Lana Turner

LANA TURNER

FEBRUARY 8, 1921-JUNE 29, 1995

Block 3 Mon/wed/Fri

THE HAWKS

Lana Turner, or Julia Jean Mildred Frances Turner was born in Wallace, Idaho to John and Mildred Turner February 8th 1921. Lana grew up without a father, he had won a big card game one night then was robbed and killed in 1929, later she heard that he had been bragging about using the money he won to buy her the tricycle she had been begging him for. He worked in the mines and his card skills helped the family throughout tough times. Lana had also never met her grandmother who had died giving birth to Mildred Turner, from a disease that destroyed Lana's chances from having anymore children after her daughter Cheryl was born. Lana was married eight times to a variety of men.

Lana had loved going to the movies, saving 5 cents each weekday from lunch to go to a movie every weekend for 25 cents. This pretty much shows you that she loved movies very much. Everything then changed, Lana and her mother moved to California to find better jobs. At this time Lana had been 15 and was noticed by a Hollywood Reporter W.R Wilkerson. He then introduced Lana to a movie director named Mervyn LeRoy. Then at the age of 17 Lana entered the movie biz. After the first couple of movies she was immediately noticed. Being in movies wasn't really her dream, it was was to become a fashion designer. Lana still stood strong and brought attention to the audience with her beauty.

Lana had started out making $50 a week then LeRoy left Warner Bros and signed onto MGM so her salary increased to $100 a week. With all of that money Lana earned she bought a house for her and her mother to live in. Her salary began to increase more and by the age of 20 she was making $1,500 a week. When the U.S. entered WWII Lana started to travel with railroad tours that sold bonds. In her own words she said,

"I'm told I increased the defense budget by several million dollars."

Not only did that increase but her salary did when she signed another contract with MGM in 1945 which gave her an addition of $4000 a week. I 1948 Lana filmed "The Three Musketeers" her first colored movie. Lana began to start filming more and more movies like Imitation of life(1959), Portrait in Black(1960), and The Bad and the Beautiful which won 5 Academy Awards. On October 25, 1981 the National Film society awarded Lana with Artistry in an Cinema Award. Her movie Lifestyle then Ended on June 29th, 1995 from throat cancer. Lana Turner had been cremated and then given to her daughter.

Sources: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001805/bio

http://www.cmgww.com/stars/turner/

http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=9542242

Shakespeare: Hamlet

Shakespeare: Hamlet

The Falcones

"To be or not to be" one of the famous quote and poem from Shakespeare's Hamlet. Hamlet is one of the many famous plays William Shakespeare wrote. William Shakespeare was born in 1564 to a successful middle-class glove-maker in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. He attended grammar school were then he married Anne Hathaway. Around 1590 he left his family behind to work as an actor and playwright. One of his many plays is called Hamlet. a brief version of hamlet would go something like this, Hamlet's father, the king, has died and his uncle, Claudius, has married Hamlet's widowed mother, Gertrude, and taken over the throne. One night Hamlet's father's ghost is spotted and talks to Hamlet and tells him that Claudius killed him. Hamlet is to revenge his murder. He eventually does, but Hamlet dies and so does his mother (who drinks poison intended for Hamlet). during the play some drama, hatred, jealousy is aware. Hamlet and Laertes are two good friends who have several things in common such as they both wanted to return to the countries where they had been living and they both are sons of murdered fathers who feel duty-bound to seek revenge. Prince Hamlet mourns both his father's death and his mother, Queen Gertrude's remarriage to Claudius. Hamlet's father died quickly and suddenly before he had the chance to 'cleanse his soul' with prayer. The ghost of Hamlet's father presumes that Hamlet, after avenging his own father's death, will at some point in life pray for forgiveness of ALL of his sins given the opportunity, thus saving Hamlet from enduring endless suffering in the 'fires'. The ghost of Hamlet's father appears to him and tells him that Claudius has poisoned him. Hamlet swears revenge. He arranges an old play whose story has a parallel to that of Claudius. Hamlet's behaviour is considered mad. He kills the eavesdropping Polonius, the court chamberlain, by thrusting his sword through a curtain. Polonius's son Laertes returns to Denmark to avenge his father's death. Polonius's daughter Ophelia loves the Prince but his brutal behaviour drives her to madness. Ophelia dies by drowning. A duel takes place and ends with the death of Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius, and Hamlet. the themes of this plot include indecision, seeking revenge and retribution, deception, ambition, and loyalty. Some famous quotes "To be, or not to be: that is the question" "Neither a borrower nor a lender be" "This above all: to thine own self be true"."Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't.". "The lady doth protest too much, methinks". "In my mind's eye". "The play 's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king".

