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Gloria Swanson

Gloria Josephine Mae Swanson (March 27, 1899 –April 4, 1983) was an American actress. She first achieved fame acting in dozens of silent films in the 1920s and was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, most famously for her 1950 turn in Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard, which also earned her a Golden Globe Award.

Swanson was born in Chicago and raised in a military family that moved from base to base. Her infatuation with Essanay Studios actor Francis X. Bushman led to her aunt taking her to tour the actor's Chicago studio. The 15-year-old Swanson was offered a brief walk-on for one film and eventually a stock-players contract, beginning her life's career in front of the cameras. Swanson left school, and was soon hired to work in California for Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios comedy shorts opposite Bobby Vernon.

She was eventually recruited by Famous Players–Lasky/Paramount Pictures, where she was put under contract for seven years and became a global superstar. She starred in a series of films about society, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, including Male and Female (1919). She continued as a successful movie star in The Affairs of Anatol (1921) and Beyond the Rocks (1922). She also starred in critically acclaimed performances such as Zaza (1923) and Madame Sans-Gêne (1925).

In 1925, Swanson joined United Artists as one of the film industry's pioneering women filmmakers. She produced and starred in the 1928 film Sadie Thompson, earning her a nomination for Best Actress at the first annual Academy Awards. Her sound film debut performance in 1929's The Trespasser, earned her a second Academy Award nomination. Queen Kelly (1928–29) was a box office disaster, but is remembered as a silent classic. After almost two decades in front of the cameras, her film success waned during the 1930s. Swanson received renewed praise for her return to the screen in her role as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard (1950). She made only three more films, but guest starred on several television shows, and acted in road productions of stage plays.

Early life
Swanson was born in a small house in Chicago in 1899, the only child of Adelaide (née Klanowski) and Joseph Theodore Swanson (né Svensson), a soldier. She was raised in the Lutheran faith. Her father was a Swedish American and her mother was of German, French, and Polish ancestry. Because of her father's attachment to the U.S. Army, the family moved frequently. She spent some of her childhood in Key West, Florida, where she was enrolled in a Catholic convent school, and in Puerto Rico, where she saw her first motion pictures.

1914–1918: Essanay/Keystone/Triangle
Her family once again residing in Chicago, the adolescent Gloria developed a crush on actor Francis X. Bushman and knew he was employed by Essanay Studios in the city. Swanson later recalled that her Aunt Inga brought her at the age of 15 to visit Bushman's studio, where she was discovered by a tour guide. Other accounts have the star-struck Swanson herself talking her way into the business. In either version, she was soon hired as an extra.

The movie industry was still in its infancy, churning out short subjects, without the advantage of today's casting agencies and talent agents promoting their latest find. A willing extra was often a valuable asset. Her first role was a brief walk-on with actress Gerda Holmes, that paid an enormous (in those days) $3.25. The studio soon offered her steady work at $13.25 per week. Swanson left school to work full-time at the studio. In 1915, she co-starred in Sweedie Goes to College with her future first husband Wallace Beery.

Swanson's mother accompanied her to California in 1916 for her roles in Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios comedy shorts opposite Bobby Vernon and directed by Clarence G. Badger. They were met at the train station by Beery, who was pursuing his own career ambitions at Keystone. Vernon and Swanson projected a great screen chemistry that proved popular with audiences. Director Charley Chase recalled that Swanson was "frightened to death" of Vernon's dangerous stunts. Surviving movies in which they appear together include The Danger Girl (1916), The Sultan's Wife (1917), and Teddy at the Throttle (1917). Badger was sufficiently impressed by Swanson to recommend her to the director Jack Conway for Her Decision and You Can't Believe Everything in 1918. Triangle had never put Swanson under contract, but did increase her pay to $15 a week. When she was approached by Famous Players–Lasky to work for Cecil B. DeMille, the resulting legal dispute obligated her to Triangle for several more months. Soon afterward, Triangle was in a financial bind and loaned Swanson to DeMille for the comedy Don't Change Your Husband.

1919–1926: Famous Players–Lasky/Paramount Pictures
At the behest of DeMille, Swanson signed a contract with Famous Players–Lasky on December 30, 1918, for $150 a week, to be raised to $200 a week, and eventually $350 a week. Her first picture under her new contract was DeMille's World War I romantic drama For Better, for Worse. She made six pictures under the direction of DeMille, including Male and Female (1919) in which she posed with a lion as "Lion's Bride". While she and her father were dining out one evening, the man who would become her second husband, Equity Pictures president Herbert K. Somborn, introduced himself, by inviting her to meet one of her personal idols, actress Clara Kimball Young.

Why Change Your Wife?, Something to Think About (both 1920), and The Affairs of Anatol (1921) soon followed. She next appeared in 10 films directed by Sam Wood, starting with The Great Moment (1921) and including Beyond the Rocks in 1922 with her longtime friend Rudolph Valentino. Valentino had become a star in 1921 for his appearance in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, but Swanson had known him since his days as an aspiring actor getting small parts, with no apparent hope for his professional future. She was impressed by his shy, well-mannered personality, the complete opposite of what his public image would become.

After her films with Wood, she appeared in Zaza (1923) directed by Allan Dwan. During her time at Famous Players–Lasky, seven more of her films were directed by Dwan.

In 1925, Swanson starred in the French-American comedy Madame Sans-Gêne, directed by Léonce Perret. Filming was allowed for the first time at many of the historic sites relating to Napoleon. While it was well received at the time, no prints are known to exist and it is considered to be a lost film. Swanson appeared in a 1925 short produced by Lee de Forest in his Phonofilm sound-on-film process. She made a number of films for Paramount, including The Coast of Folly (1925), Stage Struck (1925) and The Untamed Lady (1926). Before she could produce films with United Artists, she completed Fine Manners with Paramount and turned down an offer to make The King of Kings with DeMille.

1925–1933: United Artists
She turned down a one-million-dollar-a-year contract with Paramount in favor of joining the newly created United Artists partnership on June 25, 1925, accepting a six-picture distribution offer from president Joseph Schenck. At the time, Swanson was considered the most bankable star of her era. United Artists had its own Art Cinema Corporation subsidiary to advance financial loans for the productions of individual partners. The partnership agreement included her commitment to a buy-in of $100,000 of preferred stock subscription.

Swanson Producing Corporation
The Swanson Producing Corporation was set up as the umbrella organization for her agreement with United Artists. Under that name, she produced The Love of Sunya with herself in the title role. The film, co-starring John Boles, was directed by Albert Parker, based on the play The Eyes of Youth by Max Marcin and Charles Guernon. The production was a disaster, with Parker being indecisive and the actors not experienced enough to deliver the performances she wanted. The film fell behind in its schedule and, by the time of its release, the end product had not lived up to Swanson's expectations. While it did not lose money, it was a financial wash, breaking even on the production costs.

Gloria Swanson Productions
She engaged the services of director Raoul Walsh in 1927 and together they conceived of making a film based on W. Somerset Maugham's short story "Miss Thompson". Gloria Swanson Productions proposed to film the controversial Sadie Thompson about the travails of a prostitute living in American Samoa, a project that initially pleased United Artists president Joseph Schenck. As she moved forward with the project, association members urged Schenck to halt the production due to its subject matter. The members took further steps by registering their discontent with Will H. Hays, Chairman of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America. Walsh previously had his own battles with the Hays office, having managed to skirt around censorship issues with What Price Glory? By bringing him to the table, literally over breakfast in her home, Hays and Swanson developed a working relationship for the film. Hays was enthusiastic about the basic story, but did have specific issues that were dealt with before the film's release. The project was filmed on Santa Catalina Island, just off the coast of Long Beach, California. Gross receipts slightly exceeded $850,000. At the first annual Academy Awards, Swanson received a nomination for Best Actress for her performance, and the film's cinematographer George Barnes was also nominated.

Gloria Productions
By the end of 1927, Swanson was in dire financial straits, with only $65 in the bank. Her two productions had generated income, but too slowly to offset her production loan debts to Art Cinema Corporation. Swanson had also not made good on her $100,000 subscription for preferred United Artists shared stock. She had received financial proposals from United Artists studio head Joseph Schenck, as well as from Bank of America, prior to engaging the services of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. as her financial advisor. He proposed to personally bankroll her next picture and conducted a thorough examination of her financial records. Kennedy advised her to shut down Swanson Producing Corporation. She agreed to his plan for a fresh start under the dummy corporate name of Gloria Productions, headquartered in Delaware. Upon his advice, she fired most of her staff and sold her rights for The Love of Sunya and Sadie Thompson to Art Cinema Corporation. Kennedy then created the position of "European director of Pathé" to put her third husband Henry de La Falaise on the payroll.

Sound films were already becoming popular with audiences, most notably the films of singer Al Jolson, who had success with The Jazz Singer released in 1927 and The Singing Fool in 1928. Kennedy, however, advised her to hire Erich von Stroheim to direct another silent film, The Swamp, subsequently retitled Queen Kelly. She was hesitant to hire Stroheim, who was known for being difficult to deal with and who was unwilling to work within any budget. Kennedy, nevertheless, was insistent and was able to get Stroheim released from contractual obligations to producer Pat Powers. Stroheim worked for several months on writing the basic script. Filming of Queen Kelly began in November. His filming was slow, albeit meticulous, and the cast and crew suffered from long hours. Shooting was shut down in January, and Stroheim fired, after complaints by Swanson about him and about the general direction the film was taking. Swanson and Kennedy tried to salvage it with an alternative ending shot on November 24, 1931, directed by Swanson and photographed by Gregg Toland.

