title: Mommie Dearest

text: Mommie Dearest is a memoir and exposé written by Christina Crawford, the adopted daughter of actress Joan Crawford. Published in 1978, it attracted much controversy for its portrayal of Joan Crawford as an unbalanced and alcoholic mother, with Crawford's other daughters, household staff, and family friends denouncing it as fiction. It was turned into a 1981 film of the same name starring Faye Dunaway.


title: Mommie Dearest

text: Upon the death of their mother in 1977, both Christina and her brother Christopher were disinherited.


title: Mommie Dearest

text: In the book, Christina contends that Joan, whom she describes as not wishing to be involved in parenting her, was an alcoholic who hit her regularly and placed more importance on her career than her family life.


title: Mommie Dearest

text: Christina suggests that Joan may have adopted children as a publicity stunt to sustain her career. She implies Joan had a long list of affairs with men, whom Christina was required to call "Uncle" and, on some occasions, "Daddy." Christina writes that as she grew older and more challenging to control, Joan found excuses to remove Christina from home by sending her to various boarding schools and strict religious academies, often specifying in her instructions that Christina must be allowed no contact with the outside world. Usually, the threat of boarding school or the actual sending of Christina to these schools was used to punish Christina for defying her mother or fighting back against her abusive behavior.


title: Mommie Dearest

text: Christina recounts several events in which Joan's behavior was unbalanced and at least one encounter with her mother where Joan attempted to strangle her. In another encounter, Joan reportedly discovered Christina's clothes hanging in a closet on wire hangers, which Joan detested instead of crochet hangers, and reprimanded her harshly. In an incident in which Christina refused to eat rare beef, Joan ordered the meat returned to the refrigerator and refused to allow Christina any other food for a day and a half until she finished the meal; Christina managed to hold out until her mother gave up and allowed her regular meals again. Joan allegedly disposed of her children's possessions to punish them for minor transgressions. Christina also wrote that Joan strapped Christina's younger adopted brother, Christopher, to his bed each night until he was 12, ostensibly to control his sleepwalking.


title: Mommie Dearest

text: Christina reported that Joan's controlling and erratic behavior continued throughout Christina's adulthood. She asserts that Joan was jealous of her daughter's burgeoning acting career, to the point of taking over Christina's role in the soap opera "The Secret Storm" while Christina was in the hospital recovering from an operation to remove an ovarian cyst. (Christina's character was 28 years old; Joan was then in her 60s.) She also used the money to control the adult Christina's behavior by refusing to give her money for basic living expenses, even while taking her out for expensive meals and paying for taxis.


title: Mommie Dearest

text: The book culminates with Christina learning that she and her brother Christopher were being disinherited upon the death of their mother in 1977, even though Christina believed that both she and her brother had reconciled with their mother before her death.


title: Mommie Dearest

text: Some of Crawford's friends disputed the version of events presented in "Mommie Dearest". Among them were Van Johnson, Katharine Hepburn, Cesar Romero, Bob Hope, Barbara Stanwyck, Sydney Guilaroff, Ann Blyth, Gary Gray, and particularly Myrna Loy, Crawford's friend since 1925. While acknowledging that Crawford was highly ambitious for much of her life, critics have suggested that Christina embellished her story. Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Crawford's first husband, stated, "The Joan Crawford that I've heard about in "Mommie Dearest" is not the Joan Crawford I knew back then." The two younger Crawford children, Cindy and Cathy, born in 1947 and adopted by Crawford, have stated many times that they did not witness or experience any of the events described in the book. Christopher Crawford stated, "I honestly to this day do not believe that she ever cared for me."


title: Mommie Dearest

text: Bette Davis, longtime rival of Crawford's, denounced the book, stating, "I was not Miss Crawford’s biggest fan, but, wisecracks to the contrary, I did and still do respect her talent. What she did not deserve was that detestable book written by her daughter. I’ve forgotten her name. Horrible."


