title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: Although based on corresponding General Motors car lines, the vehicle is classified in the United States as a pickup. GMC's badge engineered El Camino variant, the Sprint, was introduced for the 1971 model year. Renamed Caballero in 1978, it was also produced through the 1987 model year.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: The concept of a two-door vehicle based on a passenger car chassis with a tray at the rear began in the United States in the 1920s with the roadster utility (also called "roadster pickup" or "light delivery") models.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: Ford Australia was the first company to produce a coupé utility as a result of a 1932 letter from the wife of a farmer in Victoria, Australia, asking for "a vehicle to go to church in on a Sunday and which can carry our pigs to market on Mondays". Ford designer Lew Bandt developed a suitable solution, and the first coupé utility model was released in 1934. Bandt went on to manage Ford's Advanced Design Department, being responsible for the body engineering of the XP, XT, XW, and XA series Ford Falcon utilities. General Motors’ Australian subsidiary Holden also produced a Chevrolet coupé utility in 1935, and Studebaker produced the Coupé Express from 1937 to 1939. The body style did not reappear on the American market until the release of the 1957 Ford Ranchero.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: Both the coupé utility and the similar open-topped roadster utility continued in production, but the improving economy of the mid- to late-1930s and the desire for improved comfort saw coupé utility sales climb at the expense of the roadster utility until, by 1939, the latter was all but a fading memory.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: In 1957, Ford introduced the Ranchero, and established a new market segment in the U.S. of an automobile platform based coupé utility. In 1959, Chevrolet responded with the El Camino to compete with Ford's full-sized Ranchero. The original El Camino and Ranchero would compete directly only in the 1959 model year.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: The El Camino was introduced for the 1959 model year two years after the Ford Ranchero. According to Chevrolet stylist Chuck Jordan, GM Harley Earl had suggested a coupé pickup in 1952.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: Like the Ranchero, it was based on an existing and modified platform, the new-for-1959 Brookwood two-door station wagon, itself based on the redesigned full-sized Chevrolet of that year. Highly stylized, it initially sold 50% more briskly than the more conservative Ranchero, some 22,000 to 14,000.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: Unlike the Brookwoods wagon and a sedan delivery variant, the El Camino was available with any full-sized Chevrolet drivetrain. It came in a single trim level, its exterior using the mid-level Bel-Air's trim, and the interior of the low-end Biscayne. Its chassis featured Chevrolet's "Safety-Girder" X-frame design and a full-coil suspension, both introduced in the 1958 model year. The wheel-base was longer, and overall length for all 1959 Chevrolets was up to . The El Camino's payload rating ranged from , with gross vehicle weights ranging from depending on powertrain and suspension. The somewhat soft passenger car suspension of the base model left the vehicle level without a load, in contrast the Ranchero, where standard 1100-pound rated heavy duty rear springs gave it a distinct rake when empty. The quirky Level Air suspension option, in its second and final year, was listed as available, but was almost never seen on any Chevrolet model, much less an El Camino. The 1959 El Camino was promoted as the first Chevrolet pickup built with a steel bed floor instead of wood. The floor was a corrugated sheetmetal insert, secured with 26 recessed bolts. Concealed beneath it was the floor pan from the Brookwood two-door wagon, complete with foot wells. Box capacity was almost .


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: Among the performance engines offered were a 283-cid Turbo-Fire V8 with two- or four-barrel carburetion, several Turbo-Thrust 348-cid V8s with four-barrel or triple two-barrel carburetors producing , and 250- and 290-bhp 283-cube Ramjet Fuel Injection V8s.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: "Hot Rod" magazine conducted a test of an El Camino equipped with the hottest powertrain combination available in early 1959—a , triple-carb, solid-lifter 348 V8 mated to a four-speed. Staff testers clocked 0-60 mph times of around seven seconds, estimated top speed at , and predicted 14-second/100-mph quarter-mile performance with a rear-axle ratio suitable for drag racing installed.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: A total of 22,246 El Caminos were produced for 1959. That bested the count of 21,706 first-year Rancheros made in 1957 and the 14,169 Ford sedan pickups built in direct competition for the 1959 model year.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: The similar but less flamboyant 1960 model started at $2366 for the six-cylinder model; another $107 for a V8 with the two-barrel 283. At first glance, the exterior once again had a Bel Air look, with that series' bright-metal "jet" appliqué and narrow trailing molding used to accent the rear quarters. Inside, Biscayne/Brookwood appointments also persisted. The seat was now covered in striped-pattern cloth with vinyl facings. Available interior trim shades were once again gray, blue, and green. Floor coverings were in medium-tone vinyl. Mid-1959 powertrain availability was carried over with minimal changes for 1960: The base 283-cid V8 was detuned a bit for fuel economy and was now rated at , and the fuel-injected engines were officially gone.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: Orders plummeted by a third, to just 14,163, at which point Chevrolet discontinued the model; meanwhile, Ford moved 21,027 Rancheros, which were now based on the brand-new Falcon compact. The pioneering American sedan pickups just did not connect with enough car-buying Americans. Perhaps these early "crossovers" didn't carry enough passengers; in a time when baby-boomer families dominated the market, three across was the best they could offer. Cargo volume was meager compared with pickup trucks. The low-level trim and marketing efforts focused almost exclusively on commercial customers may have inhibited sales, as well.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: Between the discontinuation of the first generation and the introduction of the second, the Chevrolet Greenbrier, based on the Corvair platform, replaced the El Camino as Chevrolet’s car-based pickup.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: Chevrolet reintroduced the El Camino four years later based on the mid-size Chevrolet Chevelle. The 1964 model was similar to the Chevelle two-door wagon forward of the B-pillars and carried both "Chevelle" and "El Camino" badges, but Chevrolet marketed the vehicle as a utility model and the Chevelle's most powerful engines were not available. Initial engine offerings included six-cylinder engines of 194 and 230 cubic inches with horsepower ratings of , respectively. The standard V8 was a 283 cubic-inch Chevrolet small block with two-barrel carburetor and with optional engines including a 283 with four-barrel carburetor and dual exhausts. Added to the El Camino's option list during the course of the 1964 model year were two versions of the 327 cubic-inch small block V8 rated at —the latter featuring a higher compression ratio of 10.5:1, larger four-barrel carburetor and dual exhausts. El Caminos also featured Air shocks in the rear, as well as fully boxed frames. The shocks were continued over all generations, the frames only thru 1967.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: The 1965 El Camino received the same facelift as the 1965 Chevelle, with a more pronounced V-shaped front end, and a higher performance L79 version of the 327 engine rated at that was also available in Chevelles. Most of the other engines were carried over from 1964, including the 194 and 230 cubic-inch Turbo Thrift sixes, the 283 cubic-inch Turbo-Fire V8 and 327 cubic-inch Turbo-Fire V8s of .


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: In 1966, GM added a V8 engine to the lineup rated from 325 to . The 1965 327 would run low 15s in the 1/4 mile (at some 90 mph), while 1966 to 1969 models were easily into the mid- to upper-14s. New sheetmetal highlighted the 1966 El Camino, identical to the Chevelle. A new instrument panel with horizontal sweep speedometer was featured. Inside, the standard version featured a bench seat interior and rubber floor mat from the low-line Chevelle 300 series, while the Custom used a more upscale interior from the Chevelle Malibu with plusher cloth-and-vinyl or all-vinyl bench seats and deep twist carpeting, or optional Strato swivel bucket seats with console. A tachometer was optional.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: The 1967 El Camino followed the Chevelle's styling facelift with a new grille, front bumper, and trim. Air shocks remained standard equipment on the El Camino, allowing the driver to compensate for a load. The 1967 model year also brought the collapsible steering column and options of disc brakes and Turbo Hydramatic 400 3-speed automatic transmission. It was the second year the 396 (L35, L34, and L78) could be had in the El Camino (both 13480 300 Deluxe base and 13680 Malibu series). Since the L35 396/325 hp engine was the base for the SS396 series, the number of L35 engines reported sold by Chevrolet in 1967 (2,565) were sold in one of the two El Camino series, which were the only other series the engine could be ordered in. Since the L34 () & L78 () were available in either El Camino series as well as the two SS396 body styles, there is no way of knowing how many of these optional engines went to which body style. Chevrolet does report 17,176 L34 and 612 L78 engine options were sold in 1967 Chevelles, but there is no breakdown of body styles. The TH400 3-speed automatic was now available as an option (RPO M40) with the 396 engine in both the SS396 series and the 396-equipped El Caminos. The 3-speed manual transmission remained the standard transmission with a heavy duty (RPO M13) also available along with the 2-speed Powerglide and either M20 wide ratio or M21 close ratio 4-speed transmissions. Although there was no actual factory El Camino Super Sport until 1968, many owners have "cloned" '67 SS396s using 1967 Chevelle SS396 badges and trim.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: Chevrolet introduced a longer El Camino in 1968, based on the Chevelle station wagon/four-door sedan wheelbase (, overall length: ); it also shared Chevelle Malibu exterior and interior trims. The interior was revamped including cloth and vinyl or all-vinyl bench seats and deep twist carpeting. All-vinyl Strato bucket seats and center console were an $111 option. Power front disc brakes and Positraction were optional. A new, high-performance Super Sport SS396 version was launched. The Turbo-Jet 396 was offered in or versions. Returning to the official options list for the first time since late 1966 was the L78. It had solid lifters, big-port heads, and an 800 cfm Holley four-barrel on a low-rise aluminum manifold. A three-speed manual was standard with all engines, and a four-speed or automatic was optional.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: The 1969 models showed only minor changes, led by more-rounded front-end styling. A single chrome bar connected quad headlights, and a slotted bumper held the parking lights. New round instrument pods replaced the former linear layout. For the first time, the Chevrolet 350 V8 was used in an El Camino. The Super Sport group included a 396-cubic-inch V8 beneath a double-domed hood, along with a black-out grille displaying an SS emblem. More potent editions of the 396 engine, developing also made the options list. Options included power windows and locks. Curiously, back-up lights moved from the rear bumper to the tailgate, where they were ineffective when the gate was down.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: The 1970 models received sheet metal revisions that gave the bodies a more squared-up stance, and interiors were also redesigned.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: The new SS396, which actually displaced (although all emblems read 396) was available. Chevrolet's largest and most-powerful engine of the time was also put into a select few El Caminos. The LS6 454 CID engine, rated at and of torque, gave the El Camino 1/4-mile times in the upper 13-second range at around .


