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Patrice de MacMahon

Marie Edme Patrice Maurice de MacMahon, marquis de MacMahon, duc de Magenta (13 June 1808 – 17 October 1893), was a French general and politician, with the distinction of Marshal of France. He served as Chief of State of France from 1873 to 1875 and as President of France from 1875 to 1879.

MacMahon led the main French army in the war against the Germans in 1870. He was trapped and wounded at the Battle of Sedan in September 1870, in part because of his confused and indecisive strategic planning. The army, including MacMahon and Emperor Napoleon III, surrendered to the Germans. Thus France lost the war and the Emperor went into exile. After convalescing, MacMahon was appointed head of the Versailles army, which suppressed the Paris Commune revolt in May 1871 and set the stage for his political career.

According to David Bell, after Thiers' resignation in May 1873, the royalist majority in the National Assembly drafted MacMahon as the new leader, with the hope that he would hold the fort until the Bourbon pretender was ready to restore the throne. However, the Count of Chambord's extreme Legitimist stance made restoration politically impossible. MacMahon refused to support efforts to force the Assembly's hand. In the absence of his full support there was no way to achieve monarchy by extra-parliamentary means. The right had no choice but to keep MacMahon in office to gain time and act as a barrier to the left by repressing radical agitation and pursuing policies to restore "moral order" to the country. In November 1873, he was voted a term of office of seven years. However, the divisions among the royalists left MacMahon in a political predicament for which he was not prepared, trying to keep the Republicans at bay without defined powers or a clear source of legitimacy, without a clear majority in parliament or the country, and without the use of force. In 1874, due to demands for Bonapartism, MacMahon called for constitutional reform. To ensure calm this led to a system of a President and Senate elected indirectly. In 1876, MacMahon had to accept governments by moderate Republicans. However, in 1877, MacMahon dismissed Simon and recalled the Duke de Broglie. The new government was dissolved on a no confidence vote. Conservatives hoped to exploit their influential press, heavy patronage, and martial law to coerce the voters. They failed in the general election of October 1877, as the Republicans won the majority despite the challenges on the right. In January 1879, the Republicans forced MacMahon's resignation. He died in 1893, with Republicans viewing him as a danger to the Republic and diehard monarchists considering him a bungler who mishandled their dream of restoration.

MacMahon was a devout conservative Catholic, and a traditionalist who despised socialism and strongly distrusted the mostly secular Republicans. He kept to his duty as the neutral guardian of the Constitution and rejected suggestions of a monarchist coup d'état, but refused to meet with Gambetta, the leader of the Republicans. He moved for a parliamentary system in which the assembly selected the ruling government of the Third Republic, but he also insisted on an upper chamber. He later dissolved the Chamber of Deputies, resulting in public outrage and a Republican electoral victory. Soon after MacMahon resigned and retired to private life.

Family origins
The MacMahon family is of Irish origin. They were Lords of Corcu Baiscind in Ireland and descended from Mahon, the son of Muirchertach Ua Briain, High King of Ireland. After losing much of their land in the Cromwellian confiscations of 1652, a branch moved to Limerick for a time. They supported the deposed King James II in the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and settled in France during the subsequent reign of King William III. They applied for French citizenship in 1749; after the definitive installation of the family in France, their nobility was recognised by the patent letter of King Louis XV of France.

A military family (14 members of the house of de Mac Mahon were in the Army), they settled in Autun, Burgundy, at the Chateau de Sully, where Patrice de Mac Mahon was born on 13 June 1808, sixteenth and the second-youngest son of Baron Maurice-François de Mac Mahon (1754–1831), Baron of Sully, Count de Mac Mahon and de Charnay, and Pélagie de Riquet de Caraman (1769–1819), a descendant of Pierre-Paul Riquet.

Patrice de MacMahon (as he was usually known before being elevated to a ducal title in his own right) was born in Sully near Autun, in the département of Saône-et-Loire. He was the 16th of 17 children of a family already in the French nobility; his grandfather Knight Lord Overlord Jean-Baptiste de MacMahon, was named Marquis de MacMahon and 1st Marquis d'Éguilly (from his wife Charlotte Le Belin, Dame d'Éguilly) by King Louis XV, and the family in France had decidedly royalist politics.

Early military career and service in Algeria

In 1820, MacMahon entered the Petit Séminaire des Marbres at Autun; then completed his education at Lycée Louis-le-Grand at Paris. He then entered the Special Military School at Saint-Cyr on 23 October 1825. He then joined the application school at the General Staff Headquarters on 1 October 1827, for a period of two years.

Following his graduation from Saint-Cyr, MacMahon entered the French Army in 1827. He was assigned to the 4th Hussars Regiment in 1830. MacMahon subsequently participated in the French conquest of Algeria as a sous-lieutenant in the 20th Line Infantry Regiment. He was commended for his capacity and bravery during the seizure of Algiers. On 24 November 1830, MacMahon further distinguished himself while serving with his regiment, during the Medea expedition, during the Battle of Mouzaïa Mountain (1830). He was awarded the Knight Order of the Legion d'honneur.

Recalled to France, MacMahon participated in 1832 to the Ten Days' Campaign where he was noticed again during the Siege of Antwerp.

He became a captain in 1833, and returned to Algeria, this time, in 1836 where he was placed under the orders of General Bertrand Clausel, and then General Charles-Marie Denys de Damrémont. He led several audacious cavalry raids across tribal occupied plains and distinguished himself during the Siege of Constantine, in 1837, where he was slightly wounded. In 1840, he left Africa (Algeria) and upon his return to France, he learnt that he had been promoted to chef d'escadron (cavalry squadron chief). In May 1841, he returned again to Algeria at the head of the 10th Chasseur Battalion à Pied with whom he distinguished himself, in April, at the Battle of Bab el-Thaza and against the troops of Emir Abdelkader, on 25 May.

On 31 December 1842, he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel at the 2nd Regiment of the French Foreign Legion 2ème R.E.L.E. In 1843, he assumed the functions of regimental commander, by replacing the ill holder, a command which he kept until 1845.

MacMahon distinguished himself again during the battle of Chaab el-Gitta and the battle of Aïn Kebira on 14 October and 17 October 1844.

Nominated to colonel in December 1845, he assumed the command of the 41st Line Infantry Regiment, garrisoned at Marnia.

Since 1848, MacMahon was nominated at the head of the subdivision of Tlemcen, where he was designated as a général de brigade on 12 June of the same year.

In 1849, he became a Commander of the Order of the Legion d'honneur, and served under General Aimable Pélissier, chief of the general staff of the Oran Province.

In 1852 MacMahon organized in Algeria the plebiscite of legitimation by universal suffrage destined to approve the French coup d'état of 1851. In March the same year he was appointed commandment of the Constantine Division, before being promoted to Général de division, in July.

Crimean War, Sevastopol

During the Crimean War, he was given command of the 1st Infantry Division of the 2nd Orient Army Corps and, in September 1855, he won a victory at the Battle of Malakoff during the Siege of Sevastopol. During the battle he is reputed to have said: "Here I am; here will I stay!" (J'y suis, j'y reste!)

Senator and further Algerian service
After his return to France, he received a number of honours and was appointed Senator. Desiring a more active life, he refused a senior position in the French metropolitan army, and returned to Algeria. In Algeria, he served in a campaign against the Kabyle people. On his return to France, he voted as senator against a new law on general security, proposed after the failed assassination attempt of Felice Orsini against Emperor Napoleon III; the law (which passed) allowed easier government action against "enemies of the Empire" and those suspected of political crimes, and made anyone who did not pledge allegiance to Napoleon III ineligible for the legislature.

Magenta: Marshal of France

MacMahon distinguished himself during the Italian Campaign of 1859. He advanced his troops without having received orders at a critical moment during the Battle of Magenta, which assured French victory.

For his military services, he was appointed a Marshal of France by Emperor Napoleon III, and awarded the title of Duke of Magenta.

Governor General of Algeria
In 1861 MacMahon represented France at the coronation of William I as King of Prussia. In 1864, he was named as Governor General of Algeria.

MacMahon did not distinguish himself in this appointment. While he initiated several reforms, numerous complaints were made against him. During the first half of 1870, he submitted his resignation to Napoleon III. When the Olivier cabinet was formed, the Emperor abandoned his Algerian projects and MacMahon was recalled.

War and the Paris Commune
MacMahon led the main French army in the Franco-Prussian War where he suffered several defeats in Alsace. He was seriously wounded during the Battle of Sedan. In 1871 the French army surrendered, and the Germans had clearly won the war. Overall his strategic planning was confused and marked by indecision. He, along with the rest of the army including the Emperor, was made prisoner during the capitulation of Sedan on 1 September.

In 1871, he became the head of the army of the French Third Republic, under President Adolphe Thiers, and in May led the Semaine Sanglante, the bloody week-long military campaign which defeated the Paris Commune and placed the city under the authority of the Third Republic. He was not blamed for the repression, but instead became the hero of the hour for the right.

