Jill Clayburgh (April 30, 1944 – November 5, 2010) was an American actress known for her work in theater, television, and cinema. She received the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her breakthrough role in Paul Mazursky's comedy drama An Unmarried Woman (1978). She also received a second consecutive Academy Award nomination for Starting Over (1979) as well as four Golden Globe nominations for her film performances.

Early life
Clayburgh was born in New York City, the daughter of a Protestant mother and a Jewish father. Her mother, Julia Louise (née Dorr), was an actress and theatrical production secretary for producer David Merrick. Her father was Albert Henry "Bill" Clayburgh, a manufacturing executive. Her paternal grandmother was concert and opera singer Alma Lachenbruch Clayburgh. Her brother, Jim Clayburgh, is a scenic designer.

Clayburgh reportedly never talked about her religious background and was not raised in the faith of either of her parents. Clayburgh never got along with her parents and began therapy at an early age: "I was very rebellious as a teenager, aside from having an unhappy, neurotic childhood. But I just can't go into it. I think I had a lot of energy and undirected need so I just kind of rebelled in a general fashion. I got myself in terrible, very personal trouble. Therapy has helped me a lot in my life."

As a child, Clayburgh was inspired to become an actor when she saw Jean Arthur as Peter Pan on Broadway in 1950. She was raised on Manhattan's Upper East Side, where she attended the all-girls Brearley School. She then attended Sarah Lawrence College, where she studied religion, philosophy and literature, but ultimately decided to be an actress. She received her acting training at HB Studio.

Career

Early career
Clayburgh began acting as a student in summer stock and, after graduating, joined the Charles Street Repertory Theater in Boston, where she met another up-and-coming actor and future Academy Award-winning star, Al Pacino, in 1967. They met after starring in Jean-Claude Van Itallie's play America, Hurrah. They had a five-year romance and moved back together to New York City.

In 1968, Clayburgh debuted off-Broadway in the double bill of Israel Horovitz's The Indian Wants the Bronx and It's Called the Sugar Plum, also starring Pacino. Clayburgh and Pacino were cast in "Deadly Circle of Violence", an episode of the ABC television series NYPD, premiering November 12, 1968. Clayburgh at the time was also appearing on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow, playing the role of Grace Bolton. Her father would send the couple money each month to help with finances.

She eventually made her Broadway debut in 1968 in The Sudden and Accidental Re-Education of Horse Johnson, co-starring Jack Klugman, which ran for 5 performances. In 1969, she starred in an off-Broadway production of the Henry Bloomstein play Calling in Crazy, at the Andy Warhol-owned Fortune theatre. She was in a TV pilot that did not sell, The Choice (1969) and appeared off Broadway in The Nest (1970).

In 1969, Clayburgh made her screen debut in The Wedding Party, written and directed by Brian De Palma. The Wedding Party was filmed in 1963 (during which Clayburgh was at Sarah Lawrence) but not released until six years later. The film focuses on a soon-to-be groom and his interactions with various relatives of his fiancée and members of the wedding party; Clayburgh played the bride-to-be. Her co-stars included Robert De Niro, in one of his early film roles, and Jennifer Salt. In his review from The New York Times, Howard Thompson wrote, "As the harassed engaged couple, two newcomers, Charles Pfluger and Jill Clayburgh, are as appealing as they can be."

Broadway success

Clayburgh attracted attention when she appeared in the Broadway musical The Rothschilds (1970–72) which ran for 502 performances. She then went on to play Desdemona opposite James Earl Jones in the 1971 production of Othello in Los Angeles, and had another Broadway success with Pippin (1972–75), which ran for 1,944 performances. Clive Barnes of The New York Times found Clayburgh to be "all sweet connivance as the widow out to get her man."

During this time, Clayburgh had a string of brief character parts in film and television. Some of these include The Telephone Book (1971), Portnoy's Complaint (1972), The Thief Who Came to Dinner (1973) and The Terminal Man (1974), opposite George Segal.

After guest-starring on an episode of The Snoop Sisters, Clayburgh played Ryan O'Neal's ex-wife in The Thief Who Came to Dinner (1973) and starred in a TV pilot that was not picked up, Going Places (1973). She also guest starred on Medical Center, Maude, and The Rockford Files. She hosted Saturday Night Live on February 28, 1976 (Season 1, Episode 15) with musical guest, Leon Redbone. She later returned to Broadway for Tom Stoppard's Jumpers, which ran for 48 performances. Despite her success on Broadway, it was film acting that really excited Clayburgh: "One of the things I like about the movies is the adventure of it," she said. "I like going to different places and I like doing a different scene every day."

Clayburgh was praised for her performances in the TV movies Hustling (1975), in which she played a prostitute, and The Art of Crime (1975). Hustling was a departure for her: "Before I did Hustling I was always cast as a nice wife. I wasn't very good at it. Then with Hustling, it was a nice role and it was a departure. People saw a different dimension." Her performance in the TV film eventually earned her an Emmy nomination; she later said it revitalised her career. "It changed my career," Clayburgh said. "It was a part that I did well, and suddenly people wanted me. Sidney Furie saw me, and wanted me for Gable and Lombard."

An Unmarried Woman and film stardom
Clayburgh was cast as Carole Lombard in the 1976 biopic Gable and Lombard with James Brolin as Clark Gable.  Variety called it a film with many major assets, not the least of which is the stunning and smashing performance of Clayburgh as Carole Lombard" and Time Out London felt she "produced a very modern version of the Lombard larkishness." Vincent Canby of The New York Times suggested that her performance "comes off better" than Brolin's Gable, as "she appears to be creating a character whenever the fearfully bad screenplay allows it." Despite this, he felt both actors were miscast as the famous couple, writing further, "Miss Clayburgh could be an interesting actress, but there are always problems when small performers try to portray the kind of giant legends that Gable and Lombard were. Because both Gable and Lombard are still very much alive in their films on television and in repertory theaters, there is difficulty in responding to Mr. Brolin and Miss Clayburgh in any serious way."

She starred in the acclaimed TV movie Griffin and Phoenix (1976) co-starring with Peter Falk. It tells the story of two ill-fated middle-aged characters who both face a terminal cancer diagnosis and have months left to live. Notably, Clayburgh developed the same type of cancer her character had in this film, succumbing to it in 2010. Also in 1976, she had her first big box office success playing the love interest of Gene Wilder's character in the comedy-mystery Silver Streak, also starring Richard Pryor. Critics felt Clayburgh had little to do in Silver Streak, and The New York Times called her "an actress of too much intelligence to be able to fake identification with a role that is essentially that of a liberated ingenue."

In 1977, she had another hit with Semi-Tough, a comedy set in the world of American professional football, which also starred Burt Reynolds and Kris Kristofferson. Clayburgh played Barbara Jane Bookman, who has a subtle love triangle relationship with both Reynolds and Kristofferson's characters. Vincent Canby liked her performance, writing, "Miss Clayburgh, who's been asked to play zany heroines in Gable and Lombard and Silver Streak by people who failed to provide her with material, has much better luck this time. She's charming," and The Washington Post enjoyed her chemistry with Reynolds: "Reynolds and Clayburgh look wonderful together. They seem to harmonize in a way that would only be more apparent - and make their eventual recognition of being in love seem more appropriate." Both Semi-Tough and Silver Streak earned her a reputation "as a popular modern stylist of screwball comedy" and The Guardian noted how Clayburgh "had the kind of warmth and witty sophistication barely seen in Hollywood since Carole Lombard and Jean Arthur".

Clayburgh's breakthrough came in 1978 when she received the first of her two Academy Award for Best Actress nominations for Paul Mazursky's An Unmarried Woman. In what would be her career-defining role, Clayburgh was cast as Erica, the courageous abandoned wife who struggles with her new 'single' identity after her stockbroker husband leaves her for a younger woman. Upon release, An Unmarried Woman drew praise and was popular at the box office, briefly making Clayburgh, at 34, a star. Clayburgh's performance garnered some of the best reviews of her career: Roger Ebert called the film "a journey that Mazursky makes into one of the funniest, truest, sometimes most heartbreaking movies I've ever seen. And so much of what's best is because of Jill Clayburgh, whose performance is, quite simply, luminous. Clayburgh takes chances in this movie. She's out on an emotional limb. She's letting us see and experience things that many actresses simply couldn't reveal" while The New York Times wrote, "Miss Clayburgh is nothing less than extraordinary in what is the performance of the year to date. In her we see intelligence battling feelingreason backed against the wall by pushy needs."

Writing for The New Yorker, veteran critic Pauline Kael noted:

In addition to her Oscar nomination, Clayburgh also earned her first Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama (both of which she lost to Jane Fonda for Coming Home) and won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival, which she and Isabelle Huppert shared.

During this time, she turned down the lead in Norma Rae, a film that brought Sally Field her first Oscar. Still, in 1979, Clayburgh had a career peak after starring in two movies that garnered her widespread acclaim. The first was Bernardo Bertolucci's La Luna (1979), which she made in Italy. The film presents an incestuous relationship between a mother and her drug-addicted son, and was poorly received at the time. Clayburgh agreed to star in this film because she felt that "most great roles explore something that is socially taboo." Bertolucci was especially impressed with her work, having complimented her ability "to move from one extreme to the other in the same shot, be funny and dramatic within the same scene." Despite the film's controversy, Clayburgh's performance as a manipulative opera singer was generally praised: Critic Richard Brody called it "her most extravagant role" and a review in The New York Times felt she was "extraordinary under impossible circumstances." Also, in the London Review of Books, Angela Carter wrote, "Jill Clayburgh, seizing by the throat the opportunity of working with a great European director, gives a bravura performance: she is like the life force in person".

Her second and last film of 1979 was Alan J. Pakula's Starting Over, a romantic comedy with Burt Reynolds and Candice Bergen. Pakula hired her because, "the extraordinary thing is that she's so many people. In a Jill Clayburgh movie you don't know what you're going to get." As a nursery-school teacher who falls reluctantly in love with Reynolds's divorced character, her performance was lauded by The New York Times: "Miss Clayburgh delivers a particularly sharp characterization that's letter-perfect during the first part of the story and unconvincing in the second, through no fault of her own." Starting Over earned her a second Oscar and Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress.  Also that year, she later returned to the stage with In the Boom Boom Room as a go-go dancer. She had wanted to play this role since 1972 when the play originally premiered on Broadway, but she lost the role to Madeline Kahn. Although she wasn't cast in David Rabe's play, she later married him in 1979.

