title: Musical instrument

text: The evolution of traditional musical instruments slowed beginning in the 20th century. Instruments such as the violin, flute, french horn, and harp are largely the same as those manufactured throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Gradual iterations do emerge; for example, the "New Violin Family" began in 1964 to provide differently sized violins to expand the range of available sounds. The slowdown in development was a practical response to the concurrent slowdown in orchestra and venue size. Despite this trend in traditional instruments, the development of new musical instruments exploded in the twentieth century, and the variety of instruments developed overshadows any prior period.


title: Musical instrument

text: The proliferation of electricity in the 20th century led to a new category of musical instruments: electronic instruments, or electrophones. The vast majority produced in the first half of the 20th century were what Sachs called "electromechanical instruments"; they have mechanical parts that produce sound vibrations picked up and amplified by electrical components. Examples include Hammond organs and electric guitars. Sachs also defined a subcategory of "radioelectric instruments" such as the theremin, which produces music through the player's hand movements around two antennas.


title: Musical instrument

text: The latter half of the 20th century saw the evolution of synthesizers, which produce sound using circuits and microchips. In the late 1960s, Bob Moog and other inventors developed the first commercial synthesizers, such as the Moog synthesizer. Whereas once they had filled rooms, synthesizers can now be embedded in any electronic device, and are ubiquitous in modern music. Samplers, introduced around 1980, allow users to sample and reuse existing sounds, and were important to the development of hip hop. 1982 saw the introduction of MIDI, a standardized means of synchronizing electronic instruments. The modern proliferation of computers and microchips has created an industry of electronic musical instruments.


title: Musical instrument

text: There are many different methods of classifying musical instruments. Various methods examine aspects such as the physical properties of the instrument (material, color, shape, etc.), the use for the instrument, the means by which music is produced with the instrument, the range of the instrument, and the instrument's place in an orchestra or other ensemble. Most methods are specific to a geographic area or cultural group and were developed to serve the unique classification requirements of the group. The problem with these specialized classification schemes is that they tend to break down once they are applied outside of their original area. For example, a system based on instrument use would fail if a culture invented a new use for the same instrument. Scholars recognize Hornbostel–Sachs as the only system that applies to any culture and, more importantly, provides the only possible classification for each instrument. The most common classifications are strings, brass, woodwind, and percussion.


title: Musical instrument

text: An ancient Hindu system named the "Natya Shastra", written by the sage Bharata Muni and dating from between 200 BC and 200 AD, divides instruments into four main classification groups: instruments where the sound is produced by vibrating strings; percussion instruments with skin heads; instruments where the sound is produced by vibrating columns of air; and "solid", or non-skin, percussion instruments. This system was similar to some degree in 12th-century Europe by Johannes de Muris, who used the terms "tensibilia" (stringed instruments), "inflatibilia" (wind instruments), and "percussibilia" (all percussion instruments). In 1880, Victor-Charles Mahillon adapted the "Natya Shastra" and assigned Greek labels to the four classifications: "chordophones" (stringed instruments), "membranophones" (skin-head percussion instruments), "aerophones" (wind instruments), and "autophones" (non-skin percussion instruments).


title: Musical instrument

text: Erich von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs adopted Mahillon's scheme and published an extensive new scheme for classification in "Zeitschrift für Ethnologie" in 1914. Hornbostel and Sachs used most of Mahillon's system, but replaced the term "autophone" with "idiophone".


title: Musical instrument

text: Sachs later added a fifth category, electrophones, such as theremins, which produce sound by electronic means. Within each category are many subgroups. The system has been criticised and revised over the years, but remains widely used by ethnomusicologists and organologists.


title: Musical instrument

text: Andre Schaeffner, a curator at the Musée de l'Homme, disagreed with the Hornbostel–Sachs system and developed his own system in 1932. Schaeffner believed that the pure physics of a musical instrument, rather than its specific construction or playing method, should always determine its classification. (Hornbostel–Sachs, for example, divides aerophones on the basis of sound production, but membranophones on the basis of the shape of the instrument). His system divided instruments into two categories: instruments with solid, vibrating bodies and instruments containing vibrating air.


title: Musical instrument

text: Musical instruments are also often classified by their musical range in comparison with other instruments in the same family. This exercise is useful when placing instruments in context of an orchestra or other ensemble.


title: Musical instrument

text: Some instruments fall into more than one category. For example, the cello may be considered tenor, baritone or bass, depending on how its music fits into the ensemble. The trombone and French horn may be alto, tenor, baritone, or bass depending on the range it is played in. Many instruments have their range as part of their name: soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone horn, alto flute, bass guitar, etc. Additional adjectives describe instruments above the soprano range or below the bass, for example the sopranino saxophone and contrabass clarinet. When used in the name of an instrument, these terms are relative, describing the instrument's range in comparison to other instruments of its family and not in comparison to the human voice range or instruments of other families. For example, a bass flute's range is from C to F♯, while a bass clarinet plays about one octave lower.


title: Musical instrument

text: The materials used in making musical instruments vary greatly by culture and application. Many of the materials have special significance owing to their source or rarity. Some cultures worked substances from the human body into their instruments. In ancient Mexico, for example, the material drums were made from might contain actual human body parts obtained from sacrificial offerings. In New Guinea, drum makers would mix human blood into the adhesive used to attach the membrane. Mulberry trees are held in high regard in China owing to their mythological significance—instrument makers would hence use them to make zithers. The Yakuts believe that making drums from trees struck by lightning gives them a special connection to nature.


title: Musical instrument

text: Musical instrument construction is a specialized trade that requires years of training, practice, and sometimes an apprenticeship. Most makers of musical instruments specialize in one genre of instruments; for example, a luthier makes only stringed instruments. Some make only one type of instrument such as a piano. Whatever the instrument constructed, the instrument maker must consider materials, construction technique, and decoration, creating a balanced instrument that is both functional and aesthetically pleasing. Some builders are focused on a more artistic approach and develop experimental musical instruments, often meant for individual playing styles developed by the builder themself.


title: Musical instrument

text: Regardless of how the sound is produced, many musical instruments have a keyboard as the user interface. Keyboard instruments are any instruments that are played with a musical keyboard, which is a row of small keys that can be pressed. Every key generates one or more sounds; most keyboard instruments have extra means (pedals for a piano, stops and a pedal keyboard for an organ) to manipulate these sounds. They may produce sound by wind being fanned (organ) or pumped (accordion), vibrating strings either hammered (piano) or plucked (harpsichord), by electronic means (synthesizer), or in some other way. Sometimes, instruments that do not usually have a keyboard, such as the "glockenspiel", are fitted with one. Though they have no moving parts and are struck by mallets held in the player's hands, they have the same physical arrangement of keys and produce soundwaves in a similar manner. The theremin, an electrophone, is played without physical contact by the player. The theremin senses the proximity of the player's hands, which triggers changes in its sound. More recently, a MIDI controller keyboard used with a digital audio workstation may have a musical keyboard and a bank of sliders, knobs, and buttons that change many sound parameters of a synthesizer.


title: Musical instrument

text: A person who plays a musical instrument is known as an instrumentalist or instrumental musician. Many instrumentalists are known for playing specific musical instruments such as guitarist (guitar), pianist (piano), bassist (bass), and drummer (drum). These different types of instrumentalists can perform together in a music group. A person who is able to play a number of instruments is called a multi-instrumentalist. According to David Baskerville in the book "Music Business Handbook and Career Guide", the working hours of a full-time instrumentalist may average only three hours a day, but most musicians spent at least forty hours a week.


title: My Way

text: "My Way" is a song popularized in 1969 by Frank Sinatra set to the music of the French song "Comme d'habitude" composed by Jacques Revaux with lyrics by Gilles Thibaut and Claude François and first performed in 1967 by Claude François. Its English lyrics were written by Paul Anka and are unrelated to the original French song.


title: My Way

text: The song was a success for a variety of performers including Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and Sid Vicious. Sinatra's version of "My Way" spent 75 weeks in the UK Top 40, which is 3rd place all-time.


title: My Way

text: In 1967, Jacques Revaux wrote a ballad named "For Me", with English lyrics about a couple falling out of love. According to Revaux, the demo was then sent to Petula Clark, Dalida, and Claude François, to no avail. Revaux rejected a version by Hervé Villard, the singer of the international hit "Capri c'est fini" and reworked the track into "Comme d'habitude" ("As usual") with the help of Claude François. It was released in November 1967 and was at the top of the French pop chart for one week in February 1968.


title: My Way

text: Paul Anka heard the French original, while on holiday in the south of France. He flew to Paris to negotiate the rights to the song. He acquired adaptation, recording, and publishing rights for the nominal but formal consideration of one dollar, subject to the provision that the melody's composers would retain their original share of royalty rights with respect to whatever versions Anka or his designates created or produced. Some time later, Anka had a dinner in Florida with Frank Sinatra and "a couple of Mob guys" during which Sinatra said: "I'm quitting the business. I'm sick of it; I'm getting the hell out."


title: My Way

text: Back in New York, Anka re-wrote the original French song for Sinatra, subtly altering the melodic structure and changing the lyrics: At one o'clock in the morning, I sat down at an old IBM electric typewriter and said, 'If Frank were writing this, what would he say?' And I started, metaphorically, 'And now the end is near.' I read a lot of periodicals, and I noticed everything was 'my this' and 'my that'. We were in the 'me generation' and Frank became the guy for me to use to say that. I used words I would never use: 'I ate it up and spit it out.' But that's the way he talked. I used to be around steam rooms with the Rat Pack guys—they liked to talk like Mob guys, even though they would have been scared of their own shadows. Anka finished the song at 5 in the morning: "I called Frank up in Nevada—he was at Caesars Palace – and said, 'I've got something really special for you. Anka asserted: "When my record company caught wind of it, they were very pissed that I didn't keep it for myself. I said, 'Hey, I can write it, but I'm not the guy to sing it.' It was for Frank, no one else."


title: My Way

text: Despite this, Anka would record the song in 1969 very shortly after Sinatra's recording was released. Anka recorded it four other times as well: in 1996 (as a duet with Gabriel Byrne, performed in the movie "Mad Dog Time"); in 1998 in Spanish as "A Mi Manera" (duet with Julio Iglesias); in 2007 (as a duet with Jon Bon Jovi); and in 2013 (as a duet with Garou).