President of the Republic
In May 1873, MacMahon was elected President of the French Third Republic, by the royalist and conservative majority in the National Assembly. Only one vote was cast against him. Renowned for his popularity, Mac Mahon was elected following the unsuccessful election of Adolphe Thiers on 24 May 1873. He replaced Prime Minister Jules Armand Dufaure with Duke Albert de Broglie, a monarchist. With de Broglie as Prime Minister, he adopted a series of measures to install a new conservative "moral order".

MacMahon favoured a restoration of the monarchy but when this project failed, accepted a seven-year mandate which the Assembly gave him on 9 November 1873. Mac Mahon deemed himself responsible to the country than to parliament, which brought him into conflict with the Chamber of Deputies.

In his still unpublished memoirs, MacMahon described his political convictions: "By family tradition, and by the sentiments towards the royal house which were instilled in me by my early education, I could not be anything but a Legitimist." Nevertheless, in November 1873, he refused to meet with the Bourbon claimant to the throne, Henri, Count of Chambord, as he thought this incompatible with his duties as President of the Republic. On 4 February 1874, MacMahon declared that he would respect the established legal order. Preferring to remain "au-dessus des partis" (above parties), he observed rather than took part in the procedures which in January and February 1875 led to the French Constitutional Laws of 1875, which established the French Third Republic as the government of France.

During the night of 23–24 June 1875 the Garonne region suffered heavy flooding. While visiting the inundated cities and villages he declared "que d'eau… que d'eau !… " (nothing but water…only water!…). The prefect of the department responded to him: "Et encore, Monsieur le Président, vous n'en voyez que le dessus!" (Then again, Mr. President, you are only seeing what's above the surface!").

In September 1875, he stayed at Vernon for several days, in order to prepare the grand maneuvers of the third army. Following the 1876 French legislative election, which resulted in a republican majority, he agreed with great reluctance to the formation of governments under prime ministers Jules Dufaure and Jules Simon, which were dominated by Republicans.

In order to contain and destabilize France, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck sought to promote republicanism in France by strategically and ideologically isolating MacMahon's clerical-monarchist supporters. Bismarck's containment policy almost got out of hand in 1875 during the "War in Sight" crisis. There was a war scare in Germany and France when the German press reported that influential Germans, alarmed by France's rapid recovery from defeat in 1871 and its rearmaments program, were talking of launching a preemptive attack on France. Britain and Russia made it clear that they would not tolerate such aggression. Bismarck did not seek war either, but the unexpected crisis forced him to take into consideration the alarm that his aggressive policies, plus Germany's fast-growing power, were causing among its neighbors.

The 16 May 1877 crisis heightened MacMahon's conflict with the Chamber of Deputies. After the bishops of Poitiers, Nimes and Nevers had assured Pius IX of the French government's support in the Roman question, the Chamber passed a resolution that asked the government to "suppress the ultramontanism manifestations". Twelve days later, he dismissed Prime Minister Jules Simon and again appointed Albert de Broglie. Hoping for a conservative victory, MacMahon then convinced the Senate to dissolve the Chamber of Deputies, and campaigned across the country, while protesting that he had no intention of overthrowing the Republic. On 15 August 1877, Léon Gambetta declared: "Le Président n'a que ce choix: il lui faut se soumettre ou se démettre." ("The President has only but one choice: he must submit or resign.")

The elections of 14 October gave the Republicans a majority of 120 seats, and prime minister Broglie accordingly resigned on 19 November. MacMahon attempted first to form a government under General Gaëtan de Rochebouët, but the Chamber refused to cooperate with him. Rochebouët resigned the next day, and the President recalled Dufaure to form a Republican government. On 5 January 1879, elections to the Senate also resulted in a Republican majority, depriving MacMahon of his last parliamentary support. Faced with a decree which revolved around confiscating and diminishing a number of military authorities and commands to certain generals, MacMahon preferred to resign on 30 January 1879.

His presidency may be summarised thus: on the one hand, he allowed the Republic to establish itself; on the other hand, so far as his lawful prerogatives permitted, he restrained the political advance of parties hostile to the Catholic Church, convinced that the triumph of Radicalism would be to the detriment of the nation. MacMahon's government was mildly repressive toward the left. Newspapers were prosecuted, senior officials were removed if they were suspected of support for republicanism. Critical pamphlets were suppressed while the government circulated its own propaganda. The proprietors of meeting places were advised not to allow meetings of critics of the government. On the other hand, he gave no support to a coup d'état by monarchists. MacMahon truly believed that the National Assembly should rule France and not the president.

Last years
From 1887 to 1893, he directed the Société de secours aux blessés militaires (S.S.B.M.—Rescue Society of Wounded Military), which in 1940 became the French Red Cross.

Patrice de MacMahon died on 17 October 1893, at the Château de la Forêt at Montcresson, after having written his memoirs. He was buried on 22 October at the Hôtel des Invalides after a state funeral and a religious mass at La Madeleine. The five cordons (ornamental cords) of the funeral chariot were held by General Victor Février, Grand Chancellor of the Legion d'Honneur; Admiral Henri Rieunier, Ministère de la Marine; Général Julien Loizillon, Minister of War; Charles Merlin of the Senate; and M. Malvy from the Chamber of Deputies.

Honours

 * French Empire:
 * Knight of the Legion of Honour, 1830; Officer, 1837; Commander, 1849; Grand Officer, 1853; Grand Cross, 1855; Grand Master, 1873
 * Médaille militaire, 1857
 * undefined: Honorary Grand Cross (military) of the Order of the Bath, 3 January 1856
 * Kingdom of Sardinia: Knight of the Supreme Order of the Most Holy Annunciation, 5 August 1859
 * 🇸🇪 🇳🇴 Sweden-Norway: Knight of the Order of the Seraphim, 26 August 1861
 * Kingdom of Prussia: Knight of the Order of the Black Eagle, 18 October 1861
 * 🇩🇰 Denmark: Knight of the Order of the Elephant, 4 May 1869
 * Austria-Hungary: Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Stephen, 1874
 * 🇧🇪 Belgium: Grand Cordon (military) of the Order of Leopold, 19 September 1874
 * undefined: Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, 1 March 1875

Battle honours
Wounded four times: in 1837, at the Siege of Constantine, a bullet pierced his uniform; in 1840, a bullet pierced his sabre through the rib cage; in 1857 at the battle of Icheriden; and finally seriously on 1 September 1870 at Sedan.

Quotes

 * "I have remained a soldier", he says in his memoirs, "and I can conscientiously say that I have not only served one Government after another loyally, but, when they fell, have regretted all of them with the single exception of my own".

In his voluntary retirement he carried with him the esteem of all parties: Jules Simon, who did not love him, and whom he did not love, afterwards called him:

un grand capitaine, un grand citoyen et un homme de bien (a great captain, a great citizen, and a good man).

 * Showing his faith in the Foreign Legion during the Battle of Magenta: "The Legion is here. It's in the bag!" ("Voici la Légion ! L'affaire est dans le sac !").
 * During the Siege of Sevastopol in the Crimean War, MacMahon led an assault by French troops against the Malakoff redoubt. MacMahon captured the Malakoff, but was urged to withdraw rather than be crushed by imminent Russian counter-attacks. He refused, replying "J'y suis. J'y reste!" ("Here I am, Here I stay!"). MacMahon's troops held the Malakoff, and Sevastopol soon fell.

MacMahon's line became widely quoted as an expression of defiance. P. G. Wodehouse's character Bertie Wooster used it in response to pressure from his valet Jeeves to shave off his new moustache ('Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit' Ch.1).

title: Patrice de MacMahon


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Talk:Maplewood, Missouri

Untitled
As of 2003 Maplewood has the most sex offenders of Missouri's municipalities - can anyone prove or disprove this? -- Zoe

Sally Benson
I added, then deleted the paragraph below; it appears that there is a 5135 Kensington in Maplewood, and another in St. Louis, and it's not clear which was the location of Sally Benson's home.

Maplewood was the setting for a series of memoirs centered on the St. Louis World's Fair published by Sally Benson in the New Yorker under the title "5135 Kensington" (later gathered together as "the Kensington Stories," and finally produced as the 1944 film Meet Me in St. Louis). The Benson house no longer exists: after being sold it fell into disrepair, eventually became uninhabitable, and was demolished in 1994.

