movie. The series debuted on August 12, 2022 on  Amazon. On March 14, 2023 it was announced that the rebooted series would end with a four-episode second season bringing the total number of episodes of the series to twelve after having aired eight episodes in its first season.

See also
Women in baseball
List of baseball films
Passage 6:
Jean Grossholtz
Thelma Jean Grossholtz (April 17, 1929 – February 9, 2021) was an American professor emeritus of politics and women's studies at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. Beyond her academic work she was also known as an activist for peace and against forced prostitution, and as a senior bodybuilder.

Academic career
After completing undergraduate work at Pennsylvania State University in 1956, Grossholtz earned a master's degree at the University of Denver in 1957, with a master's thesis on Germany–Spain relations in World War II. Grossholtz went on to earn a Doctor of Philosophy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1961, where she trained as a specialist in South East Asian Politics. At Mount Holyoke, she became a founder of the women's studies program. She retired in 1999.

Other activities
Grossholtz was arrested as an anti-war protester over dates ranging from 1941 to 2014. She was one of several pacifists from the Pioneer Valley profiled in the 2005 documentary film The Peace Patriots.Although she was unathletic until her 50s, when she was 65 she won a silver medal in bodybuilding in the 1994 Gay Games . Grossholtz died February 9, 2021.

Selected publications
Grossholtz's publications include:

Grossholtz, Jean (1964), Politics in the Philippines: A Country Study, Boston, Massachusetts: Little Brown
Bourque, Susan C.; Grossholtz, Jean (June 1974), "Politics an unnatural practice: Political science looks at female participation", Politics & Society, 4 (2): 225–266, doi:10.1177/003232927400400205, S2CID 143813325
Grossholtz, Jean (1984), Forging Capitalist Patriarchy: The Economic and Social Transformation of Feudal Sri Lanka and Its Impact on Women, Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press
Passage 7:
Thelma & Louise
Thelma & Louise is a 1991 American film directed by Ridley Scott and written by Callie Khouri. The film has elements of multiple genres and has been described as a drama, adventure or road movie with elements of a romantic comedy. It stars Susan Sarandon as Louise and Geena Davis as Thelma, two friends who embark on a road trip that ends up in unforeseen circumstances. Filming took place in California and Utah from June to August 1990. The supporting cast include Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Christopher McDonald, and Brad Pitt in one of his first major film roles. 
The film was a critical and commercial success, receiving six Academy Award nominations and winning for Best Original Screenplay. Scott was nominated for Best Director, and both Sarandon and Davis were nominated for Best Actress. To date, this is the most recent film to have two actors nominated in the same category for either Best Actor or Best Actress. It influenced other films and artistic works and became a landmark of feminist film.
In 2016, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot
Best friends Thelma Dickinson and Louise Sawyer set out for a weekend vacation at a fishing cabin in the mountains to take a break from their dreary lives in Arkansas. Thelma, a housewife, is married to disrespectful and controlling carpet salesman Darryl, while sharp-tongued Louise works as a waitress in a diner and is dating easygoing musician Jimmy, who is on the road most of the time.
On the way, they stop at a roadhouse bar, where Thelma dances with a flirtatious stranger, Harlan. He takes her to the parking lot and tries to rape her until Louise intervenes and threatens to shoot him. As the women walk away, Harlan yells vulgarities at them, so Louise shoots him in a fit of rage.
At a motel they discuss how to handle the situation. Thelma wants to go to the police, but Louise fears that no one will believe a claim of attempted rape as Thelma was drinking and dancing with Harlan and also having no evidence of the rape, and they will be charged with murder. They decide to flee to Mexico, but Louise demands they travel there without going through Texas, as something happened to her there several years earlier which she refuses to reveal. Heading west, they come across an attractive young drifter, J.D., to whom Thelma takes a liking. Louise contacts Jimmy, asking him to wire her life savings to her. He surprises her by delivering the money in person, and they spend the night together. Jimmy proposes to Louise, but she refuses. Thelma invites J.D. to her room, and they sleep together. She learns he is a convicted armed-robber who has violated the terms of his parole.
The following morning, they discover J.D. has stolen Louise's life savings and fled. Louise is distraught, so a guilty Thelma takes charge and later robs a nearby convenience store using tactics she learned from J.D.. Meanwhile, the FBI closes in on them after witnesses at the bar identify Louise's 1966 Ford Thunderbird convertible. Their whereabouts are also questioned by the owner of the fishing cabin after they failed to arrive.
Arkansas State Police Investigator Hal Slocumb, leading the investigation, questions both J.D. (who was caught) and Jimmy, and taps into the phone line at Darryl's house. He sympathizes with the pair's situation and understands why they did not report Harlan's killing (partly due to Louise's own experience in Texas). During a few brief phone conversations with Louise, Hal expresses his sympathy but is unsuccessful in persuading her to surrender.
Thelma tells Louise she understands if she wants to go back home, knowing she has Jimmy waiting for her, but explains she cannot go back to Darryl. Louise promises they will keep going together. While back on the road, Thelma recalls the incident with Harlan and tries to ask Louise if what happened with Harlan was what happened to Louise in Texas. Louise responds angrily and tells Thelma to never bring it up again.
Later, they are pulled over by a New Mexico state trooper for speeding. Knowing he will soon discover they are wanted for murder and armed robbery, Thelma holds him at gunpoint and locks him in the trunk of his police car. Driving further west, they encounter a foul-mouthed truck driver who repeatedly makes obscene gestures at them. They pull over and demand an apology from him; when he refuses, they fire at his fuel tanker, causing it to explode. The women leave him stranded in the desert furious with the tanker's wreckage.
Thelma and Louise are finally cornered by the authorities only one hundred yards from the edge of the Grand Canyon. Hal arrives on the scene, but the women refuse his last chance to talk them into surrendering. Rather than be captured, Thelma proposes that they "keep going". Louise asks Thelma if she is certain, and Thelma says yes. They kiss and then hold hands, Louise steps on the gas, and, as Hal desperately pursues them on foot, they accelerate over the cliff to their presumed deaths.