title: My Way

text: On December 30, 1968, Frank Sinatra recorded his version of the song in one take, featuring session drummer Buddy Saltzman among the band.


title: My Way

text: “My Way” was released in early 1969 on the "My Way" LP and as a single. It reached No. 27 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart and No. 2 on the Easy Listening chart in the US. In the UK, the single achieved a still unmatched record, becoming the recording with the most weeks inside the Top 40, spending 75 weeks from April 1969 to September 1971. It spent a further 49 weeks in the Top 75 but never bettered the No. 5 slot achieved upon its first chart run.


title: My Way

text: Although this work became Frank Sinatra's signature song, his daughter Tina says the singer came to hate the song: "He didn't like it. That song stuck and he couldn't get it off his shoe. He always thought that song was self-serving and self-indulgent."


title: My Way

text: David Bowie reportedly wrote the first English language lyrics to Claude François's original tune, though the lyrics and performance were only informally recorded and never commercially published.


title: My Way

text: In the midst of Sinatra's multiple runs on the UK Singles Chart, Welsh singer Dorothy Squires also released a rendition of "My Way" in Summer 1970. Her recording reached number 25 on the UK Singles Chart and re-entered the chart twice more during that year.


title: My Way

text: Elvis Presley began performing the song in concert during the mid-1970s, despite Anka's suggestions that the song did not suit him. Nevertheless, on January 12 and 14, 1973, Presley sang the song during his satellite show "Aloha from Hawaii Via Satellite", beamed live and on deferred basis (for European audiences, who also saw it in prime time), to 43 countries via Intelsat.


title: My Way

text: On October 3, 1977, several weeks after Presley's death, his live recording of "My Way" (recorded for the "Elvis In Concert" CBS-TV special on June 21, 1977) was released as a single. In the U.S., it reached number 22 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 pop singles chart in late 1977/early 1978 (higher than Frank Sinatra's peak position), number 6 on the "Billboard" Adult Contemporary chart, and went gold for its successful sales of over a million copies. The following year the single reached number 2 on the "Billboard" Country singles chart but went all the way to number 1 on the rival Cash Box Country Singles chart. In the UK, it reached number 9 on the UK Singles Chart.


title: My Way

text: Presley's version is featured in the climax of the 2001 film "3000 Miles to Graceland" with Kurt Russell and Kevin Costner. (Paul Anka appears in a cameo as a casino pit boss who loathes Presley.)


title: My Way

text: Sex Pistols' bassist Sid Vicious did a punk rock version of the song, in which a large body of the words were changed and the arrangement was sped up. The orchestral backing was arranged by Simon Jeffes.


title: My Way

text: Interviewed in 2007, Paul Anka said he had been "somewhat destabilized by the Sex Pistols' version. It was kind of curious, but I felt he [Sid Vicious] was sincere about it."


title: My Way

text: Vicious and his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, changed many of the words when it was recorded, including use of the swear words "cunt" and "fuck" as well as the word "queer" (slang for a gay man). Vicious's reference to a "prat who wears hats" was an in-joke directed towards Vicious's friend and Sex Pistols bandmate Johnny Rotten, who was fond of wearing different kinds of hats he would pick up at rummage sales.


title: My Way

text: The 1986 film "Sid and Nancy" features a scene where Gary Oldman, portraying Vicious, performs his version of "My Way" while filming the song's music video.


title: My Way

text: Vicious's version of this song appears in Martin Scorsese's 1990 film "Goodfellas," where it plays over the end credits.


title: My Way

text: In December 2019 footage of Margaret Mackie, a resident of Northcare Suites Care Home in Edinburgh who suffers from dementia, performing "My Way" with staff member Jamie Lee Morley, went viral after being posted online by Mackie's daughter.


title: My Way

text: Morley later arranged to have the song professionally recorded and it was released in January 2020 as a charity single to raise funds for The Alzheimer's Society and Dementia UK. The single peaked at number seven in the iTunes top 40 UK Pop Songs live chart and number five in the Amazon best seller chart.


title: My Way

text: In Japan, Yuzo Kayama, who is usually called the Japanese Frank Sinatra, performed "My Way" in 2008 in English. On April 23 and 30, 2015, as part of 2 vocal overdubbed sessions, Yuzo Kayama performed "My Way" with the earlier record of Frank Sinatra as a duet.


title: My Way

text: Besides translations more or less faithful to the original, some artists have set unrelated lyrics to the same tune.


title: My Way

text: The song is popularly associated with nostalgia to an individual's lifetime of events. Surveys beginning in 2005 have often reported that "My Way" has been the song most frequently played at funeral services in the UK. "My Way" is also a popular karaoke song around the world. However, it has been reported to cause numerous incidents of violence and homicide among karaoke singers in the Philippines, referred to in the media as the My Way killings, which has led to the song being banned in many Filipino bars.


title: My Way

text: The song's association with Sinatra led to Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of allowing other states in the Warsaw Pact to make their own policy decisions being nicknamed the Sinatra Doctrine, referencing "My Way"'s lyrics about doing things your own way. The term was first used by Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennadi Gerasimov in 1987, who was quoted as saying "We now have the Frank Sinatra doctrine. He has a song, "I Did It My Way." So every country decides on its own which road to take."


title: Bluegrass music

text: Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music that developed in the 1940s in the Appalachian region of the United States. The genre derives its name from the band Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. Like mainstream country music, it largely developed out of old-time string music, though in contrast, bluegrass is traditionally played exclusively on acoustic instruments and also has roots in traditional English, Scottish, and Irish ballads and dance tunes as well as in blues and jazz. Bluegrass was further developed by musicians who played with Monroe, including 5-string banjo player Earl Scruggs and guitarist Lester Flatt. Monroe characterized the genre as: "Scottish bagpipes and ole-time fiddlin'. It's a part of Methodist, Holiness and Baptist traditions. It's blues and jazz, and it has a high lonesome sound."


title: Bluegrass music

text: Bluegrass features acoustic stringed instruments and emphasizes the off-beat. Notes are anticipated, in contrast to laid back blues where notes are behind the beat, which creates the higher energy characteristic of bluegrass. In bluegrass, as in some forms of jazz, one or more instruments each takes its turn playing the melody and improvising around it, while the others perform accompaniment; this is especially typified in tunes called breakdowns. This is in contrast to old-time music, in which all instruments play the melody together or one instrument carries the lead throughout while the others provide accompaniment. Breakdowns are often characterized by rapid tempos and unusual instrumental dexterity and sometimes by complex chord changes.


title: Bluegrass music

text: The violin (also known as the fiddle), five-string banjo, guitar, mandolin, and upright bass (string bass) are often joined by the resonator guitar (also referred to as a Dobro) and (occasionally) harmonica or Jew's harp. This instrumentation originated in rural dance bands and is the basis on which the earliest bluegrass bands were formed.


title: Bluegrass music

text: The fiddle, made by Italians and first used in sixteenth century Europe, was one of the first instruments to be brought into America. It became popular due to its small size and versatility. Fiddles are also used in country, classical, and old time music.


title: Bluegrass music

text: Banjos were brought to America through the African slave trade. They began receiving attention from white Americans when minstrel shows incorporated the banjo as part of their acts. The "clawhammer", or two finger style playing, was popular before the Civil War. Now, however, banjo players use mainly the three-finger picking style made popular by banjoists such as Earl Scruggs.


title: Bluegrass music

text: Guitarists have an important role in bluegrass. They are used primarily for rhythmic purposes and keep the sound moving while other instruments take time for a break as well as taking breaks themselves on occasion. The instrument originates from eighteenth century Spain, but there were no American-made models until the C.F. Martin Company started to manufacture them in the 1830s. The guitar is now most commonly played with a style referred to as flatpicking, unlike the style of early bluegrass guitarists such as Lester Flatt, who used a thumb pick and finger pick.


title: Bluegrass music

text: Bassists almost always play pizzicato, occasionally adopting the "slap-style" to accentuate the beat. A bluegrass bass line is generally a rhythmic alternation between the root and fifth of each chord, with occasional walking bass excursions.


title: Bluegrass music

text: Instrumentation has been a continuing topic of debate. Traditional bluegrass performers believe the "correct" instrumentation is that used by Bill Monroe's band, the Blue Grass Boys (guitar, mandolin, fiddle, banjo, and bass). Departures from the traditional instrumentation have included dobro, accordion, harmonica, piano, autoharp, drums, electric guitar, and electric versions of other common bluegrass instruments, resulting in what has been referred to as "new grass", although even Monroe himself was known to experiment with instrumentation, once even using a string orchestra, choir, and pre-recorded bird-song track.


title: Bluegrass music

text: Apart from specific instrumentation, a distinguishing characteristic of bluegrass is vocal harmony featuring two, three, or four parts, often with a dissonant or modal sound in the highest voice (see modal frame), a style described as the "high, lonesome sound." Commonly, the ordering and layering of vocal harmony is called the "stack". A standard stack has a baritone voice at the bottom, the lead in the middle (singing the main melody) and a tenor at the top; although stacks can be altered, especially where a female voice is included. Alison Krauss and Union Station provide a good example of a different harmony stack with a baritone and tenor with a high lead, an octave above the standard melody line, sung by the female vocalist. However, by employing variants to the standard trio vocal arrangement, they were simply following a pattern existing since the early days of the genre. Both the Stanley Brothers and the Osborne Brothers employed the use of a high lead with the tenor and baritone below it. The Stanleys used it numerous times in their recordings for both Mercury and King records. This particular stack was most famously employed by the Osborne Brothers who first employed it during their time with MGM records in the latter half of the 1950s. This vocal arrangement would become the trademark of the Osbornes' sound with Bobby's high, clear voice at the top of the vocal stack. Additionally, the Stanley Brothers also utilized a high baritone part on several of their trios recorded for Columbia records during their time with that label (1949–1952). Mandolin player Pee Wee Lambert sang the high baritone above Ralph Stanley's tenor, both parts above Carter's lead vocal. This trio vocal arrangement was variously used by other groups as well; even Bill Monroe employed it in his 1950 recording of "When the Golden Leaves Begin to Fall'. In the 1960s Flatt and Scruggs often added a fifth part to the traditional quartet parts on gospel songs, the extra part being a high baritone (doubling the baritone part sung in the normal range of that voice; E.P. Tullock [aka Cousin Jake] normally providing the part, though at times it was handled by Curly Seckler).


