The Hundred Years' War was fought between France and England during the late Middle Ages from 1337 to 1453.

The war lasted 116 years and started because Charles IV of France died in 1328 without an immediate male heir (a son or a younger brother). Edward III of England believed that he then had the right to become the new king of France through his mother.

Since the French did not want a foreign king, Philip VI of France said that he was king because the Salic law prevented French women from ruling or transmitting the right to rule to their sons.  Both countries went to war because the English did not have that rule.

Start
When the war started, France was stronger than England as it was wealthier.  French knights and heavy cavalry also enjoyed a great military reputation in all of Christendom.  Also, France had about 17 million people, but England had only about 4 million people. However, France was a decentralised feudal monarchy in the middle ages and so it was less unified than England.  France had an alliance with Scotland and Bohemia, and England was supported by parts of the Low Countries and by some regions in France loyal to the Plantagenet kings of England.

The English won a major victory at sea in the Battle of Sluys in 1340, which prevented France from invading England. Most of the rest of the war was fought in France. England then won an overwhelming victory at the Battle of Crécy in 1346 against all odds. The use of the English longbow and stakes to counter the French cavalry played a decisive role in that victory.

Truce
From 1348 to 1356, there was very little fighting because the Black Death killed many people in England and even more people in France. Edward, the Black Prince, then won a brilliant victory at the Battle of Poitiers for England. King John II of France was captured during the battle. The English invaded France again but were not able to take any more cities. A truce in 1360 gave England about one quarter of France. The first part of the Hundred Years' War is called the Edwardian War.

Restart
The war started again in 1369. The new king Charles V of France was more successful, with Bertrand du Guesclin as his best knight. France allied with Castile against England and Portugal, and some of the fighting spilled into Spain and Portugal. France won back most of the land that had been given to England, and Bertrand du Guesclin won great French victories at the Battles of Cocherel and of Pontvallain. A peace followed from 1389 to 1415. The second part of the war is called the Caroline War.

Henry V
The most famous part of the war began in 1415, when Henry V of England invaded France and won the infamous Battle of Agincourt, again because of his great longbowmen. Much of the French nobility is said to have been killed in the battle. King Charles VI of France was insane and unable to rule, and nearly all of his sons died young.

The queen of France, Isabeau of Bavaria, married one of her daughters to Henry V and signed the Treaty of Troyes to make Henry V the next king of France. Both Henry V and Charles VI died around the same time in 1422. The English believed that Henry V's son, Henry VI of England, was now the rightful king of France, and many French people agreed.

Charles VII
Charles VI's last son, Charles VII of France, said that he ought to be the new king, but many French people said that he did not deserve to be king because they thought he was a bastard.

The English continued to capture land in France and formed an alliance with Burgundy. They won another major victory at the Battle of Verneuil, but in 1429, Joan of Arc led the French to success at the Siege of Orleans. At the Battle of Patay the same year, French knights, led by La Hire, won a great victory, and the heavy cavalry killed most of the veteran English longbowmen. Joan regained many cities in northeastern France and brought Charles VII to his coronation, but she did not recover Paris.

She was captured by the Burgundians in 1430, convicted of heresy, and burned at the stake in 1431. After her death, the French continued to take back their territory piece by piece. France won diplomatically in 1435 with the Treaty of Arras, which made Burgundy stop being an English ally and make peace with the French. In 1450, France won another great victory at the Battle of Formigny and reconquered Normandy.

End
The war ended in 1453 by a crushing victory of the French at the Battle of Castillon in which nearly 300 cannons, made by Jean Bureau and his brother Gaspard, were used for the first time in a battle. The third and last part of the war is called the Lancastrian War.

References

Bibliography
 Allmand, Christopher, The Hundred Years War: England and France at War, c.1300-c.1450, Cambridge University Press, 1988,
 Braudel, Fernand, The Perspective of the World, vol III of Civilization and Capitalism 1984 (in French 1979).
 Burne, Alfred, The Agincourt War, Wordsworth Military Library
 Seward, Desmond, The Hundred Years War. The English in France 1337-1453, Penguin Books, 1999,
 Sumption, Jonathan, The Hundred Years War I: Trial by Battle, University of Pennsylvania Press, September 1999,
 Sumption, Jonathan, The Hundred Years War II: Trial by Fire, University of Pennsylvania Press, October 2001,
 Dunnigan, James F., and Albert A. Nofi. Medieval Life & The Hundred Years War , online book.
 Wagner, John A. Encyclopedia of the Hundred Years War. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, August 2006.
 Bell, Adrian R. War and the Soldier in the Fourteenth Century, The Boydell Press, November 2004,

Other websites
https://www.britannica.com/event/Hundred-Years-WarSummary, Causes, and effects.
 Jean Froissart, "On The Hundred Years War (1337-1453)" from the Internet Medieval Sourcebook
 The Hundred Years' War (1336-1565) by Dr. Lynn H. Nelson, University of Kansas

Wars involving England
Wars involving France
14th century in England
15th century in England
14th century in France
15th century in France

Hundred Years' War


The Chapel Royal is a department of the monarch's household in the United Kingdom.

Incorrectly, the term is also used for the choirs of these chapels. The correct name for these choirs is the Gentlemen of the Chapel. They are a group of priests and singers who sing church services for the British monarch (king or queen). They are helped by young boy singers called choristers or Children of the Chapel. It is an old tradition.

Today there are two consecrated buildings at St James's Palace, near Buckingham Palace in London served by the Chapel Royal. These chapels do not belong to the diocese (group of churches in a district).  That is why they are called "royal peculiars" ("peculiar" in this sense does not mean "strange" but "special"). Services are held every Sunday except during August and September.  Members of the public are welcome to go to these services.  This is the only time that the public can go into the royal chapels. The choir also sing at special services, including one held every year on 6 January to celebrate Epiphany when offerings of gold, frankincense and myrrh are made on behalf of the queen.

History
The Chapel Royal dates back to the late 13th century.  At that time the priests and choir travelled with the king wherever he went.

In the 17th century the chapel had its own building in Whitehall, which burned down in 1698.  Since 1702 it has been based in St. James's Palace.

In the 16th and 17th centuries the choir was the best choir in England.  William Byrd and Thomas Tallis were both organists there during the reign of Elizabeth I.  Boy choristers from choirs outside London were sometimes made to join the Children of the Chapel if they had beautiful voices. These boys also took part in plays at the king or queen's court.  Charles II liked musical instruments, so the choir were often joined by violins, lutes and viols.

Some very famous composers were organists at the Chapel Royal.  These include: Thomas Tallis (c.1545-85), William Byrd (c.1572-c.1618), John Bull (1591-1613), Orlando Gibbons (1605-25), John Blow (1673/4-1708), Henry Purcell (1682-95), Jeremiah Clarke (1704-1707), William Croft (1708-27), and George Frideric Handel who was organist from (1723-59).  At the time Handel was appointed he was still German, not English, so he was not allowed to be a member.  Instead, he was given a special title: "Composer of Musick of His Majesty's Chappel Royal".

Today the Choir rehearses twice weekly at St James's Palace. The choir consists of six Gentlemen-in-Ordinary who are professional singers, and ten boys who have scholarships to go to the City of London School where they are called Queen's Scholars.

The composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, who was Master of the Queen's Music, worked closely with the Chapel Royal, composing a new carol for them every Christmas.

The head of the Chapel Royal in Scotland is a Dean. Another Chapel Royal once existed in Ireland.

Other websites
 Chapels Royal, from the official site of the British Monarchy
Churches in the United Kingdom
British royalty
Church architecture

Chapel Royal


A direct proof is a way of showing that something is true or false by using logic. This is done by combining known facts. No assumptions are made when doing a direct proof. Lemmas and theorems are used to prove direct proofs.

A statement that can be proved with a direct proof is usually in the form "if p, then q." Here, p and q are facts. To solve a statement like this, every case where p is true must be considered.

For example, this statement can be solved with a direct proof: "if x and y are even integers, then x+y is an even integer." Since x and y are even, then we can say that x=2m and y=2n, where m and n are integers. (This is a lemma.) We can also say that m+n is an integer, because adding two integers gives an integer. (This is another lemma.) Then we can say that x+y=2m+2n=2(m+n). Since m+n is an integer, we can say 2(m+n)=2k, where k=m+n. We know that any integer times 2 is an even integer. We can then say that any two even integers added together give an even integer.

Direct proofs are used in mathematics, logic, and computer science. The opposite of a direct proof is an indirect proof (also called a proof by contradiction.)

Related pages
 Mathematical proof
 Proof by contradiction
 Proof by induction

Mathematics
Logic

Direct proof


Lawrence Winters (né Lawrence Lafayette Whisonant; 15 November 1915 King's Creek, South Carolina – 24 September 1965 Hamburg, Germany), bass-baritone, was an American opera singer who had an active international career from the mid-1940s through the mid-1960s. He was part of the first generation of black opera singers to achieve wide success and is viewed as part of an instrumental group of performers who helped break down the barriers of racial prejudice in the opera world. He began his opera career at the New York City Opera in 1946 during a time when the NYCO was one of the few American opera companies hiring black artists. He sang a varied repertoire there through 1955, after which his career was largely based in Europe until his death at the age of fifty.

Biography
Winters began to study singing privately in Salisbury, North Carolina, before entering Howard University in 1941, where he studied singing with Todd Duncan. After graduating from Howard in 1944 with a bachelor's degree in Music, he joined the Eva Jessye Choir. Shortly thereafter he sang the lead role in a concert production of Clarence Cameron White's Ouanga. Following this he became musical director in the Special Services Division at Fort Huachuca as a member of the U.S. Armed Forces.

After the end of World War II, Winters moved to New York City in 1946 where he was almost immediately engaged for the Broadway musical revue Call Me Mister, portraying a variety of smaller roles. His official recital debut followed in 1947 at Town Hall in New York. Then, in 1948, he debuted as an opera singer in the New York City Opera (NYCO) in Verdi's Aida as Amonasro. He portrayed several more roles with the NYCO over the next seven years, including Dessalines in William Grant Still's Troubled Island (1949), the four villains in Jacques Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann (1949), Escamillo in Georges Bizet's Carmen (1949), Tchelio in Sergei Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges (1950), Tonio in Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci (1950), Timur in Giacomo Puccini's Turandot (1950), Alfio in Cavalleria rusticana (1950), The Messenger in the world premiere of David Tamkin's The Dybbuk (1951), the title role in Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto (1951), King Balthazar in Gian Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors (1952), Colline in Puccini's La bohème (1952), the title role in Béla Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle (1953), Count Almaviva in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro (1954), Joe in Show Boat (1954), Germont in Verdi's La Traviata (1955), and Diomede in the New York premiere of William Walton's Troilus and Cressida (1955) among others.