Only two other films were made under Gloria Productions. The Trespasser in 1929 was a sound production, and garnered Swanson her second Oscar nomination. Written by Edmund Goulding, with Laura Hope Crews fine-tuning the dialogue, Kennedy approved funding for the go-ahead on the production. The film was a melodrama, complete with musical numbers sung by Swanson and completed in 21 days. The world premiere was held in London, the first American sound production to do so. Swanson was mobbed by adoring fans. Before leaving London, she sang at a concert carried over the BBC. What a Widow! in 1930 was the final film for Gloria Productions.

United Artists stars on the radio
Mary Pickford and her husband Douglas Fairbanks hosted the March 29, 1928, episode of the Dodge Hour radio program, originating from Pickford's private bungalow at United Artists, and broadcast to audiences in American movie theaters. The brainchild of Joseph Schenck, it was a promotional come-on to attract audiences into movie theaters to hear the voices of their favorite actors, as sound productions became the future of commercial films. On hand were Swanson, Charlie Chaplin, Norma Talmadge, John Barrymore, Dolores del Río, and D. W. Griffith.

Gloria Swanson British Productions Ltd.
Before she began filming Perfect Understanding as Gloria Swanson British Productions Ltd., she finished a two-film package production for Art Cinema, which included Indiscreet and Tonight or Never (1931). Perfect Understanding, a 1933 sound production comedy, was the only film produced by this company. Made entirely at Ealing Studios, it co-starred Laurence Olivier as Swanson's on-screen husband. United Artists bought back all of her stock with them, in order to provide her financing to make this film, and thereby ending her relationship with the partnership. The film was panned by the critics upon its release and failed at the box office.

1938–1950: Creating new paths
When she made the transition to sound films as her career simultaneously began to decline, Swanson moved permanently to New York City in 1938. Swanson starred in Father Takes a Wife for RKO in 1941. She began appearing in stage productions and starred in The Gloria Swanson Hour on WPIX-TV in 1948. Swanson threw herself into painting and sculpting and, in 1954, published Gloria Swanson's Diary, a general newsletter. She toured in summer stock, engaged in political activism, designed and marketed clothing and accessories, and made personal appearances on radio and in movie theaters.

Sunset Boulevard
The film Sunset Boulevard was conceived by director Billy Wilder and screenwriter Charles Brackett, and came to include writer D. M. Marshman Jr. They bandied about the name of Mae West, whose public persona even in her senior years was as a sex symbol, but she objected to playing a has-been. Mary Pickford was also considered for the lead role of Norma Desmond. It was director George Cukor who suggested Swanson, noting that she was once such a valuable asset to her studio that she was, "...carried in a sedan chair from her dressing room to the set".

The storyline of the film follows a faded silent movie actress Norma Desmond (Swanson), in love with a failed screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden). She lives at the mansion with her former-husband-director-turned-butler Max von Mayerling (Erich von Stroheim), who personally disliked the role and only agreed to it out of financial need. A clip from Queen Kelly was used for the scene where Joe and Norma are watching one of her silent films, and she declares, "... we didn't need dialogue, we had faces". Norma plays a card game of bridge with a group of actors also known as "the Waxworks". They included Buster Keaton, H.B. Warner and Anna Q. Nilsson. During the scene leading up to Cecil B. DeMille's cameo, where Max chauffeurs Joe and Norma to the studio, her Isotta Fraschini luxury automobile was towed from behind the camera, because Stroheim had never learned how to drive. Norma's dreams of a comeback are subverted, and when Gillis tries to break up with her, she threatens to kill herself, but instead kills him. She becomes delusional by the time the police and news media arrive. Max sets up the studio lighting towards her on the staircase and directs her down towards the waiting police and news cameras, where she says, "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up."

Although Swanson had objected to enduring a screen test for the film, she had been glad to be making much more money than she had been in television and on stage. She found the overall experience of making the movie a pleasure, and later stated, "I hated to have the picture end ... When Mr. Wilder called ‘Print it!’ I burst into tears...” She was nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award, but lost to Judy Holliday.

Final films
Swanson received several acting offers following the release of Sunset Boulevard, but turned most of them down, saying they tended to be pale imitations of Norma Desmond. Her last major Hollywood motion picture role was also her first color film, the poorly received 3 for Bedroom C in 1952. Nationally syndicated columnist Suzy called it "one of the worst movies ever made." In 1956, Swanson made Nero's Mistress, an Italian film shot in Rome, which starred Alberto Sordi, Vittorio de Sica and Brigitte Bardot. Her final screen appearance, in 1974, was as herself in Airport 1975.

Television and theatre
Swanson hosted The Gloria Swanson Hour, one of the first live television series in 1948 in which she invited friends and others to be guests. Swanson later hosted Crown Theatre with Gloria Swanson, a television anthology series in which she occasionally acted.

Through the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s, Swanson appeared on many different talk and variety shows such as The Carol Burnett Show and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson to recollect her movies and to lampoon them as well. On The Carol Burnett Show in 1973, Swanson reprised her impersonation of Charlie Chaplin from both Sunset Boulevard and Manhandled. She was the "mystery guest" on What's My Line. She acted in "Behind the Locked Door" on The Alfred Hitchcock Hour in 1964 and, in the same year, she was nominated for a Golden Globe award for her performance in Burke's Law. She made a guest appearance on The Dick Cavett Show in the summer of 1970; a guest on the same show as Janis Joplin. She made a notable appearance in a 1966 episode of The Beverly Hillbillies, in which she plays herself. In the episode, the Clampetts mistakenly believe Swanson is destitute and decide to finance a comeback movie for her – in a silent film.

After near-retirement from movies, Swanson appeared in many plays throughout her later life, beginning in the 1940s. Actor and playwright Harold J. Kennedy, who had learned the ropes at Yale and with Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre, suggested Swanson do a road tour of "Reflected Glory", a comedy that had run on the Broadway stage with Tallulah Bankhead as its star. Kennedy wrote the script for the play A Goose for the Gander, which began its road tour in Chicago in August 1944.

Swanson also toured with Let Us Be Gay. After her success with Sunset Boulevard, she starred on Broadway in a revival of Twentieth Century with José Ferrer, and in Nina with David Niven. Her last major stage role was in the 1971 Broadway production of Butterflies Are Free at the Booth Theatre. Kevin Brownlow and David Gill interviewed her for Hollywood, a television history of the silent era.

Personal life

Swanson was a vegetarian and an early health food advocate who was known for bringing her own meals to public functions in a tin box.

She was a pupil of the yoga guru Indra Devi and was photographed performing a series of yoga poses, reportedly looking much younger than her age, for Devi to use in her book Forever Young, Forever Healthy; but the publisher Prentice-Hall decided to use the photographs for Swanson's book, not Devi's. In return, Swanson, who normally never did publicity events, helped to launch Devi's book at the Waldorf-Astoria in 1953.

As a Republican she supported the 1940 and 1944 campaigns for president of Wendell Willkie and the 1964 presidential campaign of Barry Goldwater. In 1980, she chaired the New York chapter of Seniors for Reagan-Bush.

In 1964, Swanson spoke at a "Project Prayer" rally attended by 2,500 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The gathering, which was hosted by Anthony Eisley, a star of ABC's Hawaiian Eye series, sought to flood the United States Congress with letters in support of mandatory school prayer, following two decisions in 1962 and 1963 of the United States Supreme Court, which struck down mandatory prayer as conflicting with the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Joining Swanson and Eisley at the Project Prayer rally were Walter Brennan, Lloyd Nolan, Rhonda Fleming, Pat Boone, and Dale Evans. Swanson declared "Under God we became the freest, strongest, wealthiest nation on earth. Should we change that?"

In 1975, Swanson traveled the United States and helped to promote the book Sugar Blues written by her husband, William Dufty. He also ghostwrote Swanson's 1981 autobiography Swanson on Swanson, which became a commercial success. The same year, she designed a stamp cachet for the United Nations Decade for Women, which was her last creative project.

Wallace Beery
Wallace Beery and Swanson married on her 17th birthday on March 27, 1916, but by her wedding night she felt she had made a mistake and saw no way out of it. She did not like his home or his family and was repulsed by him as a lover. After becoming pregnant, she saw her husband with other women and learned he had been fired from Keystone. Taking medication given to her by Beery, purported to be for morning sickness, she miscarried the fetus and was taken unconscious to the hospital. Soon afterwards, she filed for divorce, which was finalized on December 12, 1918. Under California law in that era, after a divorce was granted, there was a one-year waiting period before it became finalized so that either of the parties could remarry.

Herbert K. Somborn
She married Herbert K. Somborn on December 20, 1919. He was at that time president of Equity Pictures Corporation and later the owner of the Brown Derby restaurant. Their daughter, Gloria Swanson Somborn, was born on October 7, 1920. In 1923, she adopted one-year-old Sonny Smith, whom she renamed Joseph Patrick Swanson after her father. During their divorce proceedings, Somborn accused her of adultery with 13 men, including Cecil B. DeMille and Marshall Neilan. The public sensationalism led to Swanson having a "morals clause" added to her studio contract. Somborn was granted a divorce in Los Angeles, on September 19, 1923.

Henri de la Falaise

During the production of Madame Sans-Gêne, Swanson met her third husband, Henri, Marquis de la Falaise (commonly known as Henri de la Falaise), who had been hired to be her translator during the film's production. Though Henri was a Marquis and related to the famous Hennessy cognac family, he had no personal wealth. She had conceived a child with him before her divorce from Somborn was final, a situation that would have led to a public scandal and possible end of her film career. She had an abortion, which she later regretted. They married on January 28, 1925, after the Somborn divorce was finalized. Following a four-month recuperation from her abortion, they returned to the United States as European nobility. Swanson now held the title of Marquise. She received a huge welcome home with parades in both New York and Los Angeles. He became a film executive representing Pathé (USA) in France. This marriage ended in divorce in 1930.

