The 1937 Fleischer Studios strike was a labor strike involving workers at Fleischer Studios in New York City. The strike commenced on May 7 of that year and ended on October 12. The strike was the first major labor dispute in the animation industry and resulted in the industry's first union contracts.

Fleischer Studios had been founded in 1929 and grew through the 1930s, having over 150 employees by 1937. Many of these employees were not full animators, but instead worked in lower departments doing more menial tasks such as inbetweening or cel painting. Starting in the mid-1930s, there was growing discontent among the employees in these lower departments due to the poor working conditions and the disparity in pay between them and the animators. By late 1936, the Commercial Artists and Designers Union (CADU) Local 20329 began to organize at the studio, and in April of the next year it submitted a list of demands to Max Fleischer that included increased pay, better working conditions, a closed shop, and a 35-hour work week.

Fleischer refused to recognize the union as legitimate or negotiate with them. Over the next month, 15 employees were fired, with many pro-union employees believing that they were terminated because of their activities with the union. As a result, on May 6, about a hundred union members voted to go on strike the following day. The strike began at 6:30 p.m. on May 7, with picketing outside the studio's building on Broadway in Manhattan. Picketing spread to other locations, including Max and Dave's residences, and the union initiated a boycott of Fleischer cartoons that was somewhat effective in getting the productions pulled from theaters. By June, the National Labor Relations Board began to hold hearings regarding the union's demand for recognition, and a certification vote was held that August, which the union won.

As the strike continued to stretch into the later part of the year, the union's strike fund began to dwindle and morale decreased among the strikers, with some crossing the picket line to return to work. At the same time, however, Paramount Pictures began to pressure Fleischer Studios into accepting a deal that would end the strike and boycott, as they believed that the negative press was beginning to hurt their live-action productions. In late September, the union and company agreed to a tentative deal, and the strike ended on October 12, with the strikers returning to work the following day. The compromise agreement resulted in the union winning many of the key goals that they had pushed for, such as pay increases and guaranteed time off, though the company prevented the studio from becoming a closed shop.

Due in large part to the strike, Max Fleischer announced that the studio would be relocating to Miami, and following the move, the union lost a certification election, leaving the studio ununionized. However, within a few years of the move, the studio experienced financial difficulties related to the production of two full-length animated films and was ultimately absorbed by Paramount Pictures as a subsidiary. The strike precipitated a wave of organizing activity at other animation studios, including the 1941 Disney animators' strike. This upsurge would eventually lead to the unionization of the industry after the Screen Cartoonist's Guild organized all of the major American studios in 1943.

Background

Working conditions at Fleischer Studios

In 1929, the animation studio Fleischer Studios was established by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who served as the company's president and vice president, respectively. The brothers had been notable pioneers in the early American animation industry, and their new company was founded to produce cartoons to be distributed by Paramount Pictures.

In the early years of the studio, there was a strong sense of camaraderie among the employees, and according to historians Michael Barrier and Richard Koszarski, Max was a paternalistic boss in his role as president. Among the company's early hires were many relatives, such as Max's son-in-law Seymour Kneitel, as well as recent graduates from the Cooper Union and the Art Students League of New York, two of Max's alma maters. Through the 1930s, the studio saw noted success with productions that featured famous characters such as Betty Boop and Popeye. By 1937, the company had over 150 employees working at its New York City studio, which occupied several floors of a building at 1600 Broadway in Manhattan, just north of Times Square.

During the early years of the company, animation in the United States was changing from a primarily artisan-driven industry to one shaped by the concept of the assembly line. For instance, in the 1910s, animation studio Bray Productions operated by having several dozen animators each working on their own cartoon, from start to finish, with help from a few assistants. By the 1930s, due to technological innovations and changes in techniques, the work associated with animation was gradually divided into smaller divisions, with multiple animators and other employees working on different parts of the project. This division of labor also led to the emergence of several distinct departments within studios, such as for cel painting and inbetweening.

Additionally during this time, it became less common for someone to be promoted from a lower-level position, such as inbetweener, to a full animator position. At Fleischer Studios, many new hires started off as inbetweeners, which was considered one of the harshest jobs in the company. Many worked in cramped conditions comparable to a sweatshop, with their workstations not having access to windows or air conditioning. Additionally, the inbetween department was headed by Edith Vernick, a stern manager whose actions upset many of the inbetweeners, such as timing how long employees were spending in the bathroom and constantly reporting people to the Fleischer Brothers for either not doing their job or not doing their job quickly enough.

On top of the poor conditions, inbetweeners also experienced low pay. Wages at the company had initially been considered fairly good, with animator Shamus Culhane stating that he had had a weekly salary of about $100 while working at Fleischer Studios in 1930. Additionally, yearly bonuses of several hundred dollars were not uncommon.

However, pay across the board decreased as the decade continued, with animator Don Figlozzi stating that his starting salary while working for the company in 1935 was $27 per week. In 1937, studio manager Sam Buchwald stated that the average weekly salary for those in the animation department ranged from $90.80 to $70.59 depending on your position in the department. However, people outside the animation department made substantially less, with inbetweeners and cel painters making an average of $24.45 per week in 1937, and other employees making as low as $17.40 per week. According to Koszarski, the decreased wages may have been a result of the closure of The Van Beuren Corporation, a New York City-based animation studio, in 1936. Because of the low wages, many of the younger employees lived with their parents or had spouses who were also working to support them.

Unionization in the animation industry
Given the issues regarding pay and working conditions, the studio was, according to animation historian Michael Barrier, "fertile soil for labor unrest". The 1930s saw the first serious attempts by labor unions to organize cartoonists in the film industry. The first major efforts at organizing were at Iwerks Studio in 1931, but these efforts were ultimately thwarted by the studio's management. Organizing efforts at Van Beuren similarly ended in failure for the union.

In 1936, the Artists Union, a New York City-based union, spun off one of its departments into the Commercial Artists and Designers Union (CADU) Local 20329, which was associated with the American Federation of Labor (AFL). CADU immediately began efforts to organize the local animation industry. At the time, unions were not entirely uncommon at the company, as both the studio's camera operators and musicians were organized under local unions, with Dave Fleischer being a member of the latter.

Among the inbetweeners and others involved in the animation process, talks about unionizing had been commonplace since the early 1930s, but in late 1934, discussions became more serious after an inbetweener named Dan Glass contracted tuberculosis. Glass died in January of the following year due to the disease, and many inbetweeners blamed the working conditions for Glass contracting it in the first place. The event was at least the second time that an inbetweener had contracted that disease, as another Fleischer employee was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1931 and ultimately died in 1935 as well.

Also in 1935, the United States Congress enacted the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, which greatly strengthened the ability of labor unions to organize workplaces. CADU began to focus its attention on organizing the workers at Fleischer in 1936 and, at a meeting of CADU's executive board on November 4 of that year, made the union campaign at Fleischer a top priority.

Organizing efforts began in late 1936 and continued until early 1937, with the final push occurring in March of that year. Among the primary organizers at the studio, only one was an animator, with the rest coming from lower departments such as inbetweening. Among these, Lou Appet, an inbetweener, was considered the most influential, having previously been a member of the Film and Photo League and having many contacts within organized labor.

The organizers recruited almost exclusively from the ranks of the lower departments at Fleischer, with Appet expressing concern that animators in the organizing process may prove to be more of a hindrance than a help. Additionally, many animators were either ambivalent towards the union or were concerned about the left-wing nature of the group. CADU was a popular front organization with ties to the Communist Party of the United States and had a faction consisting of party members, fellow travellers, and communist sympathizers that planned strategy for the union.

In March 1937, CADU began its final push for organizing. On March 20, Fleischer Studios fired employee Carl Wessler and, according to historian Harvey Deneroff, union activists believed that the termination was due to his union activities. Ten days later, CADU initiated a slowdown in response to a speedup that the studio had implemented on work for Popeye the Sailor. According to an article published in the Daily Worker, the speedup had nearly doubled the work rate for inbetweeners, and the slowdown was intended to return production rates to their normal levels.

On April 1, another inbetweener, Marty Taras, was fired for trying to play an April Fools' Day prank on a coworker by giving him a hot foot. While it was illegal to light a match in the studio because of the presence of highly-flammable nitrate film, Taras and some other employees believed the termination was due in part to his union activities.

CADU seeks recognition at Fleischer Studios
On April 12, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the National Labor Relations Act was constitutional, leading to a notable uptick in organizing activity throughout the country. Shortly after this ruling, CADU representatives went to Max Fleischer and made their first direct demands to the company. Among the union's demands were an end to the speedup, a 12 percent increase in wages, paid time off for sick leave and vacation, double pay for overtime, a 35-hour workweek, and a closed shop. However, believing that the union did not represent the will of the majority of the employees, Max refused to recognize or negotiate with the union.

As a result, on April 19, CADU filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which sent attorney Lester M. Levin to discuss the matter with Fleischer attorney Louis Nizer. Nizer argued that the union's demands would have increased the overhead, which he said was impossible for the company to accommodate because Fleischer Studios had actually not made a profit last year. As a result, Levin urged the company to negotiate with the union on matters not related to overhead and to discuss a possible plan for implementing changes that would affect overhead when they were feasible.

On April 29, the NLRB sponsored a meeting between union and company representatives, during which the company again argued that the union did not represent a majority of the employees. Additionally, the union rejected the company's figures regarding its gross income and the costs that would be associated with the changes pushed for by the union. On May 3, CADU petitioned the NLRB to hold a certification election for the union, but the company resisted holding any election due to the ongoing slowdown.

On May 5, Fleischer representatives once again met with union representatives and once more refused to recognize the union as the legitimate representative of the bargaining unit. Also starting that day and going into the next, Fleischer would fire thirteen employees who were members of the union. The firing of these thirteen, as well as the two fired in the preceding months, was considered the breaking point for the union, and shortly thereafter, they began to plan a strike action. On the night of May 6, about 100 union members voted to approve a strike against the company. The decision to go on strike may have been due in part to a well-publicized concurrent strike that the AFL was supporting in Los Angeles involving 6,000 members of the Federated Motion Picture Crafts (FMPC) union. In total, the 100 or so strikers would represent about half of Fleischer's total staff, and while a vast majority of the animators and animator assistants would not be involved in striking, an organizer for CADU told the soon-to-be strikers that the animators would honor the picket line.

