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Jane Wyman

Jane Wyman (born Sarah Jane Mayfield; January 5, 1917 – September 10, 2007) was an American actress. A star of both movies and television she received an Academy Award for Best Actress (1948), four Golden Globe Awards (1948, 1950, 1951 and 1983) and nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards (1957 and 1959). In 1960 she received stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for both motion pictures and television. She was the first wife of President Ronald Reagan.

Jane Wyman's movie career began in earnest in 1934 at Paramount Pictures as a chorus girl dancing for LeRoy Prinz. Bryan Foy signed Wyman to her first studio contract with Warner Bros. in 1936 at 19. Over a protracted apprenticeship at Warner Bros. Wyman progressed from bit parts and B films to supporting Maureen O’Sullivan (The Crowd Roars, 1938), Alice Faye and Constance Bennett (Tail Spin, 1939), Olivia De Havilland (My Love Came Back, 1940 and Princess O'Rourke, 1943) and Betty Grable (Footlight Serenade, 1942) in major studio releases.

After more than a decade on screen the post-war success of The Lost Weekend (1945) finally established Jane Wyman, then 28, as a movie star. More dramatic vehicles followed including The Yearling (1946), Johnny Belinda (1948), Stage Fright (1950), The Blue Veil (1951), So Big (1953), Magnificent Obsession (1954) and All That Heaven Allows (1955). She received four nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress between 1946 and 1954, winning for Johnny Belinda (1948).

In 1955 at 38 Jane Wyman transitioned into television forming her own production company Lewman Productions Ltd.(co-owned with MCA Inc.) and assuming responsibility for producing the next 3 seasons (1955-1958) of the already popular filmed anthology series the Fireside Theatre from Hal Roach Studios for NBC. She served as producer, host and frequent star of the series from 1955 to 1958.

In her early forties Wyman continued to work in both film and television, enjoying a certain level of visibility from the syndication of The Jane Wyman Show but no longer in demand as a leading lady.

After a couple of periods of virtual retirement between 1963–1968 and 1974–1978 she returned to prominence on the prime-time soap opera Falcon Crest (1981–1990), portraying the role of villainous matriarch Angela Channing.

Early life
Sarah Jane Mayfield was born on January 5, 1917, in St. Joseph, Missouri, to Gladys Hope ( Christian; 1891–1960) and Manning Jeffries Mayfield (1895–1922). Her father was a meal company laborer and her mother was a doctor's stenographer and office assistant. Wyman was an only child. Her birth parents were married in March, 1916 in Jackson County, Missouri. The 1920 census showed her to be three years old on January 15, 1920, and living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In October 1921, her parents divorced and her father died unexpectedly three months later. After his death, her mother moved to Cleveland, Ohio, leaving her to be reared by neighbours, Emma (née Reiss) and Richard D. Fulks, the chief of detectives in Saint Joseph. She took their surname unofficially, including in her school records and on her marriage certificate to first husband Ernest Wyman. The Fulks’ had two older children whom were sometimes referenced as siblings.

Her unsettled family life resulted in few pleasurable memories. Wyman later said, "I was raised with such strict discipline that it was years before I could reason myself out of the bitterness I brought from my childhood."

In 1928, aged 11, she moved to Southern California with her foster mother. In 1930, the two moved back to Missouri, where Sarah Jane attended Lafayette High School in Saint Joseph. That same year, she began a radio singing career, calling herself Jane Durrell and adding three years to her birthdate to work legally because she was under-aged.

After dropping out of Lafayette High School in 1932 at age 15, she returned to Hollywood, taking on odd jobs as a manicurist and a switchboard operator.

Beginnings

Jane Wyman began her 60 year show business career as an extra on The Kid from Spain (1932), Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933), Elmer, the Great (1933), and Harold Teen (1934). She had taken classes with Edward Albert Prinz (Dad Prinz) at Prinz’s Dancing Academy back in St. Joseph, Missouri. Dad Prinz’s son LeRoy Prinz was now a successful Dance Director at Paramount Pictures.

Prinz hired Wyman for the chorus of College Rhythm (1934), Rumba (1935), All the King's Horses (1935), Stolen Harmony (1935), Broadway Hostess (1935), and Anything Goes (1936). In between pictures at Paramount she did King of Burlesque (1936) and George White's 1935 Scandals (1935) at Fox.

She then went to Universal Studios for My Man Godfrey (1936).

Warner Brothers, part 1
Jane Wyman signed her first contract with Warner Bros.in 1936 and stayed for the next 2 decades. Miracle in the Rain (1956) would become the last film she completed under contract to the studio. It was released on April 7, 1956 almost exactly twenty years after she signed her inaugural contract.

At Warner Bros, Wyman was in Freshman Love (1936) and Bengal Tiger (1936), Stage Struck (1936), Cain and Mabel (1936), and Here Comes Carter (1936).

Wyman had her first big role, both singing and dancing in a Dick Foran Western The Sunday Round-Up (1936).

Wyman had small parts in Polo Joe (1936), and Gold Diggers of 1937 (1936) but a bigger one in Smart Blonde (1936), the first of the Torchy Blane series. She appeared in Ready, Willing and Able (1937), The King and the Chorus Girl (1937), and Slim (1937). She had the lead in Little Pioneer (1937), a short, and parts in The Singing Marine (1937).

Warner Brothers, part 2
By the time Wyman starred in Public Wedding (1937), a "B"picture, she was already divorced from first husband Ernest Wyman. She retained use of the surname for the remainder of her career.

She had a supporting part in Mr. Dodd Takes the Air (1937) and was the female lead in some "B" films, such as The Spy Ring (1938) (at Universal), He Couldn't Say No (1938) with Frank McHugh and Wide Open Faces (1938) with Joe E. Brown.

Wyman was borrowed by MGM to play a supporting part in The Crowd Roars (1938).

Back at Warner Brothers, Wyman was cast as one of the leads in Brother Rat (1938) for Hal B. Wallis. It co-starred Ronald Reagan, Priscilla Lane, Wayne Morris and Eddie Albert.

Wyman was borrowed by 20th Century Fox for a supporting role in Tail Spin (1939), followed by The Kid from Kokomo (1939) with Pat O'Brien and Morris. She played the title role in Torchy Blane..Playing with Dynamite (1939).

Now established, Wyman was cast in Kid Nightingale (1939) with John Payne, Private Detective (1939) with Foran, Brother Rat and a Baby (1940) with Reagan, An Angel from Texas (1940) with Albert, Flight Angels  (1940), and Gambling on the High Seas (1940) with Wayne Morris.

Wyman had supporting roles in "A" films such as My Love Came Back (1940), starring Olivia de Havilland and Jeffrey Lynn. She and Reagan were in Tugboat Annie Sails Again (1940). Wyman was a supporting role to Ann Sheridan in Honeymoon for Three (1941) and was Dennis Morgan's leading lady in Bad Men of Missouri (1941).

Wyman made The Body Disappears (1941) with Jeffrey Lynn and You're in the Army Now (1941) with Jimmy Durante; in the latter she and Regis Toomey had the longest screen kiss in cinema history: 3 minutes and 5 seconds.

Wyman did Larceny, Inc. (1942) with Edward G. Robinson, and My Favorite Spy (1942) with Kay Kyser.

At 20th Century Studios, Wyman was a supporting actor to Betty Grable in Footlight Serenade (1942) then back at Warners supported Olivia de Havilland in Princess O'Rourke (1943).

Warners teamed Wyman with Jack Carson in Make Your Own Bed  (1944) and The Doughgirls (1944), then she was top billed in Crime by Night (1944). She was one of many stars to cameo in Hollywood Canteen (1944).

Leading Lady (1945-1955)
Jane Wyman finally gained critical attention with The Lost Weekend (1945), made by the team of Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett. Wilder had wanted Katherine Hepburn or Barbara Stanwyck for the female lead but Brackett had been impressed by Wyman’s performance in Princess O'Rourke. Wyman called it "a small miracle".

Wyman remained a supporting actor in One More Tomorrow (1946), and Night and Day (1946). However Wyman was borrowed by MGM for the female lead in The Yearling (1946), and was nominated for the 1946 Academy Award for Best Actress.

She was leading lady for Dennis Morgan in Cheyenne (1947) and James Stewart in RKO's Magic Town (1947).

Her breakthrough role was playing a deaf-mute rape victim in Johnny Belinda (1948). Wyman spent over six months preparing for the film which was an enormous hit and won Wyman a Best Actress Oscar. She was the first person in the sound era to earn the award without speaking a line of dialogue. In an amusing acceptance speech, Wyman took her statue and said only, "I accept this, very gratefully, for keeping my mouth shut once. I think I'll do it again."

Wyman was now a top-billed star. She did two comedies, A Kiss in the Dark (1948) with David Niven and The Lady Takes a Sailor (1949) with Morgan, then made a thriller in England, Stage Fright (1950) for Alfred Hitchcock.

She played Laura in The Glass Menagerie (1950), and went to MGM for Three Guys Named Mike (1951), a popular comedy.

Frank Capra used her as Bing Crosby's leading lady in Here Comes the Groom (1951) at Paramount, then she had the lead role in RKO's The Blue Veil (1951), a melodrama that was a big box office hit and earned her an Oscar nomination.

Wyman was one of many stars in Warner Bros' Starlift (1951). She was the female lead in The Story of Will Rogers (1952) and Paramount reunited her and Crosby in Just for You (1952). Wyman expressed interest around this time of doing no more "weepy" roles.

Columbia cast her in a musical, Let's Do It Again (1953) with Ray Milland, then at Warners she was in So Big (1953), a melodrama.

Wyman had a huge success when producer Ross Hunter cast her alongside Rock Hudson in Magnificent Obsession (1954). It earned her another Oscar nomination.

Wyman and Hudson were promptly reteamed on All That Heaven Allows (1955). Pine-Thomas Productions put Wyman in Lucy Gallant (1955) with Charlton Heston. She did Miracle in the Rain (1956) with Van Johnson. Wyman was meant to follow this with Annabella but it appears to have not been made.

Recording career
Jane Wyman's brief recording career with Decca Records extended between 1951 and 1953. She recorded a few solo tracks along with duets and novelty songs achieving three Billboard top 30 hits and appearing on one #1 album.

 * Decca Albums

 * Selections from the Paramount Picture "Just for You" (1952): Bing Crosby, Jane Wyman, The Andrews Sisters, Jud Conlon's Rhythmaires and the Dave Barbour Orchestra
 * Studio cast recording of the music from the film Just for You (1952)
 * Danny Kaye sings Hans Christian Andersen (1952): Danny Kaye with Jane Wyman, Gordon Jenkins and his Chorus and Orchestra
 * This studio cast recording of the music from the film Hans Christian Andersen (1952) spent 17 weeks at #1 on the Billboard “Best Selling Popular Albums Chart” in 1953. Wyman is featured most prominently duetting with Kaye on the track "No Two People" and is also credited with contributing vocals to other tracks.