title: Mommie Dearest

text: Liz Smith, writing in the "Baltimore Sun", said, "I was inclined to believe Joan was misguided in her attempts to 'mold' her children—and was vain and self-absorbed like most great stars—but the stories of beatings and near-madness were over the top." Crawford's secretary for nearly 50 years, Betty Barker, also stated that while Joan was strict, Christina and Christopher were never abused.


title: Mommie Dearest

text: Others such as Helen Hayes, James MacArthur, and June Allyson stated they saw questionable behavior from Crawford, but not outright abuse.


title: Mommie Dearest

text: On July 20, 1998, Cathy Crawford LaLonde filed a lawsuit against her sister Christina Crawford for defamation of character. LaLonde stated in her lawsuit that during the 20th-anniversary book tour of "Mommie Dearest", Christina publicly claimed to interviewers that LaLonde and her twin sister, Cynthia, were not biological sisters and that their adoption was never legal. Lalonde stated neither claim by Christina was true and attached copies of the twin girls' birth certificates and adoption documentation to the lawsuit. The lawsuit was later settled out of court for $5,000 plus court costs.


title: Mommie Dearest

text: In 1981, the book was adapted as a movie, starring Faye Dunaway. Christina gave negative feedback about the film.


title: Mommie Dearest

text: The last pages of Christina's book suggest that she was not about to let her mother have the "last word" by omitting her daughter from her will. Biographer Fred Laurence Guiles later reported that Christina began writing her book before Crawford's death. He has suggested that Joan's knowledge of its contents may have been a factor in her cutting her daughter from her will.


title: Mommie Dearest

text: Christina later released a "20th Anniversary Edition", which included 100 pages of new material and omitted about 50 pages of original material. The second edition names specific individuals not named in the original book and focuses more on Christina's relationship with her mother from high school graduation until the 1970s. It also reveals what became of her brother and describes several incidents involving him.


title: Mommie Dearest

text: Released by a smaller publishing company, the second edition included some novel promotional methods. This included Christina appearing at presentations of the "Mommie Dearest" film (based on the first edition of her book), where Christina lectured about the new edition of her book. Christina also appeared at readings with drag entertainer Lypsinka, who has made numerous appearances as Joan Crawford during stage acts.


title: Mommie Dearest

text: In 2017 Crawford worked with lyricist and composer David Nehls on a stage musical adaptation of "Mommie Dearest", which was produced by Out of the Box Theatrics in New York City.


title: Mommie Dearest

text: "Saturday Night Live" featured a sketch parodying "Mommie Dearest" on the ninth episode of its fourth season, airing on December 16, 1978. Jane Curtin portrayed Joan Crawford as mercurial, ill-tempered, and micromanaging. Gilda Radner played an exaggerated version of young Christina as mute and possibly mentally handicapped, puffing her cheeks out and crossing her eyes as she sauntered around the set. This sketch, which took place around Christmas, also featured Dan Aykroyd as Clark Gable, Bill Murray as Cary Grant, Laraine Newman as Katharine Hepburn, and guest host Elliott Gould as fictional character Archer Armstrong.


title: Mommie Dearest

text: An episode of the PBS Kids American-Canadian television series "Arthur" featured an episode titled "Caught In the Crosswires" in which the character Muffy Crosswire, who is extremely wealthy, shouts at her butler, Bailey, for hanging her clothes on wire hangers. She shouts out, "wire hangers? "Wire" hangers!?" before proceeding to tear her clothes from the hangers and squish the hangers with her bare hands; the scene was a reference to the infamous "wire hangers" scene from the "Mommie Dearest" book and its film adaptation.


title: Mommie Dearest

text: Four years after Joan Crawford's death, Blue Öyster Cult released the song "Joan Crawford" as part of their album "Fire of Unknown Origin" (1981). In the final third of the song, there is a voice calling "Christina" with the lines "Mother's home" and "Come to mother". In the background, the word "No" is repeated over and over. This is in reference to parts described in the book.


title: Mommie Dearest

text: The 1989 book "Daddy's Boy: A Son's Shocking Account of Life with a Famous Father", is a comedic account of Chris Elliott's childhood, with rebuttals from his father, comedian Bob Elliot. It is an obvious parody of "Mommie Dearest".