Resources

http://www.bookrags.com/notes/ham/

http://www.william-shakespeare.info/shakespeare-play-hamlet.htm

http://www.enotes.com/hamlet/q-and-a/what-characteristics-do-hamlet-laertes-have-common-68907

http://www.enotes.com/hamlet/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-S0M1PkNcQ

Music of the 1940's

1940's music was mainly defined by world war II. This era of music reflected the hurt and effects people were going through but still remained up tempo. The music style of the 1940's were a combined mix of what comes to known as rock n roll, jazz and blues. Some artists who made their marks on music in the 1940's were Bling Crosby who wrote and sung "White Christmas".There was also singers who had big bands,Frank Sinatra who had a strong sexual charge, Perry Como were along these lines too. Singers sang the blues from way back in the early years of blues and jazz in the 40s to develop the 'soul' thing that is everywhere today. One way the world war II influenced the music in 1940's, was how it affected the women. All of the men went overseas and then the women were lonely. Most of the songs were about coming home, loved ones, the war, romance, or things along these lines. 1940's music also influenced dances like the Jitterbug, and lindy Hop.

Sources:

http://http//www.thepeoplehistory.com/40smusic.html

http://http//kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade40.html

http://http//tunecharts.com/

Laurette Taylor

Laurette Taylor was born née Loretta Cooney on April 1, 1884, in New York City. Charles A. Taylor was her first husband and he wrote a play in 1903 at Boston called The Child Wife which became her first major production.

In New York City later that year she became Flossie Cooper in From Rags to Riches. In 1910, she was successfull for the first time by playing Rose Lane in Alias Jimmy Valentine then played the part of Luana in The Bird of Paradise in 1912. That same year, she married J. Hartley Manners, a dramatist. She was applauded for preforming the title role in his play Peg O' My Heart also the same year, which was shown in New York City as well as other cities. Out There (1917), Happiness (1918), and One Night in Rome (1919) were the plays she and her husband worked on together as actress and dramatist.

Laurette Taylor first performed mainly as a sentimental comedienne. During the 1920s she played the title role in Sweet Nell of Old Drury (1923) and Rose in Trelawny of the Wells (1925). She made an appearance in the Chicago production of The Comedienne (1927) and returned to Broadway with The Furies (1928). Her husband died in 1928 and caused her to leave the theatre for a few years, and only performed occasionally for a decade after the incident. At last, in 1945, she appeared as Amanda in the New York City production of The Glass Menagerie, in which she won commendation for her outstanding performance. Laurette Taylor died december 7, 1946. Her stage career lasted over 30 years

Laurette Taylor information

Pictures of Laurette taylor

Posted by: Little Einsteins, Block 4

Helen Hayes

Ying Yang Yo Block 4

Helen Hayes was a very successful American actress. She was born on October 10, 1900, Washington D.C. Helen’s mother Catherine Estelle was an aspiring actress and her father Frank Van Arnum Brown. Her grandparents immigrated form Ireland during the Irish potato famine. Helen married Charles Mac Arther and had children Mary Mac Arther who died at 19 from polio. Hayes adopted son was named James Mac Arther who became an actor. Hayes started to perform at a young age. She participated in many films such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Jack the Giant Killer, The Lord Fauntleroy, and much more. Hayes also received several awards for her talent such as an Emmy, A Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award. This woman was loved for her role play as the queen in Victoria Regina, and for being down to earth as a Broadway actress. Helen Hayes died March 17, 1993 in Nyack, New York.