Cast
Susan Sarandon as Louise Sawyer
Geena Davis as Thelma Dickinson
Harvey Keitel as Arkansas State Police Detective Hal Slocumb
Michael Madsen as Jimmy Lennox
Christopher McDonald as Darryl Dickinson
Stephen Tobolowsky as FBI Agent Max
Brad Pitt as J.D.
Timothy Carhart as Harlan Puckett
Lucinda Jenney as The Waitress
Jason Beghe as State Trooper
Marco St. John as Truck DriverCredits adapted from American Film Institute.

Production
Development
The idea for Thelma & Louise originated in the spring of 1988 when Callie Khouri, then a music video producer, was driving home from work to her apartment in Santa Monica. She spent the following six months working on her first screenplay, which was noted to have drawn inspiration from her own experience as well as her friendship with country music singer Pam Tillis. She had intended it to be a low-budget independent film, directed by herself and produced by fellow music video producer Amanda Temple (wife of English filmmaker Julien Temple). After shopping the project around and finding no takers, Temple showed the script to her friend Mimi Polk Gitlin, who ran Ridley Scott's Percy Main Productions (later Scott Free Productions). Gitlin in turn showed the script to Scott, who expressed great enthusiasm for the project. He agreed to produce the film and bought the film rights for $500,000. Pathé Entertainment, then led by Scott's friend and collaborator Alan Ladd Jr., came on board as a co-producer and financier.Scott considered four people for the role of director, all of whom turned down the opportunity. Per Gitlin's recollection, three of the candidates were Bob Rafelson, Kevin Reynolds and Richard Donner. Scott was reluctant to direct the film himself but eventually took on the role, having been persuaded by Michelle Pfeiffer.