In spite of the divorce they remained close, and Falaise became a partner in her World War II efforts to aid potential scientist refugees fleeing from behind Nazi lines. Swanson described herself as a "mental vampire", someone with a searching curiosity about how things worked, and who pursued the possibilities of turning those ideas into reality. In 1939, she created Multiprises, an inventions and patents company; Henri de la Falaise provided a transitional Paris office for the scientists and gave written documentation to authorities guaranteeing jobs for them. Viennese electronics engineer Richard Kobler, chemist Leopold Karniol, metallurgist Anton Kratky, and acoustical engineer Leopold Neumann, were brought to New York and headquartered in Rockefeller Center. The group nicknamed her "Big Chief".

Joseph P. Kennedy Sr.
While still married to Henri, Swanson had a lengthy affair with the married Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., father of future President John F. Kennedy. He became her business partner, and their relationship was an open secret in Hollywood. He took over all of her personal and business affairs and was supposed to make her millions. Kennedy left her after the disastrous Queen Kelly.

Michael Farmer
After the marriage to Henri and her affair with Kennedy was over, Swanson became acquainted with Michael Farmer, the man who would become her fourth husband. They met by chance in Paris when Swanson was being fitted by Coco Chanel for her 1931 film Tonight or Never. Farmer was a man of independent financial means who seemed not to have been employed. Rumors were that he was a gigolo. Swanson began spending time with him, during which she discovered a breast lump and also became pregnant, but was not yet divorced from Henri. She was not interested in marrying Farmer, but he did not want to break off the relationship. When Farmer found out she was pregnant, he threatened to go public with the news unless she agreed to marry him, something she did not want to do. Her friends, some of whom openly disliked him, thought she was making a mistake. They married on August 16, 1931, and separated 2 years later.

Because of the possibility that Swanson's divorce from La Falaise had not been finalized at the time of the wedding, she was forced to remarry Farmer the following November, by which time she was four months pregnant with Michelle Bridget Farmer, who was born on April 5, 1932.

Herbert Marshall
Swanson and Farmer divorced in 1934 after she became involved with married British actor Herbert Marshall. The media reported widely on her affair with Marshall. After almost three years with the actor, Swanson left him once she became convinced he would never divorce his wife Edna Best, for her. In an early manuscript of her autobiography written in her own hand decades later, Swanson recalled "I was never so convincingly and thoroughly loved as I was by Herbert Marshall."

William M. Davey
Davey was a wealthy investment broker whom Swanson met in October 1944 while she was appearing in A Goose for the Gander. They married January 29, 1945. Swanson had initially thought she was going to be able to retire from acting, but the marriage was troubled by Davey's alcoholism from the start. Erratic behavior and acrimonious recriminations followed. Swanson and her daughter Michelle Farmer visited an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and gathered AA pamphlets, which they placed around the apartment. Davey moved out. In the subsequent legal separation proceedings, the judge ordered him to pay Swanson alimony. In an effort to avoid the payments, Davey unsuccessfully filed for divorce on the grounds of mental cruelty. He died within a year, not having paid anything to Swanson, and left the bulk of his estate to the Damon Runyon Cancer Memorial Fund.

William Dufty
Swanson's final marriage occurred in 1976 and lasted until her death. Her sixth husband William Dufty was a writer who worked for many years at the New York Post, where he was assistant to the editor from 1951 to 1960. He was the co-author (ghostwriter) of Billie Holiday's autobiography Lady Sings the Blues, the author of Sugar Blues, a 1975 best-selling health book still in print, and the author of the English version of Georges Ohsawa's You Are All Sanpaku. They met in the mid-1960s and moved in together. Swanson shared her husband's enthusiasm for macrobiotic diets, and they traveled widely together to speak about nutrition. Swanson and her husband first got to know John Lennon and Yoko Ono because they were fans of Dufty's work. Swanson testified on Lennon's behalf at his immigration hearing in New York City, which led to his becoming a permanent resident. Besides her Fifth Avenue apartment, she and Dufty spent time at their homes in Beverly Hills, California; Colares, Portugal; Croton-on-Hudson, New York; and Palm Springs, California. After Swanson's death, Dufty returned to his former home in Birmingham, Michigan. He died of cancer in 2002.

Death
Swanson died of a heart ailment at the New York Hospital on April 4, 1983, having recently returned from her home on the Portuguese Riviera. Her body was cremated and her ashes interred at the Church of the Heavenly Rest on Fifth Avenue in New York City, attended by a small number of family members.

After Swanson's death, there was a series of auctions from August to September 1983 at William Doyle Galleries in New York. Collectors bought her furniture and decorations, jewelry, clothing, and memorabilia from her personal life and career.

Honors and legacy
In 1960, Gloria Swanson was honored with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: one for motion pictures at 6750 Hollywood Boulevard, and another for television at 6301 Hollywood Boulevard. In 1955 and 1957, Swanson was awarded The George Eastman Award, given by George Eastman House for distinguished contribution to the art of film, and in 1966, the museum honored her with a career film retrospective, titled A Tribute to Gloria Swanson, which screened several of her movies. In 1974, Swanson was one of the honorees of the first Telluride Film Festival. A parking lot by Sims Park in downtown New Port Richey, Florida, is named after the star, who is said to have owned property along the Cotee River.

In 1982, a year before her death, Swanson sold her archives of over 600 boxes for an undisclosed sum, including photographs, artwork, copies of films and private papers, including correspondence, contracts, and financial dealings, to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin. Upon her death in 1983, much of the remainder of her holdings was purchased by UT-Austin at an auction held at the Doyle New York gallery. An undisclosed amount of memorabilia was also gifted to the HRC Center between 1983 and 1988.

In 1989, the Library of Congress chose Sunset Boulevard, along with 24 other films, "to be preserved in the permanent collection of the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress as culturally, historically, and aesthetically important".

Portrayals
Swanson has been played both on television and in film by the following actresses:

 * 1971: Carol Burnett on The Carol Burnett Show
 * 1984: Diane Venora in The Cotton Club
 * 1990: Madolyn Smith in The Kennedys of Massachusetts
 * 1991: Ann Turkel in White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd
 * 2008: Kristen Wiig in Saturday Night Live
 * 2013: Debi Mazar in Return to Babylon

Stage
Note: The list below is limited to New York Broadway theatrical productions.

General

 * Gloria Swanson at the Women Film Pioneers Project
 * Glorious Gloria Swanson – Tribute site
 * Gloria Swanson's papers at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin
 * Gloria Swanson photographs and bibliography
 * Gloria Swanson at the Women Film Pioneers Project
 * Glorious Gloria Swanson – Tribute site
 * Gloria Swanson's papers at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin
 * Gloria Swanson photographs and bibliography

Interviews

 * Gloria Swanson, video of The Mike Wallace Interview, April 28, 1957
 * , August 3, 1970

title: Gloria Swanson


text:
User:Rethunk

The Latest
(2024) Does anyone read user pages any more? Wow, I've been on Wikipedia for 21 years now, long enough to see the article count increase from 100,000 to nearly 7 million (in English alone).

(2018) I remembered my login! But I've only made anonymous edits the past few years.

User Info before 2008: Ancient History
I'm an engineer in the field of machine vision, which is essentially a combination of computer vision--the academic study of "making computers see"--and industrial automation.

(Yada yada yada). . . I wish I could find a snooker table within 100 miles.

. . . and I found a snooker table. Well, after quite a bit of work and lots of help I found over 300 snooker tables (now nearly 400 tables) in the U.S. http://www.findsnooker.com/

Here's a quick list of articles for which I've written first drafts.

Miscellany

 * machine vision
 * "at the time of writing this, [the 100,000th article on Wikipedia] is Machine vision by Rethunk, started at 05:30 the same morning! (That is, assuming that none of the subsequent new pages are non-articles, which may not actually be true.)" -- from "Wikipedia: 100,000th article" (as of 21 Jan 2003)

 * Austin City Limits (television)
 * concert music program on American television
 * Celis
 * Belgian-style beer brewed in Texas, then Michigan
 * Kris Kringle

Music

 * Weather Report
 * 1970s jazz fusion band featuring Jaco Pastorius, Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter
 * Julian Cannonball Adderley
 * jazz saxophonist
 * Béla Fleck & the Flecktones
 * funky jazz/bluegrass/superchops band
 * Béla Fleck
 * banjo player
 * Juan Atkins
 * father of techno music, Detroit musician

Literature

 * Jonathan Franzen
 * American novelist, author of The Corrections
 * Christopher McQuarrie
 * American writer, Oscar winner for screenplay of The Usual Suspects

Edited or Tweaked

 * accuracy, calibration
 * billiards - added a few games
 * beer - added breweries, etc.
 * And so on.

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

title: User:Rethunk


text:
User talk:Rethunk

Greetings, Rethunk. Thanks for your note on Computer vision. The article is hardly mine, though; I've made only a very minor edit, even though I agree it is an interesting topic. Anyway, welcome to Wikipedia! I hope you enjoy yourself, and encourage you to make some edits, either about machine vision or about anything else you fancy. --Ryguasu 02:16 Jan 21, 2003 (UTC)

 * Feel free to email or post here if you have any questions about vision. I just ordered a honkin' big book about the field, and algorithms in particular. -- Rethunk

Hi there, and welcome to Wikipedia! I hope you enjoy this site and decide to stick around.

I noticed you had written a little about yourself on another page, and I moved it onto your user page at user:Rethunk.

Please feel free to experiment and contribute to Wikipedia; if you have any questions, you can ask them at the Village pump.