While working with the NYCO, Winters also toured as a concert artist and performed in operas with companies in Europe. In 1949 he came to Europe for the first time, drawing particular acclaim for a recital given in Berlin. He also gave concert tours in Central America and in the United States Virgin Islands. In 1950 he joined the roster of principal baritones at the Royal Swedish Opera where he sang a number of roles for two seasons. In 1951, he sang the role of Porgy opposite Camilla Williams's Bess in the most complete recording of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess made up to that time. He made his debut with the Hamburg State Opera in 1952 reprising his role in Aida, returning there frequently through 1957. He made his first appearance with the New York Philharmonic singing excerpts from operas in concert in 1957.

In 1957 Winters became a principal baritone on the roster at the Deutsche Oper Berlin where he spent most of his time performing in operas through 1961. He also sang in a number of roles with the Vienna State Opera and the San Francisco Opera during these years, including the title role in Carl Orff's Die Kluge, Amonasro, Fritz Kothner in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Tonio, and Wolfram in Tannhäuser. In February 1960 he returned to Broadway as Tyree Tucker in Ketti Frings's play The Long Dream. One of the few non-singing roles he portrayed during his career, Winters garnered a Tony Award nomination for his performance. He returned for one last performance at the NYCO in 1962, portraying the role of Porgy. He returned to the Hamburg State Opera in 1961, working as a principal baritone with the company until his untimely death at the age of 50 in 1965. Winters is buried at the Ohlsdorf Cemetery.

Family
Lawrence Whisonant married Aida C. Bearden (maiden; 1917–2007) on June 9, 1943, in Manhattan.  She was a first cousin of artist Romare Bearden, who was the son of journalist and civic activist Bessye J. Bearden.  Aida's mother was Anna Elizabeth Miller (maiden; 1878–1972).  By way of her mother's first marriage to the Rev. Primus Priss Alston (1851–1910), Aida was a half-sister of the artist Charles Alston.

References

General references

 The Music of Black Americans: A History (3rd ed.), by Eileen Southern, W. W. Norton & Company (1997), p. 470; ;
 "Winters, Lawrence" (biography; in German), Operissimo concertissimo (retrieved February 27, 2018)

Citations

1915 births
1965 deaths
20th-century African-American male singers
African-American male opera singers
Operatic bass-baritones
Howard University alumni
Singers from Hamburg
American expatriates in Germany
Burials at the Ohlsdorf Cemetery
American military personnel of World War II
20th-century American male opera singers

Lawrence Winters


The 878th Engineer Battalion is a subordinate unit of the 648th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade (MEB) of the Georgia Army National Guard and is headquartered in Augusta, GA.

Units
The 878th Engineer Battalion is located in east central Georgia and stretches from Augusta south to Fort Stewart.

Headquarters & Forward Support Company - Augusta, GA

810th Engineer Company (Sapper)(-) - Swainsboro, GA

848th Engineer Company - Douglasville, GA

877th Engineer Company (Heavy) - Augusta, GA

177th Engineer Support Company - Atlanta, GA

863rd & 874th Engineer Utilities Detachment (EUD) - Toccoa, Georgia

 Detachment 1 - Hartwell, GA

175th Engineer Platoon - Fort Stewart, GA

Deployments & Mobilizations
Over the years, the 878th Engineer Battalion has assisted civic organizations throughout the state of Georgia by constructing baseball fields, softball fields, football fields, parks, lakes and other projects.

During the floods of 1994, elements of the 878th were assigned to flood ravaged areas of the state to reconstruct and repair roads, culverts and dams which were damaged or destroyed.

The 878th Engineer Battalion has also participated in numerous overseas deployments which include:

Operation Iraqi Freedom
On 15 March 2003 the 878th Engineer Battalion was federally mobilized in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The battalion was initially assigned to Tallil Airbase outside the city of An Nasiriyah, Iraq under the command of the 130th Engineer Brigade.

While at Tallil Airbase, the battalion maintained approximately 72 kilometers of unimproved road on Main Supply Route (MSR) Tampa. The battalion hauled, graded and compacted over 59,500 cubic yards of fill; filled, graded and compacted over 15 km of sub-base; and applied 2 KM of Double Surface Treatment on MSR Tampa. The battalion also constructed and placed 6 guard towers; cleared fields of fire; and constructed earth berms to improve survivability at Military Police relay points along MSR Tampa.

The battalion conducted the master plan survey and design of Tallil Airbase; designed and installed the low voltage power grid for Camp Sapper II; constructed a 1 mile, 1/2 mile and 1/4 mile running track; and constructed a soccer field and eight sea-hut plywood buildings.

In addition, the battalion renovated the 16 Shubat Primary School in An Nasiriyah, Iraq which serves over 200 students.

The battalion also designed a water distribution system for the village of Abu Suwaich, Iraq and installed a lift pump to improve the quality of life for the local villagers.

Upon completion of its mission at Tallil Airbase, Iraq the battalion was moved to Al Taji Military Base, north of Baghdad, Iraq and served under the commands of the 1st Armored Division and the 1st Cavalry Division.

While at the Al Taji Military Base, the battalion operated construction supply and contractor entry points; constructed entry lanes and improved the primary entry point into the base.

The battalion also designed and installed 25 low voltage power grids; calculated the electrical demand load for the entire Al Taji Military Base footprint for the prime power design team from the US Army Corps of Engineers; and identified and recorded grid locations for the black water treatment/removal system.

Additionally, the battalion installed, repaired or renovated approximately 7 1/2 miles of 4 inch and below galvanized and PVC water distribution lines complete with main shut off valves and distribution gate valves. Over 300 emergency repairs were made to existing water distribution lines.

The battalion conducted the master plan survey and design of Al Taji Military Base which included over 180 building assessments completed and drawn using Computer Aided Design (CAD).

Over 524,000 cubic meters of debris was removed; over 1,178,000 square meters were cleared, grubbed and graded; over 130,000 cubic meters of gravel was hauled, spread and compacted; and the battalion contracted for over 31 million dollars worth of building renovations while at Al Taji Military Base.

The battalion's average strength during the one-year deployment to Iraq was 479 soldiers and the battalion did not receive any combat casualties.  The battalion redeployed on 3 June 2004 and demobilized at Ft Stewart, GA after serving approximately 15 months on active duty.

References

External links
 Official site
 Bio from Global Security

Engineer battalions of the United States Army

878th Engineer Battalion (United States)


Dirk V (1052 – June 17, 1091) was Count of Holland (called Frisia at that time) from 1061 to 1091.

Dirk V succeeded his father, Floris I, under the guardianship of his mother, Gertrude of Saxony. William I, Bishop of Utrecht, took advantage of the young ruler, occupying territory that he had claimed in Holland. William's claim was confirmed by two charters of the emperor Henry IV. (April 30, 1064 and May 2, 1064). Dirk only retained possession of lands west of the Vlie and around the mouths of the Rhine.

Gertrude and her son withdrew to the islands of Frisia (Zeeland), leaving William to occupy the disputed lands. In 1063 Gertrude married Robert of Flanders (Robert the Frisian), the second son of Baldwin V of Flanders. Baldwin gave Dirk the Imperial Flanders as an appanage - including the islands of Frisia west of the Frisian Scheldt river. Robert then became his stepson's guardian, gaining control of the islands east of the Scheldt. Robert managed to conquer Kennemerland (north of North Holland), but held it only briefly.

Robert therefore, in both his own right and that of Dirk, was now the ruler of all Frisia. The death of his brother Baldwin VI in 1070 led to civil war in Flanders. The claim of Robert to the guardianship of his nephew Arnulf III was disputed by Richilde, Countess of Mons and Hainaut, the widow of Baldwin VI. The issue was decided by Robert's victory at Cassel (February 1071), where Arnulf was killed and Richilda taken prisoner.

The war in Holland and Frisia became part of a large conflict from 1075 onwards. The pope had excommunicated the emperor. The bishop of Utrecht supported the emperor, while the count of Holland supported Pope Gregory VII and anti-king Rudolphe.

While Robert was thus engaged in Flanders, an effort was made to recover the County of Holland and other lands now held by William of Utrecht. The people rose in revolt, but were brought back under Episcopal rule by an army under the command of Godfrey IV (the Hunchback), duke of Lower Lorraine, by order of the emperor (Henry IV). In 1076, at the request of William, Duke Godfrey visited his domains in the Frisian borderland. At Delft, the duke was murdered by revolutionaries (February 26, 1076). William of Utrecht died on April 17, 1076.

Dirk V, now managing his own estate, was quick to take advantage of this favorable juncture. With the help of Robert (his stepfather) he raised an army and besieged Conrad of Utrecht, the successor of William, in the castle of Ysselmonde, taking him prisoner. The bishop purchased his liberty by surrendering all claim to the disputed lands.

Dirk V was succeeded by Floris II upon his death in 1091. He was buried in the Egmond Abbey.

Sources

External links
The History of the Lowlands

1052 births
1091 deaths
Counts of Holland
People from Vlaardingen
Medieval child monarchs
Burials at Egmond Abbey
11th-century people from the Holy Roman Empire
11th-century counts in Europe

Dirk V, Count of Holland


The Nintendo World Store is a specialty store that sells Nintendo video games and merchandise. It is located at 10 Rockefeller Center in New York City. It is owned by Nintendo. It opened on May 14, 2005, replacing the Pokémon Center that was there before.

The store is a two-story building. The first floor has Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, and Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 sections. The second floor has a section with Wii consoles available for anyone to play. In addition, there are also Nintendo 3DS consoles available to play in the store. Some of the things that are sold there are exclusive to the store, meaning that they can only be bought there.

The store holds special tournaments and shows for new games. Early copies of the game and prizes are given out to the winners.

References

Other websites

Official website

Buildings and structures in Manhattan
Nintendo
2005 establishments in New York (state)

Nintendo World Store


Okróshka is a cold soup from Russia. It is also found in Ukraine and Belarus. The name is probably from "kroshit'" (крошить), which means to crumble into small pieces.

The classic soup is a mix of mostly raw vegetables (like cucumbers and spring onions), boiled potatoes, eggs, and a cooked meat such as beef, veal, sausages, or ham with kvass.  Kvass is a mildly alcoholic beverage made from fermented black or rye bread. Okroshka is usually served with sour cream. Later versions use light or diluted kefir, vinegar, mineral water, or even beer instead of kvass.