Casting
Michelle Pfeiffer and Jodie Foster were originally chosen for the leads; both accepted their roles with enthusiasm. As pre-production of the film dragged on, the two eventually dropped out, with Pfeiffer going on to star in Love Field and Foster in The Silence of the Lambs. Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn then offered to play the leads, but Streep later dropped out due to scheduling conflicts while Hawn was not considered right for the part. Geena Davis (who had been vigorously pursuing the lead role for nearly a year) and Susan Sarandon were ultimately chosen. The two took extensive driving and shooting lessons in preparation for their roles.Scott personally convinced Harvey Keitel to take on the role of Hal, the sympathetic Arkansas detective. The two had previously collaborated in Scott's feature directorial debut, the 1977 film The Duellists. Davis recommended her ex-boyfriend Christopher McDonald for the role of Darryl, Thelma's controlling husband. Scott wanted Michael Madsen for Harlan, Thelma's would-be rapist, but Madsen was unwilling; he eventually won the role of Jimmy, Louise's boyfriend. Brad Pitt auditioned for the hustler J.D.; however, the part originally went to Billy Baldwin. Pitt eventually secured the role after both Baldwin and his replacement dropped out. George Clooney, Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Grant Show, John Mellencamp, Dylan McDermott, James LeGros and Dermot Mulroney were also considered for the role of J.D. Davis did test scenes with Clooney, Show, Ruffalo and Pitt; her advice to the directors was to choose Pitt.

Filming
Principal photography for Thelma & Louise began on June 11, 1990, and concluded on August 31, 1990. Although the setting for the film is a fictional route between Arkansas and the Grand Canyon, it was filmed almost entirely in the states of California and Utah. The primary filming locations were rural areas around Bakersfield, California and Moab, Utah. The Grand Canyon scenes were filmed just south of Dead Horse Point State Park in Utah. Parts of the film were also shot at Shafer Overlook, Monument Valley, La Sal Mountains, La Sal Junction, Cisco, Old Valley City Reservoir, Thompson Springs, Arches National Park, and Crescent Junction in Utah.

Soundtrack
Pete Haycock on slide guitar contributed to Thunderbird, the theme music for the film. In addition to Glenn Frey's "Part of Me, Part of You", which became the film's primary theme song, the soundtrack included songs performed by Chris Whitley ("Kick The Stones"), Martha Reeves ("Wild Night" written by Van Morrison), Toni Childs ("House Of Hope"), Marianne Faithfull ("Ballad of Lucy Jordan" written by Shel Silverstein), Charlie Sexton ("Badlands"), Grayson Hugh ("I Can't Untie You From Me"), B.B. King ("Better Not Look Down" written by Joe Sample & Will Jennings), Michael McDonald ("No Lookin' Back"), The Temptations ("The Way You Do The Things You Do" written by Smokey Robinson & Bobby Rogers), and Johnny Nash ("I Can See Clearly Now").

Release
Thelma & Louise was screened out of competition as the closing film at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival. Theatrical release was delayed due to financial turmoil at MGM-Pathé. The film eventually opened in American theaters on May 24, 1991 and was a box-office success, grossing $45 million within the country.In February 2023, The Criterion Collection announced the film would be joining the collection in May that year.

Reception
The film received critical acclaim. Janet Maslin of The New York Times had only praise for the film in her review:

Mr. Scott's Thelma and Louise, with a sparkling screenplay by the first-time writer Callie Khouri, is a surprise on this and many other scores. It reveals the previously untapped talent of Mr. Scott (best known for majestically moody action films like Alien, Blade Runner and Black Rain) for exuberant comedy, and for vibrant American imagery, notwithstanding his English roots. It reimagines the buddy film with such freshness and vigor that the genre seems positively new. It discovers unexpected resources in both its stars, Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis, who are perfectly teamed as the spirited and original title characters.
Roger Ebert also praised the film but withheld a perfect score on the basis of "the last shot before the titles begin. It's a freeze frame that fades to white, which is fine, except it does so with unseemly haste .... It's unsettling to get involved in a movie that takes 128 minutes to bring you to a payoff that the filmmakers seem to fear."After watching the film, singer-songwriter Tori Amos wrote "Me and a Gun", the story of her rape several years earlier.The final scene, where the two embrace before committing suicide by driving off a cliff, has become iconic. Numerous homages and parodies of the scene have appeared, including alternate film endings, cartoon parodies, video game "Easter eggs", and as a tragic ending to television series, music videos, and commercials. Right after the film's release, there were even a few copy cats who committed suicide by driving off the edge of the Grand Canyon.The film also received harsh criticism from those who thought it was biased against men and that its depictions of men were unfairly negative.On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 86% based on 147 reviews, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Simultaneously funny, heartbreaking, and peppered with action, Ridley Scott's Thelma & Louise is a potent, well-acted road movie that transcends the feminist message at its core." On Metacritic, the film received a score of 88 based on 12 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".The film placed second to The Silence of the Lambs as the best film of 1991 in a poll of 81 critics.