title: Bluegrass music

text: Bluegrass tunes often take the form of narratives on the everyday lives of the people whence the music came. Aside from laments about loves lost, interpersonal tensions and unwanted changes to the region (e.g., the visible effects of mountaintop coal mining), bluegrass vocals frequently reference the hard-scrabble existence of living in Appalachia and other rural areas with modest financial resources. Some protest music has been composed in the bluegrass style, especially concerning the vicissitudes of the Appalachian coal mining industry. Railroading has also been a popular theme, with ballads such as "Wreck of the Old 97" and "Nine Pound Hammer" (from the legend of John Henry) being exemplary.


title: Bluegrass music

text: Bluegrass, as a distinct musical form, developed from elements of old-time music and traditional music of the Appalachian region of the United States. The Appalachian region was where many Scottish American immigrants settled, bringing with them the musical traditions of their homelands. Hence the sounds of jigs and reels, especially as played on the fiddle, were innate to the developing style. Black musicians, meanwhile, brought the iconic banjo to Appalachia. Much later, in 1945, Earl Scruggs would develop a three-finger roll on the instrument which allowed a rapid-fire cascade of notes that could keep up with the driving tempo of the new bluegrass sound.


title: Bluegrass music

text: Settlers from Britain and Ireland arrived in Appalachia during the 18th century and brought with them the musical traditions of their homelands. These traditions consisted primarily of English and Scottish ballads—which were essentially unaccompanied narrative—and dance music, such as reels, which were accompanied by a fiddle. Many older bluegrass songs come directly from the British Isles. Several Appalachian bluegrass ballads, such as "Pretty Saro", "Pretty Polly", "Cuckoo Bird" and "House Carpenter", come from England and preserve the English ballad tradition both melodically and lyrically. Some bluegrass fiddle songs popular in Appalachia, such as "Leather Britches" and "Soldier's Joy", have Scottish roots. The dance tune "Cumberland Gap" may be derived from the tune that accompanies the Scottish ballad "Bonnie George Campbell".


title: Bluegrass music

text: The music now known as bluegrass was frequently used to accompany a rural dancing style known as buckdancing, flatfooting or clogging. As the bluegrass sound spread to urban areas, listening to it for its own sake increased, especially after the advent of audio recording. In 1948, what would come to be known as bluegrass emerged as a genre within the post-war country/western-music industry, a period of time characterized now as the golden era or wellspring of "traditional bluegrass". From its earliest days, bluegrass has been recorded and performed by professional and amateur musicians alike. Although amateur bluegrass musicians and trends such as "parking-lot picking" are too important to be ignored, it is touring musicians who have set the direction of the style. Radio stations dedicated to bluegrass have also proved influential in advancing the evolution of the style into distinctive subgenres.


title: Bluegrass music

text: Bluegrass was initially included in the category of folk music and later changed to hillbilly. In 1948, bluegrass was placed under the country and western heading for radio airplay charting. All four of the seminal bluegrass authors - Artis, Price, Cantwell, and Rosenberg - described bluegrass music in detail as originating in style and form, in one form or another, between the 1930s and mid-1940s. However, the term "bluegrass" did not appear formally to describe the music until the late 1950s and did not appear in Music Index until 1965. The first entry in Music Index mentioning "bluegrass music" directed the reader to "see Country Music; Hillbilly Music". Music Index maintained this listing for bluegrass music until 1986. The first time bluegrass music had its own entries in Music Index was in 1987.


title: Bluegrass music

text: The topical and narrative themes of many bluegrass songs are highly reminiscent of folk music. Many songs that are widely considered to be bluegrass are in reality older works legitimately classified as folk or old-time music that are performed in the bluegrass style. The interplay between bluegrass and folk forms has been academically studied. Folklorist Dr. Neil Rosenberg, for example, shows that most devoted bluegrass fans and musicians are familiar with traditional folk songs and old-time music and that these songs are often played at shows, festivals, and jams.


title: Bluegrass music

text: "Bluegrass" is a common name given in America for the grass of the "Poa" genus, the most famous being Kentucky bluegrass. A large region in central Kentucky is sometimes called the Bluegrass region (although this region is west of the hills of Kentucky). Exactly when the word "bluegrass" was adopted is not certain, but is believed to be in the late 1950s. It was derived from the name of the seminal Blue Grass Boys band, formed in 1939 with Bill Monroe as its leader. Due to this lineage, Bill Monroe is frequently referred to as the "father of bluegrass".


title: Bluegrass music

text: The bluegrass style of music dates from the mid-1940s. In 1948, the Stanley Brothers recorded the traditional song "Molly and Tenbrooks" in the Blue Grass Boys' style, arguably the point in time that bluegrass emerged as a distinct musical form. Monroe's 1946 to 1948 band, which featured guitarist Lester Flatt, banjoist Earl Scruggs, fiddler Chubby Wise and bassist Howard Watts (also known as "Cedric Rainwater")sometimes called "the original bluegrass band"created the definitive sound and instrumental configuration that remains a model to this day. By some arguments, while the Blue Grass Boys were the only band playing this music, it was just their unique sound; it could not be considered a musical style until other bands began performing in a similar fashion. In 1967, "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" by Flatt and Scruggs, the instrumental banjo music, was introduced to a worldwide audience as a result of its frequent use in the movie "Bonnie and Clyde". But the functionally similar old-time music genre was long-established and widely recorded in the period of the film's events and later CD was released.


title: Bluegrass music

text: Traditional bluegrass emphasizes the traditional elements and form of the genre as laid out by Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys band in the late 1940s. Traditional bluegrass musicians play folk songs, tunes with simple traditional chord progressions, exclusively on acoustic instruments, though it is common practice to "mike" acoustic instruments during stage performances before larger audiences. In most traditional bluegrass bands, the guitar rarely takes the lead, instead acting as a rhythm instrument, one notable exception being gospel-based songs. Melodies and lyrics tend to be simple, often in the key of G, and a I-IV-V chord pattern is common. In traditional bluegrass, instrumental breaks are typically short and played between sections of a song, conventionally originating as a variation on the song's melody. Also common are breakdowns, an instrumental form that features a series of breaks, each played by a different instrument. Particularly since the 1990s, a number of younger groups have attempted to revive the sound and structure of traditional bluegrass, a trend that has been dubbed Neo-traditional Bluegrass.


title: Bluegrass music

text: Due to the exposure traditional bluegrass acts received on alongside mainstream country music on radio and televised programs such as the Grand Ole Opry, a wave of young, and not exclusively southern musicians began to replicate the genre's format on college campuses and in coffeehouses amidst the American folk music revival of the early 1960s. These artists often incorporated songs, elements, and instruments from other popular genres, particularly rock and roll. Banjoist Earl Scruggs of the Foggy Mountain Boys had shown progressive tendencies since the group's earliest days incorporating jazz-inspired banjo and bass duets and complicated chord progressions that progressed beyond the genre's original rigid and conservative structure. In the late 1960s, Scruggs experimented on duets with saxophonist King Curtis and added songs by the likes of counterculture icon Bob Dylan to the group's repertoire, while bandmate Lester Flatt, a traditionalist, opposed these changes resulting in the group's breakup in 1969. New Grass Revival began utilizing electric instrumentation alongside songs imported from other genres to great popularity in the 1970s and 1980s and the term "newgrass" became synonymous with "progressive bluegrass". Throughout the '80s and '90s, progressive bluegrass continued to evolve, moving closer toward folk and rock in some quarters and closer to jazz in others, while festivals such as the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, RockyGrass in Lyons, Colorado, and MerleFest in Wilkesboro, North Carolina began to attract performing acts from outside the bluegrass tradition, merging the bluegrass community with other popular music scenes across America. Following the death of Jerry Garcia, who had begun his career playing bluegrass, and the dissolution of the Grateful Dead, the blossoming "jam band" scene that followed in their wake embraced and included many acts that performed a style of progressive bluegrass that included extended, exploratory musical improvisation, often called "jamgrass." This style began to define many such acts whose popularity has grown in the 21st century such as Leftover Salmon, The String Cheese Incident, Yonder Mountain String Band, The Infamous Stringdusters, Railroad Earth, Greensky Bluegrass, and Billy Strings. In recent years, groups like the Punch Brothers, the Jon Stickley Trio, and Nickel Creek have developed a new form of progressive bluegrass which includes highly arranged pieces that resembles contemporary classical music played on bluegrass instruments. These bands feature complicated rhythms, chord schemes, and harmonics combined with improvised solos. At the same time, several popular indie folk and folk rock bands such as the Avett Brothers, Mumford & Sons and Trampled by Turtles have incorporated rhythmic elements or instrumentation from the bluegrass tradition into their popular music arrangements.


title: Ethnic groups in Russia

text: Russia, as the largest country in the world, has great ethnic diversity, is a multinational state, and is home to over 190 ethnic groups nationwide. However, demographically; ethnic Russians dominate the country's population. In the 2010 Census, roughly 81% of the population were ethnic Russians, and the remaining 19% of the population were ethnic minorities. The 83 (or 85) federal subjects which together constitute the Russian Federation include:


title: Ethnic groups in Russia

text: The ethnic demographic mix of the Russian Federation is projected to change far into the future. The majority population, ethnic Russians, who have been in slight decline since the 1950's will decline further due to a below replacement fertility rate and population ageing. In 2010, rough population projections from Ivan Beloborodov projecting to 2030 estimated that the percentage of Russians within the population would decrease to around 70 to 60% of the total population.


title: Ethnic groups in Russia

text: Although the constitution of Russia recognizes Russian as the official language, the individual republics may declare one or more official languages. Many of these subjects have at least two—Russian and the language of the "eponymous" nationality. There is a minority language scene in most subjects of the country, with more than 1,350 newspapers and magazines, 300 TV channels and 250 radio stations in over 50 of these minority languages. Moreover, new legislation allows usage of minority languages in federal radio and TV broadcasting.