The ingredients are diced and then mixed with kvass just before eating. The ratio of chopped food to kvass is similar to that of cereal to milk.  This lets the vegetables to keep their texture. Even though the ingredients are similar to those in a Russian salad, the taste of okroshka is quite different.

Okroshka is mostly served in summer.  This is because the soup adds the taste of kvass and the lightness of a salad. Salt and sugar can be added according to taste.

Okroshka is always served cold. Sometimes ice cubes are added to keep the soup cold in hot weather.

References

Soups

Okroshka


Max Factor is a line of cosmetics from Coty It was founded in 1909 as Max Factor & Company by Maksymilian Faktorowicz.

Max Factor specialized in movie make-up. Until its 1973 sale for US$500 million (approximately $ billion in 2017 dollars), Max Factor & Company was owned by several generations of the family, becoming an international company during that time. Procter & Gamble purchased it in 1991.

History

Max Factor was born Maksymilian Faktorowicz in Congress Poland, and later moved to Moscow where he was employed as a wig maker. After immigrating to the United States in 1904, Factor moved his family and business to Los Angeles, California, seeing an opportunity to provide made-to-order wigs and theatrical make-up to the growing film industry. Besides selling his own make-up products he soon became the West Coast distributor of both Leichner and Minor, two leading theatrical make-up manufacturers.

In the early years of movie-making, greasepaint in stick form, although the accepted make-up for use on the stage, could not be applied thinly enough, nor did the colors work satisfactorily on the screen. Factor began experimenting with various compounds in an effort to develop a suitable make-up for the new film medium. By 1914 he had perfected his first cosmetic product. With this major achievement to his credit, Max Factor became the authority on cosmetics in film-making. Soon movie stars were eager to sample his "flexible greasepaint".

In the early years of the business Factor personally applied his products to actors and actresses. He developed a reputation for being able to customize makeup to present actors and actresses in the best possible light on screen. Among his most notable clients were Mabel Normand, Ben Turpin, Gloria Swanson, Mary Pickford, Pola Negri, Jean Harlow, Claudette Colbert, Bette Davis, Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Lucille Ball and Judy Garland. As a result, virtually all of the major movie actresses were regular customers of the Max Factor beauty salon, located near Hollywood Boulevard.

In 1918 Max Factor completed development of his "Color Harmony" range of face powder which, due to its wide range of shades, allowed him to customize and provide more consistent make-up for each individual actor or actress. He created many appearances for these actresses, such as Clara Bow's heart-shaped/pierrot lips. Years later, he exaggerated Joan Crawford's naturally full lips to distinguish her from the many would-be stars copying the Clara Bow look he created. He also created shades specifically for them: Platinum (for Jean Harlow), Special Medium (for Joan Crawford), Dark (for Claudette Colbert) and Light Egyptian (for Lena Horne). For Rudolph Valentino he created makeup which complemented his complexion, and masked the darkness of his skin on screen.

In 1920 Max Factor gave in to his son Frank's suggestion and officially began referring to his products as "make-up" based on the verb phrase "to make up" (one's face). Until then the term "cosmetics" had been used; the term "make-up" was considered vulgar, to be used only by people in the theater or of dubious reputation and not something to be used in polite society.

In 1922 while on holiday in Europe with his wife, Factor visited the headquarters of Leichner in Germany. He was by then the biggest retailer of their theatrical stick greasepaint, yet he was snubbed and kept waiting at reception. Upset at this treatment he left and immediately cabled his sons to begin selling his own brand of greasepaint. Until then Factor had been making his own greasepaint for use on his clients, but had made no attempt to market it while he was representing other brands. Now he concentrated on his own products, which he offered in a collapsible tube, instead of in the stick form used by other producers. His tube greasepaint was not only more hygienic but also could be applied more thinly and evenly. Soon Max Factor's version was the leading brand.

By the 1920s his sons Davis and Frank were heavily involved in the business, with Davis the general manager and Frank assisting his father in the development of new products.

In 1925 the company received its biggest order to date when it had to complete a rush order to supply 600 gallons of light olive makeup to the set of the movie Ben-Hur to ensure that the skin color of the extras used in filming undertaken in America would match that of the darker skinned Italian extras in the scenes filmed in Italy.

In 1926 for the film Mare Nostrum Max and Frank Factor developed the first waterproof theatrical make-up.

By the 1920s Max Factor was becoming known outside of the film community, which led to the company in the early 1930s developing an in-house public relations department.

National distribution
While Max Factor was perfectly happy for the company to remain a specialized supplier of products to the film community, his children were convinced that they could grow the company into a much larger enterprise. National distribution began in 1927 when Sales Builders, an established distribution company, obtained the rights to advertise, distribute and sell Factor's products.

Due to his strong connection with the film industry Max Factor was able to use celebrity endorsements in advertising its products. In return for a nominal payment of US$1 to the actress the advertising would also promote the star's latest film.

Development of Panchromatic
The introduction of sound-on-film led to the replacement of the old noisy carbon arc lights by tungsten lights, which were much hotter and created a softer light. At the same time the orthochromatic film, which until that time had been used by the industry, was replaced by super-sensitive faster Panchromatic film which noticeably darkened skin colors. These developments required six months of intensive development to create make-up compatible with the new environment. Because they had been designed for black and white film the existing products were unsuitable for everyday use. This new Panchromatic make-up was trademarked in October 1929.

Development of Pan-Cake
The development of Technicolor film required the company to develop a new line of products as its existing Panchromatic make-up left a slight sheen on the skin which reflected surrounding colors. As a result of how bad they looked in color many actors and actresses refused to appear in color films. Because Max Factor was recovering from being hit by a delivery van at the time, Frank Factor took the lead in the two years it took to develop a suitable make-up, initially called the "T-D" and then renamed the "Pan-Cake" series. It was sold in a solid cake form and applied with a damp sponge which offered the advantage of concealing skin imperfections under a transparent matte finish. Its first appearance was in the film Vogues of 1938. The Pan-Cake make-up was made for on-screen looks but was wearable for day-to-day looks.

It was an immediate hit and its advantages led to women stealing it from the film sets and using it privately. Its only disadvantage for everyday use was that it could not be used at night as it made the skin too dark under all but the powerful lights used in film studios. While Max Factor wanted to reserve the product for film use, Frank Factor was open to the commercial possibilities and began developing lighter shades. At the time the company was only able to produce enough to meet studio demand, which delayed commercial release until production could be increased. The company used the release of Vogues of 1938 in August 1937 and five months later The Goldwyn Follies, the second film to use the make-up, to commercially release Pan-Cake to the public, backed by a color-based national advertising campaign. It immediately became the fastest and largest selling single make-up item to date, as well as the standard make-up used in all Technicolor films.

Beauty micrometer

In the 1930s, Factor helped to develop a mask-like device to measure the contours of subjects' faces. He called it the "Beauty Micrometer". Its purpose was to detect even barely-visible structural flaws, that might be magnified and more-noticeable on camera. A technician could then apply makeup to mask the problem.

Max Factor's death
After Max Factor's death in 1938, Frank Factor took the name Max Factor, Jr., and expanded the still private cosmetics firm, along with members of the immediate family including Sidney Factor, Louis Factor, Davis Factor and Max Firestein.

In 1939 Max Factor, Jr., began development of a smear-proof lipstick which would also both be non-irritating and not change color. A kissing machine was constructed to test the formula's resistance to fading. The result was released in 1940 as "Tru-Color" in six shades of red.

During World War II, Max Factor developed make-up shades for use by the US Marine Corps in camouflaging faces.

In 1947 after 26 months of development by Max Factor, Jr., the company released "Pan-Stik", a cream make-up supplied in stick form and designed to take advantage of the latest changes in studio lighting and film stock. This product was quick to apply as well as non-greasy. It was released to the public in 1948 and was immediately commercially successful.

In 1951 the company expanded their range to offer a range of male shampoo, aftershave lotion, deodorant and shaving foams.

The introduction of color television lead the company to develop Max Factor Color TV Make-up, which became the standard for use in color television.

In 1955 the company released "Electrique", its first fragrance and three years later "Primitif".

In 1956 Max Factor inc. purchased Sales Builders, which had until that time handled all of their national sales and distribution. This led to a complete reorganization of the company's American markets, advertising, sales and distribution division.

By the 1960s, Max Factor, Jr., Max Firestein, and grandsons Donald Factor, Alfred Jay Firestein and Chester Lee Firestein were still involved. Under his leadership, in 1965 Max Factor, Jr., established "Geminesse", a line of makeup, skincare and perfume products that were sold only by uniformed clerks in department stores. The packaging and products were different; many of the containers were designed to resemble Greek sculptures.

The early 1960s saw the company become a public company and list its Class A stock on the New York Stock Exchange. This period also saw the third generation of the Factor family, Barbara Factor, Davis Jr. Factor, Donald Factor, Alfred Firestein, and Chester Firestein rising to senior positions within the company. His place of work is now a museum located in downtown Hollywood.

Merger with Norton Simon
By the early 1970s Sidney Factor had retired from the board, and Barbara Factor, Donald Factor and Davis Jr. Factor from the third generation had also left the company to pursue other interests. As a result, there was decreasing family involvement. Davis Factor was still board chairman while Alfred Jay Firestein was president and CEO when in 1973 the company agreed to merge with Norton Simon. This event was marred weeks later by the sudden death of Alfred Jay Firestein at the age of 48. Chester Firestein succeeded him as president of the company, only to resign three years later in 1976, to devote his time to his personal interests; he was replaced by a non-family member. His departure, together with that of Max Factor, Jr., in the same year, meant that there were now no members of Max Factor's immediate family working for the company.

During Chester Firestein's time in charge the company expanded overseas and launched many new products including Musk For Men, UltaLucent Waterproof make-up and, in 1975, the successful Halston line of fragrances, which quickly became the second best-selling designer fragrance in the world, trailing Chanel No. 5.

It was under Norton Simon that Max Factor launched "Maxi", a line of makeup aimed at a younger, more savvy consumer. Maxi sold products aimed at adolescent tastes, such as lip gloss, color rubs and "mood" lipsticks. Maxi was priced to compete with market leaders Bonne Bell and CoverGirl. Neither Maxi, Geminesse, nor Max Factor were able to lift the company's declining profits and market share.