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: Santa Catalina Island ( or ; ) is a rocky island off the coast of Southern California in the Gulf of Santa Catalina. The island name is often shortened to Catalina Island or just Catalina. The island is long and across at its greatest width. The island is located about south-southwest of Long Beach, California. The highest point on the island is Mount Orizaba (). Geologically, Santa Catalina is part of the Channel Islands of California archipelago and is the easternmost of the Channel Islands. Politically, Catalina Island is part of Los Angeles County in District 4. Most of the land on the island is unincorporated (governed by the county).


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: Catalina was originally inhabited and used by many different Southern California Tribes, including the Tongva, who called the island or and referred to themselves as or . The first Europeans to arrive on Catalina claimed it for the Spanish Empire. Over the years, territorial claims to the island transferred it to Mexico and then to the United States. During this time, the island was sporadically used for smuggling, otter hunting, and gold digging, before successfully being developed into a tourist destination by chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. beginning in the 1920s. Since the 1970s, most of the island has been administered by the Catalina Island Conservancy.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: Its total population in the 2010 census was 4,096 people, 90 percent of whom live in the island's only incorporated city, Avalon. The second center of population is the unincorporated village of Two Harbors at the island's isthmus. Development also occurs at the smaller settlements of Rancho Escondido and Middle Ranch. The remaining population is scattered over the island between the two population centers.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: Archeological evidence shows Native American settlement beginning in 7000 BC. Prior to the modern era, the island was inhabited by the Tongva, who, having had villages near present-day San Pedro and Playa del Rey, regularly traveled back and forth to Catalina for trade. The Tongva called the island or and referred to themselves as the or . The Pimugnans had settlements all over the island at one time or another, with their biggest villages being at the Isthmus and at present-day Avalon, Shark/Little Harbor, and Emerald Bay. The Pimugnans were renowned for their mining, working and trade of soapstone which was found in great quantities and varieties on the island. This material was in great demand and was traded along the California coast. The island was valued for its natural resources, but was also respected by the Tongva as an important "ceremonial center" with connections to the village of , located in present-day Long Beach.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: The first European to set foot on the island was the explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, who sailed in the name of the Spanish crown. On October 7, 1542, he claimed the island for Spain and named it "San Salvador" after his ship. Over half a century later, another Spanish explorer, Sebastián Vizcaíno, arrived at the island on the eve of Saint Catherine's day (November 24) in 1602. Vizcaino renamed the island in the saint's honor. The colonization of California by the Spanish greatly contributed to the decline of the Pimugnans because of diseases brought by the Spanish from Europe. By the 1830s, the island's entire native population had been forced to the mainland on the Spanish missions or to work as ranch hands for the many private land owners.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: Franciscan friars considered building a mission on Catalina, but abandoned the idea because of the lack of fresh water on the island. While Spain maintained its claim on Catalina Island, foreigners were forbidden to trade with colonies. However, it lacked the ships to enforce this prohibition; also, many inhabitants of the colonies wanted to trade with other European powers by themselves, and the island served as home or base of operation for many visitors. Russian hunters from the Aleutian Islands, and America set up camps on Santa Catalina and the surrounding Channel Islands to hunt otters and seals around the island for their pelts. Pirates, of all countries, including Spain, also found that the island's abundance of hidden coves, as well as its short distance to the mainland and its small population, made it suitable for smuggling activities. In the 1850s and 1860s, Catalina was also home to gold miners as the result of a minor gold rush, though evidence that gold was ever on the island is inconclusive.