The strike was scheduled to commence the following day, May 7, at 6:30 p.m. That day, a Friday, was chosen because the strikers planned to disrupt the company's 3.5-hour evening work period on that day (which the company mandated in lieu of working on Saturday mornings) and also give other Fleischer employees the weekend to decide where they stood on the union question. This would be the first major labor strike in the animation industry.

Course of the strike

Early strike actions
The strike commenced as expected on May 7, 1937, at 6:30 p.m., with picketing outside of the studio's offices on Broadway. Many of the picketers carried signs that had humorous slogans referencing the cartoons they worked on, such as, "We Can't Get Much Spinach on Salaries as Low as $15.00 a Week" and "Nudist Betty? How Can I Dress on Max Fleischer's Pay?", and chants of "I'm Popeye the Union Man" were repeated.

Shortly after the strike began, several Fleischer employees who had been on their dinner break returned to the studio to find the picket line blocked entry to the building. Wanting to get back in, some of the non-union employees decided to charge the line, resulting in a scuffle. The fighting lasted for about 30 minutes, during which time several individuals sustained injuries, such as when inker Gill Fox threw his non-union supervisor Frank Paiker into the street. The fighting only stopped when members of the New York City Police Department arrived. More fighting broke out that night after police ordered the picketers to maintain a line near the curb, attracting a crowd of about 2,000 spectators. In the aftermath, several picketers were arrested, including three for assault and either ten or eleven for disorderly conduct. This first night of picketing received widespread coverage from local media, including articles in the Daily News and the New York Herald Tribune.

The violence from the first night led to the studio shutting down for the night. The following day, the company sent a message to everyone in the animation department saying that work would resume on Monday, May 10, with the company providing protection for the animators. While many animators opted to not cross the picket line at that time, 16 did, and work resumed, albeit at a slower rate. Some notable employees who continued to work for Fleischer during the strike included Bob Kane, who would go on to cocreate the comic book character Batman, and Lillian Friedman Astor, the first female to be given a role as a studio animator. During the strike, workers at the studio would produce the cartoon Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves. Over the course of the next week, many animators began to gradually return to work, and by that Thursday, only seven people from the higher departments of the company were continuing to honor the picket line. By the end of the week, all of these individuals except one, animator Eli Brucker, had returned to work, and the company began to hire strikebreakers to replace the strikers in the lower departments. Brucker would be the only animator to honor the picket line for the duration of the strike.

Boycott

As animators returned to work and production at Fleischer resumed, the strikers turned their attention to another goal: organizing a boycott of Fleischer cartoons. While the union continued to hold many demonstrations near the studio, they also expanded picketing to different locations, including in front of the Windermere Hotel (where Max Fleischer lived), outside of Dave Fleischer's house (which was stink-bombed during the strike), and the Paramount Theatre. The theater was considered a primary target for picketing, with some picketers jeering at screenings of their own cartoons with chants of, "Get that scab picture off the screen!". Other theaters showing Fleischer productions, such as the Roxy Theatre, were also picketed, and through an alliance with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Projectionists Local 306, CADU attempted to have the cartoons pulled from IATSE-affiliated theaters. On June 8, Local 306 officially announced its support for the strikers and attempted to have the AFL add Fleischer Studios to its "unfair list", which would have barred union projectionists from screening their cartoons. On June 14, after they were added to the list, Local 306 sent a letter to its 2,000 members ordering them to not screen the cartoons, but shortly after this nationwide boycott was initiated, Fleischer Studios was removed from the unfair list. Some historians have pinned Fleischer Studios' removal on actions from Paramount Pictures, who may have pushed IATSE to cease the boycott. Regardless, the boycott was somewhat effective, as several theaters refused to screen the cartoons. For instance, on July 16, the Loews Theatres chain announced they would not be screening any Fleischer cartoons.

NLRB hearings and certification vote
Aside from the implementation of the boycott, another goal of the union during this time was to gain certification through the NLRB. The NLRB had been busy handling cases regarding hundreds of other strikes nationwide, but the board finally focused on the Fleischer strike in June. On June 16, the NLRB held its first hearing regarding the certification of CADU. During the hearing, Nizer presented a petition that had been signed by the animators that stated they did not wish to be represented by CADU. The petition was invalidated by the NLRB, who ruled that the signatures had been collected through intimidation, and the union countered that they had collected representation cards from over half of the employees at the studio asking for union representation. On June 19, the NLRB ruled that a certification election would be held that would be open to all artists who were employed by the company on April 30, 1937. Despite stalling from the company, this vote was ultimately held on August 16. The initial vote was 74–0 in favor of the union, though 14 votes were later invalidated because they came from fired workers. Due to delays by the company, the NLRB did not release its final report until October 8.

End of the strike
The strike continued for several more months until late 1937. As it continued, the union's strike fund began to run low, and while CADU had support from many other entertainment industry unions, morale among the strikers continued to diminish. Though the company and union were holding intermittent meetings, there had not been a major breakthrough, as Max Fleischer continued to reject CADU's claims to be a legitimate bargaining representative for the employees. Over the next several months, some of strikers began to cross the picket line and return to work at the studio.

However, the strike was also having a negative effect on the studio. According to historian Tom Sito, the negative press associated with the boycott and strike were beginning to affect the performance of Paramount Pictures' live-action releases, and while the company was not generally supportive of unions, it began to pressure Fleischer Studios to accept a deal with the union that would end the strike. A Paramount executive became the chief negotiator for the studio, and New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia helped oversee a resumption of talks in the later part of the year.

On October 1, The New York Times reported that a day prior, a breakthrough had been made between the company and the union that would see an end to the strike. Though details of the agreement were not made public at the time, the newspaper reported that it was a compromise that would see some wage increases, a 40-hour work week, and other benefits that the union had pushed for. On October 12, representatives for the union and studio met at the offices of Arthur B. Krim, a legal counsel for the company, and agreed to end the strike. According to an article published in The New York Times, the strike at the time involved 75 "artists and cartoonists" of the company. With this agreement reached, these employees returned to work the following day.

Aftermath

Contract details
On October 19, Fleischer Studios officially recognized CADU as the representative of its animation employees. As such, they were able to establish the first union contracts implemented in the animation industry.

The contract was a compromise and did not include all of the initial demands that the union had pushed for. For instance, the studio never became a closed shop, instead operating with about 60 percent of the workforce unionized and the other 40 percent nonunion, and union membership was not necessary for new hires. However, the contract did provide for a standard 40-hour work week, extra pay for overtime work, one week of paid time off for  vacation, sick days, wage increases of 20 percent, and guarantees of production quotas from the union. Additionally, the contract stipulated that any grievances would be addressed by committee under the arbitration of New York County District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey.

Later history

The strike severely changed the dynamic in the office; as animator Orsestes Calpini recalls, "the family feeling was gone". Max Fleischer was very affected by the strike, as many long-time Fleischer animators later stated that Max became less involved with the cartoons' production processes following the strike and mostly remained in his office during the workday. About a month after the strike had begun, Max had also entered into discussions with the chamber of commerce in Miami about relocating his studio to the city. On January 21, 1938, Max officially announced the studio's plans to relocate, which occurred less than a year later. Many historians believe that the move was at least partially a response to the union, as Florida was seen as a much less friendly state towards organized labor than New York was, and union presence was much less strong at the new location.

Many of the pro-union employees refused to relocate, and immediately after the move, Fleischer petitioned the NLRB for a new certification election, which the union lost. A later union drive at the Miami studio in 1938 by the United American Artists similarly ended in failure. Ultimately, Fleischer would produce two feature-length films out of Miami, Gulliver's Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town (1941), both of which proved to be financial disappointments for the company. Due to its financial issues, in the early 1940s, it came under the direct ownership of Paramount Pictures, which renamed the studio to Famous Studios and relocated it back to New York City.

The strike preceded a new wave of organized labor activity in the American animation industry, including the 1941 Disney animators' strike at Walt Disney Productions. Other organized labor events during this time included a six-day lockout of animators for Looney Tunes at Warner Bros. in May 1941 and a union drive at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio in 1940. Organized labor activity in the industry would not settle down until 1943, when the Screen Cartoonist's Guild managed to organize the animation departments at all major American studios.

Notes

References

Sources

Further reading

1937 labor disputes and strikes
1937 in animation
1937 in American cinema
1937 in New York City
1930s in Manhattan
1930s strikes in the United States
August 1937 events
Entertainment industry labor disputes in the United States
Strike
History of animation in the United States
July 1937 events
June 1937 events
Labor disputes in New York City
May 1937 events
October 1937 events
September 1937 events

1937 Fleischer Studios strike


Eleanor of Brittany (1275 – 16 May 1342) was the sixteenth abbess of Fontevrault.

She was born in England to John II, Duke of Brittany and Beatrice of England, and in 1281 at the age of seven entered Amesbury Priory in Wiltshire, a priory of the Fontevrault order (her first cousin, twice removed, Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany is buried there). Her grandmother, Eleanor of Provence, decided to live out her retirement at this priory, and had earlier lobbied for Eleanor and another granddaughter, Mary of Woodstock, to join her at Amesbury.

In March 1291 she took her vows and became a nun and some time afterwards (possibly 1294) she moved to Fontevrault Abbey in the Loire region of France, the parent abbey of the order. The richly illuminated Fontevraud Gradual was presented to her.

In 1304 she became abbess and was determined to assert her authority.  In 1309 she appointed a French prioress to Amesbury and only after the King formally requested her to do so did she back down. In 1317 there was a serious dispute about who should become Prioress of Nuneaton, with one Isabel of Sudley usurping the position with the backing of Walter Langton. Eleanor appointed Katherine de Stafford, Isabelle refused to accept this, and the dispute continued, involving two appeals to the Pope, death threats, and the pillaging of the Priory in 1322, was only settled in 1328.