 * Decca Singles

 * "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening"/"Misto Cristofo Colombo" (1951): Bing Crosby and Jane Wyman with Matty Matlock's All Stars and the Four Hits and a Miss, from the film Here Comes the Groom (1951)
 * "In the Cool..." peaked at #11 on the Billboard charts. Hoagy Carmichael (music) and Johnny Mercer (lyrics) won the 1951 Academy Award for Best Original Song. Jane Wyman and Danny Kaye performed it at the 24th Academy Awards.
 * "How d'ye Do and Shake Hands"/"Black Strap Molasses" (1951): Danny Kaye, Jimmy Durante, Jane Wyman and Groucho Marx with the Sonny Burke Orchestra
 * "Black Strap..." peaked at #29 on the Billboard charts.
 * "Why Didn't I?"/"Blow Out the Candle" (1951)
 * "I Love That Feelin'"/"It Was Nice While the Money Rolled In" (1951): with The Four Hits and the Dave Barbour Orchestra
 * "Checkin' My Heart"/"He's Just Crazy For Me" (1952): with the Dave Barbour Orchestra, from the film Just for You (1952)
 * "Zing a Little Zong"/"The Maiden of Guadalupe" (1952): Bing Crosby and Jane Wyman with Jud Conlon's Rhythmaires and the Nathan Van Cleave Orchestra, from the film Just for You (1952)
 * "Zing a..." peaked at #18 on the Billboard charts and #10 on the UK Singles charts. Harry Warren (music) and Leo Robin (lyrics) were nominated for the 1952 Academy Award for Best Original Song. Peggy Lee and Johnny Mercer performed it at the 25th Academy Awards on NBC.
 * "I Never Heard You Say"/"Doodle Bug Rag" (1952): with Hoagy Carmichael
 * "I'm Takin' a Slow Burn"/"It Was Great While It Lasted" (1953): with the Sonny Burke Orchestra, from the film Let's Do It Again (1953)

Television, part 1 (1955-1967)

Jane Wyman’s television acting debut was the 1955 episode “Amelia” of the anthology series General Electric Theater produced by MCA Inc.’s Revue Studios and hosted by her former husband Ronald Reagan.

On August 30, 1955 just a year after “Magnificent Obsession” became Jane Wyman’s biggest hit and her first #1 film at the weekly box office her eponymous weekly television anthology series made its debut on NBC.

Wyman announced her first TV series The Jane Wyman Show (1955–58) in 1955. In its first season it was known as Jane Wyman Presents the Fireside Theatre then the Jane Wyman Theatre and finally The Jane Wyman Show. Wyman hosted every episode, acted in half, and was a producer.

When The Jane Wyman Show ended Wyman was no longer a film star, but she remained in demand. She replaced the ailing Gene Tierney in Holiday for Lovers (1959) for Fox, and next appeared in Disney's Pollyanna (1960) and Bon Voyage! (1962).

Wyman continued to guest star on TV shows like Checkmate, Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, The Investigators, Wagon Train, and Insight.

"Something happened in the sixties," she later said. "it seemed that the time didn't permit women to be part of it except in a sort of secondary sort of way which I resented. I kept telling myself 'I didn't want to play Whatever Happened to Baby Jane." So she went into semi-retirement around 1962.

Re-entrance (1968-1973)
Wyman focused on painting. She made the occasional acting appearance, mostly on television.

In 1966, Reginald Denham announced Wyman would appear in a play Wonderful Us based on the Parker–Hulme murder case but it was not produced.

She returned to films with How to Commit Marriage (1969).

Wyman continued to work in the 1970s, guest starring on My Three Sons; The Bold Ones: The New Doctors; The Sixth Sense; and Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law and her first film for television, The Failing of Raymond (1971). She starred in a pilot for a TV series Amanda Fallon but it was not picked up.

She was offered roles of "murderers, old ladies that were senile – they were awful. The weirdest kind of writing."

Television, part 2 (1978-1993)
After 5 years of retirement living in Carmel painting and focussing on her philanthropic work she took her first acting role since 1974. She accepted a featured role in the television movie, The Incredible Journey of Doctor Meg Laurel (1979). She then guest starred on Charlie's Angels and The Love Boat.

In the spring of 1981, Wyman's career enjoyed a resurgence when she was cast as the scheming Californian vintner and matriarch Angela Channing in The Vintage Years, which was retooled as the primetime soap opera Falcon Crest. Wyman said she wanted to make it as it was a change from "the four handkerchief bits" she was known for. "You just can't miss on a thing like this," she added.

Then relatively unknown Lorenzo Lamas appeared as Angela's irresponsible grandson, Lance Cumson. The on- and off-screen chemistry between Wyman and Lamas helped fuel the series' success.

For her role as Angela Channing, Wyman was nominated for a Soap Opera Digest Award five times (for Outstanding Actress in a Leading Role and for Outstanding Villainess: Prime Time Serial), and was also nominated for a Golden Globe award in 1983 and 1984. She won in 1984 for Best Performance By an Actress in a TV Series. Later in the show's run, Wyman suffered several health problems. In 1986 abdominal surgery caused her to miss two episodes. She was plagued with fatigue during the 1988–1989 season, and her health continued to deteriorate. Later in 1989 she collapsed on the set and was hospitalized due to problems with diabetes and a liver ailment. Her doctors told her that she should end her acting career. Wyman was absent for most of the ninth and final season of Falcon Crest in 1989–1990.

Against her doctor's advice, she returned for the final three episodes in 1990, even writing a soliloquy for the series finale. Wyman appeared in 208 of the show's 227 episodes.

Final role
After Falcon Crest, Wyman acted only once more, playing Jane Seymour's screen mother in a 1993 episode of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. In all, Wyman had starred in 83 movies and two successful TV series, and was nominated for an Academy Award four times, winning once.

Marriages
Jane Wyman was married five times, to four men. Her last marriage to Fred Karger ended in 1965 and she never remarried.

Ernest Wyman
At age 16, Wyman married salesman Ernest Eugene Wyman in Los Angeles, California, on April 8, 1933. She recorded her name as 'Jane Fulks', foster parents Emma and Richard Fulks, and her age as 19 on the wedding certificate. Though the couple divorced after just two years, she retained the name Wyman professionally for the rest of her life.

Myron Futterman
Wyman was 20 when she married dress manufacturer Myron Martin Futterman in New Orleans on June 29, 1937. She wanted children but he did not, and they separated after only three months. They were divorced on December 5, 1938.

Ronald Reagan
In 1938, Wyman co-starred with Ronald Reagan in Brother Rat (1938). They were engaged at the Chicago Theatre, and married on January 26, 1940, at the Wee Kirk o' the Heather in Glendale, California. She and Reagan had two biological daughters: Maureen in 1941, and Christine in 1947 (born prematurely and died the following day). They adopted a son, Michael, in 1945.

In the aftermath of the premature birth and subsequent death of their infant daughter Christine on June 26, 1947 Wyman separated from Reagan. Wyman’s divorce from Reagan was granted on June 28, 1948 and finalized on July 18, 1948. Wyman leased a home in Palm Springs, California. Wyman, who was a registered Republican, said that their divorce was due to political differences; Ronald Reagan was still a Democrat at the time.

When Reagan was inaugurated as president on January 20, 1981, Wyman became the first ex-wife of a U.S. president in American history. Although she remained silent during Reagan's political career, she told a newspaper interviewer in 1968 that this was not because she was bitter or because she did not agree with him politically:

"I've always been a registered Republican. But it's bad taste to talk about former husbands and former wives, that's all. Also, I don't know a damn thing about politics."

When Reagan died in 2004, Wyman issued a statement, saying, "America has lost a great president. And a great, kind and gentle man."

Frederick Karger
On November 1, 1952, Wyman married German-American Hollywood music director and composer Frederick M. "Fred" Karger at El Montecito Presbyterian Church, Santa Barbara. They separated on November 7, 1954, and were granted an interlocutory divorce decree on December 7, 1954; the divorce was finalized on December 30, 1955.

They remarried on March 11, 1961, and Karger divorced her again on March 9, 1965. According to The New York Times'  report of the divorce, the bandleader charged that the actress "had walked out on him." Wyman had a stepdaughter, Terry, from Karger's marriage to Patti Sacks.

Wyman, who had converted to Catholicism in 1953, never remarried. She was a member of the Good Shepherd Parish and the Catholic Motion Picture Guild in Beverly Hills, California.

Later life
After Falcon Crest ended, Wyman made a guest appearance on the CBS series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and then completely retired from acting; she spent her retirement painting and entertaining friends. Wyman was a recluse and made only a few public appearances in her last years in part due to suffering from arthritis. Wyman also suffered from Type 1 diabetes from a very young age. She attended the funeral of her long-time friend Loretta Young in 2000. She attended her daughter's funeral in 2001 after Maureen died of melanoma, and Ronald Reagan's funeral in 2004.

Death
On September 10, 2007, Wyman died in her sleep of natural causes at her home in Rancho Mirage, California, at age 90. Her son Michael Reagan released a statement saying:

"I have lost a loving mother, my children Cameron and Ashley have lost a loving grandmother, my wife Colleen has lost a loving friend she called Mom and Hollywood has lost the classiest lady to ever grace the silver screen."

A lay tertiary of the Dominican Order of the Catholic Church, she was buried in a nun's habit. She was interred at Forest Lawn Mortuary and Memorial Park in Cathedral City, California.

Box office ranking
For several years, film exhibitors voted Wyman as among the most popular stars in the country. Annual Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll rankings:
 * 1949 – 25th (US), 6th (UK)
 * 1952 – 15th (US)
 * 1953 – 19th (US)
 * 1954 – 9th (US)
 * 1955 – 18th (US)
 * 1956 – 23rd (US)

Awards and nominations

 * Jane Wyman's imprints were set in concrete in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre on September 17, 1952.
 * Jane Wyman has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: one for motion pictures, at 6607 Hollywood Boulevard; and one for television, at 1620 Vine Street. Both from the inaugural placement of stars in 1960.

title: Jane Wyman


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Neuwied

Neuwied is a town in the north of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, capital of the District of Neuwied. Neuwied lies on the east bank of the Rhine, 12 km northwest of Koblenz, on the railway from Frankfurt am Main to Cologne. The town has 13 suburban administrative districts: Heimbach-Weis, Gladbach, Engers, Oberbieber, Niederbieber, Torney, Segendorf, Altwied, Block, Irlich, Feldkirchen, Heddesdorf and Rodenbach. The largest is Heimbach-Weis, with approximately 8000 inhabitants.

History
Near Neuwied, one of the largest Roman castra on the Rhine has been excavated by archeologists. Caesar's Rhine bridges are believed to have been built nearby.