PAC
"occupancy permits — which are required to live in Maplewood " does pointing out these type of horrific laws violate neutral POV? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.229.180.183 (talk) 05:36, 16 April 2017 (UTC)

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title: Talk:Maplewood, Missouri


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Talk:Subway sandwich

A subway sandwich is a type of sandwich. Subway Sandwich is the name of one particular chain which makes subway sandwiches. -- Zoe

 * Er, don't they make submarine sandwiches? --Brion

Yes, but so do thousands of other companies. I'm re-removing the redirect. -- Zoe

 * Zoe, can you provide a citation of "subway sandwich" that does not relate to this particular brand name, which according to their own website makes "submarine" sandwiches, not a generic thing called "subway" sandwiches? I can't think of such a usage, and a quick google search didn't turn up anything obvious. If such a usage does exists, I suspect it is akin to "kleenex", "hoover", and "xerox" -- a brand name which has become somewhat genericized in usage (at least in some areas) due to the prevalence of one brand in a market. --Brion

Oy. Brain lock. You're right, Brion, for some reason, I was seeing "subway" and thinking "submarine". Mea culpa. I'll fix it. -- Zoe

 * Okay, thanks. I was beginning to fear for your sanity. Or mine. :) --Brion

title: Talk:Subway sandwich


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SpongeBob SquarePants (character)

SpongeBob SquarePants is the protagonist of the eponymous American animated television series. Voiced by Tom Kenny, he is characterized by his optimism and childlike attitude. SpongeBob is commonly seen hanging out with his friend Patrick Star, working at the Krusty Krab, with his neighbor Squidward Tentacles and attending Mrs. Puff's Boating School, while getting involved in zany hijinks along the way. SpongeBob also has a pet snail called Gary.

SpongeBob was created and designed by Stephen Hillenburg, an artist and marine science educator. The character's name is derived from "Bob the Sponge", the host of Hillenburg's unpublished educational book The Intertidal Zone. He drew the book while teaching marine biology to visitors of the Ocean Institute during the 1980s. Hillenburg began developing a show based on the premise shortly after the 1996 cancellation of Rocko's Modern Life, which Hillenburg directed. SpongeBob's first appearance was in the pilot, "Help Wanted", which premiered on May 1, 1999.

SpongeBob SquarePants has become popular among children and adults. The character has garnered a positive response from media critics and is frequently named as one of the greatest cartoon characters of all time.

Conception
Stephen Hillenburg first became fascinated with the ocean as a child. He began developing his artistic abilities at a young age. During college, he studied marine biology and minored in art. He planned to return to graduate school and eventually to pursue a master's degree in art. After graduating in 1984 from Humboldt State University, he joined the Ocean Institute, an organization in Dana Point, California, dedicated to educating the public about marine science and maritime history. While he was there, he had the initial idea that would lead to the creation of SpongeBob SquarePants—a comic book titled The Intertidal Zone. The host of the comic was "Bob the Sponge" who, unlike SpongeBob, resembled an actual sea sponge. In 1987, Hillenburg left the institute to pursue an animation career.

A few years after studying experimental animation at the California Institute of the Arts, Hillenburg met Joe Murray, the creator of Rocko's Modern Life, at an animation festival, and was offered a job as a director of the series. While working on the series, Hillenburg met writer Martin Olson, who saw his previous comic The Intertidal Zone. Olson liked the idea and suggested Hillenburg create a series of marine animals, which spurred his decision to create SpongeBob SquarePants. Hillenburg did not think of making a series based on The Intertidal Zone at the time, later telling Thomas F. Wilson in an interview, "a show ... I hadn't even thought about making a show ... and it wasn't my show". Hillenburg later claimed it was "the inspiration for the show".

Rocko's Modern Life ended in 1996. Shortly afterwards, Hillenburg began working on SpongeBob SquarePants. He began drawing and took some of the show's characters from his comic—like starfish, crab, and sponge. At the time, Hillenburg knew that "everybody was doing buddy shows"—like The Ren & Stimpy Show. He stated, "I can't do a buddy show," so he decided to do a "one character" show instead. He conceived a sponge as the title character because he liked its "versatility ... as an animal." Hillenburg derived the character's name from Bob the Sponge, the host of his comic strip The Intertidal Zone, after changing it from SpongeBoy because of trademark issues.

Creation and design
Hillenburg had made several "horrible impersonations" before he finally conceived of his character. He compared the concept to Laurel and Hardy and Pee-wee Herman saying, "I think SpongeBob [was] born out of my love of Laurel and Hardy shorts. You've got that kind of idiot-buddy situation – that was a huge influence. SpongeBob was inspired by that kind of character: the Innocent – à la Stan Laurel."

The first concept sketch portrayed the character wearing a red hat with a green base and a white business shirt with a tie. SpongeBob's look gradually changed. He also wore brown pants used in the final design. SpongeBob was designed to be a childlike character who was goofy and optimistic in a style similar to that made famous by Jerry Lewis.

Originally, the character was to be named SpongeBoy (and the series named SpongeBoy Ahoy!), but this name was already in use for another product. This was discovered after voice acting for the original seven-minute pilot was recorded. Upon learning this, Hillenburg knew that the character's name still had to contain "Sponge" so viewers would not mistake him for a "Cheese Man". In 1997, he decided to use the name "SpongeBob" with "SquarePants" as a family name, with the latter referring to the character's square shape and having a "nice ring to it".

Before commissioning SpongeBob as a full series, Nickelodeon executives insisted that it would not be popular unless the main character was a child who went to school. Stephen Hillenburg recalled in 2012 that Nickelodeon told him, "Our winning formula is animation about kids in school... We want you to put SpongeBob in school." Hillenburg was ready to "walk out" on Nickelodeon and abandon the series since he wanted SpongeBob to be an adult character. He eventually compromised by adding a new character to the main cast, Mrs. Puff, who is SpongeBob's boat-driving teacher. Hillenburg was happy with the compromise and said, "A positive thing for me that came out of it was [how it brought] in a new character, Mrs. Puff, who I love."

Episodes from 2000 and 2001 have given SpongeBob's birthdate as July 14, 1986, although his age is left unclear throughout the series.

SpongeBob has demonstrated an ability to shapeshift, for example into the shape of Texas or his friends.

Voice
SpongeBob is voiced by veteran voice actor Tom Kenny who had worked previously with Hillenburg on Rocko's Modern Life. When Hillenburg created SpongeBob SquarePants, he approached Kenny to voice the character. Hillenburg used Kenny's and other people's personalities while creating SpongeBob's.

Kenny said in an episode of WTF with Marc Maron that the voice was based on a bitter dwarf actor he encountered while auditioning for a television commercial. Kenny had originally used SpongeBob's voice for a minor background character in Rocko's Modern Life. At first, Kenny forgot the voice because he had used it only on that occasion. Hillenburg remembered it when he was coming up with SpongeBob, however, and played a video clip of the Rocko episode to remind Kenny of the voice. When Hillenburg heard Kenny do the voice, he said, "That's it—I don't want to hear anybody else do the voice. We've got SpongeBob." Kenny recalled that Nickelodeon was unsure of his casting and said, "Well, let's just listen to 100 more people." The network hoped to find a celebrity for the part. Kenny noted: "But one of the advantages of having a strong creator is that the creator can say, 'No, I like that—I don't care about celebrities'." Kenny recalls Hillenburg "let them know that in no uncertain terms." SpongeBob's high-pitched laugh was specifically designed to be unique according to Kenny. They wanted an annoying laugh in the tradition of Popeye and Woody Woodpecker.

Throughout the series, SpongeBob's voice evolved from "low-key" to high-pitched. Kenny said, "I hear the change... It's mostly a question of the pitch." He said that, "It's unconscious on my part" because "I don't wake up and think, 'Hmm, I'm going to change SpongeBob's voice today, just for the hell of it'." He described it as "like erosion: a very slow process. As time goes on, you need to bring him to different places and more places, the more stories and scripts you do." Contrasting first-season episodes to those of the seventh season, Kenny said that "there's a bit of a change [in the voice], but I don't think it's that extreme at all."

When SpongeBob SquarePants was prepared for broadcast in languages other than English, the voice actors dubbing SpongeBob's voice used Tom Kenny's rendition of the character as a starting point but added unique elements. For example, in the French version of the series, SpongeBob speaks with a slight Daffy Duck-style lisp.

Role in SpongeBob SquarePants
SpongeBob is a good-natured, naive, and enthusiastic sea sponge. In The SpongeBob Musical, his exact species of animal is identified: Aplysina fistularis, a yellow tube sponge that is common in open waters. He resides in the undersea city of Bikini Bottom with other anthropomorphic aquatic creatures. He works as a fry cook at a local fast food restaurant, the Krusty Krab, to which he is obsessively attached, showing devotion to it above other restaurants. His boss is Eugene Krabs, a greedy crab who nonetheless treats SpongeBob like a son. Squidward Tentacles, an octopus, and SpongeBob's ill-tempered, snobbish neighbor, works as the restaurant's cashier. SpongeBob's hobbies include fishing for jellyfish, practicing karate with his friend Sandy Cheeks (a squirrel from Texas), and blowing bubbles.