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: The 1971 El Camino got fresh front-end styling (again shared with the Chevelle) that included large Power-Beam single-unit headlights, a reworked grille and bumper, and integral park/signal/marker lights. For 1971, mandated lower-octane unleaded fuel necessitated a reduction in engine compression, and GM's A.I.R. system, a "smog pump", was added to control tailpipe emissions. Power and performance were reduced. Engine offerings for 1971 included the 250-6, small-block V8s of 307 and 350 cubic inches; and big block V8s of 402 and 454-cubic-inch displacements. Horsepower ratings of those engines for 1971 ranged from 145 for the six to 365 for the RPO LS5 454 – all in gross figures. The LS6 454 V8 was gone forever. A rebadged El Camino, the GMC Sprint debuted in 1971. It shared the same engine and transmission offerings as its Chevrolet counterpart.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: The 1972 El Caminos wore single-unit parking and side marker lights on their front fenders, outside of a revised twin-bar grille, but little changed. For 1972, horsepower measurements were switched to the "net" figures as installed in a vehicle with all accessories and emission controls hooked up. Engine offerings included the 250-6, a 307 V8, a 350-cubic-inch V8, and big block V8s of 402 and 454 cubic-inch displacements. The 402-cubic-inch (still known as a 396) produced ; the 454 managed to put out under the net rating system. Super Sport equipment could now be ordered with any V8 engine, including the base 307-cubic-inch version. All 1972 El Caminos with the 454 ci engine have a "W" as the fifth digit in the VIN, and the 454 was only available with Super Sport trim.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: For 1973, the El Camino was redesigned. Matching the Chevelle line and using the wagon chassis, it was the largest El Camino generation. Energy-absorbing hydraulic front bumper systems on these vehicles added more weight. There were two different trim levels of El Caminos during this period. The base model and SS option shared interior and exterior appointments with the Chevelle Malibu, while the El Camino Classic (introduced for 1974) shared its trim with the more upscale Chevelle Malibu Classic.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: The chassis design was as new as the bodies with a wider wheel track, front and rear. The left wheel was adjusted to have slightly more positive camber than the right, which resulted in a more uniform and stable steering feel on high-crown road surfaces while maintaining excellent freeway cruise stability. Clearances for spring travel were also improved for a smoother ride over all types of surfaces; the coil springs at each wheel were computer-selected to match the individual car's weight. Front disc brakes were now standard on all '73 El Caminos. Additional new features were an acoustical double-panel roof, tighter-fitting glass, flush-style outside door handles, molded full-foam seat construction, flow-through power ventilation system, inside hood release, refined Delcotron generator and sealed side-terminal battery, a larger fuel tank, and "flush and dry" rocker panels introduced first on the redesigned 1971 full-size Chevrolets. New options included swivel bucket seats (with console) and Turbine I urethane (backed by steel) wheels, as was the instrument gauge cluster. A benefit of the new body designs was much better visibility to which the unusually thin windshield pillars contributed. A structural improvement was a stronger design for the side door guard beams. El Caminos shared the "Colonnade" frameless door glass with other Chevelles, and would continue this feature into the next generation as well.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: The 307 2-barrel V8 with was the base engine. Options included a 350 2-barrel V8 with , a 350 4-barrel V8 with , and a 454 4-barrel V8 with . Hardened engine valve seats and hydraulic camshafts made these engines reliable for many miles, and allowed them to accept the increasingly popular unleaded regular gasoline. The three-speed manual transmission was standard; 4-speed manual and Turbo Hydra-Matic 3-speed automatic transmissions were optional. Crossflow radiators and coolant reservoirs prevented overheating.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: The SS, then a trim option, included a black grill with SS emblem, bodyside striping, bright roof drip moldings, color-keyed dual sport mirrors, special front and rear stabilizer bars, rally wheels, 70-series raised white-lettered tires, special instrumentation and SS interior emblems.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: The SS option was available with a 350 or 454 V8 with the 4-speed or Turbo Hydra-Matic transmissions. Also it was not widely known, but a Laguna S-3 front end could be fitted on these cars, and was available through the Central Office Production Option (COPO) system as code 6H1. It was not widely ordered by many however, more than likely due to limited information both on the part of customers and many dealers at the time.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: The Estate (1973–1976), an option package, was first offered on the El Camino Standard and El Camino Custom, later only the El Camino Custom.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: The 1974 El Caminos sported an elongated, Mercedes-type grille. Inside, the new top-of-the-line El Camino Classic featured luxurious interiors with notchback bench seats (or optional Strato bucket seats) upholstered in cloth or vinyl, carpeted door panels and woodgrain instrument panel trim. The 350 V8 became the base engine and a 400 V8 engine was new this year. The 454, the top engine, was available with the Turbo Hydra-Matic 400 automatic or 4-speed manual transmission.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: The 1975 models featured a new grill, providing a fresh appearance. Suspension upgrades offered a quieter ride, and radial-ply tires became standard. Dual remote mirrors, new twin sport mirrors, intermittent wipers, and cruise control were among new convenience features this year. The 1975 high energy ignition (HEI) provided spark to the spark plugs with minimal maintenance and increased power. The larger distributor cap also provided better high-RPM performance by decreasing the likelihood of the spark conducting to the wrong terminal. The 250-cubic-inch in-line six of was offered as the base engine. The 454-cubic-inch V8, downrated yet again to , made it into 1975 as an El Camino option, but this would be its last go-around. It was not available in California, and the optional four-speed stick was no longer offered. Buyers could now choose an Econominder instrument package that included a vacuum gauge to point out when optimum fuel economy was being attained.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: For 1976, El Camino Classic models now featured the new rectangular headlights that other high-end GM cars were sporting. These were quad units in stacked arrangement. The base model retained the previously used dual round headlights. Engines included the base 250 I6 engine, a new 305-cubic-inch V8, two- and four-barrel 350s (with availability still depending on California delivery), and the 400-cubic-inch V8, still good for . All engines except the 250 I6 came with the Turbo Hydra-matic automatic transmission as the only transmission available. The 250 I6 came with a 3-speed manual or an optional Turbo Hydra-matic.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: The 1977 models were little changed, except the 400 V8 was gone. The El Camino Classic was again the top model and the SS option continued.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: A new, trimmer El Camino was unveiled in 1978, adopting the new, more sharp-edged Malibu styling, and a one-inch longer wheelbase of . The front end sheet metal and doors were shared with the Malibu, and the rear bumper was shared with the Malibu station wagon. For the first time, though, the El Camino had a unique chassis – it was shared with no other Chevrolet. The front end featured a new single rectangular headlight design. The base engine was a 200-cubic-inch (3.3-liter) V6 that developed , except in California where, to meet emissions standards, the 231-cubic-inch Buick engine was the base engine. Two upgrades could be ordered: a 305-cubic-inch V8 with , or a 350-cubic-inch V8 with that was only available in El Caminos and Malibu station wagons. It was not available on Malibu passenger cars (with exception to coupe and sedan Malibu 9C1 police vehicles).


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: Following its debut as a redesigned "new-size" model in 1978, the 1979 model received minimal changes, which amounted to a little more than a new divided grille. However, a "small-block" 267-cubic-inch (4.4-liter) V8 joined the options list and slotted between the standard 3.3-liter V6 and the optional 5.0-liter four-barrel V8. The 350-cubic-inch (5.7-liter) V8, developing was again available. Both three- and four-speed manual transmissions had floor shifters.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: The 1980 El Camino started out the 1980s with few changes, though engine choices were shuffled a little. The base V6 displaced 229 cubic inches, up from 200 the year before. Horsepower increased from . Optional again were a 267-cubic-inch V8 with and a 305 V8, now with (down five). The 350 with offered in 1979 was dropped. A three speed floor shifted manual transmission was standard, but most got the optional three-speed automatic.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: The 1981 models received a new horizontal tube grill. The 1981 engines mostly continued from 1980, but now used GM's Computer Command Control (CCC) emission system. The base 229-cubic-inch V6 made (down from ), as did the California-only 231-cubic-inch Buick V6. Optional engines were the 267-cubic-inch V8 with and The 305-cubic-inch V8, now with . The three-speed automatic added a lock-up torque converter to aid highway mileage.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: The 1982 (through the final 1987) El Camino sported a new frontal appearance with a crosshatch grille flanked by quad rectangular headlights. New under the hood for 1982 was a 5.7-liter (350-cubic-inch) Diesel V8, which was also offered in Chevrolet's full-size cars. Though mileage with the diesel was commendable, it was an expensive option and would eventually amass a dismal repair record. Gasoline-engine choices were unchanged, except Chevrolet's 229-cubic-inch (3.8-liter) V6 was now standard in California-bound cars, replacing Buick's 231-cubic-inch V6.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: In 1983, the 4.4-liter V8 was gone, leaving the 5.0-liter version as the only optional gas V8. The standard engine was again Chevrolet's 3.8-liter V6 with , though California cars, once again, got a Buick V6 with similar specifications. Continuing on the options list was the 5.7-liter V8 Diesel with . The sister Malibu sedan and wagon were discontinued after the 1983 model year.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: The 1983–87 El Camino was also offered as a cosmetic conversion through select dealers (completed by Choo-Choo Customs Inc., of Chattanooga, Tennessee). Modifications included an aerodynamic front end similar to the Monte Carlo SS, side exhaust skirts, and aluminum wheels. The conversion also included the addition of SS decals on the exterior of the body. However, the majority of El Caminos sent for customizing weren't actual Super Sports. That distinction was only obtained by ordering the 'SS Sport Decor' option package from the factory which carries an RPO code of Z15.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: For 1985, GM shifted El Camino production to Mexico, and the new fuel-injected 4.3 L V6 became the base engine through 1987. El Camino production ended quietly in late 1987. Some model year 1987s (420 El Caminos and 325 GMC Caballeros) are listed as new car retail deliveries in calendar year 1988 based on their date of first retail sale. Speculation in online forums indicates 3GCCW80H2HS915586 "may" be the final vehicle. The GM Media Archive/Heritage Center confirmed that no 1988 El Caminos or Caballeros were ever produced.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: A range of Chevrolet models, based on the Holden HK, was introduced onto the South African market in 1969. A coupe utility version was released in 1971 under the Chevrolet El Camino name and was offered with imported Holden 186 six and 308 V8 engines. A version of the later Holden HQ utility was marketed in South Africa as the Chevrolet El Camino AQ.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: In 1974, Chevrolet's sister division, Pontiac, reportedly took an El Camino body, grafted on the urethane-nose front end from its Grand Am series, added the GA's instrument panel, reclining Strato-bucket seats with adjustable lumbar support along with Pontiac's Rally II wheels. This was a styling exercise for a possible Pontiac version of the El Camino; the concept never reached production.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: In 1992, GM unveiled an El Camino concept, basically a pickup variant of the Chevrolet Lumina Z34. The concept received mixed, mostly negative reviews, mostly because of its front wheel drive layout.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: Caprice station wagon using the grille of a 1994–96 Impala SS; this concept was destined for production, but was shelved when GM decided to discontinue the B-platform car line at the end of 1996.