Sources

http://www.helenhayes.com/about/achievements.html

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/hayes_b.html

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0371040/

Jessica Tandy

Jessica Tandy



Born in London England, Jessica Alice Tandy is known for being one of the most outstanding actresses. She was born on June 7th, 1909. Jessica started at a young age interested in acting. Her parents enrolled her in Ben Greet acting academy at the age of 16. From there her life success had come. At 16, she performed in her first play "The Manderson Girls". In 1932, Jessica married British actor Jack Hawkens. After she had a child named Susan. Only 8 years into the marriage they decided it wasn't working out. Then Jessica started on Broadway, which she got her first Tony award performing in the show "A Streetcar Named Desire". Within her whole life she played in 11 Broadway productions. In 1942 she married Hume Cronye an actor/producer/director. Throughout Jessica's life she performed in a lot of movies and won many awards. Some of her most famous performances are The Birds, Fried Green Tomatoes, Driving Miss Daisy. Jessica won Oscars, Saturn Award, BAFTA Film Award, Emmy's, and Golden Globes. This is just a few to list. Her last award to be received was a Academy award in 1989 for best actress in a leading role, this was from the movie Driving Miss Daisy. Some last interesting facts are that Jessica earned a law degree in 1974. Also she was chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world. Died September 11,1994 in Easton, Ct. She passed away after fighting 4 years of Ovarian cancer.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001788/

http://www.picsearch.com/pictures/actors/academy%20awards%20winners/best%20actress/jessica%20tandy.html

http://www.shoestring.org/mmi_revs/jessica-tandy.html

The Life and Times of Katherine Hepburn

Katharine Houghton Hepburn was born on May 12, 1907 in Hartford, CT. Her parents were Thomas Norval Hepburn (a doctor) and Katharine Martha Houghton (a suffragette). Katharine had 5 siblings, Tom, Robert, Richard, Marion, and Margaret. It was in 1921 when Katharine found her brother Tom hung from the wood shafts in their aunt's attic. It is unknown if this was suicide or just a stunt gone awry, but nonetheless, this caused Katharine to go into a depression. She even tended to use Tom's birthday as her own.

Katharine Hepburn attended Bryn Mawr College, graduating in 1928. This is also when she met and married Ludlow Ogden Smith, who she later divorced 6 years later in 1934. After graduating, she moved to New York, hoping to get a start on her acting career. She got off to a rocky start, with a few successful plays, but mostly flops. Between 1935 and 1938, Katharine gained the nickname "Box Office Poison".


It was in 1940 when she starred in A Philadelphia Story, a film that became a box office hit and rid her of the nickname given to her. Katharine then appeared in Woman of the Year in 1942, co-starring with Spencer Tracy. Their relationship lasted for about 25 years, or eight more films.

In the 1950's, Katharine's roles changed to "middle aged spinster" roles. It was in the 1970's that she started acting in "made for T.V." films, one of which was The Glass Menagerie. During her career which lasted over 50 years, she was awarded 4 Oscars, 21 other awards from the Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and even a place on the Walk of Fame, as well as 27 nominations. Katharine Houghton Hepburn died at the age of 96 in Old Saybrook, CT on June 29, 2003.


Here is a video on Youtube that shows two scenes from the film A Philadelphia Story.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH2DKZ-2m74

Sources:

• http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000031/bio
• http://movies.msn.com/celebrities/celebrity-biography/katharine-hepburn/
• http://www-scf.usc.edu/~kristena/bio.html
• http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000031/awards

This blog was posted by Robert Edwards of the English Hawks, period 2 English class. Other members of the group are Shamelle, Tish, Edward, and Nelson.