Soon after 1313, Eleanor's cousin, Mary of Woodstock, was removed from her role as visitor of Amesbury Priory. In 1317, Mary's brother Edward, by now King Edward II of England, asked Eleanor to restore her to the post, but his request was refused. But Mary persevered and obtained a papal mandate requiring her reinstatement, which Eleanor appears to have obeyed. Upon her death in 1342 she bequeathed the gradual to the abbey. It survives to this day and is held by the public library of Limoges.

References

 Célestin Port, Dictionnaire historique, géographique et biographique de Maine-et-Loire et de l'ancienne province d'Anjou : A-C, t. 1, Angers, H. Siraudeau et Cie, 1965, 2nd edition.

1275 births
1342 deaths
Abbesses of Fontevraud
Anglo-Norman Roman Catholic abbesses
13th-century Breton women
14th-century Breton women
Benedictine nuns
13th-century French nuns
14th-century French nuns
French Roman Catholic abbesses
House of Dreux
Amesbury Abbey

Eleanor of Brittany (abbess)


Vijayasri was an Indian actress who predominantly worked in Malayalam cinema in the 1970s. She acted in many movies opposite Prem Nazir and have also worked in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films.

Biography
Her first appearance onscreen was in the Tamil film Chitthi (1966). Her first film in Malayalam was Poojapushpam (1969), directed by the patriarch Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair. She ended up being a part of 3 of the 6 movies Thikkurissy directed in his  prolific career as a director. She also got to share screen space with the leading lady of the times, Sheela in her debut movie itself.

She gained popularity due to her beauty in the Malayalam film history. She was a contemporary of the popular Malayalam actress Jayabharathi. Her most notable films are Angathattu (1973), Postmane Kananilla (1972), Lanka Dahanam (1971), Maravil Thirivu Sookshikkuka (1972), Pacha Nottukal (1973), Taxi Car (1972), Aromalunni (1972) and Ponnapuram Kotta (1973). In all these films, she starred opposite Prem Nazir and the Prem Nazir-Vijayasree pair created biggest hits in box office. "Theirs was the most successful pair in Malayalam cinema ever, I cannot think of a single film of theirs flopping." says R. Gopalakrishnan, one of the senior-most still photographers in Malayalam cinema. Many of her movies are directed by Kunchacko. At the end of her career, she parted ways with Kunchacko and joined with P. Subramaniam.
She also acted in a number of Tamil films but in supporting roles. She had played an important role in Babu (1971), a Sivaji Ganesan starrer, as the pair of Sivaji who is killed early in the story. She had also acted opposite Gemini Ganesh in Chitthi, a hit. Other notable ones are Deivamagan (1970), Adhe Kangal (1967) and Kulavilakku (1968).

Many celebrities praised the beauty of Vijayasree. "She is the most beautiful woman I have ever met", said director Bharathan to his associate, Jayaraj, once. "She was verily the Marilyn Monroe of Malayalam. No other actress had as many male admirers as she had. No other actress had as many hits as her in such a short span of time. No actress had made such a sudden impact in Malayalam cinema. People went to the theatre to see her, and that is something that has not happened before (her time)", said Jayaraj. He directed a film Naayika, by which the character in the movie named "Vani" (played by actress Sarayu) portrays slight resemblance to Vijayasree's life. "If Jayan epitomised the essence in manly beauty among male actors, then there has never been an actress in Malayalam whose voluptuous beauty compared to Vijayasree's. Her graceful statuesque beauty was almost a symbol of God's artistry", said actor Kaduvakulam Antony. Many actors and directors said, due to the bad fate, Malayalam film fans could not see the great Jayan-Vijayasree combination on the screen. "She was extremely beautiful of course, but she was a capable performer too.", said actor Raghavan.

She committed suicide at the age of 21 on 17 March 1974.

Vijayasree loved children with all her innocence, she used to distribute sweets or candies whenever she saw children nearby.

Filmography

Malayalam

 Youvanam (1974) as Minikutti
 Alakal (1974)
 Jeevikkan Marannupoya Sthree (1974)
 Ajnathavasam (1973) as Kunjulakshmi
 Angathattu (1973) as Archa
 Padmavyooham (1973) as Jaya, Rani (Double role)
 Panchavadi (1973) as Nalini
 Veendum Prabhatham (1973) as Sarojam
 Pavangal Pennungal (1973)
 Ponnapuram Kotta (1973)
 Thiruvabharanam (1973)
 Swargaputhri (1973) as Lisy
 Thenaruvi (1973) as Neeli
 Pacha Nottukal (1973) as Leenamma
 Thaniniram (1973) as Radha
 Prethangalude Thazhvara (1973)
 Kaadu (1973) as Maala
 Aromalunni (1972)
 Manthrakodi (1972)
 Maravil Thirivu Sookshikkuka (1972) as Indumathi
 Postmane Kananilla (1972) as Kamalam
 Pushpanjali (1972) as Usha
 Adyathe Kadha (1972) as Rajakumari
 Anweshanam (1972)
 Maaya (1972) as Kamala
 Professor (1972) as Mayadevi
 Sree Guruvayoorappan (1972)
 Sambhavami Yuge Yuge (1972) as Sumathy
 Taxi Car (1972) as Rani
 Shiksha (1971) as Dancer
 Bobanum Moliyum (1971)
 Lanka Dahanam (1971) as Rajani
 Marunnattil Oru Malayali (1971) as Geetha
 Achante Bharya (1971) as Omana
 Palunkupaathram (1970)
 Dathuputhran (1970) as Vanaja
 Othenante Makan (1970) as Kunji Kunki
 Detective 909 Keralathil (1970)
 Rakthapushpam (1970)
 Poojapushpam (1969)

Hindi
Kundan

Tamil

 Chitthi (1966)
 Adhey Kangal (1967)
 Naan (1967)
 Kulavilakku (1968)
 Naalum Therindhavan (1968)
 Neeyum Naanum (1968)
 Deiva Magan (1969)
 Thalattu (1969)
 Nilave Nee Satchi (1970)
 Thedi Vandha Mappillai (1970)
 Kathal Jothi (1970)
 Babu (1971)
 Yanai Valartha Vanampadi Magan (1971)
 Delhi To Madras (1972)
 Kanimuthu Paappa (1972)
 Maru Piravi (1973)
 Malai Naattu Mangai (1973)
 Akkarai Pachai (1974) - Last movie in Tamil

Kannada

 Bangalore Mail (1968)
 Broker Bheeshmachari (1969)
 Sri Krishnadevaraya (1970)
 Naguva Hoovu (1970)
 Kasturi Nivasa (1971)
 Nanda Gokula (1972)
 Janma Rahasya (1972)

Telugu
 Bhimanjaneya Yuddham (1966)
 Rangula Ratnam (1966)
 Manchi Kutumbam (1968)
 Prema Kanuka (1969)
 Jeevitha Chakram (1971)
 Revolver Rani (1971) as Lilly
 Kiladi Bullodu (1972)
 Dora Babu (1974)

References

External links
Vijayasree at MSI

20th-century Indian actresses
Actresses from Thiruvananthapuram
1974 deaths
Indian film actresses
Actresses in Malayalam cinema
Actresses in Tamil cinema
1953 births
Actresses in Telugu cinema
Actresses in Hindi cinema
Actresses in Kannada cinema
1974 suicides

Vijayasree


M'Lady is a 1921 play by the British writer Edgar Wallace. It is a drama about a woman who tries to raise her daughter in high society, only for her husband to return from Broadmoor where he has been serving a sentence for killing a police officer. It was panned by theatre critics.

It ran for twenty three performances at the Playhouse Theatre in the West End. The original cast included Frederick Leister, Frederick Worlock and Henrietta Watson.

In 1930 Wallace adapted the play into a novel The Lady of Ascot.

References

Bibliography
 Kabatchnik, Amnon. Blood on the Stage, 1975-2000: Milestone Plays of Crime, Mystery, and Detection : an Annotated Repertoire. Rowman & Littlefield, 2012.
 Wearing, J. P. The London Stage 1920-1929: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel. Rowman & Littlefield, 2014.

1921 plays
Plays by Edgar Wallace
Plays set in England
West End plays

M'Lady (play)


Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) was a massive city-modernization scheme launched by the Government of India under the Ministry of Urban Development. It envisaged a total investment of over $20 billion over seven years. It is named after Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India. The aim is to encourage reforms and fast track planned development of identified cities. Focus is to be on efficiency in urban infrastructure and service delivery mechanisms, community participation, and accountability of ULBs/ Parastatal agencies towards citizens.

Motto of the Mission

Motto of the JNNURM are to ensure that the following are achieved in the urban sector:

(a) Focused attention to integrated development of infrastructure services in cities covered under the Mission.

(b) Establishment of linkages between asset-creation and asset-management through a slew of reforms for long-term project sustainability.

c) Ensuring adequate funds to meet the deficiencies in urban infrastructural services.

(d) Planned development of identified cities including peri-urban areas, outgrowths and urban corridors leading to dispersed urbanization.

(e) Scale-up delivery of civic amenities and provision of utilities with emphasis on universal access to the urban poor.

The scheme was officially inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 3 December 2005 as a programme meant to improve the quality of life and infrastructure in the cities. It was launched in 2005 for a seven-year period (up to March 2011) to encourage cities to initiate steps for bringing phased improvements in their civic service levels. The government had extended the tenure of the mission for another two years, i.e., from April 2012 to 31 March 2014.

JNNURM was a sizable mission that mostly dealt with urban conglomeration development with an emphasis on Indian cities. JNNURM aims at creating 'economically productive, efficient, equitable and responsive cities' by a strategy of upgrading the social and economic infrastructure in cities, provision of Basic Services to Urban Poor (BSUP) and wide-ranging urban sector reforms to strengthen municipal governance in accordance with the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992.

Structure

Sub-missions
JNNURM primarily incorporates two sub-missions into its program:
 The Sub-Mission for Urban Infrastructure and Governance administered by the Ministry of Urban Development, with a focus on water supply and sanitation, solid waste management, road network, urban transport and redevelopment of old city areas.
 The Sub-Mission for Basic Services to the Urban Poor (BSUP) administered by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation with a focus on integrated development of slums.