title: Ethnic groups in Russia

text: In 2007, there were 6,260 schools which provided teaching in 38 minority languages. Over 75 minority languages were taught as a discipline in 10,404 schools. The Ministers of Council of Europe has noted significant efforts to improve the supply of minority language textbooks and teachers, as well as a greater availability of minority language teaching. However, as Ministers has noted, there remain shortcomings in the access to education of a person(s) belonging to certain minorities.


title: Ethnic groups in Russia

text: There are more than 2,000 national minorities' public associations and 560 national cultural autonomies, however the Committee of Ministers has noted that in many regions, amount of state support for the preservation and development of minority cultures is still inadequate. There's a significant difference between "eponymous" ethnic groups and nationalities without their own national territory, as resources of the last are relatively limited.


title: Ethnic groups in Russia

text: Russia is also home to a particular category of minority peoples, i.e. small indigenous peoples of the North and Far East, who maintain very traditional lifestyles, often in a hazardous climatic environment, while adapting to the modern world. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia passed legislation to protect rights of these small northern indigenous peoples.


title: Ethnic groups in Russia

text: Gil-Robles has noted agreements between indigenous representatives and oil companies, which are to compensate potential damages on peoples habitats due to oil exploration. As Committee of Ministers of Council of Europe noted in 2007, despite some initiatives for development, the social and economic situation of numerically small indigenous peoples was affected by recent legislative amendments at the federal level, removing some positive measures as regards their access to land and other natural resources.


title: Rosaceae

text: Rosaceae (), the rose family, is a medium-sized family of flowering plants that includes 4,828 known species in 91 genera.


title: Rosaceae

text: The name is derived from the type genus "Rosa". Among the most species-rich genera are "Alchemilla" (270), "Sorbus" (260), "Crataegus" (260), "Cotoneaster" (260), "Rubus" (250), and "Prunus" (200), which contains the plums, cherries, peaches, apricots, and almonds. However, all of these numbers should be seen as estimates—much taxonomic work remains.


title: Rosaceae

text: The family Rosaceae includes herbs, shrubs, and trees. Most species are deciduous, but some are evergreen. They have a worldwide range but are most diverse in the Northern Hemisphere.


title: Rosaceae

text: Many economically important products come from the Rosaceae, including various edible fruits, such as apples, pears, quinces, apricots, plums, cherries, peaches, raspberries, blackberries, loquats, strawberries, rose hips, hawthorns, and almonds. The family also includes popular ornamental trees and shrubs, such as roses, meadowsweets, rowans, firethorns, and photinias.


title: Rosaceae

text: Rosaceae can be woody trees, shrubs, climbers or herbaceous plants. The herbs are mostly perennials, but some annuals also exist.


title: Rosaceae

text: The leaves are generally arranged spirally, but have an opposite arrangement in some species. They can be simple or pinnately compound (either odd- or even-pinnate). Compound leaves appear in around 30 genera. The leaf margin is most often serrate. Paired stipules are generally present, and are a primitive feature within the family, independently lost in many groups of Amygdaloideae (previously called Spiraeoideae). The stipules are sometimes adnate (attached surface to surface) to the petiole. Glands or extrafloral nectaries may be present on leaf margins or petioles. Spines may be present on the midrib of leaflets and the rachis of compound leaves.


title: Rosaceae

text: Flowers of plants in the rose family are generally described as "showy". They are radially symmetrical, and almost always hermaphroditic. Rosaceae generally have five sepals, five petals, and many spirally arranged stamens. The bases of the sepals, petals, and stamens are fused together to form a characteristic cup-like structure called a hypanthium. They can be arranged in spikes, or heads. Solitary flowers are rare. Rosaceae have a variety of color petals, but blue is almost completely absent.


title: Rosaceae

text: The fruits occur in many varieties and were once considered the main characters for the definition of subfamilies amongst Rosaceae, giving rise to a fundamentally artificial subdivision. They can be follicles, capsules, nuts, achenes, drupes ("Prunus"), and accessory fruits, like the pome of an apple, or the hip of a rose. Many fruits of the family are edible, but their seeds often contain amygdalin, which can release cyanide during digestion if the seed is damaged.


title: Rosaceae

text: The family was traditionally divided into six subfamilies: Rosoideae, Spiraeoideae, Maloideae (Pomoideae), Amygdaloideae (Prunoideae), Neuradoideae, and Chrysobalanoideae, and most of these were treated as families by various authors. More recently (1971), Chrysobalanoideae was placed in Malpighiales in molecular analyses and Neuradoideae has been assigned to Malvales. Schulze-Menz, in Engler's Syllabus edited by Melchior (1964) recognized Rosoideae, Dryadoideae, Lyonothamnoideae, Spireoideae, Amygdaloideae, and Maloideae. They were primarily diagnosed by the structure of the fruits. More recent work has identified that not all of these groups were monophyletic. Hutchinson (1964) and Kalkman (2004) recognized only tribes (17 and 21, respectively). Takhtajan (1997) delimited 21 tribes in 10 subfamilies: Filipenduloideae, Rosoideae, Ruboideae, Potentilloideae, Coleogynoideae, Kerroideae, Amygdaloideae (Prunoideae), Spireoideae, Maloideae (Pyroideae), Dichotomanthoideae. A more modern model comprises three subfamilies, one of which (Rosoideae) has largely remained the same.


title: Rosaceae

text: While the boundaries of the Rosaceae are not disputed, there is no general agreement as to how many genera it contains. Areas of divergent opinion include the treatment of "Potentilla s.l." and "Sorbus s.l.". Compounding the problem is that apomixis is common in several genera. This results in an uncertainty in the number of species contained in each of these genera, due to the difficulty of dividing apomictic complexes into species. For example, "Cotoneaster" contains between 70 and 300 species, "Rosa" around 100 (including the taxonomically complex dog roses), "Sorbus" 100 to 200 species, "Crataegus" between 200 and 1,000, "Alchemilla" around 300 species, "Potentilla" roughly 500, and "Rubus" hundreds, or possibly even thousands of species.


title: Rosaceae

text: The phylogenetic relationships between the three subfamilies within Rosaceae are unresolved. There are three competing hypotheses:


title: Rosaceae

text: Amygdaloideae has been identified as the earliest branching subfamily by Chin "et al". (2014), Li "et al". (2015), Li "et al". (2016), and Sun "et al". (2016). Most recently Zhang "et al". (2017) recovered these relationships using whole plastid genomes:


title: Rosaceae

text: The sister relationship between Dryadoideae and Rosoideae is supported by the following shared morphological characters not found in Amygdaloideae: presence of stipules, separation of the hypanthium from the ovary, and the fruits are usually achenes.


title: Rosaceae

text: Dryadoideae has been identified as the earliest branching subfamily by Evans "et al". (2002) and Potter (2003). Most recently Xiang "et al". (2017) recovered these relationships using nuclear transcriptomes:


title: Rosaceae

text: Rosoideae has been identified as the earliest branching subfamily by Morgan "et al". (1994), Evans (1999), Potter "et al". (2002), Potter "et al". (2007), Töpel "et al". (2012), and Chen "et al". (2016). The following is taken from Potter "et al". (2007):


title: Rosaceae

text: The sister relationship between Amygdaloideae and Dryadoideae is supported by the following shared biochemical characters not found in Rosoideae: production of cyanogenic glycosides and production of sorbitol.


title: Rosaceae

text: The Rosaceae have a cosmopolitan distribution, being found nearly everywhere except for Antarctica. They are primarily concentrated in the Northern Hemisphere in regions that are not desert or tropical rainforest.


title: Rosaceae

text: The rose family is considered one of the six most economically important crop plant families, and includes apples, pears, quinces, medlars, loquats, almonds, peaches, apricots, plums, cherries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, sloes, and roses.


title: Rosaceae

text: Many genera are also highly valued ornamental plants. These include trees and shrubs ("Cotoneaster", "Chaenomeles", "Crataegus", "Dasiphora", "Exochorda", "Kerria", "Photinia", "Physocarpus", "Prunus", "Pyracantha", "Rhodotypos", "Rosa", "Sorbus", "Spiraea"), herbaceous perennials ("Alchemilla", "Aruncus", "Filipendula", "Geum", "Potentilla", "Sanguisorba"), alpine plants ("Dryas", "Geum", "Potentilla") and climbers ("Rosa").


title: Rosaceae

text: However, several genera are also introduced noxious weeds in some parts of the world, costing money to be controlled. These invasive plants can have negative impacts on the diversity of local ecosystems once established. Such naturalised pests include "Acaena", "Cotoneaster", "Crataegus", "Pyracantha", and "Rosa".


title: Rosaceae

text: In Bulgaria and parts of western Asia, the production of rose oil from fresh flowers such as "Rosa damascena", "Rosa gallica", and other species is an important economic industry.


title: Sister city

text: A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties.


title: Sister city

text: While there are early examples of international links between municipalities akin to what are known as sister cities or twin towns today dating back to the 9th century, the modern concept was first established and adopted worldwide during World War II.


title: Sister city

text: The modern concept of town twinning has its roots in the Second World War. More specifically, it was inspired by the bombing of Coventry on 14 November 1940, known as the Coventry Blitz. First conceived by the then Mayor of Coventry, Alfred Robert Grindlay, culminating in his renowned telegram to the people of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in 1942, the idea emerged as a way of establishing solidarity links between cities in allied countries that went through similar devastating events. The comradeship between the two cities continued, when again in response to the Battle of Stalingrad, 830 women in Coventry – led by the subsequent Mayor Emily Smith – had their names embroidered on a tablecloth along with the words "Little help is better than big sympathy" and sent it, along with money (each donated six pence), to the people of Stalingrad. The tablecloth can now be seen at the Panorama Museum of the Battle of Stalingrad. The twinning between Coventry and Stalingrad was formalised in 1944 and, after the end of the war, similar links were established to foster friendship and understanding among former foes as an act of peace and reconciliation, with new twinnings between Coventry and German cities: Kiel as early as in 1947 and Dresden in 1956. In 1957, Coventry was officially twinned with Belgrade, however, the link actually dates back to 1953 when the Yugoslav Ambassador visited Coventry and offered a gift of timber from his native country for use in the new Civic Theatre, which when finished was named The Belgrade Theatre.