Feminism
Numerous critics and writers have remarked on the strong feminist overtones of Thelma & Louise. Film critic B. Ruby Rich praises the film as an uncompromising validation of women's experiences, while Kenneth Turan calls it a "neo-feminist road movie". In her essay "The Daughters of Thelma and Louise", Jessica Enevold argues that the film constitutes "an attack on conventional patterns of chauvinist male behavior toward females". In addition, it "exposes the traditional stereotyping of male–female relationships" while rescripting the typical gender roles of the road movie genre.In her review for the Los Angeles Times, film critic Sheila Benson objects to the characterization of the film as feminist, arguing that it is more preoccupied with revenge and violence than feminist values.In his review for the New York Post, film critic Kyle Smith describes the film as "a misogynist tale about unbelievably ditzy women who lose what remains of their reason under pressure and suffer the ultimate punishment." Smith's review focused on the terrible decisions these female characters make throughout the entire film.In an article commemorating the film's 20th anniversary in 2011, Raina Lipsitz called it "the last great film about women" and said that it heralded the achievements of women that caused 1992 to become "the year of the woman". However, she also said that women-themed films have since been losing ground.

Accolades
The British Film Institute published a book about the film in 2000 as part of a Modern Classics series. On the Writers Guild of America Award's list of 101 best screenplays, it made No. 72.

Notes
Passage 8:
Breakwater Cat
Breakwater Cat is the tenth album by American singer Thelma Houston, released in 1980 on RCA Records. The 12" single "Suspicious  Minds" became a popular club hit. Breakwater Cat contains five songs written by Jimmy Webb, who was also the executive producer of the album.

Track listing
All songs were written by Jimmy Webb; except where indicated.

"Breakwater Cat" – 3:55
"Long and Lasting Love" – 5:30
"Before There Could Be Me" – 3:12
"Gone" – 3:43
"What Was That Song" – 4:19
"Suspicious Minds" (Mark James) – 4:15
"Down the Backstairs of My Life" (Eric Mercury, William Smith) – 3:00
"Understand Your Man" (Alan Gordon) – 3:27
"Lost and Found" (Daniel Moore) – 4:20
"Something We May Never Know" (Shelby Flint) – 3:38

Personnel
MusicThelma Houston – vocals
Sonny Burke – piano, arrangements
Matthew McCauley – string and horn arrangements
David T. Walker, Tim May, Steve Beckmeier, Carlos Rios, Steve Hunter, Fred Tackett, Greg Poree – guitar
David Shields, Eddie N. Watkins Jr., Keni Burke, Scott Edwards, Dennis Belfield, Reggie McBride – bass guitar
Gary Morse - steel guitar on "Something We May Never Know"
Jerry Peters - keyboards
James Gadson – drums
Jerry Hey - horn
Paulinho da Costa – percussion
Clydie King – backing vocals
Greg Wright – backing vocals
Oren Waters – backing vocals
Tom Kelly – backing vocalsProductionJames Gadson – producer
Michael Stewart – producer
Mike Vickers – assistant producer
Jimmy Webb – executive producer
Brian Christian – engineer
Frank "Cheech" D'Amici – engineer
Mark Linett – engineer
Rick Hart – engineer
Rick Ruggieri – engineer
Gribbitt! – art direction
Henry Vizcarra – art direction
Tim Bryant – art direction
Charles Veal, Jr. – contractor
Jerry Hoff – contractor
Sid Sharp – contractor
Lynne Morse – A&R coordinator
Linda Gerrity – production coordinator
Glenn Parsons - design
Gribbitt! - design
John Arrias – mixing
Ron Slenzak – photography
Passage 9:
Elizabeth Alexeievna (Louise of Baden)
Elizabeth Alexeievna (Russian: Елизавета Алексеевна; 24 January [O.S. 13 January] 1779 – 16 May [O.S. 4 May] 1826), born Princess Louise of Baden (German: Luise Marie Auguste von Baden), was Empress of Russia during her marriage to Emperor Alexander I.

