Kurt Vonnegut was an American writer and humorist known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. He published 14 novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfiction works over fifty-plus years; further collections have been published since his death.
Hans Christian Andersen is a 1952 Hollywood musical film directed by Charles Vidor and produced by Samuel Goldwyn. The screenplay by Moss Hart and an uncredited Ben Hecht is based on a story by Myles Connolly.
"Harrison Bergeron" is a satirical dystopian science-fiction short story by American writer Kurt Vonnegut, first published in October 1961. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, the story was republished in the author's Welcome to the Monkey House collection in 1968.
Between Time and Timbuktu is a television film directed by Fred Barzyk and based on a number of works by Kurt Vonnegut. Produced by National Educational Television and WGBH-TV in Boston, Massachusetts, it was telecast March 13, 1972 as a NET Playhouse special. The television script was also published in book form in 1972, illustrated with photographs by Jill Krementz and stills from the production.
The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classical music. More than 1,000 works have been written for it.
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine, Kurt Vonnegut's fifth novel, was published in 1965 by Holt, Rinehart and Winston and as a Dell mass-market paperback in 1970. A piece of postmodern satire, it gave context to Vonnegut's following novel, Slaughterhouse-Five and shared in its success.
Tammy K. Bruce is an American conservative radio host, author, and political commentator. Earlier she had been president of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Organization for Women. She is currently an on-air contributor to Fox News and host of Get Tammy Bruce on Fox Nation.
Julie Beth Hagerty is an American actress. She starred as Elaine Dickinson in the films Airplane! (1980) and Airplane II: The Sequel (1982). Her other film roles include A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982), Lost in America (1985), What About Bob? (1991), She’s the Man (2006), A Master Builder (2014), Instant Family (2018), Noelle, Marriage Story, and A Christmas Story Christmas (2022).
"The Steadfast Tin Soldier" is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about a tin soldier's love for a paper ballerina. The tale was first published in Copenhagen by C.A. Reitzel on 2 October 1838 in the first booklet of Fairy Tales Told for Children. New Collection. The booklet consists of Andersen's "The Daisy" and "The Wild Swans". The tale was Andersen's first not based upon a folk tale or a literary model. "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" has been adapted to various media including ballet and animated film.
Harrison Bergeron is a 1995 cable science fiction television movie film loosely adapted from Kurt Vonnegut's 1961 dystopian short story of the same name. It was produced for Showtime and first screened on August 13, 1995. It was released to VHS in 1998.
Matthew Joseph Shaffer is an American musical theatre, television, and film actor, director, executive producer, author, and choreographer. He was born in Florence, Colorado, USA.
The Moving Picture Institute (MPI) is an American non-profit organization and film production company founded in 2005 by Thor Halvorssen, who was also one of the producers for some of their movies. Its current president is Rob Pfaltzgraff.
"Welcome to the Monkey House" is a Kurt Vonnegut short story that is part of the collection of the same name. It is alluded to in God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater as one of Kilgore Trout's stories.
Mind control has proven a popular subject in fiction, featuring in books and films such as The Manchurian Candidate and The IPCRESS File, both stories advancing the premise that controllers could hypnotize a person into murdering on command while retaining no memory of the killing. As a narrative device, mind control serves as a convenient means of introducing changes in the behavior of characters, and is used as a device for raising tension and audience uncertainty in the contexts of the Cold War and terrorism. Mind control has often been an important theme in science fiction and fantasy stories. Terry O'Brien comments: "Mind control is such a powerful image that if hypnotism did not exist, then something similar would have to have been invented: the plot device is too useful for any writer to ignore. The fear of mind control is equally as powerful an image."
Armand Douglas Hammer is an American actor. He began his acting career with guest appearances in several television series. His first leading role was as Billy Graham in the 2008 film Billy: The Early Years, and he gained wider recognition for his double role portraying the twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss in David Fincher's biographical drama film The Social Network (2010), for which he won the Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2, also titled Ballet Imperial, is a ballet choreographed by George Balanchine to Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 2. Ballet Imperial was choreographed for American Ballet Caravan's 1941 South American tour, and was aimed at showing that the Americans were capable of the classical ballet traditions. The ballet pays tribute to Tchaikovsky, the classical ballet choreographer Marius Petipa, and Imperial Saint Petersburg, where Balanchine received his ballet training. The ballet featured academic steps and alludes to Imperial Russia through the costumes and scenery. Ballet Imperial premiered on June 25, 1941, at Teatro Municipal, Rio de Janeiro.
Carnival is a 1946 British drama film about a ballet dancer of the Edwardian era, directed by Stanley Haynes and starring Sally Gray, Michael Wilding, Stanley Holloway and Jean Kent. It is based on the 1912 novel of the same name by Compton Mackenzie, which had previous been made into a 1932 film version Dance Pretty Lady by Anthony Asquith. It was shot at Denham Studios with sets designed by the art director Carmen Dillon.
Allegro Brillante is a ballet choreographed by George Balanchine to Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 3. The ballet is danced by a principal couple and a corps de ballet of eight. Balanchine said it "contains everything I knew about classical ballet." Allegro Brillante was made for the New York City Ballet, and premiered on March 1, 1956, at the City Center of Music and Drama, with Maria Tallchief and Nicholas Magallanes originating the two principal roles.
Chandler Tuttle is an American writer and director who currently serves as creative director of the Oslo Freedom Forum. He lives in New York City.
Angelina Ballerina is a British animated preschool children's television series based on the Angelina Ballerina series of children's books by author Katharine Holabird and illustrator Helen Craig. The series is about a young mouse named Angelina Mouseling who loves dancing ballet, her family, and her classmates. Finty Williams performed the voice of Angelina and her mother Judi Dench performed the voice of Miss Lilly.
