Ginger Rogers, Main Idea-Thesis Statement
Has anyone seen my partner Fred Astaire?! Well I might as well get a few practice steps in. If you couldn't already tell by the dancing and all, I'm Ginger Rogers. I was born in Independence, Missouri on July 16, 1911. My full name is Virginia McMath("Film Reference." Ginger Rogers. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.), my name "Ginger" came from my cousin who couldn't pronounce my full name("Biography." The Official Site of Ginger Rogers. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.). My childhood was in turmoil due to my mother and father getting a divorce. We went to court and my mother took full custody of me, after going to court I was in between houses a lot due to my mother trying to find a job in Hollywood to support
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Dancing and acting were my passion. After the competition when I was 14 my dancing and acting career began. 1926 I performed at the Craterian Theater in Medford, Oregon("Ginger Rogers." - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.), and continued to appear in Vaudeville productions, at age 17 I also married my first husband Jack Culpepper, singer/dancer/comedian/recording artist("Biography." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.), we created a short-lived Vaudeville double act known as "Ginger and Pepper". Our marriage was over within months after realizing I had made an extraordinarily huge mistake("Biography." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.). After the divorce I went back on tour. When the tour got to New York City I stayed getting a radio singing job, soon after my Broadway theater debut called "Top Speed" opened("Biography." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.). Within two weeks of the opening I starred on Broadway in “Girl Crazy” by George Gershwin. My appearance made me a star overnight at age 19("Biography." The Official Site of Ginger Rogers. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. …show more content…
Then I signed a seven-year contract with Paramount Pictures in 1930. I moved back to Hollywood and I signed a three-picture deal with Pathé Exchange, as well as making feature films with the Warner Bros in 1932. I made a significant breakthrough with the movie "Anytime Annie" and went on to make a series of films with Fox("Ginger Rogers." - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.). In 1933 I met Fred Astaire and we started our most famous partnership. We were together from 1933 to 1939 making 10 movies. In our movie "Roberta" the song "I'll Be Hard to Handle" was an early example of the electricity and vivacity of our pairing. By 1936 we were top box office names. We made two more movies, the movie "Swing Time" which I made that year spawned the only Oscar I won in my lifetime, with the song "The Way You Look Tonight". In 1938 after a long time apart, we made one movie together. While apart, I appeared in a successful movie but Fred's career didn't reach the same heights he experienced with me. In 1939, we made one movie. Our partnership ended for ten years, until we reunited for “The Barkleys of Broadway”. Although our relationship was amicable we wanted to explore new avenues. In my solo years I pursued more dramatic roles and won an Academy Award for "Best Actress". I continued to make movies until 1949 when my movie career died off(."Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers." -
Australia’s first indigenous track and field athlete to compete in the Olympics, Cathy Freeman most defiantly fits into many of Wilderness’s core values. Cathy grew up in a time where racism against indigenous citizens was a common normality. Her grandma was part of the stolen generations and through her career, Cathy has been a victim of racial harassment and abuse. How she acted during these periods of time in her life truly defined her as, nothing other than a responsible citizen. She was able to put the racism and discrimination behind her and compete at an Olympic level for the country she loved. In addition, she was an advocate of Aboriginal rights and like many aborigines at the time, she strongly supported the idea of the Australian government apologising for the abuses
Myra Maybelle Shirley also commonly known as the “Bandit Queen” was born on February 5, 1848, on a farm near Carthage, Missouri. She was one of six children, but the only daughter of her farmer parents, John and Elizabeth Shirley. When her family moved into Carthage her father became a prosperous innkeeper and slave holder. Belle attended the Carthage Female Academy, where she excelled in reading, spelling, grammar, arithmetic, manner, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and developed a love for playing the piano. She later attended another private school named Cravens, where she further nurtured her love for music. At the start of the Civil War, her parents were southern sympathizers and supporters of Confederate troops in Missouri. Myra’s parents were apparently pleased, and were even more dedicated to supporting the Confederate cause when their oldest son, John, joined a squad of bushwhackers in bloody reprisals along the Missouri-Kansas border. Later that as a result of fighting for the Confederacy with William C. Quantrill's guerillas, John was killed by Union troops in Sarcoxie, Missouri. Many believe that his influence led Belle in the decision of her life’s direction. By 1864, after Carthage was burned, the family had migrated to Scyene, Texas, near Dallas, and again established a hotel and tavern. They soon had multiple intriguing visitors.