title: Sister city

text: The purpose of twinnings then got expanded to encourage trade and tourism or to reflect other links, such as towns sharing the same name or migration links. By the 2000s, town twinning became increasingly used to form strategic international business links among member cities, and may include localities of any scope such as villages, prefectures, or countries.


title: Sister city

text: In the United Kingdom, the term "twin towns" is most commonly used; the term "sister cities" is generally used for agreements with towns and cities in the Americas. In mainland Europe, the most commonly used terms are "twin towns", "partnership towns", "partner towns", and "friendship towns". The European Commission uses the term "twinned towns" and refers to the process as "town twinning". Spain uses the term "ciudades hermanadas", which means "twinned cities". Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic use "Partnerstadt" (De) / "miasto partnerskie" (Pl) / "partnerské město" (Cz), which translate as "partner town" or "partner city". France uses "ville jumelée" (jumelage, twinned town or city), and Italy has "gemellaggio" (twinning) and "comune gemellato" (twinned municipality). In the Netherlands, the term is "partnerstad" or "stedenband" ("city bond" when providing mutual support). In Greece, the word αδελφοποίηση ("adelphopiisi"fraternisation) has been adopted. In Iceland, the terms "vinabæir" (friend towns) and "vinaborgir" (friend cities) are used. In the former Soviet Bloc, "twin towns" and "twin cities" were used, along with "города-побратимы" (Ru) (sworn brother cities).


title: Sister city

text: The Americas, South Asia, and Australasia use the term "sister cities" or "twin cities". In China, the term is 友好城市 (yǒuhǎo chéngshìfriendly cities). Sometimes, other government bodies enter into a twinning relationship, such as the agreement between the provinces of Hainan in China and Jeju in South Korea. The Douzelage is a town twinning association with one town from each of the member states of the European Union.


title: Sister city

text: Though the term is often used interchangeably with the term "friendship city", this may mean a relationship with a more limited scope in comparison to a sister city relationship, and friendship city relationships are mayor-to-mayor agreements.


title: Sister city

text: City diplomacy is a form of paradiplomacy that involves discussions between officials and residents of different cities. Often these cities will be located in different countries. As such, city diplomacy involves a sort of international relations that works in parallel to the conventional system involving embassies, ambassadors, and treaties negotiated at the level of nation states. According to Rodrigo Tavares, the earliest formal attempts to establish city diplomacy across national boundaries took place in the 19th century. Only a handful of cities were involved in the 19th-century efforts; it wasn't until the turn of the millennium that it became much more common. The first priority of those carrying out city diplomacy typically overlaps with the core aims of municipal government – improving the lives of local residents. Yet they will often collaborate with peers in other cities to work on issues of planet-wide concern, such as efforts to address climate change.


title: Sister city

text: The phrase "city diplomacy" is formally used in the workings of the United Cities and Local Governments and the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, and is recognised by the USC Center on Public Diplomacy. A March 2014 debate in the British House of Lords acknowledged the evolution of town twinning into city diplomacy, particularly in matters of trade and tourism, but also in culture and post-conflict reconciliation. The importance of cities developing "their own foreign economic policies on trade, foreign investment, tourism and attracting foreign talent" has also been highlighted by the World Economic Forum. In addition to C40, other organisations facilitating city diplomacy include the World Cities Summit, City Mayors Foundation, the "Smart City Expo World Congress", the "Strong City Network" and "100 Resilient Cities." As of 2016, there were over 125 such multilateral networks and forums to facilitate international collaboration between different municipal authorities. Research showed that the mayors of the cities play an


title: Sister city

text: active role in city diplomacy. A Bill introduced in the 2019 session of the US Congress would have legislated for a City and State Diplomacy Act to create a new Office of Subnational Diplomacy at the Department of State.H.R.3571 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): City and State Diplomacy Act


title: Sister city

text: Recently, the field of city diplomacy has taken a step beyond city-to-city exchanges to target the facilitation of dialogue between cities and multilateral organs, such as the United Nations.


title: Sister city

text: Not only cities and towns, but also provinces, states, territories, and regions enter into twinning agreements. For example, the Canadian province of Alberta has "sister province" agreements with Gangwon, South Korea (since 1974), Hokkaido, Japan (since 1980), Heilongjiang, China (1981), Jalisco, Mexico (1999), Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine (2004), Lviv, Ukraine (2005), and Guangdong, China (2017), as well as policy-oriented (as opposed to economic and cultural) agreements with Nevada (since 2013), Missouri (2015), Texas (2018).


title: Sister city

text: The earliest known town twinning in Europe was between Paderborn, Germany, and Le Mans, France, in 836. Starting in 1905, Keighley in West Yorkshire, England, had a twinning arrangement with French communities Suresnes and Puteaux. The first recorded modern twinning agreement was between Keighley and Poix-du-Nord in Nord, France, in 1920 following the end of the World War I. This was initially referred to as an adoption of the French town; formal twinning charters were not exchanged until 1986.


title: Sister city

text: The practice was continued after the Second World War as a way to promote mutual understanding and cross-border projects of mutual benefit. For example, Coventry twinned with Stalingrad and later with Dresden as an act of peace and reconciliation, all three cities having been heavily bombed during the war. The city of Bath formed an "Alkmaar Adoption committee" in March 1945, when the Dutch city was still occupied by the German Army in the final months of the war, and children from each city took part in exchanges in 1945 and 1946. Similarly, in 1947, Bristol Corporation (later Bristol City Council) sent five "leading citizens" on a goodwill mission to Hanover. Reading in 1947 was the first British town to form links with a former "enemy" city – Düsseldorf, a link that still exists. Since 9 April 1956 Rome and Paris have been exclusively and reciprocally twinned with each other, following the motto: "Only Paris is worthy of Rome; only Rome is worthy of Paris."


title: Sister city

text: Within Europe, town twinning is supported by the European Union. The support scheme was established in 1989. In 2003 an annual budget of about was allocated to about 1,300 projects. The Council of European Municipalities and Regions also works closely with the commission (DG Education and Culture) to promote modern, high quality twinning initiatives and exchanges that involve all sections of the community. It has launched a website dedicated to town twinning. As of 1995, the European Union had more than 7,000 bilateral relationships involving almost 10,000 European municipalities, primarily French (2837 twinnings) and German (2485 twinnings).


title: Sister city

text: Public art has been used to celebrate twin town links, for instance in the form of seven mural paintings in the centre of the town of Sutton, Greater London. The five main paintings show a number of the main features of the London Borough of Sutton and its four twin towns, along with the heraldic shield of each above the other images. Each painting also features a plant as a visual representation of its town's environmental awareness. In the case of Sutton this is in a separate smaller painting (above its main one) showing a beech tree, intended as a symbol of prosperity and from which Carshalton Beeches in the borough derives its name.


title: Sister city

text: Another example of the use of public art is the wall sculpture of the partner cities of Munich, Germany.


title: Sister city

text: A recent study has concluded that geographical distance has very little, if any, influence upon communities' selections of a twin town. Twinned towns are often chosen because of similarities between them; thus about 15 towns in Wales are twinned with towns in Brittany, and Oxford is with Bonn, Leiden, Grenoble and other university cities. In Italy, two sets of twins are Rovigo with Viernheim, and Bedford with Tulcea. Many former West German cities are twinned with former East German cities; these twinning links were established before the fall of the Iron Curtain. Famous examples are the partnerships of Hanover and Leipzig, both of which have important trade fair grounds, or between Hamburg and Dresden. The first US-German town twinning was in 1947 between Worthington, Minnesota and Crailsheim.


title: Sister city

text: St Petersburg in Russia holds the record for the largest number of partnership arrangements with other communities. In June 2012, the Scottish village of Dull and the US town of Boring, Oregon, agreed to twin their municipalities to promote tourism in both places, playing on their names.


title: Sister city

text: Recently some towns have made novelty twinning arrangements with fictional or virtual locations. Wincanton, England is partnered with Ankh-Morpork from Terry Pratchett's Discworld books.<ref name="BBC/Pratchett"></ref>


title: Sister city

text: Town twinning has increasingly been used to form strategic international business links. For example, in the 1990s, when the Nottingham City Council in the UK considered installing a tram network, it consulted experts from its twin city of Karlsruhe, which has one of the most extensive and efficient tram networks in Germany. With assistance from Karlsruhe's specialist engineers, Nottingham completed its second tram line in 2013. In 2014, Bristol and New Orleans announced their intention to form a "tuning" partnership based on a shared musical heritage and culture offer, at the initiative of Bristol Mayor George Ferguson.<ref name="Post/Ferguson"></ref> Annecy, France and Nerima, Tokyo have for several years shared a partnership based on their "co-existent animation industry".


title: Sister city

text: Toledo, United States, twinned with Toledo, Spain, in 1931 and was the first city in North America to engage in town twinning. Vancouver, Canada, twinned with Odessa, Ukraine, in 1944 was the first in Canada and second in North America while Denver, United States, twinned with Brest, France was the second twinned city in the United States. Liberal, Kansas, was twinned with Olney, United Kingdom, in 1950, and the cities have run a joint Pancake Day race ever since. Littleton, Colorado, twinned with Bega, Australia, in 1961. Tashkent, the capital city of Uzbekistan, was twinned with Seattle, Washington, in 1973. Rochester, Minnesota, and Knebworth, UK, are both centers for primary medical research, and they twinned in 1967. Ontario, California, has five sister cities around the world. They are Brockville, Ontario, Canada (since 1977), Guamúchil, Sinaloa, Mexico (since 1982), Mocorito, Sinaloa, Mexico (since 1982), Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico (since 1988), and Winterthur, Canton of Zürich, Switzerland. Oakville, Ontario, is twinned with Dorval, Quebec, Huai'an, China, and Neyagawa, Osaka, Japan.