title: Chevrolet El Camino

text: The Pontiac G8 ST was shown at the New York International Auto Show in March 2008. Based on the Holden Commodore Ute, it shared the G8 platform with a cargo bed. The Sport Truck had the same , 6.0-liter V8 used in the G8 GT, as well as the 3.6-liter, direct-injection V6. The G8 ST was slated for release as a 2010 model, but in January 2009, GM announced to dealers the G8 ST was cancelled due to budget cuts and restructuring, as well as the Pontiac brand being discontinued. In 2011, GM again considered bringing back the El Camino under the Chevrolet brand as early as 2015.


title: Hawaiian language

text: Hawaiian ("", ) is a Polynesian language of the Austronesian language family that takes its name from Hawaii, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language of the US state of Hawaii. King Kamehameha III established the first Hawaiian-language constitution in 1839 and 1840.


title: Hawaiian language

text: For various reasons, including territorial legislation establishing English as the official language in schools, the number of native speakers of Hawaiian gradually decreased during the period from the 1830s to the 1950s. Hawaiian was essentially displaced by English on six of seven inhabited islands. In 2001, native speakers of Hawaiian amounted to less than 0.1% of the statewide population. Linguists were unsure if Hawaiian and other endangered languages would survive.


title: Hawaiian language

text: Nevertheless, from around 1949 to the present day, there has been a gradual increase in attention to and promotion of the language. Public Hawaiian-language immersion preschools called Pūnana Leo were established in 1984; other immersion schools followed soon after that. The first students to start in immersion preschool have now graduated from college and many are fluent Hawaiian speakers. However, the language is still classified as critically endangered by UNESCO.


title: Hawaiian language

text: A creole language, Hawaiian Pidgin (or Hawaii Creole English, HCE), is more commonly spoken in Hawaii than Hawaiian. Some linguists, as well as many locals, argue that Hawaiian Pidgin is a dialect of American English. Born from the increase of immigrants from Japan, China, Puerto Rico, Korea, Portugal, Spain and the Philippines, the pidgin creole language was a necessity in the plantations. Hawaiian and immigrant laborers as well as the white "luna," or overseers, found a way to communicate amongst themselves. Pidgin eventually made its way off the plantation and into the greater community, where it is still used to this day.


title: Hawaiian language

text: The Hawaiian alphabet has 13 letters: five vowels: a e i o u (each with a long pronunciation and a short one) and eight consonants: he ke la mu nu pi we okina (a glottal stop).


title: Hawaiian language

text: The Hawaiian language takes its name from the largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, Hawaii ("" in the Hawaiian language). The island name was first written in English in 1778 by British explorer James Cook and his crew members. They wrote it as "Owhyhee" or "Owhyee". It is written "Oh-Why-hee" on the first map of Sandwich Islands engraved by in 1781. Explorers Mortimer (1791) and Otto von Kotzebue (1821) used that spelling.


title: Hawaiian language

text: The initial "O" in the name "Oh-Why-hee" is a reflection of the fact that Hawaiian predicates unique identity by using a copula form, "o", immediately before a proper noun. Thus, in Hawaiian, the name of the island is expressed by saying "", which means "[This] is Hawaii." The Cook expedition also wrote "Otaheite" rather than "Tahiti."


title: Hawaiian language

text: The spelling "why" in the name reflects the pronunciation of "wh" in 18th-century English (still used in parts of the English-speaking world). "Why" was pronounced . The spelling "hee" or "ee" in the name represents the sounds , or .


title: Hawaiian language

text: Putting the parts together, "O-why-(h)ee" reflects , a reasonable approximation of the native pronunciation, .


title: Hawaiian language

text: American missionaries bound for Hawaii used the phrases "Owhihe Language" and "Owhyhee language" in Boston prior to their departure in October 1819 and during their five-month voyage to Hawaii. They still used such phrases as late as March 1822. However, by July 1823, they had begun using the phrase "Hawaiian Language."


title: Hawaiian language

text: Hawaiian is a Polynesian member of the Austronesian language family. It is closely related to other Polynesian languages, such as Samoan, Marquesan, Tahitian, Māori, Rapa Nui (the language of Easter Island) and Tongan.


title: Hawaiian language

text: According to Schütz (1994), the Marquesans colonized the archipelago in roughly 300 CE followed by later waves of immigration from the Society Islands and Samoa-Tonga. Their languages, over time, became the Hawaiian language within the Hawaiian Islands. Kimura and Wilson (1983) also state: Linguists agree that Hawaiian is closely related to Eastern Polynesian, with a particularly strong link in the Southern Marquesas, and a secondary link in Tahiti, which may be explained by voyaging between the Hawaiian and Society Islands.


title: Hawaiian language

text: Jack H. Ward (1962) conducted a study using basic words and short utterances to determine the level of comprehension between different Polynesian languages. The mutual intelligibility of Hawaiian was found to be 41.2% with Marquesan, 37.5% with Tahitian, 25.5% with Samoan and 6.4% with Tongan.


title: Hawaiian language

text: In 1778, British explorer James Cook made Europe's initial, recorded first contact with Hawaiʻi, beginning a new phase in the development of Hawaiian. During the next forty years, the sounds of Spanish (1789), Russian (1804), French (1816), and German (1816) arrived in Hawaii via other explorers and businessmen. Hawaiian began to be written for the first time, largely restricted to isolated names and words, and word lists collected by explorers and travelers.


title: Hawaiian language

text: The early explorers and merchants who first brought European languages to the Hawaiian islands also took on a few native crew members who brought the Hawaiian language into new territory. Hawaiians took these nautical jobs because their traditional way of life changed due to plantations, and although there were not enough of these Hawaiian-speaking explorers to establish any viable speech communities abroad, they still had a noticeable presence. One of them, a boy in his teens known as Obookiah (), had a major impact on the future of the language. He sailed to New England, where he eventually became a student at the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall, Connecticut. He inspired New Englanders to support a Christian mission to Hawaii, and provided information on the Hawaiian language to the American missionaries there prior to their departure for Hawaii in 1819. Adelbert von Chamisso too might have consulted with a native speaker of Hawaiian in Berlin, Germany, before publishing his grammar of Hawaiian (") in 1837.


title: Hawaiian language

text: Like all natural spoken languages, the Hawaiian language was originally an oral language. The native people of the Hawaiian language relayed religion, traditions, history, and views of their world through stories that were handed down from generation to generation. One form of storytelling most commonly associated with the Hawaiian islands is hula. Nathaniel B. Emerson notes that "It kept the communal imagination in living touch with the nation's legendary past".


title: Hawaiian language

text: The islanders' connection with their stories is argued to be one reason why Captain James Cook received a pleasant welcome. Marshall Sahlins has observed that Hawaiian folktales began bearing similar content to those of the Western world in the eighteenth century. He argues this was caused by the timing of Captain Cook's arrival, which was coincidentally when the indigenous Hawaiians were celebrating the Makahiki festival, which is the annual celebration of the harvest in honor of the god Lono. The celebration lasts for the entirety of the rainy season. It is a time of peace with much emphasis on amusements, food, games, and dancing. The islanders' story foretold of the god Lono's return at the time of the Makahiki festival.


title: Hawaiian language

text: In 1820, Protestant missionaries from New England arrived in Hawaii, and in a few years converted the chiefs to Congregational Protestantism, who in turn converted their subjects. To the missionaries, the thorough Christianization of the kingdom necessitated a complete translation of the Bible to Hawaiian, a previously unwritten language, and therefore the creation of a standard spelling that should be as easy to master as possible. The orthography created by the missionaries was so straightforward that literacy spread very quickly among the adult population; at the same time, the Mission set more and more schools for children.


title: Hawaiian language

text: In 1834, the first Hawaiian-language newspapers were published by missionaries working with locals. The missionaries also played a significant role in publishing a vocabulary (1836) grammar (1854) and dictionary (1865) of Hawaiian. The Hawaiian Bible was fully completed in 1839; by then, the Mission had such a wide-reaching school network that, when in 1840 it handed it over to the Hawaiian government, the Hawaiian Legislature mandated compulsory state-funded education for all children under 14 years of age, including girls, twelve years before any similar compulsory education law was enacted for the first time in any of the United States.


title: Hawaiian language

text: Literacy in Hawaiian was so widespread that in 1842 a law mandated that people born after 1819 had to be literate to be allowed to marry. In his "Report to the Legislature" for the year 1853 Richard Armstrong, the minister of Public Instruction, bragged that 75% of the adult population could read. Use of the language among the general population might have peaked around 1881. Even so, some people worried, as early as 1854, that the language was "soon destined to extinction."


title: Hawaiian language

text: When Hawaiian King David Kalākaua took a trip around the world, he brought his native language with him. When his wife, Queen Kapiolani, and his sister, Princess (later Queen) Liliuokalani, took a trip across North America and on to the British Islands, in 1887, Liliuokalani's composition "Aloha Oe" was already a famous song in the U.S.


