Sophie Tucker Biography (1884–1966)

originally Sonia Abuza, néeKalish

Singer and entertainer, born in Russia. Brought to the USA as a child, she first performed in vaudeville in blackface, singing ragtime melodies. She almost stole the show in the Ziegfield Follies of 1909 and returned as a star to vaudeville, abandoning blackface but continuing in the African-American style. She helped popularize songs of black composers such as Eubie Blake, and was also known for her racy songs. She enjoyed great success on tour to England (1922) and went on to appear in several stage and film musicals, but was especially known as a nightclub singer. In her later years she billed herself as ‘The Last of the Red-Hot Mamas’.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus Biography (1961-)

Actress. Born January 13, 1961 in New York City. The great-great granddaughter of businessman Leopold Louis-Dreyfus, who founded the international Louis Dreyfus Group. After studying drama at Northwestern University, Louis-Dreyfus began her acting career in nearby Chicago at the Practical Theatre Company and with the prestigious Second City comedy troupe. After moving to New York, she was cast as a regular on Saturday Night Live in 1982, where she showcased her comedic talents for the next two seasons.

In 1986, Julia Louis-Dreyfus launched her film career, appearing in Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters and Soul Man. But it was her portrayal of the fabulously flawed and cynical Elaine Benes on NBC's hit sitcom Seinfeld that launched Louis-Dreyfus to stardom. The New Yorkcentric comedy, also costarring Jason Alexander and Michael Richards, was created by Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David and ran for nine seasons (1989-1998). Though the role of Elaine was not part of the show's original concept, NBC producers insisted that Seinfeld needed a feminine perspective. She earned a Golden Globe in 1993 and an Emmy in 1996 for her performance.

During breaks from Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus continued to make films, with uneven results. These included Jack the Bear (1993), Rob Reiner's North (1994), Father's Day with Billy Crystal and Robin Williams, and Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry (1997). And in 1998, she lent her voice for the role of Princess Atta in the computer-animated feature A Bug's Life.

In 2002, Julia Louis-Dreyfus starred in her own NBC sitcom called Watching Ellie. Despite a promising debut, the real-time comedy featuring Louis-Dreyfus as a Los Angeles lounge singer took a dive in the ratings and was canceled midway through its first season. A revamped version of the show returned to NBC's prime time lineup for spring 2003, but it failed to find an audience.


Undaunted, Julia Louis-Dreyfus returned to television with a new sitcom, New Adventures of Old Christine, in 2006. She stars as Christine, a divorced mother of one, navigating the ups and downs of parenting, dating, and running a business. The show’s title is drawn from the fact that her former husband gets involved with a younger woman who shares her first name and becomes known as “New Christine.” Louis-Dreyfus won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 2006 for her work on the show.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus is married to actor and producer Brad Hall. The couple met at Northwestern University and married in 1987. Their son, Henry, was born in 1992.

Howard Stern Biography (1954– )

Radio disc jockey and television talk-show host. Born Howard Allen Stern on January 12, 1954 in New York City. He studied at Boston University, where he became involved with college radio, then took various deejay jobs, eventually basing himself in New York City (from 1982). He has built a reputation as a ‘shock jock’, developing a flamboyant style and explicit programme content, in various ‘Howard Stern’ shows on radio and television during the 1990s, which has brought him fines and controversy as well as a huge public audience. His best-selling book Private Parts (1993) was later issued as a recording and filmed (both 1997).

In 2005, Stern signed a $500 million deal with Sirius Satellite Radio. He began broadcasting exclusively on the subscription-based radio service on January 9, 2006.

Teenagers

Teen Age describes a period of child-growth that extends
from the thirteenth to the nineteenth year. It corresponds
generally to the period of development known as
adolescence, which may begin before the age of 13 and
extend well beyond the age of 19.