In 1983 Norton Simon was taken over by Esmark, by which time no one in the Factor family was involved in the company's day-to-day operations. A year later Esmark merged with Beatrice Foods, which lumped Max Factor into their Playtex beauty division and moved the Max Factor headquarters from Los Angeles to Stamford, Connecticut. In 1986, Ronald Perelman of Revlon bought the Playtex beauty division for $500 million. In 1991, Revlon sold Max Factor to Procter & Gamble for $1.5 billion.

By the first quarter of 2010, Procter & Gamble had discontinued Max Factor in the United States, instead focusing its marketing efforts on the more successful CoverGirl cosmetics line. Max Factor continued to be marketed overseas.

In June, 2015, Max Factor was one of a number of beauty brands purchased from P&G by Coty for $12 billion. Coty relaunched Max Factor in 2018.

Innovations
Max Factor is credited with many cosmetic innovations, among which are:
 1914: Released the first cosmetic made specifically for motion pictures, a thinner greasepaint made in 12 shades. It was in cream form and packaged in jars, as opposed to the thicker stick grease paints used for theater.
 1917: Released "Supreme Liquid Whitener" which provided the means of obtaining an alabaster smoothness on the neck, shoulder, arms and hands.
 1918: Released "Color Harmony", a range of face powder which due to its wide range of shades allowed the customizing of consistent make-up for an individual actor or actress.
 1925: Released "Max Factor's Supreme Nail Polish," a metal pot of beige-colored powder that was sprinkled on the nails and buffed with a chamois buffer, to give nails shine and some tint.
 1927: Released "Society Nail Tint," a small porcelain pot containing rose colored cream. Applied to the nail and buffed, it gave a natural rose color. "Society Nail White" was also released. This was a tube of chalky white liquid that was applied under nail tips and left to dry. The end result resembled the modern French manicure.
 1928: Developed cosmetics specifically for use in black-and-white films. Max Sr. was awarded an Oscar award for this innovation.
 1930: Invented lip gloss.
 1932: Developed a line of "Television Make-up," specifically to meet the needs of television.
 1934: Released Liquid Nail Enamel, forerunner of today's nail polishes.
 1935: Opened the Max Factor Make-up Salon in Los Angeles.
 1935: Released "Pan-Cake", forerunner of modern cake makeup, originally developed for color films.
 1940: Released "Tru-Color" lipstick, the first smear-proof lipstick. Created the "Hunter's Bow" shape that is popular among the pin-up.
 1948: Released "Pan-Stik" makeup.
 1954: Released "Erace", the original concealer, and developed a line of cosmetics specifically for color television's needs. (This line remained the standard for TV cosmetics until the arrival of HDTV.)
 1971: Released the first "waterproof" make-up.
 1980: Japanese subsidiary acquired an antioxidant derived from sake wine, called Pitera. Subsequently, launched Max Factor Secret Key with Pitera, which would later be renamed SK-II.
 1988: Launched the world's first clear colorless mascara
 2000: Launched the first 12-hour long-lasting non-transfer lip color, "Lipfinity" lipstick
 2008: Launched "False Lash Effect mascara"

References

Further reading

External links

 Max Factor Website

 Max Factor Museum
 Max Factor Makeup Artist Jan Thomas - video interview
 Former Max Factor Creative Director Jasun Martz

1909 establishments in California
1991 mergers and acquisitions
2015 mergers and acquisitions
American companies established in 1909
Cosmetics companies of the United States
Coty Inc.
Former Procter & Gamble brands
History of cosmetics
Culture of Hollywood, Los Angeles
Manufacturing companies based in Los Angeles
Manufacturing companies established in 1909

Max Factor


Jeremy James Anthony Gibson-Beadle MBE (12 April 1948 – 30 January 2008) was an English television presenter, radio presenter, writer and producer. From the 1980s to the late 1990s he was a regular face on British television, and in two years appeared in 50 weeks of the year.

Early life
Beadle was born in Hackney, east London, on 12 April 1948. His father, a Fleet Street sports reporter, abandoned Jeremy's mother, Marji (9 July 1921 – 4 July 2004), when he learned that she was pregnant. Before Jeremy reached the age of two he was frequently hospitalised and had undergone surgery for Poland syndrome, a rare disorder that stunted growth in his right hand.

His mother worked as a secretary to help pay to raise him, including a stint for the boxing promoter Jack Solomons. Beadle did not enjoy school and was frequently in trouble. He was eventually expelled from his secondary school, Orpington County Secondary Boys' School. A teacher remarked, "Beadle, you waffle like a champion but know nothing."

After his expulsion, he travelled and worked in Europe. He had a number of jobs, at one point taking photographs of topless models, and worked as a sky-diving instructor, lavatory attendant and tour guide. He briefly worked as a tour guide at the York dungeons. He often said that he gave the best London tour because he realised that what people wanted was stories of blood, sex and death.

Beadle was chosen in 1970 by Tony Elliott, the founder of Time Out, to set up a Manchester edition of the magazine, a venture that was short-lived, though he subsequently maintained a connection with the publication in London. In 1972, North West Arts Association asked him to organise the Bickershaw Festival, and he worked on further musical events over the next couple of years.

In 1973, as an early member of the Campaign for Real Ale, he was elected to their National Executive and secured the campaign's first television or radio coverage in a one-hour programme on BBC Radio London, which he hosted. During this period his talent for practical jokes became evident, although occasionally this rebounded on him, such as when colleagues left him naked in front of 400 women arriving for their shift. He then started writing for radio and television, going on to provide material for stars such as Sir Terry Wogan, Michael Aspel, Noel Edmonds and Kenny Everett.

Later public life

Radio and television
Beadle began supplying odd facts and questions to radio and television game shows, such as Celebrity Squares. He sent a number of questions to Bob Monkhouse, the host, without the answers and Monkhouse was so impressed he rang Jeremy to ask him to work on the show. His presenting style on the phone-in programme Nightline on LBC in London, which he hosted between September 1979 and 22 June 1980 (when he was sacked), led to a cult following. He introduced himself as Jeremy James Anthony Gibson-Beadlebum: "Jeremy James Anthony Gibson-Beadle is my name and a bum is what I am," he explained. He teased his producer as 'Butch' Bavin Cook (b. 12 June).

On 31 May 1980, he began co-presenting the children's television show Fun Factory with his LBC co-star Thérèse Birch, Kevin Day and Billy Boyle. On Capital Radio Beadle presented Beadle's Odditarium, a music show concentrating on strange, bizarre and rare recordings all taken from the archives of producer Phil Swern. From 5 October 1986, Beadle presented Beadle's Brainbusters on the independent local radio network, with questions written by Beadle and Paul Donnelley. He also became renowned for his off-air pranks and intellectually challenging quizzes. He wrote, devised and presented many television pilots for the highly successful game show company Action Time, then run by Jeremy Fox, the son of Paul Fox. Beadle wrote and presented The Deceivers, a BBC2 television series recounting the history of swindlers and hoaxers. The success of this led to using the same format for Eureka, which told the background behind everyday inventions. He hosted a US game show pilot in 1985 called Family Follies, which did not make it to a full series.

Beadle then went on to become nationally famous as one of the presenters of LWT's Game for a Laugh, the first programme made by ITV to beat the BBC's shows in the Saturday night ratings battle. This was followed by a hidden-camera style practical joke show, Beadle's About (1986–1996), which became the world's longest continuously running hidden-camera show.

From 1990 to 1997, Beadle presented You've Been Framed!, a family show featuring humorous clips from viewers' home video recordings. An offshoot of this was Beadle's Hotshots, featuring viewers' intentionally funny parodies and sketches, some of which were re-edited and even reshot by a young Edgar Wright in his first industry job; other sketches and scripts were produced by writer/director Chris Barfoot. In total, Beadle hit the UK Number One ratings slot four times.

In 1995, reflecting his days on LBC, he presented a relatively short-lived but popular Sunday late-evening show on the newly launched Talk Radio UK. As well as his considerable television output as writer, presenter and producer, he appeared in numerous pantomimes and acted as ringmaster for many circuses, notably for Gerry Cottle's. He also worked as a consultant for many television companies, wrote books, and presented quizzes both commercially and for charity. As a radio presenter, he chaired a brief revival of Animal, Vegetable, Mineral? on BBC Radio 4. In 2007 he started to work on the Bickershaw Festival 40th Anniversary Boxed set project for 2012 in conjunction with Chris Hewitt, who had worked with Beadle on the original event in 1972. (Chris Hewitt continued to work on the project after Beadle died.)

Beadle was living in Highgate, north London, when he was the subject of This Is Your Life on 26 January 1994. He was surprised by Michael Aspel during a school carol concert at a church in nearby Hampstead on 8 December 1993.

Writing
Beadle wanted to be the British Robert L. Ripley. A love of trivia was born when his mother bought him The Guinness Book of Records for Christmas when he was a small boy. This led him to write Today's the Day (published in the UK by WH Allen in 1979 and by Signet in the United States two years later), researched in his own library of 27,000 volumes. The book recounts – for any given day of the year – around half a dozen notable births, deaths or events that occurred on that date, linked to odd or amusing facts. Beadle briefly performed a similar duty on television's TV-am, informing each morning's viewers of prominent events on this date in past years. The scripts were written by Beadle and Paul Donnelley. The format was briefly revived when GMTV replaced TV-am as the ITV breakfast franchise in 1993.

For more than two years Beadle wrote a daily cartoon series of Today's the Day for the Daily Express. He worked alongside Irving Wallace and his son David Wallechinsky and daughter Amy Wallace as the biggest contributor to the sex and death chapters of The Book of Lists and was the London editor of The People's Almanac 2. The Wallaces' book The Intimate Sex Lives of Famous People (Dell (US) Hutchinson (UK), 1981) was researched in part in Beadle's library, which contained an extensive collection of erotic literature.

In autumn 2007, three new books by Beadle were published: Firsts, Lasts & Onlys: Crime, Firsts, Lasts & Onlys: Military (both co-authored by the celebrated writer Ian Harrison) and Beadle's Miscellany, the first hundred quizzes from his weekly puzzlers in The Independent. He guest-edited the January 2008 edition of True Detective, which featured contributions from his friends who are crime experts including James Morton, Paul Donnelley, Andrew Rose and Matthew Spicer.

In 1995, Beadle wrote the foreword to Who Was Jack the Ripper?, a collection of theories and observations about the Victorian serial murderer, published by the veteran true crime book dealer Camille Woolf. It included contributions from experts such as Martin Fido, Colin Wilson, Donald Rumbelow, Colin Kendell and Richard Whittington-Egan. In his foreword, Beadle coined the collective noun to describe those interested in the subject "a speculation of Ripperologists".