In addition to this, it has two further components:
 The Sub-Mission for Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small & Medium Towns (UIDSSMT) administered by the Ministry of Urban Development, with a focus on subsuming the schemes of Integrated Development of Small and Medium Towns (IDSMT) and Accelerated Urban Water Supply Programe (AUWSP) which aim at planned urban infrastructural improvement in towns and cities under its purview.
 The Sub-Mission for Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme (IHSDP) administered by Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MHUPA) was envisaged and brought into effect in 1993–94 in accordance with providing the entire population with safe and adequate water supply facilities. The program is mainly implemented in towns with populations less than 20,000 as per the 1991 census.

Objectives
 Focused attention relating to infrastructural services in the context of integrated development is to be covered under the mission.
 Make efficient and increase self-sustaining capabilities of cities as per the sector proving infrastructural services by securing the linkages between asset creation and asset management
 Ensure adequate investment of funds to fulfill deficiencies in the urban infrastructural services.
 Planned development of identified cities including peri-urban areas, out growths, urban corridors, so that urbanization takes place in a dispersed manner.
 Scale up delivery of civic amenities and provision of utilities with emphasis on universal access to urban poor.
 To take up urban renewal programme, i.e., re-development of inner (old) cities area to reduce congestion.
 Provision of basic services to the urban poor including security of tenure at affordable prices, improved housing, water supply and sanitation, and ensuring delivery of other existing universal services of the government for education, health and social security.

Duration
The duration of the mission is seven years beginning from December 2005. During this period, the mission sought to ensure sustainable development of participating cities. An evaluation of the experience of implementation of the mission would be undertaken before the end of the Eleventh Five Year Plan in 2012. The duration of the mission was extended by two more years: until 31 March 2014.

funds are channeled through state-level agencies, where grants from the central and state governments are pooled and passed on as grants or soft loans to cities provided that they have prepared development strategies and that the investments identified fit within these strategies. The mission emphasises transparency and accountability. It supports public-private partnerships and cost recovery to make service providers financially self-sustaining. The share of grant funding by the central government can vary from 35% in the largest cities to up to 90% in cities in the Northeast. Most cities receive grants covering 50% or 80% of costs depending on size. Capacity building is also included in the mission to assist urban local bodies to prepare strategies and projects.

Currently, ten projects are covered by JNNURM funds pertaining to road network, storm water drains, bus rapid transit system, water supply, solid waste management, sewage treatment, river and lake improvement, slum improvement and rehabilitation, all fall under its scope.

Strategy of the Mission

(1) Preparing City Development Plan: Every city will be expected to formulate a City Development Plan (CDP) indicating policies, programmes and strategies, and financing plans.

(2) Preparing Projects: The CDP would facilitate identification of projects. The Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) / parastatal agencies will be required to prepare Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) for undertaking projects in the identified spheres.

(3) Release and Leveraging of Funds: It is expected that the JNNURM assistance would serve to catalyse the flow of investment into the urban infrastructure sector across the country. Funds from the Central and State Government will flow directly to the nodal agency designated by the State, as grants-in-aid.

(4) Incorporating Private Sector Efficiencies: In order to optimise the life-cycle costs over the planning horizon, private sector efficiencies can be inducted in development, management, implementation and financing of projects, through Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangements.

Expected Outcomes

(1) Modern and transparent budgeting, accounting, financial management systems, designed and adopted for all urban service and governance functions.

(2) City-wide framework for planning and governance will be established and become operational.

(3) All urban residents will be able to obtain access to a basic level of urban services.

(4) Financially self-sustaining agencies for urban governance and service delivery will be established, through reforms to major revenue instruments.

(5) Local services and governance will be conducted in a manner that is transparent and accountable to citizens.

(6) E-governance applications will be introduced in core functions of ULBs/Parastatal resulting in reduced cost and time of service delivery processes.

Coverage

As per the JNNURM guidelines, only select cities/Urban Agglomerations (UAs) as per 2001 Census have been chosen for the implementation of the programme as per norms/criteria mentioned below:

Implementation

State level reforms

As of 2012 Gujarat led the tally for the state level reforms, being the only state to have achieved all 10 reforms required by the mission. Five states have achieved 9 out of 10 reforms: Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh. Public disclosure and community participation laws have initially progressed slowly, with only five states managing to enact them as part of the reform agenda as of 2009. However, as of 2012 community participation laws have been enacted by 22 out of 31 states, and public disclosure laws were enacted by 27 states. 20 states had decentralised the responsibility for water supply and sanitation from the state level to ULBs, and 19 had done so for city planning functions.

City level reform of 2012

Visakhapatnam, Surat and Pune had the distinction of having accomplished all 8 city level reforms. Chennai, Greater Mumbai and Hyderabad had achieved 7 out of 8 reforms. Out of 67 cities, 30 had achieved the 90% target for property tax collection, 20 had achieved full operation and maintenance cost recovery for water supply and sanitation, but only 8 had achieved cost recovery for solid waste.

Sanctioning of projects

As of 2009, 415 projects requiring an investment of , equivalent to half the total envisaged program amount, were approved. Among the states, Maharashtra has been sanctioned the maximum number of projects under the mission. Among cities, Bangalore has had the highest number of approved projects.

Midterm appraisal
A midterm appraisal carried out in 2009 by the consulting firm Grant Thornton recommended to establish a single directorate for the ministries in charge of the mission; more involvement of city administrations in the preparation of city development plans that were prepared by consultants; broader stakeholder consultation during environmental and social impact assessments; the development of a national procurement manual; separation of the approval process for projects in two stages; financial support and capacity development for the implementation of reforms in addition to funding for infrastructure; the use of policies for public-private partnerships and pooled funding mechanisms at the state level, such as urban development funds that exist in Tamil Nadu and Orissa.

Funding shares by city categories

List of identified cities
The following table provides for a list of the cities/urban agglomerations (UAs) identified to receive the benefits of JNNURM. They include data pertaining to the state they belong to; the population in these cities given in lakhs as per the census of 2001.

Note: National Steering Group may choose to add or delete cities/UAs/towns under Category-C (other than state capitals) based on the suggestions received from state governments. However, the number of cities under the mission shall remain around 60.

See also
 Vikas yojna
 Accredited Social Health Activist
 Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act

References

External links
 JNNURM Homepage
 JNNURM information from the Centre for Civil Society, New Delhi
 indiaurbanportal-JNNURM

Government agencies of India
Urban planning in India
Manmohan Singh administration
Indian missions
Monuments and memorials to Jawaharlal Nehru


Ishwar Chandra Bandopadhyay CIE, popularly known as Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (; (26 September 1820 – 29 July 1891), was an Indian educator and social reformer of the nineteenth century. His efforts to simplify and modernise Bengali prose were significant. He also rationalised and simplified the Bengali alphabet and type, which had remained unchanged since Charles Wilkins and Panchanan Karmakar had cut the first (wooden) Bengali type in 1780.

He was the most prominent campaigner for Hindu widow remarriage, petitioning the Legislative Council despite severe opposition, including a counter petition (by Radhakanta Deb and the Dharma Sabha) which had nearly four times as many signatures. Even though widow remarriage was considered a flagrant breach of Hindu customs and was staunchly opposed, Lord Dalhousie personally finalised  the bill and the Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act, 1856 was passed. Against child marriage, efforts of Vidyasagar led to Age of Consent Act, 1891. In which the minimum age of consummation of marriage was 12 years.

A weekly newspaper, Somprakash, was started on 15 November 1858 (1 Agrahayan 1265 BS) by Dwarakanath Vidyabhusan. Dwarakanath (1819-1886) was a professor of the Sanskrit College in Calcutta. The original plan was mooted by Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (1820-1891), who continued to advise Dwarakanath in editorial matters. He was also associated as secretary with Hindu Female School which later came to be known as Bethune Female School.

He so excelled in his undergraduate studies of Sanskrit and philosophy that Sanskrit College in Calcutta, where he studied, gave him the honorific title  ('Ocean of Knowledge'; from Sanskrit  'knowledge' and  'ocean').

Biography

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was born in a Bengali Hindu Brahmin family  to Thakurdas Bandyopadhyay and Bhagavati Devi at Birsingha village in Paschim Medinipur District (erstwhile undivided Midnapore District) on 26 September 1820. The family originally hailed from Banamalipur situated in present-day Hooghly district. At the age of 9, he went to Calcutta and started living in Bhagabat Charan's house in Burrabazar, where Thakurdas had already been staying for some years. Ishwar felt at ease amidst Bhagabat's large family and settled down comfortably in no time. Bhagabat's youngest daughter Raimoni's motherly and affectionate feelings towards Ishwar touched him deeply and had a strong influence on his later revolutionary work towards the upliftment of women. He championed the cause of female education.

His quest for knowledge was so intense that he used to study under a street light as it was not possible for him to afford a gas lamp at home He cleared all the examinations with excellence and in quick succession. He was rewarded with a number of scholarships for his academic performance. To support himself and the family, Ishwar Chandra also took a part-time job of teaching at Jorashanko. Ishwar Chandra joined the Sanskrit College, Calcutta and studied there for twelve long years and graduated in 1841 qualifying in Sanskrit Grammar, Literature, Dialectics [Alankara Shastra], Vedanta, Smriti and Astronomy As was the custom then Ishwar Chandra married at the age of fourteen. His wife was Dinamayee Devi. Narayan Chandra Bandyopadhyaya was their only son.

In the year 1839, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar successfully cleared his Sanskrit law examination. In 1841, at the age of twenty-one years, Ishwar Chandra joined Fort William College as head of the Sanskrit department.

After five years, in 1846, Vidyasagar left Fort William College and joined the Sanskrit College as 'Assistant Secretary'. In the first year of service, Ishwar Chandra recommended a number of changes to the existing education system. This report resulted in a serious altercation between Ishwar Chandra and College Secretary Rasomoy Dutta. In 1849, against the advice of Rasomoy Dutta, he resigned from Sanskrit College and rejoined Fort William College as a head clerk.