Adolescence actually begins with puberty, a period during
which the child matures physically. Adolescence ends at
some indefinite point called maturity, or adulthood. Adults
have certain special characteristics that adolescents
usually lack. These include emotional and economic
independence; acceptance of responsibility; a sense of
self-identity or individuality; and a goal, or set of
values, that adults try to reach. But the chief factor of
adulthood is physical maturity, which is generally
completed between the ages of 20 and 23.

The teen ager undergoes other great changes that tend to
confuse him/her. Physical changes sometimes upset him
emotionally. Intellectually, he/she begins to question
social, moral, and religious ideas that he had previously
received without question from his parents and society.

The teen ager also strives for the independence, freedom,
and responsibility of an adult. This often leads to
conflicts between the teen ager and his/her parents, and to
conflicts within the teen ager him/herself. Too often
adults ignore, ridicule, or misunderstand the teen ager's
drive toward adulthood.

The teen ager may be divided into three separate categories
ranging from the radical to conservative. The "radical"
teen ager may be best described as one going to all
extremes to try and prove something that nobody else can
really understand. Punks, stoners, new- wavers, skaters,
surfers, and other similar people fall into this category.
The "moderate" group of the teen ager may best be described
as the classic teen ager, or really a teen ager who
epitomizes most of the qualities of a "normal" teen ager.
This category comprises the widest range of people and
could definitely be sub-divided within itself. This
particular category of teen ager is slightly vague as it
can range from teenagers such as "jocks" to "brains". The
last of these categories, the "conservative" teen ager
describes the class of teen agers who follow the rules and
teachings of the adult world without a complaint or
rejection. One will most likely find a "conservative" teen
in the front of the classroom trying to get as close to the
teacher's desk as possible. One will find that this person
is usually quite timid and quiet the majority of the time.

Parents are the greatest single influence in the life of an
adolescent. Whether the teen ager successfully makes the
transition form childhood to adulthood depends mostly on
them. Parents must constantly strive to understand their
growing youngsters. Parents themselves must make certain
adjustments so that the teen ager can fulfill his/her need
for independence and social development. They must provide
a secure and happy home where the teen ager can find
acceptance of himself and his friends.

Teen agers must be prepared to meet many more problems than
those already discussed. They must develop moral and
ethical standards, and learn how to apply them. They must
learn how to study and how to succeed scholastically,
especially if they plan on going to college. They must also
learn how to use leisure time constrictively they must
develop wholesome attitudes toward other persons.
Adolescence is the proving ground for these future
responsibilities, and thus becomes one of the most
important periods in a person's life. The adolescent needs
the help of parents, school, and community.

Nancy Lopez Biography (1957– )

Athlete, professional golfer. Born on January 6, 1957, in Torrence, California. With guidance from her father, Lopez began playing golf as a child. She won the New Mexico Women's Amateur tournament at the age of 12 and went on to win several amateur titles.

Becoming a professional golfer while in college, Lopez won Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year awards in 1978. During the course of her career, she received the Player of the Year Award four times and had 48 victories, three of them in major tournaments.

In recent years, Lopez has been honored for her role in the sport. She won the 2003 Billie Jean King Contribution Award from the Women's Sports Foundation and is the first woman to receive the Frances Ouimet Award for Lifelong Contributions to Golf.

Married to former professional baseball player Ray Knight since 1982, Lopez has three daughters

The Forbidden Word

A young man lives in a place where the word "I" does not
have meaning. It is a society where there are no
individuals. It is, however, a place where one strives to
serve one's brothers. Equality 7-2521 was taught from birth
that individuality did not exist. It is a crazed society
where the only form of government is collectivism.

Equality, at age 21, has absolutely no freedom. He is a
strong, tall young man who stands about six feet. However,
in this society, anyone who is six feet tall is considered
to be evil. His dream of going to the House of Scholars is
lost and he is sent to the Hose of Street Sweepers instead.
Here the rules are very strict. He is not allowed to laugh
or sing for any reason. These are only a few of the
hardships that Equality has had to face in this mixed up
society. His troubles get greater and greater until finally
he does something about it.