General knowledge
Renowned for his general knowledge, Beadle was host of Win Beadle's Money', based on the US format Win Ben Stein's Money. Beadle lost his money only eight times in 52 shows. He also wrote a quiz for The Independent every Saturday. He occasionally appeared as a panellist on Radio 4's Quote... Unquote and in dictionary corner for Channel 4's Countdown.

Beadle was also a winner on the game show 19 Keys, presented by Richard Bacon, defeating Nick Weir, Nicholas Parsons and fellow Game for a Laugh presenter Henry Kelly.

Charity work
An estimate of Beadle's total charitable fund raising is around £100 million.

In the 2001 New Year Honours Beadle was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his services to charity. He was a keen supporter of the charity Children With Leukaemia, a disease he suffered from himself in 2005. He helped raise money for charities with Plastermind, his "outrageous quiz for those who don't like quizzes", as well as a school video venture called CamClass.

Beadle was a patron of The Philip Green Memorial Trust, and he hosted an annual quiz party to raise money for disadvantaged children. Beadle was also the patron of Reach, an organisation providing support and advice for children in the UK with hand or arm deficiencies, and their parents.

He was a Freemason, initiated in the Westminster City Council Lodge No. 2882, under the United Grand Lodge of England. Although he did not join until after his television heyday was over, he quickly became involved with all aspects of English Freemasonry, and particularly its charitable work, often using his celebrity status to assist in raising funds for Masonic charities.

Health and disability
Beadle had Poland syndrome, which manifested itself as a disproportionately small right hand. In 2004, Beadle was diagnosed with kidney cancer and underwent a successful operation to remove it. In April 2005, a blood test during a routine post-op medical check-up led to his being diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. Beadle was successfully treated for this, though two serious illnesses in such a short space of time were detrimental to his general state of health.

Death

On 25 January 2008, it was reported that Beadle had been admitted to a north London hospital, and was subsequently placed in a critical care unit with pneumonia. He died on 30 January 2008 at the age of 59. His body was subsequently cremated at Marylebone Crematorium on 14 February 2008, and the ashes were buried in a grave at Highgate Cemetery, the distinctive headstone reflecting his bibliophile inclination with a stack of sculpted stone tomes, with the inscription: Writer, Presenter, Curator of Oddities.

Tributes
On 2 February 2008, ITV dedicated that day's episode of You've Been Framed to Beadle and promoted a tribute webpage to him over the show's credits. The channel's official tribute to Jeremy Beadle was broadcast on 4 February 2008 where various celebrity friends including Alan Sugar paid tribute.

A further tribute was aired on Friday 16 May, An Audience Without Jeremy Beadle, hosted by Chris Tarrant and with contributions from Alan Sugar, Henry Kelly, Ken Campbell and Anneka Rice.

His obituary in The Daily Telegraph claimed that he "was the most avidly watched presenter on television". On 15 August 2010 he was the subject of an ITV documentary, The Unforgettable Jeremy Beadle.

TV appearances April Fool (1980) (writer, with Clive Doig)Fun Factory (1980)The Deceivers (1981)Eureka (1981)Game for a Laugh (1981–85)Definition (1983–85)The Saturday Show (1983)TV-AM (1984)People Do the Funniest Things (1987)Beadle's About (1986–96)Chain Letters (1987)Beadle's Box of Tricks (1989)Born Lucky (1989)It's Beadle! (1990)You've Been Framed! (1990–97)Beadle's Daredevils (1993)GMTV (1993)A Fistful of Fingers (1994) Beadle's Hotshots (1994, 1996–97)Is This Your Life? (1995, lengthy interview with Andrew Neil for Channel 4, made by Open Media)Sooty and Co (1995)This Morning with Richard and Judy (1996)Win Beadle's Money (1999)Celebrity Sleepover (2001)Ant & Dec's Banged Up With Beadle (2002 – part of Saturday Night Takeaway)
Comic Relief 2003: The Big Hair Do: University ChallengeCelebrity Mastermind (2005, Winner. Specialist subject London Capital Murders 1900–1940)Celebrity Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (2005) Partner Sir Alan SugarThe Trial of Jack the Ripper (2005) WinnerCountdown (2006)The All Star Talent Show (2006)Get Me The Producer (2007) (He appeared in Episode 3 only)Dickinson's Real Deal (2008) (Beadle's last TV appearance)

Publications
BooksToday's the Day – A Chronicle of the Curious, a book of anniversaries (1979, US edition 1981)The Book of Outlawed Inventions (with Chris Winn)Beadle's About (with Robert Randell)How to Make Your Own Video Blockbuster (with Mark Leigh and Mike Lepine)Watch Out! My Autobiography (with Alec Lom)The Gossip's Guide to Madame Tussaud's (pulped because of unflattering comments about Kemal Atatürk)Firsts, Lasts & Onlys Crime (with Ian Harrison) (2007)Firsts, Lasts & Onlys Military (with Ian Harrison) (2007)Beadle's Miscellany (2007)

VideosThe Best of Beadle's AboutYou've Been FramedYou've Been Framed AgainJeremy Beadle's Beginners Guide to Practical JokingThe Story of CrimeBickershaw Festival 1972Bickershaw Festival Volume 2MagazineTrue Detective'' January 2008 (Guest Editor. First in 57 years)

References

External links

The Times obituary
Jeremy Beadle: Loved and loathed TV prankster
 The Beadlean Library  Actor & playwright Ken Campbell on BBC Radio 3

1948 births
2008 deaths
English male comedians
English television presenters
English radio personalities
English radio people
English game show hosts
Members of the Order of the British Empire
Freemasons of the United Grand Lodge of England
People from Hackney Central
Deaths from pneumonia in England
Burials at Highgate Cemetery
LBC radio presenters
People from Orpington
Comedians from London

Jeremy Beadle


Biff Elliot (born Leon Shalek; July 26, 1923 – August 15, 2012) was an American television, stage, voice, radio, and movie actor. He is best known for his role as Mike Hammer in the 1953 movie I, the Jury, and as his guest appearance in the Star Trek episode "The Devil in the Dark".

Elliot was born Leon Shalek on July 26, 1923, in Lynn, Massachusetts to Jack and Susan Elliot, he served in the army and later attended the University of Maine. After he graduated in 1949 he began acting and later appeared in 100 of movies and television programs, his career began and known after his role in I, the Jury in 1953.

Elliot was married to Betty Dole from 1948 until her death in 1974. He lastly married Connie Elliot from 1977 until his death in 2012. Elliot died on August 15, 2012, in his Studio City, California home from natural causes, he was 89 years old.

References

Other websites
 Official Website

1923 births
2012 deaths
American movie actors
American television actors
American voice actors
American stage actors
American radio actors
Actors from Massachusetts

Biff Elliot


Western Canada is a region of Canada. The region includes the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. The last three provinces are sometimes called the Prairie Provinces.

Sometimes Western Canada includes the territories of Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. These territories are now often grouped as the distinct region of Northern Canada.

Regions of Canada

Western Canada


The Grant Park Music Festival (formerly the Grant Park Concerts) is a ten-week classical music concert series held annually in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It features the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra and Grant Park Chorus along with guest performers and conductors, and claims to be the only free outdoor classical-music concert series in the US. The Festival is a non-profit organization. The Festival has been a Chicago tradition since 1931, when mayor Anton Cermak suggested free concerts to lift spirits of Chicagoans during the Great Depression. The tradition of symphonic Grant Park Music Festival concerts began in 1935.

The Festival was previously held at the Petrillo Music Shell in Grant Park, but moved to the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in the Millennium Park section of Grant Park for its 70th season, in 2004. It has occasionally been held at the Harris Theater. Over time, the Festival has had various financial supporters, three primary locations, and one name change. It has sometimes been nationally broadcast and has consistently enjoyed the efforts of many of the world's leading classical musicians. Recently, its organizers have agreed to release some of the Festival's concerts to the public on CD.

Funding
The series was almost completely funded by the Park District, originally. The District was responsible for performer payrolls, concert advertising and marketing, administered orchestra auditions, and coordinated the scheduling for each season list of guest artists. Advertising costs for printed media designed by Park District graphic designers were funded through the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Federal Arts Program. The tradition of posters for Chicago Transit Authority buses, Chicago "L" trains and stations and field houses continued even after WPA relief funding ended.

In 1977, the Grant Park Concerts Society evolved to coordinate all fund-raising for the Festival. It coordinated both general marketing and the membership program. By hosting fund-raising events and selling Festival memberships, it supplemented the Parks District funding, which was in the $1.5–2.0 million range. In 1996, the Park District and Festival staff discontinued their relationship with the Concerts Society. The Park District resumed its responsibility as the sole marketing and fund-raising department.

At the end of the 1990s, the Festival was recognized as a non-profit organization and developed ties with the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. The relationship had the city department taking charge of some administrative duties. As of 2009, The Festival featured the Grammy-nominated Grant Park Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and is sponsored by the Chicago Park District, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and the Grant Park Orchestral Association. The park district provides over half of the operating costs, while the Department of Cultural Affairs contributes logistical support. The remaining funding come from a variety of private sources including foundations, corporations and thousands of individual patrons. The park district pays the salaries of principal conductor Carlos Kalmar, chorus director Christopher Bell, and members of the orchestra and Grant Park Chorus. The Festival also receives grants and broadcast fees. In 2010, the $2 million of the total Festival $4 million budget that was not covered by the Park District and was raised through memberships and private philanthropy. This money finances guest soloists and major collaborations.

History

The first concert occurred after the completion of the original Petrillo Music Shell on July 1, 1935 with a march from Richard Wagner's Tannhäuser. In the past, National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and CBS Broadcasting Inc. (CBS) have broadcast the free concerts. The first summer boasted an attendance of approximately 1.9 million for 65 concerts. In 1939, the single-concert attendance record was set with over 300,000 for the Lily Pons concert. Pons shared the stage with her husband Andre Kostelanetz in what was described as the largest audience of her career. David Rubinoff was estimated to have drawn as many as 225,000. Current attendance at the approximately thirty annual concerts is estimated at three hundred thousand in total. The free Festival has always had a picnic-like atmosphere. In the 1930s, the concerts were presented on national radio broadcasts to dozens of radio stations.