Widow Remarriage Act

Vidyasagar championed the upliftment of the status of women in India, particularly in his native Bengal. Unlike some other reformers who sought to set up alternative societies or systems, he sought to transform society from within.

Unable to tolerate the ill-treatment, many of these girls would run away and turn to prostitution to support themselves. Ironically, the economic prosperity and lavish lifestyles of the city made it possible for many of them to have successful careers once they stepped out of the sanction of society and into the demi-monde. In 1853 it was estimated that Calcutta had a population of 12,700 prostitutes and public women. Many widows had to shave their heads and don white saris, supposedly to discourage attention from men. They led a deplorable life,Vidyasagar thought it  was unfair and sought out the  changes.

Opposing Spread of Education beyond Higher Classes
The Wood's despatch of 1854—considered the Magna Carta of Indian education—adopted a new policy towards 'mass education'. Hitherto the official focus was on the upper classes of the population for education. Dubbed the 'Downward Filtration Theory', this implied that education always filters down from the upper classes of the society to the common masses.

In 1859, the government's education policy reiterated "the spread of vernacular elementary instruction among the lower orders". Upon this, Vidyasagar addressed a letter, dated 29 September 1859, to John Peter Grant, the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal, underlining his perception:An impression appears to have gained ground, both here and in England, that enough has been done for the education of the higher classes and that attention should now be directed towards the education of the masses... An inquiry into the matter will, however, show a very different state of things. As the best, if not the only practicable means of promoting education in Bengal, the Government should, in my humble opinion, confine itself to the education of the higher classes on a comprehensive scale.The words "higher classes" in Bengali parlance do not entail anything but caste which bestows or withdraws the privilege of education on a person by birth. Thus, Vidyasagar explicitly advocated for confining education to "higher classes".

Earlier in 1854, Vidyasagar had scoffed at the admission of a wealthy man from the goldsmith caste of Bengal in the Sanskrit College, Calcutta. His argument was that "in the scale of castes, the  goldsmith class (Subarnabanik) stands very low". Notably, Sanjib Chattopadhyay, a biographer of Vidyasagar, revealed that Ishwar Chandra started his primary education in a school established and maintained by Shibcharan Mallick, a rich man of goldsmith caste in Calcutta.

Vidyasagar in Santhal Pargana
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar's long association with Karmatar, a sleepy hamlet about 20 km from the district headquarters of Jamtara, seems to have been forgotten by the people of the state.

Vidyasagar came to Karmatar in 1873 and spent more than 18 years of his life here. He had set up a girls' school and a night school for adults on the premises of his house, which he called Nandan Kanan. He also opened a free homeopathy clinic to provide some medical care to these unprivileged tribal people.

After his death the Nandan Kanan, the abode of Vidyasagar was sold by his son to Mallick family of Kolkata. Before Nandan Kanan could be dismantled Bengali Association Bihar on 29 March 1974 purchased it by money collected by house to house contribution of one rupee each. The Girls School has been restarted, named after Vidyasagar. The Free Homeopathic Clinic is serving local population. The house of Vidyasagar has been maintained in the original shape. The most prized property is the 141 year old 'Palanquin' used by Vidyasagar himself.

The Government of Jharkhand on 26 September 2019 named Jamtara district's Karmatand block as Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar Block as a mark of respect on the birth anniversary of the great social reformer.
An official release quote of Jharkhand's former Chief Minister Raghubar Das:"Jamtara's Karmatand prakhand (block) was the 'karma bhumi' (workplace) of social reformer and strong supporter of women's education Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. Now the block will be known as Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar prakhand"

He was also the secretary of Hindu Female School which later came to be known as Bethune Female School.

Meeting with Ramakrishna
Vidyasagar was liberal in his outlook even though he was born in an orthodox Hindu Brahmin family. Also, he was highly educated and influenced by Oriental thoughts and ideas. Ramakrishna in contrast, did not have a formal education. Yet they had a nice relation between them. When Ramakrishna met Vidyasagar, he praised Vidyasagar as the ocean of wisdom. Vidyasagar joked that Ramkrishna should have collected some amount of salty water of that sea. But, Ramakrishna, with profound humbleness & respect, replied that the water of general sea might be salty, but not the water of the sea of wisdom.

Accolades

Shortly after Vidyasagar's death, Rabindranath Tagore reverently wrote about him: "One wonders how God, in the process of producing forty million Bengalis, produced a man!"

After death, he is remembered in many ways, some of them include:
In 2004, Vidyasagar was ranked number 9 in BBC's poll of the Greatest Bengali of all time.
Rectitude and courage were the hallmarks of Vidyasagar's character, and he was certainly ahead of his time.  In recognition of his scholarship and cultural work the government designated Vidyasagar a Companion of the Indian Empire (CIE) in 1877 In the final years of life, he chose to spend his days among the "Santhals", an old tribe in India.
 Indian Post issued stamps featuring Vidyasagar in 1970 and 1998.

List of places named after Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

 Vidyasagar College
 Vidyasagar Evening College
 Vidyasagar College for Women
 Vidyasagar Institute of Health
 Vidyasagar Mahavidyalaya
 Vidyasagar School of Social Work
 Vidyasagar Setu
 Vidyasagar Shishu Niketan
 Vidyasagar Teachers' Training College, Kalna
 Vidyasagar Teachers' Training College, Midnapore
 Vidyasagar University
 Vidyasagar Vidyapith
 Vidyasagar Vidyapith Girls' High School

In popular culture
Indian film director Kali Prasad Ghosh made Vidyasagar (1950 film), a Bengali-language biographical film about his life in 1950 which starred Pahadi Sanyal in the titular role.

References

Further reading

 Indramitra, Karunasagar Vidyasagar, Ananda Publishers, Kolkata

 ed. Dwijendra Bhowmik, "Janmadwishatabarshe Vidyasagar", Ananda Publishers,

External links

 Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar at the Encyclopædia Britannica

1820 births
1891 deaths
Bengali writers
Bengali Hindus
Bengali nationalists
Indian reformers
Writers from Kolkata
People from Paschim Medinipur district
Translators of Kalidasa
Indian Sanskrit scholars
The Sanskrit College and University alumni
Widowhood in India
19th-century Indian educational theorists
Founders of Indian schools and colleges
19th-century Indian translators
19th-century Indian educators
19th-century Indian philosophers
Scholars from West Bengal
Sanskrit scholars from Bengal
Language reformers

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar


John Irving Pray Jr., Brig Gen, USAF (Ret) is the Chief Executive Officer and President of Operation Homefront. He was appointed to the position on May 18, 2015. Prior to joining Operation Homefront, he was the Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff for the USO.

Career

Pray served in the United States Air Force for 27 years. While in the USAF, he served in a number of key staff and command positions that included: the Director of the White House Situation Room; Commander of the 89th Airlift Wing at Andrews AFB, MD; Commander of the 436th Airlift Wing at Dover AFB, MD; the Deputy Executive Secretary of the U.S. National Security Council; Commander of the 305th Operations Group at McGuire AFB, NJ; Commander of the 8th Airlift Squadron at McChord AFB, WA and Executive Officer to the Commander, United States Special Operations Command at MacDill AFB, FL,. Pray is a Command Pilot with over 6,000 flying hours in numerous mobility and special operations aircraft. He retired from the Air Force in 2007.

After retiring from the United States Air Force (USAF), Pray served as the Executive Secretary of the National Security Council until January 2009 and then as Executive Vice President for the Systems Proposal and Engineering Company until joining the USO in July 2009.

While at the USO from July 2009 to April 2015, Pray led  a broad range of initiatives in operations, marketing, communications, information technology, entertainment and strategy.

Education

John Pray holds a Bachelor's of Science degree from the U.S. Air Force Academy and master's degrees from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the School of Advanced Airpower Studies and the Air War College. He has also completed senior executive programs at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, Harvard Business School and Wharton.

References

External links
 www.operationhomefront.org

Living people
People from Clearwater, Florida
United States Air Force Academy alumni
Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University alumni
School of Advanced Air and Space Studies alumni
Air War College alumni
United States Air Force generals
United Service Organizations
American chief executives
1959 births

John I. Pray


Hocus Pocus Alfie Atkins () is a 2013 Danish-Norwegian-Swedish animated feature film directed by Torill Kove. It is based on the book of the same title from the Alfie Atkins book series by Gunilla Bergström.

Plot
Alfie Atkins wants a dog for his birthday, but his father says he's way too small to take care of it. When he goes to school later on, he's also told by the bigger children in school that he's too small to play with them. Alfie then meets an old man that can conjure money out of thin air and decides to use his help to gain a dog.

Cast
 Markus Engdahl-Alfons Åberg, Mållgan Åberg
 Gustaf Hammarsten-Pappa Åberg
 Per Eggers-Trollkarl
 Gunilla Röör-Trollkarl Fru Singoalla
 Sofia Wendt-Milla Åberg
 Adrian Bratt-Viktor Åberg

Production
TBA

Reception
TBA

References

External links

2013 films
Swedish animated films
Norwegian animated films
Danish animated films
2013 animated films
Animated films based on children's books
Films directed by Torill Kove
2010s Swedish films

Hocus Pocus Alfie Atkins


was a village located in Sarashina District, Nagano Prefecture, Japan.

As of 2003, the village had an estimated population of 1,467 and a density of 31.99 persons per km2. The total area was 45.86 km2.

On January 1, 2005, Ōoka, along with the town of Toyono, and the villages of Togakushi and Kinasa (all from Kamiminochi District), was merged into the expanded city of Nagano.

Dissolved municipalities of Nagano Prefecture
Nagano (city)

Ōoka, Nagano


Swarthmorewood is a neighborhood in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. Swarthmorewood is different from Swarthmore because, while residents have a Swarthmore mailing address, their taxes go to Ridley Township and are considered part of the Ridley School District. The neighborhood sits on the border of Springfield and Swarthmore townships. It is also bordered by the Woodlyn, Wallingford, and Grace Park neighborhoods. The terrains was woods and farmland before being developed in the 1950s. A large number of second generation home owners is part of what makes the neighborhood desirable. Public transportation, shopping and education are within walking distance. There is an active Athletic association renowned for feeding the local high school sports programs.

