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country music

(Encyclopedia)country music, American popular music form originating in the Southern and Western United States. Country music is directly descended from the folk songs, ballads, and popular songs of the English, Sc...

Rodgers, Jimmie

(Encyclopedia)Rodgers, Jimmie (James Charles Rodgers), 1897–1933, American singer, guitarist, and songwriter often called “the father of country music,” b. Meri...

Frohman, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Frohman, Charles frōˈmən [key], 1860–1915, American theatrical manager and producer, b. Sandusky, Ohio. Starting his career as a box-office clerk in Brooklyn, N.Y., Frohman became a successful pr...

Provincetown Players

(Encyclopedia)Provincetown Players, American theatrical company that first introduced the plays of Eugene O'Neill. The company opened with his Bound East for Cardiff at the Wharf Theatre, Provincetown, on Cape Cod ...

Halley's comet

(Encyclopedia)Halley's comet or Comet Halley hălˈē, hāˈlē [key], periodic comet named for Edmond Halley, who observed it in 1682 and identified it as the one observed in 1531 and 1607. Halley did not live to ...

Royal Greenwich Observatory

(Encyclopedia)Royal Greenwich Observatory, astronomical observatory established in 1675 by Charles II of England at Greenwich and known as the Royal Observatory. It moved during 1948–57 to Herstmonceux Castle, Su...

Foster, Jodie

(Encyclopedia)Foster, Jodie (Alicia Christian Foster), 1962–, American actress and film director, b. Los Angeles, Yale Univ. (B.A., 1985). A child model, she began ...

Becquerel

(Encyclopedia)Becquerel bĕkərĕlˈ [key], family of French physicists. Antoine César Becquerel, 1788–1878, was a pioneer in electrochemical science. He was professor of physics at the Muséum d'Histoire nature...

Sturges, Preston

(Encyclopedia)Sturges, Preston stûrˈjĭs [key], 1898–1959, American film director, screenwriter, and producer, b. Chicago as Edmond Preston Biden. Educated in the United States and Europe, he turned to playwrit...

whist

(Encyclopedia)whist, card game for four players, those on opposite sides of the table being partners. The full pack of 52 cards is dealt. The dealer's last card is turned up to indicate trump, and after he draws th...

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