Neuwied was founded in 1653 by Count Frederick III of Wied, initially as a fortress on the site of the village of Langendorf, which had been destroyed in the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). It was to serve as the new residence of the lower county, secure its only access to the Rhine and enable the small state, impoverished in the war, to participate in Rhine trade. However, since the place hardly attracted any settlers due to its unfavourable location in a frequently flooded area, the counts of the House of Wied, especially Frederick III, Frederick William and John Frederick Alexander pursued a policy of self-administration and extensive religious tolerance in the town unlike in the rest of their territory. These liberties led to the immigration of numerous religious refugees from other German territories, but also from France and Switzerland, and to a rapid increase in the population. From the middle of the 18th century, members of seven religious communities lived in Neuwied: Calvinists, to which the count's house also belonged, Lutherans, Catholics, Mennonites, Inspirationalists, Moravian Brethren and Jews.

The refugees and their descendants contributed significantly to the economic upswing of the town in the 18th and 19th century. Handicraft products by the cabinetmakers Abraham and David Roentgen, who belonged to the Moravian Brethren, or the Mennonite clockmaker Peter Kinzing were found at almost all important courts of Europe between Versailles and St. Petersburg. Thanks to the foundation of the Rasselstein iron rolling mill by Count John Frederick Alexander, Neuwied was one of the first industrial locations in Germany.

On 18 April 1797 the French army, led by General Louis Lazare Hoche, defeated the Austrians under General Franz von Werneck at the Battle of Neuwied.

Neuwied is the native town of paternal ancestors of John D. Rockefeller, traced to the 16th century and possible French Huguenot refugees. His father's line emigrated to the North American colonies, arriving in New York in 1710, the year of a massive immigration of nearly 2800 Palatine German refugees, whose transportation costs from London were covered by Queen Anne's British government. Neuwied was also the birthplace of William of Wied, who briefly held the title of King of Albania in 1914.

Geography
Parts of the 86.5 square kilometre area are divided into the suburban districts of:

 * Altwied
 * Block, Neuwied
 * Engers
 * Feldkirchen, Neuwied
 * Gladbach, Neuwied
 * Heimbach-Weis
 * Irlich
 * Niederbieber
 * Oberbieber
 * Rodenbach, Neuwied
 * Segendorf
 * Torney, Neuwied

The core of Neuwied and the former village of Heddesdorf, which belonged to the municipality before these districts were added, are not listed as districts themselves.

The place of the abandoned former village of Rockenfeld, which is considered to be the origin and namesake of the famous Rockefeller family, also belongs to today's municipal territory of Neuwied.

Since the inner city of Neuwied is situated on a former bed of the river Rhine, it is at great risk of flooding. It is one of very few towns in the region protected by flood-prevention levees, a source of friction with communities downstream.

Neuwied is twinned with the London Borough of Bromley.

Politics
The 2019 municipal council elections led to the following distribution of seats: CDU (15), SPD (12), Greens (7), AfD (5), FWG (3), FDP (2), The Left (2), Ich tu's (2).

Population
Originally there were only a few thousand people living in Neuwied, with the number not growing significantly because of wars and famines. With the industrialization in the 19th century the number of inhabitants increased from 5,600 in 1831 to 18,000 in 1905.

By 1970 the figure had grown to 31,400 and following a major realignment incorporating several communities within the town, it jumped to 63,000.

As of 30 June 2005 there were officially 66,455 people living in Neuwied.

Infrastructure
Neuwied is connected to the German network of Bundesstraßen (national routes) (here: B9, B42 and B256). The Autobahnen (motorways) A3, A48 and A61 are quickly reachable from Neuwied.

Public transport
Within the bounds of Neuwied are two railway stations, Neuwied and Engers on the Right Rhine line, and a third station is under consideration by the state agency for northern commuter railway services (SPNV Nord), which is responsible for the service on the railway lines connecting to Koblenz Hauptbahnhof in the south and Köln Hauptbahnhof in the north. Via either of those stations, the German high-speed rail network and the InterCity network are accessible. Daytime service include the following:
 * a Deutsche Bahn hourly semi-fast train (Regional-Express), the Rhein-Erft-Express, running Koblenz-Engers-Neuwied-Cologne-Mönchengladbach and back,
 * and a Deutsche Bahn hourly all-stops service (Regionalbahn) Koblenz-Neuwied-Cologne-Stommeln(-Mönchengladbach) and back, which is also available in the evening hours.
 * A VIAS hourly semi-fast train (StadtExpress) Neuwied-Koblenz-Lahnstein-Wiesbaden(-Frankfurt) and back, running also in evening hours.

It takes about 15 to 20 minutes to travel to Koblenz while Cologne is about 70 to 80 minutes away, Mainz 90 to 120 minutes, direct connection to Frankfurt is around 150 minutes, sometimes faster when changing to the IC/ICE network.

Public transport within Neuwied relies on a bus network, offering (depending on line) 20, 30 or 60-minute schedules, the majority of lines are served by Transdev.

All public transport (road and rail) is integrated into the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Mosel public transport association. Tickets are valid for all service, restricted by time and fare zones. For more information on timetables, see.

Twin towns – sister cities
Neuwied is twinned with:
 * 🏴 Bromley, England, United Kingdom
 * 🇮🇱 Drom HaSharon, Israel
 * 🇩🇪 Güstrow, Germany
 * 🇨🇳 Suqian, China

Notable people

 * Hermann of Wied (1477–1552), archbishop-elector of Cologne, reformer
 * Gotthard Rockenfeller (1590–1695), ancestor of John D. Rockefeller
 * Louis-François Metra (1738–1804), French journalist
 * De Beaunoir (1746–1823), French playwright
 * David Roentgen (1743–1807), cabinetmaker
 * Peter Kinzing (1745–1816), watchmaker and mechanic
 * Johannes Baptista von Albertini (1769–1831), Bishop of Moravian Church
 * Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied (1782–1867), naturalist, botanist, ethnologist
 * Philipp Wilhelm Wirtgen (1806–1870), botanist
 * Hermann, Prince of Wied (1814–1864), nobleman
 * Elisabeth of Wied (1843–1916), Queen of Romania and poet
 * William, Prince of Wied (1845–1907), nobleman, officer and politician
 * Ferdinand Hueppe (1852–1938), co-founder of the DFB and sports medicine
 * Paul Reichard (1854–1938), African researchers
 * Friedrich von Ingenohl (1857–1933), admiral, commander of the imperial High Seas Fleet in World War I
 * Ferdinand Siegert (1865–1946), pediatrician
 * Carl von Moers (1871–1957), horse rider
 * Wilhelm, Prince of Albania (1876–1945), sovereign prince of Albania
 * Carl Einstein (1885–1940), writer, art historian and critic
 * Friedrich Wolf (1888–1953), doctor and writer
 * Walter Kaiser (1907–1982), footballer
 * Horst Siebert (1938–2009), economist
 * Klaus Rudolf Werhand (1938–2009), metalsmith and coppersmith
 * Renate Freund (born 1939), writer
 * Monika Kropshofer (born 1952), painter and photographer
 * Jörg Bewersdorff (born 1958), mathematician
 * Thomas J. Kinne (born 1961), translator, author and quiz player
 * Helmut Dieser (born 1962), Roman Catholic bishop in Aachen
 * Ulf Mark Schneider (born 1965), manager and CEO of Nestlé
 * Martin Werhand (born 1968), publisher, editor and writer
 * Ferris MC (born 1973), musician, rapper and actor
 * Christian Ulmen (born 1975), entertainer and actor
 * Simon Kirch (born 1979), track and field athlete
 * Mike Rockenfeller (born 1983), race car driver
 * Tobias Nickenig (born 1984), footballer
 * Tobias Hegewald (born 1989), racing driver
 * Hasan Ali Kaldırım (born 1989), Turkish footballer
 * Anna-Lena Friedsam (born 1994), tennis player
 * Isaac Bonga (born 1999), basketball player

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Neuwied


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Cyclorama (album)

Cyclorama is the fourteenth studio album by Styx, released in 2003. This was the first studio album with Lawrence Gowan, following the departure of group co-founder Dennis DeYoung in 1999. It was also the latter of two albums to feature Glen Burtnik (the former being 1990's Edge of the Century), and the only album released by the Lawrence Gowan/Tommy Shaw/James "JY" Young/Glen Burtnik/Chuck Panozzo/Todd Sucherman lineup, and as such the only original Styx album to feature four different singer-songwriters (Shaw, Young, Gowan and Burtnik) as opposed to the usual three. The album peaked significantly higher on the Billboard album charts than Styx's previous release, Brave New World (1999), ending up 48 slots higher at No. 127 (1 week), but paled in comparison to previous 1970s and 1980s releases on A&M Records.

The album's first single was "Waiting for Our Time," which failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. It charted at #37 for 1 week on the Mainstream Rock charts. A video was released for the single "Yes I Can," but it failed to chart.

The album was also released as a "Dual Disc," with the reverse side of the disc containing a 5.1 DVD-Audio mix as well as music videos. The album was finally released to streaming services in 2020.

Track listing
All credits adapted from the original release.

Personnel

 * Styx
 * Tommy Shaw – vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, mandolin
 * James "JY" Young – vocals, electric guitars
 * Lawrence Gowan – vocals, keyboards
 * Glen Burtnik – vocals, electric and upright bass, synth bass on "Genki Desu Ka", 12 string guitar on "Together"
 * Chuck Panozzo – bass on "Bourgeois Pig", backing vocals on "Kiss Your Ass Goodbye"
 * Todd Sucherman – drums, percussion, loops, synth bass on "Do Things My Way", vocals

 * Additional personnel
 * Jude Cole
 * Gary Loizzo of American Breed
 * Tenacious D (Jack Black and Kyle Gass)
 * Billy Bob Thornton
 * John Waite
 * Brian Wilson

 * Production
 * Producers: Tommy Shaw, James "JY" Young, Gary Loizzo
 * Associate producers: Lawrence Gowan, Todd Sucherman, Glen Burtnik
 * Engineers: Gary Loizzo, Charlie Pakaari, Craig Williams, Mark Linnett, Plinky Giglio, Dave Yackoboskie, Jimmy Hoyson, Jim Mitchell, Bruce Monical

title: Cyclorama (album)


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Loretta Young

Loretta Young (born Gretchen Michaela Young; January 6, 1913 – August 12, 2000) was an American actress. Starting as a child, she had a long and varied career in film from 1917 to 1953. She received numerous honors including an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and three Primetime Emmy Awards as well as two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her work in film and television.

She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the film The Farmer's Daughter (1947), and received her second Academy Award nomination for her role in Come to the Stable (1949). She also starred in films such as Born to Be Bad (1934), Call of the Wild (1935), The Crusades (1935), Eternally Yours (1939), The Stranger (1946), The Bishop's Wife (1947), and Key to the City (1950).

Young moved to the relatively new medium of television, where she had a dramatic anthology series, The Loretta Young Show, from 1953 to 1961. It earned three Primetime Emmy Awards, and was re-run successfully on daytime TV and later in syndication. She also starred in The New Loretta Young Show from 1962 to 1963. Young returned to the small screen in the 1980s starring in two NBC television movies, Christmas Eve (1986), for which she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film, and Lady in a Corner (1989).