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: In 1846, Governor Pío Pico made a Mexican land grant of the Island of Santa Catalina to Thomas M. Robbins, as Rancho Santa Catalina. Robbins established a small rancho on the island, but sold it in 1850 to José María Covarrubias. A claim was filed with the Public Land Commission in 1853, and the grant was patented to José María Covarrubias in 1867. Covarrubias sold the island to Albert Packard of Santa Barbara in 1853. By 1864 the entire island was owned by James Lick, whose estate maintained control of the island for approximately the next 25 years.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: By the end of the 19th century, the island was almost uninhabited except for a few cattle herders. The first owner to try to develop Avalon into a resort destination was George Shatto, a real estate speculator from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Shatto purchased the island for $200,000 (equivalent to $ million in ) from the Lick estate at the height of the real estate boom in Southern California in 1887. Shatto created the settlement that would become Avalon, and can be credited with building the town's first hotel, the original Hotel Metropole, and pier. Despite Shatto's efforts, he defaulted on his loan after only a few years and the island went back to the Lick estate. The sons of Phineas Banning bought the island in 1891 from the estate of James Lick. The Banning brothers fulfilled Shatto's dream of making Avalon a resort community with the construction of numerous tourist facilities. On November 29, 1915, a fire burned half of Avalon's buildings, including six hotels and several clubs. In the face of huge debt related to the fire and the subsequent decline in tourism due to World War I, the Banning brothers were forced to sell the island in shares in 1919. On May 10, 1912 Glenn L. Martin flew a homemade seaplane in to Avalon, setting records for distance and time. In 1917 the Meteor Company purchased the Chinese pirate ship "Ning Po", the oldest pirate ship afloat, built in 1753, and towed her to the Isthmus of Catalina Island for use as a tourist attraction and restaurant, until destroyed there by fire in 1938.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: One of the main investors to purchase shares from the Bannings was chewing-gum magnate William Wrigley, Jr. In 1919, Wrigley bought out nearly every share-holder until he owned controlling interest in the Santa Catalina Island Company. Wrigley invested millions in needed infrastructure and attractions to the island, including the construction of the Catalina Casino which opened on May 29, 1929. Wrigley also sought to bring publicity to the island through events and spectacles. Starting in 1921, the Chicago Cubs, also owned by Wrigley, used the island for the team's spring training. The Cubs continued to use the island for spring training until 1951, except during the war years of 1942 to 1945. Following the death of Wrigley, Jr. in 1932, control of the Santa Catalina Island Company passed down to his son, Philip K. Wrigley, who continued his father's work improving the infrastructure of the island.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: During World War II, the island was closed to tourists and used for military training facilities. Catalina's steamships were expropriated for use as troop transports and a number of military camps were established. The U.S. Maritime Service set up a training facility in Avalon, the Coast Guard had training at Two Harbors, the Army Signal Corps maintained a radar station in the interior, the Office of Strategic Services did training at Toyon Bay, and the Navy did underwater demolition training at Emerald Bay.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: In 1972, the Brown Berets, a group of Latino activists, Chicanos and Mexican residents took the Santa Catalina Island, invoking the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which has no mention of the islands.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: On February 15, 1975, Philip Wrigley deeded of the island from the Santa Catalina Island Company to the Catalina Island Conservancy that he had helped to establish in 1972. This gave the Conservancy control of nearly 90 percent of the island. The balance of the Santa Catalina Island Company that was not deeded to the Conservancy maintains control of much of its resort properties and operations on the island.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: Actress Natalie Wood drowned in the waters near the settlement of Two Harbors over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in 1981 in what was ruled an accidental death. Wood and her husband, Robert Wagner, were vacationing aboard their motor yacht, "Splendour," along with their guest, Christopher Walken, and "Splendour" captain, Dennis Davern. As a result of statements by Davern, and other factors, Wood's death certificate was altered to indicate the cause was "drowning and other undetermined factors"