title: Hawaiian language

text: The decline of the Hawaiian language was accelerated by the coup that overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy and dethroned the existing Hawaiian queen. Thereafter, a law was instituted that required English as the main language of school instruction. The law cited is identified as Act 57, sec. 30 of the 1896 Laws of the Republic of Hawaii:


title: Hawaiian language

text: This law established English as the medium of instruction for the government-recognized schools both "public and private". While it did not ban or make illegal the Hawaiian language in other contexts, its implementation in the schools had far-reaching effects. Those who had been pushing for English-only schools took this law as licence to extinguish the native language at the early education level. While the law did not make Hawaiian illegal (it was still commonly spoken at the time), many children who spoke Hawaiian at school, including on the playground, were disciplined. This included corporal punishment and going to the home of the offending child to advise them strongly to stop speaking it in their home. Moreover, the law specifically provided for teaching languages "in addition to the English language," reducing Hawaiian to the status of an extra language, subject to approval by the department. Hawaiian was not taught initially in any school, including the all-Hawaiian Kamehameha Schools. This is largely because when these schools were founded, like Kamehameha Schools founded in 1887 (nine years before this law), Hawaiian was being spoken in the home. Once this law was enacted, individuals at these institutions took it upon themselves to enforce a ban on Hawaiian. Beginning in 1900, Mary Kawena Pukui, who was later the co-author of the Hawaiian–English Dictionary, was punished for speaking Hawaiian by being rapped on the forehead, allowed to eat only bread and water for lunch, and denied home visits on holidays. Winona Beamer was expelled from Kamehameha Schools in 1937 for chanting Hawaiian. Due in part to this systemic suppression of the language after the overthrow, Hawaiian is still considered a critically endangered language.


title: Hawaiian language

text: However, informal coercion to drop Hawaiian would not have worked by itself. Just as important was the fact that, in the same period, native Hawaiians were becoming a minority in their own land on account of the growing influx of foreign labourers and their children. Whereas in 1890 pure Hawaiian students made 56% of school enrollment, in 1900 their numbers were down to 32% and, in 1910, to 16.9%. At the same time, Hawaiians were very prone to intermarriage: the number of "Part-Hawaiian" students (i.e., children of mixed White-Hawaiian marriages) grew from 1573 in 1890 to 3718 in 1910. In such mixed households, the low prestige of Hawaiian led to the adoption of English as the family language. Moreover, Hawaiians lived mostly in the cities or scattered across the countryside, in direct contact with other ethnic groups and without any stronghold (with the exception of Niʻihau). Thus, even pure Hawaiian children would converse daily with their schoolmates of diverse mother tongues in English, which was now not just the teachers' language but also the common language needed for everyday communication among friends and neighbours out of school as well. In only a generation English (or rather Pidgin) would become the primary and dominant language of all children, despite the efforts of Hawaiian and immigrant parents to maintain their ancestral languages within the family.


title: Hawaiian language

text: In 1949, the legislature of the Territory of Hawaii commissioned Mary Pukui and Samuel Elbert to write a new dictionary of Hawaiian, either revising the Andrews-Parker work or starting from scratch. Pukui and Elbert took a middle course, using what they could from the Andrews dictionary, but making certain improvements and additions that were more significant than a minor revision. The dictionary they produced, in 1957, introduced an era of gradual increase in attention to the language and culture.


title: Hawaiian language

text: Language revitalization and Hawaiian culture has seen a major revival since the Hawaiian renaissance in the 1970s. Forming in 1983, the ʻAha Pūnana Leo, meaning "language nest" in Hawaiian, opened its first center in 1984. It was a privately funded Hawaiian preschool program that invited native Hawaiian elders to speak to children in Hawaiian every day. Efforts to promote the language have increased in recent decades. Hawaiian-language "immersion" schools are now open to children whose families want to reintroduce Hawaiian language for future generations. The Aha Pūnana Leo's Hawaiian language preschools in Hilo, Hawaii, have received international recognition. The local National Public Radio station features a short segment titled "Hawaiian word of the day" and a Hawaiian language news broadcast. Honolulu television station KGMB ran a weekly Hawaiian language program, "Āhai Ōlelo Ola", as recently as 2010. Additionally, the Sunday editions of the "Honolulu Star-Advertiser", the largest newspaper in Hawaii, feature a brief article called "Kauakukalahale" written entirely in Hawaiian by teachers, students, and community members.


title: Hawaiian language

text: Today, the number of native speakers of Hawaiian, which was under 0.1% of the statewide population in 1997, has risen to 2,000, out of 24,000 total who are fluent in the language, according to the US 2011 census. On six of the seven permanently inhabited islands, Hawaiian has been largely displaced by English, but on Niihau, native speakers of Hawaiian have remained fairly isolated and have continued to use Hawaiian almost exclusively.


title: Hawaiian language

text: The isolated island of Niʻihau, located off the southwest coast of Kauai, is the one island where Hawaiian (more specifically a local dialect of Hawaiian known as Niihau dialect) is still spoken as the language of daily life.


title: Hawaiian language

text: Friction has developed between those on Niʻihau that speak Hawaiian as a first language, and those who speak Hawaiian as a second language, especially those educated by the College of Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo. The university sponsors a Hawaiian Language Lexicon Committee () which coins words for concepts that historically have not existed in the language, like "computer" and "cell phone". These words are generally not incorporated into the Niʻihau dialect, which often coins its own words organically. Some new words are Hawaiianized versions of English words, and some are composed of Hawaiian roots and unrelated to English sounds.


title: Hawaiian language

text: The Hawaiian medium education system is a combination of charter, public, and private schools. K–6 schools operate under coordinated governance of the Department of Education and the charter school, while the pre-K–12 laboratory system is governed by the Department of Education, the ʻAha Pūnana Leo, and the charter school. Over 80% of graduates from these laboratory schools attend college, some of which include Ivy-League schools. Hawaiian is now an authorized course in the Department of Education language curriculum, though not all schools offer the language.


title: Hawaiian language

text: There are two kinds of Hawaiian-immersion medium schools: K–12 total Hawaiian-immersion schools, and grades 7–12 partial Hawaiian immersion schools, the later having some classes are taught in English and others are taught in Hawaiian. One of the main focuses of Hawaiian-medium schools is to teach the form and structure of the Hawaiian language by modeling sentences as a "pepeke", meaning squid in Hawaiian. In this case the pepeke is a metaphor that features the body of a squid with the three essential parts: the poʻo (head), the ʻawe (tentacles) and the piko (where the poʻo and ʻawe meet) representing how a sentence is structured. The poʻo represents the predicate, the piko representing the subject and the ʻawe representing the object. Hawaiian immersion schools teach content that both adheres to state standards and stresses Hawaiian culture and values. The existence of immersion schools in Hawaiʻi has developed the opportunity for intergenerational transmission of Hawaiian at home.


title: Hawaiian language

text: The Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian Language is a college at the University of Hawaii at Hilo dedicated to providing courses and programs entirely in Hawaiian. It educates and provides training for teachers and school administrators of Hawaiian medium schools. It is the only college in the United States of America that offers a master's and doctorate's degree in an Indigenous language. Programs offered at The Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian Language are known collectively as the "Hilo model" and has been imitated by the Cherokee immersion program and several other Indigenous revitalization programs.


title: Hawaiian language

text: Since 1921, the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa and all of the University of Hawaiʻi Community Colleges also offer Hawaiian language courses to students for credit. The university now also offers free online courses not for credit, along with a few other websites and apps such as Duolingo.


title: Hawaiian language

text: The modern Hawaiian alphabet, "ka pīāpā Hawaii", is based on the Latin script. Hawaiian words end "only" in vowels, and every consonant must be followed by a vowel. The Hawaiian alphabetical order has all of the vowels before the consonants, as in the following chart.


title: Hawaiian language

text: This writing system was developed by American Protestant missionaries during 1820–1826. It was the first thing they ever printed in Hawaii, on January 7, 1822, and it originally included the consonants "B, D, R, T," and "V," in addition to the current ones ("H, K, L, M, N, P, W"), and it had "F, G, S, Y" and "Z" for "spelling foreign words". The initial printing also showed the five vowel letters ("A, E, I, O, U") and seven of the short diphthongs ("AE, AI, AO, AU, EI, EU, OU").


title: Hawaiian language

text: In 1826, the developers voted to eliminate some of the letters which represented functionally redundant allophones (called "interchangeable letters"), enabling the Hawaiian alphabet to approach the ideal state of one-symbol-one-phoneme, and thereby optimizing the ease with which people could teach and learn the reading and writing of Hawaiian. For example, instead of spelling one and the same word as "pule, bule, pure," and "bure" (because of interchangeable "p/b" and "l/r"), the word is spelled only as "pule".


title: Hawaiian language

text: However, hundreds of words were very rapidly borrowed into Hawaiian from English, Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and Syriac. Although these loan words were necessarily Hawaiianized, they often retained some of their "non-Hawaiian letters" in their published forms. For example, "Brazil" fully Hawaiianized is "Palakila", but retaining "foreign letters" it is "Barazila". Another example is "Gibraltar", written as "Kipalaleka" or "Gibaraleta". While and are not regarded as Hawaiian sounds, , , and were represented in the original alphabet, so the letters ("b", "r", and "t") for the latter are not truly "non-Hawaiian" or "foreign", even though their post-1826 use in published matter generally marked words of foreign origin.


title: Hawaiian language

text: "ʻOkina" ("oki" 'cut' + "-na" '-ing') is the modern Hawaiian name for the symbol (a letter) that represents the glottal stop. It was formerly known as "uina" ("snap").


title: Hawaiian language

text: For examples of the okina, consider the Hawaiian words "Hawaii" and "Oahu" (often simply "Hawaii" and "Oahu" in English orthography). In Hawaiian, these words are pronounced and , and are written with an okina where the glottal stop is pronounced.


title: Hawaiian language

text: Elbert & Pukui's "Hawaiian Grammar" says "The glottal stop, ‘, is made by closing the glottis or space between the vocal cords, the result being something like the hiatus in English "oh-oh"."


title: Hawaiian language

text: As early as 1823, the missionaries made some limited use of the apostrophe to represent the glottal stop, but they did not make it a letter of the alphabet. In publishing the Hawaiian Bible, they used it to distinguish "kou" ('my') from "kou" ('your'). In 1864, William DeWitt Alexander published a grammar of Hawaiian in which he made it clear that the glottal stop (calling it "guttural break") is definitely a true consonant of the Hawaiian language. He wrote it using an apostrophe. In 1922, the Andrews-Parker dictionary of Hawaiian made limited use of the opening single quote symbol, then called "reversed apostrophe" or "inverse comma", to represent the glottal stop. Subsequent dictionaries and written material associated with the Hawaiian language revitalization have preferred to use this symbol, the "okina", to better represent spoken Hawaiian. Nonetheless, excluding the "okina" may facilitate interface with English-oriented media, or even be preferred stylistically by some Hawaiian speakers, in homage to 19th century written texts. So there is variation today in the use of this symbol.