In addition to lifting spirits, the Grant Park Music Festival has been able to provide musicians a living wage. In 1938, when the minimum wage was $0.25/hour, the musicians were paid $10 ($ today) for a 2-hour concert. In the early years, through the 1940s the Chicago Woman's Symphony performed often at the Festival. In 1944, the Festival developed its own professional Grant Park Symphony Orchestra. Also in 1944, WGN (AM) began the nationally syndicated Theater of the Air live from Grant Park. In 1945, Nikolai Malko became the Festival's first resident conductor. He served in that role until 1954.

Between the scheduling of Van Cliburn's 1958 Grant Park Music Festival appearance and his actual July 16 appearance, he won the quadrennial International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow that April. He was catapulted to international fame for winning one of the world's elite music competitions. As a result, he was greeted with a celebration that included a ticker tape parade down Michigan Avenue and his Grant Park Music Festival appearance was a major event.

In the 1960s, the Festival took a more adventurous direction featuring works by the likes of Arnold Schoenberg, Sergei Prokofiev, Gustav Mahler and Anton Werbern who highlighted the 1964 schedule under the new direction of Edward Gordon. In 1962, Thomas Peck became the leader of the newly formed Grant Park Chorus, which he directed until his death in 1994. In 1963, the Festival introduced the interactive daytime Young People's Concerts led by Irwin Hoffman and at times by youth audience members. Gordon also introduced opera in concert as part of the Festival in 1964.

The 1970s saw declining attendance at the Festival. Mitch Miller, who derived popularity from the Sing Along with Mitch television show was a regular conductor and one of the largest draws. Steven Ovitsky, became concert manager in 1979 and served until 1990. During the 1980s the Festival earned a reputation for performing works by American musical composers. Ovitsky focused on living American composers such as William Bolcom, John Adams, Michael Torke and Paul Freeman. The 1980s also saw a host of elite principal conductors such as Zdeněk Mácal, Leonard Slatkin, Hugh Wolff, David Zinman and Robert Shaw.

The 1990s saw wide-ranging performances such as the Russian opera Prince Igor, a narration of Casey at the Bat by Jack Brickhouse with orchestral accompaniment, six Chicago Bulls National Basketball Association championship celebrations and a celebrated return visit of Van Cliburn for the sixtieth season. The Van Cliburn visit rivaled the Pons attendance figures with estimates exceeding 300,000. In 1992, the Grant Park Concerts officially became the Grant Park Music Festival. From 1994 to 1997, Hugh Wolff served as principal conductor of the Festival and it took until 2000 for an elaborate search to yield Kalmar as his successor.

In 2000, the Festival reached an agreement with Cedille Records to record the Grant Park Orchestra. It produced six CDs during the decade. In 2001, Boston Landmarks Orchestra was founded for the purpose of providing a free summer concert series in Boston's Hatch Memorial Shell and now claims to also provide an annual free summer music series. On July 16, 2004, the Festival moved to the state of the art Pritzker Pavilion, where it shares space with a regular world music series ("Music Without Borders"), a jazz series ("Made in Chicago") and a variety of annual performances by Steppenwolf Theatre, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Nonetheless, the Festival remains the core of the summer program with its Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evening performances for ten weeks during the heart of the summer. At the end of the 2005 Grant Park Music Festival season in August, the Festival's Grant Park Orchestra and Carlos Kalmar presented Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Adams' On the Transmigration of Souls, which was written at the request of the New York Philharmonic to honor the victims of the September 11 attacks. In 2006, the Joffrey Ballet celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in a collaboration with the Festival. During the decade, the Festival hosted an innovative array of talents such as Chinese erhu player Betti Xiang, pipa player Yang Wei, Portuguese fado singer Mariza, Cuban classical and jazz clarinetist Paquito D'Rivera, Hungarian-Roma fiddler Roby Lakatos and Mediterranean singer Maria del Mar Bonet.

The festival went into hiatus in 2020 resulting from COVID-19 pandemic. It resumed the next year.

Performances
The performance schedule includes ten consecutive weeks of performances on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from mid June to mid August. Currently, performances usually begin at 6:30 on Wednesday and Friday and 7:30 on Saturday with band shell seats reserved for subscribers. Unclaimed seats are released to the public 15 minutes before each performance. The lawn seating is free and commonly adorned with blankets and families. Harris Theater hosts occasional Grant Park Music Festival events. The orchestra and chorus have open rehearsals at the Pritzker Pavilion during performance season with sessions usually running from 11:00 am to 1:30 pm and approximately 2:30 or 3:00 pm until 5:00 pm. The Festival is represented by a staff of trained guides, called docents, that field questions and provide educational talks during the rehearsals. The rehearsals have programs available.

In the 1930s, the concerts lured some of the most prominent performers and conductors in the world: Pons, Jascha Heifetz, Bobby Breen, Rudy Vallee, Helen Morgan, conductor Andre Kostelanetz, violinists David Rubinoff, Mischa Elman, Efrem Zimbalist and Albert Spalding, pianist Moriz Rosenthal, sopranos Marion Claire, Edith Mason and Vivian Della Chiesa, tenors Tito Schipa, John Carter, Lawrence Tibbett and baritone John Charles Thomas.

The 1940s saw a broad spectrum of performers including Mario Lanza, clarinetist Benny Goodman, soprano Kirsten Flagstad and actor-singer Paul Robeson. Other performers included sopranos Claire, Eileen Farrell, Grace Moore and Della Chiesa, tenors Giovanni Martinelli, Richard Tucker and Jan Peerce, baritone Robert Merrill, violinist Mischa Mischakoff and conductors Frederick Stock, Leo Kopp, Arthur Fiedler and Antal Doráti.

Beginning in the 1950s, Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley greeted the opening night crowds nearly every year during his 21-year tenure. Among the performers of the 1950s were sopranos Beverly Sills and Farrell, tenor Peerce, pianists, Van Cliburn, Jorge Bolet, Gary Graffman and Earl Wild, violinists Elman and Michael Rabin, and cellist Janos Starker.

The 1960s upheld the tradition of diverse audiences and performers such as contralto Marian Anderson, pianists Alfred Brendel, Daniel Barenboim, Leon Fleisher, Lorin Hollander and Christoph Eschenbach, violinists Itzhak Perlman, Ruggiero Ricci, Charles Treger, Jaime Laredo, cellist Leonard Rose, conductor Leonard Bernstein, tenor Plácido Domingo, mezzo-sopranos Maryilyn Horne and Tatiana Troyanos, soprano Martina Arroyo and Roberta Peters, as well as a host of dance companies such as the American Ballet Theatre, Joffrey Ballet and Maria Alba Spanish Dance Company. The Joffrey Ballet performed Gerald Arpino and George Balanchine works.

In the 1970s, the Festival hosted soprano June Anderson, vocalist Gordon MacRae, pianists Dave Brubeck, Alicia de Larrocha, Jerome Lowenthal and Sheldon Shkolnik and violinists Elaine Skorodin. Dancers from both the Chicago City Ballet and New York City Ballet were also featured. Conductors included Mitch Miller, Leonard Slatkin, Aaron Copland and David Zinman. Dancer Edward Villella and soprano Kathleen Battle also made appearances.

In the 1980s, featured performers included pianists Walter Klein, Hollander, André Watts and Garrick Ohlsson, clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, the Vermeer Quartet, baritone Merrill, bass Paul Plishka, soprano Arleen Auger and harmonica player Corky Siegel. Conductors included Macal, Slatkin, Wolff, Zinman and Shaw.

Performers in the 1990s included Van Cliburn, mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, Rosemary Clooney, violinist Joshua Bell, conductor Maxim Shostakovich (who led works by his father Dmitry Shostakovich), trumpeter Doc Severinsen, and soprano Deborah Voigt.

In the new millennium's first decade the Festival welcomed sopranos Battle, Dawn Upshaw, Karina Gauvin and Erin Wall, tenor Vittorio Grigolo, pianist Stephen Hough, violinists Rachel Barton Pine, James Ehnes, Roby Lakatos, Christian Tetzlaff and Pinchas Zukerman, vocalists Otis Clay, Mariza and Maria del Mar Bonet and rock band The Decemberists. Other performers include pianist Valentina Lisitsa, soprano Jonita Lattimore, baritone Nathan Gunn and mezzo-soprano Jennifer Larmore. The Joffrey Ballet also performed with the Festival.

The principal conductor is Carlos Kalmar. Guests in the 2007 season included Marc-André Hamelin, Russell Braun, Erin Wall, Glen Ellyn Children's Chorus and many more performing the works of composers such as Brahms, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Leo Brouwer, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Tan Dun and Ferruccio Busoni.

The 2010s included a scheduled Grant Park's screening of the BBC's nature documentary Planet Earth Live on July 21, with live orchestral accompaniment featuring the composer George Fenton, who served as conductor.

Reception
Frommer's describes the Festival as "One of the city's greatest bargains", and it notes that the series is popular. One of the special editions notes that the Festival is continuing to uphold its Depression era mission of lifting Chicagoans' hearts and suggests that you arrive at the Festival an hour early to get good lawn seats. It also notes that the daytime rehearsals are a good substitute for the evening performances.

Notes

References

External links

Classical music festivals in the United States
Music festivals in Chicago
Millennium Park
Works Progress Administration in Illinois
1935 establishments in Illinois
Recurring events established in 1935

Grant Park Music Festival


Fanfare for the Common Man is piece of music. It was written by Aaron Copland in 1942 for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. The piece is scored for brass and percussion. It is often heard on television, at national events such as Fourth of July celebrations, sports events, etc.

Compositions by Aaron Copland
Orchestral works

Fanfare for the Common Man


Karpenisi is a mountainous Greek city. It is a small city in Eyritania district. Karpenisi is the capital of Eyritania prefecture. Eyritania prefecture has the most mountains of any other prefecture of Greece. There are mountains everywhere in the Eyritania prefecture. The highest point of Karpenisi is at the top of the Tymphristos Mountain, which is 2,315 meters high. Around 7,300 people live in Karpenisi, says the census taken in 2001. Karpenisi is built at an altitude of 960 meters.  It sits on the slopes of the Tymphristos mountain. Lamia is east of Karpenisi. Karpenisi is smaller town than Lamia. Lamia also serves the district of Karpenisi.

Winter resort

Today, Karpenisi is one of the most important winter resorts in Greece. In winter, many Greeks go there in order to do winter sports. The people visiting go skiing and hiking in the forests of Karpenisi. Karpenisi is surrounded by a fir forest.