SpongeBob is often seen hanging around with his best friend, starfish Patrick Star, one of his neighbors. SpongeBob SquarePants lives in a submerged pineapple with his pet snail, Gary. His unlimited optimistic cheer often leads him to perceive the outcome of numerous endeavors and the personalities of those around him as happier than they really are. He believes, for instance, that Squidward Tentacles enjoys his company even though he clearly harbors an intense dislike for him (though they have been shown to get along on rare occasions). SpongeBob's greatest goal in life is to obtain his driver's license from Mrs. Puff's boating school, but he often panics and crashes when driving a boat.

Critical reception
Throughout SpongeBob SquarePants' first run, the SpongeBob character became instantly popular with both children and adults. In June 2010, Entertainment Weekly named him one of the "100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years". TV Guide listed SpongeBob SquarePants at number nine on its "50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time" list.

James Poniewozik of Time magazine considered the character "the anti-Bart Simpson, temperamentally and physically: his head is as squared-off and neat as Bart's is unruly, and he has a personality to match–conscientious, optimistic and blind to the faults in the world and those around him." The New York Times critic Joyce Millman said, "His relentless good cheer would be irritating if he weren't so darned lovable and his world so excellently strange ... Like Pee-wee's Playhouse, SpongeBob joyfully dances on the fine line between childhood and adulthood, guilelessness and camp, the warped and the sweet." Robert Thompson, a professor of communications and director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University, told The New York Times:"There is something kind of unique about [SpongeBob]. It seems to be a refreshing breath from the pre-irony era. There's no sense of the elbow-in-rib, a tongue-in-cheek aesthetic that so permeates the rest of American culture–including kids' shows like the Rugrats. I think what's subversive about it is it's so incredibly naive–deliberately. Because there's nothing in it that's trying to be hip or cool or anything else, hipness can be grafted onto it."

In a 2007 interview with TV Guide, Barack Obama named SpongeBob his favorite TV character, saying that he watched SpongeBob SquarePants with his daughters.

Criticism and controversy
In 2005, a promotional video which showed SpongeBob along with other characters from children's shows singing together to promote diversity and tolerance, was criticized by a Christian fundamentalist group in the United States because they felt the SpongeBob character was being used as an advocate for homosexuality, though the video contained "no reference to sex, sexual lifestyle or sexual identity." James Dobson of Focus on the Family accused the video's makers of promoting homosexuality because a gay rights group had sponsored the video.

The incident led to the question whether SpongeBob is a homosexual character. In 2002, when SpongeBob's popularity with gay men grew, Hillenburg denied the suggestion. He clarified that he considers the character to be "somewhat asexual." SpongeBob has been shown in various episodes to regenerate his limbs and reproduce by "budding", much like real sponges do. After Dobson's comments, Hillenburg repeated his assertion that sexual preference was never considered during the creation of the show. Tom Kenny and other production members were shocked and surprised that such an issue had arisen.

Dobson later said that his comments were taken out of context and that his original complaints were not with SpongeBob or any of the characters in the video but with the organization that sponsored it, the We Are Family Foundation. Dobson noted that the foundation had posted pro-homosexual material on its website, but later removed it. After the controversy, John H. Thomas, the United Church of Christ's general minister and president, said they would welcome SpongeBob into their ministry. He said, "Jesus didn't turn people away. Neither do we."

Jeffrey P. Dennis, author of the journal article "The Same Thing We Do Every Night: Signifying Same-Sex Desire in Television Cartoons", argued that SpongeBob and Sandy are not romantically in love while adding that he believed that SpongeBob and Patrick "are paired with arguably erotic intensity." Dennis noted the two are "not consistently coded as romantic partners," since they live in separate residences, and have distinct groups of friends but claimed that in the series, "the possibility of same-sex desire is never excluded." Martin Goodman of Animation World Magazine described Dennis's comments regarding SpongeBob and Patrick as "interesting".

In April 2009, in a tie-in partnership with Burger King and Nickelodeon, Burger King released an advertisement featuring SpongeBob and Sir Mix-a-Lot singing "Baby Got Back". Parents and the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) protested the ad for being sexist and inappropriately sexual, considering that SpongeBob's audience includes preschoolers. CCFC director Susan Linn said the usage of SpongeBob promoting sexualized images of women was "utterly reprehensible". In an official statement released by Burger King, the company claimed the campaign was aimed at parents.

After Nickelodeon shared a celebratory Pride Month tweet featuring SpongeBob SquarePants wearing a rainbow-colored tie in June 2020, users online believed it was the network's way of quietly announcing that the character was gay. The tweet read, “Celebrating #Pride with the LGBTQ+ community and their allies this month and every month Rainbow,” and along with SpongeBob, included photos of transgender actor Michael D. Cohen, who plays Schwoz Schwartz on Henry Danger, and Korra from the Avatar spin-off show Legend of Korra, who's in a same-sex relationship in the series, are presented in a rainbow color collage, appearing as if they are all part of the same LGBTQ community. This tweet received large amounts of backlash from upset parents.

Cultural impact and legacy
Throughout SpongeBob SquarePants' run, the SpongeBob character became very popular with viewers of all ages. His popularity spread from Nickelodeon's original demographic of two- to eleven-year-olds, to teenagers and adults, was popular on college campuses and with celebrities such as Sigourney Weaver and Bruce Willis. Salon.com's Stephanie Zacharek feels that the unadulterated innocence of SpongeBob is what makes him so appealing. SpongeBob also became popular with gay men, despite Stephen Hillenburg asserting that none of the series' characters are homosexual, attracting fans with his flamboyant lifestyle and tolerant attitude.

In July 2009, the Madame Tussauds wax museum in New York unveiled a wax sculpture of SpongeBob, the first fictional character to be featured there. In May 2011, a new species of mushroom, Spongiforma squarepantsii, named after SpongeBob, was described in the journal Mycologia. The authors note that the hymenium, when viewed using scanning electron microscopy, somewhat resembles a "seafloor covered with tube sponges, reminiscent of the fictitious home of SpongeBob." Although the epithet was originally rejected by Mycologia's editors as "too frivolous", the authors insisted that "we could name it whatever we liked." Since 2004, SpongeBob has appeared as a balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The character also became a fashion trend. In 2008, American fashion designer Marc Jacobs donned a SpongeBob tattoo on his right arm. He explained that, "I just worked with Richard Prince on the collaboration for Louis Vuitton and Richard has done a series of paintings of SpongeBob. He had brought up in our conversation how he saw the artistic value of SpongeBob as the cartoon and I kind of liked it, so I did it." He added that "It's funny." In the same year, A Bathing Ape released SpongeBob-themed shoes. Singer Pharrell Williams backed a line of SpongeBob T-shirts and shoes targeted at hip adults. In 2014, the character was among the popular culture icons referenced by American fashion designer Jeremy Scott in his Moschino debut collection at the Milan Fashion Week.

In Egypt's Tahrir Square, after the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, SpongeBob became a fashion phenomenon, appearing on various merchandise items from hijabs to boxer shorts. The phenomenon led to the creation of the Tumblr project called "SpongeBob on the Nile", founded by American students Andrew Leber and Elisabeth Jaquette, that attempts to document every appearance of SpongeBob in Egypt. Sherief Elkeshta cited the phenomenon in an essay about the incoherent state of politics in Egypt in an independent monthly paper titled Midan Masr. He wrote, "Why isn't he [SpongeBob] at least holding a Molotov cocktail? Or raising a fist?" The phenomenon has even spread to Libya, where a Libyan rebel in SpongeBob dress was photographed celebrating the revolution.

Merchandising
SpongeBob's translated well into related merchandise sales. In 2002, SpongeBob SquarePants dolls sold at a rate of 75,000 per week, which was faster than Tickle Me Elmo dolls were selling at the time. SpongeBob was popular in Japan, specifically with Japanese women. Nickelodeon's parent company Viacom purposefully targeted its marketing at women there as a way to build the SpongeBob SquarePants brand. Skeptics initially doubted that SpongeBob could be popular in Japan as the character's design is very different from the already popular designs for Hello Kitty and Pikachu. The character inspired a soap-filled sponge product manufactured by SpongeTech.

In early 2009, the Simmons Jewelry Co. released a $75,000 diamond pendant as part of a SpongeBob collection.

On May 17, 2013, Build-A-Bear Workshop introduced a new SpongeBob SquarePants collection in stores and online in North America.

SpongeBob also inspired an automobile design. On July 13, 2013, Toyota, with Nickelodeon, unveiled plans for a SpongeBob-inspired Toyota Highlander. The 2014 Toyota Highlander concept vehicle was launched as part of a SpongeBob Day promotion at that day's game between the Giants and Padres in San Diego, and subsequently visited seven U.S. locations including the Nickelodeon Suites Resort Orlando in Florida.

title: SpongeBob SquarePants (character)


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National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics

The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a United States federal agency that was founded on March 3, 1915, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958, the agency was dissolved and its assets and personnel were transferred to the newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). NACA is an initialism, i.e., pronounced as individual letters, rather than as a whole word (as was NASA during the early years after being established).

