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Pacino, Al

(Encyclopedia)Pacino, Al (Alberto Pacino) pəchēˈnō [key], 1940–, American actor, b. New York City, studied at the Herbert Berghof Studio and the Actors Studio, New York City. Known for his intense, finely tun...

Mercer, Johnny

(Encyclopedia)Mercer, Johnny (John Herndon Mercer) mûrˈsər [key], 1909–76, American lyricist and songwriter, b. Savannah, Ga. Mercer, who was one of American popular music's most accomplished wordsmiths, began...

Walker, James John

(Encyclopedia)Walker, James John, 1881–1946, American politician, b. New York City. Dapper and debonair, Jimmy Walker, having tried his hand at song writing, engaged in Democratic politics and in 1909 became a me...

Covington

(Encyclopedia)Covington kŭvˈĭngtən [key], city (2020 pop. 40,181), seat of Kenton co., N central Ky., at the ...

Vance, Cyrus Roberts

(Encyclopedia)Vance, Cyrus Roberts, 1917–2002, U.S. secretary of state (1977–80), b. Clarksburg, W.Va., grad. Yale (B.A., 1939, LL.B., 1942). After seeing action in the Navy during World War II, Vance practiced...

Hampton, Lionel

(Encyclopedia)Hampton, Lionel, 1908?–2002, African-American vibraphonist and bandleader, b. Louisville, Ky. When his family moved to Chicago c.1916, the young Hampton began playing drums in a newsboys' band. He m...

decadents

(Encyclopedia)decadents, in literature, name loosely applied to those 19th-century, fin-de-siècle European authors who sought inspiration, both in their lives and in their writings, in aestheticism and in all the ...

dime novels

(Encyclopedia)dime novels, swift-moving, thrilling novels, mainly about the American Revolution, the frontier period, and the Civil War. The books were first sold in 1860 for 10 cents by the firm of Beadle and Adam...

Field, Cyrus West

(Encyclopedia)Field, Cyrus West, 1819–92, American merchant, promoter of the first Atlantic cable, b. Stockbridge, Mass.; brother of David Dudley Field and Stephen J. Field. As head of a paper business, he accumu...

Parsons, Lucy

(Encyclopedia)Parsons, Lucy, 1851–1942, American anarchist and labor activist. Although she claimed publicly to have been born of Mexican and Native American descent as Lucia Gonzalez, she was likely born in slav...