Early life and education
She was born Gretchen Michaela Young in Salt Lake City, Utah, the daughter of Gladys (née Royal) and John Earle Young. She was of Luxembourgish descent. When she was two years old, her parents separated, and when she was three, her mother moved the family to Hollywood. A priest helped Gladys to establish a boarding house as income. Gladys’ sister's husband helped the little girls get small parts in silent films for income. Gladys met Ida Botiller Lindley, a very wealthy widow, by 1925. Ida had no children, but wanted to carry on her husband's name; she proposed that she adopt Gretchen's brother John Royal Young, educating him to be a lawyer like her late husband. Thus, John Young became John R. Lindley, and he became a lawyer. Gretchen and her sisters, Polly Ann and Elizabeth Jane (better known as Sally Blane), all worked as child actresses, but of the three, Gretchen was the most successful. Polly, Sally and John Royal Young Lindley all died in 1997, in their 80s. John's son David Lindley became a well-known multi-instrumentalist rock musician.

Young's first role was at the age of two or three in the silent film Sweet Kitty Bellairs. During her high-school years she was educated at Ramona Convent Secondary School. She was signed to a contract by John McCormick, husband and manager of actress Colleen Moore, who saw the young girl's potential. Moore gave her the name Loretta, explaining that it was the name of her favorite doll.

1919–1939: Film debut and early films
Young was billed as Gretchen Young in the silent film Sirens of the Sea (1917). She was first billed as Loretta Young in 1928, in The Whip Woman. That same year, she co-starred with Lon Chaney in the MGM film Laugh, Clown, Laugh. The next year, she was named one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars. In 1930, when she was 17, she eloped with 26-year-old actor Grant Withers; they were married in Yuma, Arizona. The marriage was annulled the next year, just as their second movie together (coincidentally entitled Too Young to Marry) was released.

In 1934, she co-starred with Cary Grant in the pre-Code drama Born to be Bad released by Twentieth Century Pictures. This film was rejected by the Hays Office twice before it was finally approved. The next year Young starred opposite Clark Gable and Jack Oakie in the 1935 film adaptation of Jack London's action adventure novel The Call of the Wild, directed by William Wellman. Also in 1935 she portrayed Berengaria, Princess of Navarre in the Cecil B. DeMille directed historical epic The Crusades (1935). The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival where it received an award for Best Foreign Film.

The following year she starred as Lady Helen Dudley Dearden in The Unguarded Hour (1936). The film was directed by Sam Wood and was based on the 1935 play of the same name by Bernard Merivale. In 1938 she played Countess Eugenie de Montijo in the romantic drama Suez starring opposite Tyrone Power. The film was directed by Allan Dwan and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck.

1940–1952: Career breakthrough
During World War II, Young made Ladies Courageous (1944; re-issued as Fury in the Sky), the fictionalized story of the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron. It depicted a unit of female pilots who flew bomber planes from the factories to their final destinations. Young made as many as eight movies a year, and her films in the 1940s were among the most prestigious and well-remembered of her career.

In 1946, Young made The Stranger, in which she plays a small-town American woman who unknowingly marries a Nazi fugitive (Orson Welles). Welles recalled that the film's producer ordered a close-up of Young during a pivotal scene, a choice that Welles, who directed, considered "fatal" to the scene's impact. Young took the director's side, even getting her agent on the phone to take Welles's side. "Imagine getting a star's agent in to ensure that she wouldn't get a closeup!" Welles later said. "She was wonderful." Critic Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post noted, "The languorous Miss Young has the toughest assignment, being called on to shift from the starry-eyed bride of the early reels to the woman who must know in her heart that her husband is one of the most hated of men."

In 1947, Young won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Farmer's Daughter, a political comedy that required her to learn a Swedish accent. Ruth Roberts, who had coached Ingrid Bergman on how to lose her Swedish accent, taught Young how to gain one. That same year, she co-starred with Cary Grant and David Niven in the romantic comedy The Bishop's Wife, a perennial favorite, which was remade in 1996 as The Preacher's Wife, starring Denzel Washington, Whitney Houston and Courtney B. Vance. In 1949, she received another Academy Award nomination for her role as Sister Margaret in the comedy drama Come to the Stable. In 1953, she appeared in her last theatrical film, It Happens Every Thursday, a Universal comedy about a New York couple who move to California to take over a struggling weekly newspaper; her co-star was John Forsythe.

In 1950 she reunited with Clark Gable for the romantic comedy Key to the City. During production of the film, Gable visited the Young household and spoke with his, and Young's, natural daughter, Judy Lewis, for the only time in Lewis' life. Lewis was fifteen at the time and did not know of Gable's role in her conception. The next year she starred in the melodrama Cause for Alarm! (1951) and the comedy Half Angel (1951), followed by Columbia Pictures' film noir Paula (1952). Also in 1952 she starred in the romance drama Because of You from Universal Pictures.

1953–1961: Television stardom
Young hosted and starred in the well-received half-hour anthology television series Letter to Loretta (soon retitled The Loretta Young Show), which was originally broadcast from 1953 to 1961. She earned three Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award for the program. Her trademark was a dramatic entrance through a living room door in various high-fashion evening gowns. She returned at the program's conclusion to offer a brief passage from the Bible or a famous quote that reflected upon the evening's story. (Young's introductions and concluding remarks were not re-run on television because she legally stipulated that they not be, as she did not want the dresses she wore in those segments to make the program seem dated.)

The program ran in prime time on NBC for eight years, the longest-running primetime network program hosted by a woman up to that time. The program was based on the premise that each drama was an answer to a question asked in her fan mail. The title was changed to The Loretta Young Show during the first season (as of the episode of February 14, 1954), and the "letter" concept was dropped at the end of the second season. Toward the end of the second season, Young was hospitalized as a result of overwork, which required a number of guest hosts and guest stars; her first appearance in the 1955–1956 season was for the Christmas show. From then on, Young appeared in only about half of each season's shows as an actress, and served as the program's host for the remainder.

Minus Young's introductions and conclusions, the series was re-run as the Loretta Young Theatre in daytime by NBC from 1960 to 1964. It also appeared in syndication into the early 1970s, before being withdrawn. In 1972, a jury in Los Angeles awarded Young $550,000 in a lawsuit against NBC for breach of contract. Filed in 1966, the suit contended that NBC had allowed foreign television outlets to re-run old episodes of The Loretta Young Show, without excluding, as agreed by the parties, the opening segment in which Young made her entrance. Young testified that her image had been damaged by portraying her in "outdated gowns". She had sought damages of $1.9 million.

1986–1994: Return to acting and final roles
Young briefly came out of retirement to star in the NBC television film Christmas Eve (1986). The story revolves around an elderly woman played by Young who befriends the homeless and volunteers her time with children, who learns she has an incurable illness and wants desperately to reunite her three grown grand children. Young starred alongside Trevor Howard and Ron Leibman, all three of whom received Golden Globe Award nominations with Young winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film. She then starred in her final role, another NBC television film, Lady in a Corner (1989) starring as the editor-in-chief of a high fashion magazine. She starred opposite Brian Keith, Roscoe Lee Brown, and Bruce Davison. For her performance she received another Golden Globe Award nomination in the same category losing to Christine Lahti in the CBS film No Place Like Home.

Marriages
Young was married three times and had three children. Her first marriage was to actor Grant Withers in 1930. The marriage was annulled the following year. From September 1933 to June 1934, she had a well-publicized affair with actor Spencer Tracy (who was married to Louise Tracy), her co-star in Man's Castle. In 1940, Young married producer Tom Lewis. They had two sons: Peter Lewis (of the San Francisco rock band Moby Grape); and Christopher Lewis, a film director. Young and Lewis divorced in 1969.

In 1993, Young married for the third and final time, to the fashion designer Jean Louis. Their marriage lasted until his death in April 1997. Young was godmother to Marlo Thomas (daughter of TV star Danny Thomas).

A smoker since the age of eight, a then underweight Young quit the habit in the mid-1980s and regained 10 pounds.

Judy Lewis
Young and Clark Gable were the romantic leads of the 1935 Twentieth Century Pictures film The Call of the Wild. Young was then 22 years old; Gable was 34 and married to Maria “Ria” Langham. During filming, Young became pregnant by Gable.

Young did not want to damage her career or Gable's. She knew that if Twentieth Century Pictures found out about the pregnancy, they would pressure her to have an abortion; Young, a devout Catholic, considered abortion a mortal sin. Young, her sisters, and her mother devised a plan to conceal the pregnancy and then pass off the child as adopted. When Young's pregnancy began to advance, she went on a "vacation" to England. After returning to California, she gave an interview from her bed, covered in blankets; at that time, she stated that her long movie absence was due to a condition she had had since childhood. Young gave birth to a daughter, Judith, on November 6, 1935, in Venice, California. Young named Judith after St. Jude because he was the patron saint of (among other things) difficult situations. Weeks after her birth, Judith was placed in an orphanage. Judith spent the next 19 months in various "hideaways and orphanages" before being re-united with her mother; Young then claimed that she had adopted Judith. After Young married Tom Lewis, Judith took Lewis's last name.

Few in Hollywood were fooled by the ruse. Judith (Judy) Lewis bore a strong resemblance to Gable, and her true parentage was widely rumored in entertainment circles. When Lewis was 31 years old, she confronted Young about her parentage; Young privately admitted that she was Lewis's birth mother, stating that Lewis was "a walking mortal sin". Young refused to confirm or comment publicly on the rumors until 1999, when Joan Wester Anderson wrote Young's authorized biography. In interviews with Anderson for the book, Young stated that Lewis was her biological child and the product of a brief affair with Gable. Young would not allow the book to be published until after her death.

In 2015, Linda Lewis, the wife of Young's son, Christopher, stated publicly that in 1998, a then-85-year-old Young had told Lewis that Gable had raped her. According to Linda Lewis, Young added that no consensual intimate contact had occurred between Gable and herself. Young had never disclosed the rape to anyone. Lewis stated that Young shared this information only after learning of the concept of date rape from watching Larry King Live; she had previously believed it was a woman's job to fend off men's amorous advances and had perceived her inability to thwart Gable's attack as a moral failing on her part. Linda Lewis said that the family remained silent about Young's rape claim until after both Young and Judy Lewis had died.

Young and Gable starred together in Key to the City in 1950, when Lewis was 15 years old. At this time, Gable visited the Young household and spoke to Lewis for the only time in her life.

Politics
Young was a life-long Republican. In 1952, she appeared in radio, print, and magazine ads in support of Dwight D. Eisenhower in his campaign for US president. She attended his inauguration in 1953, along with Anita Louise, Louella Parsons, Jane Russell, Dick Powell, June Allyson, and Lou Costello, among others. She was a vocal supporter of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan in their presidential campaigns in 1968 and 1980, respectively. Young was also an active member of the Hollywood Republican Committee, with her close friends Irene Dunne, Ginger Rogers, William Holden, George Murphy, Fred Astaire, and John Wayne.