Geography
Swarthmorewood is located at  (39.882639, -75.345612)

Neighborhoods in Pennsylvania
Populated places in Delaware County, Pennsylvania

Swarthmorewood, Pennsylvania


Serpents () are referred to in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. The symbol of a serpent or snake played important roles in the religious traditions and cultural life of ancient Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Canaan. The serpent was a symbol of evil power and chaos from the underworld as well as a symbol of fertility, life, healing, and rebirth.

Nāḥāš (), Hebrew for "snake", is also associated with divination, including the verb form meaning "to practice divination or fortune-telling". Nāḥāš occurs in the Torah to identify the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Throughout the Hebrew Bible, it is also used in conjunction with seraph to describe vicious serpents in the wilderness. The tannin, a dragon monster, also occurs throughout the Hebrew Bible. In the Book of Exodus, the staves of Moses and Aaron are turned into serpents, a nāḥāš for Moses, a tannin for Aaron. In the New Testament, the Book of Revelation makes use of ancient serpent and the Dragon several times to identify Satan or the Devil (; ). The serpent is most often identified with the hubristic Satan, and sometimes with Lilith.

The narrative of the Garden of Eden and the fall of humankind constitute a mythological tradition shared by all the Abrahamic religions, with a presentation more or less symbolic of Judeo-Christian morals and religious beliefs, which had an overwhelming impact on human sexuality, gender roles, and sex differences both in the Western and Islamic civilizations. In mainstream (Nicene) Christianity, the doctrine of the Fall is closely related to that of original sin or ancestral sin. Unlike Christianity, the other major Abrahamic religions, Judaism and Islam, do not have a concept of "original sin", and instead have developed varying other interpretations of the Eden narrative.

Serpents in Mesopotamian mythology

In one of the oldest stories ever written, the Epic of Gilgamesh, the main character and eponymous protagonist Gilgamesh loses the power of immortality, stolen by a snake. The serpent was a widespread figure in the mythologies of the Ancient Near East and Eastern Mediterranean. Ouroboros is an ancient symbol of a serpent eating its own tail that represents the perpetual cyclic renewal of life, the eternal return, and the cycle of life, death, and rebirth, leading to immortality.

Archaeologists have uncovered serpent cult objects in Bronze Age strata at several pre-Israelite cities in Canaan: two at Tel Megiddo, one at Gezer, one in the sanctum sanctorum of the Area H temple at Hazor, and two at Shechem. In the surrounding region, a late Bronze Age Hittite shrine in northern Syria contained a bronze statue of a god holding a serpent in one hand and a staff in the other. In sixth-century Babylon, a pair of bronze serpents flanked each of the four doorways of the temple of Esagila. At the Babylonian New Year festival, the priest was to commission from a woodworker, a metalworker and a goldsmith two images one of which "shall hold in its left hand a snake of cedar, raising its right [hand] to the god Nabu". At the tell of Tepe Gawra, at least seventeen Early Bronze Age Assyrian bronze serpents were recovered.<ref>E.A. Speiser, Excavations at Tepe Gawra: I. Levels I-VIII, p. 114ff., noted in Joines 1968:246 and note 9.</ref> The Sumerian fertility god Ningizzida was sometimes depicted as a serpent with a human head, eventually becoming a god of healing and magic.

Hebrew Bible

In the Hebrew Bible, the Book of Genesis refers to a serpent who triggered the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden in Eden (). Serpent is also used to describe sea monsters. Examples of these identifications are in the Book of Isaiah where a reference is made to a serpent-like dragon named Leviathan (), and in the Book of Amos where a serpent resides at the bottom of the sea (). Serpent figuratively describes biblical places such as Egypt (), and the city of Dan (). The prophet Jeremiah also compares the King of Babylon to a serpent ().

Eden

The Hebrew word נָחָשׁ (Nāḥāš) is used in the Hebrew Bible to identify the serpent that appears in Genesis , in the Garden of Eden. In the first book of the Torah, the serpent is portrayed as a deceptive creature or trickster, who promotes as good what God had forbidden and shows particular cunning in its deception. (cf.  and ) The serpent has the ability to speak and to reason: "Now the serpent was more subtle (also translated as "cunning") than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made". There is no indication in the Book of Genesis that the serpent was a deity in its own right, although it is one of only two cases of animals that talk in the Torah (Balaam's donkey being the other).

God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden to tend it and warned Adam not to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, "for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." The serpent tempts Eve to eat of the tree, but Eve tells the serpent what God had said. The serpent replies that she would not surely die () and that if she eats the fruit of the tree "then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." () Eve ate the fruit, and gave some to Adam who also ate. God, who was walking in the Garden, learns of their transgression. To prevent Adam and Eve from eating the fruit of the Tree of Life and living forever, they are banished from the garden upon which God posts an angelic guard. The serpent is punished for its role in the Fall, being cursed by God to crawl on its belly and eat dust.

There is a debate about whether the serpent in Eden should be viewed figuratively or as a literal animal. According to one midrashic interpretation in Rabbinic literature, the serpent represents sexual desire; another interpretation is that the snake is the yetzer hara. Modern Rabbinic ideas include interpreting the story as a psychological allegory where Adam represents reasoning faculties, Eve the emotional faculties, and the serpent the hedonic sexual/physical faculties. Voltaire, drawing on Socinian influences, wrote: "It was so decidedly a real serpent, that all its species, which had before walked on their feet, were condemned to crawl on their bellies. No serpent, no animal of any kind, is called Satan, or Belzebub, or Devil, in the Pentateuch."

20th-century scholars such as W. O. E. Oesterley (1921) were cognizant of the differences between the role of the Edenic serpent in the Hebrew Bible and its connections with the "ancient serpent" in the New Testament. Modern historiographers of Satan such as Henry Ansgar Kelly (2006) and Wray and Mobley (2007) speak of the "evolution of Satan", or "development of Satan".

According to Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament scholar, Lutheran theologian and University of Heidelberg professor, who applied form criticism as a supplement to the documentary hypothesis of the Hebrew Bible, the snake in the Eden's narrative was more an expedient to represent the impulse to temptation of mankind (that is, disobeying God's law) rather than an evil spirit or the personification of the Devil, as the later Christian literature erroneously depicted it; moreover, von Rad himself states that the snake is neither a supernatural being nor a demon, but one of the wild animals created by God (), and the only thing that differentiates it from the others in Eden is the ability to speak:

Moses and Aaron
When God had revealed himself to the prophet Moses in , Moses recognized that the call of God was for him to lead the people of Israel out of slavery, but anticipated that people would deny or doubt his calling. In , Moses asked God how to respond to such doubt, and God asked him to cast the rod which he carried (possibly a shepherd's crook)  onto the ground, whereupon it became a serpent (a nachash). Moses fled from it, but God encouraged him to come back and take it by the tail, and it became a rod again.

Later in the Book of Exodus (Exodus 7), the staffs of Moses and Aaron were turned into serpents, a nachash for Moses, a tanniyn for Aaron.

Fiery serpents

"Fiery serpent" ( sārāf; "burning") occurs in the Torah to describe a species of vicious snakes whose venom burns upon contact. According to Wilhelm Gesenius, saraph corresponds to the Sanskrit Sarpa (Jawl aqra), serpent; sarpin, reptile (from the root srip, serpere). These "burning serpents"(YLT) infested the great and terrible place of the desert wilderness (Num.21:4-9; Deut.8:15). The Hebrew word for "poisonous" literally means "fiery", "flaming" or "burning", as the burning sensation of a snake bite on human skin, a metaphor for the fiery anger of God (Numbers 11:1).

The Book of Isaiah expounds on the description of these fiery serpents as "flying saraphs"(YLT), or "flying dragons", in the land of trouble and anguish (Isaiah 30:6). Isaiah indicates that these saraphs are comparable to vipers,(YLT) worse than ordinary serpents (Isaiah 14:29). The prophet Isaiah also sees a vision of seraphim in the Temple itself: but these are divine agents, with wings and human faces, and are probably not to be interpreted as serpent-like so much as "flame-like".

Serpent of bronze

In the Book of Numbers, while Moses was in the wilderness, he mounted a serpent of bronze on a pole that functioned as a cure against the bite of the "seraphim", the "burning ones" (). The phrase in Numbers 21:9, "a serpent of bronze," is a wordplay as "serpent" (nehash) and "bronze" (nehoshet) are closely related in Hebrew, nehash nehoshet.

Mainstream scholars suggest that the image of the fiery serpent served to function like that of a magical amulet. Magic amulets or charms were used in the ancient Near East to practice a healing ritual known as sympathetic magic in an attempt to ward off, heal or reduce the impact of illness and poisons. Copper and bronze serpent figures have been recovered, showing that the practice was widespread. A Christian interpretation would be that the bronze serpent served as a symbol for each individual Israelite to take their confession of sin and the need for God's deliverance to heart. Confession of sin and forgiveness was both a community and an individual responsibility. The plague of serpents remained an ongoing threat to the community and the raised bronze serpent was an ongoing reminder to each individual for the need to turn to the healing power of God. It has also been proposed that the bronze serpent was a type of intermediary between God and the people that served as a test of obedience, in the form of free judgment, standing between the dead who were not willing to look to God's chosen instrument of healing, and the living who were willing and were healed. Thus, this instrument bore witness to the sovereign power of Yahweh even over the dangerous and sinister character of the desert.

In , a bronze serpent, alleged to be the one Moses made, was kept in Jerusalem's Temple sanctuary. The Israelites began to worship the object as an idol or image of God, by offering sacrifices and burning incense to it, until Hezekiah was made King. Hezekiah referred to it as Nehushtan and had torn it down. Scholars have debated the nature of the relationship between the Mosaic bronze serpent and Hezekiah's Nehushtan, but traditions happen to link the two.