Princess of Baden
Elizabeth Alexeievna was born in Karlsruhe, on 24 January [O.S. 13 January] 1779 as Princess Louise Maria Auguste of Baden of the House of Zähringen. She was the third of seven children of Charles Louis, Hereditary Prince of Baden, and his wife, Landgravine Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt. At birth, the child was so small and weak that doctors feared that she would not live.

Louise grew up in a close, warm family environment. She would remain particularly attached to her mother, with whom she maintained an intimate correspondence until her death (The Margravine of Baden outlived her daughter). She received a thoughtful education at the Baden court. She spoke and wrote both in French and German; studied history, geography, philosophy, and French and German literature. Thanks to the close proximity between Baden and France, she was well acquainted with French culture and refinements, as was the custom of that era. Because her grandfather, the reigning Margrave of Baden, was not rich, the family lived modestly by royal standards.
Catherine the Great was looking for a bride for her eldest grandson, the future Alexander I, and set her eyes on the Princesses of Baden who were the nieces of the Queen of Prussia and the deceased Grand Duchess Natalia Alexeievna (Wilhelmina Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt) who had been the first spouse of Grand Duke Paul of Russia. Thus, an alliance to Prussia and several German royal houses they were closely related to would be a beneficial outcome. After favorable impressions, Catherine invited Princess Louise and her younger sister Frederica, who later became Queen of Sweden, to Russia. In the autumn of 1792, the two sisters arrived in St. Petersburg.
The Empress was delighted by Louise, finding her a model of beauty, charm, and honesty. Louise herself was attracted to Alexander; he was tall and handsome. At first, Alexander was shy with his future bride — very young and inexperienced, he did not know how to treat her — and she mistook his reserve for dislike. However, the young couple soon grew fond of each other. "You tell me that I hold the happiness of a certain person in my hands", she wrote to Alexander. "If that is true, then his happiness is assured forever… this person loves me tenderly, and I love him in return, and that will be my happiness… you can be certain that I love you more than I ever can say", she added. They were engaged in May 1793.
The Princess learned Russian, converted to the Orthodox Church, took the title of Grand Duchess of Russia and traded the name Louise Maria Auguste for Elizabeth Alexeievna. The wedding took place on 28 September 1793. "It was a marriage between Psyche and Cupid", Catherine wrote to the Prince of Ligne. Elizabeth was only fourteen, her husband a year older.

Grand Duchess of Russia
Very young when she was married, shy, and naïve, Elizabeth Alexeievna was ill-prepared for her new position. She was overwhelmed by the splendor of the Russian court and frightened by the vicious intrigues waged there with cold calculation. She was appalled by the intense sexual intrigues that flourished all around her in a court where adultery was an accepted form of entertainment. The Empress herself set the example for the licentious ways of the court. Catherine's lover, Platon Zubov, even tried to seduce Elizabeth Alexeievna.The Grand Duchess felt lonely and homesick, particularly after her sister Frederica returned to Baden. Elizabeth was abandoned in an alien world where she could never be herself, even among her servants and ladies-in-waiting. The relationship with Alexander was her only source of solace. "Without my husband, who alone makes me happy, I should have died a thousand deaths"The first years of the marriage were relatively happy, but the Grand Duchess disappointed Catherine II, who did not live to see a son be born to the young couple. The death of Catherine the Great in November 1796 brought Elizabeth's father-in-law Paul I to the Russian throne. During the years of his reign, Elizabeth avoided Paul's court. She utterly disliked her father-in-law and disapproved of the injustices of his government and the bluntness of his character.