Charity
From the time of Young's retirement in the 1960s until not long before her death, she devoted herself to volunteer work for charities and churches, together with her friends of many years: Jane Wyman, Irene Dunne, and Rosalind Russell. She was a member of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills, and the Catholic Motion Picture Guild in Beverly Hills, California. Young, a devout Catholic, also worked with various Catholic charities after her acting career.

Illness and death
Young died of ovarian cancer on August 12, 2000, at the home of her maternal half-sister, Georgiana Young (the wife of actor Ricardo Montalbán) in Los Angeles, California. She was interred in the family plot in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. Her ashes were buried in the grave of her mother, Gladys Belzer.

Awards and nominations
In 1988, Young received the Women in Film Crystal Award for outstanding women who through their endurance and the excellence of their work helped expand the role of women in the entertainment industry. Young has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: one for her work in television, at 6135 Hollywood Boulevard, and the other for her work in motion pictures, at 6100 Hollywood Boulevard. In 2011, a Golden Palm Star on the Walk of Stars, in Palm Springs, California, was dedicated to her.

title: Loretta Young


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Count palatine

A count palatine (Latin comes palatinus), also count of the palace or palsgrave (from German Pfalzgraf), was originally an official attached to a royal or imperial palace or household and later a nobleman of a rank above that of an ordinary count. The title originated in the Late Roman Empire. In the Middle Ages especially and into modern times, it is associated with the Holy Roman Empire, especially Electoral Palatinate.

The office, jurisdiction or territory of a count palatine was a county palatine or palatinate. In England the forms earl palatine and palatine earldom are rare alternative terms.

Comes palatinus
This Latin title is the original, but is also pre-feudal: it originated as a Roman Comes, which was a non-hereditary court title of high rank, the specific part palatinus being the adjective derived from palatium ('palace').

After the fall of Rome, a new feudal type of title, also known simply as palatinus, started developing. The Frankish kings of the Merovingian dynasty (reigned 480–750) employed a high official, the comes palatinus, who at first assisted the king in his judicial duties and at a later date discharged many of these himself. Other counts palatine were employed on military and administrative work.

In the Visigothic Kingdom, the Officium Palatinum consisted of a number of men with the title of count who managed the various departments of the royal household. The Comes Cubiculariorum oversaw the chamberlains, the Comes Scanciorum directed the cup-bearers, the Comes Stabulorum directed the equerries in charge of the stables, etc. The Ostrogothic Kingdom also maintained palatine counts with titles such as Comes Patrimonium, who was in charge of the patrimonial or private real estate of the king, and others.

The system was maintained by the Carolingian sovereigns (reigned 751–987). A Frankish capitulary of 882 and Hincmar, archbishop of Reims, writing about the same time, testified to the extent to which the judicial work of the Frankish Empire had passed into their hands, and one grant of power was followed by another. (See the twelve legendary Paladins.)

Instead of remaining near the person of the king, some of the counts palatine were sent to various parts of his empire to act as judges and governors, the districts ruled by them being called palatinates. Being in a special sense the representatives of the sovereign, they were entrusted with more extended power than the ordinary counts. In this way came about the later and more general use of the word "palatine", its application as an adjective to persons entrusted with special powers—but also to the districts over which these powers were exercised.

By the High Middle Ages, the title "count" had become increasingly common, to the point that both great magnates who ruled regions that were the size of duchies, and local castle-lords, might style themselves "count." As the great magnates began to centralize their power over their local castle-lords, they felt the need to assert the difference between themselves and these minor "counts". Therefore, several of these great magnates began styling themselves "Count palatine", signifying great counts ruling regions equivalent to duchies, such as the Counts Palatine of Champagne in the 13th century. See also Royal Administration of Merovingian and Carolingian Dynasties.

Related titles
In early medieval Poland, the Palatinus was next in rank to the King. As he is also the chief commander of the King's army the rank is merged with Wojewoda, with the latter replacing the title of Palatine. During the Fragmentation of Poland each Prince would have his own voivode. When some of these Principalities were reunited into the Kingdom of Poland, the Palatines were infeudated with them, as there was no longer a local Prince to rule on behalf of the King to whom all these princely titles returned. The Principalities are thus made Voivodships (sometimes translated as Palatinates). In the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth the Voivodes sit in the Senate. Throughout its history, the dignity remained non-hereditary, or semi-hereditary. Today voivodes are government officials.

As successor to the Byzantine emperor after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman sultan also claimed the right to bestow the office. Thus Giovanni Bellini was named Comes palatinus by Emperor Frederick III in 1469 and later again in 1481 by Sultan Mehmet II.

Grand Čelnik (велики челник). The Grand Čelnik was the highest court title of the Serbian Despotate, and the title-holders held great provinces, property, and honours, and Radič (fl. 1413–1441) was one of the most powerful ones. Hungary in the Middle Ages: nádorispán or nádor (see Palatine of Hungary)

The term count palatine was not used in the United Kingdom. Just as count always remained reserved for continental territories, even though the equivalence of earl became clear by rendering it in Latin also as comes, earl palatine was the exclusively British title for the incumbent of a British county palatine.

Robertians

 * Chrodobertus II, was named comes palatinus on 2 October 678
 * Grimbert, probably son of Chrodobertus II, was comes palatinus of Neustria from 691 to 720
 * Robert I (also known as Rupert I; d. before 764), grandson of Chrodobertus II, was comes palatinus around 741/742
 * Anselm (d. 778 in Roncesvalles), son of Robert
 * Adalard of Paris, comes palatinus in 877
 * Cobbo the Younger

Counts Palatine of Champagne
King Lothar of France (954–986) gave Herbert III of Omois, one of his most loyal supporters in the struggle against the Robertians, the title of Count palatine. The title was later inherited by his nephews, precursors of the Counts of Champagne. The title of Count of the palace is therefore linked to the title of Count of Champagne until its extiction in 1305.

Holy Roman Empire
Pfalzgraf (Old High German phalanzgrāvo) is the German equivalent of the title, Graf being the German term for "count" or "earl", and Pfalz being the German reflex of Latin palatium. The German title has also been rendered as palsgrave in English (recorded 1548).

Counts Palatine were the permanent representatives of the Frankish king, later of the Holy Roman Emperor, in a palatial domain of the crown. There were dozens of these royal Pfalzen throughout the early Empire, and the emperor would travel between them, as there was no imperial capital.

In the empire, the word count palatine was also used to designate the officials who assisted the emperor in exercising the rights which were reserved for his personal consideration, like granting arms. They were called Imperial counts palatine (in Latin comites palatini caesarii, or comites sacri palatii; in German, Hofpfalzgrafen). Both the Latin form (Comes) palatinus and the French (comte) palatin have been used as part of the full title of the Dukes of Burgundy (a branch of the French royal dynasty) to render their rare German title Freigraf, which was the style of a (later lost) bordering principality, the allodial County of Burgundy (Freigrafschaft Burgund in German), which came to be known as Franche-Comté.

During the 11th century, some imperial palatine counts became a valuable political counterweight against the mighty duchies. Surviving old palatine counties were turned into new institutional pillars through which the imperial authority could be exercised. By the reigns of Henry the Fowler and especially of Otto the Great, comites palatini were sent into all parts of the country to support the royal authority by checking the independent tendencies of the great tribal dukes. Apparent thereafter was the existence of a count palatine in Saxony, and of others in Lorraine, in Bavaria and in Swabia, their duties being to administer the royal estates in these duchies.

Next to the Dukes of Lotharingia, Bavaria, Swabia and Saxony, who had become dangerously powerful feudal princes, loyal supporters of the German Emperor were installed as counts palatine.

The Lotharingian palatines out of the Ezzonian dynasty were important commanders of the imperial army and were often employed during internal and external conflicts (e.g. to suppress rebelling counts or dukes, to settle frontier disputes with the Hungarian and the French kingdom and to lead imperial campaigns).

Although a palatinate could belong for decades to one dynasty, the office of the palatine counts became hereditary only during the 12th century. During the 11th century the palatinates were still regarded as beneficia, non-hereditary fiefs. The count palatine in Bavaria, an office held by the family of Wittelsbach, became duke of this land, the lower comital title being then merged into the higher ducal one. The Count Palatine of Lotharingia changed his name to Count Palatine of the Rhine in 1085, alone remaining independent until 1777. The office having become hereditary, Pfalzgrafen were in existence until the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. The palatinate of Saxony merged with the Electoral Duchy of Saxony. The Palatinate of the Rhine became an electorate, and both were Imperial Vicars.

Counts Palatine of Bavaria
Originally, the Counts Palatine held the County Palatine (around Regensburg), and were subordinate to the Dukes of Bavaria, rather than to the king. The position gave its holder a leading position in the legal system of the Duchy.
 * Meginhard I, Count Palatine of Bavaria in 883
 * Arnulf II (d. 954), son of Duke Arnulf I of Bavaria, constructed Scheyern Castle around 940
 * Berthold (d. 999), son of Arnulf II, Count Palatine of Bavaria between 954 and 976 with interruptions, ancestor of the Counts of Andechs
 * Hartwig I (d. 985), Count Palatine of Bavaria from 977 until his death
 * Aribo I (d. c. 1020, son-in-law of Hartwig I, Count Palatine of Bavaria from 985 until his death
 * Hartwig II (d. 1027), son of Aribo I, Count Palatine of Bavaria from 1020 to 1026
 * Aribo II (d. 1102), son of Hartwig II, Count Palatine of Bavaria from 1026 to 1055
 * Kuno I (d. c. 1082/1083), Count Palatine of Bavaria
 * Rapoto I (d. 1099), Count Palatine of Bavaria from c. 1083 to 1093
 * Engelbert I (d. 1122), nephew of both of Aribo II's wives, Count Palatine of Bavaria from 1099 to 1120
 * Otto IV (c. 1083 – 1156), probably a descendant of Arnulf II, Count Palatine of Bavaria from 1120 until his death. He moved his residence from Scheyern Castle to Wittelsbach Castle and founded the House of Wittelsbach.
 * Otto V (c. 1117 – 1183), Count Palatine of Bavaria from 1156 to 1180. He became Duke of Bavaria in 1180 as Otto I; his descendants ruled the Duchy until 1918.
 * Otto VII (d. 1189), younger son of Otto IV, Count Palatine of Bavaria from 1180 until his death
 * Otto VIII (d. 1209), son of Otto VII, Count Palatine of Bavaria from 1189 to 1208, infamous for murdering King Philip of Germany in 1208
 * Rapoto II (d. 1231), brother-in-law of Otto VIII, Count Palatine of Bavaria from 1208 until his death
 * Rapoto III (d. 1248), son of Rapoto II, Count Palatine of Bavaria from 1231 until his death. He was the last Count Palatine; after his death the Duke of Bavaria assumed the rights and possessions of the Counts Palatine.