title: Hawaiian language

text: Because many people who want to write the ʻokina are not familiar with these specific characters and/or do not have access to the appropriate fonts and input and display systems, it is sometimes written with more familiar and readily available characters:


title: Hawaiian language

text: A modern Hawaiian name for the macron symbol is "kahakō" ("kaha" 'mark' + "kō" 'long'). It was formerly known as "mekona" (Hawaiianization of "macron"). It can be written as a diacritical mark which looks like a hyphen or dash written above a vowel, i.e., "ā ē ī ō ū" and "Ā Ē Ī Ō Ū". It is used to show that the marked vowel is a "double", or "geminate", or "long" vowel, in phonological terms. (See: Vowel length)


title: Hawaiian language

text: As early as 1821, at least one of the missionaries, Hiram Bingham, was using macrons (and breves) in making handwritten transcriptions of Hawaiian vowels. The missionaries specifically requested their sponsor in Boston to send them some type (fonts) with accented vowel characters, including vowels with macrons, but the sponsor made only one response and sent the wrong font size (pica instead of small pica). Thus, they could not print ā, ē, ī, ō, nor ū (at the right size), even though they wanted to.


title: Hawaiian language

text: Owing to extensive allophony, Hawaiian has more than 13 phones. Although vowel length is phonemic, long vowels are not always pronounced as such, even though under the rules for assigning stress in Hawaiian, a long vowel will always receive stress.


title: Hawaiian language

text: Hawaiian is known for having very few consonant phonemes – eight: . It is notable that Hawaiian has allophonic variation of with , with , and (in some dialects) with . The – variation is quite unusual among the world's languages, and is likely a product both of the small number of consonants in Hawaiian, and the recent shift of historical *t to modern –, after historical *k had shifted to . In some dialects, remains as in some words. These variations are largely free, though there are conditioning factors. tends to especially in words with both and , such as in the island name "Lānai" (–), though this is not always the case: "eleele" or "eneene" "black". The allophone is almost universal at the beginnings of words, whereas is most common before the vowel . is also the norm after and , whereas is usual after and . After and initially, however, and are in free variation.


title: Hawaiian language

text: Hawaiian has five pure vowels. The short vowels are , and the long vowels, if they are considered separate phonemes rather than simply sequences of like vowels, are . When stressed, short and have been described as becoming and , while when unstressed they are and . Parker Jones (2017), however, did not find a reduction of /a/ to in the phonetic analysis of a young speaker from Hilo, Hawaiʻi; so there is at least some variation in how /a/ is realised. also tends to become next to , , and another , as in "Pele" . Some grammatical particles vary between short and long vowels. These include "a" and "o" "of", "ma" "at", "na" and "no" "for". Between a back vowel or and a following non-back vowel (), there is an epenthetic , which is generally not written. Between a front vowel or and a following non-front vowel (), there is an epenthetic (a "y" sound), which is never written.


title: Hawaiian language

text: The short-vowel diphthongs are . In all except perhaps , these are falling diphthongs. However, they are not as tightly bound as the diphthongs of English, and may be considered vowel sequences. (The second vowel in such sequences may receive the stress, but in such cases it is not counted as a diphthong.) In fast speech, tends to and tends to , conflating these diphthongs with and .


title: Hawaiian language

text: There are only a limited number of vowels which may follow long vowels, and some authors treat these sequences as diphthongs as well: .


title: Hawaiian language

text: Hawaiian syllable structure is (C)V. All CV syllables occur except for "wū"; "wu" occurs only in two words borrowed from English. As shown by Schütz, Hawaiian word-stress is predictable in words of one to four syllables, but not in words of five or more syllables. Hawaiian phonological processes include palatalization and deletion of consonants, as well as raising, diphthongization, deletion, and compensatory lengthening of vowels.


title: Hawaiian language

text: Historically, glottal stop developed from *k. Loss of intervocalic consonant phonemes has resulted in Hawaiian long vowels and diphthongs.


title: Hawaiian language

text: Hawaiian is an analytic language with verb–subject–object word order. While there is no use of inflection for verbs, in Hawaiian, like other Austronesian personal pronouns, declension is found in the differentiation between a- and o-class genitive case personal pronouns in order to indicate inalienable possession in a binary possessive class system. Also like many Austronesian languages, Hawaiian pronouns employ separate words for inclusive and exclusive we (clusivity), and distinguish singular, dual, and plural. The grammatical function of verbs is marked by adjacent particles (short words) and by their relative positions, that indicate tense–aspect–mood.


title: Hawaiian language

text: "ka" and "ke" are singular definite articles. "ke" is used before words beginning with a-, e-, o- and k-, and with some words beginning - and p-. "ka" is used in all other cases. "nā" is the plural definite article.


title: Hawaiian language

text: To show part of a group, the word "kekahi" is used. To show a bigger part, "mau" is inserted to pluralize the subject.


title: Hawaiian language

text: Hawaiian has thousands of words for elements of the natural world. According to the Hawaiian Electronic Library, there are thousands of names for different types of wind, rain, parts of the sea, peaks of mountains, and sky formations, demonstrating the importance of the natural world to Hawaiian culture. For example, "Hoʻomalumalu" means "sheltering cloud" and "Hoʻoweliweli" means "threatening cloud".


title: Hawaiian language

text: There is a marked difference between varieties of the Hawaiian language spoken by most native Hawaiian elders and the Hawaiian Language taught in education, sometimes regarded as "University Hawaiian" or "College Hawaiian". "University Hawaiian" is often so different from the language spoken by elders that Native Hawaiian children may feel scared or ashamed to speak Hawaiian at home, limiting the language's domains to academia. Language varieties spoken by elders often includes Pidgin Hawaiian, Hawaiian Pidgin, Hawaiian-infused English, or another variety of Hawaiian that is much different from the "University Hawaiian" that was standardized and documented by colonists in the 19th century.


title: Hawaiian language

text: The divide between "University Hawaiian" and varieties spoken by elders has created debate over which variety of Hawaiian should be considered "real" or "authentic", as neither "University Hawaiian" nor other varieties spoken by elders are free from foreign interference. Hawaiian cultural beliefs of divine intervention as the driving force of language formation expedites distrust in what might be seen as the mechanical nature of colonial linguistic paradigms of language and its role in the standardized variety of "University Hawaiian". Hawaiian's authenticity debate could have major implications for revitalization efforts as language attitudes and trends in existing language domains are both UNESCO factors in assessing a language's level of endangerment.


title: Douglas C-47 Skytrain

text: The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in front-line service with various military operators for many years.


title: Douglas C-47 Skytrain

text: The C-47 differed from the civilian DC-3 by way of numerous modifications, including being fitted with a cargo door, hoist attachment and strengthened floor - along with a shortened tail cone for glider-towing shackles, and an astrodome in the cabin roof.


title: Douglas C-47 Skytrain

text: During World War II, the armed forces of many countries used the C-47 and modified DC-3s for the transport of troops, cargo, and wounded. The U.S. naval designation was R4D. More than 10,000 aircraft were produced in Long Beach and Santa Monica, California, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Between March 1943 and August 1945, the Oklahoma City plant produced 5,354 C-47s.


title: Douglas C-47 Skytrain

text: The specialized C-53 "Skytrooper" troop transport started production in October 1941 at Douglas Aircraft's Santa Monica plant. It lacked the cargo door, hoist attachment, and reinforced floor of the C-47. Only 380 aircraft were produced in all because the C-47 was found to be more versatile.


title: Douglas C-47 Skytrain

text: Large numbers of DC-3s and surplus C-47s were in commercial use in the United States in the 1940s. In response to proposed changes to the Civil Air Regulations airworthiness requirements that would limit the continuing use of these aircraft, Douglas offered a late-1940s DC-3 conversion to improve takeoff and single-engine performance. This new model, the DC-3S or "Super DC-3", was 39 in (0.99 m) longer. It allowed 30 passengers to be carried, with increased speed to compete with newer airliners. The rearward shift in the center of gravity led to larger tail surfaces and new outer, swept-back wings. More powerful engines were installed along with shorter, jet ejection-type exhaust stacks. These were either 1,475 hp (1,100 kW) Wright R-1820 Cyclones or 1,450 hp (1,081 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-2000 Twin Wasps in larger engine nacelles. Minor changes included wheel-well doors, a partially retractable tailwheel, flush rivets, and low-drag antenna. These all contributed to an increased top speed of . With greater than 75% of the original DC-3/C-47 configuration changed, the modified design was virtually a new aircraft. The first DC-3S made its maiden flight on 23 June 1949.


title: Douglas C-47 Skytrain

text: The changes fully met the new FAR 4B airworthiness requirements, with significantly improved performance. However, little interest was expressed by commercial operators in the DC-3S. It was too expensive for the smaller operators that were its main target; only three were sold to Capital Airlines. The U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps had 100 of their R4D aircraft modified to Super DC-3 standards as the R4D-8, later redesignated the C-117D.


title: Douglas C-47 Skytrain

text: The C-47 was vital to the success of many Allied campaigns, in particular, those at Guadalcanal and in the jungles of New Guinea and Burma, where the C-47 and its naval version, the R4D, made it possible for Allied troops to counter the mobility of the light-traveling Japanese Army. C-47s were used to airlift supplies to the encircled American forces during the Battle of Bastogne in Belgium. Possibly its most influential role in military aviation, however, was flying "The Hump" from India into China. The expertise gained flying "The Hump" was later used in the Berlin Airlift, in which the C-47 played a major role until the aircraft were replaced by Douglas C-54 Skymasters.


title: Douglas C-47 Skytrain

text: In Europe, the C-47 and a specialized paratroop variant, the C-53 Skytrooper, were used in vast numbers in the later stages of the war, particularly to tow gliders and drop paratroops. During the invasion of Sicily in July 1943, C-47s dropped 4,381 Allied paratroops. More than 50,000 paratroops were dropped by C-47s during the first few days of the D-Day campaign also known as the invasion of Normandy, France, in June 1944. In the Pacific War, with careful use of the island landing strips of the Pacific Ocean, C-47s were used for ferrying soldiers serving in the Pacific theater back to the United States.


title: Douglas C-47 Skytrain

text: About 2,000 C-47s (received under Lend-Lease) in British and Commonwealth service took the name "Dakota", possibly inspired by the acronym "DACoTA" for Douglas Aircraft Company Transport Aircraft.


