MOULIN ROUGE



Moulin Rouge (French for Red Mill or windmill) is a traditional cabaret, built in 1889 by Joseph Oller, who already owned the Paris Olympia. Situated in the red-light district of Pigalle on Boulevard de Clichy in the 18th arrondissement, near Montmartre, Paris, France, it is recognized by the large red imitation windmill on its roof. Over the past hundred years, the Moulin Rouge has remained a popular tourist destination, offering musical dance entertainment for adult visitors from around the world. Much of the romance from turn-of-the-century France is still present in the club's decor. Notable performers at the Moulin Rouge have included La Goulue, Josephine Baker, Frank Sinatra, Yvette Guilbert, Jane Avril, Mistinguett, Le Pétomane, Édith Piaf and others. The Moulin Rouge was also the subject of paintings by post-impressionist painter Toulouse Lautrec. Moulin Rouge was also the title of a book by Pierre La Mure, which was adapted as a 1952 film called Moulin Rouge, starring Jose Ferrer and Zsa-Zsa Gabor. Several other films have had the same title, including 2001's Moulin Rouge!, starring Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman. Both the 1952 and 2001 films were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
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Moulin Rouge is a 1952 film directed by John Huston, produced by Sir John Woolf and James Woolf of Romulus Films and released by United Artists. The film is set in Paris in the late 19th century, following artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in the city's bohemian sub-culture in and around the burlesque palace, the Moulin Rouge. The screenplay is by Huston, based on the novel by Pierre La Mure. The cinematography was by Oswald Morris. The film stars José Ferrer as Toulouse-Lautrec, with Zsa Zsa Gabor as Jane Avril, Suzanne Flon, Eric Pohlmann, Colette Marchand, Christopher Lee, Michael Balfour, Peter Cushing, Katherine Kath as La Goulue, Theodore Bikel and Muriel Smith.
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LES APACHES:
Les Apaches were members of a Parisian underworld subculture during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Apaches were so called because their alleged savagery was compared with that attributed by Europeans to the Native American tribes of Apaches. The Apaches were especially associated with the Montmartre district of Paris, which was also home to the famous Moulin Rouge dance hall and nightclub. During their heyday, the prospect of being mugged or otherwise assaulted by Apache gangsters was especially feared by members of the emergent bourgeois middle class. Some of the gangs used a unique type of pistol which was named the "Apache revolver" or "Apache pistol": a pinfire cartridge revolver with no barrel, a set of foldover brass knuckles for a handgrip, and a folding knife mounted right underneath the revolver drum for use as a stabbing weapon.
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Les Vampires is a 1915 10-part silent film serial. It was written and directed by Louis Feuillade and stars Musidora as "Irma Vep" a femme fatale whose name is a suspicious anagram of "vampire." The serial is set in Paris, France and follows the exploits of a gang of master criminals who call themselves "Les Vampires." There are 10 episodes, averaging around 40 minutes each; it is about 6 and a half hours total. The story of the 1996 movie Irma Vep features an attempt to remake Les Vampires.
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Le Chat Noir (French for "The Black Cat") was a 19th-century cabaret in the bohemian Montmartre district of Paris. It was opened on 18 November 1881 at 84 Boulevard Rouchechouart by the artist Rodolphe Salis, and closed in 1897 (much to the disappointment of Picasso and others who looked for it when they came to Paris for the Exposition in 1900). Its imitators have included cabarets from St. Petersburg (The Stray Dog) to Barcelona (Els Quatre Gats). There is a "Black Cat" cafe in the City of Corfu, Greece, next to the sea on the main street between the (new) harbor and the center of town, and a quite conventional tourist restaurant called "Au Chat Noir" in the center of Brussels. Perhaps best known now by its iconic Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen poster art, in its heyday it was a bustling nightclub — part artist salon, part rowdy music hall, partially due to an illegal piano. The cabaret published its own journal Le Chat Noir. It began as a small, two room affair, but within three and a half years its popularity forced it to move into larger accommodations a few doors down. Salis most often played, with exaggerated, ironic politeness, the role of conférencier (post-performance lecturer, or MC). It was here that the Salon des Arts Incohérents (Salon of Incoherent Arts), the "shadow plays" and the comic monologues got their start. According to Salis: "The Chat Noir is the most extraordinary cabaret in the world. You rub shoulders with the most famous men of Paris, meeting there with foreigners from every corner of the world." Fulcanelli, the 20th century alchemist, states (in les demeures philosophales, (American edition; archive press; 1999, page 199, and in le Mystere des Cathedrales)in a discussion of the esoteric significance of black cats and their role in Egyptian religion, where they were related to the Ka soul and are described as an alchemical example in nature worth following) that the name was chosen for its esoteric significance, and that the cabaret doubled as a magico-political training and disemination centre, encouraging young artists to create with the divine and alchemical fire. He describes it as a Janus like entity, doubling a serious politico-religious side as a power centre with a frivolous party and cabaret side, attracting the powerful and creative people of the day. This would not be unusual, considering other similar alleged connections, examples including Shakespeare's globe (described as a magical memory theatre made flesh, with many esoteric and political ramifications and magical roles, like the bard's plays, and discussed in detail by the late dame Frances Yates of the Warburg institute in various works) or the connections between the brotherhood of eternal love, Owsley (of orange sunshine fame) and the Grateful Dead (in their early days) in the late 1960's. Debussy is alleged to have been grand master of the Priory of Sion, and Verlaine also dabbled in the occult, giving something to hang these allegations on.