Enchanter

 * Thanks for the help. I am just a puppy at this. -- Rethunk

Bela & other Jazz stuff
Hullo Rethunk

I was checking your Bela Fleck article and saw in your presentation that you favour other jazz musicians and, although I didn't check, I suppose you've written other articles on other musicians. The point fo my writing is that I'm a jazz buff as well and wanted to contribute to the jazz category; with that said, is there a jazz "group" alike the car "group"? If so, you can count me, or maybe tell me how to count myself in. Thanks!

Diego440 16:56, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Howdy, Diego. I'm not sure if there's a jazz group. It was perhaps only a month ago that I considered being active on Wikipedia again. I'd be interested if there were a jazz group of some kind. I've written or tweaked articles on Cannonball Adderley and Jaco Pastorius. I think these are listed on my user page. Rethunk 20:14, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Smart camera article
Hi Rethunk! Please pop at the smart camera article, I have added some content and reoarganized it a bit, you might provide more. Enjoy! --Zava 10:46, 19 December 2005 (UTC)

Wavelets
Hi Rethunk! Thanks for commenting on the article about time-frequency analysis that I wrote. I've been hounded by some admin "spam fighters" recently, deleting my contributions and accusing me of personal glorification, so it is a breath of fresh air to have a nice comment! Jon Harrop 13:34, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

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Talk:Optical character recognition

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Peter Medawar

Sir Peter Brian Medawar (28 February 1915 – 2 October 1987) was a British biologist and writer, whose works on graft rejection and the discovery of acquired immune tolerance have been fundamental to the medical practice of tissue and organ transplants. For his scientific works, he is regarded as the "father of transplantation". He is remembered for his wit both in person and in popular writings. Richard Dawkins referred to him as "the wittiest of all scientific writers"; Stephen Jay Gould as "the cleverest man I have ever known".

Medawar was the youngest child of a Lebanese father and a British mother, and was both a Brazilian and British citizen by birth. He studied at Marlborough College and Magdalen College, Oxford, and was professor of zoology at the University of Birmingham and University College London. Until he was partially disabled by a cerebral infarction, he was Director of the National Institute for Medical Research at Mill Hill. With his doctoral student Leslie Brent and postdoctoral fellow Rupert E. Billingham, he demonstrated the principle of acquired immunological tolerance (the phenomenon of unresponsiveness of the immune system to certain molecules), which was theoretically predicted by Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet. This became the foundation of tissue and organ transplantation. He and Burnet shared the 1960 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for discovery of acquired immunological tolerance".

Early life and education
Medawar was born in Petrópolis, a town 40 miles north of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where his parents were living. He was the third child of Lebanese Nicholas Agnatius Medawar, born in the village of Jounieh, north of Beirut, Lebanon, and British mother Edith Muriel (née Dowling). He had a brother Philip and a sister Pamela. (Pamela was later married to Sir David Hunt, who served as Private Secretary to prime ministers Clement Attlee and Winston Churchill. ) His father, a Christian Maronite, became a naturalised British citizen and worked for a British dental supplies manufacturer that sent him to Brazil as an agent. (He later described his father's profession as selling "false teeth in South America". ) His status as a British citizen was acquired at birth, as he said, "My birth was registered at the British Consulate in good time to acquire the status of 'natural-born British subject'."

Medawar left Brazil with his family for England "towards the end of the war", and he lived there for the rest of his life. He was also a Brazilian citizen by birth, as dictated by the Brazilian nationality law (jus soli). At 18 years, when he was of age to be drafted in the Brazilian Army, he applied for exemption of military conscription to Joaquim Pedro Salgado Filho, his godfather and the then Minister of Aviation. His application was denied by General Eurico Gaspar Dutra, and he had to renounce his Brazilian citizenship.

In 1928, Medawar went to Marlborough College in Marlborough, Wiltshire. He hated the college because "they were critical and querulous at the same time, wondering what kind of person a Lebanese was—something foreign you can be sure", and also because of its preference on sports, in which he was weak. An experience of bullying and racism made him feel the rest of his life "resentful and disgusted at the manners and mores of [Marlborough's] essentially tribal institution," and likened it to the training schools for the Nazi SS as all "founded upon the twin pillars of sex and sadism." His proudest moments at the college were with his teacher Ashley Gordon Lowndes, to whom he credited the beginning of his career in biology. He recognised Lowndes as barely literate but "a very, very good biology teacher". Lowndes had taught eminent biologists including John Z. Young and Richard Julius Pumphrey. Yet Medawar was inherently weak in dissection and was constantly irked by their dictum: "Bloody foolish is the boy whose drawing of his dissection differs in any way whatsoever from the diagram in the textbook."

In 1932, he went on to Magdalen College, Oxford, graduating with a first-class honours degree in zoology in 1935. Medawar was appointed Christopher Welch scholar and senior demy of Magdalen in 1935. He also worked at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology supervised by Howard Florey (later Nobel laureate, and who inspired him to take up immunology) and completed his doctoral thesis in 1941. In 1938, he became Fellow of Magdalen through an examination, the position he held until 1944. It was there that he started working with J. Z. Young on the regeneration of nerves. His invention of a nerve glue proved useful in surgical operations of severed nerves during the World War II.

The University of Oxford approved his Doctor of Philosophy thesis titled "Growth promoting and growth inhibiting factors in normal and abnormal development" in 1941, but because of the prohibitive cost of supplication (the process by which the degree is officially conferred), he spent the money on his urgent appendicectomy instead. The University of Oxford later awarded him a Doctor of Science degree in 1947.

Career and research
After completing his PhD, Medawar was appointed a Rolleston Prizeman in 1942, senior research fellow of St John's College, Oxford, in 1944, and a university demonstrator in zoology and comparative anatomy, also in 1944. He was re-elected Fellow of Magdalen from 1946 to 1947. In 1947, he became Mason Professor of Zoology at the University of Birmingham and worked there until 1951. He transferred to the University College London in 1951 as Jodrell Professor of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy.

In 1962, he was appointed director of the National Institute for Medical Research. His predecessor Sir Charles Harrington was an able administrator such that taking over his post was, as he described, "[N]o more strenuous than ... sliding over into the driving-seat of a Rolls-Royce". He was head of the transplantation section of the Medical Research Council's clinical research centre at Harrow from 1971 to 1986. He became professor of experimental medicine at the Royal Institution (1977–1983), and president of the Royal Postgraduate Medical School (1981–1987).

Immunology
Medawar's first scientific research was on the effect of malt on the development of connective tissue cells (mesenchyme) in chicken. Reading the draft of the manuscript, Howard Florey commented that it was more philosophical than scientific. It was published in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Physiology in 1937.

Medawar's involvement with what became transplant research began during World War II, when he investigated possible improvements in skin grafts. His first publication on the subject was "Sheets of Pure Epidermal Epithelium from Human Skin", which was published in Nature in 1941. His studies particularly concerned solution for skin wounds among soldiers in the war. In 1947, he moved to the University of Birmingham, taking along with him his PhD student Leslie Brent and postdoctoral fellow Rupert Billingham. His research became more focused in 1949, when Australian biologist Frank Macfarlane Burnet, at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, advanced the hypothesis that during embryonic life and immediately after birth, cells gradually acquire the ability to distinguish between their own tissue substances on the one hand and unwanted cells and foreign material on the other.

With Billingham, he published a seminal paper in 1951 on grafting technique. Santa J. Ono, the American immunologist, has described the enduring impact of this paper to modern science. Based on this technique of grafting, Medawar's team devised a method to test Burnet's hypothesis. They extracted cells from young mouse embryos and injected them into another mouse of different strains. When the mouse developed into adult and skin grafting from that of the original strain was performed, there was no tissue rejection. The mouse had tolerated the foreign tissue, which would normally be rejected. Their experimental proof of Burnet's hypothesis was first published in a brief article in Nature in 1953, followed by a series of papers, and a comprehensive description in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B in 1956, giving the name "actively acquired tolerance".

Research outcomes
Medawar was awarded his Nobel Prize in 1960 with Burnet for their work in tissue grafting which is the basis of organ transplants, and their discovery of acquired immunological tolerance. This work was used in dealing with skin grafts required after burns. Medawar's work resulted in a shift of emphasis in the science of immunology from one that attempts to deal with the fully developed immunity mechanism to one that attempts to alter the immunity mechanism itself, as in the attempt to suppress the body's rejection of organ transplants. It directly laid the foundation for the first successful organ transplantation in humans, specifically kidney transplantation, carried out by an American physician Joseph Murray, who eventually received the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Theory of senescence
Medawar's 1951 lecture "An Unsolved Problem of Biology" (published 1952 ) addressed ageing and senescence, and he begins by defining both terms as follows:

"We obviously need a word for mere ageing, and I propose to use 'ageing' itself for just that purpose. 'Ageing' hereafter stands for mere ageing, and has no other innuendo. I shall use the word 'senescence' to mean ageing accompanied by that decline of bodily faculties and sensibilities and energies which ageing colloquially entails."

He then tackles the question of why evolution has permitted organisms to senesce, even though (1) senescence lowers individual fitness, and (2) there is no obvious necessity for senescence. In answering this question, Medawar provides two fundamental and interrelated insights. First, there is an inexorable decline in probability of an organism's existence, and, therefore, in what he terms "reproductive value." He suggests that it therefore follows that the force of natural selection weakens progressively with age late in life (because the fecundity of younger age-groups is overwhelmingly more significant in producing the next generation). What happens to an organism after reproduction is only weakly reflected in natural selection by the effect on its younger relatives. He pointed out that likelihood of death at various times of life, as judged by life tables, was an indirect measure of fitness, that is, the capacity of an organism to propagate its genes. Life tables for humans show, for example that the lowest likelihood of death in human females comes at about age 14, which in primitive societies would likely be an age of peak reproduction. This has served as the basis for all three modern theories for the evolution of senescence.