title: Douglas C-47 Skytrain

text: The C-47 also earned the informal nickname "gooney bird" in the European theatre of operations. Other sources attribute this name to the first aircraft, a USMC R2D—the military version of the DC-2—being the first aircraft to land on Midway Island, previously home to the long-winged albatross known as the gooney bird which was native to Midway.


title: Douglas C-47 Skytrain

text: The United States Air Force's Strategic Air Command had Skytrains in service from 1946 through 1967. The US Air Force's 6th Special Operations Squadron was flying the C-47 until 2008.


title: Douglas C-47 Skytrain

text: With all of their aircraft and pilots having been part of the Indian Air Force prior to independence, both the Indian Air Force and Pakistan Air Force used C-47s to transport supplies to their soldiers fighting in the Indo-Pakistan War of 1947.


title: Douglas C-47 Skytrain

text: After World War II, thousands of surplus C-47s were converted to civilian airline use, some remaining in operation in 2012, as well as being used as private aircraft.


title: Douglas C-47 Skytrain

text: Several C-47 variations were used in the Vietnam War by the United States Air Force, including three advanced electronic-warfare variations, which sometimes were called "electric gooneys" designated EC-47N, EC-47P, or EC-47Q depending on the engine used. In addition, HC-47s were used by the 9th Special Operations Squadron to conduct psychological warfare operations over South Vietnam and Laos. Miami Air International, Miami International Airport was a USAF military depot used to convert the commercial DC-3s/C-47s into military use. They came in as commercial aircraft purchased from third-world airlines and were completely stripped, rebuilt, and reconditioned. Long-range fuel tanks were installed, along with upgraded avionics and gun mounts. They left as first-rate military aircraft headed for combat in Vietnam in a variety of missions. EC-47s were also operated by the Vietnamese, Laotian, and Cambodian Air Forces. A gunship variation, using three 7.62 mm miniguns, designated AC-47 "Spooky", often nicknamed "Puff the magic dragon", also was deployed.


title: Douglas C-47 Skytrain

text: Large numbers of C-47s, C-117s and other variants survive, on display in museums or as monuments; operated as warbirds; or remaining in service.


title: Douglas C-47 Skytrain

text: As part of the D-Day 75th-anniversary commemoration in June 2019, 14 American C-47s (including "That's All, Brother"; "Betsy's Biscuit Bomber"; "Miss Montana"; "Spirit of Benovia"; "D-Day Doll"; "Boogie Baby"; N47E "Miss Virginia"; and "Whiskey 7" ), and another group of 'Daks' from Europe retraced the route across the English Channel to Normandy taken by roughly 850 of these aircraft on D-Day.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: Hellas Verona Football Club, commonly referred to as Hellas Verona or simply Verona, is a professional Italian football club based in Verona, Italy, that currently plays in Serie A. The team won the Serie A Championship in 1984–85.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: Founded in 1903 by a group of high school students, the club was named "Hellas", at the request of a professor of classics. At a time in which football was played seriously only in the larger cities of northwestern Italy, most of Verona was indifferent to the growing sport. However, when in 1906 two city teams chose the city's Roman amphitheatre as a venue to showcase the game, crowd enthusiasm and media interest began to rise.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: During these first few years, Hellas was one of three or four area teams playing at a municipal level while fighting against city rivals Bentegodi to become the city's premier football outfit. By the 1907–08 season, Hellas was playing against regional teams and an intense rivalry with Vicenza that lasts to this day was born.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: From 1898 to 1926, Italian football was organised into regional groups. In this period, Hellas was one of the founding teams of the early league and often among its top final contenders. In 1911, the city helped Hellas replace the early, gritty football fields with a proper venue. This allowed the team to take part in its first regional tournament, which until 1926, was the qualifying stage for the national title.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: In 1919, following a return to activity after a four-year suspension of all football competition in Italy during World War I, the team merged with city rival Verona and changed its name to Hellas Verona. Between 1926 and 1929, the elite ""Campionato Nazionale"" assimilated the top sides from the various regional groups and Hellas Verona joined the privileged teams, yet struggled to remain competitive.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: Serie A, as it is structured today, began in 1929, when the "Campionato Nazionale" turned into a professional league. Still an amateur team, Hellas merged with two city rivals, Bentegodi and Scaligera, to form AC Verona. Hoping to build a first class contender for future years, the new team debuted in Serie B in 1929. It would take the "gialloblu" 28 years to finally achieve their goal. After first being promoted to Serie A for one season in 1957–58, in 1959, the team merged with another city rival (called Hellas) and commemorated its beginnings by changing its name to Hellas Verona AC.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: Coached by Nils Liedholm, the team returned to Serie A in 1968 and remained in the elite league almost without interruption until 1990. Along the way, it scored a famous 5–3 win in the 1972–73 season that cost Milan the "scudetto" (the Serie A title). The fact that the result came late during the last matchday of the season makes the sudden and unexpected end to the "rossoneri"'s title ambitions all the more memorable.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: In 1973–74, Hellas finished the season in fourth-last, just narrowly avoiding relegation, but were nonetheless sent down to Serie B during the summer months as a result of a scandal involving team president Saverio Garonzi. After a year in Serie B, Hellas returned to Serie A.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: In the 1975–76 season, the team had a successful run in the Coppa Italia, eliminating highly rated teams such as Torino, Cagliari and Internazionale from the tournament. However, in their first ever final in the competition, Hellas were trounced 4–0 by Napoli.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: Under the leadership of coach Osvaldo Bagnoli, in 1982–83 the team secured a fourth-place in Serie A (its highest finish at the time) and even led the Serie A standings for a few weeks. The same season Hellas again reached the Coppa Italia final. After a 2–0 home victory, Hellas then travelled to Turin to play Juventus but were defeated 3–0 after extra time.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: Further disappointment followed in the 1983–84 season when the team again reached the Coppa Italia final, only to lose the Cup in the final minutes of the return match against defending Serie A champions Roma