All through his life, Equality thinks he is not capable of
accomplishing anything. As time passes, he discovers that
he is capable of doing many things by himself and more
importantly that he is an individual. When it appears that
he is in an endless tunnel, he discovers a light. This
provides him with the confidence that he is able to do
things. Other experiences, such as falling in love with
Liberty and seeing his reflection in the pond also help him
to believe in himself as a strong individual. Equality
later realizes that he has committed sins as he was growing
up. He thinks by showing his invention to the House of
Scholars that he would be forgiven for his wrongdoings. He
hopes to show his invention to society and find a way into
the House of the Scholars. He also wants to prove that
being tall does not make one an evil individual. He feels
that he has sinned because he was sent to the Palace of
Corrective Detention when he did not reveal where he had
been. He wishes to be forgiven for being sent there. Even
though entering the tunnel is against the law, he feels
that he is going to discover things that would improve the
society that he is living in.

Equality tries to get the House of Scholars to accept him
for the last time. He finds out when and where they are
going to meet and devises a plan. He decides to escape from
the Palace of Corrective Detention and go to where the
meeting is being held. He arrives at the Council of
Scholars and the members look at him in astonishment. They
are afraid at first because they do not know exactly what
Equality is presenting to them. After they realize what it
is that Equality is showing them, they are very insulted
that a mere street sweeper was belittling their
intelligence as Council members.

Upon hearing that his idea is rejected, he leaps out the
window and runs to the Uncharted Forest where no man
survives. He finds out that Liberty has followed him into
the forest. They come together and find an abandoned house.
They enter it and see things that they have never seen
before. They find clothes, 2 beds in one room, and one
thing that shocked them the most, a mirror. After looking
into the mirror, Equality now knows for sure that he is an
individual. He now understands that the word "I" that he
had learned from the manuscripts of the Unmentionable Times
has meaning. He knows that he lives for himself and not for
others. He realizes that he is his own self and he
determines his own fate. He then changes his name to
Prometheus in honor of a Greek God who stole the light of
the 600's and gave it to man. Prometheus had suffered just
as Equality had, and Equality admired him very much and
chose his name to be his own. Liberty also changed her
name. Equality gave her the name Gaea after the Greek
Goddess who was the mother of earth and all the God's. Gaea
becomes pregnant and they both decide to raise their child
as an individual and to never let it experience the
hardships they had faced in the crazed society of
Collectivism.

Equality makes it his duty to rescue the other friends he
had left behind. He feels that they deserve the same
freedom that he is now experiencing. He plans to "save all
men and women whose spirit has not been killed within them
and suffer under the yoke of brothers." Equality wants to
bring his friends to his fortress and start a community
wherein the dreadful word "I" will never again be
forbidden..

Sir Isaac Newton Biography (1642–1727)

Physicist and mathematician, born in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, EC England, UK. He studied at Cambridge. In 1665–6 the fall of an apple is said to have suggested the train of thought that led to the law of gravitation. He studied the nature of light, concluding that white light is a mixture of colours which can be separated by refraction, and devised the first reflecting telescope. He became professor of mathematics at Cambridge in 1669, where he resumed his work on gravitation, expounded finally in his famous Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica (1687, Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy). In 1696 he was appointed warden of the Mint, and was master of the Mint from 1699 until his death. He also sat in parliament on two occasions, was elected president of the Royal Society in 1703, and was knighted in 1705. During his life he was involved in many controversies, notably with Leibniz over the question of priority in the discovery of calculus.

Charles (Sherwood) Stratton Biography (1838–83)

Midget showman, born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA. He stopped growing at six months of age, and stayed 63 cm/25 in until his teens, eventually reaching 101 cm/40 in. Barnum displayed him in his museum, from the age of five, under the name of General Tom Thumb, and he became famous throughout the USA and Europe. In 1863 his marriage to Lavinia Warren (1841–1919), also a midget, was widely publicized.