title: Sister city

text: Town twinning begins for a variety of reasons. Generally, partner towns have similar demographics and size. They may arise from business connections, travel, similar industries, diaspora communities, or shared history. For example, the partnership between Portland, Oregon, and Bologna, Italy, arose from shared industries in biotechnology and education, and a "similar attitude towards food", whereas Chicago's link with Warsaw, Poland began with Chicago's historic Polish community. The twinning of Indianapolis with Monza, Italy, is due to both cities' long association with auto racing.


title: Sister city

text: A twin towns program was instituted in the United States in 1956 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed a citizen diplomacy initiative. Sister Cities International (SCI) was originally a program of the National League of Cities, but it became a separate corporation in 1967 due to the growth and popularity of the program.


title: Sister city

text: Twin town cultural events include the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C., honoring Washington's twin relationship with Tokyo City. Many twinned towns developed business agreements with their partners. For example, Vermont's Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream company opened a factory in the Republic of Karelia in Russia and offered the same profit-sharing plan to its Russian employees.


title: Sister city

text: China's sister city relationships are managed by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, a united front organization. Town twinning is supported in Japan by the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations, a joint agency of local governments established by the Japanese government in 1988 (similar to Sister Cities International, its counterpart in the US). In Japan, the international city relations may be split into multiple terms, such as Sister Cities, Friendship Cooperation Cities, Business Partner Cities (BPC), Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), Sister Ports / Friendship Ports, etc. Japan and China mostly use the term "friendship cooperation cities" rather than "sister cities," as the Japanese and Chinese words for sisters, "姉妹 / 姐妹" (reading: shimai / jiěmèi, literally elder sister and younger sister), could imply a hierarchical relationship. More recently, Tokyo has begun to actively promote 'city diplomacy' with other global cities at the initiative of its governor Yoichi Masuzoe.


title: Sister city

text: Relationships between communities can also arise because of shared names; they may be named after one community (as in the case of Córdoba), they may share names (as in the case of Santiago de Compostela), or their names may have a common etymology. These similarities usually arise from sharing the same or related language or having been a colony or previously conquered.


title: Sister city

text: The twinning of towns and cities is sometimes done for political purposes. The Hungarian city Gyöngyös was twinned with the Azerbaijani city of Shusha in 2013, signing the twinning agreement with representatives from the Azerbaijani government; Hungary recognised Shusha as "de jure" part of Azerbaijan, even though it was controlled at the time and until 2020 by the military forces of Armenia and the unrecognised Artsakh. An attempt was made in 2003 by Preston city councillors in England to twin with the Palestinian town of Nablus in the name of solidarity.


title: Sister city

text: Turkey bans partnerships with any city in a country that recognizes the Armenian genocide. As a result, when Bulgaria recognized the genocide in 2016, some twin agreements such as Edirne–Haskovo were terminated by Turkey.


title: Sister city

text: In November 2020, U.S. senator Marsha Blackburn introduced legislation, the Sister City Transparency Act, to provide federal oversight to mitigate risks of sister city agreements being used for political influence campaigns.


title: Mount Whitney

text: Mount Whitney (Paiute: Tumanguya; "Too-man-i-goo-yah") is the highest mountain in the contiguous United States and the Sierra Nevada, with an elevation of . It is in East–Central California, on the boundary between California's Inyo and Tulare counties, west-northwest of North America's lowest point, Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park, at below sea level. The mountain's west slope is in Sequoia National Park and the summit is the southern terminus of the John Muir Trail, which runs from Happy Isles in Yosemite Valley. The eastern slopes are in Inyo National Forest in Inyo County.


title: Mount Whitney

text: Mount Whitney's summit is on the Sierra Crest and the Great Basin Divide. It lies near many of the Sierra Nevada's highest peaks. The peak rises dramatically above the Owens Valley, sitting or just over above the town of Lone Pine to the east, in the Owens Valley. It rises more gradually on the west side, lying only about above the John Muir Trail at Guitar Lake.


title: Mount Whitney

text: The mountain is partially dome-shaped, with its famously jagged ridges extending to the sides. Mount Whitney is above the tree line and has an alpine climate and ecology. Very few plants grow near the summit: one example is the sky pilot, a cushion plant that grows low to the ground. The only animals are transient, such as the butterfly "Parnassius phoebus" and the gray-crowned rosy finch.


title: Mount Whitney

text: The mountain is the highest point on the Great Basin Divide. Waterways on the peak's west side flow into Whitney Creek, which flows into the Kern River. The Kern River terminates at Bakersfield in the Tulare Basin, the southern part of the San Joaquin Valley. Today, the water in the Tulare Basin is largely diverted for agriculture. Historically, during very wet years, water overflowed from the Tulare Basin into the San Joaquin River, which flows to the Pacific Ocean.


title: Mount Whitney

text: From the east, water from Mount Whitney flows to Lone Pine Creek, where most of the water is diverted into the Los Angeles Aqueduct via a sluice. Some water in the creek is allowed to continue on its natural course, joining the Owens River, which terminates at Owens Lake, an endorheic lake of the Great Basin.


title: Mount Whitney

text: The estimated elevation of Mount Whitney's summit has changed over the years. The technology of elevation measurement has become more refined and, more importantly, the vertical coordinate system has changed. The peak was commonly said to be at and this is the elevation stamped on the USGS brass benchmark disk on the summit. An older plaque on the summit (sheet metal with black lettering on white enamel) reads "elevation 14,496.811 feet", but this was estimated using the older vertical datum (NGVD29) from 1929. Since then the shape of the Earth (the geoid) has been estimated more accurately. Using a new vertical datum established in 1988 (NAVD88) the benchmark is now estimated to be .


title: Mount Whitney

text: Whitney's eastern slope is far steeper than its western slope because the Sierra Nevada is the result of a fault block that is analogous to a cellar door: the door is hinged on the west and is slowly rising on the east.


title: Mount Whitney

text: The rise is caused by a fault system that runs along the Sierra's eastern base, below Mount Whitney. Thus, the granite that forms Whitney is the same as that which forms the Alabama Hills, thousands of feet lower down. The raising of Whitney (and the downdrop of the Owens Valley) is due to the same geological forces that cause the Basin and Range Province: the crust of much of the intermontane west is slowly being stretched.


title: Mount Whitney

text: The granite that forms Mount Whitney is part of the Sierra Nevada Batholith. In Cretaceous time, masses of molten rock that originated from subduction rose underneath what is now Whitney and solidified underground to form large expanses of granite. In the last 2 to 10 million years, the Sierra was pushed up, enabling glacial and river erosion to strip the upper layers of rock to reveal the resistant granite that makes up Mount Whitney today.


title: Mount Whitney

text: Mount Whitney has an alpine tundra climate ("ET") under the Köppen climate classification. Summer temperatures are highly variable, ranging from below freezing () to highs near during extreme heat waves in the Owens Valley.


title: Mount Whitney

text: Based on the range from the highest average high of to the lowest average low of for winter temperatures in the table (December to March), every of liquid precipitation equates to approximately of snow, with lower temperatures producing the greater snow depths.


title: Mount Whitney

text: There is no weather station at the summit, but this climate table contains interpolated data for an area below the summit.


title: Mount Whitney

text: In July 1864, the members of the California Geological Survey named the peak after Josiah Whitney, the State Geologist of California and benefactor of the survey. During the same expedition, geologist Clarence King attempted to climb Whitney from its west side, but stopped just short. In 1871, King returned to climb what he believed to be Whitney, but having taken a different approach, he actually summited nearby Mount Langley. Upon learning of his mistake in 1873, King finally completed his own first ascent of Whitney, but did so a month too late to be first. On August 18, 1873, Charles Begole, A. H. Johnson, and John Lucas, all of nearby Lone Pine, had become the first to reach the contiguous United States' highest summit. As they climbed the mountain during a fishing trip to nearby Kern Canyon, they called the mountain Fisherman's Peak.


title: Mount Whitney

text: In 1881, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory founder Samuel Pierpont Langley remained on the summit for some time, making daily observations of the solar heat. Accompanying Langley in 1881 was another party consisting of Judge William B. Wallace of Visalia, W. A. Wright and Reverend Frederick Wales. In his memoirs, Wallace wrote, "The Pi Ute [Paiute] Indians called Mount Whitney "Too-man-i-goo-yah", which means 'the very old man.' They believe that the Great Spirit who presides over the destiny of their people once had his home in that mountain." The spelling "Too-man-i-goo-yah" is a transliteration from the indigenous Paiute Mono language. Other variations are "Too-man-go-yah" and "Tumanguya".


title: Mount Whitney

text: In 1891, the United States Geological Survey's Board on Geographic Names decided to recognize the name Mount Whitney. Despite losing out on their preferred name, Lone Pine residents financed the first trail to the summit, engineered by Gustave Marsh, and completed on July 22, 1904. Four days later, the new trail enabled the first recorded death on Whitney. Having hiked the trail, U.S. Bureau of Fisheries employee Byrd Surby was struck and killed by lightning while eating lunch on the summit. In response, Marsh began work on the stone hut that became the Smithsonian Institution Shelter, completing it in 1909.


title: Mount Whitney

text: A movement began after World War II to rename the mountain for Winston Churchill, but the name Mount Whitney persisted.


title: Mount Whitney

text: The most popular route to the summit is by way of the Mount Whitney Trail, which starts at Whitney Portal, at an elevation of , west of the town of Lone Pine. The hike is about round trip with an elevation gain of over . Permits are required year-round, and to prevent overuse the Forest Service issues a limited number of permits between May 1 and November 1. It holds an annual lottery for hiking and backpacking permits on the trail. Applications are accepted from February 1 through March 15. Any permits left over after the lottery is completed typically go on sale April 1. Most hikers plan to stay one or two nights camping along the route. Those in good physical condition sometimes attempt to reach the summit and return to Whitney Portal in one day. A one-day hike requires a day-use permit that prohibits the use of overnight camping gear (sleeping bag and tent). Day hikers often leave Whitney Portal before sunrise and hike from 12 to 18 hours.


title: Mount Whitney

text: Longer approaches to Whitney arrive at its west side, connecting to the Mount Whitney Trail near the summit by way of the John Muir Trail.


title: Mount Whitney

text: The Mountaineer's Route, a gully on the north side of the east face first climbed by John Muir, is considered a scramble, (PD+). The fastest recorded time up this route to the summit and back to the portal is 3 hours 10 minutes, by Jason Lakey of Bishop, California.