New Testament

Gospels
In the Gospel of Matthew, John the Baptist calls the Pharisees and Saducees, who were visiting him, a "brood of vipers" (). Jesus also uses this imagery, observing: "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?" (). Alternatively, Jesus also presents the snake with a less negative connotation when sending out the Twelve Apostles. Jesus exhorted them, "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves" (). Wilhelm Gesenius notes that even amongst the ancient Hebrews, the serpent was a symbol of wisdom.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus made mention of the Mosaic serpent when he foretold his crucifixion to a Jewish teacher. Jesus compared the act of raising up the Mosaic serpent on a pole, with the raising up of the Son of Man on a cross ().

Temptation of Christ
In the temptation of Christ, the Devil cites , "for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in [their] hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone." He cuts off before verse 13, "Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon (tanniyn) shalt thou trample under feet."Whittaker, H.A. Studies in the Gospels "Matthew 4" Biblia, Cannock 1996

The serpent in Psalm 91:13 is identified as Satan by Christians: "super aspidem et basiliscum calcabis conculcabis leonem et draconem" in the Latin Vulgate, literally "The asp and the basilisk you will trample under foot; you will tread on the lion and the dragon". This passage is commonly interpreted by Christians as a reference to Christ defeating and triumphing over Satan. The passage led to the Late Antique and Early Medieval iconography of Christ treading on the beasts, in which two beasts are often shown, usually the lion and snake or dragon, and sometimes four, which are normally the lion, dragon, asp (snake) and basilisk (which was depicted with varying characteristics) of the Vulgate. All represented the devil, as explained by Cassiodorus and Bede in their commentaries on Psalm 91. The serpent is often shown curled round the foot of the cross in depictions of the crucifixion of Jesus from Carolingian art until about the 13th century; often it is shown as dead. The crucifixion was regarded as the fulfillment of God's curse on the serpent in Genesis 3:15. Sometimes it is pierced by the cross and in one ivory is biting Christ's heel, as in the curse.

Ancient serpent
Serpent (Greek: ; Trans: Ophis, ; "snake", "serpent") occurs in the Book of Revelation as the "ancient serpent" or "old serpent"(YLT) used to describe "the dragon",[20:2] Satan the Adversary,(YLT) who is the devil.[12:9, 20:2] This serpent is depicted as a red seven-headed dragon having ten horns, each housed with a diadem. The serpent battles Michael the Archangel in a War in Heaven which results in this devil being cast out to the earth. While on earth, he pursues the Woman of the Apocalypse and gives power and authority to the  Beast. Unable to obtain her, he wages war with the rest of her seed (Revelation 12:1-18). He who has the key to the abyss and a great chain over his hand, binds the serpent for a thousand years. The serpent is then cast into the abyss and sealed within until he is released (Revelation 20:1-3).

In Christian tradition, the "ancient serpent" is commonly identified with the Genesis serpent and as Satan. This identification redefined the Hebrew Bible's concept of Satan ("the Adversary", a member of the Heavenly Court acting on behalf of God to test Job's faith), so that Satan/Serpent became a part of a divine plan stretching from Creation to Christ and the Second Coming.

Religious views
Biblical apocrypha and deuterocanonical books
The first deuterocanonical source to connect the serpent with the devil may be Wisdom of Solomon. The subject is more developed in the pseudepigraphal-apocryphal Apocalypse of Moses (Vita Adae et Evae) where the devil works with the serpent.

Christianity
In Christianity, a connection between the Serpent and Satan is created, and  where God curses the serpent, is seen in that light: "And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life / And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" (KJV).

Following the imagery of chapter 12 of the Book of Revelation, Bernard of Clairvaux had called Mary the "conqueror of dragons", and she was long to be shown crushing a snake underfoot, also a reference to her title as the "New Eve".

Gnosticism

Gnosticism originated in the late 1st century CE in non-rabbinical Jewish and early Christian sects. In the formation of Christianity, various sectarian groups, labeled "gnostics" by their opponents, emphasised spiritual knowledge (gnosis) of the divine spark within, over faith (pistis) in the teachings and traditions of the various communities of Christians. Gnosticism presents a distinction between the highest, unknowable God, and the Demiurge, "creator" of the material universe. The Gnostics considered the most essential part of the process of salvation to be this personal knowledge, in contrast to faith as an outlook in their worldview along with faith in the ecclesiastical authority.

In Gnosticism, the biblical serpent in the Garden of Eden was praised and thanked for bringing knowledge (gnosis'') to Adam and Eve and thereby freeing them from the malevolent Demiurge's control. Gnostic Christian doctrines rely on a dualistic cosmology that implies the eternal conflict between good and evil, and a conception of the serpent as the liberating savior and bestower of knowledge to humankind opposed to the Demiurge or creator god, identified with the Hebrew God of the Old Testament. Gnostic Christians considered the Hebrew God of the Old Testament as the evil, false god and creator of the material universe, and the Unknown God of the Gospel, the father of Jesus Christ and creator of the spiritual world, as the true, good God. In the Archontic, Sethian, and Ophite systems, Yaldabaoth (Yahweh) is regarded as the malevolent Demiurge and false god of the Old Testament who generated the material universe and keeps the souls trapped in physical bodies, imprisoned in the world full of pain and suffering that he created.

However, not all Gnostic movements regarded the creator of the material universe as inherently evil or malevolent. For instance, Valentinians believed that the Demiurge is merely an ignorant and incompetent creator, trying to fashion the world as good as he can, but lacking the proper power to maintain its goodness. All Gnostics were regarded as heretics by the proto-orthodox Early Church Fathers.

See also

 Aaron's rod
 Caduceus–Staff of Mercury and staff of Hermes
 Caduceus as a symbol of medicine
 Church of God with Signs Following
 Ethnoherpetology
 Lucifer
 Naassenes
 Nāga
 Narayana
 Ningishzida
 Ophites
 Protoevangelium
 Rod of Asclepius
 Serpent seed
 Snake worship
 Staff of Moses

References

Further reading

External links

Adam and Eve
Animals in the Bible
Bereshit (parashah)
Christian mythology
Dragons
Garden of Eden
Gnosticism
Jewish mythology
Judeo-Christian topics
Legendary serpents
Satan
Snakes in religion
Talking animals in mythology

Serpents in the Bible


Honneur, patrie, valeur, discipline (Honour, fatherland, valour, discipline) is the motto of the French Navy. It is found inscribed on all ships and buildings, sometimes with each word on its separate plaque at a corner of the superstructure.

Origin
The motto uses words found in traditional mottos of French institutions: "Honneur - Patrie", and "Valeur - Discipline"
 "Honneur - Patrie" is the motto of the Légion d'honneur; it has been inscribed on military flags under the First French Empire, and also became the motto of the French Navy from 1830;
 "Valeur - Discipline"  was inscribed on military flags under the late First Empire; fallen in disuse under the Bourbon Restauration, is reappeared on the flags of the French Second Republic and on the reverse of the Médaille militaire.

Probably under the Second French Empire, these two mottos fused and became features of French naval ships.

See also
 Honneur et fidélité

Sources and references
 L'origine de la devise : "Honneur, Patrie, Valeur Discipline", Le fauteuil de Colbert.

French Navy
Mottos
French words and phrases

Honneur, patrie, valeur, discipline


Andres Ilves (also known as Andy Ilves, born Andres Erik Ilves) is a journalist and writer, most recently at the BBC, where he headed the Somali Service at BBC Africa, previously head of the Persian and Pashto Service of the BBC World Service. He is responsible for BBC radio and online output in the languages of Afghanistan, Iran, Tajikistan, and the border areas of Pakistan. He has also been the country director for Kenya and Somalia for BBC Media Action.

In addition to his positions of editorial responsibility within the BBC, Ilves speaks and writes about current affairs, appearing on television as well. From 2009 to 2011 Ilves was the head of development for BBC Global News Marketing, Communications, and Audiences.

Ilves is the editor of "More Light, Less Heat: Who holds power in the global conversation?", a collection of global thought leaders' views on how both the rapid changes in communication—from the internet to mobile phones—and the rise of extreme views have changed our world since the beginning of the 21st century.

Ilves has also been the chair of the board of trustees of Peace Direct, a UK-based charity providing support to peace builders in a dozen conflict zones around the world. His brother is Toomas Hendrik Ilves, the 4th President of Estonia.

Early life and career
Ilves was born in New Jersey, United States, to Estonian refugee parents.  He graduated with honours from Princeton University, with a degree in Near Eastern Studies.

After Princeton, Ilves spent a year as a Coro Foundation Fellow in Los Angeles, and then as a Rotary Scholar at the Universiteit van Amsterdam, in The Netherlands.  Ilves then worked for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Munich, Germany as a journalist, analyst, and translator focusing on Afghanistan, as well as on ethnic and linguistic minority issues around the world.

Ilves also spent time in California as a legislative and media aide to Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alatorre and San Francisco Supervisor Terence Hallinan.  Following Hallinan's election as San Francisco district attorney, Ilves served as his chief of administration.

After time spent working on an election monitoring and political party capacity building project in Serbia for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), Ilves served more than three years as the executive director of the Names Project Foundation, the sponsor of the AIDS Memorial Quilt.

Media experience
Following the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 11 September 2001, Ilves returned to his previous specialty of Afghanistan, becoming the first director of the newly established Radio Free Afghanistan, based in Prague, Czech Republic.  In 2003, he was appointed by the US Broadcasting Board of Governors to oversee US international broadcasting to Iran as well, as the first director of Radio Farda.

In November 2004, Ilves was appointed Head of the BBC World Service's output in the Persian, Pashto, Dari, and Tajik languages.  He also played an integral role in setting up the new BBC Persian-language television channel, which launched in January 2009.

Miscellaneous
Ilves is a passionate linguist, speaking numerous languages besides his native Estonian and English, including Dutch, Esperanto, French, German, Pashto, Persian, and Portuguese.  He has been studying isiZulu for several years now, including at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).  Ilves listens primarily to kwaito and hip hop music; his favourite music stations are Johannesburg's youth station YFM and BBC Radio 1Xtra.  He lives in London but travels frequently to Africa as well as Afghanistan and the surrounding region for work. Ilves feels particularly strong ties to the township of Soweto in South Africa.