Her back-to-back success with An Unmarried Woman and Starting Over led writer Mel Gussow to suggest that Clayburgh was one of the few "stars for the 80's, fresh, natural anti‐ingenues" alongside Meryl Streep and Diane Keaton, adding, "These are stage actresses who have become movie stars on their own terms, free of "glamour," ready to clown as well as to play heroines." In 1980, she was cast opposite Michael Douglas in a romantic comedy, It's My Turn, in which she teaches the proof of the snake lemma. Novelist Eleanor Bergstein, who had written the screenplay, was delighted with Clayburgh's casting. "To me," says Bergstein. "Jill is one of the few actresses who looks like she has imagined her life, made her life happen. I think that divides women in a way, women whose intelligence animates their faces. They have willed themselves to be beautiful, to be exactly who they are. Their minds inform their faces. I think Jill is like that. Lots of actresses are just the opposite." Clayburgh herself was attracted to the part because "Kate is the closest person to myself that I have ever played. People always say, 'Oh, An Unmarried Woman, that's you.' But really, of course, it's not." The following year, she was a conservative Supreme Court justice in First Monday in October, a comedy with Walter Matthau. Her performance was praised and earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical.

Career setbacks and TV films
By the mid-1980s, Clayburgh appeared in fewer and less successful films, despite turning to more dramatic material. She played a valium addict and documentarist in I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can (1981), written by David Rabe, her husband. "I guess people look at me and they think I'm a ladylike character," said Clayburgh, "but it's not what I do best. I do best with characters who are coming apart at the seams." The film received negative reviews, but Janet Maslin of The New York Times liked Clayburgh's performance and wrote that she played her high-powered career woman "earnestly and vigorously." In the controversial Hanna K. (1983), she was a court-appointed Israeli-American lawyer assigned to defend a Palestinian man for director Costa-Gavras. The film was a box office failure and hurt her career. Upset by the film's reception, Clayburgh gave up cinema for three years, during which time she was busy bringing up her children.

Alongside then-rising stars Raúl Julia and Frank Langella, Clayburgh returned to Broadway for a revival of Noël Coward's Design for Living (1984–85), directed by George C. Scott, which ran for 245 performances. Writing for the Christian Science Monitor, John Beaufort wrote, "Jill Clayburgh's Gilda is not merely sexy and volatile. She can be sweetly feminine. She is a woman struggling both to find herself and to discover where she belongs in this triangle. In more than one respect, Miss Clayburgh grasps the deeper as well as the more superficially amusing aspects of her dilemma."

As her feature film career waned, Clayburgh began accepting roles in television films, including Where Are the Children? (1986) as a divorcée who gets revenge on her ex-spouse, and Miles to Go... (1986). She returned to film in 1987 when she drew praise for portraying a shallow, sophisticated Manhattan magazine writer in Andrei Konchalovsky's little-seen independent film Shy People; although the film flopped, this was her most substantial film role after Hanna K. The Guardian found her "amusing" while Ebert called Clayburgh's work "sadly overlooked" and her "other best role" after An Unmarried Woman.

After Shy People, Clayburgh took on a series of roles in the television films Who Gets the Friends? (1988) and Fear Stalk (1989), where she portrayed a budding cartoonist in the former and a strong-willed soap opera producer in the latter, before playing an investigator studying a child-abuse case in Unspeakable Acts (1990). In 1991, Clayburgh earned decent reviews for her role as English actress and singer Jill Ireland in the television biopic Reason for Living: The Jill Ireland Story (1991), which detailed Ireland's struggle to beat cancer and to help her adopted son get past his heroin addiction. Although Clayburgh never met Ireland, she read her book and listened to taped interviews with her in preparation. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly praised Clayburgh's accent in Reason for Living, writing, "Quite aside from her smooth assurance, Clayburgh pulls off Ireland's English accent without calling attention to herself." This performance led The New York Times to write that her small-screen work was "a sign of the times: older actresses accustomed to playing strong roles are finding their best work [in film] on television."

Gradually, Clayburgh shifted into being more of a supporting character actress in the 1990s, taking on roles as diverse as an antagonistic judge in Trial: The Price of Passion (1992) and the interfering wife of Alan Alda's character in Whispers in the Dark (1992). After appearing in Ben Gazzara's Beyond the Ocean (1990), which was shot in Bali, and the unreleased Pretty Hattie's Baby (1991), she became typecast as an attractive maternal figure: she was the long-missing matriarch in Rich in Love (1992), a wheelchair-user mother in Firestorm: 72 Hours in Oakland (1993), and Eric Stoltz's single mother in Naked in New York (1993). A review in People magazine felt Clayburgh "[did] her best as the footloose mother" in Rich in Love, while Roger Ebert praised her casting in Naked in New York as "exactly on target". She also played Kitty Menéndez, who was murdered by her sons, in Honor Thy Father and Mother: The True Story of the Menendez Murders (1993), a role which Variety perceived to be "incomplete, but that has more to do with the script than Clayburgh's performance." She continued to play concerned, protective mothers in For the Love of Nancy (1994), The Face on the Milk Carton (1995), Going All the Way (1997), Fools Rush In (1997), When Innocence Is Lost (1997) and Sins of the Mind (1997), and was in "good form" as the forceful, pushy stage mother in Crowned and Dangerous (1997).

In the late 1990s, Clayburgh guest-starred on episodes of Law & Order and Frasier, and starred in another short-lived sitcom, Everything's Relative (1999), and a short-lived series, Trinity (1999).

Later career and final roles
After appearing in My Little Assassin (1999) and The Only Living Boy in New York (2000), she had her first prominent lead role since Hanna K. and Shy People in Eric Schaeffer's comedy Never Again (2001). Roger Ebert praised Clayburgh "for do[ing] everything humanly possible to create a character who is sweet and believable" and called it "a reminder of Clayburgh's gifts as an actress", while Stephen Holden of the New York Times credited her for lending "emotional weight" to the part of "a desperately lonely 54-year-old single mother." Also in 2001, she appeared in Falling and had a semi-recurring role on Ally McBeal as Ally's mother and on The Practice, before becoming a regular in another short-lived show, Leap of Faith (2002).

She returned to off-Broadway as a falsely convicted mother-of-two in Bob Balaban's production of The Exonerated (2002–04) with Richard Dreyfuss. Writing for Variety magazine, Charles Isherwood commended Clayburgh for playing her part "with clear-eyed dignity." She then appeared in Phenomenon II (2003) and received an Emmy nomination for guest appearances in the series Nip/Tuck in 2005. That year she continued her resurgent stage career in A Naked Girl on the Appian Way, which ran for 69 performances. More successful was The Busy World is Hushed (2005–06) on off-Broadway, where she replaced Christine Lahti and played a widowed Episcopal minister and scholar. Variety critic David Rooney praised Clayburgh's "wisdom and quiet humor while refusing to define Hannah's questionable behavior and convictions as right or wrong, sound or unsound" and her "embrace of the woman's uncertainties, mak[ing] her all the more human."

In 2006, she appeared on Broadway in Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park with Patrick Wilson and Amanda Peet; she played Peet's mother, a role originated by Mildred Natwick. It ran for 109 performances and was met with mixed reviews. Still, Clayburgh's performance drew praise and the New York Times critic Ben Brantley lauded "her winning way with dialogue that can make synthetic one-liners sound like filigree epigrams. Trim and dazzlingly blond, she is a glamorous eyeful in Isaac Mizrahi's rich dowager costumes." She returned to the screen that same year as a therapist's eccentric wife in Ryan Murphy's all-star ensemble dramedy Running with Scissors, an autobiographical tale of teenage angst and dysfunction based on the book by Augusten Burroughs; also starring Annette Bening, Gwyneth Paltrow and Evan Rachel Wood, Clayburgh's supporting performance earned her a Best Supporting Actress nomination by the St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association. By the end of 2006, Clayburgh played a wistful eccentric in what was her last stage appearance, The Clean House (2006–07) on off-Broadway, and was praised for her "goofy lightness" by The Post Gazette.

During 2007–2009, Clayburgh appeared in the ABC television series Dirty Sexy Money, playing the wealthy socialite Letitia Darling. She then played Jake Gyllenhaal's mother in Edward Zwick's Love & Other Drugs (2010) and Kristen Wiig's mother in Paul Feig's acclaimed blockbuster comedy Bridesmaids (2011), which was the last film that Clayburgh completed.

Death
Clayburgh had chronic lymphocytic leukemia for more than 20 years and dealt with it privately before dying from it at her home in Lakeville, Connecticut, on November 5, 2010.

Personal life
As a teenager, Clayburgh had two back-alley abortions, which she chronicled in the 1991 book The Choices We Made: Twenty-Five Women and Men Speak Out About Abortion. Clayburgh dated actor Al Pacino from 1967 to 1972. She married screenwriter and playwright David Rabe in 1979. They had two children: son Michael Rabe and daughter actress Lily Rabe.

Filmography

Film

Television films

Television

Stage

References

External links

 Jill Clayburgh – Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing.org

1944 births
2010 deaths
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses
Deaths from cancer in Connecticut
Deaths from chronic lymphocytic leukemia
American film actresses
American stage actresses
American television actresses
Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute alumni
Actresses from New York City
Sarah Lawrence College alumni
Actresses from Connecticut
American people of Jewish descent
Brearley School alumni
Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress winners

Jill Clayburgh


The  semiconductor industry, including Integrated Circuit (IC) manufacturing, design, and packing, forms a major part of Taiwan's IT industry. Due to its strong capabilities in OEM wafer manufacturing and a complete industry supply chain, Taiwan has been able to distinguish itself as a leading microchip manufacturer and dominate the global marketplace. Taiwan's semiconductor sector accounted for US$115 billion, around 20 percent of the global semiconductor industry. In sectors such as foundry operations, Taiwanese companies account for 50 percent of the world market, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) the biggest player in the foundry market.

Overview
TSMC and United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) are the two largest contract chipmakers in the world, while MediaTek is the fourth-largest fabless semiconductor company globally. ASE Group is also the world's largest Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) provider.