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FIN DE SIECLE:
Fin de siecle is French for "end of the century," though also implying end of an era. The term "turn-of-the-century" is sometimes used as a synonym, but is more neutral, lacking some or most of the cultural connotations described below. The expression often occurs in English prose without the grave accent. It is often used to refer to the end of the nineteenth century and the Belle Epoque era.
The expression fin de siècle generally refers to the years 1890 to 1914 in Europe. It has connotations of decadence which are seen as typical for the last years of a prosperous period (La Belle Époque at the turn of the 20th century), and of anticipative excitement about — and/or despair facing — impending change which is generally expected when a century or time period draws to a close. In Russia, the term Silver Age is somewhat more popular. That the expression is in French, probably comes from the fact that fin de siècle is particularly associated to certain late 19th-century French-speaking circles in Paris and Brussels, exemplified by artists like Stéphane Mallarmé, movements like Symbolism, and works of art like Oscar Wilde's Salomé (originally written in French, and premiered in Paris) — which connects the idea of fin de siècle also to the Aesthetic movement. Also, Edvard Munch spent some of his time in Paris around the turn-of-the-century, which was his most melancholy period.
In a broader sense the expression fin de siècle is used to characterise anything that has an ominous mixture of opulence and/or decadence, combined with a shared prospect of unavoidable radical change or some approaching "end." Note that it is not necessarily change itself that is implied in the expression fin de siècle, but rather its anticipation. For example, for the 19th-century fin de siècle, the most radical changes to the cultural and social order occurred more than a decade after the new century had started (most notably as a result of World War I). The Belle Époque was not even at its height in 1900, nor had the Edwardian era (almost seamlessly following the Victorian era) even started. A more recent example of fin de siècle can be found in the Y2K problem: the general turmoil caused by this in itself relatively insignificant technical issue becomes a lot more understandable when acknowledging an underlying fin de siècle mechanism. Many other 20th-century phenomena, e.g. New Age, could be interpreted as building on at least some fin de siècle ideas.
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THE BELLE EPOQUE:
Theater adopted new modern methods, including Expressionism, and many playwrights wrote plays that shocked contemporary audiences either with their frank depictions of everyday life and sexuality or with unusual artistic elements. Cabaret theater also become popular. Musically, the Belle Époque was characterized by salon music. This was not considered "serious" music but, rather, short pieces considered accessible to a general audience. In addition to works for piano solo or violin and piano, the Belle Époque was famous for its large repertory of songs (mélodies, romanze, etc.). The Italians were the greatest proponents of this type of song, its greatest champion being Francesco Paolo Tosti. Though Tosti's songs never completely left the repertoire, salon music generally fell into a period of obscurity. Even as encores, singers were afraid to sing them at "serious" recitals. In that period, waltzes also flourished. Operettas were also at the peak of their popularity, with composers such as Johann Strauss, Emmerich Kalman, and Franz Lehar. It was during this era that the motion pictures were developed, though these did not become common until after World War I.
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The origins of thermal activity are said to date back to the Middle Ages. Local legend tells of the medieval lord Seigneur Hugues de Tessé. As he felt he was reaching the end of his life he decided to abandon his once-glorious horse “Rapide” in the Andaines forest. He was amazed when the animal returned home some time later, strong and totally revitalized. Without resentment, “Rapide” took its master along the waters of Bagnoles where he drank and also got rejuvenated. The spa was born.
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Theaters in Paris
Theater in the United States

OPERA:
An opera house is a theater building where operas are performed. The venues are usually constructed specifically with opera in mind, although other performing arts may be performed there. An example of this is the Sydney Opera House, located on Sydney Harbour. At many opera houses, the opera season is followed by a ballet season. The first public opera house was the Teatro San Cassiano in Venice, Italy, which opened in 1637. Italy, where opera has been popular through the centuries among ordinary people as well as wealthy patrons, still has a large number of opera houses. When Henry Purcell was composing, there was no opera house in London. The first opera house in Germany was built in Hamburg 1678. Early U.S. opera houses served a variety of functions in towns and cities, hosting community dances, fairs, plays, and vaudeville shows as well as operas and other musical events.
Opera

Operahouses
List of Operas
list of Opera-Houses in France
List of Opera-Houses in the United States
List of Opera-Houses




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