Among other advancements, NACA research and development produced the NACA duct, a type of air intake used in modern automotive applications, the NACA cowling, and several series of NACA airfoils, which are still used in aircraft manufacturing.

During World War II, NACA was described as "The Force Behind Our Air Supremacy" due to its key role in producing working superchargers for high altitude bombers, and for producing the laminar wing profiles for the North American P-51 Mustang. NACA also helped in developing the area rule that is used on all modern supersonic aircraft, and conducted the key compressibility research that enabled the Bell X-1 to break the sound barrier.

Origins

NACA was established on March 13, 1915, by the federal government through enabling legislation as an emergency measure during World War I to promote industry, academic, and government coordination on war-related projects. It was modeled on similar national agencies found in Europe: the French L'Etablissement Central de l'Aérostation Militaire in Meudon (now Office National d'Etudes et de Recherches Aerospatiales), the German Aerodynamic Laboratory of the University of Göttingen, and the Russian Aerodynamic Institute of Koutchino (replaced in 1918 with the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI), which is still in existence). The most influential agency upon which the NACA was based was the British Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.

In December 1912, President William Howard Taft had appointed a National Aerodynamical Laboratory Commission chaired by Robert S. Woodward, president of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Legislation was introduced in both houses of Congress early in January 1913 to approve the commission, but when it came to a vote, the legislation was defeated.

Charles D. Walcott, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution from 1907 to 1927, took up the effort, and in January 1915, Senator Benjamin R. Tillman, and Representative Ernest W. Roberts introduced identical resolutions recommending the creation of an advisory committee as outlined by Walcott. The purpose of the committee was "to supervise and direct the scientific study of the problems of flight with a view to their practical solution, and to determine the problems which should be experimentally attacked and to discuss their solution and their application to practical questions". Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote that he "heartily [endorsed] the principle" on which the legislation was based. Walcott suggested the tactic of adding the resolution to the Naval Appropriations Bill.

According to one source, "The enabling legislation for the NACA slipped through almost unnoticed as a rider attached to the Naval Appropriation Bill, on March 3, 1915." The committee of 12 people, all unpaid, were allocated a budget of $5,000 per year.

President Woodrow Wilson signed it into law the same day, thus formally creating the Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, as it was called in the legislation, on the last day of the 63rd Congress.

The act of Congress creating NACA, approved March 3, 1915, reads, "...It shall be the duty of the advisory committee for aeronautics to supervise and direct the scientific study of the problems of flight with a view to their practical solution. ... "

Research

On January 29, 1920, President Wilson appointed pioneering flier and aviation engineer Orville Wright to NACA's board. By the early 1920s, it had adopted a new and more ambitious mission: to promote military and civilian aviation through applied research that looked beyond current needs. NACA researchers pursued this mission through the agency's impressive collection of in-house wind tunnels, engine test stands, and flight test facilities. Commercial and military clients were also permitted to use NACA facilities on a contract basis.

 * Facilities
 * Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory (Hampton, Virginia)
 * Ames Aeronautical Laboratory (Moffett Field)
 * Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory (Lewis Research Center)
 * Muroc Flight Test Unit (Edwards Air Force Base)

In 1922, NACA had 100 employees. By 1938, it had 426. In addition to formal assignments, staff were encouraged to pursue unauthorized "bootleg" research, provided that it was not too exotic. The result was a long string of fundamental breakthroughs, including "thin airfoil theory" (1920s), "NACA engine cowl" (1930s), the "NACA airfoil" series (1940s), and the "area rule" for supersonic aircraft (1950s). On the other hand, NACA's 1941 refusal to increase airspeed in their wind tunnels set Lockheed back a year in their quest to solve the problem of compressibility encountered in high speed dives made by the Lockheed P-38 Lightning.

The full-size 30 x Langley wind tunnel operated at no more than 100 mph and the then-recent 7 x tunnels at Moffett could only reach 250 mph. These were speeds Lockheed engineers considered useless for their purposes. General Henry H. Arnold took up the matter and overruled NACA objections to higher air speeds. NACA built a handful of new high-speed wind tunnels, and Mach 0.75 (570 mph) was reached at Moffett's 16 ft wind tunnel late in 1942.

Wind tunnels

NACA's first wind tunnel was formally dedicated at Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory on June 11, 1920. It was the first of many now-famous NACA and NASA wind tunnels. Although this specific wind tunnel was not unique or advanced, it enabled NACA engineers and scientists to develop and test new and advanced concepts in aerodynamics and to improve future wind tunnel design.

 * 1) Atmospheric 5-ft wind tunnel (1920)
 * 2) Variable Density Tunnel (1922)
 * 3) Propeller Research Tunnel (1927)
 * 4) High-speed 11-in wind tunnel (1928)
 * 5) Vertical 5-ft wind tunnel (1929)
 * 6) Atmospheric 7- by 10-ft wind tunnel (1930)
 * 7) Full-scale 30- by 60-ft tunnel (1931)

Influence on World War II technology
In the years immediately preceding World War II, NACA was involved in the development of several designs that served key roles in the war effort. When engineers at a major engine manufacturer were having issues producing superchargers that would allow the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress to maintain power at high altitude, a team of engineers from NACA solved the problems and created the standards and testing methods used to produce effective superchargers in the future. This enabled the B-17 to be used as a key aircraft in the war effort. The designs and information gained from NACA research on the B-17 were used in nearly every major U.S. military powerplant of the Second World War. Nearly every aircraft used some form of forced induction that relied on information developed by NACA. Because of this, U.S.-produced aircraft had a significant power advantage above 15,000 feet, which was never fully countered by Axis forces.

After the war had begun, the British government sent a request to North American Aviation for a new fighter. The offered P-40 Tomahawk fighters were considered too outdated to be a feasible front line fighter by European standards, and so North American began development of a new aircraft. The British government chose a NACA-developed airfoil for the fighter, which enabled it to perform dramatically better than previous models. This aircraft became known as the P-51 Mustang.

Supersonic research

After early experiments by Opel RAK with rocket propulsion leading to the first public flight of a rocket plane, the Opel RAK.1, in 1929 and eventual military programs at Heinkel and Messerschmitt by Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, the US entered the race to supersonic planes and spaceflight in the 1940s. Although the Bell X-1 was commissioned by the Air Force and flown by Air Force test pilot Chuck Yeager, when it exceeded Mach 1 NACA was officially in charge of the testing and development of the aircraft. NACA ran the experiments and data collection, and the bulk of the research used to develop the aircraft came from NACA engineer John Stack, the head of NACA's compressibility division. Compressibility is a major issue as aircraft approach Mach 1, and research into solving the problem drew heavily on information collected during previous NACA wind tunnel testing to assist Lockheed with the P-38 Lightning.

The X-1 program was first envisioned in 1944 when a former NACA engineer working for Bell Aircraft approached the Army for funding of a supersonic test aircraft. Neither the Army nor Bell had any experience in this area, so the majority of research came from the NACA Compressibility Research Division, which had been operating for more than a year by the time Bell began conceptual designs. The Compressibility Research Division also had years of additional research and data to pull from, as its head engineer was previously head of the high speed wind tunnel division, which itself had nearly a decade of high speed test data by that time. Due to the importance of NACA involvement, Stack was personally awarded the Collier Trophy along with the owner of Bell Aircraft and test pilot Chuck Yeager.

In 1951, NACA Engineer Richard Whitcomb determined the area rule that explained transonic flow over an aircraft. The first uses of this theory were on the Convair F-102 project and the F11F Tiger. The F-102 was meant to be a supersonic interceptor, but it was unable to exceed the speed of sound, despite the best effort of Convair engineers. The F-102 had actually already begun production when this was discovered, so NACA engineers were sent to quickly solve the problem at hand. The production line had to be modified to allow the modification of F-102s already in production to allow them to use the area rule. (Aircraft so altered were known as "area ruled" aircraft.) The design changes allowed the aircraft to exceed Mach 1, but only by a small margin, as the rest of the Convair design was not optimized for this. As the F-11F was the first design to incorporate this during initial design, it was able to break the sound barrier without having to use afterburner.

Because the area rule was initially classified, it took several years for Whitcomb to be recognized for his accomplishment. In 1955 he was awarded the Collier Trophy for his work on both the Tiger and the F-102.

The most important design resulting from the area rule was the B-58 Hustler, which was already in development at the time. It was redesigned to take the area rule into effect, allowing greatly improved performance. This was the first US supersonic bomber, and was capable of Mach 2 at a time when Soviet fighters had only just attained that speed months earlier. The area rule concept is now used in designing all transonic and supersonic aircraft.

NACA experience provided a model for World War II research, the postwar government laboratories, and NACA's successor, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

NACA also participated in development of the first aircraft to fly to the "edge of space", North American's X-15. NACA airfoils are still used on modern aircraft.