The first cracks in Elizabeth's marriage began to appear. She did not find fulfillment for her romantic nature in a husband who neglected her. Elizabeth looked for emotional solace elsewhere. She first found refuge for her loneliness in a close intimate friendship with the beautiful Countess Golovina. Later, she started a romantic liaison with Alexander's best friend, the dashing and clever Polish prince, Adam Czartoryski. Their relationship lasted for three years.
After more than five years of a childless marriage, on 29 May 1799, Elizabeth gave birth to a daughter, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna. At court, some attributed the paternity to the Polish Prince. The child had black hair and dark eyes. At the baptism, Tsar Paul I did not fail to express his amazement that the two blonde and blue-eyed parents have a dark-haired child. Elizabeth Alexeievna soon lost both her lover and her daughter. Adam Czartoryski was sent on a diplomatic mission, and Elizabeth's baby daughter did not live long. "As of this morning, I no longer have a child, she is dead" she wrote to her mother on  27 July 1800. "Not an hour of the day passes without my thinking of her, and certainly not a day without my giving her bitter tears. It cannot be otherwise so long as I live, even if she were to be replaced by two dozen children."

Personality and appearance
Elizabeth Alexeievna was distinguished by a soft, melodious voice and a beautiful oval face with delicate features; a Greek profile, large almond-shaped blue eyes and curly ash blond hair, which she usually left floating on her shoulders. With an elegant figure, regal carriage, and a beautiful angelic face, she was regarded by contemporaries as one of the most beautiful women in Europe and probably the most beautiful consort at that time.
Charming, generous and intellectual, Elizabeth Alexeievna loved literature and the arts. She took music lessons from Ludwig-Wilhelm Tepper de Ferguson (1768–after 1824). Unfortunately, she possessed a shy, withdrawn personality which failed to endear her to either the Russian court or her in-laws. She preferred simplicity and solitude to the pomp and ceremony of life at court.
Her marriage also failed to bring her fulfillment. Although Elizabeth Alexeievna loved her husband, and encouraged him in many personal and political crises, Alexander neglected her. Their relationship was harmonious, but emotionally distant, with each engaging in love affairs outside their marriage.

Russian Empress
The eccentricities of Emperor Paul I led to a plot to overthrow him and place Alexander on the Russian throne. Elizabeth was well aware of this scheme and on the night of Paul's assassination, she was with her husband giving him support.
Once Alexander I became Emperor, Elizabeth Alexeievna encouraged him to leave behind the trauma of Paul I's murder and dedicate himself to serve Russia. As Empress Consort, she took part in court life and the duties of representation, but the first female rank in the Empire was reserved for her mother-in-law Empress Maria Feodorovna. During official events, Empress Maria Feodorovna walked next to the Emperor while Elizabeth was forced to walk alone behind them.
Alexander I treated his wife indifferently, he was polite toward her in public ceremonies and made an effort to have his meals in her company. Elizabeth was said to be too soft and placid to keep a hold on a restless and soul tortured man such as her husband. In 1803, Alexander began a love affair that would continue for more than fifteen years with the Polish princess Maria Czetwertynska, wife of Prince Dmitri Naryshkin. Princess Maria Naryshkina flaunted her liaison at court in a tasteless, blatant fashion.