History
The Taiwanese semiconductor industry got its start in 1974. In 1976 the government convinced RCA to transfer semiconductor technology to Taiwan.

In 1987, TSMC pioneered the fabless foundry model, reshaping the global semiconductor industry. From ITRI's first 3-inch wafer fabrication plant built in 1977 and the founding of UMC in 1980, the industry had developed into a world leader with 40 fabs in operation by 2002. In 2007, the semiconductor industry overtook that of the United States, second only to Japan.

The sector output reached US$39 billion in 2009, ranking first in global market share in IC manufacturing, packaging, and testing, and second in IC design. Although the global financial crisis from 2007 to 2010 affected sales and exports, the industry has rebounded with companies posting record profits for 2010. In 2010 Taiwan had the largest share of 300 nm, 90 nm, and 60 nm manufacturing capacities worldwide, and was expected to pass Japan in total IC fab capacity by mid-2011. By 2020, Taiwan was the unmatched leader of the global semiconductor industry with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) alone accounting for more than 50% of the global market.

Sustainability
The semiconductor industry uses a large portion of the power produced in Taiwan. By 2022 TSMC alone is estimated to consume 7.2% of Taiwan's total power output. Due to pressure from customers and government regulations the semiconductor industry has been switching to green power. In July 2020 TSMC signed a 20-year deal with Ørsted to buy the entire production of two offshore wind farms under development off Taiwan's west coast. At the time of its signing it was the largest corporate green energy order ever made. Much of the switch to renewable energy has been mandated by Apple Inc. whose primary components suppliers are located on Taiwan.

Cybersecurity
The Taiwanese semiconductor industry is one of the top targets of Chinese intelligence activity abroad.

Geopolitics
Taiwanese TSMC and South Korean rival Samsung have near total control of the leading edge of the semiconductor industry with TSMC significantly ahead of Samsung. This situation in which global production capabilities have been concentrated in just a few selected countries leads to significant geopolitical challenges and contributes heavily to changes in global techno-politics.

Due to its significant position in both the American and Chinese tech industry supply chains, Taiwan has been enmeshed in the technological in the China–United States trade war and the larger geopolitical conflict between the two powers. The US prohibited companies which use American equipment or IP from exporting products to prohibited companies in China. This forced Taiwanese semiconductor companies to stop doing business with major Chinese clients like Huawei.

In January 2021 the German government appealed to the Taiwanese government to help persuade Taiwanese semiconductor companies to ramp up production as a global semiconductor shortage was hampering the German economy's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. A lack of semiconductors had caused vehicle production lines to be idled, leading German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier to personally reach out to Taiwan's economics affairs minister Wang Mei-hua in an attempt to get Taiwanese semiconductor companies to increase their manufacturing capacity. Similar requests had been made by the United States, the European Union, and Japan. The Taiwanese government and TSMC announced that as much as possible priority would be given to automakers from Taiwan's close geopolitical allies.

In April 2021 the US Government blacklisted seven Chinese supercomputing companies due to alleged involvement in supplying equipment to the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA), Chinese military–industrial complex, and Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD) programs. In response Taiwanese chipmakers Alchip and TSMC suspended new orders from Chinese supercomputing company Tianjin Phytium Information Technology.

The geopolitical strength of the semiconductor industry is often referred to as Taiwan's "Silicon Shield." According to the New York Times, "Taiwan has relied on its dominance of the microchip industry for its defense," and that, "because its semiconductor industry is so important to Chinese manufacturing and the United States consumer economy, actions that threaten its foundries would be too risky." In 2022 Matthew Pottinger challenged the existence of a Silicon Shield arguing that China does not behave in ways which appear rational to audiences in democratic countries.

See also
 Semiconductor industry in India
 Semiconductor industry in China
 Defense industry of Taiwan

References

Semiconductor device fabrication
Semiconductor industry by country
Industry in Taiwan

Semiconductor industry in Taiwan


Horatio Alger Jr. (; January 13, 1832 – July 18, 1899) was an American author who wrote young adult novels about impoverished boys and their rise from humble backgrounds to middle-class security and comfort through good works. His writings were characterized by the "rags-to-riches" narrative, which had a formative effect on the United States from 1868 through to his death in 1899.

Alger secured his literary niche in 1868 with the publication of his fourth book, Ragged Dick, the story of a poor bootblack's rise to middle-class respectability. This novel was a huge success. His many books that followed were essentially variations on Ragged Dick and featured stock characters: the valiant, hardworking, honest youth; the noble mysterious stranger; the snobbish youth; and the evil, greedy squire. In the 1870s, Alger's fiction was growing stale. His publisher suggested he tour the Western United States for fresh material to incorporate into his fiction. Alger took a trip to California, but the trip had little effect on his writing: he remained mired in the staid theme of "poor boy makes good". The backdrops of these novels, however, became the Western United States, rather than the urban environments of the Northeastern United States.

Biography

Childhood: 1832–1847
Alger was born on January 13, 1832, in the New England coastal town of Chelsea, Massachusetts, the son of Horatio Alger Sr., a Unitarian minister, and Olive Augusta Fenno.

He had many connections with the New England Puritan aristocracy of the early 19th century. He was the descendant of Pilgrim Fathers Robert Cushman, Thomas Cushman, and William Bassett. He was also the descendant of Sylvanus Lazell, a Minuteman and brigadier general in the War of 1812, and Edmund Lazell, a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1788.

Alger's siblings Olive Augusta and James were born in 1833 and 1836, respectively. An invalid sister, Annie, was born in 1840, and a brother, Francis, in 1842. Alger was a precocious boy afflicted with myopia and asthma, but Alger Sr. decided early that his eldest son would one day enter the ministry. To that end, Alger's father tutored him in classical studies and allowed him to observe the responsibilities of ministering to parishioners.

Alger began attending Chelsea Grammar School in 1842, but by December 1844 his father's financial troubles had worsened considerably. In search of a better salary, he moved the family to Marlborough, Massachusetts, an agricultural town 25 miles west of Boston, where he was installed as pastor of the Second Congregational Society in January 1845 with a salary sufficient to meet his needs. Alger attended Gates Academy, a local preparatory school, and completed his studies at age 15. He published his earliest literary works in local newspapers.

Harvard and early works: 1848–1864

In July 1848, Alger passed the Harvard entrance examinations and was admitted to the class of 1852. The 14-member, full-time Harvard faculty included Louis Agassiz and Asa Gray (sciences), Cornelius Conway Felton (classics), James Walker (religion and philosophy), and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (belles-lettres). Edward Everett served as president. Alger's classmate Joseph Hodges Choate described Harvard at this time as "provincial and local because its scope and outlook hardly extended beyond the boundaries of New England; besides which it was very denominational, being held exclusively in the hands of Unitarians".

Alger thrived in the highly disciplined and regimented Harvard environment, winning scholastic and other prestigious awards. His genteel poverty and less-than-aristocratic heritage, however, barred him from membership in the Hasty Pudding Club and the Porcellian Club. In 1849 he became a professional writer when he sold two essays and a poem to the Pictorial National Library, a Boston magazine. He began reading Walter Scott, James Fenimore Cooper, Herman Melville, and other modern writers of fiction and cultivated a lifelong love for Longfellow, whose verse he sometimes employed as a model for his own. He was chosen Class Odist and graduated with Phi Beta Kappa Society honors in 1852, eighth in a class of 88.

Alger had no job prospects following graduation and returned home. He continued to write, submitting his work to religious and literary magazines, with varying success. He briefly attended Harvard Divinity School in 1853, possibly to be reunited with a romantic interest, but he left in November 1853 to take a job as an assistant editor at the Boston Daily Advertiser. He loathed editing and quit in 1854 to teach at The Grange, a boys' boarding school in Rhode Island. When The Grange suspended operations in 1856, Alger found employment directing the 1856 summer session at Deerfield Academy.

His first book, Bertha's Christmas Vision: An Autumn Sheaf, a collection of short pieces, was published in 1856, and his second book, Nothing to Do: A Tilt at Our Best Society, a lengthy satirical poem, was published in 1857. He attended Harvard Divinity School from 1857 to 1860 and, upon graduation, toured Europe. In the spring of 1861, he returned to a nation in the throes of the Civil War. Exempted from military service for health reasons in July 1863, he wrote in support of the Union cause and associated with New England intellectuals. He was elected an officer in the New England Historic Genealogical Society in 1863.

His first novel, Marie Bertrand: The Felon's Daughter, was serialized in New York Weekly in 1864, and his first boys' book, Frank's Campaign, was published by A. K. Loring in Boston the same year. Alger initially wrote for adult magazines, including Harper's Magazine and Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, but a friendship with William Taylor Adams, a boys' author, led him to write for the young.

Ministry: 1864–1866
On December 8, 1864, Alger was enlisted as a pastor with the First Unitarian Church and Society of Brewster, Massachusetts. Between ministerial duties, he organized games and amusements for boys in the parish, railed against smoking and drinking, and organized and served as president of the local chapter of the Cadets for Temperance. He submitted stories to The Student and Schoolmate, a boys' monthly magazine of moral writings, edited by William Taylor Adams and published in Boston by Joseph H. Allen. In September 1865 his second boys' book, Paul Prescott's Charge, was published and received favorable reviews.

Child sexual abuse
Early in 1866, a church committee of men was formed to investigate reports that Alger had sexually molested boys. Church officials reported to the hierarchy in Boston that Alger had been charged with "the abominable and revolting crime of gross familiarity with boys". Alger denied nothing, admitted he had been imprudent, considered his association with the church dissolved, and left town. Alger sent Unitarian officials in Boston a letter of remorse, and his father assured them his son would never seek another post in the church. The officials were satisfied and decided no further action would be taken.

New York City: 1866–1896

In 1866, Alger relocated to New York City where he studied the condition of the street boys, and found in them an abundance of interesting material for stories. He abandoned forever any thought of a career in the church, and focused instead on his writing. He wrote "Friar Anselmo" at this time, a poem that tells of a sinning cleric's atonement through good deeds. He became interested in the welfare of the thousands of vagrant children who flooded New York City following the Civil War. He attended a children's church service at Five Points, which led to "John Maynard", a ballad about an actual shipwreck on Lake Erie, which brought Alger not only the respect of the literati but a letter from Longfellow. He published two poorly received adult novels, Helen Ford and Timothy Crump's Ward. He fared better with stories for boys published in Student and Schoolmate and a third boys' book, Charlie Codman's Cruise.