Special Committee on Space Technology

On November 21, 1957, Hugh Dryden, NACA's director, established the Special Committee on Space Technology. The committee, also called the Stever Committee after its chairman, Guyford Stever, was a special steering committee that was formed with the mandate to coordinate various branches of the federal government, private companies as well as universities within the United States with NACA's objectives and also harness their expertise in order to develop a space program.

Wernher von Braun, technical director at the US Army's Ballistic Missile Agency would have a Jupiter C rocket ready to launch a satellite in 1956, only to have it delayed, and the Soviets would launch Sputnik 1 in October 1957.

On January 14, 1958, Dryden published "A National Research Program for Space Technology", which stated:

"It is of great urgency and importance to our country both from consideration of our prestige as a nation as well as military necessity that this challenge (Sputnik) be met by an energetic program of research and development for the conquest of space. ... It is accordingly proposed that the scientific research be the responsibility of a national civilian agency working in close cooperation with the applied research and development groups required for weapon systems development by the military. The pattern to be followed is that already developed by the NACA and the military services. ...

The NACA is capable, by rapid extension and expansion of its effort, of providing leadership in space technology."

On March 5, 1958, James Killian, who chaired the President's Science Advisory Committee, wrote a memorandum to the President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Titled, "Organization for Civil Space Programs", it encouraged the President to sanction the creation of NASA. He wrote that a civil space program should be based on a "strengthened and redesignated" NACA, indicating that NACA was a "going Federal research agency" with 7,500 employees and $300 million worth of facilities, which could expand its research program "with a minimum of delay".

Members
As of their meeting on May 26, 1958, committee members, starting clockwise from the left of the above picture:


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Soap (TV series)

Soap is an American sitcom television series that originally ran on ABC from September 13, 1977, until April 20, 1981. The show was created as a nighttime parody of daytime soap operas, presented as a weekly half-hour prime time comedy. Similar to a soap opera, the show's story was presented in a serial format, and featured melodramatic plotlines including alien abduction, demonic possession, extramarital affairs, murder, kidnapping, unknown diseases, amnesia, cults, organized crime warfare, a communist revolution, and teacher-student relationships. In 2007, it was listed as one of Time magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME", and in 2010, the Tates and the Campbells ranked at number 17 in TV Guide's list of "TV's Top Families".

The show was created, written, and produced by Susan Harris, and also executive produced by Paul Junger Witt and Tony Thomas. Each returning season was preceded by a 90-minute retrospective of the previous season. Two of these retrospectives were made available on VHS in 1994, but were not included on any DVD collections.

The show aired 85 episodes over the course of four seasons. Of these, eight episodes (including the final four) aired as one-hour episodes during the original run on ABC. These hour-long episodes were later split in two, yielding 93 half-hour episodes for syndication. Like most sitcoms of the era, Soap was videotaped rather than filmed, but this coincidentally helped further its emulation of the daytime soap opera format, as most such productions were also videotaped. All episodes are available on Region 1 DVD in four box sets. There is a box set of Season 1 on Region 2 DVD. The series has rerun in syndication on local channels as well as on cable.

The show starred Katherine Helmond and Cathryn Damon as sisters and matriarchs of their own families. The cast also included several former soap opera actors. Robert Mandan (Chester Tate) had previously appeared on Search for Tomorrow as a leading man for Mary Stuart; Donnelly Rhodes (Dutch Leitner) had played the first husband of Katherine Chancellor on The Young and the Restless; Arthur Peterson Jr. ("The Major") played Rev. John Ruthledge in the radio version of Guiding Light, while Caroline McWilliams appeared on the television version as Janet Mason Norris; and Marla Pennington (Leslie Walker) appeared for three years as Samantha Livingston Chandler on General Hospital. Additionally, after the series ended, Lynne Moody (Polly Dawson) went in to appear in a recurring capacity on primetime soap opera Knots Landing (which also starred Ted Shackelford, who appeared on Soap in a guest appearance), and Roscoe Lee Browne appeared in a recurring guest role in the seventh season of Falcon Crest.

Plot
Soap is set in the fictional town of Dunn's River, Connecticut.

In the opening sequence of the first installment, the announcer says "This is the story of two sisters—Jessica Tate and Mary Campbell". The Tates live in a wealthy neighborhood (the announcer calls it the neighborhood known as "Rich"). Jessica Tate (Katherine Helmond) and her husband, Chester (Robert Mandan), are hardly models of fidelity, as their various love affairs result in several family mishaps, including the murder of Peter Campbell (Robert Urich), the stepson of her sister Mary (Cathryn Damon). Even though everyone tells Jessica about Chester's continual affairs, she does not believe them until she sees his philandering with her own eyes. While out to lunch with Mary, Jessica spots Chester necking with his secretary, Claire (Kathryn Reynolds). Heartbroken, Jessica sobs in her sister's arms. On later occasions, it becomes clear that Jess has always known on some level about Chester's affairs but never allowed herself to process the information.

The wealthy Tate family employs a sarcastic butler/cook named Benson (Robert Guillaume). Benson clearly despises Chester, but has a soft spot for their son, Billy (Jimmy Baio). He also gets along with the Tates' daughter Corinne (Diana Canova) as well as their mother, Jessica; but doesn't speak to the other daughter, Eunice (Jennifer Salt), although that later changed. Benson became a popular character and in 1979 left the Tates' employ to work for Jessica's cousin, Governor Gene Gatling, on the spin-off series Benson, wherein his last name, DuBois, was revealed. The Tates had to hire a new butler/cook named Saunders (Roscoe Lee Browne), whose attitude is similar to that of Benson, but has a more formal personality.

Mary's family, the Campbells, are working class, and as the series begins, her son Danny Dallas (Ted Wass), a product of her first marriage to Johnny Dallas, is a junior gangster-in-training. Danny is told to kill his stepfather, Burt Campbell (Richard Mulligan), Mary's current husband, who, Danny is told, murdered his father Johnny, who was also a mobster. It is later revealed that Danny's father was killed by Burt in self-defense. Danny refuses to kill Burt and goes on the run from the Mob in a variety of disguises. This eventually ends when Elaine Lefkowitz (played by Dinah Manoff in one of her earliest roles), the spoiled daughter of the Mob Boss (played by Sorrell Booke), falls in love with Danny and stops her father, who then tells Danny he will have to marry Elaine or he will kill him. In the fourth season, it is revealed that Chester is Danny's true father, the product of a secret affair between him and Mary before his marriage to Jessica. Mary's other son, Jodie (Billy Crystal, in an early role), is homosexual, having a secret affair with a famous professional football quarterback, and contemplating a sex-change operation.

The first season ends with Jessica convicted of the murder of Peter Campbell. The announcer concludes the season by announcing that Jessica is innocent, and that one of five characters—Burt, Chester, Jodie, Benson, or Corinne—killed Peter Campbell. Chester later confesses to Peter's murder and is sent to prison. He is soon released after a successful temporary insanity defense, due to a medical condition in his brain.

Other plot lines include Jessica's adopted daughter Corinne courting Father Tim Flotsky (Sal Viscuso), who ended up leaving the priesthood, with the two eventually marrying and having a child who is possessed by the Devil; Chester being imprisoned for Peter's murder, escaping with his prison mate Dutch, and being afflicted with amnesia after a failed operation; Jessica's other daughter, Eunice, sleeping with a married congressman, and then falling in love with Dutch; Mary's stepson Chuck (Jay Johnson), a ventriloquist whose hostilities are expressed through his alter ego, a quick-witted dummy named Bob; Jessica's love affairs with several men, including Donahue, a private investigator hired to find the missing presumed-dead Chester, her psychiatrist, and a Latin American revolutionary known as El Puerco ('The Pig'; his friends just call him "El"); Billy Tate's confinement by a cult called the "Sunnies" (a parody of Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, called the "Moonies" by its critics), and then his affair with his school teacher who becomes unhinged; Danny and his romantic trials with the daughter of a mobster (Elaine, who is murdered in a botched kidnapping), black woman (Polly), a prostitute (Gwen), and Chester's second wife (Annie); and Burt's confinement to a mental institution, his abduction by aliens while being replaced with an oversexed alien lookalike on Earth, and getting blackmailed by the Mob after becoming sheriff of their small town.

At the beginning of each episode, off-camera announcer Rod Roddy gives a brief summary of the convoluted storyline and remarks, "Confused? You won't be, after week's episode of... Soap." At the end of each episode, he asks a series of life-or-death questions in a deliberately deadpan style—"Will Jessica discover Chester's affair? Will Benson discover Chester's affair? Will Benson care?" and concludes each episode with the trademark line, "These questions—and many others—will be answered in the next episode of... Soap."

