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De Mille, Cecil B.

(Encyclopedia)De Mille, Cecil B. (Cecil Blount De Mille), 1881–1959, American movie director and producer, b. Ashfield, Mass. In 1914, together with Samuel Goldwyn, he made the first feature-length film in Hollyw...

Mother Goose

(Encyclopedia)Mother Goose, name associated with nursery rhymes. Most English nursery rhymes have been ascribed to Mother Goose. The origin of the name is still a matter of dispute. Some trace it to a French collec...

Kendall, Edward Calvin

(Encyclopedia)Kendall, Edward Calvin, 1886–1972, American biochemist, b. South Norwalk, Conn., grad. Columbia (B.S., 1908; Ph.D., 1910). At St. Luke's Hospital, New York City, he did research on the thyroid gland...

Donovan, William Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Donovan, William Joseph dŏnˈəvən [key], 1883–1959, U.S. lawyer and government official, b. Buffalo, N.Y., grad. Columbia law school. Distinguished service in World War I won him medals and the n...

Munro, H. H.

(Encyclopedia)Munro, H. H. (Hector Hugh Munro), pseud. Saki säˈkē [key], 1870–1916, English author, b. Burma (now Myanmar). He began his career writing political satires for the Westminster Gazette, and from 1...

Ashendene Press

(Encyclopedia)Ashendene Press ăshˌəndēnˈ [key], founded in 1895 at Ashendene, Hertfordshire, England, by Sir C. H. St. John Hornby and moved in 1899 to Chelsea, London. It was a leader (with the Kelmscott Pres...

Remarque, Erich Maria

(Encyclopedia)Remarque, Erich Maria āˈrĭkh märēˈä rəmärkˈ [key], 1898–1970, German-American novelist, whose original name was Erich Paul Remark. From his experience of trench warfare during World War I,...

Fair, James Graham

(Encyclopedia)Fair, James Graham, 1831–94, American financier, b. near Belfast, Ireland. He emigrated to America as a child, grew up on an Illinois farm, and went west in 1851 in search of gold. In partnership wi...

Panini

(Encyclopedia)Panini päˈnēnē [key], fl. c.400 b.c., Indian grammarian. His Ashtādhyāyī [eight books] (tr. 1891) is one of the earliest works of descriptive linguistics and is also the first individually auth...

Sherman, Roger

(Encyclopedia)Sherman, Roger, 1721–93, American political leader, b. Newton, Mass. Sherman helped to draft and signed the Declaration of Independence. He was long a member (1774–81, 1783–84) of the Continenta...

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