Cities in Greece

Karpenisi


Bidwell Mansion, located at 525 Esplanade in Chico, California, was the home of General John Bidwell and Annie Bidwell from late 1868 until 1900, when Gen. Bidwell died.  Annie continued to live there until her death in 1918.  John Bidwell began construction of the mansion on his 26,000 acres (110 km2) Rancho del Arroyo Chico in 1865, during his courtship of Annie Ellicott Kennedy. After their marriage in 1868, the three-story, 26-room Victorian house became the social and cultural center of the upper Sacramento Valley. Now a museum and State Historic Park, it is California Historical Landmark #329 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The mansion was a $60,000 project, and was finished in May 1868.

When constructed, Bidwell Mansion featured modern plumbing, gas lighting and water systems. The three-story brick structure is built in an informally romantic version of the Italianate style. It also has aspects of the Italian Villa and Octagon house types present. The building's exterior is finished with a pink tinted plaster.

The first floor of the Bidwell Mansion is accessible via a ramp from the exterior of the Mansion. The interior of the entire mansion can be seen during an hour-long tour that starts on the hour most days of the week. A video is available in the visitor center for those who can not climb the 50 stairs to the 2nd and 3rd floors of the mansion.

The Bidwell Mansion Visitor Center is completely accessible. There is a gift shop, museum, theater, and comfortable lobby. There are also restrooms and water.

Trivia
 Some of the interior scenes from The Thin Man were shot inside the mansion.
 From 1925 to 1935, Bidwell Mansion was once again transformed into another entity when it served as a dormitory for Chico State Teachers College students. It is mentioned by local historians that the students studied and dressed in the rooms, but actually slept outside on the surrounding verandas. The mansion was later dubbed "Bidwell Hall" and housed the Art and Home Economics departments.

See also
National Register of Historic Places listings in Butte County, California
Bidwell Park
Michael Gillis

References

External links

Bidwell Mansion SHP web site

Wikimapia location of Bidwell Mansion

1972 establishments in California
Buildings and structures in Chico, California
California Historical Landmarks
California State Historic Parks
Historic house museums in California
Houses in Butte County, California
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in California
Historic American Buildings Survey in California
Italianate architecture in California
Museums in Butte County, California
Parks in Butte County, California
Protected areas established in 1972
Victorian architecture in California
Tourist attractions in Chico, California
Villas in the United States
National Register of Historic Places in Butte County, California

Bidwell Mansion State Historic Park


Miaphysitism (or henophysitism) is an idea about the nature of Christ. The idea says that Jesus Christ had two different aspects, one godly, and one human. It says these two aspects are united in one nature. They are indistinguishable, and they co-exist.  This is very close to the idea of dualism which says that the mind and the body are separate things that combine to make one unit, the person. In the case of miaphysitism, the separate things are Jesus' divine and human traits.

Miaphysitism has often been considered by Chalcedonian Christians to be a form of monophysitism, but the Oriental Orthodox Churches themselves reject this characterization, Recently, the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches have begun to take this position more seriously.

References

Christology

Miaphysitism


Edward Harrison is Principal Timpanist of the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Artist Faculty and Head of Percussion at the Chicago College of Performing Arts, Roosevelt University. An internationally known maraca expert, Harrison is considered the leading exponent of contemporary maraca playing in the United States and Europe. In 1999, he performed the world's first concerto for maraca soloist with symphony orchestra, which was written for him by Ricardo Lorenz, at Chicago's Orchestra Hall. The composition was entitled Pataruco: Concerto for Maracas. The Chicago Sun-Times lauds his "remarkable mastery as a solo performer". He has served on the faculty at DePaul University, Northwestern University and Concordia University Chicago.

Ed Harrison has performed with Leonard Bernstein, Sir Georg Solti, McCoy Tyner, and Paquito D'Rivera. He performs frequently with the Chicago Symphony at the Ravinia Festival. He has done radio and television performances for Nova (Public Broadcasting Service), Metromedia, National Public Radio, WFMT, and WGBH. Harrison has performed on commercial soundtracks (jingles) for McDonald's, Kraft Foods, Sears, Kellogg, and Ameritech.

Harrison is a Master of Music alumni of the New England Conservatory, where he studied with Everett Firth. He attended the Tanglewood Music Center on a Leonard Bernstein Fellowship in 1983 and was invited to return the following year by the Artistic Directors. Harrison was a principal percussionist with the Chicago Sinfonietta from 1994 to 1998. While in Venezuela as Principal Timpanist of the Caracas Philharmonic, he studied with the Joropo virtuoso Maximo Teppa.

Notes

External links
Official Web Page of Ed Harrison
Roosevelt University biography

American musicologists
American percussionists
Classical percussionists
Maracas players
Musicians from Chicago
New England Conservatory alumni
DePaul University faculty
Living people
Northwestern University faculty
Year of birth missing (living people)
Roosevelt University faculty
Concordia University Chicago people

Edward Harrison (timpanist)


Ekiga (formerly called GnomeMeeting) is a free and open source VoIP and video conferencing computer application for GNOME and Windows. Ekiga supports both the SIP and H.323 (based on OpenH323) protocols and is fully interoperable with any other SIP compliant application and with Microsoft NetMeeting. It supports many high-quality audio and video codecs.

Ekiga was initially made by Damien Sandras in order to graduate from the Université catholique de Louvain. It is currently developed by a community-based team led by Sandras. The logo was designed based on his concept by Andreas Kwiatkowski, an open source enthusiast and a friend of his.

Features

Integration
 LDAP and ILS directories registration and browsing
 Integration with Novell Evolution so that contacts are shared between both programs
 ZeroConf (Apple Bonjour) support
 External configuration with GConf, including ability for administrators to block certain settings
 Device auto-detection, including:
 ALSA and legacy OSS soundcard support, through plugins
 Video4linux and FireWire camera support, through plugins

User interface
 Addressbook with speed dials
 SIP URLs and H.323/callto
 Dialpad
 Advanced call history
 Full-screen videoconferencing
 In call Instant-Apply support for settings
 Auto Answer and Do Not Disturb modes

Technical
 Call forwarding on busy, no answer, always (SIP and H.323)
 Call transfer (SIP and H.323)
 Call Hold (SIP and H.323)
 DTMFs support (SIP and H.323)
 Basic Instant Messaging (SIP)
 Text Chat (SIP and H.323)
 Possibility to register to several registrars (SIP) and gatekeepers (H.323)
 Possibility to use an outbound proxy (SIP) or a gateway (H.323)
 Message Waiting Indications (SIP)
 Audio AND Video (SIP and H.323)
 STUN support (SIP and H.323)
 LDAP support

Incoming new features
SIMPLE
SRTP
ZRTP
H263, H264

Roadmap

Notes

Linux software

Ekiga


The XYZ Affair was a political and diplomatic episode in 1797 and 1798, early in the presidency of John Adams, involving a confrontation between the United States and Republican France that led to the Quasi-War. The name derives from the substitution of the letters X, Y, and Z for the names of French diplomats Jean-Conrad Hottinguer (X), Pierre Bellamy (Y), and Lucien Hauteval (Z) in documents released by the Adams administration.

An American diplomatic commission was sent to France in July 1797 to negotiate a solution to problems that were threatening to break out into war. The diplomats, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, John Marshall, and Elbridge Gerry, were approached through informal channels by agents of the French foreign minister, Talleyrand, who demanded bribes and a loan before formal negotiations could begin. Although it was widely known that diplomats from other nations had paid bribes to deal with Talleyrand at the time, the Americans were offended by the demands, and eventually left France without ever engaging in formal negotiations. Gerry, seeking to avoid all-out war, remained for several months after the other two commissioners left. His exchanges with Talleyrand laid groundwork for the eventual end to diplomatic and military hostilities.

The failure of the commission caused a political firestorm in the United States when the commission's dispatches were published. It led to the undeclared Quasi-War (1798–1800). Federalists, who controlled both houses of Congress and held the presidency, took advantage of the national anger to build up the nation's military. They also attacked the Democratic-Republicans for their pro-French stance, and Gerry (a nonpartisan at the time) for what they saw as his role in the commission's failure.

Background information

In the wake of the 1789 French Revolution, relations between the new French Republic and U.S. federal government, originally friendly, became strained. In 1792, France and the rest of Europe went to war, a conflict in which President George Washington declared American neutrality. However, both France and Great Britain, the major naval powers in the war, seized ships of neutral powers (including those of the United States) that traded with their enemies. With the Jay Treaty, ratified in 1795, the United States reached an agreement on the matter with Britain that angered members of the Directory that governed France. The French Navy consequently stepped up its efforts to interrupt American trade with Britain. By the end of Washington's presidency in early 1797, the matter was reaching crisis proportions. Shortly after assuming office on March 4, 1797, President John Adams learned that Charles Cotesworth Pinckney had been refused as U.S. minister because of the escalating crisis, and that American merchant ships had been seized in the Caribbean. In response, he called upon Congress to meet and address the deteriorating state of French–American relations during a special session to be held that May.

Popular opinion in the United States on relations with France was divided along largely political lines: Federalists took a hard line, favoring a defensive buildup but not necessarily advocating war, while Democratic-Republicans expressed solidarity with the republican ideals of the French revolutionaries and did not want to be seen as cooperating with the Federalist Adams administration. Vice President Thomas Jefferson, himself a republican, looked upon Federalists as monarchists who were linked to Britain and therefore hostile to American values.

Commission to France

In late May 1797 Adams met with his cabinet to discuss the situation and to choose a special commission to France. Adams initially proposed that John Marshall and Elbridge Gerry join Pinckney on the commission, but his cabinet objected to the choice of Gerry because he was not a strong Federalist. Francis Dana was chosen instead of Gerry, but he declined to serve, and Adams, who considered Gerry one of the "two most impartial men in America" (he himself being the other), submitted his name to the United States Senate in Dana's stead without consulting his cabinet. Adams, in introducing the matter to Congress, made a somewhat belligerent speech in which he called for a vigorous defense of the nation's neutrality and expansion of the United States Navy, but stopped short of calling for war against France. Congress approved this choice of commissioners, and Adams instructed them to negotiate similar terms to those that had been granted to Britain in the Jay Treaty. The commissioners were also instructed to refuse loans, but to be flexible in the arrangement of payment terms for financial matters. Marshall left for Europe in mid-July to join Pinckney, with Gerry following a few weeks later. The political divisions in the commission's makeup were reflected in their attitudes toward the negotiations: Marshall and Pinckney, both Federalists, distrusted the French, while Gerry (who was then opposed to political parties) was willing to be flexible and unhurried in dealing with them.