Preproduction and casting
Richard Mulligan was originally considered for the part of Chester Tate, but director Jay Sandrich felt Mulligan would be more appropriate as Burt Campbell. Sandrich suggested Robert Mandan (who he had directed on the Mary Tyler Moore Show) for the role of Tate instead. Recalling the challenge of casting the role of Benson, Sandrich recalled,

 * We couldn't find Benson. We had so much trouble with Benson. We were reading women, we were reading Orientals, we were reading—Asians, I'm sorry—we were reading Black women, we were reading Norwegians, anybody. We could not find that part... We were looking for Bob Guillaume, is what we were looking for. Somebody who had that demeanor and could deliver one-lines... I'd seen him as a performer... I didn't see him do comedy, but I remembered the name. I didn't know if he could do comedy, but he was such a dynamic personality. Just pay attention to him.

According to Sandrich, the actor cast to play Mary Campbell in the initial pilot was "a very good actress, but she was just as neurotic as Mulligan, so that didn't work." Concerned with selling the show to the network, Fred Silverman authorized re-shooting the pilot with Cathryn Damon.

Pre-broadcast protests and controversy
In early March 1977, ABC screened the first two episodes of Soap for the executives of its 195 affiliate stations, many of whom were instantly appalled by the show's emphasis on sex and infidelity. ABC was privately told by two of the affiliates, neither in a major market, that the show was "raunchy" and its subject matter unfit for television.

In June 1977, a Newsweek preview of the fall season written by Harry F. Waters panned the show while characterizing some of its basic plot elements incorrectly and offering exaggerated reports of its sexual content. Despite having not seen the pilot, Waters called the show a "sex farce" and claimed (erroneously) that the show included a scene of a Catholic priest being seduced in a confessional. Waters also stated:

"Soap promises to be the most controversial network series of the coming season, a show so saturated with sex that it could replace violence as the PTA's Video Enemy No. 1."

Whether Waters's errors and misrepresentations were intentional or accidental is unknown.

Within days of the Newsweek report, a number of local and national religious organizations began to quickly mobilize against Soap, despite the fact that they also had not seen the pilot. Among these were the National Council of Churches, the United Church of Christ, the United Methodist Church, the National Council of Catholic Bishops and the Christian Life Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, the latter of which went so far as to divest itself of 2,500 shares of ABC stock "because the board does not approve of programming related to the abuse of human sexuality, violence and perversion".

The Roman Catholic Church, led by its Los Angeles Archdiocese, also condemned the show and asked all American families to boycott it, saying, "ABC should be told that American Catholics and all Americans are not going to sit by and watch the networks have open season on Catholicism and morality. [Soap] is probably one of the most effective arguments for government censorship of TV that has yet come along." In August, the Board of Rabbis of Southern California, representing the three branches of Judaism, joined the Catholic protest, saying that the show, yet to be aired, "reached a new low".

Dr. Everett Parker of the United Church of Christ called Soap "a low-life, salacious program" and complained that the show would be airing when children would be able to watch it. (ABC had scheduled it on Tuesdays after Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley, two of the most popular family television shows being broadcast at the time.)

The religious bodies organized a letter-writing campaign designed to pressure the show's sponsors not to advertise on the network. Although some of the groups asked their members to watch the show first, and then inform ABC of their feelings about it, others began working hard to get ABC to cancel the show before it premiered. One ABC vice president was shocked to learn that his 11-year-old child was required by a parochial school teacher to write a letter of protest to ABC, asking it to take the show off the air. In the end, 32,000 people wrote letters to ABC, only 9 of which were in support of the show.

In addition to the religious protest, Soap also faced substantial pre-broadcast criticism from the International Union of Gay Athletes and the National Gay Task Force, both of which were concerned about the way the gay character Jodie Dallas and his professional football player lover would be portrayed.

To allay the concern of advertisers, some of whom had begun to cancel sponsorship of the program, ABC reluctantly dropped the price for commercial time from $75,000 per spot to $40,000 per spot. When Soap premiered on September 13, 1977, 18 out of 195 ABC affiliates refused to air the program, and others chose to broadcast it after 11p.m. By its second week on the air, 2 more affiliates dropped out, bringing the boycott to 20 stations. Boycotting affiliates included KDUB in Dubuque, Iowa; KMVT in Twin Falls, Idaho; KTVO in Kirksville, Missouri/Ottumwa, Iowa; KXON in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; WABG-TV in Greenwood, Mississippi; WBAK in Terre Haute, Indiana; WCCB in Charlotte, North Carolina; WJCL in Savannah, Georgia; WJZ in Baltimore; WKAB in Montgomery, Alabama; WOWK-TV in Huntington, West Virginia; WRAL-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina; and WYUR in Huntsville, Alabama.

In 1978, when WCCB gave up its ABC affiliation to former NBC affiliate WSOC-TV and became independent, the latter station aired the show starting with late-night summer repeats of the first season, then showed it in its regular prime time slot the following fall. Except for two individuals, the only angry calls came from people wondering what happened to Saturday Night Live, which could now be found on WRET (today's WCNC-TV).

"The Soap Memo"
Aside from the external protests, Soap was also subject to heavy internal revisions from ABC's Broadcast Standards & Practices department, which monitors the content of programs. Writer-creator Susan Harris had developed a story arc for Soap in the form of a "show bible" which traced all the major characters, stories and events for five seasons. The Standards & Practices executives (commonly referred to as "censors") reviewed this extensive bible as well as the script for the two-part pilot and issued a long memo to Harris voicing their concerns about various storylines and characters. In addition to the sexual material that was widely reported in the press, the censors also took issue with the show's religious, political and ethnic content.

"The Soap Memo" was leaked to the press before the show premiered and was printed in its entirety in the Los Angeles Times on June 27, 1977. Among the notes were:

 * "Please delete [the lines] '...the slut', 'that Polish slut', 'get your clothes off', 'it doesn't grow back', 'transsexual', 'Oh my God', 'did it hurt?'"
 * "Substitute [the words] fruit, slut, tinker bell."
 * "The CIA or any other government organization is not to be involved in General Nu's smuggling operation." (This character and storyline, which dealt with a Vietnamese opium smuggler who becomes involved in the Tate family through Jessica's long-lost son, was eventually removed from the show bible.)
 * "In order to treat Jodie as a gay character, his portrayal must at all times be handled without 'limp-wristed' actions"
 * "The colloquy between Peter and Jessica ... which relates to cunnilingus/fellatio is obviously unacceptable"
 * "The relationship between Jodie and the football player should be handled in such a manner that explicit or intimate aspects of homosexuality are avoided entirely."
 * "Father Flotsky's stand on liberalizing the Mass will have to be treated in a balanced, inoffensive manner. By way of example, the substitution of Oreos for the traditional wafer is unacceptable."

"The Soap Memo" also contained notes that were subsequently disregarded by the producers including:
 * "Please change Burt Campbell's last name to avoid association with the Campbell Soup Co."
 * "Corinne's affair with a Jesuit priest, her subsequent pregnancy as a result, and later exorcism, are all unacceptable."
 * "Please direct Claire to dump the hot coffee in some part of Chester's anatomy other than his crotch." (Susan Harris later responded to this note: "so we didn't—we poured it in his .")

"The Soap Memo" was a rare public look into the behind-the-scenes process at a major network and copies of the document were often found posted on the bulletin boards of television production companies and on studio sets as a rallying point against censorship. In addition, the specific details in the memo further fueled the growing debate regarding the controversial content of Soap.

Premiere and critical reception
Soap premiered on Tuesday, September 13, 1977, at 9:30p.m. The episode was preceded by a disclaimer that the show "was part of a continuing character comedy" that included adult themes and that "viewer discretion" was advised. The disclaimer was both displayed on the screen and read by announcer Rod Roddy. It would remain throughout the first season before being dropped.

Much of Soap's controversy, among liberals and conservatives alike, ironically helped sell the series to the general public. Fueled by six months of pre-show protests (as well as a solid lead-in from the hit shows Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley and Three's Company), the first episode swept its time slot with a 25.6 rating and a 39% share of the national audience. Although ABC received hundreds of phone calls after the premiere, executives at the network described initial public reaction as "mild" with more calls in favor of the show than in protest. A University of Richmond poll found that 74% of viewers found Soap inoffensive, 26% found it offensive, and half of those who were offended said they planned to watch it the next week.

Initial reviews—somewhat clouded by the controversy—were mixed, with negative reviews predictably focusing on the show's racy content. The Los Angeles Times called the show "a prolonged dirty joke" that "is without cleverness or style or subtlety. Its sex jokes are delivered by the shovelful, like manure." Variety called the show "forced and derivative", "bland" and "predictable and silly" while conceding that the sex is "no more outrageous than daytime soapers, no more outspoken than Three's Company." Time magazine praised the "talented cast" and singled out Jimmy Baio and Billy Crystal as "sharp young comedians", but felt the show suffered from "nastiness" and "lacked compassion".