Theory on endocrine evolution
Medawar presented a talk on viviparity in animals (the phenomenon by which some animals give live birth) at a meeting on evolution at Oxford in July 1952. Later published in 1953, he introduced an aphorism:

"Endocrine evolution is not an evolution of hormones but an evolution of the uses to which they are put; an evolution not, to put it crudely, of chemical formulae but of reactivities, reaction patterns and tissue competences."

The notion that evolution and diversity of endocrine function in animals are due to different uses of each hormone rather than different hormones themselves became an established fact. The paper is also regarded as a pioneer in the field of reproductive immunology.

Personal life
Medawar never knew the exact meaning of his surname, an Arabic word, he was told, for "to make round"; but which a friend explained to him as "little round fat man".

Medawar married Jean Shinglewood Taylor on 27 February 1937. They met while in graduate class at Oxford, he at Magdalen and Taylor at Somerville College. Taylor approached him for the meaning of "heuristic", which she had to ask twice, and he had to finally offer lessons in philosophy. Medawar described her as "the most beautiful woman in Oxford"; but Taylor's impression was he looked "mildly diabolical." Taylor's family objected to their marriage as Medawar had "no background, and no money." Her mother was explicitly afraid of having "black" grandchildren; her aunt disinherited her. The couple had two sons, Charles and Alexander, and two daughters, Caroline and Louise.

Medawar was interested in a wide range of subjects including opera, philosophy and cricket. He was exceptionally tall, 6 ft 5 inches (196 cm), physically robust, with a big voice noted particularly during his lectures. He was renowned for wit and humour, which he claimed he inherited from his "raucous" mother. As he completed his PhD research in 1941, he did not receive the degree as he could not afford the requisite £25, to which he commented:

"I'm an impostor. I am a doctor, but not a PhD... Morally I'm a PhD, in the sense I could have had one if I'd been able to afford it. Anyway it was unfashionable in my day. John Young [probably referring to John Zachary Young] was not a PhD either. A PhD was regarded then as a newfangled German importation, as bizarre and undesirable as having German bands playing on streetcorners."

He was regarded as the philosopher Karl Popper's best-known disciple in science.

Medawar was the maternal grandfather of the screenwriter and director Alex Garland.

Views on religion
Medawar declared:

"... I believe that a reasonable case can be made for saying, not that we believe in God because He exists but rather that He exists because we believe in Him... Considered as an element of the world, God has the same degree and kind of objective reality as do other products of mind... I regret my disbelief in God and religious answers generally, for I believe it would give satisfaction and comfort to many in need of it if it were possible to discover and propound good scientific and philosophic reasons to believe in God... To abdicate from the rule of reason and substitute for it an authentication of belief by the intentness and degree of conviction with which we hold it can be perilous and destructive... I am a rationalist—something of a period piece nowadays, I admit..."

Although he normally sympathised with Christianity especially on moral teachings, he found the Biblical stories unethical and was "shocked by the way in which [Biblical] characters deceived and defrauded each other." He even asked his wife "to make sure that such a book did not fall into the hands of [their] children."

Nonetheless, he also said the following, which suggests that although religion has good value for humans in aggregate, it does not help them all equally:

"Religion has not sustained me on any of the occasions when the comfort it professes would have been most welcome."

Later life and death
In 1959 Medawar was invited by the BBC to present the broadcaster's annual Reith Lectures—following in the footsteps of his colleague, J. Z. Young, who was Reith Lecturer in 1950. For his own series of six radio broadcasts, titled The Future of Man, Medawar examined how the human race might continue to evolve.

While attending the annual British Association meeting in 1969, Medawar suffered a stroke when reading the lesson at Exeter Cathedral, a duty which falls on every new President of the British Association. It was, as he said, "monstrous bad luck because Jim Whyte Black had not yet devised beta-blockers, which slow the heart-beat and could have preserved my health and my career". Medawar's failing health may have had repercussions for medical science and the relations between the scientific community and government. Before the stroke, Medawar was one of Britain's most influential scientists, especially in the biomedical field.

After the impairment of his speech and movement, Medawar, with his wife's help, reorganised his life and continued to write and do research though on a greatly restricted scale. However, more haemorrhages followed and in 1987 he died in the Royal Free Hospital, London. He is interred with his wife Jean (1913–2005) in the graveyard of St Andrew's Church in Alfriston in East Sussex.

Awards and honours

Medawar was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1949. With Frank Macfarlane Burnet he shared the 1960 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for discovery of acquired immunological tolerance". The British government conferred him a CBE in 1958, knighted him in 1965, and appointed him to the Order of the Companions of Honour in 1972, and Order of Merit in 1981. He was elected an EMBO Member in 1964 and received the Royal Medal in 1959, and the Copley Medal in 1969 both from the Royal Society. He was President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science during 1968–1969. He was awarded the UNESCO Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science in 1985. He was awarded a Honorary Doctor of Science Degree in 1961 by the University of Birmingham. He was elected a member of the American Society of Immunologists in 1971, and elected foreign member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1959, the American Philosophical Society in 1961, and the US National Academy of Sciences in 1965.

Medawar was elected President of the Royal Society for the term 1970–1975, but a severe stroke in 1969 prohibited him from taking up the office.

Medawar was awarded the 1987 Michael Faraday Prize "for the contribution his books had made in presenting to the public, and to scientists themselves, the intellectual nature and the essential humanity of pursuing science at the highest level and the part it played in our modern culture".

Medawar has three awards named after him:

 * 1) The Royal Society created the Medawar Lecture in 1986 in a subject relating to the history of science, philosophy of science or the social function of science. Since 2007, the lecture has been merged with two older ones honouring John Wilkins and John Desmond Bernal, and became Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar Lecture and the accompanying award, Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar Medal.
 * 2) Medawar Medal, awarded by the British Transplant Society in recognition of significant research in organ transplantation.
 * 3) Peter Brian Medawar Medal, awarded by the State Medical Academy of Rio de Janeiro.

The University of Oxford has established a research consortium named the Peter Medawar Building for Pathogen Research.

The Department of Science and Technology Studies of the University College London has STS Peter Medawar Prize for undergraduate students.

The University of Birmingham Public Engagement with Research (PER) Team established an annual Light of Understanding Award to individuals and groups who accomplished public engagement with research work.

Publications
Medawar was recognised as a brilliant author. Richard Dawkins called him "the wittiest of all scientific writers", and New Scientist magazine's obituary called him "perhaps the best science writer of his generation".

One of his best-known essays is his 1961 criticism of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's The Phenomenon of Man, of which he said: "Its author can be excused of dishonesty only on the grounds that before deceiving others he has taken great pains to deceive himself".

His books include

 * The Uniqueness of the Individual, which includes essays on immunology, graft rejection and acquired immune tolerance. Basic Books, New York, 1957
 * The Future of Man: the BBC Reith Lectures 1959, Methuen, London, 1960
 * The Art of the Soluble, Methuen & Co., London/ Barnes and Noble, New York, 1967
 * Induction and Intuition in Scientific Thought, American Philosophical Society. Philadelphia/Methuen & Co., London, 1969
 * The Life Science, Harper & Row, 1978
 * Advice to a Young Scientist, Harper & Row, 1979
 * Pluto's Republic, incorporating an earlier book The Art of the Soluble, Oxford University Press, 1982
 * Aristotle to Zoos (with his wife Jean Shinglewood Taylor), Harvard University Press, 1983
 * The Limits of Science, Oxford University Press, 1988
 * The Hope of Progress: A Scientist looks at Problems in Philosophy, Literature and Science, Anchor Press / Doubleday, Garden City, 1973
 * Memoirs of a Thinking Radish: An Autobiography, Oxford University Press, 1986
 * The Threat and the Glory: Reflections on Science and Scientists (ed.: David Pyke), a posthumously collected volume of essays, HarperCollins, 1990

Apart from his books on science and philosophy, he wrote a short feature article on "Some Meistersinger Records" in the issue of The Gramophone for November 1930. The author was a P. B. Medawar. The evidence that this was indeed the future Sir Peter Medawar—then a schoolboy of 15—was discussed in "Gramophone" in 1995 ("‘Gramophone’, Die Meistersinger and immunology", by John E. Havard, December 1995).

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Henry Wallace

Henry or Harry Wallace may refer to:

 * Henry A. Wallace (1888–1965), U.S. vice president 1941–1945, presidential candidate for the Progressive Party 1948
 * Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center
 * Henry Cantwell Wallace (1866–1924), U.S. secretary of agriculture, father of Henry A. Wallace
 * Henry Louis Wallace (born 1965), American serial killer
 * Henry Wallace (American football) (born 1938), American football player
 * Henry Wallace, inventor of the kinemassic field generator, an alleged anti-gravity device
 * Harry Wallace (politician) (1885–1973), British politician
 * Harry Brookings Wallace, former chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis
 * Harry Wallace (rugby league) (died 1917), English rugby league footballer

title: Henry Wallace


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Sadie Thompson (film)

Sadie Thompson is a 1928 American silent drama film that tells the story of a "fallen woman" who comes to Pago Pago to start a new life, but encounters a zealous missionary who wants to force her back to her former life in San Francisco. The film stars Gloria Swanson, Lionel Barrymore, and Raoul Walsh, and it is one of Swanson's more successful films. Due to the public's apathy towards silent films, a sound version was prepared in the latter half of 1928. While the sound version has no audible dialog, it features a synchronized musical score with sound effects along with a theme song.

Due to the subject matter, the making of the film was extremely controversial. However, it was a financial and critical success for Swanson. The film was based on the 1921 short story "Rain" by W. Somerset Maugham and the 1922 play, based on the story, by John Colton and Clemence Randolph, starring Jeanne Eagels.