Counts Palatine of Lotharingia

 * Wigeric (915 – before 922), Count Palatine of Lotharingia and Count in the Bidgau
 * Gottfried (c. 905 – after 949), Count Palatine of Lotharingia and Count in the Jülichgau

From 985, the Ezzonids held the title:
 * Herman I (d. before 996), Count Palatine of Lotharingia and Count in the Bonngau, the Eiffelgau, the Zülpichgau and the Auelgau
 * Ezzo (d. 1034), son of Herman I, Count in the Auelgau and the Bonngau, Count Palatine of Lotharingia from 1020, married Mathilda of Saxony, the daughter of Emperor Otto II
 * Otto (d. 1047), son of Ezzo, Count Palatine of Lotharingia from 1035 to 1045, then Duke of Swabia as Otto II from 1045 until his death
 * Henry I (d. 1061), son of Ezzo's brother Hezzelin I, Count Palatine of Lotharingia from 1045 to 1060
 * Herman II (1049–1085), son of Henry I, Count Palatine of Lotharingia from 1061 to 1085 (until 1064 under the guardianship of Anno II, Archbishop of Cologne), also Count in the Ruhrgau and the Zülpichgau and Count of Brabant

The County Palatine of Lotharingia was suspended by the Emperor. Adelaide of Weimar-Orlamünde, Herman II's widow, remarried to Henry of Laach. About 1087 he was assigned in the newly created office of Count Palatine of the Rhine.

Counts Palatine of the Rhine
In 1085, after the death of Herman II, the County Palatine of Lotharingia lost its military importance in Lorraine. The territorial authority of the Count Palatine was reduced to his territories along the Rhine. Consequently, he is called the Count Palatine of the Rhine after 1085.

The Golden Bull of 1356 made the Count Palatine of the Rhine one of the seven electors. He was therefore known as the Elector Palatine.

Counts Palatine of Saxony
In the 10th century the Emperor Otto I created the County Palatine of Saxony in the Saale-Unstrut area of southern Saxony. The honour was initially held by a Count of Hessengau, then from the early 11th century by the Counts of Goseck, later by the Counts of Sommerschenburg, and still later by the Landgraves of Thuringia:
 * Adalbero (d. 982) was a Count in the Hessengau and in the Liesgau, Count Palatine of Saxony from 972,
 * Dietrich (d. 995), probably a son of Adalbero, was Count Palatine of Saxony from 992
 * Frederick (d. July 1002 or 15 March 1003), Count in the Harzgau and in the Nordthüringgau, was Count Palatine of Saxony from 995 to 996
 * Burchard I (d. after 3 November 1017), the first count of Goseck to hold the title, was a count in the Hassegau from 991, Count Palatine of Saxony from 1003, Count of Merseburg from 1004, and imperial governor from 1012
 * Siegfried (d. 25 April 1038), was Count Palatine of Saxony in 1028
 * Frederick I (d. 1042), a younger son of Burchard I, was Count of Goseck and in the Hassegau and was Count Palatine of Saxony in 1040
 * William (d. 1062), Count of Weimar, probably Count Palatine of Saxony in 1042
 * Dedo (fell in battle in Pöhlde on 5 May 1056), son of Frederick I, Count Palatine of Saxony from 1042 to 1044
 * Frederick II (d. 27 May 1088), younger brother of Dedo, Count Palatine of Saxony in 1056
 * Frederick III (murdered near Zscheiplitz on 5 February 1087), son of Frederick II
 * Frederick IV (d. 1125 in Dingelstedt am Huy), son of Frederick III, Count Palatine in 1114
 * Frederick V (d. 18 October 1120 or 1121), grandson of Frederick I, Count of Sommerschenburg, Count Palatine of Saxony in 1111
 * Frederick VI (d. 19 May 1162), son of Frederick V, Count of Sommerschenburg, Count Palatine of Saxony from 1123 to 1124
 * Herman II (murdered on 30 January 1152), Count of Formbach, Margrave of Meissen from 1124 to 1130 (deposed), Count Palatine of Saxony from 1129 to 1130, married in 1148 to Liutgard of Stade, who had divorced Frederick VI in 1144
 * Adalbert (d. 1179), son of Frederick VI, Count Palatine of Sommerschenburg from 1162 until his death
 * Louis III (d. 1190), Landgrave of Thuringia from 1172 until his death, appointed Count Palatine of Saxony on the Diet of Gelnhausen on 13 April 1180, abdicated in favour of Herman I in 1181
 * Herman III (c. 1155 – 25 April 1215 in Gotha), younger brother of Louis III, Count Palatine of Saxony from 1181 until his death, Landgrave of Thuringia from 1190 until his death
 * Louis IV (28 October 1200 – 11 September 1227), son of Herman I, Count Palatine of Saxony and Landgrave of Thuringia from 1217 until his death
 * Henry Raspe (1204 – 16 February 1247), son of Herman I, Landgrave of Thuringia from 1227 until his death, Count Palatine of Saxony from 1231 until his death, anti-king of Germany opposing Frederick II and his son Conrad IV from 1246

After Henry Raspe's death, the County Palatine of Saxony and the Landgraviate of Thuringia were given to the House of Wettin, based on a promise made by Emperor Frederick II:
 * Henry III (c. 1215 – 15 February 1288), Margrave of Meissen from 1227 until his death, Count Palatine of Saxony and Landgrave of Thuringia from 1247 1265
 * Albert II the Degenerate (1240 – 20 November 1314), son of Henry III, Count Palatine of Saxony and Landgrave of Thuringia from 1265 until his death, Margrave of Meissen from 1288 to 1292
 * Frederick VII the Bitten (1257 – 16 November 1323), son of Albert II, Count Palatine of Saxony from 1280 to before 1291, Margrave of Meissen before 1291 until his death, Landgrave of Thuringia from 1298 until his death

King Rudolph I of Germany gave the County Palatine of Saxony to the House of Welf:
 * Henry I (August 1267 – 7 September 1322), Count Palatine of Saxony from before 1291 until his death, Prince of Brunswick-Grubenhagen from 1291 until his death

Counts Palatine of Swabia

 * Erchanger I, also known as Berchtold I, Count Palatine of Swabia in 880/892
 * Erchanger II (d. 21 January 917), probably a son of Erchanger I, was Count Palatine of Swabia and Missus dominicus and from 915 until his death Duke of Swabia
 * [...]
 * Frederick I, (c. 1020 – shortly after 1053), Count Palatine of Swabia from 1027 to 1053
 * Frederick II (c. 997/999 – c. 1070/1075), father of Frederick I and ancestor of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, Count Palatine of Swabia from 1053 to 1069
 * Manegold the Elder (c. 1034/1043 – shortly before summer 1094), son-in-law of Frederick II, Count Palatine of Swabia from 1070 to 1094
 * Louis of Staufen, son of Frederick I, Count Palatine of Swabia from 1094 to 1103, founder of St. Faith's Church, Sélestat
 * Louis of Westheim, probably a son of his predecessor, Count Palatine of Swabia from 1103 to 1112
 * Manegold the Younger, son of Manegold the Elder, Count Palatine of Swabia from 1112 to 1125
 * Adalbert of Lauterburg, son of Manegold the Elder, Count Palatine of Swabia from 1125 to 1146

After 1146, the title went to the Counts Palatine of Tübingen.

Counts Palatine of Tübingen

 * Hugo I (1146–1152)
 * Frederick (d. 1162) co-ruler with Hugo II
 * Hugo II (1152–1182)
 * Rudolf I (1182–1219)
 * Hugo III (1185– c. 1228/30) co-ruler with Rudolf I and Rudolf II, went on to found the Montfort-Bregenz lineage
 * Rudolf II (d. 1247)
 * Hugo IV (d. 1267)
 * Eberhard (d. 1304)
 * Gottfried I (d. 1316)
 * Gottfried II (d. 1369) sold the County Palatine of Tübingen to the Württemberg dynasty, went on to found the Tübingen-Lichteneck lineage

Counts Palatine of Burgundy
In 1169, Emperor Frederick I created the Free County of Burgundy (not to be confused with its western neighbour, the Duchy of Burgundy). The Counts of Burgundy had the title of Free Count (Freigraf), but are sometimes called Counts Palatine.

Papal counts palatine
A papal count palatine (Comes palatinus lateranus, properly Comes sacri Lateranensis palatii "Count of the Sacred Palace of Lateran" ) began to be conferred by the pope in the 16th century. This title was merely honorary and by the 18th century had come to be conferred so widely as to be nearly without consequence.

The Order of the Golden Spur began to be associated with the inheritable patent of nobility in the form of count palatinate during the Renaissance; Emperor Frederick III named Baldo Bartolini, professor of civil law at the University of Perugia, a count palatinate in 1469, entitled in turn to confer university degrees.

Pope Leo X designated all of the secretaries of the papal curia Comites aulae Lateranensis ("Counts of the Lateran court") in 1514 and bestowed upon them the rights similar to an imperial count palatine. In some cases the title was conferred by specially empowered papal legates. If an imperial count palatine possessed both an imperial and the papal appointment, he bore the title of "Comes palatine imperiali Papali et auctoritate" (Count palatine by Imperial and Papal authority).

The Order of the Golden Spur, linked with the title of count palatinate, was widely conferred after the Sack of Rome, 1527, by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor; the text of surviving diplomas conferred hereditary nobility to the recipients. Among the recipients was Titian (1533), who had painted an equestrian portrait of Charles. Close on the heels of the Emperor's death in 1558, its refounding in Papal hands is attributed to Pope Pius IV in 1559. Benedict XIV (In Supremo Militantis Ecclesiæ, 1746) granted to the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre the right to use the title of Count of the Sacred Palace of Lateran.

By the mid-18th century the Order of the Golden Spur was being so indiscriminately bestowed that Casanova remarked "The Order they call the Golden Spur was so disparaged that people irritated me greatly when they asked me the details of my cross;"

The Order was granted to "those in the pontifical government, artists, and others, whom the pope should think deserving of reward. It is likewise given to strangers, no other condition being required, but that of professing the catholic religion."

title: Count palatine


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Pieces of Eight

Pieces of Eight is the eighth studio album by American progressive rock band Styx, released in September 1978.

Like the band's previous album, The Grand Illusion (1977), it managed to achieve triple platinum certification, thanks to the hit singles "Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)" and "Renegade".

The band members produced and recorded the album (like their previous three efforts) at Paragon Studios in Chicago with recording engineer Barry Mraz and mixing engineer Rob Kingsland. "I'm O.K." was recorded at Paragon and St. James Cathedral. This would be the last Styx album to be produced at Paragon Studios.

The album's cover was done by Hipgnosis. Dennis DeYoung stated in the 1991 interview with Redbeard on the In the Studio with Redbeard episode that he initially hated the cover but grew to like it as he got older.

Background
The record is considered by some to be Styx's most obvious concept album, as well as the last Styx album with significant progressive rock leanings. The theme of the album, as Dennis DeYoung explained on In the Studio with Redbeard which devoted an entire episode to Pieces of Eight, was about "not giving up your dreams just for the pursuit of money and material possessions".