title: Mount Whitney

text: The steep eastern side of the mountain offers a variety of climbing challenges. The East Face route, first climbed in 1931, is one of the "Fifty Classic Climbs of North America" routes, and involves technical free climbing () but is mostly class 4. Other routes range up to grade 5.10d.


title: Mount Whitney

text: South of the main summit is a series of minor summits that are completely inconspicuous from the west but appear as a series of "needles" from the east. The routes on these include some of the finest big-wall climbing in the high Sierra. Two of the needles were named after participants in an 1880 scientific expedition to the mountain: Keeler Needle for James Keeler and Day Needle for William Cathcart Day. The latter has been renamed Crooks Peak after Hulda Crooks, who hiked up Mount Whitney every year until well into her nineties.


title: Lukas Gage

text: Lukas Gage is an American actor. He has appeared in "American Vandal", "The White Lotus", "Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse", and "Euphoria".


title: Lukas Gage

text: Gage was born in San Diego, California and raised in Encinitas, California. He went to film camp every summer and acted in plays and commercials. He attended San Dieguito Academy in Encinitas.


title: Lukas Gage

text: In November 2020, Gage posted a clip of an audition on Zoom during which director Tristram Shapeero could be heard criticizing Gage's apartment, unaware the microphone was not muted. Gage received messages of support from, among others, Judd Apatow, January Jones, Lena Dunham, Joe Jonas, Angela Kinsey, and Billy Eichner. Although he did not get the job, he said he was happy in the end as it meant he could take a job working with Molly Shannon in Hawaii on the HBO mini series, "The White Lotus".


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: Dorothy Jean Dandridge (November 9, 1922 – September 8, 1965) was an American actress, singer and dancer. She is the first African-American film star to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, which was for her performance in "Carmen Jones" (1954). Dandridge performed as a vocalist in venues such as the Cotton Club and the Apollo Theater. During her early career, she performed as a part of The Wonder Children, later The Dandridge Sisters, and appeared in a succession of films, usually in uncredited roles.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: In 1959, Dandridge was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for "Porgy and Bess". She is the subject of the 1999 HBO biographical film, "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge". She has been recognized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: Dandridge was married and divorced twice, first to dancer Harold Nicholas (the father of her daughter, Harolyn Suzanne) and then to hotel owner Jack Denison. Dandridge died in 1965 at the age of 42.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: Dandridge was born in 1922 in Cleveland, Ohio, to entertainer Ruby Dandridge (née Butler; 1900–1987) and Cyril Dandridge (1895–1989). Her father was a cabinetmaker and Baptist minister. Her parents separated just before her birth.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: Ruby created a song-and-dance act for her two young daughters, Vivian and Dorothy, under the name The Wonder Children. The act was managed by her lover, Geneva Williams. Williams was said to have had a bad temper and to have cruelly disciplined the children. The sisters toured the Southern United States almost nonstop for five years (rarely attending school), while Ruby worked and performed in Cleveland.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: During the Great Depression, work virtually dried up for the Dandridges, as it did for many Chitlin' Circuit performers. Ruby moved her family to Hollywood, California, where she found steady work on radio and film in small domestic-servant parts. After that relocation, in 1930, Dorothy attended McKinley Junior High School.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: The Wonder Children were renamed The Dandridge Sisters in 1934. Dandridge and her sister were teamed with dance schoolmate Etta Jones.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: The Dandridge Sisters continued strong for several years, and were booked in several high-profile New York nightclubs, including the Cotton Club and the Apollo Theater. Dandridge first appeared on screen at the age of 13 in a small part in an" Our Gang" comedy short, "Teacher's Beau" in 1935. As a part of The Dandridge Sisters, she also appeared in "The Big Broadcast of 1936" (1936) with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, "A Day at the Races" with the Marx Brothers, and "It Can't Last Forever" (both 1937) with the Jackson Brothers. Although these appearances were relatively minor, Dandridge continued to earn recognition through continuing her nightclub performances nationwide.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: Dandridge's first credited film role was in "Four Shall Die" (1940). The race film cast her as a murderer and did little for her film career. Because of her rejection of stereotypical black roles, she had limited options for film roles. She had small roles in "Lady from Louisiana" with John Wayne and "Sundown" with Gene Tierney, both in 1941.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: Also that year, Dandridge appeared as part of a Specialty Number, "Chattanooga Choo Choo", in the hit 1941 musical "Sun Valley Serenade" for 20th Century Fox. The film marked the first time she performed with the Nicholas Brothers. Aside from her film appearances, Dandridge appeared in a succession of "soundies" – film clips that were displayed on jukeboxes, including "Paper Doll" by the Mills Brothers, "Cow, Cow Boogie", "Jig in the Jungle", and "Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter's Rent Party" also called "Swing for my Supper", among others. These films were noted not only for showcasing Dandridge as singer and dancer and her acting abilities, but also for featuring a strong emphasis on her physical attributes.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: She continued to appear occasionally in films and on the stage throughout the rest of the 1940s, while also performing as a band singer in films with some good company: Count Basie in "Hit Parade of 1943" and Louis Armstrong, "Atlantic City" (1944) and "Pillow to Post" (1945). In 1951, Dandridge appeared as Melmendi, Queen of the Ashuba in "Tarzan's Peril", starring Lex Barker and Virginia Huston. When the Motion Picture Production Code "tut-tutted" about the film's "blunt sexuality", Dandridge received considerable attention for wearing what was considered "provocatively revealing" clothing. The continuing publicity buzz surrounding Dandridge's wardrobe got her featured on the April 1951 cover of "Ebony". That same year, she had a supporting role in "The Harlem Globetrotters" (1951).


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: In May 1951, Dandridge had a spectacular opening at the Mocambo nightclub in West Hollywood after assiduous coaching and decisions on style with pianist Phil Moore. This success seemed a new turn to her career, and she appeared in New York and at Café de Paris in London with equal success. In a return engagement at the Mocambo in December 1952, a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio agent saw Dandridge and recommended to production chief Dore Schary that she might make an appearance as a club singer, in her own name, in "Remains to Be Seen", a film already in production. Her acquaintance with Dore Schary resulted in his casting Dandridge as Jane Richards in "Bright Road"—her first starring role, in which she expressed herself as a "wonderful, emotional actress"—which the trailer was to later promote. The film, which centered on a teacher's struggles to reach out to a troubled student, marked the first time Dandridge appeared in a film opposite Harry Belafonte. She continued her performances in nightclubs and appeared on multiple early television variety shows, including Ed Sullivan's "Toast of the Town".


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: In 1953, a nationwide talent search was conducted as 20th Century Fox began the process of casting an all-black musical film adaptation of Oscar Hammerstein II's 1943 Broadway musical "Carmen Jones". This production had updated Georges Bizet's opera "Carmen" to a World War II-era African-American setting. Director and writer Otto Preminger found Dandridge's starring role from the previous year in "Bright Road" underwhelming, and that she would be better suited for the smaller role of the quiet Cindy Lou in "Carmen Jones" (1954). Dandridge, who had "dressed down" for the screen test of 'Bright Road' to suit the demure school teacher at its center, worked with Max Factor make-up artists convey the look and character of the earthy Carmen, which she wore to a meeting with Premminger in his office. The effect, and his subsequent viewing of her freer, looser appearances in the 'soundies' material, helped earn her the title role.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: The remainder of the cast was completed with Harry Belafonte, Pearl Bailey, Brock Peters, Diahann Carroll, Madame Sul-Te-Wan (uncredited), Olga James, and Joe Adams.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: Despite Dandridge's recognition as a singer, the studio wanted an operatic voice, so Dandridge's voice was dubbed by white mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne. "Carmen Jones" opened to favorable reviews and strong box-office returns on October 28, 1954, earning $70,000 during its first week and $50,000 during its second. Dandridge's performance as the seductive Carmen made her one of Hollywood's first African-American sex symbols and earned her positive reviews. On November 1, 1954, Dorothy Dandridge became the first black woman featured on the cover of "Life". Walter Winchell described her performance as "bewitching", and "Variety" said that it "maintains the right hedonistic note throughout".