On the more positive side, TV Guide gave the show a good review saying that there was "a heap of talent" in the cast and asking "Is it funny? Yes it is... and I guess that constitutes redeeming social value".

Harry F. Waters' 1977 Newsweek review proved prescient of conservative reaction when the following year, the National PTA declared Soap one of "ten worst" shows in television. In spite of this designation, Soap ranked #13 for the 1977–78 season and went on to gain positive critical reviews and high ratings over the rest of its four-year run.

Later seasons and cancellation
Although the uproar against Soap subsided shortly after its premiere, the program continued to generate additional criticism for its relatively frank depictions of homosexuals, racial and ethnic minorities and the mentally ill, as well as its treatment of other taboo topics such as social class, marital infidelity, impotence, incest, sexual harassment, rape, student-teacher sexual relationships, kidnapping, organized crime, murder of and by cast members, and new age cults. Much of the criticism focused on the openly gay character of Jodie Dallas (Billy Crystal). Soap was among the earliest American primetime series to include an openly gay character who was a major part of the series. Some social conservatives opposed the character on religious grounds, while some gay rights activists were also upset with the character of Jodie, arguing that certain story developments reinforced distorted stereotypes, for example his desire to have a sex change operation, or represented a desire to change or downplay his sexual orientation.

Before the start of the second season, ABC ran a 90-minute retrospective clip show called "Who Killed Peter?" in which Burt Campbell visits Jessica Tate in prison as she awaits the verdict of her murder trial. The two discuss each of the show's individual characters and their possible motives for killing Burt's son Peter using flashbacks to illustrate specific story lines. The show was designed to remind viewers of what happened in Season 1 to prepare them for the upcoming season.

At the start of season three, another 90-minute retrospective aired in which Jessica says goodbye to Benson, using the flashback clips to try to explain why he should stay. This show also served to help launch the spinoff Benson, which was premiering at the start of the 1979–80 television season.

A third 90-minute retrospective titled "Jessica's Wonderful Life" aired at the start of Season 4. Jessica, who had just died in the hospital, found herself in heaven speaking to an angel (played by Bea Arthur). Jessica explained via the flashback clips why she was not ready to die and had to return to earth to help her family.

Although Susan Harris had planned for five seasons of Soap, the program was abruptly canceled by ABC after its fourth season. Therefore, the final one-hour episode, which originally aired on April 20, 1981, did not serve as a series finale and instead ended with several unresolved cliffhangers. These involve a suicidal Chester preparing to kill Annie (his wife) and Danny (his biological son) after catching them in bed together, a hypnotized Jodie believing himself to be a 90-year-old Jewish man, Burt preparing to walk into an ambush orchestrated by his political enemies, Jessica about to be executed by a Communist firing squad, and Chester and El Puerco challenging each other to a duel. Vlasic Foods pulled its sponsorship of the program shortly after this episode aired and ABC announced that the program was not renewed for its planned fifth season. The official reason given by the network was its declining ratings. However, according to the Museum of Broadcast Communications, Soap "ended under suspicion that resistance from ad agencies may have caused ABC to cancel [it] at that point" because its still-controversial content was negatively affecting its relationship with sponsors.

A 1983 episode of Benson mentions Jessica's disappearance, noting that the Tate family is seeking to have her declared legally dead. In the episode, Jessica appears as an apparition who only Benson can see or hear and reveals to him that she is not dead, but in a coma somewhere in South America. No other incidents from the final episode of Soap are mentioned, and the opening bars of the theme song for Soap play as she leaves the room.

Legacy
Since its cancellation, Soap's reputation has grown and it is often considered one of the best shows in television history. Much praise has been given to its "exceptionally rich cast" of performers "such as was seldom seen on any serious dramatic show".

In a 1982 analysis in The Village Voice, published as the series was entering syndication, TV critic Tom Carson lauded the ensemble, saying that "the cast matches the best TV series rep troupes ever." Carson went on to note that Soap "patently started out intended as a lampoon of middle-class values, and ended up instead as a weirdly offbeat celebration of them".

In 2007, Time, which initially panned the show, named it one of the "100 Best Shows of All-TIME". The Museum of Broadcast Communications said that Soap is "arguably one of the most creative efforts by network television before or after".

In 2010, The Huffington Post called Soap a "timeless comedy" and concluded: "Rarely does a show come along with such a unique voice and vision from the first episode".

Awards and nominations
Soap was nominated for a total 17 Emmy Awards including:
 * Outstanding Comedy Series – nominated: 1978, 1980, 1981
 * Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Richard Mulligan) – won: 1980, nominated: 1981
 * Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (Cathryn Damon) – won: 1980, nominated: 1978, 1981
 * Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (Katherine Helmond) – nominated: 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981
 * Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Robert Guillaume) – won: 1979
 * Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series (Jay Sandrich) – nominated: 1978, 1979
 * Outstanding Art Direction in a Comedy Series – won: 1978
 * Outstanding Achievement in Video Tape Editing in a Comedy Series – nominated: 1978

At the 1981 Golden Globe Awards, Katherine Helmond won Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series – Musical/Comedy. That same year, the program was also nominated for Best TV Series – Musical/Comedy.

Director Jay Sandrich was nominated for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series at the DGA Awards in 1978 and 1979.

Home media
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has released all four seasons of Soap on DVD in Region 1. Season 1 has been released on DVD in Region 2 in Norway (as Forviklingar), Sweden (as Lödder), Spain (as Enredo) and the UK. All four seasons have been released in Australia (Region 4).

Some of the episodes on these DVD collections are edited or replaced with the syndicated versions, shortened by as much as 2 to 3 minutes. Season 1 is also missing the disclaimer at the start of the show. In addition, the DVDs omit the three 90-minute Soap retrospective clips shows, which aired before each season began to remind the audience of what happened in the story during the previous season. The season 1 retrospective "Who Killed Peter Campbell?" and season 3 retrospective "Jessica's Wonderful Life" were released on VHS in the 1990s.

On August 27, 2013, it was announced that Mill Creek Entertainment had acquired the rights to various television series from the Sony Pictures library, including Soap. The company rereleased the first and second seasons on DVD on September 2, 2014, and Soap: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1 on June 2, 2015. Most of the episodes on the Mill Creek sets are the original, uncut ABC versions, and the "On the last episode of Soap..." synopses from the final season have been restored.

title: Soap (TV series)


text:
User talk:Iammaxus

Hi there, and welcome to Wikipedia! I see you are learning your way around, I hope you like it here and decide to stay. If you have any questions there are always plenty of other volunteers ready to answer at the Village pump. Enchanter

You should be aware that nobody owns an article in Wikipedia. Anything is free to be modified. -- Zoe

That was my mistake but that doesnt mean you have to attempt to remove both my articles Iammaxus

 * My attempt to remove your articles has nothing to do with your attempts to claim ownership, and has everything to do with their not being encyclopedic. -- Zoe

Im sure you would not have attempted to remove them if it wasnt for that, read my post on the deletion page --Iammaxus

 * You are surely wrong. -- Zoe

Ok. As for the Bush article, that was created because it was in the requested articles. -- Iammaxus

Thanks for the nice contribution on The Metamorphosis, as described in Talk:The Metamorphosis. I didn't know that. --snoyes 04:55 Mar 28, 2003 (UTC)

Im sure this has been discussed in other places, but i think all these "List of..." articles are really pointless and a waste of time and resources. I just saw a list of fictional bears page. I believe Wikipedia should start adding meta-data to articles so that lists like these could be compiled on the fly if anyone really cared. It just seems like every 4th edit is one of these lists. Iammaxus 01:48 8 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * Spot on! -Chinju

"removed odd umlaut It's called a diaeresis, and it's the proper way to separate the pair of vowels in words like naïve, Noël, coöperate, reïnvent, noöne;, preëxisting, zoölogy, etc. Otherwise they sound like nave, knoll, cooper ate, rain vent, noon or known, prezisting, zoolojy, etc. (It's unfortunate that in Latin-1 one must use an umlaut, because the function is very different especially in hyphenation; almost always a diaeresis marks a hyphenation point, and the mark changes when it's exercised (naïve -> na-ive). I don't know whether Unicode has dealt with this distinction.)

 * I didn't realize that, sorry, but regardless, the spelling was incorrect Iammaxus 19:15, 24 Dec 2003 (UTC)

AfD nomination of Bush regime
I have nominated Bush regime, an article you created, for deletion. I do not feel that this article satisfies Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion, and have explained why at Articles for deletion/Bush regime. Your opinions on the matter are welcome at that same discussion page; also, you are welcome to edit the article to address these concerns. Thank you for your time. h i s  s p a c e   r e s e a r c h 20:49, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free image File:Formlabs logo.png
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Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in section F5 of the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. --B-bot (talk) 17:29, 2 May 2020 (UTC)

title: User talk:Iammaxus