Reception
Rolling Stone reviewer Lester Bangs was critical of the album, writing that "what's really interesting is not that such narcissistic slop should get recorded, but what must be going on in the minds of the people who support it in such amazing numbers. Gall, nerve and ego have never been far from great rock & roll. Yet there's a thin but crucial line between those qualities and what it takes to fill arenas today: sheer self-aggrandizement on the most puerile level. If these are the champions, gimme the cripples." The Globe and Mail noted that "when Styx strays too far from its rock and roll foundations ... as on the Gothic-pretentious numbers by Dennis De Young like 'Lords of the Ring', it starts getting less credible."

Mike DeGagne of AllMusic has retrospectively praised the album, saying that the songs on the album "rekindle some of Styx's early progressive rock sound, only cleaner."

The album peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard album chart, and like its predecessor would go triple platinum.

Styx

 * Dennis DeYoung – vocals, keyboards
 * James "JY" Young – vocals, electric guitars
 * Tommy Shaw – vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin, autoharp
 * Chuck Panozzo – bass guitar
 * John Panozzo – drums, percussion

Production

 * Producer: Styx
 * Engineers: Rob Kingsland, Barry Mraz
 * Assistant engineer: Harry Andronis
 * Mastered by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound, NYC
 * Cover by Hipgnosis

title: Pieces of Eight


text:
The Grand Illusion

The Grand Illusion is the seventh studio album by American rock band Styx. Recorded at Paragon Recording Studios in Chicago, the album was released on July 7, 1977, by A&M Records, intentionally choosing the combination 7th on 7-7-77 for luck. The release was a smash worldwide, selling three million copies in the US (Triple Platinum) alone. Some estimates have the album at over 6 million copies sold. The album launched the band to stardom and spawned the hit singles "Come Sail Away" and "Fooling Yourself." The title track also received substantial FM airplay, but was never released as an official single.

The album cover art is based on Rene Magritte's 1965 painting, "The Blank Signature."

Background and songs
As with much of Styx's catalog, many of the songs have quasi-medieval/fantasy lyrics and themes. Some are allegories and commentaries on contemporary American life and the members' experiences in an American rock band in the late 1970s, such as "Castle Walls," "Superstars," "Miss America" and the title track, which touches on "The Grand Illusion" of fame and fortune and how they are not what they appear.

Classic Rock critic Malcolm Dome rated the title track as Styx all-time greatest song. He also rated "Come Sail Away" as the band's 7th greatest song.

Tommy Shaw wrote the emotionally deep ballad "Man in the Wilderness" after watching a Kansas performance in Detroit, which they had played as the opening act. He has called it "Epic! Unlike any presentation of rock music I'd ever experienced. To go that big opened up all kinds of ideas in my mind, and the next time I was alone with my acoustic, the song more or less unfolded itself." The acoustic rocker’s lyrics stem from his experiences of rising to fame with Styx as well as his brother being sent off to fight in the Vietnam War, as a pawn for the strategies of politicians in Washington, D.C.

"Come Sail Away" uses sailing as a metaphor to achieve one's dreams and the yearning to sail away. The lyrics touch on nostalgia of "childhood friends," escapism, and a religious theme symbolized by "a gathering of angels" singing "a song of hope." The ending lyrics explain a transformation from a sailing ship into a starship: "They climbed aboard their starship and headed for the skies," words evoking biblical verses from Ezekiel (1:1-28). However, DeYoung revealed on In the Studio with Redbeard (which devoted an entire episode to the making of The Grand Illusion) that he was depressed when he wrote the track because Styx's first two A&M offerings, Equinox and Crystal Ball, had sold fewer units than expected after the success of the single "Lady." Musically, it combines a plaintive, ballad-like opening section (including piano and synthesizer interludes) with a bombastic, guitar-heavy second half. In the middle of the second half it features a minute-long instrumental break on synthesizer, characteristic of progressive rock, after which the guitar returns with a catchy chorus.

"Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)" was written by Shaw. It was originally based on Shaw's initial perception of DeYoung who was an "angry young man" who viewed the group's successes with a wary eye and grew angry or depressed with every setback. It was only in later years that Shaw began to see himself in the lyrics, and the song took on a more personal meaning to him.

The title track is well known in the classic rock genre, although it was never officially released as a pop single. The closing track, "The Grand Finale," combines the themes of the songs on the album.

Critical reception
Rolling Stone critic Joe Fernbacher called "Miss America" "the most dynamic song on the album" but said that it "simply reeks of misogynistic misdirection." The Daily Vault critic Melanie Love called it a "crunchy, hard-edged rocker from guitarist James Young" and said that "the snarling vocals do verge on being laughable, but it's an entertaining track nonetheless." Daily Vault critic Christopher Thelen said that the track "lost little of [its] punch over the years" and has become "even a stronger track as the years go by." Hamish Camp said that it "continues the theme of combining the keyboard ethos of the progressive movement, with the crunching guitar riffs of their more rock-oriented peers."

Styx

 * Dennis DeYoung – lead vocals, keyboards
 * James "JY" Young – vocals, electric guitars, synthesizer on "Come Sail Away"
 * Tommy Shaw – vocals, electric and acoustic guitars
 * Chuck Panozzo – bass guitar
 * John Panozzo – drums, percussion

Production

 * Barry Mraz – production assistance, engineer
 * Rob Kingsland – engineer
 * Mastered by Mike Reese at the Mastering Lab, Los Angeles, California
 * Roland Young – art direction
 * Jim McCrary – photography
 * Chuck Beeson – album design
 * Kelly and Mouse – album cover painting

title: The Grand Illusion


text:
Crystal Ball (Styx album)

Crystal Ball is the sixth album by Styx, released in 1976.

This album marked the recording debut of new guitarist Tommy Shaw. The track "Mademoiselle" was Tommy Shaw's vocal debut and the album's Top-40 hit.

The album's title track would become a concert staple for the band, as it was performed on every subsequent Styx tour with which Shaw was involved.

Claude Debussy's classical piece "Clair de Lune" served as the intro to the album's closing ballad, "Ballerina". The version of "Clair de Lune" on Crystal Ball features only DeYoung on piano, with the key changed from D flat to C, as the next track ("Ballerina") begins in C minor.

Reception
Crystal Ball lacked the commercial strength and chart performance of its predecessor Equinox or its follow up Grand Illusion. It peaked at #66 on the Billboard album chart, the lowest of any of the Styx A&M releases. It was certified gold in 1984, 8 years after its release.

Daevid Jehnzen of AllMusic rated Crystal Ball three-and-a-half out of five stars. He stated that it was better than Styx's previous album, Equinox (1975), although it was not as successful. He also said that the album showcases "Styx's increased skill for crafting simple, catchy pop hooks out of their bombastic sound." Alan Niester of Rolling Stone also found the album favorable, stating that "although Styx is based in Chicago, the group has its English scam down pat". He also stated that the instrumentation "always seems on the verge of going out of control, giving the whole album an extra surge of excitement."

Styx

 * Dennis DeYoung – vocals, keyboards
 * James "JY" Young – vocals, electric guitars
 * Tommy Shaw – vocals, electric and acoustic guitars
 * Chuck Panozzo – bass guitar
 * John Panozzo – drums, percussion

Production

 * Producer: Styx
 * Engineers: Barry Mraz and Rob Kingsland

title: Crystal Ball (Styx album)


text:
Equinox (Styx album)

Equinox is the fifth studio album by American rock band Styx, released in December 1975. The lead single "Lorelei" became Styx's second US Top 40 hit.

The album was the band's first release for A&M Records (with whom they had signed earlier in 1975, after the success of the 1973 single "Lady").

The album marked the final appearance of original Styx guitarist John Curulewski who left the band to spend time with his family. Tommy Shaw replaced him.

Although Equinox stalled at number 58, it was certified Gold in 1977 shortly before the release of The Grand Illusion (1977).

Record World called "Light Up" an "uptempo effort" with "clean sound and infectious hooks."

Track listing
All lead vocals by Dennis DeYoung, except where noted.

Styx

 * Dennis DeYoung – vocals, keyboards
 * James "JY" Young – vocals, electric guitars
 * John Curulewski – vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, synthesizers
 * Chuck Panozzo – bass guitar, backing vocals on "Suite Madame Blue"
 * John Panozzo – drums, percussion

Production

 * Producer - Styx
 * Engineer - Barry Mraz
 * Assistant engineer - Rob Kingsland
 * Remixing - Barry Mraz, Styx
 * Mastering - Doug Sax
 * Production assistant - Barry Mraz
 * Design - Chuck Beeson, Junie Osaki
 * Art direction - Roland Young
 * Photography - Chris Micoine

title: Equinox (Styx album)


text:
Edge of the Century

Edge of the Century is the twelfth studio album by Styx, released in 1990 on A&M Records. It was the first Styx album featuring A&M solo artist Glen Burtnik and the final album to feature drummer John Panozzo before his death in 1996. It is also their final album to be released on A&M Records.

The album spawned three singles. "Show Me the Way" was written by DeYoung and peaked at #3 on both the Hot 100 Pop Singles Chart and Adult Contemporary Chart. Some radio stations played a version edited with snippets of congressional debate and caller dedications to troops in the Gulf War. "Love Is the Ritual," (Pop singles peak #80) written by Burtnik and Plinky Giglio, and "Love at First Sight," (Pop singles chart peak, #25) written by Burtnik, DeYoung and Young, were also released as singles, but neither garnered the same amount of success as "Show Me the Way."

The album sold more than 500,000 copies and was certified gold by the RIAA.

Styx

 * Dennis DeYoung – vocals, keyboards, accordion
 * James "JY" Young – guitars, vocals
 * Glen Burtnik – guitars, vocals
 * Chuck Panozzo – bass guitar
 * John Panozzo – drums, percussion

Additional personnel

 * Salvatore "Plinky" Giglio – sequencing (1)
 * Gary Fry – Synclavier programming (4)
 * Terry Fryer – sound effects (9)
 * Howard Levy – harmonica
 * Joe Pusateri – percussion
 * Ronald Kolber – baritone saxophone
 * Jon Negus – clarinet, saxophones, horn arrangements (10)
 * Michael Smith – saxophones
 * Mike Halpin – trombone
 * Danny Barber – trumpet
 * Mark Ohlson – trumpet
 * Mac Bialystock – horn arrangements (10)

Production

 * Dennis DeYoung – producer, mixing
 * Phil Bonanno – engineer, mixing
 * Chris Shepard – second engineer
 * Plinky Giglio – additional engineer (1)
 * Ted Jensen – mastering at Sterling Sound, NYC
 * Hugh Syme – art direction, design
 * Mark Hauser – photography

title: Edge of the Century


text:
The Farmer's Daughter (1947 film)

The Farmer's Daughter is a 1947 American comedy film directed by H.C. Potter that tells the story of a farmgirl who ends up working as a maid for a Congressman and his politically powerful mother. It stars Loretta Young, Joseph Cotten, Ethel Barrymore, and Charles Bickford, and was adapted by Allen Rivkin and Laura Kerr from the 1937 Finnish play Juurakon Hulda by Hella Wuolijoki, using the pen name Juhani Tervapää (misspelled in the film's credits as Juhni Tervataa).