The French Republic, established in 1792 at the height of the French Revolution, was by 1797 governed by a bicameral legislative assembly, with a five-member French Directory acting as the national executive. The Directory was undergoing both internal power struggles and struggles with the Council of Five Hundred, the lower chamber of the legislature. Ministerial changes took place in the first half of 1797, including the selection in July of Charles Maurice de Talleyrand as foreign minister. Talleyrand, who had recently spent a few years in the United States, was openly concerned about the establishment of closer ties between the U.S. and Britain. The Directory, generally not well-disposed to American interests, became notably more hostile to them in September 1797, when an internal coup propelled several anti-Americans into power. These leaders, and Talleyrand, viewed President Adams as hostile to their interests, but did not think that there was significant danger of war. In part based on advice imparted to French diplomats by Jefferson, Talleyrand decided to adopt a measured, slow pace to the negotiations.

The American commission arrived in Paris in early October, and immediately requested a meeting with Talleyrand. After an initial brief meeting (in which Talleyrand only provisionally accepted the commissioners' credentials), a longer meeting was held a week later. Talleyrand sought from the commissioners an explanation for the speech Adams had made in May, which had angered Directory members; his motivation was to determine how favorably the commissioners were disposed to the negotiations. If they responded in an unfavorable manner, the Directory would refuse to accept their credentials. The commissioners first learned of Talleyrand's expected demand on October 14 through an indirect channel. They decided that no explanation would be given for Adams' speech.

Initial meetings
What followed were a series of meetings that took place outside formal diplomatic channels. On October 17, Nicholas Hubbard, an Englishman working for a Dutch bank used by the Americans (and who came to be identified as "W" in the published papers), notified Pinckney that Baron Jean-Conrad Hottinguer, whom Hubbard described only as a man of honor, wished to meet with him. Pinckney agreed, and the two men met the next evening. Hottinguer (who was later identified as "X") relayed a series of French demands, which included a large loan to the French government and the payment of a £50,000 bribe to Talleyrand. Pinckney relayed these demands to the other commissioners, and Hottinguer repeated them to the entire commission, which curtly refused the demands, even though it was widely known that diplomats from other nations had paid bribes to deal with Talleyrand. Hottinguer then introduced the commission to Pierre Bellamy ("Y"), whom he represented as being a member of Talleyrand's inner circle. Bellamy expounded in detail on Talleyrand's demands, including the expectation that "you must pay a great deal of money." He even proposed a series of purchases (at inflated prices) of currency as a means by which such money could be clandestinely exchanged. The commissioners offered to send one of their number back to the United States for instructions, if the French would suspend their seizures of American shipping; the French negotiators refused.

Not long after this standoff, Talleyrand sent Lucien Hauteval ("Z") to meet with Elbridge Gerry. The two men knew each other, having met in Boston in 1792. Hauteval assured Gerry of Talleyrand's sincerity in seeking peace, and encouraged him to keep the informal negotiations open. He reiterated the demands for a loan and bribe.

A week later (notably after the signing of the Treaty of Campo Formio, which ended the five-year War of the First Coalition between France and most of the other European powers), Hottinguer and Bellamy again met with the commission, and repeated their original demands, accompanied by threats of potential war, since France was at least momentarily at peace in Europe. Pinckney's response was famous: "No, no, not a sixpence!" The commissioners decided on November 1 to refuse further negotiations by informal channels. Publication of dispatches describing this series of meetings would form the basis for the later political debates in the United States.

Later negotiations
The commissioners soon discovered that only unofficial channels were open to them. Over the next several months, Talleyrand sent a series of informal negotiators to meet with and influence the commissioners. Some of the informal avenues were closed down (Gerry, for instance, informed Hauteval that they could no longer meet, since Hauteval had no formal authority), and Talleyrand finally appeared in November 1797 at a dinner, primarily to castigate the Americans for their unwillingness to accede to the demand for a bribe.

In late November, Talleyrand began maneuvering to separate Gerry from the other commissioners. He extended a "social" dinner invitation to Gerry, which the latter, seeking to maintain communications, planned to attend. The matter heightened distrust of Gerry by Marshall and Pinckney, who sought guarantees that Gerry would limit any representations and agreements he might consider. Despite seeking to refuse informal negotiations, all of the commissioners ended up having private meetings with some of Talleyrand's negotiators.

The commissioners eventually divided over the issue of whether to continue informal negotiations, with the Federalists Marshall and Pinckney opposed, and Gerry in favor. This division was eventually clear to Talleyrand, who told Gerry in January 1798 that he would no longer deal with Pinckney. In February, Talleyrand gained approval from the Directory for a new bargaining position, and he maneuvered to exclude Marshall from the negotiations as well. The change in strategy alarmed a number of American residents of Paris, who reported the growing possibility of war. Around this time Gerry, at Talleyrand's insistence, began keeping secret from the other commissioners the substance of their meetings.

All three commissioners met with Talleyrand informally in March, but it was clear that the parties were at an impasse. This appeared to be the case despite Talleyrand's agreement to drop the demand for a loan. Both sides prepared statements to be sent across the Atlantic stating their positions, and Marshall and Pinckney, frozen out of talks that Talleyrand would only conduct with Gerry, left France in April. Their departure was delayed due to a series of negotiations over the return of their passports; in order to obtain diplomatic advantage, Talleyrand sought to force Marshall and Pinckney to formally request their return (which would allow him to later claim that they broke off negotiations). Talleyrand eventually gave in, formally requesting their departure. Gerry, although he sought to maintain unity with his co-commissioners, was told by Talleyrand that if he left France the Directory would declare war. Gerry remained behind, protesting the "impropriety of permitting a foreign government to [choose] the person who should negotiate." He however remained optimistic that war was unrealistic, writing to William Vans Murray, the American minister to The Netherlands, that "nothing but madness" would cause the French to declare war.

Gerry resolutely refused to engage in further substantive negotiations with Talleyrand, agreeing only to stay until someone with more authority could replace him, and wrote to President Adams requesting assistance in securing his departure from Paris. Talleyrand eventually sent representatives to The Hague to reopen negotiations with William Vans Murray, and Gerry finally returned home in October 1798.

Reaction in the United States

While the American diplomats were in Europe, President Adams considered his options in the event of the commission's failure. His cabinet urged that the nation's military be strengthened, including the raising of a 20,000-man army and the acquisition or construction of ships of the line for the navy. He had no substantive word from the commissioners until March 1798, when the first dispatches revealing the French demands and negotiating tactics arrived. The commission's apparent failure was duly reported to Congress, although Adams kept secret the mistreatment (lack of recognition and demand for a bribe) of the diplomats, seeking to minimize a warlike reaction. His cabinet was divided on how to react: the general tenor was one of hostility toward France, with Attorney General Charles Lee and Secretary of State Timothy Pickering arguing for a declaration of war. Democratic-Republican leaders in Congress, believing Adams had exaggerated the French position because he sought war, united with hawkish Federalists to demand the release of the commissioners' dispatches. On March 20, Adams turned them over, with the names of some of the French actors redacted and replaced by the letters W, X, Y, and Z. The use of these disguising letters led the business to immediately become known as the "XYZ Affair."

The release of the dispatches produced exactly the response Adams feared. Federalists called for war, and Democratic-Republicans were left without an effective argument against them, having miscalculated the reason for Adams' secrecy. Despite those calls, Adams steadfastly refused to ask Congress for a formal war declaration. Congress nonetheless authorized the acquisition of twelve frigates, and made other appropriations to increase military readiness; it also, on July 7, 1798, voted to nullify the 1778 Treaty of Alliance with France, and two days later authorized attacks on French warships.

Partisan responses
Federalists used the dispatches to question the loyalty of pro-French Democratic-Republicans; this attitude contributed to the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts, restricting the movements and actions of foreigners, and limiting speech critical of the government. Federalists were otherwise divided on the question of war, and the Democratic-Republicans painted hawkish Federalists as warmongers seeking to undermine the republic by military means.

Elbridge Gerry was placed in a difficult position upon his return to the United States. Federalists, spurred by John Marshall's accounts of their disagreements, criticized him for abetting the breakdown of the negotiations. These bitterly harsh and partisan comments turned Gerry against the Federalists, and he eventually ended up joining with the Democratic-Republicans in 1800.

Political reaction in France

When news reached France of the publication of the dispatches and the ensuing hostile reaction, the response was one of fury. Talleyrand was called to the Directory to account for his role in the affair. He denied all association with the informal negotiators, and enlisted the assistance of Gerry in exposing the agents whose names had been redacted, a charade Gerry agreed to participate in. In exchange Talleyrand confirmed privately to Gerry that the agents were in fact in his employ, and that he was, contrary to statements made to the Directory, interested in pursuing reconciliation. President Adams later wrote that Talleyrand's confession to Gerry was significant in his decision to continue efforts to maintain peace. Gerry, in his private report on the affair to Adams in 1799, claimed credit for maintaining the peace, and for influencing significant changes in French policy that lessened the hostilities and eventually brought a peace treaty.

The warlike attitude of the United States and the start of the Quasi-War (a naval war between the two countries that was fought primarily in the Caribbean) convinced Talleyrand that he had miscalculated in his dealings with the commissioners. In response to the diplomatic overtures he made to William Vans Murray in The Hague, President Adams sent negotiators to France in 1799 who eventually negotiated an end to hostilities with the Convention of 1800 (whose negotiations were managed in part by Marshall, then Secretary of State) in September 1800. This agreement was made with First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte, who had overthrown the Directory in the Coup of 18 Brumaire in November 1799, and it was ratified by the United States Senate in December 1801.

See also
 Timeline of United States diplomatic history

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

Further reading
 Berkin, Carol. A Sovereign People: The Crises of the 1790s and the Birth of American Nationalism (2017) pp. 151–200.

 DeConde, Alexander. The Quasi-War: The Politics and Diplomacy of the Undeclared War with France, 1797–1801 (1966).
 Kleber, Louis C. "The "X Y Z" Affair" History Today. (Oct 1973), Vol. 23 Issue 10, pp 715–723 online; popular account.

External links
 Transcript of Adams speech on the release of the XYZ papers
 "The XYZ Affair and the Quasi-War with France, 1798–1800", U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian

1797 in France
1798 in France
1797 in international relations
1798 in international relations
1797 in the United States
1798 in the United States
18th-century controversies in the United States
History of the foreign relations of the United States
History of the foreign relations of France
Diplomatic incidents
Political controversies in the United States
Quasi-War

5th United States Congress
Political controversies in France

XYZ Affair