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: "Carmen Jones" became a worldwide success, eventually earning over $10 million at the box office and becoming one of the year's highest-earning films. Dandridge was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress, becoming the first African American nominated for a leading role. At the 27th Academy Awards held on March 30, 1955, Dandridge was a nominee along with Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Judy Garland, and Jane Wyman. Although Kelly won the award for her performance in "The Country Girl", Dandridge became an overnight sensation. At the 1955 Oscar ceremony, Dandridge presented the Academy Award for Film Editing to "On the Waterfront" editor Gene Milford.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: On February 15, 1955, Dandridge signed a three-movie deal with 20th Century Fox starting at $75,000 a film. Darryl F. Zanuck, the studio head, had personally suggested the studio sign Dandridge to a contract. Zanuck had big plans for her, hoping she would become the first African-American screen icon. He purchased the film rights to "The Blue Angel", and intended to cast her as saloon singer Lola-Lola in an all-black remake of the original 1930 film. She was also scheduled to star as Cigarette in a remake of "Under Two Flags". Meanwhile, Dandridge agreed to play the role of Tuptim in a film version of "The King and I" and a sultry upstairs neighbor in "The Lieutenant Wore Skirts". However, her former director and now-lover Otto Preminger, suggested she accept only leading roles. As an international star, Dorothy Dandridge rejected the two lesser roles and they were eventually given to Rita Moreno, a Puerto Rican actress.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: On April 11, 1955, Dandridge became the first black performer to open at the Empire Room at New York's Waldorf-Astoria hotel. Her success as a headliner led to the hotel booking other black performers, such as the Count Basie Orchestra with vocalist Joe Williams, Pearl Bailey, and Lena Horne.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: In 1957, Dandridge sued "Confidential" for libel over its article that described a scandalous incident, proved fictitious, that it claimed occurred in 1950. In May 1957, she accepted an out-of-court settlement of $10,000.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: Dandridge was one of the few Hollywood stars who testified at the 1957 criminal libel trial of Hollywood Research, Inc., the company that published "Confidential" and other tabloid magazines from that era. Four months after her out-of-court settlement for $10,000, she and actress Maureen O'Hara, the only other star who testified at the criminal trial, were photographed shaking hands outside the downtown-Los Angeles courtroom where the highly publicized trial was held. Testimony from O'Hara, as well as from a disgruntled former magazine editor named Howard Rushmore, revealed that the magazines published false information provided by hotel maids, clerks, and movie-theater ushers who were paid for their tips. The stories with questionable veracity most often centered around alleged incidents of casual sex. When the jury and press visited Grauman's Chinese Theatre to determine whether O'Hara could have performed various sexual acts while seated in the balcony, as reported by a magazine published by Hollywood Research, Inc., this was discovered to have been impossible.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: Dandridge had not testified during her civil lawsuit earlier in 1957, but in September she gave testimony in the criminal trial that further strengthened the prosecution's case. Alleged by "Confidential" to have fornicated with a white bandleader in the woods of Lake Tahoe in 1950, she testified that racial segregation had confined her to her hotel during her nightclub engagement in the Nevada resort city. When she was not in the hotel lounge rehearsing or performing her singing, according to her testimony, she was required to stay inside her room where she slept alone. Dandridge's testimony, along with that of O'Hara, proved beyond any doubt that Hollywood Research had committed libel at least twice. The judge ordered Hollywood Research to stop publishing questionable stories based on paid tips. This curtailed invasive tabloid journalism until 1971, when Generoso Pope, Jr. moved the "National Enquirer", which he owned, from New York to Lantana, Florida, where there were fewer restrictions.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: In 1957, after a three-year absence from film acting, Dandridge agreed to appear in the film "Island in the Sun" opposite an ensemble cast, including James Mason, Harry Belafonte, Joan Fontaine, Joan Collins, and Stephen Boyd. Dandridge portrayed a local West Indian shop clerk who has an interracial love affair with a white man, played by John Justin. The film was controversial for its time period, and the script was revised numerous times to accommodate the Motion Picture Production Code requirements about interracial relationships. Dandridge and Justin did have an extremely intimate, loving embrace that succeeded in not breaching the code. Despite the behind-the-scenes controversy, the film received favorable reviews and was one of the year's biggest successes.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: Dandridge next agreed to star opposite German actor Curd Jürgens in the French/Italian production of "Tamango" (1958). A reluctant Dandridge had agreed to appear in the film only after learning that it focused on a nineteenth-century slave revolt on a cargo ship traveling from Africa to Cuba. However, she nearly withdrew when the initial script called for her to swim in the nude and spend the majority of the film in a two-piece bathing suit made of rags. When Dandridge threatened to leave the film, the script and her wardrobe were retooled to her liking. As United States Production code requirements did not apply to the Italian film production, a passionate kiss between Jürgens and Dandridge's characters was permitted in the shooting of "Tamango". This was Dandridge's first, and only, on-screen kiss with a white actor. "Tamango" was withheld from American release until late 1959. It received mixed reviews from critics and achieved only minor success.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: In MGM's "The Decks Ran Red" (1958), Dandridge co-starred with James Mason, Broderick Crawford, and Stuart Whitman as Mahia, a cook's wife aboard a tired World War II surplus freighter enduring a mutiny. Despite being universally panned, the film generated a respectable audience. During production, fellow actor Stuart Whitman said that he noted her strength as she was going through personal turmoil.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: In late 1958, Dandridge accepted producer Samuel Goldwyn's offer to star alongside Sidney Poitier in Goldwyn's forthcoming production of "Porgy and Bess". This was her first major Hollywood film in five years. Her acceptance angered the black community, who felt the story's negative stereotyping of blacks was degrading. When the initial director, Rouben Mamoulian, was replaced with Otto Preminger, he informed Dandridge that her performance was not credible, and that she needed intensive coaching to handle such a role. "Porgy and Bess" had a long and costly production. All the sets and costumes were destroyed in a fire and had to be replaced, which amounted to a loss of almost $2 million. Continuous script rewrites and other problems prolonged the production and ultimately pushed the film over its original budget. When it was released in June 1959, it drew mixed reviews and failed financially.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: In 1959, Dandridge starred in a low-budget British thriller, "Malaga", in which she played a European woman with an Italian name. The film, co-starring Trevor Howard and Edmund Purdom, plotted a jewel robbery and its aftermath. Some pre-release publicity invited the belief that Dandridge received her first, and only, on-screen kiss with a white actor (Howard) in this film. She had kissed her white costar in "Tamango", but Dandridge and Howard, under László Benedek's direction, created some strongly understated sexual tension. The film was withheld from a theatrical release abroad until 1960, and was not released until 1962 in the United States. "Malaga" was her final completed film appearance.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: In 1962, Dandridge was filmed with Alain Delon on the set of "La Fabuleuse Aventure de Marco Polo", a Raoul Lévy-produced French-Italian film that was abandoned due to financial issues. Years later it was released as Marco the Magnificent without either Dandridge or Delon.. She also appeared as Anita in a Highland Park Music Theater production of "West Side Story", but she lasted only two performances due to illness.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: By 1963, Dandridge's popularity had dwindled, and she was performing in nightclubs to pay off debts from numerous lawsuits. She filed for bankruptcy and went into seclusion before appearing as a lounge act in Las Vegas in 1964. In 1965, she attempted to revive her acting career. Dandridge signed a new contract in Mexico and was scheduled to appear as the female lead in a film about outlaw Johnny Ringo.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: Dandridge was a Democrat, and she supported the campaign of Adlai Stevenson during the 1952 presidential election.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: Having developed an interest in activism because of the racism she encountered in the industry, Dandridge became involved with the National Urban League and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: During an engagement at the Cotton Club, Dandridge met Harold Nicholas, a dancer and entertainer. They married at a Hollywood ceremony on September 6, 1942. Guests at their wedding included Oscar-winner Hattie McDaniel, jazz singer Etta Jones, and choreographer Nick Castle. They had an unhappy marriage, which deteriorated because of Nicholas' womanizing and inattentiveness. By 1948, Nicholas had abandoned his family. Dandridge filed for divorce in September 1950, and it was finalized in October 1951.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: Dandridge had given birth to her only child, Harolyn Suzanne Nicholas, on September 2, 1943. While she was in labor, Nicholas left her stranded at her sister-in-law's home without the car when he went to play golf. At first, Dandridge refused to go to the hospital without him. Harolyn's delayed birth required the use of forceps. This may have resulted in the brain damage that left her requiring lifelong constant care. Dandridge blamed herself for her daughter's condition, and for not getting to the hospital sooner. Harolyn was unable to speak and never recognized Dandridge as her mother. Dandridge was private about her daughter's condition; she didn't publicly speak about it until a 1963 appearance on "The Mike Douglas Show".


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: While filming "Carmen Jones" (1954), she began an affair with director Otto Preminger that lasted four years, during which Preminger advised her on career matters. He demanded that she accept only starring roles after her success in his film. Dandridge later regretted following his advice. She became pregnant by him in 1955, but was forced to have an abortion by the studio. She ended the affair when she realized that Preminger had no plans to leave his wife to marry her. Their affair was depicted in the HBO Films biopic "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge", in which Preminger was portrayed by Austrian actor Klaus Maria Brandauer.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: Dandridge married Jack Denison on June 22, 1959. They divorced in 1962, amid financial setbacks and allegations of domestic violence. Dandridge discovered that the people who were handling her finances had swindled her out of $150,000, and she owed $139,000 in back taxes. She was forced to sell her Hollywood home and place her daughter in a California state mental institution, Camarillo State Hospital. Dandridge moved into a small apartment on Fountain Avenue in West Hollywood, California.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: On September 8, 1965, Dandridge spoke by telephone from Los Angeles with friend and former sister-in-law Geraldine "Geri" Branton. Dandridge was scheduled to fly to New York the next day to prepare for her nightclub engagement at Basin Street East. Branton told biographers that during the long conversation, Dandridge veered from expressing hope for the future, to singing Barbra Streisand's "People" in its entirety, to making this cryptic remark moments before hanging up on her: "Whatever happens, I know you will understand." Several hours later, Dandridge was found naked and unresponsive in her apartment by her manager, Earl Mills. A Los Angeles pathology institute determined that the cause of death was an accidental overdose of the antidepressant imipramine. The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office concluded that she died of a fat embolism resulting from a right foot fracture sustained five days previously.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: On September 12, 1965, a private funeral service was held at the Little Chapel of the Flowers; Dandridge was cremated and her ashes interred in the Freedom Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: In the 1980s, after the passing of the blaxploitation era, such stars as Cicely Tyson, Jada Pinkett Smith, Halle Berry, Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, Kimberly Elise, Loretta Devine, Tasha Smith, and Angela Bassett began to acknowledge Dandridge's contribution to the image of African Americans in American motion pictures.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: In the movie "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar" (1995), Wesley Snipes played Noxeema Jackson, a drag queen whose dream is to play Dorothy Dandridge in a movie about her life and work.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: In 1999, Halle Berry produced and starred in the HBO movie "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge", for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award. When Berry won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in "Monster's Ball", she dedicated the "moment [to] Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll." Both Dandridge and Berry were from Cleveland, Ohio, and were born in the same hospital.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: Dandridge was posthumously awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in January 1984. She is featured as the most prominent figure in a mural on an exterior wall of Hollywood High School. A statue of Dandridge, designed by Catherine Hardwicke, honors multi-ethnic leading ladies of the cinema, including Mae West, Dolores del Río, and Anna May Wong.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: Recording artist Janelle Monáe performs a song entitled "Dorothy Dandridge Eyes" on her 2013 album "The Electric Lady", with Esperanza Spalding. In the 1969 movie "The Lost Man", a character Dorothy Starr (played by Beverly Todd) says that she named herself after Dandridge.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: In the February 2016 episode of "Black-ish", "Sink or Swim," Beyoncé is referred to as the Dorothy Dandridge of her time, citing the star power Dandridge wielded in her day.


title: Dorothy Dandridge

text: In 2020, Laura Harrier portrayed Camille Washington in the Netflix miniseries "Hollywood". She is an up-and-coming actress during the Hollywood Golden Age in the post-World War II era, a character largely inspired by and based on Dandridge.