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: In May 2007, Catalina experienced the Island Fire, a large wildfire. Largely due to the assistance of 200 Los Angeles County fire fighters transported by U.S. Marine Corps helicopters and U.S Navy hovercraft, only a few structures were destroyed, though of wildland were burned. In May 2011, another wildfire started near the Isthmus Yacht Club and was fought by 120 firefighters transported by barge from Los Angeles. It was extinguished the next day after burning .


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: Catalina is primarily composed of two distinct rock units: Catalina Schist from the Early Cretaceous (95 to 109 million years ago), and Miocene volcanic and intrusive igneous rocks. The island is rich in quartz, to the extent that some beaches on the seaward side have silvery-grey sand. These formations originally occurred on the ocean floor and emerged from the ocean through tectonic activity. This means that the Santa Catalina Island land-mass was never directly connected to mainland California. Other geologic factors that contributed to the island topography include further geologic uplift and subsidence, tectonic plate movement, sedimentation, metamorphic activity, weathering, and erosion.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: Santa Catalina Island has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification "Csb") with very mild winters. The National Weather Service maintains cooperative weather records at the Santa Catalina airport. The average January temperatures are a maximum of and a minimum of . Average July temperatures are a maximum of and a minimum of . There are an average of 12.5 days with highs of or higher and an average of 0.3 days with lows of or lower. The record high temperature was on July 6, 2018, and the record low temperature was on January 11, 1949. Coastal high fog is common during summer, but usually burns off by the afternoon.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: Average annual precipitation at the airport is ; the highest mountain peaks get up to per year. There are an average of 45 days with measurable precipitation. The wettest year was 1952 with and the driest year was 1964 with . The most precipitation in one month was in January 1952. The most precipitation in 24 hours was on December 5, 1966. Snowfall is a rarity on the island, averaging only a year at the airport, but fell in 1949, including in January.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: Since Catalina Island was never connected to mainland California, it originally lacked any terrestrial life. Any plants or animals that arrived on the island had to make their way across miles of open ocean. The original species to come to the island arrived by chance by blowing over on the wind, drifting or swimming over the ocean, or flown over by wing. Starting with the Native Americans and continuing today, animals and plants have also been introduced by humans, both intentionally or accidentally.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: Catalina is home to at least fifty endemic species and subspecies that occur naturally on the island and nowhere else in the world. This limited distribution of a species may result from the extinction of the original population on the mainland combined with its continued survival on the island where there may be fewer threats to its continued existence.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: The most common native plant communities of Catalina Island are chaparral, coastal sage scrub, island oak-ironwood woodland and grassland. Eucalyptus trees are the most common introduced plant.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: About 400 species of native plants grow on the island. Six species, subspecies or varieties are endemic and can be found only on Catalina Island. These plants are: Catalina manzanita ("Arctostaphylos catalinae"); Catalina mahogany ("Cercocarpus traskiae"); Catalina dudleya ("Dudleya hassei"); St. Catherine's lace ("Eriogonum giganteum" var. "giganteum"); Santa Catalina bedstraw ("Galium catalinense" ssp. "catalinense"); and Santa Catalina Island ironwood ("Lyonothamnus floribundus" ssp. "floribundus"). A disjunctive population of toyon var. "macrocarpa" is also a Santa Catalina endemic. These plants may be seen at the island's Wrigley Memorial & Botanical Gardens.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: The island is home to five native land mammals: the island fox, the "Spermophilus beecheyi nesioticus" subspecies of California ground squirrel, the Santa Catalina Island harvest mouse ("Reithrodontomys megalotis catalinae"), the Santa Catalina Island deer mouse ("Peromyscus maniculatus catalinae"), and the ornate shrew ("Sorex ornatus"). Only one ornate shrew was ever found, from a now-developed spring area above Avalon. Shrews are difficult to capture and may survive in wetter areas of the island.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: The Catalina orangetip butterfly is a notable insect on the island. The Southern Pacific rattlesnake ("Crotalus oreganus helleri") is also present on the island. This species should not be confused for the Santa Catalina rattlesnake, found on Santa Catalina Island, Mexico.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: The Catalina Island bison herd consists of American bison maintained and monitored by the Catalina Island Conservancy. In the 1920s to 1930s, several bison were brought onto Catalina Island for a movie. The bison are popular with the tourists and buildings have painted images of bison and bison weather vanes. Over the decades, the bison herd grew to as many as 600. The population currently numbers approximately 150.