Ivor the Engine is a British cutout animation television series created by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin's Smallfilms company. It follows the adventures of a small green steam locomotive who lives in the "top left-hand corner of Wales" and works for The Merioneth and Llantisilly Rail Traction Company Limited. His friends include Jones the Steam, Evans the Song and Dai Station, among many other characters.
Starlight Express is a 1984 musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. It tells the story of a young but obsolete steam engine, Rusty, who races in a championship against modern locomotives of diesel and electric engines in the hope of impressing a first-class observation car, Pearl. Famously, the actors perform on roller skates.
A fireman, stoker or boilerman is a person who tends the fire for the running of a boiler, heating a building, or powering a steam engine. Much of the job is hard physical labor, such as shoveling fuel, typically coal, into the boiler's firebox. On steam locomotives, the title fireman is usually used, while on steamships and stationary steam engines, such as those driving saw mills, the title is usually stoker. The German word Heizer is equivalent and in Dutch the word stoker is mostly used too. The United States Navy referred to them as watertenders.
Pere Marquette 1225 is a class "N-1" 2-8-4 "Berkshire" type steam locomotive built in October 1941 for the Pere Marquette Railway (PM) by Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, Ohio. No. 1225 is one of two surviving Pere Marquette 2-8-4 locomotives, the other being 1223, which was on display at the Tri-Cities Historical Society near the ex-Grand Trunk Western (GTW) coaling tower in Grand Haven, Michigan, and both have the distinction of being the only surviving Pere Marquette steam locomotive left in preservation. No. 1225 was well known to be the basis for the locomotive used in the 2004 film The Polar Express, earning itself the nickname "the real Polar Express".
The Polar Express is a 2004 American animated Christmas adventure film directed by Robert Zemeckis, who co-wrote the screenplay with William Broyles Jr., based on the 1985 children's book of the same name by Chris Van Allsburg. It stars Tom Hanks, Daryl Sabara, Nona Gaye, Jimmy Bennett, and Eddie Deezen. The film depicts human characters using live action and motion capture computer animation, with production sequences for the latter taking place from June 2003 to May 2004. Set on Christmas Eve, it tells the story of a young boy who sees a mysterious train bound for the North Pole stop outside his window and is invited aboard by its conductor. He joins other children as they embark on a journey to visit Santa Claus, who is preparing for Christmas.
The Premiere Collection Encore is a 1992 compilation album by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The album acted as a follow-up to The Premiere Collection: The Best of Andrew Lloyd Webber. In the four intervening years, the original London production of Aspects of Love and Lloyd Webber's new production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat had both opened; therefore a number of tracks were included from those shows.
Popeye the Sailor is a 1933 animated short produced by Fleischer Studios and distributed by Paramount Publix Corporation. While billed as a Betty Boop cartoon, it was produced as a vehicle for Popeye in his debut animated appearance.
"Stage Fright" is an episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. It was the third episode of series 7, and first broadcast on 13 January 1991.
Delta Momma Blues is the fourth studio album by the country singer/songwriter Townes Van Zandt, released in 1971. Unlike his previous albums, which were influenced by Appalachian folk and country music and recorded in Nashville, this album was blues influenced and recorded in New York City.
Where's Poppa? is a 1970 American black comedy film based on the 1970 novel by Robert Klane and starring George Segal, Ruth Gordon, Ron Leibman, and Trish Van Devere. The plot revolves around the troubled relationship between a lawyer (Segal) and his senile mother (Gordon), who keeps interfering with his love life. The film was directed by Carl Reiner, whose son Rob Reiner had a role in an early performance. Others in the cast include Paul Sorvino, Rae Allen, Vincent Gardenia and Garrett Morris. The film was re-released in 1975, under the title Going Ape, and maintains a cult following.
Success! is a musical by Bernard J. Taylor that was first recorded in 1993 as a studio concept album featuring various West End performers including Lon Satton, Claire Moore, Kathryn Evans, Jessica Martin and Maurice Clarke. It had its world premiere stage production in Rotherham, Yorkshire, in 1995.
The Starlight Express is a children's play by Violet Pearn, based on the imaginative novel A Prisoner in Fairyland by Algernon Blackwood, with songs and incidental music written by the English composer Sir Edward Elgar in 1915.
"Starlight Express" is the 'showstopper' number from the musical Starlight Express. In the show, it is performed by Rusty, the show's protagonist. Before the song, he has been told by the old steam engine Poppa of a magical locomotive, named the Starlight Express, who will aid him in need.
"Only You" is the love duet from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Starlight Express. It is performed by the protagonist, Rusty, a young steam locomotive and his true love, the observation car, Pearl.
Ray Shell is an American film, TV and stage actor, as well as an author, singer, director and producer. He is known for creating the roles of Nomax in Five Guys Named Moe (1990) and Rusty in Starlight Express (1984). He is a Creative Director of the Giant Olive Theatre Company, resident company at the Lion & Unicorn Theatre in Kentish Town, London. Shell is the author of the 1993 novel Iced.
Light at the End of the Tunnel is the gospel-style finale number from the musical Starlight Express. The company perform the number as a glorification to Steam. The solo lines are taken by Poppa, an old Steam Locomotive,.
Tim Driesen is a Belgian actor, notable for roles in both musicals, plays, and television serials. He has composed a full-scale musical as well as a number of pop-songs. In 2007, he created the role of Adrian Banks in the Take That musical, Never Forget. Take That member Gary Barlow, who wrote the majority of the production's musical numbers, said jokingly of the cast: "I'm just worried that they're better than us". When the musical opened, Driesen appeared with fellow cast members Dean Chisnall, Craig Els, Stephane Anelli, Eaton James and Nancy Sullivan on ITV's GMTV performing the show's title song, "Never Forget". He also appeared in the UK tour of Starlight Express. Driesen appeared in the television series, The Bubbles.
The Little Engine That Could is a 2011 American direct-to-video animated adventure film based on the 1930 story by Watty Piper. The film stars the voices of Alyson Stoner, Whoopi Goldberg, Corbin Bleu, Jodi Benson, Patrick Warburton and Jamie Lee Curtis.
Lon Satton was an American singer and actor based in the United Kingdom. He is widely known for originating the role of Poppa in Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Starlight Express, for which Satton received a 1984 Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. He is sometimes credited as Lonnie Sattin.
Soda Poppa is a 1931 short animated film by Columbia Pictures. It is one of many short films starring Krazy Kat.