Plot
A smoking, drinking, jazz listening, young prostitute named Sadie Thompson (Gloria Swanson) arrives at Pago Pago (American Samoa), on her way to a job with a shipping line on another island. At the same time, 'moralists' arrive, including Mr. and Mrs. Davidson (Lionel Barrymore and Blanche Friderici). They all end up staying in the same hotel, where the Davidsons plot to teach the natives about sin and Sadie entertains a bunch of Marines.

Sadie begins to fall in love with Sergeant Timothy O'Hara (Raoul Walsh), who is not fazed by her past. He tells her that he has a best friend who married a former prostitute, and the couple now lives happily in Australia.

Davidson sets about trying to redeem Sadie, much to her disgust. He tricks her into telling him about her past in San Francisco, and once she refuses to repent, he declares that he will go to the governor and have her deported. Sadie is terrified of the threat, but O'Hara assures her that it will not happen. He tells her he wishes she would go to Australia and wait for his term of service to finish, after which they can get married. She agrees.

Davidson gets his way, however, and Sadie is livid. She and O'Hara go to the governor, begging him to let her go to Australia instead of back to San Francisco. Davidson has managed to get O'Hara punished for being immoral, but Sadie will be able to go to Australia if Davidson approves. Sadie pleads with him, but to no avail. She eventually confesses that, if she goes back to San Francisco, there is "a man there who won't let her go straight", which is what she wants to do. Davidson figures out this statement means that there is a warrant for her arrest back in San Francisco. Sadie claims that she was framed and she is innocent, but will go to prison if she is sent back.

Davidson still refuses, saying she must atone for her past. Sadie pleads and pleads and eventually offers to repent. Davidson, however, says that the only way to fully repent is for her to go to prison. Sadie runs to her room, crying out for Davidson. Davidson returns, and Sadie confesses she is afraid. Davidson then tells her that, if she repents, there will be nothing to fear and he begins to pray with her. Sadie converts to Christianity.

Sadie prays for three whole days. She has put away her old things and has become a modest woman. O'Hara returns and finds Davidson is gone, apparently "trying to stop the locals from dancing on the beach". O'Hara tells Sadie that he has a fishing boat waiting to take her and her things to a ship that will then take her to Australia, where they can marry and be free. Sadie is extremely afraid and refuses to go, saying that the "old Sadie is dead" and she must go to San Francisco and prison to repent.

O'Hara does everything he can, including forcibly taking her from the room, but Davidson is waiting outside. O'Hara tries to attack him, but Sadie asks him to stop. O'Hara, extremely upset, leaves and Sadie pleads with Davidson not to get him in trouble, for "it was all her fault".

Later that night, Sadie is asleep, and everyone else is heading to bed. Davidson can not sleep and goes out for a walk in the rain. (It has rained almost continuously.) His wife says he cannot sleep for "the unpleasant dreams he's been having about Miss Thompson". A fellow boarder suspects they are not "all that unpleasant". Outside, Davidson struggles with himself and realizes that he is sexually attracted to Sadie and that he is unable to handle it. He looks into her window and eventually returns to his room.

Sadie, frightened because she heard noises, is waiting in Davidson's room. Davidson is shocked and sends her back to her room.

The last reel of the film is missing, but the story as originally filmed was that the fishermen find Davidson's body. He has committed suicide. Sadie and O'Hara reconcile and head for Australia.

Cast

 * Gloria Swanson as Sadie Thompson
 * Lionel Barrymore as Mr. Alfred Davidson
 * Blanche Friderici as Mrs. Alfred Davidson
 * Charles Willis Lane as Dr. Angus McPhail
 * Florence Midgley as Mrs. Angus McPhail
 * James A. Marcus as Joe Horn
 * Sophia Artega as Ameena
 * Will Stanton as Quartermaster Bates
 * Raoul Walsh as Sergeant Timothy O'Hara

Music
The sound version featured a theme song entitled “Good Time Sadie” by Seymour Simons.

Production
In 1927, Swanson released The Love of Sunya her first independent film for United Artists, which was filmed on her terms in New York City, and it was the opening night film of the Roxy Theatre. The production had been a disaster, and Swanson felt it would receive a mediocre reception at best. On the advice of Joseph Schenck, she relented and returned to Hollywood to prepare for a new picture. Feeling she would never have as much artistic freedom and independence as she had at that moment, Swanson decided she "wanted to make my Gold Rush," referring to a recent film by Charlie Chaplin, which became perhaps his most celebrated work. Schenck pleaded with her to do a commercially successful film like The Last of Mrs. Cheyney. Swanson felt it too formulaic and decided to call upon director Raoul Walsh, who was signed with Fox Film Corporation at the time.

Walsh had been known for bringing controversial material to film. At their first meeting, Swanson suggested a film based on the John Colton and Clemence Randolph play Rain (1923), which in turn was based on the story by W. Somerset Maugham titled "Miss Thompson" (1921). Swanson had seen Jeanne Eagels perform the role on stage twice and enjoyed it.

However, because of its content, the play was on the 'unofficial blacklist' and had quietly been banned from being made into a film a year earlier. To try to avoid issues with the code, Swanson and Walsh decided to leave out profanity, rename 'Reverend Davidson' to 'Mr. Davidson', and claim it was for the sake of morality to produce the picture, as Irving Thalberg had produced The Scarlet Letter (1926) at MGM.

Swanson invited Will Hays for lunch and summarized the plot, naming the author and the sticking points. According to Swanson, Hays made a verbal promise that he would have no problem with the making of such a film. Swanson set about getting the rights to the play by having Schenck pretend to buy it in the name of United Artists, never to be used. Thus they were able to get the story rights for $60,000 instead of the original $100,000. When news broke as to just what was intended with the play, the three authors threatened to sue. Swanson later contacted Maugham requesting that he write an original story that served as a sequel. The sequel would involve following what became of Sadie in Australia. Maugham agreed to write a new story (for $100,000) but a sequel never was made.

Swanson and Walsh set about writing the script, and discreetly placed an ad announcing the film, thinking no one noticed, as Charles Lindbergh had just made his historic flight. However, the press picked up on it and sensationalized the story. United Artists received a threatening two-page telegram from the MPAA, signed by all its members including Fox (Walsh's studio) and Hays himself. In addition, the rest of the signers owned several thousand movies houses and if they refused to screen the film, it could be a financial disaster. It was the first time Swanson had heard the name of Joseph P. Kennedy, with whom she later had an affair and who financed her next few pictures, including Queen Kelly (1929).

Swanson was angered by the response, as she felt those very studios had produced "questionable" films themselves and were jealous at not having the chance to produce Rain. After another threatening telegram, she decided to first appeal to MPAA and then the newspapers. She only heard back from Marcus Loew, who promised to appeal on her behalf, and his owning a chain of theatres eased some of her concerns. Figuring the silence meant the matter had been dropped, Swanson began filming on Sadie Thompson, which already had $250,000 invested in it.

Before casting began, 17-year-old Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. wanted to audition for the role of Handsome O'Hara. However, Swanson felt he was too young and not right for the role. Lionel Barrymore had been first picked to play Davidson, but was thought to be too ill at the time, but he did win the role. Barrymore wore the same outfit for an entire week, aggravating Swanson. She asked some of the crew to tell him to change and wash, which he did. Swanson was happy with his performance. Walsh had not acted in front of a camera in eight years and feared he would not be able to both direct and act at the same time. However, two days into filming, his fears were quelled. Filming took place on Santa Catalina Island, near Long Beach, California. Swanson took ill shortly after and met a doctor who started her lifelong love of macrobiotic diets. A week into shooting, Sam Goldwyn called cameraman George Barnes away. Swanson was furious, but the loan contract allowed Goldwyn to call him away as he pleased. Not wanting to let a hundred extras sit around for days, Swanson and Walsh tried to hire two other cameramen, but both were unsatisfactory. Mary Pickford offered the services of Charles Rosher, her favorite cameraman, but despite doing a decent job, he could not match Barnes' work. Through Loew, MGM loaned Oliver Marsh, who completed the picture.

The entire cameraman problem was extremely costly to the production, yet the picture continued. With the picture half-finished, it was already way over budget, and Schenck was wary, as Swanson's first picture also had been over budget and underperformed. Swanson talked with her advisers and sold her farm at Croton-on-Hudson, and she offered to sell her New York penthouse as well.

Despite reports that dirty words can be read on the characters' lips, Swanson claims the censors went over everything meticulously. However, Swanson admitted one line while she was shouting at Davidson went "You'd rip the wings off of a butterfly, you son of a bitch!, when recounting a conversation with Walsh later in life. If the word "rain" was used in a title card, the censors asked that it be removed. They also wanted to change Davidson's name to something else, but Swanson and Walsh refused.

It was the first time Raoul Walsh had acted in 15 years, and it was his last appearance before the camera. He directed and was to star in his next project In Old Arizona. While on location for that film a jackrabbit jumped through the windshield of his car, and he lost his right eye in the resulting crash. He gave up acting and went on to an illustrious career as a director.

Release and reception
Upon its release, critics praised the movie and Swanson's performance. Contemporary film critics have cited Swanson's performance as one of her best.

The film was a financial and critical success, and it was the only silent, independent film of Swanson's to do well at the box office. In fact, it was one of her financially successful films, along with the sound films The Trespasser and Sunset Blvd. It made $1 million in the United States and $7 million internationally. However, at Kennedy's advice, Swanson had sold her distribution rights for the film to Schenck because Kennedy felt it would be a commercial failure. He also did not care for the image Swanson portrayed in the film. By this point, Queen Kelly had been a disaster, and Swanson regretted it.

The film made the top 10 best pictures of the year list as well.