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: The team made its first European appearance in the 1983-84 UEFA Cup and were knocked out in the second round of the tournament by Sturm Graz. Hellas were eliminated from the 1985–86 European Cup in the second round by defending champions and fellow Serie A side Juventus after a contested game, the result of a scandalous arbitrage by the French Wurtz, having beaten PAOK of Greece in the first round.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: In 1988, the team had their best international result when they reached the UEFA Cup quarterfinals with four victories and three draws. The decisive defeat came from German side Werder Bremen.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: Although the 1984–85 season squad was made up of a mix of emerging players and mature stars, at the beginning of the season no one would have regarded the team as having the necessary ingredients to make it to the end. Certainly, the additions of Hans-Peter Briegel in midfield and of Danish striker Preben Elkjær to an attack that already featured the wing play of Pietro Fanna, the creative abilities of Antonio Di Gennaro and the scoring touch of Giuseppe Galderisi were to prove crucial.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: To mention a few of the memorable milestones on the road to the "scudetto": a decisive win against Juventus (2–0), with a goal scored by Elkjær after having lost a boot in a tackle just outside the box, set the stage early in the championship; an away win over Udinese (5–3) ended any speculation that the team was losing energy at the midway point; three straight wins (including a hard-fought 1–0 victory against a strong Roma side) served notice that the team had kept its polish and focus intact during their rival's final surge; and a 1–1 draw in Bergamo against Atalanta secured the title with a game in hand.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: Hellas finished the year with a 15–13–2 record and 43 points, four points ahead of Torino with Internazionale and Sampdoria rounding out the top four spots. This unusual final table of the Serie A (with the most successful Italian teams of the time, Juventus and Roma, ending up much lower than expected) has led to many speculations. The 1984–85 season was the only season when referees were assigned to matches by way of a random draw. Before then each referee had always been assigned to a specific match by a special commission of referees ("designatori arbitrali"). After the betting scandal of the early 1980 (the Calcio Scommesse scandal), it was decided to clean up the image of Italian football by assigning referees randomly instead of picking them, to clear up all the suspicions and accusations always accompanying Italy's football life. This resulted in a quieter championship and in a completely unexpected final table.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: In the following season, won again by Juventus, the choice of the referees went back in the hands of the "designatori arbitrali". In 2006, a major scandal in Italian football revealed that certain clubs had been illegally influencing the referee selection process in an attempt to ensure that certain referees were assigned to their matches.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: These were more than mere modest achievements for a mid-size city with a limited appeal to fans across the nation. But soon enough financial difficulties caught up with team managers. In 1991 the team folded and was reborn as Verona, regularly moving to and fro between Serie A and Serie B for several seasons. In 1995 the name was officially changed back to Hellas Verona.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: After a three-year stay, their last stint in Serie A ended in grief in 2002. That season emerging international talents such as Adrian Mutu, Mauro Camoranesi, Alberto Gilardino, Martin Laursen, Massimo Oddo, Marco Cassetti and coach Alberto Malesani failed to capitalise on an excellent start and eventually dropped into fourth-to-last place for the first time all season on the final match day, enforcing relegation into Serie B.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: Following the 2002 relegation to Serie B, team fortunes continued to slip throughout the decade. In the 2003–04 season Hellas Verona struggled in Serie B and spent most of the season fighting off an unthinkable relegation to Serie C1. Undeterred, the fans supported their team and a string of late season wins eventually warded off the danger. Over 5,000 of them followed Hellas to Como on the final day of the season to celebrate.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: In 2004–05, things looked much brighter for the team. After a rocky start, Hellas put together a string of results and climbed to third spot. The "gialloblù" held on to the position until January 2005, when transfers weakened the team, yet they managed to take the battle for Serie A to the last day of the season.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: The 2006–07 Serie B seemed to start well, due to the club takeover by Pietro Arvedi D'Emilei, which ended nine years of controversial leadership under chairman Gianbattista Pastorello, heavily contested by the supporters in his later years at Verona. However, Verona was immediately involved in the relegation battle, and Massimo Ficcadenti was replaced in December 2006 by Giampiero Ventura. Despite a recovery in the results, Verona ended in an 18th place, thus being forced to play a two-legged playoff against 19th-placed Spezia to avert relegation. A 2–1 away loss in the first leg at La Spezia was followed by a 0–0 home tie, and Verona were relegated to Serie C1 after 64 years of play in the two highest divisions.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: Verona appointed experienced coach Franco Colomba for the new season with the aim to return to Serie B as soon as possible. However, despite being widely considered the division favourite, the "gialloblù" spent almost the entire season in last place. After seven matches, club management sacked Colomba in early October and replaced him with youth team coach (and former Verona player) Davide Pellegrini. A new owner acquired the club in late 2007, appointing Giovanni Galli in December as new director of football and Maurizio Sarri as new head coach. Halfway through the 2007–08 season, the team remained at the bottom of Serie C1, on the brink of relegation to the fourth level (Serie C2). In response, club management sacked Sarri and brought back Pellegrini. Thanks to a late-season surge the "scaligeri" avoided direct relegation by qualifying for the relegation play-off, and narrowly averted dropping to Lega Pro Seconda Divisione in the final game, beating Pro Patria 2–1 on aggregate. However, despite the decline in results, attendance and season ticket sales remained at 15,000 on average.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: For the 2008–09 season, Verona appointed former Sassuolo and Piacenza manager Gian Marco Remondina with the aim to win promotion to Serie B. However, the season did not start impressively, with Verona being out of the playoff zone by mid-season, and club chairman Pietro Arvedi D'Emilei entering into a coma after being involved in a car crash on his way back from a league match in December 2008. Arvedi died in March 2009, two months after the club was bought by new chairman Giovanni Martinelli.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: The following season looked promising, as new transfer players were brought aboard, and fans enthusiastically embraced the new campaign. Season ticket figures climbed to over 10,000, placing Verona ahead of several Serie A teams and all but Torino in Serie B attendance. The team led the standings for much of the season, accumulating a seven-point lead by early in the spring. However, the advantage was gradually squandered, and the team dropped to second place on the second-last day of the season, with a chance to regain first place in the final regular season match against Portogruaro on home soil. Verona, however, disappointed a crowd of over 25,000 fans and, with the loss, dropped to third place and headed towards the play-offs. A managerial change for the post-season saw the firing of Remondina and the arrival of Giovanni Vavassori. After eliminating Rimini in the semi-finals (1–0; 0–0) Verona lost the final to Pescara (2–2 on home soil and 0–1 in the return match) and were condemned to a fourth-straight year of third division football.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: Former 1990 World Cup star Giuseppe Giannini (a famous captain of Roma for many years) signed as manager for the 2010–11 campaign. Once again, the team was almost entirely revamped during the transfer season. The squad struggled in the early months and Giannini was eventually sacked and replaced by former Internazionale defender Andrea Mandorlini, who succeeded in reorganising the team's play and bringing discipline both on and off the pitch. In the second half of the season, Verona climbed back from the bottom of the division to clinch a play-off berth (fifth place) on the last day of the regular season. The team advanced to the play-off final after eliminating Sorrento in the semi-finals 3–1 on aggregate. Following the play-off final, after four years of Lega Pro football, Verona were promoted back to Serie B after a 2–1 aggregate win over Salernitana on 19 June 2011.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: On 18 May 2013, Verona finished second in Serie B and were promoted to Serie A after an eleven-year absence. Their return to the top flight began against title contenders Milan and Roma, beating the former 2–1 and losing to the latter 3–0. The team continued at a steady pace, finishing the first half of the season with 32 points and sitting in sixth place, eleven points behind the closest UEFA Champions League spot—and tied with Internazionale for the final UEFA Europa League spot. Verona, however, ultimately finished the year in tenth.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: During the 2015–16 season, Verona had not won a single match since the beginning of the campaign until the club edged Atalanta 2–1 on 3 February 2016 in a win at home; coming twenty-three games into the season. Consequently, Verona were relegated from Serie A.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: In the 2016–17 Serie B season, Hellas Verona finished second on the table and were automatically promoted back to Serie A. Hellas lasted one season back in the top division after finishing second last during the 2017–18 Serie A season and were relegated back to Serie B. At the end of the 2018–19 season, Hellas finished in fifth position and achieved promotion back to Serie A after defeating Cittadella 3–0 in the second leg of their promotion play-off to win 3–2 on aggregate.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: The club's return to the top flight in the 2019–20 Serie A season, in which it was considered a strong relegation candidate at the beginning of the campaign, was a successful one, with a ninth-placed finish. Heavily reliant on the defensive solidity of 20-year-old centre-back Marash Kumbulla, Amir Rrahmani and goalkeeper Marco Silvestri, along with the consistent performances of midfielder Sofyan Amrabat, Verona was a surprise contender for Europa League qualification but fell out of the race after a downturn in form after the coronavirus break which temporarily halted the season. A 2-1 win at home against eventual title winners Juventus in February was a highlight of a season in which the club achieved 10 clean sheets and punched towards the higher end of the table despite its modest budget.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: Ahead of Verona’s second consecutive year in Serie A, key players Amrabat, Rrahmani and Kumbulla were poached by Fiorentina, Napoli and Roma respectively, and loanee Matteo Pessina returned to Atalanta. This left the club with a heavily weakened squad and it was once again expected to struggle in the league prior to the season-opening match. Despite these losses in the transfer window, Verona again finished in the top half of the league table, ending the season in 10th place with 45 points. Successful breakout seasons for attacking midfielder Mattia Zaccagni, who was eventually called up to the Italian national team as a reward for his performances, as well as wing-backs Federico Dimarco and Davide Faraoni, were partly the reason for this achievement. At the end of the season, coach Ivan Jurić was appointed by Torino following his two impressive Serie A seasons with Verona, with the "Gialloblu" replacing him with Eusebio Di Francesco.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: Following another summer transfer window in which several of the club's star players were sold to Serie A rivals, namely Zaccagni transferring to Lazio, Marco Silvestri to Udinese and Dimarco returning to Inter, the beginning of the 2021-22 season proved to be much more difficult for Verona, as Di Francesco was fired and replaced with Igor Tudor after just three matches, all of which were defeats. This poor early-season form had left the club at the bottom of the table. Under the guidance of Tudor, the team regains competitiveness obtaining in the next eight matches three wins - including victories with Lazio and Juventus - four draws and only one defeat.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: The team's colours are yellow and blue. As a result the clubs most widely used nickname is "gialloblu" literally "yellow-blue" in Italian. The colours represent the city itself and Verona's emblem (a yellow cross on a blue shield) appears on most team apparel. Home kits are traditionally blue, sometimes of a navy shade, combined with yellow details and trim, although the club has used a blue and yellow striped design on occasion. Two more team nicknames are "Mastini" (the mastiffs) and "Scaligeri", both references to Mastino I della Scala of the Della Scala princes that ruled the city during the 13th and 14th centuries.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: The Scala family coat of arms is depicted on the team's jersey and on its trademark logo as a stylised image of two large, powerful mastiffs facing opposite directions, introduced in 1995. In essence, the term ""scaligeri"" is synonymous with Veronese, and therefore can describe anything or anyone from Verona (e.g., Chievo Verona, a different team that also links itself to the Scala family – specifically to Cangrande I della Scala).


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: Since 1963, the club have played at the Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi, which has a capacity of 39,211. The ground was shared with Hellas's rivals, Chievo Verona until 2021. It was used as a venue for some matches of the 1990 FIFA World Cup.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: The intercity fixtures against Chievo Verona are known as the "Derby della Scala". The name refers to the Scaligeri or della Scala aristocratic family, who were rulers of Verona during the Middle Ages and early Renaissance. In the season 2001–02, both Hellas Verona and the city rivals of Chievo Verona were playing in the Serie A. The first ever derby of Verona in Serie A took place on 18 November 2001, while both teams were ranked among the top four. The match was won by Hellas, 3–2. Chievo got revenge in the return match in spring 2002, winning 2–1. Verona thus became the fifth city in Italy, after Milan, Rome, Turin and Genoa to host a cross-town derby in Serie A.


title: Hellas Verona F.C.

text: The following players have been selected by their country for the FIFA World Cup finals while playing for Hellas Verona.


title: Akiko Matsuura

text: Akiko Matsuura (also known by the name Keex) is a Japanese drummer and vocalist residing in the United Kingdom. She has worked in numerous bands in the U.K.


title: Akiko Matsuura

text: Matsuura is the front woman of the English art rock band PRE. Matsuura has worked with numerous bands, as the front woman for Comanechi, along with guitarist, Simon Petrovich. Matsuura played drums with The Big Pink, and has a side project called Sperm Javelin.


title: Akiko Matsuura

text: Matsuura met her partners in The Big Pink while attending art school in London; they were all well known in the London punk and noise rock scene. She has also played with the Glasgow band, Divorce.


title: John Witherspoon (actor)

text: John Weatherspoon (January 27, 1942 – October 29, 2019), better known as John Witherspoon, was an American actor and comedian who performed in various television shows and films.


title: John Witherspoon (actor)

text: Witherspoon is best remembered for his role as Willie Jones in the "Friday" series; he also starred in films such as "Hollywood Shuffle" (1987), "Boomerang" (1992), "The Five Heartbeats" (1991), and "Vampire in Brooklyn" (1995). In addition, he made appearances on television shows such as "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" (1994), "The Wayans Bros." (1995–99), "The Tracy Morgan Show" (2003), "Barnaby Jones" (1973), "The Boondocks" (2005–2014), and "Black Jesus" (2014–2019). He wrote a film, "From the Old School", in which he played an elderly working man who tries to prevent a neighborhood convenience store from being developed into a strip club.


title: John Witherspoon (actor)

text: Witherspoon was born on January 27, 1942 in Detroit, Michigan. He later changed his last name from Weatherspoon to Witherspoon. Witherspoon was one of 11 siblings. His older brother, William, became a songwriter for Motown, with whom he penned the lyrics of the 1966 hit single "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted". Another sibling, Cato, was a director of the PBS-TV Network/CH56 in Detroit. His sister, the late Dr. Gertrude Stacks, was a pastor at Shalom Fellowship International, a church in Detroit.


title: John Witherspoon (actor)

text: Witherspoon worked occasionally as a model. During the 1960s and 1970s, he began to take a liking towards comedy. During that time, he began his stand-up comedy career. As a result, he had many friends in the business, including Tim Reid (while he was working on "WKRP in Cincinnati" and "The Richard Pryor Show"), Robin Williams (also on "The Richard Pryor Show"), Jay Leno, and David Letterman.


title: John Witherspoon (actor)

text: Witherspoon performed in many feature films (usually comedies), including "Friday" (and its sequels "Next Friday" and "Friday After Next"), "Hollywood Shuffle", "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka", "Bird", "Vampire in Brooklyn", and "The Meteor Man".