Lotta Crabtree was born in New York in 1847, where she spent her first few years living, before moving to Southern California. With her parents Mary Ann Crabtree a upholsterer, furniture industry, and John Ashworth Crabtree a bookseller. Her Family was attracted by the gold rush and they moved so that they could be closer to it. Her father was the first to leave in search for gold in 1851 and Lotta and her mother moved soon after. In 1852 Lotta and her mother moved to California San Francisco for the race for gold. They weren't the richest family so they moved in with their friends that had been living there.Marry encouraged her daughter Lotta to begin dancing right away and enrolled her in dance classes at a very young age. Lotta Crabtree loved acting and performing for people while she was only a 6 year old girl. The Gold rush attracted lots of people to San francisco and that gave her a chance to perform in front of a huge audience. She danced for them and they threw nuggets and coins at her for her amazing dancing. People were throwing money at her like it was nothing and she was only 6 years old. She earned about 400 dollars per show which is an astonishing amount. Her mother collected her earnings and stored them away.This was only the beginning of Lotta Crabtree’s dancing and theater career.
Her lasting career was not given to her easily, therefore, creating an inspiring story full of hardships and success. Ever since she was a little girl, her dream was to become a successful and famous dancer. In New York City, when she was trying to fulfill her dream, she was unable to find a job in the theatre department. Instead of being discouraged, she decided to make something good come from it. She choreographed her own routines, created her own costumes, and organized solo recitals for audiences to enjoy. This event led her to the biggest adventure in her life that would later impact the world. She was invited to return back to London to pursue her education in the performing arts, so that she could further improve her talents that would make up her entire career.
These strong people have help not only with the growth of the Broadway musical, but also with the beginning of the modernization of musical theater during this period. Particularly the growth and change in the types of characters being used in Broadway musicals. Such as the Cinderella type characters are in the rag to riches stories, where they are struggling in the beginning of the act, yet at the final curtain they have a happy ending. Women and men during this period are beginning to show more personality in their acting and their struggles on stage. This was also the period where talking pictures, started to become a growing industry, it was no longer about just the Jazz period of the 1920’s. However, all good things must come to an end; it was the crash of the stock market during this period that brought an end to the feverish pitch of Broadway.
Neve Campbell’s career was a success because she danced. Neve Campbell started to dance when she was 6, following a visit the made to go and see the performance "The Nutcracker". When she was in dancing school (The National Ballet school of Canada) Neve had learned 5 different types of dancing. These types include jazz, flamenco, modern, hip-hop and classical. Neve reefers to the school as being "the best dance school in the world, but an extremely competitive one too". She also says that there is a lot of backstabbing mentally, with a lot of favoritism. While at her dancing stage of her life, she preformed in "Sleeping Beauty", and "The Nutcracker". But her dancing was soon to be put to a halt, for after various injuries and lots of competitiveness, she had a nervous breakdown and quit dancing when she was 15 years old. She also had been a model for two months but found that modeling had no satisfaction and very low. After this she turned towards the theatre for a career, since she wanted to be a performer.
St. Denis's professional career began in 1892. In New York City, she worked as a skirt dancer in dime museums and vaudeville houses. "Dime museums featured "leg dancers" (female dancers whose legs were visible under their short skirts) in brief dance routines."# In that type of atmosphere, St. Denis was worked to the bone and forced to perform her routine at least ten times a day. However, in 1898, David Belasco noticed the young Ruth during one of her vaudeville performances. Belasco was a very successful and well known Broadway producer and director. He hired Ruth to perform as a dancer in his company. He was also responsible for giving her the stage name "St. Denis." The popularity of Ruth St. Denis exploded in the United States and Europe as she toured with his production of "Zaza." During her touring, she was introduced to many influential artists, such as Japanese Dancer Sado Yacco and English actress Sarah Bernhardt.
Her parents who at that time could not understand the choices she made are very happy for their daughter and what she has accomplish. When she left her home at the middle of a fight and never went back. She said,” I had to make my own way” and then lived in a Manhattan dance studio where she was training. Then she got an apartment with some friends in Manhattan Hell’s Kitchen. Since the time she move out of her home she started her showbiz career as a dancer in stage musicals and most notably in her tour to Golden musicals of Broadway and in a Japanese tour. Then she audition to be a fly girl in Fox’s hit comedy “In living Colors,” she beat out 2,000 other contenders in a nation wide competition. Then she cracked into Hollywood and she wanted to make a transition to acting, but she followed Color producer Keenan Ivory Wayans advice to stay with the show for a while before making any attempt to move on.