The film won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Loretta Young and was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Charles Bickford. Young's win was considered an upset; everyone had expected Rosalind Russell to win for her Lavinia in Mourning Becomes Electra.

In 1963, a television series based on the film was produced, starring Inger Stevens, Cathleen Nesbitt and William Windom.

Plot
Swedish-American Katie Holstrom (Loretta Young) leaves the family farm to attend nursing school in Capitol City. Barn painter Adolph Petree (Rhys Williams), who completed a job for Katie's father, offers her a ride, then steals her money along the way. Katie, refusing to ask her family for help, goes to work as a maid for political power broker Agatha Morley (Ethel Barrymore) and her son, U.S. Representative Glenn Morley (Joseph Cotten). She impresses Agatha and her loyal butler Joseph Clancey (Charles Bickford) with her refreshing, down-to-earth common sense. Glenn is impressed with her other charms.

Unexpected problems arise when the Morleys and the other leaders of their political party have to select a replacement for a deceased congressman; they choose the unscrupulous Anders J. Finley (Art Baker). Knowing the man's true background, Katie strongly disapproves. At a public meeting to introduce Finley, Katie asks him pointed and embarrassing questions. Leaders of the opposition party are impressed and offer to back Katie in the coming election. Katie accepts and reluctantly quits her job, much to Glenn's disappointment.

When Katie's campaign gains support (with some coaching from Glenn), Finley smears her reputation by bribing Petree to claim Katie spent the night with him when he gave her a ride. Katie, distraught, runs home. When Glenn learns the truth, he follows her and proposes.

Agatha and Joseph get Finley drunk and he reveals he is a member of an extreme nativist political group and that he bribed Petree, who is hidden away at his isolated lodge, to disparage Katie's reputation. Assisted by Katie's three burly brothers (James Arness, Lex Barker, Keith Andes), Glenn retrieves Petree from his goon guards, then forces him to confess over the radio. Agatha withdraws her party's support for Finley and endorses Katie, ensuring her election. In the final scene, Glenn carries Katie across the threshold of the United States House of Representatives.

Cast
In addition, Gus Stavros appears as a background extra in the film.

Production
Because of rumors that Joseph Cotten and Ingrid Bergman were having an affair, Bergman was replaced by Loretta Young.

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 100% based on eight reviews, with an average rating of 7.10/10.

title: The Farmer's Daughter (1947 film)


text:
Possessed (1947 film)

Possessed is a 1947 American psychological drama directed by Curtis Bernhardt, starring Joan Crawford, Van Heflin, and Raymond Massey in a tale about an unstable woman's obsession with her ex-lover. The screenplay by Ranald MacDougall and Silvia Richards was based upon a story by Rita Weiman.

Plot
A woman wanders through Los Angeles, saying little more than "David". Admitted to a hospital's psychiatric ward in a catatonic stupor, and interrogated by a doctor, she calls herself Louise Howell, and recounts her life in intermittent spurts, starting with her memory of her lover David Sutton playing Schumann for her, she saying, "I want to have a monopoly on you." He does not return her passion, but returns her home in a boat, and tells her their relationship is over.

She lives, and works as a nurse, at the lakeside home of the Grahams. Louise takes care of Pauline, the invalid wife of Dean Graham. Pauline is irascible and venomous, and thinks Louise is having an affair with her husband; Louise wants to leave.

Later, the police trawl the lake and find Pauline's body. Dean says she killed herself. The Graham children, Wynn, a young boy, and a college-age young woman, Carol, return home. A coroner's hearing is held, with a verdict of accidental death. Afterwards, Louise encounters Carol, who angrily says Pauline's letters said Louise was attractive to Dean. Carol wants Louise to leave; Dean, who has arrived, demands Carol apologize, and slaps her.

David comes by, and says Dean's oil business needs him as an engineer; he is hired. Louise speaks to him and thinks he has another woman, which he denies. Louise goes with the Grahams to Washington, D.C., taking care of Wynn. David happens to be there, and Louise starts drinking and looks strained; he says he is out of love with her forever, and she slaps him. She says she'll quit her job, but Dean asks her to marry him; she agrees, even though she says she is not in love with him, which he accepts.

Louise visits Carol at college, wanting to be liked by her; there is a reconciliation. At the wedding, the uninvited David arrives late, and speaks to the crying Carol, who says she asked him for marriage at 11 years of age, which he remembers. Louise warns him away from Carol, and tells him to leave.

Later, Carol invites him over to their box at a piano recital; Louise has a distressed recollection of David at the piano, and leaves. At home, she has a lengthy hallucination: Carol returns with David, who kisses Carol. Louise confesses to killing Pauline. Carol says she'll tell Dean; Louise hits her, and she rolls down the stairs and dies. After the hallucination ends Carol then comes home for real, but not with David.

Louise, feeling disturbed, visits a doctor under a false name, and is recommended to go to a psychiatrist, but walks out. She asks Dean for a divorce; Dean asks why, and Louise says Pauline hates her. On a vacation back at the lake house, Louise climbs to Pauline's bedroom, screams, and when Dean runs up there, Louise says Pauline is in the room, saying to her, "Kill yourself, Louise". Dean says she's dead, and turns on the light; Louise doesn't see her any more, but confesses to helping her kill herself. Dean says that was false, as Louise was in the village on her day off.

Back at their regular home, Louise, happy to be free of Pauline's ghost, wants to go dancing; but she and Dean see David and Carol at the nightclub. Louise later lies to Carol that David really wants her, Louise. David drops by, and confronts Louise, who says Carol said she, Carol, is tired of David. Louise then admits lying, and that she's willing to do anything to keep David; he threatens to tell Dean about Louise and their past.

Dean confronts Louise, and says a doctor will come see her; she gets angry that it's a mental specialist, though she agrees to talk to him. She sneaks away to David, and says she is worried about being institutionalized. David says he will call Dean, and that he is going away that night to marry Carol. Louise gets out a gun; he taunts her, and she shoots him repeatedly.

She awakens at the hospital, and admits killing David. Dean visits, and the doctor says it is psychosis, as if she is possessed of devils, but he can restore her. He also says her tortured mind and delusion that she helped Pauline kill herself, made her present condition almost inevitable, and that if he had seen her sooner, her problems could have been averted. Re the upcoming trial about David's death, the doctor says Louise is not responsible for any of her actions. They go see the sleeping Louise, and the doctor says the healing process will be long and difficult, and she'll suffer a great deal before recovery. Dean pledges to help support his wife recover fully, no matter what.

Cast

 * Joan Crawford as Louise Howell
 * Van Heflin as David Sutton
 * Raymond Massey as Dean Graham
 * Geraldine Brooks as Carol Graham
 * Stanley Ridges as Dr. Willard
 * John Ridgely as Chief Investigator
 * Moroni Olsen as Dr. Ames
 * Erskine Sanford as Dr. Sherman
 * Peter Miles as Wynn Graham
 * Jakob Gimpel as 	Pianist
 * Isabel Withers as Nurse Rosen
 * Lisa Golm as 	Elsie
 * Douglas Kennedy as 	Asst. District Attorney
 * Monte Blue as 	Norris
 * Don McGuire as 	Dr. Craig
 * Rory Mallinson as Coroner's Assistant
 * Clifton Young as Interne
 * Griff Barnett as 	Coroner
 * Nana Bryant as Pauline Graham

Production
Crawford spent time visiting mental wards and talking to psychiatrists to prepare for her role, and said the part was the most difficult she ever played.

During production, director Curtis Bernhardt accidentally kept referring to Crawford as "Bette" as he had just finished filming A Stolen Life with Bette Davis.

Crawford tried unsuccessfully to convince Warner Bros. to change the film's title to The Secret since she had already starred in a film of the same title (Possessed with Clark Gable as her leading man) sixteen years earlier.

The musical score is by Franz Waxman, and makes extensive use of a piano piece by Robert Schumann, the "Chopin" movement from Carnaval Op. 9. The Schumann piece is played on the piano by David near the beginning of the movie, and is used throughout the score to underscore Louise's obsession with David.

Release
The film was entered into the 1947 Cannes Film Festival.

Box office
The film earned $1,987,000 domestically and $1,085,000 in foreign territories for a worldwide total of $3,027,000.

Critical reception
Herman Schoenfeld of Variety positively wrote that Joan Crawford "cops all thesping honors in this production with a virtuoso performance as a frustrated woman ridden into madness by a guilt-obsessed mind. Actress has a self-assurance that permits her to completely dominate the screen even vis-a-vis such accomplished players as Van Heflin and Raymond Massey." Overall, he felt that "Despite its overall superiority, Possessed is somewhat marred by an ambiguous approach in Curtis Bernhardt's direction. Film vacillates between being a cold clinical analysis of a mental crackup and a highly surcharged melodramatic vehicle for Crawford's histrionics."

James Agee in Time magazine wrote, "Most of it is filmed with unusual imaginativeness and force. The film is uncommonly well acted. Miss Crawford is generally excellent", while Howard Barnes in the New York Herald Tribune argued, "[Crawford] has obviously studied the aspects of insanity to recreate a rather terrifying portrait of a woman possessed by devils."

More recently, film critic Dennis Schwartz gave the film a mixed review, writing, "'In German émigré director Curtis Bernhardt's melodrama Possessed, Joan Crawford plays a mentally disturbed person who can't distinguish reality from her imagination. Through use of German expressionism techniques and many familiar film noir shadowy shots, the b/w film takes on a penetrating psychological tone and makes a case for a not guilty of murder plea due to insanity. Though Joan has a powerful presence in this movie, she played her mad role in a too cold and campy way to be thought of as a sympathetic figure. All the psychological treatment therapy sounded like psycho-babble and Joan's acting was overstuffed, though some of her morbid imaginations were gripping and held my attention. Too heavy with German stimmung it still is fun to watch the melodramatics play out in this tale of overbearing love, painful rejection, paranoia and murder.'"

Film historian Bob Porfirio notes, "'By developing the plot from the point-of-view of a neurotic and skillfully using flashback and fantasy scenes in a straightforward manner, the distinction between reality and Louise's imagination is blurred. That makes Possessed a prime example of oneirism, the dreamlike tone that is a seminal characteristic of film noir.'"

Accolades
At the 20th Academy Awards, Joan Crawford was nominated for Academy Award for Best Actress, losing to Loretta Young in The Farmer's Daughter.

title: Possessed (1947 film)


text:
Talk:Edge of the Century

Untitled
What does after returning released it on October 9, 1990. mean? -- Zoe

title: Talk:Edge of the Century