Awards and honors
Swanson was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress, and George Barnes for Best Cinematography at the 1st Academy Awards for this film, The Devil Dancer and The Magic Flame. Swanson did not attend the ceremony, and always felt it was like "comparing apples to oranges."

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
 * 2002: AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions – Nominated

Restoration and home media
The film was thought to have been lost for years. After Swanson's death in 1983, the sole known surviving print of the film was discovered by her estate; it had been stored in Mary Pickford's personal archive. By that time, the final reel had become damaged. The film was bought by Kino International, which hired Dennis Doros to reconstruct the final reel. Doros used the original title sequences, still photos and footage from the 1932 adaptation (which cinematographer Oliver T. Marsh also shot) to substitute for the lost footage. A new score by Joseph Turrin was composed for the film.

Kino's version has been issued on DVD and online via Netflix, as well as shown on Turner Classic Movies.

Other film adaptations

 * 1932 - as Rain, starring Joan Crawford, Walter Huston, Guy Kibbee and Beulah Bondi; adapted by Maxwell Anderson, directed by Lewis Milestone
 * 1946 - as Dirty Gertie from Harlem U.S.A., starring Francine Everett and Don Wilson, adapted by True T. Thompson, directed by Spencer Williams
 * 1949 - a film noirish "Sadie Thompson" dance number from the Marx Brothers film Love Happy features Vera-Ellen dancing with a group of World War II Marines led by Paul Valentine
 * 1953 - as Miss Sadie Thompson, starring Rita Hayworth, José Ferrer, Aldo Ray and Charles Bronson; adapted by Harry Kleiner, directed by Curtis Bernhardt; nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song (for Lester Lee and Ned Washington's "Sadie Thompson's Song (Blue Pacific Blues)")

title: Sadie Thompson (film)


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Tītokowaru

Riwha Tītokowaru (c. 1823–1888) was a Māori leader in the Taranaki region of New Zealand. He was active in resisting colonisation in the region and after a march for peace in the region in 1867 he was a leader in a war (1868–1869) named after him (Tītokowaru's War) in an effort to stop the occupation of Māori land by colonial settlers. After this period he again became an advocate for peace and made diplomatic efforts between Māori, colonial settlers and the government. He was arrested and jailed after a peaceful occupation of land near Manaia in 1886 and he died two years later in 1888.

Early life
Riwha was a subtribal leader (having succeeded his father "Tītokowaru") of the Ngāti Ruanui and Ngāruahine iwi in South Taranaki. A lot of what was accomplished by his father had been wrongly attributed to the son; being events of intertribal warring during his time of preadolescence. There is some mystery about his early life, but he is known to have become a Methodist in 1842 having been baptised and given the name of Hohepa Otene (named after the missionary). He joined the "King Movement" and fought in the First Taranaki War in 1860 and 1861.

In 1865 and 1866, British troops conducted a punitive campaign throughout Taranaki, though they were unable to force a decisive result.

In 1867, the year was declared by Tītokowaru to be a year of peace, "the year of the daughters...the year of the lamb", and he led over 100 of his followers on a peace march during the winter of 1867 from Waihi, near Hawera, down to Patea and Whanganui and ending at Pipiriki on the upper Whanganui River.

However, continuing disputes with settlers proved intolerable and in 1868 Tītokowaru went to war.

Tītokowaru's War (1868–69)
In June 1868 Tītokowaru's forces destroyed a colonist blockhouse at Turuturumokai, inland of Hāwera. The colonial response was to send a large contingent to destroy Tītokowaru's stronghold. On 7 September 1868 the colonial forces were defeated with heavy casualties. The stronghold was then abandoned. Amongst the dead was the famous Prussian adventurer Gustavus von Tempsky. Turuturumokai was, previous to becoming a Pākehā garrison, a small Māori encampment, which had been found to be abandoned. Later after careful surveying, it was also discovered that, contrary to appearances, Turuturumokai was not as inconquerable as thought by British troops. The Māori decision to leave Turuturumokai was a strategic move.

Tītokowaru then advanced southward and defeated a second colonial force at Moturoa. He then stopped at Tauranga Ika and proceeded to build another fortress pā. This diamond-shaped fortress is considered the strongest ever constructed in New Zealand according to James Belich. It had numerous underground bunkers and tunnels, which could withstand heavy bombardment. There were three types of firing positions: trenches, loopholed palisades and European-style bastions from which fire could be directed along the frontages of the diamond. On the north-west corner was a tall lookout tower. At 5 am, on 2 February 1869, the advance party moved to within a few hundred meters of the stronghold and artillery opened fire. Māori returned rifle fire from within. Under cover of darkness, the colonial force closed the fort to within shouting distance. Both sides shouted and sang to encourage themselves until at 3 am the fighting reached a peak, gradually dying away until daybreak. At dawn, the army noticed the pā had gone very quiet. Three men approached the pa with great caution and found it deserted.

Later life
His later understanding of the needed union of two peoples (Māori and settler) was incomparable. He advocated peace and diplomacy between the British and Māoridom. He practised his own message, demonstrating great tolerance that was noted by many settlers and authority figures of his time.

In 1886, he was part of a peaceful occupation of land near Manaia. Tītokowaru and nine others were taken to Wellington and, after being held in jail for two and a half months, were tried and sentenced to jail. He died in 1888 at his home in Ōkaiawai.

Hailed as a war leader, prophet and peacemaker, Tītokowaru's story lapsed into obscurity before being popularised by New Zealand historian James Belich in his works on the New Zealand Wars. He is also the subject of a Maurice Shadbolt novel Monday's Warriors. The character, Te Kaipo, in the 2005 film River Queen, played by Temuera Morrison, is closely based on Tītokowaru.

title: Tītokowaru


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Maurice Shadbolt

Maurice Francis Richard Shadbolt (4 June 1932 – 10 October 2004) was a New Zealand writer  and occasional playwright.

Biography
Shadbolt was born in Auckland, and was the eldest of three children. He had a younger brother and sister, Peter and Julia. Shadbolt was educated at Te Kuiti High School, Avondale College and Auckland University College. Shadbolt began writing for local West Auckland community newspapers. In the 1960s, he moved to Titirangi with his family, buying a house that overlooked Little Muddy Creek, where he spent the next 42 years writing.

In total, Shadbolt wrote 11 novels, four collections of short stories, two autobiographies, a war history, and a volume of journalism, as well as plays. He won the Katherine Mansfield Memorial Award for a short story three times: in 1963, 1967 and 1995. His first collection of short stories, The New Zealanders, was published in the United Kingdom and New Zealand. His most famous book is probably Season of the Jew (1987), which recounts the story of Te Kooti.

In the 1989 New Year Honours, Shadbolt was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire,for services to literature.

Shadbolt suffered from what was thought to be Alzheimer's disease, which during his autopsy was found to be Lewy body dementia. He died on 10 October 2004 in a Taumarunui rest home, surrounded by his children. Shadbolt had five children: Sean, Brendan and twins Tui and Daniel from his first marriage, to journalist and author Gillian Heming, and Brigid from his second marriage, to television presenter Barbara Magner. Shadbolt was also married to actress Bridget Armstrong. His cousin Tim Shadbolt was Mayor of Invercargill for nearly 20 years until 2022.

title: Maurice Shadbolt


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Coquette (film)

Coquette is a 1929 American pre-Code drama film, starring Mary Pickford. The film was a box office success. For her role, Pickford won the second Academy Award for Best Actress.

Plot
Norma Besant, daughter of a Southern doctor, is an incorrigible flirt and has many suitors. Her father Dr. Besant (John St. Polis) favors Stanley (Matt Moore), who is taken with Norma. However Norma has met a simple man named Michael Jeffrey (Johnny Mack Brown) who she has fallen madly in love with. Dr. Besant disapproves of Michael and orders Norma to never see him again. Norma gives him their word, then promptly plans to marry Michael in 6 months, when he's made 'good in the hills' so he can buy her a home in the valley.

A few months pass and Michael sneaks down from the hills to see Norma at a Country Club dance. Wanting more time alone they sneak off to Michael's mother's cabin. According to Norma they made coffee and talked all night about the future. She returns home the next day at 4am. However someone has spotted the couple and begun to spread rumors around town destroying Norma's reputation. Michael is furious and vows he will ask her father for her hand in marriage immediately.

Dr. Besant is furious and a heated verbal exchange takes place with Michael leaving, vowing to run away with Norma as soon as possible. Dr. Besant orders Norma to her room and leaves, pistol in hand. As Norma's brother tries to distract her Stanley arrives, telling Norma that Michael was fatally wounded by her father.

Norma runs to Michael's cabin where he dies in her arms. Dr. Besant's lawyer friend arrives begging Norma to lie to the police to save her father's life. Norma refuses, but later as the trial wears on she changes her mind. She takes the stand and lies about Michael, trying to save her father. Norma breaks down under cross examination and her father comes to comfort her on the witness stand. As he tells her she does not have to lie anymore, he spots the gun on the evidence table.

After comforting Norma, Dr. Besant approaches the bench and confesses his guilt, saying he has done wrong and is willing to pay the price. He then takes the gun and kills himself in front of the court. Later we see Stanley waiting for Norma, who has been in the judge's chambers. He offers to walk her home, but Norma refuses, saying she would like to walk home alone.

Cast

 * Mary Pickford as Norma Besant
 * Johnny Mack Brown as Michael Jeffery
 * Matt Moore as Stanley Wentworth
 * John St. Polis as Dr. John Besant
 * William Janney as Jimmy Besant
 * Henry Kolker as Jasper Carter
 * George Irving as Robert Wentworth
 * Louise Beavers as Julia

Production background
The film stars silent star Mary Pickford in her first talkie, Johnny Mack Brown in one of his earliest roles, John St. Polis, Matt Moore (Pickford's ex brother in law), and Louise Beavers.