Shirley Temple Black was easily the most popular and famous child star of all time. She got her start in the movies at the age of three and soon progressed to super stardom. Shirley could do it all: act, sing and dance and all at the age of five! Fans loved her as she was bright, bouncy and cheerful in her films and they ultimately bought millions of dollars worth of products that had her likeness on them. Dolls, phonograph records, mugs, hats, dresses, whatever it was, if it had her picture on there they bought it. Shirley was box-office champion for the consecutive years 1935 to 1938, beating out such great grown-up stars as Clark Gable, Bing Crosby, Robert Taylor, and many more. By 1939, her popularity declined. Although she starred in some
Before and during her rapid rise to Hollywood stardom, Temple’s family played an important role in her childhood. Born in Santa Monica, California on April 23, 1928, Temple was welcomed into the world by her parents and two older brothers. Mr. George Temple worked as banker while Mrs. Gertrude Temple devoted her time to nurturing her baby girl, since her two older sons, George Jr. and John, were already independent teenagers (Dubas 7-8). ...
Rosa parks was a phenomenal woman whom played a tremendous part in our history. Rosa Parks was a woman who had changed our history for the best. She was a woman of authority and because of her, our world has changed from segregation to everyone was combined no matter your race, color, or the way you looked.
Famous choreographer George Balanchine once said, “He is the most interesting, the most inventive, the most elegant dancer of our times” and noted dancer Rudolph Nureyev also said, “He was not just the best ballroom dancer, or tap dancer, he was simply the greatest, most imaginative, dancer of our time.” These famous dancers were referring to Fred Astaire, who has been known as one of the greatest dancers of all time. His light, artistic joyful style of dancing has impacted dance in an extremely unique way. Astaire used techniques in films as well as in dance that have shaped society. Astaire was mostly prominent throughout the 1930s during the Great Depression. Everywhere, Americans were looking for some joy in their lives, and Astaire was able to give them hope in a period of history that lacked optimism. Fred Astaire’s carefree dance movement style and techniques, specifically in the films Swing Time and The Gay Divorcee, help America through the Great Depression and signifies the importance of art in this time period.
Dorothy Day was born in Brooklyn, New York on November 8, 1897. Her mother, Grace Satterlee Day was a New Yorker and her father, John Day, was from Tennessee. Dorothy had three brothers and a sister. At the age of six, John Day, her dad, had been relocated for his job and the family moved to Oakland. However, in 1906 he lost his job to the San Francisco earthquake. Unfortunately, the earthquake had destroyed the newspaper industry. At this young age, Dorothy was able to recognize how in this time of need people like her mother and her neighbors were helping out the poor and homeless during the tragedy. Those matters of kindness had really affected her and she could not forget them. On the other hand, due to the earthquake, the family moved to Chicago where they ended up living for the next twelve years of their lives.
Is the name Norma Jean Baker familiar? Maybe, but due to a suggestion Ben Lyon provided, the name Marilyn Monroe is sure to gain recognition as the 1940’s thespian (Encyclopedia of World Biography). Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jean Baker and grew up to become the sex icon Marilyn Monroe, a singer, actress, and comedienne. She is remembered mainly for her talents and her nude photos from the 1940’s, which helped her to become an icon. One article states, “Legendary film actress Marilyn Monroe will be remembered for her sensuous beauty, her acting talent, and her psychological torment” (DISCovering Biography). Along with her talent she was also known for her declining mental state. She eventually died due to a barbiturate overdose, not too
As a child I always wanted to be in the spotlight. I was always the ham in family pictures, the one who had to excel past my brother, and be in the know of everything. When I was about twelve years old, I realized that entertaining people was what I was all about. Since I wasn’t any good at telling the jokes around the campfire or singing acappella, I thought about trying my dance skills. I liked dancing and I have always enjoyed music videos like Janet Jackson’s “Miss you much”, so I thought why not? What did I have to lose? With the support of my parents, particularly my mom, I went for the gusto.