In January 1867 the first of 12 installments of Ragged Dick appeared in Student and Schoolmate. The story, about a poor bootblack's rise to middle-class respectability, was a huge success. It was expanded and published as a novel in 1868. It proved to be his best-selling work. After Ragged Dick he wrote almost entirely for boys, and he signed a contract with publisher Loring for a Ragged Dick Series.

In spite of the series' success, Alger was on financially uncertain ground and tutored the five sons of the international banker Joseph Seligman. He wrote serials for Young Israel and lived in the Seligman home until 1876. In 1875 Alger produced the serial Shifting for Himself and Sam's Chance, a sequel to The Young Outlaw. It was evident in these books that Alger had grown stale. Profits suffered, and he headed West for new material at Loring's behest, arriving in California in February 1877. He enjoyed a reunion with his brother James in San Francisco and returned to New York late in 1877 on a schooner that sailed around Cape Horn. He wrote a few lackluster books in the following years, rehashing his established themes, but this time the tales were played before a Western background rather than an urban one.

In New York, Alger continued to tutor the town's aristocratic youth and to rehabilitate boys from the streets. He was writing both urban and Western-themed tales. In 1879, for example, he published The District Messenger Boy and The Young Miner. In 1877, Alger's fiction became a target of librarians concerned about sensational juvenile fiction. An effort was made to remove his works from public collections, but the debate was only partially successful, defeated by the renewed interest in his work after his death.

In 1881, Alger informally adopted Charlie Davis, a street boy, and another, John Downie, in 1883; they lived in Alger's apartment. In 1881, he wrote a biography of President James A. Garfield but filled the work with contrived conversations and boyish excitements rather than facts. The book sold well. Alger was commissioned to write a biography of Abraham Lincoln, but again it was Alger the boys' novelist opting for thrills rather than facts.

In 1882, Alger's father died. Alger continued to produce stories of honest boys outwitting evil, greedy squires and malicious youths. His work appeared in hardcover and paperback, and decades-old poems were published in anthologies. He led a busy life with street boys, Harvard classmates, and the social elite. In Massachusetts, he was regarded with the same reverence as Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Last years: 1896–1899

In the last two decades of the 19th century, the quality of Alger's books deteriorated, and his boys' works became nothing more than reruns of the plots and themes of his past. The times had changed, boys expected more, and a streak of violence entered Alger's work. In The Young Bank Messenger, for example, a woman is throttled and threatened with death—something that never occurred in his earlier work.

He attended the theater and Harvard reunions, read literary magazines, and wrote a poem at Longfellow's death in 1882. His last novel for adults, The Disagreeable Woman, was published under the pseudonym Julian Starr. He took pleasure in the successes of the boys he had informally adopted over the years, retained his interest in reform, accepted speaking engagements, and read portions of Ragged Dick to boys' assemblies.

His popularity—and income—dwindled in the 1890s. In 1896, he had what he called a "nervous breakdown"; he relocated permanently to his sister's home in South Natick, Massachusetts.

He suffered from bronchitis and asthma for two years. He died on July 18, 1899, at the home of his sister. His death was barely noticed. He is buried in the family lot at Glenwood Cemetery, South Natick, Massachusetts.

Before his death, Alger asked Edward Stratemeyer to complete his unfinished works. In 1901, Young Captain Jack was completed by Stratemeyer and promoted as Alger's last work. Alger once estimated that he earned only $100,000 between 1866 and 1896; at his death he had little money, leaving only small sums to family and friends. His literary work was bequeathed to his niece, to two boys he had casually adopted, and to his sister Olive Augusta, who destroyed his manuscripts and his letters, according to his wishes.

Alger's works received favorable comments and experienced a resurgence following his death. By 1926, he sold around 20 million copies in the United States. In 1926, however, reader interest plummeted, and his major publisher ceased printing the books altogether. Surveys in 1932 and 1947 revealed very few children had read or even heard of Alger. The first Alger biography was a heavily fictionalized account published in 1928 by Herbert R. Mayes, who later admitted the work was a fraud.

Legacy
Since 1947, the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans has bestowed an annual award on "outstanding individuals in our society who have succeeded in the face of adversity" and scholarships "to encourage young people to pursue their dreams with determination and perseverance".

In 1982, to mark his 150th birthday, the Children's Aid Society held a celebration. Helen M. Gray, the executive director of the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, presented a selection of Alger's books to Philip Coltoff, the Children's Aid Society executive director.

A 1982 musical, Shine!, was based on Alger's work, particularly Ragged Dick and Silas Snobden's Office Boy.

In 2015, many of Alger's books were published as illustrated paperbacks and ebooks under the title "Stories of Success" by Horatio Alger. In addition, Alger's books were offered as dramatic audiobooks by the same publisher.

Style and themes

Alger scholar Gary Scharnhorst describes Alger's style as "anachronistic", "often laughable", "distinctive", and "distinguished by the quality of its literary allusions". Ranging from the Bible and William Shakespeare (half of Alger's books contain Shakespearean references) to John Milton and Cicero, the allusions he employed were a testament to his erudition. Scharnhorst credits these allusions with distinguishing Alger's novels from pulp fiction.

Scharnhorst describes six major themes in Alger's boys' books. The first, the Rise to Respectability, he observes, is evident in both his early and his late books, notably Ragged Dick, whose impoverished young hero declares, "I mean to turn over a new leaf, and try to grow up 'spectable." His virtuous life wins him not riches but, more realistically, a comfortable clerical position and salary. The second major theme is Character Strengthened Through Adversity. In Strong and Steady and Shifting for Himself, for example, the affluent heroes are reduced to poverty and forced to meet the demands of their new circumstances. Alger occasionally cited the young Abe Lincoln as a representative of this theme for his readers. The third theme is Beauty versus Money, which became central to Alger's adult fiction. Characters fall in love and marry on the basis of their character, talents, or intellect rather than the size of their bank accounts. In The Train Boy, for example, a wealthy heiress chooses to marry a talented but struggling artist, and in The Erie Train Boy a poor woman wins her true love despite the machinations of a rich, depraved suitor. Other major themes include the Old World versus the New.

All of Alger's novels have similar plots: a boy struggles to escape poverty through hard work and clean living. However, it is not always the hard work and clean living that rescue the boy from his situation, but rather a wealthy older gentleman, who admires the boy as a result of some extraordinary act of bravery or honesty that the boy has performed. For example, the boy rescues a child from an overturned carriage or finds and returns the man's stolen watch. Often the older man takes the boy into his home as a ward or companion and helps him find a better job, sometimes replacing a less honest or less industrious boy.

According to Scharnhorst, Alger's father was "an impoverished man" who defaulted on his debts in 1844. His properties around Chelsea were seized and assigned to a local squire who held the mortgages. Scharnhorst speculates this episode in Alger's childhood accounts for the recurrent theme in his boys' books of heroes threatened with eviction or foreclosure and may account for Alger's "consistent espousal of environmental reform proposals". Scharnhorst  writes, "Financially insecure throughout his life, the younger Alger may have been active in reform organizations such as those for temperance and children's aid as a means of resolving his status-anxiety and establish his genteel credentials for leadership."

Alger scholar Edwin P. Hoyt notes that Alger's morality "coarsened" around 1880, possibly influenced by the Western tales he was writing, because "the most dreadful things were now almost casually proposed and explored". Although he continued to write for boys, Alger explored subjects like violence and "openness in the relations between the sexes and generations"; Hoyt attributes this shift to the decline of Puritan ethics in America.

Scholar John Geck notes that Alger relied on "formulas for experience rather than shrewd analysis of human behavior", and that these formulas were "culturally centered" and "strongly didactic". Although the frontier society was a thing of the past during Alger's career, Geck contends that "the idea of the frontier, even in urban slums, provides a kind of fairy tale orientation in which a Jack mentality can be both celebrated and critiqued". He claims that Alger's intended audience were youths whose "motivations for action are effectively shaped by the lessons they learn".

Geck notes that perception of the "pluck" characteristic of an Alger hero has changed over the decades. During the Jazz Age and the Great Depression, "the Horatio Alger plot was viewed from the perspective of Progressivism as a staunch defense of laissez-faire capitalism, yet at the same time criticizing the cutthroat business techniques and offering hope to a suffering young generation during the Great Depression". By the Atomic Age, however "Alger's hero was no longer a poor boy who, through determination and providence rose to middle-class respectability. He was instead the crafty street urchin who through quick wits and luck rose from impoverishment to riches".

Geck observes that Alger's themes have been transformed in modern America from their original meanings into a male Cinderella myth and are an Americanization of the traditional Jack tales. Each story has its clever hero, its "fairy godmother", and obstacles and hindrances to the hero's rise. "However", he writes, "the true Americanization of this fairy tale occurs in its subversion of this claiming of nobility; rather, the Alger hero achieves the American Dream in its nascent form, he gains a position of middle-class respectability that promises to lead wherever his motivation may take him". The reader may speculate what Cinderella achieved as Queen and what an Alger hero attained once his middle-class status was stabilized, and "[i]t is this commonality that fixes Horatio Alger firmly in the ranks of modern adaptors of the Cinderella myth".

Personal life
Scharnhorst writes that Alger "exercised a certain discretion in discussing his probable homosexuality" and was known to have mentioned his sexuality only once after the Brewster incident. In 1870  Henry James Sr. wrote that Alger "talks freely about his own late insanity—which he in fact appears to enjoy as a subject of conversation". Although Alger was willing to speak to James, his sexuality was a closely guarded secret. According to Scharnhorst, Alger made veiled references to homosexuality in his boys' books, and these references, Scharnhorst speculates, indicate Alger was "insecure with his sexual orientation". Alger wrote, for example, that it was difficult to distinguish whether Tattered Tom was a boy or a girl and in other instances, he introduces foppish, effeminate, lisping "stereotypical homosexuals" who are treated with scorn and pity by others. In Silas Snobden's Office Boy, a kidnapped boy disguised as a girl is threatened with being sent to the "insane asylum" if he should reveal his actual sex. Scharnhorst believes Alger's desire to atone for his "secret sin" may have "spurred him to identify his own charitable acts of writing didactic books for boys with the acts of the charitable patrons in his books who wish to atone for a secret sin in their past by aiding the hero". Scharnhorst points out that the patron in Try and Trust, for example, conceals a "sad secret" from which he is redeemed only after saving the hero's life.