title: John Witherspoon (actor)

text: Witherspoon was also known for his over-the-top characters in films such as "House Party", in which he played an irritated neighbor who is repeatedly woken up by the party, and "Boomerang" with Eddie Murphy, where he plays Mr. Jackson, the ill-mannered father of Murphy's best friend.


title: John Witherspoon (actor)

text: His first television appearance was on the 1970s CBS television show "Barnaby Jones", playing a camp counselor for drug addicted youth. Subsequent appearances were on "Good Times", "What's Happening!!", and "The Incredible Hulk". In 1977, he became a regular on the series "The Richard Pryor Show", an NBC American comedy series. This then led to his 1982 appearance in "WKRP In Cincinnati", in which Witherspoon played Detective Davies, on the fourth-season episode "Circumstantial Evidence".


title: John Witherspoon (actor)

text: In 1981, he appeared in the NBC police drama "Hill Street Blues", as a man who tries to buy a hotdog from undercover Detective Belker. Also in 1981, he had an appearance on NBC's legal drama "L.A. Law", in the episode "On Your Honor" as Mark Steadman. He appeared in "You Again?" as Osborne. Other television show appearances include "227", which was an NBC comedy about women who lived in a majority black apartment complex, and "What's Happening Now!!", the sequel to "What's Happening!!".


title: John Witherspoon (actor)

text: Witherspoon was also featured in the American television sitcom "Amen" (1988), as the bailiff. The show, which ran on NBC, was known for being one of the shows during the 1980s that featured an almost entirely black cast.


title: John Witherspoon (actor)

text: Next came spots on "Townsend Television" (1993), "Cosmic Slop" (1994), and "Murder Was The Case" (1994) as a drunk.


title: John Witherspoon (actor)

text: He later appeared in the 1997 "Living Single" episode "Three Men and a Buckeye" as Smoke Eye Howard. His largest role in a television series was on "The Wayans Bros." (1995–1999) which aired on The WB and starred Shawn and Marlon Wayans, who played brothers Shawn and Marlon Williams. Witherspoon played their father, John "Pops" Williams.


title: John Witherspoon (actor)

text: He was also on the Kids' WB animation series "Waynehead", which was about a young boy growing up poor in the Harlem, New York City. The show, which aired on Saturday mornings, was based on creator Damon Wayans' life.


title: John Witherspoon (actor)

text: In 2003, Witherspoon made a showing on NBC's "Last Comic Standing", a reality television show that selected the top comedian out of a group and gave him a contract, in the Las Vegas finals. That same year, he performed as Oran Jones in the "The Proud Family" episode "Adventures in Bebe Sitting". He later guest-starred in an episode of "Kim Possible". During this time, Witherspoon was also featured as Spoon in all 18 episodes of the comedy series "The Tracy Morgan Show".


title: John Witherspoon (actor)

text: In 2004, he appeared in "Pryor Offenses", a television movie where he played Willie the Wino. In 2005, he was seen in the Comedy Central talk show "Weekends at the D.L." where he portrayed the character of Michael Johnson. That same year, he began starring in Aaron McGruder's animated series "The Boondocks" as Robert Jebediah "Granddad" Freeman; this Cartoon Network/Adult Swim series ran for four seasons. In 2006, he performed as Real Santa, a Christmas singer on the radio, in the television movie, "Thugaboo: A Miracle on D-Roc's Street", a story of a group of kids who find the true meaning of Christmas. His next appearance was on "The Super Rumble Mixshow" in 2008. In 2011, he starred in a "Final Destination" spoof with Shane Dawson on YouTube. In May 2013, he was featured on "Saturday (skit)", from rapper Logic's 2013 mixtape titled "". He later performed in another Aaron McGruder series, "Black Jesus", portraying Lloyd, a homeless man.


title: John Witherspoon (actor)

text: Witherspoon appeared in a number of music videos by artists in the music industry. In 2000, he was in the music video for hip-hop superstar Jay-Z's hit single "I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)". He was also in the music video for Field Mob's song "Sick of Being Lonely". Other music video credits include Goodie Mob's "They Don't Dance No Mo'" and LL Cool J's "Ain't Nobody". In 2008, Witherspoon released a hip-hop comedy album titled "63 Cent".


title: John Witherspoon (actor)

text: Witherspoon went back to his comedian roots and started a comedy tour that premiered on television on March 28, 2008 on Showtime. On his 2009 tour, he had 19 stops across the country. In December 2011, Witherspoon performed his stand-up comedy act once again on stage at the Funny Bone comedy club at Harrah's Casino in Tunica, Mississippi.


title: John Witherspoon (actor)

text: Witherspoon married Angela Robinson in 1988. They raised sons, John David ("J.D.") and Alexander. David Letterman was Witherspoon's best friend and is the godfather of his two sons.


title: John Witherspoon (actor)

text: On October 29, 2019, Witherspoon died of a heart attack at his home in Sherman Oaks, California. He was 77 years old. His funeral was held on November 5, 2019, and he was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, California.


title: The Beguiled (2017 film)

text: The Beguiled is a 2017 American Southern Gothic thriller film written and directed by Sofia Coppola, based on the 1966 novel of the same name (originally published as "A Painted Devil") by Thomas P. Cullinan. It stars Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, and Elle Fanning. It is the second film adaptation of Cullinan's novel, following Don Siegel's 1971 film of the same name.


title: The Beguiled (2017 film)

text: It premiered on May 24 at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, and was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or in its main competition section, where Coppola won the Best Director award, becoming only the second woman (after 1961 winner Yuliya Solntseva) to do so. The film was released theatrically on June 23, 2017, by Focus Features.


title: The Beguiled (2017 film)

text: Martha Farnsworth runs a girls school in Virginia during the Civil War. By 1864, almost all of the students, teachers, and slaves have left. In addition to Farnsworth herself, only five students and one teacher, Edwina Morrow, remain. While out in the woods searching for mushrooms, Amy, a pupil, comes across John McBurney, a corporal in the Union Army who was wounded in the leg during battle, and has since deserted. Amy brings McBurney to the school where he falls unconscious. The women lock McBurney in one of the rooms while Miss Farnsworth tends to his wounds. All the women and girls in the school are immediately fascinated by the handsome man.


title: The Beguiled (2017 film)

text: Initially, some of the school's residents want McBurney to be delivered as a prisoner of war to the Confederate Army, but Miss Farnsworth decides that they will let his leg heal before they decide what they will do with him. When Confederate soldiers arrive at the school, Miss Farnsworth does not tell them that a Union soldier is on the premises. While McBurney is recovering, the women and girls subtly vie for his affection by giving him presents, wearing jewelry, and preparing a lavish dinner for him. He returns the affection, concentrating especially on Miss Morrow and Miss Farnsworth. When he is able to move again, he begins to help in the garden. It becomes clear that he fears returning to battle.


title: The Beguiled (2017 film)

text: When Miss Farnsworth indicates that McBurney is healthy enough and will have to leave the school in a few days, he tries to convince her to let him stay as a gardener, and tells Miss Morrow that he has fallen in love with her. One night, he tells Miss Morrow to await him in her room. When he does not appear and she hears strange noises, she investigates and finds him in bed with Alicia, a teenage pupil. McBurney tries to calm the angry Miss Morrow down, but she pushes him away, causing him to fall down the stairs, badly break his already injured leg and fall unconscious. Miss Farnsworth decides that the only way to save his life is to amputate the leg.


title: The Beguiled (2017 film)

text: When he awakes the next day and realizes he has lost his leg, McBurney is devastated and furious, accusing the women (and especially Miss Farnsworth) of having punished him for choosing Alicia's room instead of theirs. He is locked up in his room but threatens Alicia, who gets him the room key. He then breaks out, steals a gun, and loudly threatens the women before storming off. Miss Morrow follows him to his room, where she initiates a sexual encounter.


title: The Beguiled (2017 film)

text: Meanwhile Miss Farnsworth tries to find a solution. One of the students suggests killing McBurney by preparing him a dinner of poisonous mushrooms, to which Miss Farnsworth agrees. During the dinner, Miss Morrow, unaware of the plan, is deterred by the others at the last minute from putting the mushrooms on her own plate, but McBurney's suspicions are not aroused. Promptly after eating the mushrooms, he falls to the floor in the throes of death. While the others are sewing McBurney's body into a shroud, Miss Morrow looks on, devastated. The film ends with the women dragging McBurney's body to the road so that he will be found by the next Confederate soldiers who pass by.


title: The Beguiled (2017 film)

text: The film is based on the 1966 book of the same name by author Thomas P. Cullinan about a wounded Union soldier in a Mississippi seminary during the American Civil War, and was made for under $10 million. The film exhibited elements of the thriller genre, a departure for Coppola.


title: The Beguiled (2017 film)

text: Coppola had initially expressed an aversion to a remake, but after watching the 1971 version at the urging of production designer Anne Ross, she was left contemplating ways she could update the film. Specifically, she became interested in showing the story from the women's point of view, as opposed to the man's. The material came to Coppola at a time when she wanted to make a more optimistic film than 2013's "The Bling Ring", stating that she wanted to "cleanse myself" from what she terms was "such a tacky, ugly world". Coppola cited her fascination with the South as part of the story's attraction. Coppola has said that she "wanted the film to represent an exaggerated version of all the ways women were traditionally raised there just to be lovely and cater to men—the manners of that whole world, and how they change when the men go away". Coppola has cited "Gone with the Wind" as her inspiration for creating a film that was relatable despite its position within a different era.


title: The Beguiled (2017 film)

text: In March 2016, it was announced that Elle Fanning, Nicole Kidman, and Kirsten Dunst were in talks to appear in the film, and had been signed by July, when Colin Farrell entered talks. Based on a Magnificat from Monteverdi's "Vespro della Beata Vergine", the music for the film was composed by the rock band Phoenix (whose lead singer, Thomas Mars, is married to Coppola). Two popular Civil War ballads, "Lorena" and "Aura Lea", were used in the film, in addition to Stephen Foster's "Virginia Belle". Most of the costumes in the film were designed by Stacey Battat, who used the costume and fabric archives of the Metropolitan Museum of Art to gain inspiration for contemporary fashion. Corsets were made for each actress, while for historical accuracy only cotton fabric was used, which was in turn either stone washed or enzyme washed to weather the fabrics and make them look worn in.