Elizabeth Alexeievna, for her part, found solace in her relationship with Adam Czartoryski, who had returned to Russia at Alexander I's ascension to the throne. This liaison ended when she started a love affair with a handsome staff captain, Alexis Okhotnikov. All the correspondence between Elizabeth and Alexis Okhotnikov, and some of her diaries were destroyed by Emperor Nicholas I after her death.
The affair with Okhotnikov had a tragic end. The staff captain, who suffered from tuberculosis, retired due to his worsened health and died in 1807. It was apparently rumored later that Alexander I or his brother Grand Duke Konstantin had ordered him killed; in the early twentieth century Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich turned those rumors into an elaborate legend for his biography of Elizabeth Alexeievna, although the chapter on Okhotnikov was not published at the time due to Nicholas II's personal intervention, and his other studies of that period.
On 16 November 1806, Elizabeth gave birth to a second daughter. There were rumors that the newborn, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Alexandrovna was not a child of Emperor Alexander but of Okhotnikov. After his death, Elizabeth Alexeievna felt more abandoned than ever and poured out all her affection on her daughter Elizabeth, "Lisinka". Fifteen months later, the little girl died suddenly of an infection blamed on teething. "Now," wrote Elizabeth to her mother, "I am not longer good for anything in this world, my soul has no more strength to recover from this last blow."The death of their daughter temporarily brought Alexander I and Elizabeth closer. Although Elizabeth Alexeievna was not yet thirty years old, neither she nor Alexander had further hopes of a family and they would have no more children.
During the Napoleonic Wars, Elizabeth Alexeievna was a reliable supporter of her husband's policies as she had been in other personal and political crises. After the fall of Napoleon, she joined her husband and many of the crowned heads of Europe in the Congress of Vienna (1814), where she was reunited with her old paramour, Adam Czartoryski. He was still in love with her and forgave her past infidelity with Okhotnikov. Their reunion was short-lived.

Last years and death
Once she reached forty, she left behind any romantic pretensions. Her husband also experienced a personal transformation that drove the couple closer than they ever were. In 1818, Alexander I, immersed in religious mysticism, broke his long relationship with Maria Naryshkina. From then on, the husband and wife started to spend more time together. The Empress sympathized deeply with him and Alexander found her supportive when he lost his beloved natural daughter Sophia. The marked reconciliation between the Emperor and the Empress caused general surprise. "I am reduced to thinking of myself sometimes as Alexander's mistress, or as if we had been married secretly..." Elizabeth wrote to her mother.
By 1825, Elizabeth Alexeievna's health was frail; she suffered from a lung condition and a nervous indisposition. The doctors recommended her to take a rest in a temperate climate and suggested the southern city of Taganrog by the Sea of Azov. With no comfortable palace, the imperial couple were established in a modest house in Taganrog by 5 October. They were happy together living in intimate simplicity. On 17 November 1825 Alexander returned to Taganrog from visiting Crimea with a cold, which developed into typhus, from which he died that December in the arms of his wife. Elizabeth was stricken by her loss, writing "I do not understand myself, I do not understand my destiny... What am I to do with my will, which was entirely subjected to him, with my life, which I loved to devote to him?" 

The now Dowager Tsarina was too frail to come back to St. Petersburg for the funeral. When Elizabeth Alexeievna finally started her return journey to the capital, she felt so sick that she had to stop at Belev, Tula Province on the road to St. Petersburg, just a few hours before she was to meet her mother-in-law, who was coming south to greet her. In the early hours of 16 May 1826, towards 4.30 am, when her lady's maid went to check on the Empress, she found her dead in bed. Elizabeth Alexeievna had died of heart failure.
Three days after her husband's death Elizabeth had written her mother, "Do not worry too much about me, but if I dared, I would like to follow the one who has been my very life."

Children
Alexander I and Elizabeth Alexeievna had two daughters, both of whom died in early childhood. Their common sorrow drew husband and wife closer together for a brief time.

Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia (St. Petersburg, 29 May 1799 – St. Petersburg, 8 July 1800)
Grand Duchess Elizabeth Alexandrovna of Russia (St. Petersburg, 15 November 1806 – St. Petersburg, 12 May 1808)

Ancestry
Footnotes
Passage 10:
Thelma, Kentucky
Thelma is an unincorporated community in Johnson County, Kentucky, United States. The community was originally known as Buskirk, after a local family. But, when the community received its first post office on June 5, 1905, it was renamed Thelma after the daughter of Warren Meek. Meek was a successful pioneer in the newspaper field in the Big Sandy Valley.Thelma's ZIP code is 41260.
Thelma is located at an elevation of 636 feet.

Answer the question based on the given passages. Only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: In A League of Their Own, who played the husband of the actress who played Thelma in Thelma and Louise?



Answer: Bill Pullman