Alan Trachtenberg, in his introduction to the Signet Classic edition of Ragged Dick (1990), points out that Alger had tremendous sympathy for boys and discovered a calling for himself in the composition of boys' books. "He learned to consult the boy in himself", Trachtenberg writes, "to transmute and recast himself—his genteel culture, his liberal patrician sympathy for underdogs, his shaky economic status as an author, and not least, his dangerous erotic attraction to boys—into his juvenile fiction". He observes that it is impossible to know whether Alger lived the life of a secret homosexual, "[b]ut there are hints that the male companionship he describes as a refuge from the streets—the cozy domestic arrangements between Dick and Fosdick, for example—may also be an erotic relationship". Trachtenberg observes that nothing prurient occurs in Ragged Dick but believes the few instances in Alger's work of two boys touching or a man and a boy touching "might arouse erotic wishes in readers prepared to entertain such fantasies". Such images, Trachtenberg believes, may imply "a positive view of homoeroticism as an alternative way of life, of living by sympathy rather than aggression". Trachtenberg concludes, "in Ragged Dick we see Alger plotting domestic romance, complete with a surrogate marriage of two homeless boys, as the setting for his formulaic metamorphosis of an outcast street boy into a self-respecting citizen".

Works

Notes

Citations

General references

Further reading

Published resources

 Nackenoff, Carol. "The Horatio Alger Myth", in Myth America: A Historical Anthology, Volume II. 1997. Gerster, Patrick, and Cords, Nicholas. (editors.) Brandywine Press, St. James, NY.

Archival resources
 The Papers of Horatio Alger, 1880–1953 (990 pieces) are housed at the Huntington Library.
 The H. Jack Barker Papers, undated (3 linear feet), are housed at Emory University's Manuscripts, Archives, & Rare Book Library.
 The Seligman Family Papers, 1877–1934 (0.8 linear feet), are housed at the American Jewish Archives, in Cincinnati, Ohio.

External links

 Horatio Alger research page at the University of Rochester
 Horatio Alger Society Home Page
 The Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans
 The Horatio Alger Collection at Northern Illinois University
 The Horatio Alger Fellowship for the Study of American Popular Culture at Northern Illinois University
 "Horatio Alger and the 100-Year-Old Secret" New England Historical Society article

1832 births
1899 deaths
19th-century American journalists
19th-century American male writers
19th-century American novelists
19th-century American LGBT people
American male journalists
American male novelists
American Unitarians
Boston Daily Advertiser people
Harvard College alumni
Harvard Divinity School alumni
Heads of Deerfield Academy
American LGBT journalists
LGBT people from Massachusetts
American LGBT writers
Novelists from Massachusetts
Writers from Chelsea, Massachusetts
19th-century American educators

Horatio Alger


The Palace of Caserta is a palace in Italy. It is near Naples. The palace was built by King Carlo VII of Naples. It was one of the largest buildings built in Italy in the 8th century. It was mainly used as a summer home of the royal family of the Two Sicilies. In Italian, it is known as the Reggia di Caserta. The palace has about 1,200 rooms. These include two dozen state apartments and a large theatre modelled after the Teatro San Carlo of Naples. It is often compared to the Palace of Versailles and is called the "Italian Versailles".

In 1997, the palace was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The nomination said it was "the swan song of the spectacular art of the Baroque, from which it adopted all the features needed to create the illusions of multidirectional space". The king wanted a magnificent new royal court and administrative center for the Kingdom in a place protected from sea attack.

The palace was used during the filming of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

Notes and references

Palaces in Italy
Former royal residences

Palace of Caserta


Montero Lamar Hill (born April 9, 1999), known by his stage name Lil Nas X ( ), is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He rose to prominence with the release of his country rap single "Old Town Road", which spent 19 weeks atop the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming the longest-running number-one song since the chart debuted in 1958. As the song was atop the Hot 100, Lil Nas X came out as gay, becoming the only artist to do so while having a number-one record.

Following the success of "Old Town Road", Lil Nas X released his debut extended play, titled 7, which spawned two further singles, with "Panini" peaking at number five and "Rodeo" (featuring Cardi B or Nas) peaking at number 22 on the Hot 100. His debut studio album, Montero (2021), was supported by the chart-topping singles "Montero (Call Me by Your Name)" and "Industry Baby" (featuring Jack Harlow) and the top-ten single "Thats What I Want", and was nominated for Album of the Year at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.

Known for his boldly queer visuals and social media presence, Lil Nas X has received numerous accolades, including two Grammy Awards, five Billboard Music Awards, five MTV Video Music Awards, two BET Hip Hop Awards, two iHeartRadio Music Awards and two American Music Awards. He has also been awarded by Songwriters Hall of Fame as the youngest honoree of the Hal David Starlight Award. "Old Town Road" ranks as the second highest-certified song in the United States, with 17-times platinum status. He ranked on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2020 and Times annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2021.

Early life and education
Montero Lamar Hill was born in Lithia Springs, Georgia, on April 9, 1999. He was named after the Mitsubishi Montero. His parents divorced when he was six, and he settled in the Bankhead Courts housing project in the  Bankhead neighborhood of Atlanta  with his mother and grandmother. Three years later, he moved in with his father, a gospel singer, north of the city in Austell. Although initially reluctant to leave, he later regarded it as an important decision, "There's so much shit going on in Atlanta—if I would have stayed there, I would have fallen in with the wrong crowd." He started "using the Internet heavily right around the time when memes started to become their own form of entertainment"; about when he was 13.

He spent much of his teenage years alone, and turned to the Internet, "particularly Twitter, creating memes that showed his disarming wit and pop-culture savvy." His teenage years also saw him struggling with his coming out to himself as being gay; he prayed that it was just a phase, but around 16 or 17 he came to accept it. He began playing trumpet in the fourth grade and was first chair by his junior high years, but quit out of fear of looking uncool.

Hill attended Lithia Springs High School, from which he graduated in 2017. He then enrolled at the University of West Georgia, where he majored in computer science, but later dropped out after one year to pursue a musical career. During this time, he stayed with his sister and supported himself with jobs at Zaxby's restaurants and the Six Flags Over Georgia theme park. In September 2019 he revisited his high school to perform a surprise concert.

Career

2015–2017: Internet personality
Hill said he began to isolate himself from "outside-of-class activities" during his teenage years. He spent large amounts of time online in hopes of building a following as an internet personality to promote his work, but was unsure what to focus on creatively. In a Rolling Stone interview he stated, "I was doing Facebook comedy videos, then I moved over to Instagram, and then I hopped on Twitter ... where I really was a master. That was the first place where I could go viral." He also posted short-format comedy videos on Facebook and Vine.

During this period, he reportedly created and ran Nicki Minaj fan accounts on Twitter, including one called "@NasMaraj", according to a New York Magazine investigation. In 2017, this account gained attention for its flash fiction-style interactive "scenario threads" popularized on Twitter using dashboard app TweetDeck. The investigation linked @NasMaraj to the practice of "Tweetdecking", or using multiple accounts in collaboration to artificially make certain tweets go viral. The @NasMaraj account was suspended by Twitter due to "violating spam policies". After the suspension of @NasMaraj, New York Magazine's investigation concluded that he subsequently opened a new account with handle "@NasMarai", and that his current Twitter account at the time was a repurposed version of that "@NasMarai" account with a changed handle. After media reports linked Lil Nas X to the Minaj fan accounts, he called the reports a "misunderstanding", effectively denying having run the accounts. However, in May 2020, Lil Nas X admitted, in a tweet, to being a fan of Minaj. He explained why he initially denied it, stating that if people knew he was a fan of hers, they would think he was gay: "People will assume if you had an entire fan page dedicated to nicki u are gay. and the rap/music industry ain't exactly built or accepting of gay men yet". On June 17, 2020, Minaj responded to Nas, tweeting "It was a bit of a sting when you denied being a barb, but I understand. Congratulations on building up your confidence to speak your truth". Lil Nas apologized to Minaj, saying he "felt so bad, hoping u wouldn't see my denial". The @NasMarai account was later mentioned in a New York Times Magazine article, which described Hill as having spent "every waking hour online, tweeting as @nasmaraj". It is also referenced in the music video for "Sun Goes Down", which shows Lil Nas X's many struggles growing up as a closeted teen and embracing his sexuality; he is seen tweeting while in high school from an account named "nasmiraj" as the lyrics "I'd be by the phone, stanning Nicki morning into dawn" play.

Sometime in the year 2018, Hill landed on music as a path to success, and started writing and recording songs in his closet. He adopted the name Lil Nas X, which is a tribute to the rapper Nas. On July 24, 2018, Lil Nas released his first mixtape Nasarati on SoundCloud, though it was not received with immediate fame; Nasarati would be removed from streaming services soon after the release of Old Town Road due to a copyright conflict and therefore would never gain significant traction. In late October 2018, he happened to hear the beat that would become "Old Town Road".