Victor Borge Biography (1909–2000)

Entertainer and pianist, born in Copenhagen, Denmark. He studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, Copenhagen, and in Vienna and Berlin. He made his debut as a pianist in 1926, and as a revue actor in 1933. From 1940 he worked in the USA for radio, television, and theatre, and performed with leading symphony orchestras on worldwide tours from 1956. He was best known for his comedy sketches combining music and narrative. With Robert Sherman he wrote the books My Favorite Intermissions (1971) and Victor Borge's My Favorite Comedies in Music (1980).

J(ohn) R(onald) R(euel) Tolkien Biography (1892–1973)

Philologist and writer, born in Bloemfontein, EC South Africa. He studied in Birmingham and at Oxford, where he became professor of Anglo-Saxon (1925–45) and Merton professor of English language and literature (1945–59). His scholarly works include Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics (1936). His expertise in Anglo-Saxon literature, particularly saga and folklore, and his interest in mediaeval languages led to his books about a fantasy world in which the beings have their own language and mythology, notably The Hobbit (1937), which developed from bedtime stories written for his children. The same characters appear in The Lord of the Rings (3 vols, 1954–5, filmed 2001–3), a longer and more ambitious work in which he creates a history and mythology for a past time known as ‘Middle Earth’. The Silmarillion (1977) was published posthumously, as was Unfinished Tales (1980).

Mel Gibson Biography (1956-)

Actor, director, producer. Born on January 3, 1956, in Peekskill, New York. Gibson was the sixth of 11 children born to Hutton and Ann Gibson, who were Roman Catholics of Irish descent. Shortly after the onset of the Vietnam War, Hutton Gibson relocated his family to Australia for fear that his sons would be drafted into battle. Mel spent the remainder of his childhood in Sydney, where he attended an all-boys Catholic high school.
After Gibson's high school graduation, he considered becoming a chef or journalist. However, when his sister submitted an application on his behalf to The National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney, he decided to audition. Without any prior acting experience, he was accepted and enrolled in the drama school. While there, he made his stage debut in a production of Romeo and Juliet, and his screen debut in the low-budget film Summer City (1977). Upon his graduation that year, Gibson joined the Southern Australian Theater Company, where he appeared in the title roles of classical productions, such as Oedipus and Henry IV.

After conquering the stage, Gibson tried his hand at television, landing his first role on the Australian series The Sullivans. In 1979, Gibson graduated to mainstream cinema with his role as a futuristic warrior in Mad Max, and as a mentally retarded man in love with Piper Laurie in Tim, for which he earned his first Australian Film Institute (AFI) Award for Best Actor. Furthermore, Mad Max became the biggest commercial success of any Australian film, grossing over $100 million worldwide.

Gibson received his second AFI Award for Best Actor for his performance as a patriotic idealist in Peter Weir’s World War I drama Gallipoli (1981). Later that year, he reprised his role as the leather-clad hero in Mad Max 2 (1981). The film was released in the U.S. as The Road Warrior in 1982, and its success established Gibson as an international star. His second collaboration with Weir, The Year of Living Dangerously (1982), featured the actor in his first romantic lead alongside Sigourney Weaver.

Gibson’s American film debut in The River (1984) was considered a success. The film earned four Oscar nominations, including a Best Actress nod for Sissy Spacek. In 1985, he returned to Australia to complete the Mad Max trilogy in the less impressive Mad Max: Beyond the Thunderdome, which co-starred singer Tina Turner. Later that year, Gibson's popularity was confirmed when he was featured on the cover of People magazine as the first ever "Sexiest Man Alive."

After a brief hiatus, Gibson returned to the screen with the blockbuster hit Lethal Weapon (1987), playing volatile cop, Martin Riggs, opposite Danny Glover's by-the-book character, Roger Murtaugh. The success of Lethal Weapon inspired three sequels - Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), Lethal Weapon 3 (1992), and Lethal Weapon 4 (1998), all of which featured Glover and Gibson in their respective roles as good cop and bad cop.