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Jimmy Dorsey
Jimmy Dorsey (James Francis Dorsey), 1904-57, and his brother Tommy Dorsey (Thomas Francis Dorsey, Jr.), 1905-1956, both b. Shenandoah, Pa., American jazz musicians and bandleaders during the Big Band era. Jimmy Dorsey played the clarinet and alto saxophone, his brother the trombone. Toward the...
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Tommy Tune
Tommy Tune 1939-, American dancer, choreographer, and director, b. Wichita Falls, Tex. An unusually lanky 6 ft 6 in., Tune began his Broadway dancing career in the chorus of several mid-1960s musicals, then performed as a tap dancer in musical films, including Hello Dolly! (1969) and The Boy Fri...
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Vernon Castle, and Irene Foote
Vernon Castle, and Irene Foote 1893-1969, husband-and-wife dance team. Vernon Castle was an English dancer, who studied civil engineering before turning to the stage and making his debut in 1907. In 1911, he married Irene Foote, b. New Rochelle, N.Y. In Paris in 1912 their versions of such dances a...
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Jack Johnson
Jack Johnson (John Arthur Johnson), 1878-1946, American boxer, b. Galveston, Tex., the son of two ex-slaves. Emerging from the battle royals (dehumanizing fights between blacks for the amusement of white patrons) of his youth, he defeated Tommy Burns in 1908 to become the world's first African-Amer...
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Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones (Quincy Delight Jones, Jr.), 1933-, African-American musician, composer, bandleader, and music executive, b. Chicago. Jones played trumpet and sang gospel growing up, and studied briefly at Boston's Berklee College of Music (then called Schillinger House). After 1951 he played with Lio...
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Sugar Ray Robinson
Sugar Ray Robinson 1920-89, American boxer, b. Detroit. His real name was Walker Smith. He began boxing after three years of high school in New York City. Having won all his amateur fights (about 90), including the Golden Gloves featherweight title, Robinson turned professional in 1940. He won the ...
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J. M. Barrie
J. M. Barrie (Sir James Matthew Barrie) , 1860-1937, Scottish playwright and novelist. He is best remembered for his play Peter Pan (1904), a supernatural fantasy about a boy who refuses to grow up. The son of a weaver, Barrie studied at the Univ. of Edinburgh. He took up journalism, worked for ...
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Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra (Francis Albert Sinatra), 1915-98, American singer and actor, b. Hoboken, N.J. During the late 1930s and early 40s he sang with the Harry James and Tommy Dorsey bands, causing teenage girls to shriek and swoon over his romantic, seemingly casual renditions of such songs as "I'll Nev...
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Palau
Palau , officially Republic of Palau, independent nation (2005 est. pop. 20,300), c.192 sq mi (497 sq km), W Pacific, in the W Caroline Islands . Belau, the indigenous name for Palau, is sometimes used. Until 1994, Palau was administered by the United States as the last UN trust territory. It consi...
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Wisconsin
Wisconsin , upper midwestern state of the United States. It is bounded by Lake Superior and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, from which it is divided by the Menominee R. (N); Lake Michigan (E); Illinois (S); and Iowa and Minnesota (W), with the Mississippi R. forming much of that border.
Facts...
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