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: Other non-native animals currently living on the island include the blackbuck, bullfrog, feral cat, mule deer, rat, and common starling. Mule deer were introduced to the island in the 1920s and 30s, and currently have a population density roughly 10 times that of California generally. The island was also previously home to populations of cattle, feral goat, feral pig, and sheep, but these animals are no longer present.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: According to the Catalina Island Conservancy, there are 37 resident bird species on the island. Considerably more marine, pelagic, and migrating birds frequent the island, and 127 species have been reported to the Cornell University eBird database from 10 different eBird hotspots. There are several live camera feeds showing bald eagle nests on the island; nests are active February–July.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: In the waters surrounding the island, there are schools of fish like Garibaldi, California sheephead, leopard sharks, white seabass, yellowtail, bat rays, giant sea bass, and many more. Great white sharks are also occasionally found or caught off the coast of Catalina, though usually around seal rookeries and not around inhabited areas. Common marine mammals around Catalina include California sea lions and harbor seals.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: The Catalina macaw, a type of hybrid parrot, was first bred at Catalina Bird Park in 1940 and is named after Santa Catalina Island.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: Most of the island is managed by the Catalina Island Conservancy, a private nonprofit organization. The mission of the Catalina Island Conservancy is to be a steward of its lands through a balance of conservation, education and recreation. The Conservancy protects the natural and cultural heritage of Santa Catalina Island, stewarding approximately of land (88 percent of the island), of shoreline, an airport, and more than of roads.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: One of the Conservancy's key goals is the conservation of the island fox, an endangered endemic species. In 1999, all but 100 out of 1,300 foxes on Catalina Island were wiped out because of a virulent strain of canine distemper. Following a successful recovery program which included captive breeding, distemper vaccinations and population monitoring, the Catalina fox community has been restored to more than 1570 in 2018. However, mysterious, usually fatal ear tumors continue to plague the Catalina fox. Three Catalina Island Conservancy wildlife biologists continue to monitor the population through pit tagging, trapping and inspection. The conservancy group vaccinates around 300 foxes every year and monitors 50 unvaccinated foxes via radio collar to watch for signs of new disease outbreaks. The current leading cause of death among Island Foxes is road strikes; to combat this, the Conservancy installed new signage about Island Foxes. The Conservancy also introduced wild-life proof trash cans to protect foxes from human garbage, informs boaters about the possibility and danger of wildlife stowaways, and asks dog owners to keep their animals leashed.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: The Institute for Wildlife Studies, a separate conservation organization, has worked to restore bald eagles to the island on Conservancy land since the late 1970s. Bald eagles had been common on the island until the 1960s, when it is believed that the effects of dumping the pesticide DDT off the coast of Southern California made it impossible for eagles to successfully hatch their young. The reintroduction of the bald eagle to the island may also edge out an invasive golden eagle population that threatens the native island fox.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: Over one million people travel to Catalina Island every year, accounting for $166.7 million in annual direct spending on the Island.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: Glass bottom boats tour the reefs and shipwrecks of the area, and scuba diving and snorkeling are popular in the clear water. Lover's Cove, to the east of Avalon, and Descanso Beach, to the west of the Casino, are popular places to dive. At Casino Point is the Avalon Underwater Dive Park, which was the first non-profit underwater park in the United States. The area flying fish and the bright orange Garibaldi are attractions. Parasailing is also offered. Jeep and bus tours are given of the interior, which is a conservation area managed by the Catalina Island Conservancy. The Catalina Island Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Bureau operates the official island visitor center and provides visitor services assists tourists with any information on how to get to Catalina Island.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: Two Harbors is the second, and much smaller, resort village on the island. Located at the isthmus of the island, northwest of Avalon, it is the primary landing spot for those who wish to tour the western half of the island. It is accessible by boat from San Pedro and by bus or boat from Avalon. While tourists rarely have an opportunity to surf, two beaches on the back side of Catalina offer good waves: Shark Harbor and Ben Weston Beach. There are also two camps, Camp Cherry Valley and Camp Emerald Bay, on the northeastern end of the island that offer summer camps for children and Boy Scouts.