References

Year of birth missing (living people)
Place of birth missing (living people)
Living people
American people of Estonian descent
BBC newsreaders and journalists
BBC World Service presenters
Princeton University alumni

Andres Ilves


is a 1968 Japanese film directed by Kinji Fukasaku.  The film is based on a play by Yukio Mishima which in turn is based on a novel by Rampo Edogawa. The play had previously been adapted to film in 1962 by director Umetsugu Inoue.

Plot
Shobei Iwase is a jeweler whose daughter Sanae works as a hostess at a club. Mrs. Midorikawa visits Sanae and introduces her to Yamakawa, young businessman from Tokyo. When they visit his room to look at a wedding doll, he chloroforms Sanae and stuffs her into a trunk.

Detective Akechi explains that Yamakawa was actually a depressed man named Junichi Amamiya who was convinced by Black Lizard to kidnap Sanae. Suspecting this, Akechi sends his men to follow Amamiya and he successfully recovers Sanae. Akechi explains that Mrs. Midorikawa is actually Black Lizard in disguise. Black Lizard dresses in men's clothing to escape the hotel unnoticed.

Sanae is told to stay in her room at her father's house, but his housekeeper Hina works to kidnap her along with another worker. Iwase's guard Matobe attempts to intervene but they cut off his hand, leaving blood all over Iwase's new sofa. Iwase demands the removal of the sofa, which his employees arrange while sneaking out Sanae in a hidden compartment underneath its seat.

Black Lizard sends a note promising the return of Sanae in exchange for the Star of Egypt, a South African gem worth 120 million yen that is Iwase's prized possession. Iwase brings the gem to Black Lizard at New Shinonome pier at noon on August 4 as requested and Black Lizard lies that Sanae will be returned to him that night.

Black Lizard takes Sanae on a ship to a private island but hears Akechi speaking from the e sofa's hidden compartment so Black Lizard thrusts a sword through it and orders the sofa thrown overboard. Akechi was actually hiding in the closet and appears before Black Lizard disguised as the old sailor Matsukichi.

On the island, Black Lizard presents her collection of human bodies perfectly preserved as statues. Junichi Amamiya attempts to help Sanae escape but is caught and thrown in a cell with her, where she confesses that she is a woman named Yoko Sakurayana hired to be Sanae's double and he confesses that he got caught on purpose in order to be turned into one of Black Lizard's dolls to stay with her and be caressed by her forever. Junichi and Yoko fall in love.

Black Lizard reads a newspaper article that Sanae has already been returned to her father and is infuriated. Akechi summons the police and reveals himself to Black Lizard. He frees Junichi and Yoko and lets them leave to live their life together. Hina attempts to throw a poisonous snake at Akechi but Black Lizard stops her by impaling her with a sword before running to her room. Akechi reveals that Black Lizard killed the real Matsukichi in the sofa compartment and Black Lizard reveals that she has consumed poison, whereupon she dies.

Cast
Akihiro Maruyama as "Black Lizard", disguised as Mrs. Midorikawa
Isao Kimura as Detective Kogorō Akechi
Kikko Matsuoka as Sanae Iwase
Junya Usami as Shobei Iwase
Yûsuke Kawazu as Junichi Amamiya
Kō Nishimura as Private Detective Keiji Matoba
Toshiko Kobayashi as Hina
Sonosuke Oda as Harada
Kinji Hattori as Toyama
Kōichi Satō as Ohkawa
Jun Katō as Sakai
Ryūji Funakoshi as Kōzu
Mitsuko Takara as Show Dancer
Tetsurō Tamba as Kuroki
Yukio Mishima as a taxidermic Japanese human specimen

Release
Black Lizard was released in Japan in August 1968. Fukasaku stated the film was very popular and successful on its initial release. He added that Shochiku had offered him a chance to direct a follow-up that  would also star Maruyama.

In the United States, it was theatrically released by Shochiku Films of America with English subtitles in July 1969, with an 86-minute running time. The film was not widely distributed in the United States until it was reissued by Cinevista with English subtitles in February 1985, with an 83-minute running time.

References

Footnotes

Sources

External links

Films directed by Kinji Fukasaku
1960s Japanese-language films
1968 films
Shochiku films
Cross-dressing in film
Films about kidnapping
Films based on adaptations
Films based on works by Edogawa Ranpo
Films based on works by Yukio Mishima
Films set in Osaka
Films scored by Isao Tomita
Japanese films based on plays
Japanese detective films
1960s Japanese films

Black Lizard (film)


Major Ivan Hirst (1 March 1916 – 10 March 2000), was a British Army officer and engineer who was instrumental in reviving Volkswagen from a single factory in Wolfsburg, Germany, into a major postwar automotive manufacturer.

Education
Hirst was born in Saddleworth, West Riding of Yorkshire, England and attended Hulme Grammar School in Oldham, across the county boundary in Lancashire. His family had founded the Hirst Brothers Company, a manufacturer of watches, clocks and optical components in Oldham. He studied optical engineering at the University of Manchester, prior to forming his own company repairing optical instruments. While a student he was a member of the university's Officers' Training Corps contingent.

World War II
Hirst was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 7th Battalion, Duke of Wellington's Regiment (Territorial Army) on 27 June 1934, and promoted to lieutenant three years later. A Captain on the outbreak of the Second World War, he was appointed adjutant on 1 October 1939. He transferred to the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) as a Mechanical Engineering Officer on 14 November 1941, and to the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) on its formation on 1 October 1942.

In the period after the D-Day landings, he was in charge of a tank repair facility in Belgium. He arrived in Germany in the summer of 1945, along with his colleague, Colonel Charles Radclyffe, when the British Army took control of the town of Wolfsburg. Russian ground troops had already located a factory in the town after crossing the Mittelland canal but were not interested in it. Then the US army found it but once again it held no interest. When the UK came across it, Hirst, sensing something was not right, quickly cleared some debris from the generating plant building and discovered it had been put there to disguise the fact that it was still operational. Hirst then found a pre-war prototype Volkswagen in a remote workshop on the site and realised that the factory could be used for producing cars for the British Army. Hence, Hirst and Radclyffe laid the foundations for Volkswagen's successful automotive business.

Much of the machinery had survived the bombing, having been stored in various outbuildings. Cars were put together with old stock and whatever could be found, many using parts from the Kübelwagen until 1946, when the factory produced about 1,000 cars a month.

Hirst was fascinated by the potential of a four-wheel drive "Commanderwagon", which he was confident would sell to the French and Canadian forestry industries. He also liked the proven versatility of the Volkswagen chassis demonstrated by Ambi Budd, Karmann and other coachworks.

Hirst ended the war as a major.

Post-war specials
Two of the most significant 'special' cars developed by Volkswagen while under the control of the British were the 'Radclyffe Roadster', and a four-seater convertible, both custom-built by Rudolph Ringel. The Radclyffe was a two-seater roadster that was the transport of Colonel Charles Radclyffe over the summer months of 1946. The four-seater convertible was Ivan Hirst's personal transport.

Karmann was asked to build a four-seater, another coach-builder, Hebmüller, was asked to make a two-seater roadster. Its design was not unlike the 'Radclyffe Roadster', with a similar hood and side windows. The rear engine cover, however, was a hand-formed panel, not a converted front bonnet as was the Radclyffe version.

REME
The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME), to which Hirst belonged, has a relationship with Volkswagen which began in 1945 with a REME detachment using the factory to repair captured enemy vehicles and later to overhaul Willys MB and other British Army vehicle engines. Hirst, the Control Commission for Germany's British Senior Resident Officer, arrived at the Volkswagen factory in August of that year.

From 1946 the Volkswagen factory focus was on repairing and reconditioning Volkswagens and became known as 'No 2 REME Auxiliary Workshop'. As the company's prospects improved, the unit became essentially civilian-run but directed by the Army. The REME link ended when, on 6 September 1949, ownership transferred to the West German government. Since then VW has recognised the role that Ivan Hirst and the REME played in its rise from the ashes of the Second World War. A close bond exists between Volkswagen and REME to this day.

Memories
Hirst had strong memories of his time at Wolfsburg which he would share with local Volkswagen enthusiasts. The one strongest memory he would refer to regularly was the smell of the fish glue used to fix the cardboard headlinings in early cars. In later life, he became somewhat more reticent about his involvement, often saying that it was only by chance that he had been involved and that if he had not done it someone else would have.

Being a keen amateur photographer, his home was littered with images taken in the early days at Volkswagen, including one really early picture of a prototype coupe which was very similar to the Volkswagen Type 14A Hebmüller Cabriolet cars of the early 1950s.

Presentation of the model cars
Hirst once showed a friend a scale model of a Volkswagen Beetle that Volkswagen had presented to him. The 1:10 scale model, now on display in the REME Museum, was one of three made by Koch in Cologne. The second model was given to Colonel Charles Radclyffe; the third was presented to Heinrich Nordhoff, whom the British occupying authorities appointed managing director of Volkswagen in early 1948.

Later life
Hirst later joined the industry staff of the German section of the Foreign Office, where he stayed until 1955 when he joined the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC) (before it became the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1961) in Paris until his retirement in 1975. He died on . Just one month earlier, he had appeared in an edition of the British Top Gear magazine, which revealed the story of how Major Hirst revived the Volkswagen car plant. He was also photographed driving a new front wheel-drive, front-engined Beetle in the magazine.

He had no children.

Honours
 A road in Wolfsburg, not far from Volkswagens factory buildings, is named in his honour "Major-Hirst-Straße" (Major-Hirst-Road).

References

Notes

Sources

http://www.mishalov.com/Hirst.html

1916 births
2000 deaths
British automotive pioneers
People from Saddleworth
Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers officers
Royal Army Ordnance Corps officers
Duke of Wellington's Regiment officers
British Army personnel of World War II
Alumni of the University of Manchester
People educated at Oldham Hulme Grammar School
Volkswagen Group people

Ivan Hirst