Espionage or spying is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information. Spies help agencies uncover secret information. Any individual or spy ring, in the service of a government, company or independent operation, can commit espionage. The practice is clandestine, as it is by definition unwelcome. In some circumstances it may be a legal tool of law enforcement and in others it may be illegal and punishable by law. Espionage is a method of gathering which includes information gathering from non-disclosed sources.
The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was a wartime intelligence agency of the United States during World War II, and a predecessor to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all branches of the United States Armed Forces. Other OSS functions included the use of propaganda, subversion, and post-war planning. On December 14, 2016, the organization was collectively honored with a Congressional Gold Medal.
To Be or Not to Be is a 1942 American black comedy film directed by Ernst Lubitsch and starring Carole Lombard, Jack Benny, Robert Stack, Felix Bressart, Lionel Atwill, Stanley Ridges and Sig Ruman. The plot concerns a troupe of actors in Nazi-occupied Warsaw who use their abilities at disguise and acting to fool the occupying troops. It was adapted by Lubitsch (uncredited) and Edwin Justus Mayer from the story by Melchior Lengyel. The film was released one month after actress Carole Lombard was killed in an airplane crash. In 1996, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Jump blues is an up-tempo style of blues, usually played by small groups and featuring horn instruments. It was popular in the 1940s and was a precursor of rhythm and blues and rock and roll. Appreciation of jump blues was renewed in the 1990s as part of the swing revival.
Morris Berg was an American catcher and coach in Major League Baseball, who later served as a spy for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. Although he played 15 seasons in the major leagues, almost entirely for four American League teams, Berg was never more than an average player. He was better known for being "the brainiest guy in baseball." Casey Stengel once described Berg as "the strangest man ever to play baseball".
Dame Mary Louise Webster,, known professionally as May Whitty and later, for her charity work, Dame May Whitty, was an English stage and film actress. She was one of the first two women entertainers to become a Dame. The British actors union Equity was established in her home. After a successful career she moved over to Hollywood films at the age of 72. She went to live in America, where she won awards for her film roles.
Una O'Connor was an Irish-American actress who worked extensively in theatre before becoming a character actress in film and in television. She often portrayed comical wives, housekeepers and servants.
The Cleveland Buckeyes were a Negro league baseball team that played from 1942 to 1950 in the Negro American League. The Buckeyes played in two Negro World Series, defeating the Washington Homestead Grays in 1945, and losing to the New York Cubans in 1947. They were based in Cincinnati for their first season and Louisville for their second-to-last season.
Operation Pastorius was a failed German intelligence plan for sabotage inside the United States during World War II. The operation was staged in June 1942 and was to be directed against strategic American economic targets. The operation was named by Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, chief of the German Abwehr, for Francis Daniel Pastorius, the leader of the first organized settlement of Germans in America.
Invisible Agent is a 1942 American science fiction film from Universal. The film was a wartime propaganda production that was part of a Hollywood effort to boost morale at the home front. It loosely echoed a series of formula war-horror films produced during this period that typically featured a mad scientist working in secret to aid the Third Reich.
Siegfried Carl Alban Rumann, billed as Sig Rumann and Sig Ruman, was a German-American character actor known for his portrayals of pompous and often stereotypically Teutonic officials or villains in more than 100 films.
Royston A. Tickner was a British actor.
Rio Rita is a 1942 comedy film starring Abbott and Costello. It was based upon the 1927 Flo Ziegfeld Broadway musical, which was previously made into a 1929 film also titled Rio Rita that starred the comedy team of Wheeler & Woolsey. Kathryn Grayson and John Carroll replace the 1929 version's Bebe Daniels and John Boles.
Spy Smasher is a 12-episode 1942 Republic movie serial based on the Fawcett Comics character Spy Smasher which is now a part of DC Comics. It was the 25th of the 66 serials produced by Republic. The serial was directed by William Witney with Kane Richmond and Marguerite Chapman as the leads. The serial was Chapman's big break into a career in film and television. Spy Smasher is a very highly regarded serial. In 1966, a television film was made from the serial footage under the title Spy Smasher Returns.
King of the Mounties is a 1942 Republic 12-chapter film serial, directed by William Witney. Allan Lane played Sgt. Dave King of the Mounties, with Peggy Drake as heroine Carol Brent, and Abner Biberman played the villainous Japanese admiral Yamata.
Battlefield: 1942: The Road to Rome is an expansion pack for the Battlefield 1942 video game. It was released in February 2003 by Electronic Arts and developed by Digital Illusions CE. Six maps featuring battles that took place in Italy were added, along with eight vehicles, including the German Bf 110 and the British Mosquito fighter-bombers and the M3 Grant medium tank. French and Italian forces are included. Engineers can mount a bayonet on their rifle for hand-to-hand combat. The Italian Breda 30 and the British Sten SMG have been added. Extra scenes are added to the original Battlefield 1942 intro.
They Got Me Covered, also known as Washington Story and The Washington Angle, is a 1943 comedy film directed by David Butler and starring Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour. Otto Preminger appears in a supporting role.
The 1942 South Australian National Football League season was the first of three SANFL seasons played under reduced club numbers during World War II. The premiership was won by Port-Torrens, the merger between Port Adelaide and West Torrens. Attendances during World War II were inflated due to servicemen being granted free entry.
Dean Martin Gaffney is an English actor, known for his role as Robbie Jackson on the BBC soap opera EastEnders from 1993 to 2003 and 2017 to 2019; he also made guest appearances in 2004, 2010 and 2015. In 2006, he competed in the ITV series I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, and finished in fifth place.
Daring Young Man is a 1942 American comedy film directed by Frank R. Strayer, which stars Joe E. Brown, Marguerite Chapman, and William Wright. Brown plays the dual roles of a failure turned champion bowler, Jonathan Peckinpaw, and his own grandmother. The original screenplay was written by Karen DeWolf and Connie Lee.