The film was adapted for the screen by John Grey, Allen McNeil and Sam Taylor from the play by George Abbott and Ann Preston Bridgers, and was directed by Sam Taylor. The play was based on real events in Richmond County, North Carolina and some dialog was used verbatim from court testimony. The play originally opened in New York City on November 8, 1927, with Helen Hayes in the title role.

Though a product of pre-Code Hollywood, the film was severely censored during scripting. In the play, the leading lady is pregnant and the story hinges on the fact that she carries the child of the man killed by her father. Her father murdered the man because he asked to marry the girl. But to save her father from disgrace when her pregnancy becomes apparent, she preemptively kills herself. Wrote Ernst and Lorentz, "the censor conscious producer would not allow the movie to show the girl enceinte, thus destroying the whole plot."

William Cameron Menzies provided set decoration, or production design, with the film crediting him for "settings". Cinematography was by Karl Struss.

The song "Coquette", written by Johnny Green and Carmen Lombardo, has since become a jazz standard.

Place in Pickford's career
Pickford had been one of the most popular stars in silent film. Her popularity had been steady since her debut in 1909. In 1916, she founded her own production company, taking control of every detail of her films. In 1919 along with Charlie Chaplin, her husband Douglas Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith she founded United Artists, giving her complete control over her films.

Known for little-girl type roles such as Pollyanna (one of her highest-grossing films ever) Pickford had been trying to escape typecasting since 1923 with roles such as Rosita. However these films did not do as well as her child roles (though they were still successful at the box office), and Pickford had reverted to making films like Little Annie Rooney in 1925 and Sparrows in 1926. She tried an older role with her final silent film, My Best Girl in 1927 and, following the death of her mother in 1928, cut off her world-famous curls.

With the arrival of talkies Pickford immediately took to the new medium, being one of the first major stars to do so. At her Pickfair Studios she installed a sound stage in 1928, and began preparing for her first talkie. She bought the rights to Coquette, a play that Helen Hayes had made popular on the stage. Coquette is the story of a flirtatious southern girl who chooses to stand behind her father after he kills the man that she loves. Much like My Best Girl the role was adult, with Pickford portraying a flapper type for the first time. Sound technology was extremely touchy at the time, with footsteps or rattling jewelry ruining takes. Cameras could barely move, and were hidden behind glass so as to not interfere with the sound recording. Pickford employed the best technology possible, resulting in a film that had more natural movement and acting than other early talkies.

Despite Pickford's embrace of the new medium it seems she was as concerned as everyone else about how her voice would record, despite the fact she had a stage career before entering film. After reviewing her first sound test she reportedly remarked, "Why that sounds like a little pipsqueak voice!" She immediately began intensive vocal lessons, hoping to accomplish a realistic Southern accent for the role.

Pickford became nervous during preparation, firing her sound man when a take wasn't ready for her review on time. On set during an emotional scene, she notoriously fired her longtime cameraman and friend, Charles Rosher, when he yelled "Cut!" in the middle of one of her lines. She didn't know at the time that a shadow had fallen across her face, as she was simply annoyed at being interrupted. Slightly embarrassed by her behavior and realizing she had been wrong, she wrote him a letter saying, "Tragedy is an ugly mask. I don't want to look like something on a candy box or a valentine."

Release
The film premiered in New York on April 5, 1929, at the Rivoli Theatre. A fuse blew rendering the film silent. It was rewound and shown again, this time with intermittent, bad sound. Finally technicians were able to fix the problem and the film began again for a third time.

Contemporary reviews were polite and warm. It was a box office success grossing $1.4 million. Coquette launched Pickford as a competent talkie star.

Complete prints of the film still exist. In the 1990s it was restored by the Library of Congress and The Mary Pickford Institute. Pickford's estate no longer owns the rights as MGM (ironically parent company of UA) bought the film for a never-made remake. Coquette was released on home video by MGM/UA Home Video in the 1990s. It is one of two United Artists' films owned by Turner Entertainment as part of MGM's pre-1986 library and distributed by Warner Bros., and has been released on DVD via Warner Archive Collection.

Accolades
Pickford was a founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, of which her husband would be the first president. She was one of only three female founding members.

The first Academy Awards were held in 1929, without any nominations for Pickford. She was nominated for Best Actress in 1930 for the 2nd Academy Awards. Many have accused Pickford of unfairly winning, using her clout and standing in the industry for an award of which she was unworthy. Pickford did lobby hard for the Oscar, inviting the judges over for tea at her home Pickfair. However her performance was critically and publicly acclaimed. Pickford would receive another Oscar in 1976, an honorary lifetime achievement award.

In 2008, a legal battle ensued between The Academy and Buddy Rogers' heirs over the sale of the Coquette Oscar. The heirs were trying to sell the award for charity, as stipulated in Rogers's second wife's will. The Academy insisted that the Award must be offered back to them for $1, to comply with a rule made long after Pickford won her Oscar. They claimed that when she won her honorary Oscar in the 1970s she signed a contract covering the Coquette statuette as well. The heirs argued that it might not have even been her signature, as Pickford was frail at the end of her life.

The Academy won the legal battle, but announced they were willing to pursue a private agreement with the heirs. The outcome of this agreement is unknown.

title: Coquette (film)


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Monona Terrace

Monona Terrace (officially the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center) is a convention center on the shores of Lake Monona in Madison, Wisconsin.

Controversy
Originally designed by Wisconsin native Frank Lloyd Wright, it was first proposed by Wright in 1938. The county board rejected the plan by a single vote. Wright would continue to seek support for the plan (and alter its design) until his death in 1959.

For the next four decades, various proposals for a convention center on the Monona Terrace land would be considered and rejected. Several times, it appeared that supporters of the project would be able to secure the public financing to complete the project, but various forces (such as the start of World War II) inevitably sidelined the plan. In 1990, Madison Mayor Paul Soglin resurrected Wright's proposal. Among the arguments against its construction, opponents argued that it was not a genuine Wright building, that the costs were too steep for the tax payers to bear and that the construction would adversely affect the environment, specifically destroying the view of Lake Monona from street level on the south side of the Capitol Square. Additionally, the site of the land stands on historic Ho-Chunk Nation burial mounds. The proposed construction was put to a public referendum in 1992 and it passed. Construction began two years later.

In 1997, nearly sixty years after Wright's original conception, Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center opened its doors.

Location

Monona Terrace is located two blocks from the Wisconsin State Capitol building in downtown Madison.

From the roof of Monona Terrace, one can see views of downtown Madison, including the Capitol and a panoramic view of Lake Monona.

Design
Wright made several alterations to the design of Monona Terrace during his lifetime. Although the exterior design is Wright's, the interior as executed was designed by former Wright apprentice Anthony Puttnam of Taliesin Associated Architects.

Construction
The building was constructed by J.H. Findorff and Son Inc., a southern Wisconsin contractor.

Facilities
The facility hosts over 600 conventions, meetings and weddings each year that result in an average of $52 million in economic activity for the region. Monona Terrace also runs free community programs that serve approximately 56,000 people each year. Monona Terrace also offers guided tours, a gift shop, a rooftop cafe (warm weather months only), and serves as the home for some of the community's events including the national radio variety show Michael Feldman's Whad'Ya Know?, Dane Dances, Ironman Wisconsin, and U.S. Bank Eve.

title: Monona Terrace


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Season of the Jew

Season of the Jew is an historical novel by Maurice Shadbolt, published in 1987. Set in mid-nineteenth-century New Zealand, it is a semi-fictionalized account of the story of the Māori leader Te Kooti, told from the perspective of one of his pursuers, an officer in the colonial army.

Explanation of the title
The brief preface quotes Shakespeare's Shylock: “If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his suffrance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me I will execute; and it shall go hard, but I will better the instruction.” This lays the moral ground for the resistance of the band of New Zealand natives under their leader Te Kooti, who synthesized a new religion from Christian and Māori traditions combined with his study of the Old Testament. His unique contribution was to declare his followers the latter-day embodiment of the Israelites escaping from Egypt. In the novel the rebels are often simply referred to as “the Jews.” The religion Te Kooti created, the Ringatu Church, still claims around 15,000 adherents in New Zealand today.

Plot summary
In this story of New Zealand and Te Kooti's War during the year beginning November 10, 1868, the narrative coalesces around the development of its protagonist, George Fairweather, who in Shadbolt's historical epilogue is described as “A composite character ... yet still far from fictional.” Fairweather is a competent but cynical former British officer in his early forties, who leaves the service under a cloud, turns landscape painter and cultivates an air of worldly detachment. Yet he finds himself drawn by love and humanity back into the world of colonial New Zealand and the maelstrom of the New Zealand Wars, is not altogether disagreeable, as he finds to his surprise.

Pursuing Te Kooti as an officer and commander in the colonial militia, while perfecting his ability to destroy Te Kooti's rebellious “Jews” Fairweather paradoxically finds his feelings of humanity expanding to include Englishmen, colonials and Māoris, coupled with a growing resentment of racism and injustice. In the end, he almost throws his future away by struggling to save a Māori boy, Hamiora, who, like Melville's Billy Budd, was unjustly charged with treason.

With the hanging of Hamiora, November 10, 1869, and the conclusion of Fairweather's desperate attempts first to prevent and then to mitigate it, the book ends. The problem of Te Kooti is not resolved, except in the brief epilogue, further revealing the depths of Fairweather's (and Shadbolt's) ambivalence about the historical figure of Te Kooti, Fairweather's hated and admired nemesis and one-time friend.

Awards and nominations
In 1987, the book received the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Award, a now-defunct national New Zealand book award, and forerunner of the current Montana New Zealand Book Awards.

title: Season of the Jew