2018–2019: Breakthrough with "Old Town Road" and 7

On December 3, 2018, Lil Nas X released the country rap song "Old Town Road". He bought the beat for the song anonymously on beat-selling platform BeatStars from Dutch producer YoungKio for $30; it samples Nine Inch Nails' track "34 Ghosts IV" from their sixth studio album Ghosts I–IV (2008). He recorded at a "humble" Atlanta studio, CinCoYo, on their "$20 Tuesdays" taking less than an hour. Lil Nas X began creating memes to promote "Old Town Road" before it was picked up by short-form video social media TikTok users. TikTok encourages its 500 million global users to "endless imitation", with videos generating copies usually using the same music; the "app's frantic churn of content ...acts as a potent incubator for viral music hits." Lil Nas X estimated he made about 100 memes to promote it; the song went viral in early 2019 due to the #Yeehaw Challenge meme on TikTok. Millions of users posted videos of themselves dressed as a wrangler or cowgirl, with most #yeehaw videos using the song for their soundtrack; as of July 2019, they have been seen more than 67 million times. Another core audience tied to social media is children who are hidden in the statistics of adult listeners. Quartz.com says the song certainly owes part of its success to the demographic, and notes they are attracted to the song being repetitive, easy to sing along to, and using lyrics about riding horses and tractors, which children can relate to. It debuted at number 83 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, later climbing to number one. The track also debuted on the Hot Country Songs chart at number 19 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs at number 36. After an "intense bidding war", Lil Nas X signed with Columbia Records in March 2019. Billboard controversially removed the song from the Hot Country songs chart in March 2019 telling Rolling Stone:

In Robert Christgau's opinion, "Taking 'Old Town Road' off the country chart strikes me as racist pure and simple, because country radio remains racist regardless of the Darius Ruckers and Kane Browns it makes room for." Another Billboard spokesperson told Genius, "Billboards decision to take the song off of the country chart had absolutely nothing to do with the race of the artist." Despite being removed from the main Country Songs chart, the song charted on Billboard's Country Airplay chart, debuting at 53, and peaking at 50. In response, Sony Music Nashville CEO Randy Goodman told Billboard that his team started testing the song in some country radio markets, adding "it would be negligent not to look at it". In May 2019, the issues of racism in country music culture came up again when Wrangler announced its Lil Nas X collection, and some consumers threatened a boycott. Media outlets also noted that the song brings attention to the historic cultural erasure of African-Americans from both country music and the American frontier era.

Country music star Billy Ray Cyrus featured in an April 2019 remix of "Old Town Road", the first of several. That same month, Lil Nas X broke Drake's record for the most U.S. streams from one song in one week with 143 million streams for the week ending April 11, surpassing Drake's "In My Feelings", which had 116.2 million streams in a week in July 2018; as of August 2019 it has streamed over a billion plays on Spotify alone. In May 2019, the video was released and as of August 2019, has over 370 million views. NBC News's Michael Arceneaux wrote, "In the social media age, Lil Nas X is arguably the first micro-platform crossover star."

"Panini" was released as Lil Nas X's second single through Columbia Records on June 20, 2019. It is named after the fictional cabbit bear of the same name in the animated television series Chowder, and does not refer to the sandwich of the same name. In mid-September 2019 "Panini" had its first remix released with rapper DaBaby. Lil Nas X released his debut extended play, titled 7, on June 21, 2019. The EP debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart. On June 23, 2019, Lil Nas X performed with Cyrus at the 2019 BET Awards. On June 30, Lil Nas X made his international debut at the largest greenfield festival in the world, the UK's annual Glastonbury Festival, when he and Billy Ray Cyrus made a surprise appearance and joined Miley Cyrus for the song, before performing "Panini" solo in a set seen nationally on BBC. On the same day, Lil Nas X became one of the most visible Black queer male singers when he came out as gay. This was especially significant for an artist in the country and hip hop genres, both of which emphasize machismo and "historically snubbed queer artists". Black queer male artists in hip hop having mainstream acceptance arguably started in 2012 with Frank Ocean's coming out just before Channel Orange was released. Rolling Stone premiered the Rolling Stone Top 100 in early July with three Lil Nas X songs: "Rodeo" with Cardi B at number nine; "Panini" at four; and "Old Town Road" as the first-ever number-one song on the chart.

On August 19, 2019, Lil Nas X opened for Katy Perry at a concert Amazon held for its employees to celebrate its Prime Day sale.

2020–2021: Montero
On July 7, 2020, Lil Nas X revealed that his debut album was "almost finished". He also stated that he was working on a mixtape, and invited producers to submit their beats for his new music. On November 8, 2020, he announced a new single, "Holiday", which was released on November 13. On Roblox, a virtual concert was held to promote Lil Nas X's single, with Lil Nas X-related items in the game's avatar shop. The single debuted at 37 on the Billboard Hot 100, while the song's music video accumulated tens of millions of views within the first several weeks of release.

In January 2021, he released a children's book, C Is for Country. The following month, he previewed his new song, "Montero (Call Me by Your Name)" in a Super Bowl LV commercial. The song was officially released on March 26, 2021, along with an accompanying music video. On the same day, Lil Nas X revealed that his debut album would be named Montero, and that it would be released in mid-2021. The video prompted strong reactions. The song was seen by many as a valuable expression of queerness, though prominent conservative and Christian figures accused Lil Nas X of sacrilege and devil worship. Despite the controversy, "Montero (Call Me by Your Name)", debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Lil Nas X's second chart-topping single and third top-ten single.

On March 29, 2021, Lil Nas X partnered with New York-based art collective MSCHF to release a modified pair of Nike Air Max 97s called Satan Shoes, which may be seen on Satan's feet in the music video used to promote the release of "Montero (Call Me by Your Name)". The shoes are black and red with a bronze pentagram, filled with "60cc and 1 drop of human blood". Only 666 pairs were made at a price of $1,018. Nike said they were uninvolved in the creation and promotion of the shoes and did not endorse the messages of Lil Nas X or MSCHF. The company filed a trademark lawsuit against MSCHF in New York federal court. On April 1, the judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking the sale and distribution of the shoes pending a preliminary injunction. Lil Nas X responded to the lawsuit with a meme on Twitter showing himself as the character Squidward, homeless and asking for money. Later, he released a prelude video for the song "Industry Baby", which stages a fake "Nike vs. Lil Nas X" trial in the Supreme Court, during which people discuss the Satan Shoes before condemning the singer for being gay.

Following the controversies surrounding his previous song and its promotion, Lil Nas X released the more introspective single "Sun Goes Down" on May 21, 2021, wherein he reflects on his struggles with bullying and coming to terms with his homosexuality in his upbringing. He performed the song alongside "Montero (Call Me by Your Name)" at Saturday Night Live a day later, where he suffered a wardrobe malfunction during a pole dance routine when the seam of his trousers split, leaving him unable to finish it properly. On June 29, Lil Nas posted a promotional video of his debut album, ending it with Montero, the Album. He also posted a snippet of a previously teased track called "Industry Baby". The song was released as a single on July 23, featuring rapper Jack Harlow, with production by Kanye West and Take a Daytrip. The song debuted at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number one on the chart for the ending week of October 23, 2021, becoming Lil Nas X's fourth top-ten single and third number one.

On September 17, 2021, Montero was released, along with its fourth single, "Thats What I Want". On October 23, 2021, Lil Nas X made a surprise appearance at Diplo's set at Electronic Daisy Carnival Las Vegas. During the appearance he performed "Industry Baby", "Montero (Call Me by Your Name)", and "Old Town Road".

2022: Upcoming second studio album
On April 26, 2022, he announced his first concert tour, the Long Live Montero Tour. The tour was in support of Montero, and began in September 2022 and ran through January 2023.

On March 16, 2022, Lil Nas X returned from his hiatus, and teased two songs from his "almost finished" new album, "Late to da Party" featuring YoungBoy Never Broke Again, and "Down Souf Hoes" featuring Saucy Santana. He also posted a preview of the track "Lean on My Body". On June 24, 2022, Lil Nas X released "Late to da Party", and later clarified via Twitter that it was "not a lead single". Lil Nas X said that the album would be "something fun, something for the summertime, something for the girls to get ready and party to".

On his Long Live Montero Tour, Lil Nas X performed his then-unreleased single "Star Walkin'" and the intro to "Down Souf Hoes".

On September 15, 2022, Riot Games, the developers of the video game League of Legends, announced a collaboration with Lil Nas X for the 2022 League of Legends World Championship through a press release, where they also declared him to be "President of League of Legends", in what Kotaku journalist Isaiah Colbert called a publicity stunt. The anthem for the tournament, "Star Walkin'", was released on September 22 with an accompanying animated music video. He performed the song at the opening ceremony of the tournament on November 5. Additionally, a custom outfit for a playable character in the game co-designed by Lil Nas X will be made available temporarily in November.

On October 19, 2022, Lil Nas X invited Saucy Santana on his tour to perform the intro of "Down Souf Hoes" with an additional previously unheard verse. On March 17, 2023, Lil Nas X performed an extended play of the intro of the song during his Lollapoloza Chile performance.

Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero, a documentary film by Carlos López Estrada and Zac Manuel, premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. The premiere was delayed by roughly half an hour because of a bomb threat from a caller who supposedly targeted Lil Nas X for being a black queer artist. However, according to a spokesperson for the festival, "To our knowledge, this was a general threat and not directed at the film or the artist." The threat was ultimately proven to not be credible.

Musical style and influences
Lil Nas X's musical style has been described as pop rap, hip hop, country rap, trap, pop rock, pop, and rock.

He credits LGBTQ artists Frank Ocean and Tyler, the Creator as inspirations and for "making it easier for me to be where I am, comfortably." Lil Nas X also cites Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry, Drake, Miley Cyrus and Doja Cat as some of his biggest influences. In 2019 he said, "I grew up off the Internet, so my influences come from all over musically." He grew up listening to hip hop artists such as Andre 3000, Kendrick Lamar, Kid Cudi and Lil Uzi Vert.

Impact

Lil Nas X's success caused him to become the first person of color and the first openly gay performer to be listed by Forbes in its annual Highest-Paid Country Acts List. Ken Burns, who produced the PBS documentary Country Music, noted,

Following the release of the music video for "Montero (Call Me by Your Name)", several outlets praised Lil Nas X for his "unabashedly queer" visuals. Variety Adam B. Vary wrote that the video "changed everything for queer music artists", noting that some LGBT artists like Jonathan Knight of New Kids on the Block and Lance Bass of NSYNC sang about women while staying closeted, while others like Elton John and Ricky Martin did not explicitly sing about their sexuality. He described the sexual imagery, including the pole dance, as evoking images of Madonna or Janet Jackson, without the need to hide his homosexuality. The negative reception to the song and music video was characterized by Los Angeles Times and Vice as illustrating a Satanic panic and compared to past moments in popular music history, including jazz music being referred to as "the devil's music" in the early 20th century, John Lennon's comment in a 1966 interview that the Beatles were "more popular than Jesus", backmasking accusations, the Parents Music Resource Center's "Filthy Fifteen", Madonna's music video for "Like a Prayer", Lady Gaga's music videos for "Judas" and "Alejandro", and Nicki Minaj's performance of "Roman Holiday" at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards.

Public image

Lil Nas X has been noted for his public fashions; in July 2019, Vogue noted Lil Nas X as a "master" at giving the cowboy aesthetic a glam look in his appearances and on Instagram. His stylist, Hodo Musa, says he aims for items that are "electric, playful, colorful, and futuristic." For his onstage look at the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards he wore a cowboy motif cherry-red Nudie suit. Wrangler, which is mentioned in the "Old Town Road" lyrics, has consistently sold out of Lil Nas X co-branded fashions.

For the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards Lil Nas X wore several outfits including a head-to-toe couture fuchsia Versace suit with a pink harness that took 700 hours to construct. In July 2020, Lil Nas X modeled in a trailer video for a new skincare line by Rihanna's Fenty Beauty.

In August 2021, Lil Nas X commented "Nah he tweakin" on an Instagram post about Tony Hawk selling skateboards painted with paint that contained his blood. It became a viral phenomenon for the next few days. In 2022, he was criticized for repeatedly grabbing his genitals, and placing his microphone at the center of his crotch and swinging it around, pretending the device was his penis, during his performance at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.

In May 2023, Lil Nas X attended the Met Gala wearing only silver body paint, a thong, and high-heeled platform shoes, with his face covered with rhinestones. His look was inspired by the late German fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld's cat Choupette.

Personal life

Coming out
In early June 2019, Lil Nas X came out to his sister and father and he felt "the universe was signalling him to do so", despite his uncertainty whether his fans would stick by him or not. On June 30, 2019, the last day of Pride Month, Lil Nas X came out publicly as gay. His tweet confirmed earlier suspicions when he first indicated this in his track "c7osure". Rolling Stone noted the song "touches on themes such as coming clean, growing up and embracing one's self". The next day he tweeted again, this time highlighting the rainbow-colored building on the cover art of his EP 7, with the caption reading "deadass thought i made it obvious". He was unambiguous in an interview several days later on BBC Breakfast, where he stated that he was gay and understands that his sexuality is not readily accepted in the country or rap music communities.

The response to the news was mostly positive, but also garnered a large amount of homophobic backlash on social media, to which Lil Nas X also reacted. The backlash also came from the hip hop community, drawing attention to homophobia in hip hop culture. In January 2020, rapper Pastor Troy made homophobic comments on the outfit Lil Nas X wore during the Grammy Awards, to which Lil Nas X responded: "Damn I look good in that pic on god."

In January 2023, Lil Nas X tweeted a new statement about his sexual orientation, writing "be [for real] would y'all be mad at me if i thought i was a little bisexual". The next day, he tweeted "that was my last time coming out the closet i promise".

Religion
Lil Nas X stated in September 2021 that he was an atheist "at one point," but is now "a very spiritual person in terms of the Universe, how everything works."

Achievements

Lil Nas X is the recipient of multiple awards including two Grammy Awards, five Billboard Music Awards, five MTV Video Music Awards, two BET Hip Hop Awards, two iHeartRadio Music Awards and two American Music Awards. He has also been awarded by Songwriters Hall of Fame as the youngest honoree of the Hal David Starlight Award.

Lil Nas X was the most-nominated male artist at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, where he ultimately won awards for Best Music Video and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. Lil Nas X is also the first openly LGBT Black artist to win a Country Music Association award and the first openly LGBTQ person to win an MTV Video Music Award for Song of the Year. In 2021, he became the third artist, following Kendrick Lamar and Taylor Swift, to win an MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year for a video he co-directed – "Montero (Call Me by Your Name)".

Lil Nas X scored three number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In early July 2019, "Old Town Road" achieved its 13th week at the top spot on the Billboard 100, becoming the first hip hop song to do so. It is also the first song to sell 10 million copies while in the top spot. On its 15th week at the top, Lil Nas X became the first openly gay artist to have a song last as long, overtaking Elton John's 1997 Double A-Side—where both sides of the record are promoted as hits, "Candle in the Wind 1997"/"Something About the Way You Look Tonight". At 19 weeks at number one, Lil Nas X holds the record for the most weeks since the chart was first introduced in 1958. , the song has also charted 19 weeks atop the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart; beating a three-way tie record. At 19 weeks at the top of the Hot Rap Songs chart the song has also beaten a three-way tie. By November 2019, the song was Diamond Certified, moving a combined sales and streaming 10 million units.

Time named him as one of the 25 most influential people on the Internet in 2019,  for his "global impact on social media" and "overall ability to drive news". In 2020, he was named on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. In 2021, he appeared on the Time 100, Times annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. On September 1, 2021, The Trevor Project announced that Lil Nas X is the recipient of its inaugural Suicide Prevention Advocate of the Year award.

Discography

Studio albums
Montero (2021)

Tours
 Long Live Montero Tour (2022–23)

Filmography

See also

 List of Billboard Hot 100 chart achievements and milestones
 List of artists who reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100
 List of most-streamed artists on Spotify
 List of bestselling singles worldwide
 LGBT culture in New York City
 LGBTQ+ representations in hip hop music

Notes

References

External links

1999 births
Living people
21st-century American rappers
21st-century African-American male singers
21st-century American LGBT people
African-American male rappers
African-American male singer-songwriters
American bisexual musicians
American hip hop singers
American LGBT singers
American male pop singers
American pop rock singers
American rock singers
American TikTokers
Bisexual male musicians
Bisexual singers
Bisexual songwriters
Columbia Records artists
Country rap musicians
Grammy Award winners
African-American LGBT people
LGBT people from Georgia (U.S. state)
LGBT rappers
LGBT TikTokers
MTV Video Music Award winners
People from Lithia Springs, Georgia
People from Austell, Georgia
Pop rappers
Rappers from Atlanta
Singer-songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state)
Trap musicians
University of West Georgia alumni

Lil Nas X


The 1999–2000 Temple Owls men's basketball team represented Temple University in the 1999–00 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. They were led by head coach John Chaney in his 18th year. The Owls were undefeated at home, both in Atlantic-10 games and overall. After winning the Atlantic-10 Tournament, the Owls received an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament and were seeded #2 in the East Region. They played at the First Niagara Center and defeated the Lafayette Leopards 73–47 in the first round. However, in the second round the Owls were upset by 10th seeded Seton Hall in a close overtime game (65–67).

Roster

Schedule and results

|-
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!colspan=12 style=|Atlantic 10 tournament

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!colspan=12 style=|NCAA tournament

Rankings

Awards and honors
Pepe Sanchez – Atlantic 10 Player of the Year

References

Temple
Temple Owls men's basketball seasons
Temple
Temple
Temple


Louis-Guillaume Otto, comte de Mosloy (7 August 1754 – 9 November 1817) was a Germano-French diplomat.

Life
A student of Christoph Wilhelm von Koch and a friend of Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès at the University of Strasbourg, Ludwig Otto graduated in Modern Languages and Law.

He entered the French diplomatic service, becoming private secretary to César de La Luzerne in Bavaria, before being despatched in 1779 on a diplomatic mission to the newly formed United States of America. Otto fell for Anne Shippen and courted her with letters. Her mother was keen but her father married her to another.

While in Philadelphia, he succeeded François Barbé-Marbois as Secretary of the French Legation in May 1785, serving another two terms as Chargé d'affaires ad interim, having established cordial relations with George Washington and other senior members of Congress. While in the United States he authored reports analyzing the U.S. Constitution and the prospects for its ratification.

In March 1787, Otto married Elizabeth, daughter of Peter Van Brugh Livingston; she died in December 1787. Otto was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1787.

He returned to France at the end of 1792, and shortly afterwards the Revolutionary Government Committee of Public Safety appointed him as the first Head of the Political Division for Foreign Affairs.
However, the fall of the Girondins on 31 May 1793 led to Otto's dismissal and arrest.
He then came close to being guillotined, but survived and followed Abbot Sieyès to Berlin as Secretary to his Legation, remaining there as Chargé d'affaires after Sieyès joined the French Directory.
A letter written by him on 6 July 1799 seems to be the earliest recorded use of the term Industrial Revolution in French; in the letter, he announces that that revolution has begun in France.
He was posted to London in 1800, first as Commissioner responsible for Prisoners of War, before appointment as Minister Plenipotentiary. Instructed to negotiate with the British Cabinet, in 1801, he forged the outline agreement for the Peace of Amiens.

In 1803, he was posted to the Bavarian court of the Prince-Elector Maximilian at Munich.
In 1805, his influence on the Elector impressed Napoleon I, who appointed him to the Conseil d'État and honoured him as Grand officier of the Légion d'honneur.
In 1810 he was despatched as French Ambassador to Vienna, where he negotiated the conditions for Napoleon's second marriage with Archduchess Marie-Louise.
Napoleon rewarded Otto by creating him comte de Mosloy in late 1810.
During his residence in Vienna, Louis Otto came into contact with Klemens, graf von Metternich (State Chancellor of the Austrian Empire), who had also been tutored by Professor von Koch.

The Count was excluded from politics during the First Restoration and retired after the Second Restoration, since he had served as Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs from 24 March until 22 June during the Hundred Days.

Following his death in 1817 Otto was buried in the 37th division at Cimetière du Père-Lachaise in Paris.

Coat of arms
Blazon: "Écartelé, aux 1 et 4 fascé d'or et de sable ; au 2 d'argent à une loutre de sable issante d'une rivière d'azur engoulant un poisson d'or; au 3 de gueules au lion léopardé d'or tenant un coeur d'argent"

See also
List of Ambassadors of France to the United Kingdom

References

External links
www.napoleon-empire.com

1754 births
1817 deaths
People from Kehl
People of the French Revolution
French people of the Napoleonic Wars
Diplomacy during the American Revolutionary War
Grand Officers of the Legion of Honour
Counts of the First French Empire
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery
French people of the American Revolution
18th-century French diplomats
19th-century French diplomats
Ambassadors of France to Great Britain
Ambassadors of France to Prussia
Ambassadors of France to Austria
Members of the American Philosophical Society

Louis-Guillaume Otto


Kokusai himitsu keisatsu: Kagi no kagi (国際秘密警察 鍵の鍵, International Secret Police: Key of Keys), also known as Key of Keys, is a 1965 Japanese comedy-spy movie directed by Senkichi Taniguchi. It is the fourth installment of five movies in the Kokusai himitsu keisatsu series, a parody of James Bond-style spy movies.

Woody Allen used this movie, combined with footage from the third installment Kokusai himitsu keisatsu: Kayaku no taru (国際秘密警察:火薬の樽, International Secret Police: Keg of Gunpowder), to make his directorial debut, in which the original dialogue is redubbed in English to make the plot about a secret egg salad recipe.

As part of Toho's "International Secret Police Series" 3rd part "Keg of Gunpowder" and 4th part "Key of Keys" were replaced by American movie director and actor Woody Allen, and a scene was added to take a picture of the bone. It was re-edited into one comedy gag movie.

The Japanese actors have also appeared in the movie but with different names such as Tatsuya Mihashi ("Phil Moscowitz"), Akiko Wakabayashi ("Suki Yaki"), Mie Hama ("Teri Yaki"), Tadao Nakamaru ("Shepherd Wong"), and Susumu Kurobe ("Wing Fat"). With stereotyped Asian customs as a comic point, it is a careful parody of spy movies represented by the "007 series" at that time.

The content is also a mess that an international spy played by Phil regains the "world's best egg salad recipe" stolen in a certain country, but although it is a parody, it is also Woody Allen's first movie as director. It is a work and is still highly evaluated by American movie critics.

However, Woody himself is said to be extremely avoiding touching this movie. He would appear in Casino Royale in 1967 back in England as Jimmy Bond. DVDs are also on sale overseas, but in Japan, they haven't seen the movie due to issues such as copyrights with Toho, Japan's major movie studio company.

Mie Hama and Akiko Wakabayashi would later be chosen by Eon Productions for the sixth James Bond movie, You Only Live Twice a year later as Bond girls.

Plot
Secret agent Jiro Kitami, who had infiltrated Tonwan, was requested by the director of intelligence Sritai to steal a large amount of money that was hidden by Gegen, leader of the rebel guerrillas associated with "Darkness". He was teamed up with two beautiful female agents, Miichin and Bai-Lan. The three arrived at Yokohama by ship in pursuit of the Gegen Gang, who earned funds through illegal gambling at the casino and prostitution at a local strip club. During the investigation, Kitami met He-Qing Cai, a Chinese gangster from Hong Kong and leader of the Qing-Cai Gang. He is also the rival of his competitors because Gegen takes the territory of Yokohama. Then they disguise themselves as sailors and board their ship to steal Gegen's money. However, there was no cash in the safe inside the ship, only a piece of paper with a text that looked like a code.

Cast

 Tatsuya Mihashi as Jiro Kitami
 Susumu Kurobe as He-Qing Cai
 Tadao Nakamaru as Gegen
 Mie Hama as Miichin
 Akiko Wakabayashi as Bai-Lan
 Tetsu Nakamura as Sritai
 Shunji Kasuga as Kapenam
 Shoji Oki as Dordo
 Sachio Sakai] as Inagawa
 Hideyo Amamoto as Numaguchi
 Monica Padel as Baro
 Akemi Kita as Yoko
 Nadao Kirino as Cho
 Kôji Iwamoto as Tonwanian Man
 Shin Ibuki as Tonwanian Man
 Kôji Uruki as Tonwanian Man
 Jessica Jones as a White Caucasian woman
 Seiji Ikeda as Tonwanian Court
 Hiroshi Akitsu as King's Chamberlain
 Akira Kitchôji as King's Chamberlain
 Rikiya Yasuoka as Dancing youth
 Osman Yusuf as Casino guest

Staff

 Producer: Tomoyuki Tanaka
 Executive Producer: Shin Morita
 Screenwriter: Hideo Andô
 Director: Senkichi Taniguchi
 Composer: Sadao Bekku
 Cinematographer: Kazuo Yamada
 Production Designer: Hiroshi Ueda
 Sound Recordist: Fumio Yanoguchi

Kokusai himitsu keisatsu: Kagi no kagi


Aerospace Valley is a French cluster of aerospace engineering companies and research centres. The cluster is located in the regions of Occitanie and Nouvelle-Aquitaine in the southwest of France and is mainly concentrated in and around the cities of Bordeaux and Toulouse.

The over 500 affiliated companies (including Airbus, Air France Industries and Dassault Aviation) are responsible for some 120,000 jobs in the aviation and space flight industries. In addition, some 8,500 researchers are active within the affiliated companies and institutions.

The cluster's stated aim is to create 40,000 - 45,000 new jobs by 2026. Since its inception in 2005, the cluster has initiated some 220 research projects with a total budget of 460 million euros, including 204 million euros in government funding.

The headquarters of Aerospace Valley is located in Toulouse. Chair of the cluster is Jean-Marc Thomas, who is also vicechair of Airbus France. Key locations of the cluster include:

 "Toulouse Aerospace" in Toulouse with the aviation schools ISAE (a merger of SUPAERO and ENSICA), ENAC and IPSA and over 1000 researchers at ONERA, CNRS, and CNES, among others. The Université Paul Sabatier, INSA Toulouse, INPT, and TBS Education are also part of this concentration of research and training facilities in and around Toulouse.
 A new aerospace research laboratory of the INRIA in Bordeaux
 A research centre adjacent to Turbomeca in Bordes for aerospace fuel research
 An experimental centre in Tarbes to study better ways of dismantling civil and military aircraft.
Aerospace Valley is a member of the European Aviation Clusters Partnership and of Institut au service du spatial, de ses applications et technologies.

See also

 Air-Cobot, project of the Aerospace Valley cluster
 French space program

References
 Aerospace Valley brochure

External links
 Website of Aerospace Valley

High-technology business districts in France
Aviation in France
Aerospace engineering organizations
Toulouse
Aquitaine
Midi-Pyrénées
Companies based in Occitania (administrative region)

Aerospace Valley


Toofani Tarzan (Typhoon Tarzan/Stormy Tarzan) is a 1937 Hindi action adventure film directed by Homi Wadia. Produced by Wadia Movietone, the film had music by Master Mohammed  with lyrics by Gyan Chander. It starred John Cawas, Gulshan, Nazira, Boman Shroff, Chandrashekhar and Dalpat.

The film typically had the theme of 'mad scientists looking for the elixir of life' as per Rosie Thomas (2005), cited by Gokulsing and Dissanayake  and was publicised as 'India's first jungle adventure film' with remakes in the 1950s as Zimbo series.

Plot
Scientist Ramu and his wife Uma (Nazira) live with their four-year-old son Leher in the jungle where he carries out experiments. He has discovered the elixir of life. Lions attack their house killing him, while his wife goes mad with grief. Ramu's son, Leher, and their little dog Moti, escape with the help of a half-man, half-ape called Dada (Boman Shroff). Several people arrive in the jungle fifteen years later from the city. One of them is Ramu's father with his adopted daughter, Leela. Bihari, one of the people in the group wants the formula for his own purpose. The formula was put in a pendant around Leher's neck by his father before he died. Leher now grown-up and known as Tarzan (John Cawas), has been brought up in the jungle and there are some amusing incidents between Leela and Tarzan, due to his lack of language skills. Tarzan saves Leela from Bihari's unwanted advances. The story then moves to tribal cannibals trying to attack the group along with Tarzan, with 'stunt scenes' involving the cast and animals like elephants, the dog Moti, lions and apes. The story ends with the grandfather re-uniting with Tarzan and the mentally unstable mother meeting up with them.

Cast
 Muhammad Rehmani as Tarzan
 Gulshan as Leela
 Boman Shroff
 Chandrashekhar
 Dog Moti
 Nazira
 John Crawn
 Chandrashekhar
 Dalpat
 Ahmed Dilawar

Music
The music was composed by Mohammed Master with lyrics by Pandit Gyan Chandra. There were three songs in the film, two of them sung by Ahmed Dilawar.

Songlist

References

External links

Story at Memsaab
Short clip at YouTube

1937 films
1930s Hindi-language films
Films directed by Homi Wadia
Jungle adventure films
Tarzan films
Indian action adventure films
Articles containing video clips
Indian black-and-white films
1930s action adventure films
Hindi-language action adventure films

Toofani Tarzan


The 18th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) was held during 10–21 March 1939 in Moscow. It elected the 18th Central Committee.

This is the first Congress to be dominated by the "purified" leadership of the Soviet Union after the Great Purge. This would be the last one held for over a decade.

In the report on the work of the 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party Stalin outlined important aspects of the foreign policy of the USSR, particularly its disappointment with the western democracies and their failure to adopt the policy of collective security advocated by Soviet foreign minister Maxim Litvinov. Shortly after this, Stalin dismissed Litvinov and appointed Vyacheslav Molotov, a move that led to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and a temporary understanding with Nazi Germany.

Agenda of the Congress
 Stalin: Report of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)
 Mikhail Fedorovich Vladimirski: Report of the Central Revision Committee
 Dmitry Zakharovich Manuilski: Report of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Delegation to the Executive Committee of the Communist International
 Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov: Report on the Third Five-Years Plan for the Development of the National Economy of the USSR
 Andrey Aleksandrovich Zhdanov: Changes in the Statutes of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)
 Election of the Commission in Charge of Changes in the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Program
 Election to the Central Organs of the Party

Decisions of the Congress
The report of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) consisted of an analysis of the internal and international situation of the country, as well as its future development perspectives. The Congress took note of the now prevailing socialist mode of production and considered socialism in the USSR to be largely built, while in its view the country was already sailing towards a new step of development, i.e. the completion of the socialist society. A new goal was set: to catch and get ahead of the most developed capitalistic States. The report also tackled theoretical questions regarding the stages of development and functions of the socialist State, and viewed as erroneous the idea that the State would be soon extinct.

The Congress sanctioned the new Party's statute which was supposed to reflect changes in the class structure of the Soviet society. A unified set of conditions for entry in the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) was implemented, as well as a one-year probation period. An exception was made for former members of other parties, to which these conditions would not apply. The division into separate categories depending on each individual's social class origin was abolished. Articles defining new rights for the Party's members were also added.

The Congress also confirmed the third five-years plan for the development of the Soviet economy.

Elected during the Congress
Central Committee: 71 members, 68 candidates to Central Committee membership
Central Revision Committee: 13 members
Party Control Commission: 187 members

References

External links
The Land of Socialism Today and Tomorrow: Reports and Speeches at the Eighteenth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks). March 10-21, 1939
Eighteenth Congress of the CPSU (Bolshevik)  in The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979).

18th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)