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: The Catalina Island Museum, formerly located in the historic Catalina Casino but since 2016 in a standalone building, is also an attraction as it is the keeper of the island's cultural heritage with collections numbering over 100,000 items and including over 8,000 years of Native American history, over 10,000 photographs and images, a large collection of Catalina-made pottery and tiles, ship models, and much more. The museum features dynamic exhibits on this history, an art gallery, special exhibitions traveling from around the world, and a unique Museum Store. Programs include First Fridays at the Museum, an annual tour of the historic Tuna Club, a Holiday Symphony Concert, book signings, gallery talks, an annual silent film benefit and more. From 1927 until 1937, pottery and tiles were made on the island at the Catalina Clay Products Company, and these items are now highly sought-after collectibles.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: Children in Avalon attend schools in the Long Beach Unified School District. There were two schools on Catalina Island. Two Harbors was served by a one-room school house, but it closed down in 2014; students must now travel to Avalon for all grades K–12. Avalon schools are housed on one main campus that includes Avalon Elementary School, Avalon Middle School and Avalon High School. Thousands of school-age youths travel from the mainland to study at the Catalina Island Marine Institute every year.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: There is also a branch of the County of Los Angeles Public Library system in downtown Avalon, adjacent to the Sheriff's office.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: The USC Wrigley Marine Science Center houses research and teaching facilities at Big Fisherman's Cove, near Two Harbors, for the USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies. Maintained by the University of Southern California and named for Philip K. Wrigley, it consists of a laboratory building, dormitory housing, cafeteria, a hyperbaric chamber, and a large waterfront staging area complete with dock, pier, helipad, and diving lockers. The facility was expanded with a donation from the Wrigley family in 1995. The institute is open for public visits as part of its "Saturdays at the Lab" program.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: Catalina is the starting point for the Catalina Channel swim, the second jewel in the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming, along with the English Channel, and Manhattan Island. In 1927, a 17-year-old Canadian swimmer, George Young, became the first person to complete a crossing from Catalina Island to the mainland of California in a time of 15:44.30. Since then, over 500 men and women have completed the 20.1 mile swim from Doctor's Cove on Catalina to the mainland near Point Vicente Lighthouse and Rancho Palos Verdes.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: Catalina is serviced by passenger ferries operated by Catalina Express, Catalina Classic Cruises, and Catalina Flyer. Ferries depart from Long Beach and San Pedro in Los Angeles County as well as Dana Point and Newport Beach in Orange County. The crossing takes approximately an hour.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: Catalina has also been an active port of call for many cruise lines since the 1990s, with Royal Caribbean, Princess Cruises, and Carnival Cruise Lines making the port a regular stop on Baja cruises. The ships anchor about 1,000 feet off Avalon Harbor. Passengers disembark through shore boat tendering services.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: The island is also home to the Catalina Airport (FAA Identifier: AVX), also known as Airport-in-the-Sky. The airport terminal was built in 1946 through the efforts of Dick Probert. The runway was built by Philip Wrigley in 1941, who leveled two adjacent hilltops and filled the canyon between them. It was called Buffalo Springs Airport, and was not opened for public use until 1946. By the 2000s the 3,000' (900m) runway was in serious disrepair, and arrangements were made in 2018 to have the Marines replace it with a concrete runway. The work was performed in January 2019, and the airport was returned to service on 3 May. The airport is located northwest of Avalon. The runway is above sea level. Until the time of the airport's construction, the only scheduled passenger air service to the island was provided by seaplanes and helicopters at the Pebbly Beach Seaplane Base (FAA Identifier: L11).


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: The use of motor vehicles on the island is restricted; there is a limit on the number of full-sized vehicles, which translates into a 14-year-long wait list to bring a private car to the island. Most residents use golf carts or mini cars for transportation. Because of these restrictions, there is no regularly scheduled vehicle ferry service. Tourists can hire a taxi from Catalina Transportation Services. Bicycles are also a popular mode of transportation. There are a number of bicycle and golf cart rental agencies on the island. Only the city of Avalon is open to the public without restrictions. The only major road into the back country is Stage Road. Under an agreement with Los Angeles County, the Conservancy has granted an easement to allow day hiking and mountain biking, but visitors must first obtain a permit at the Conservancy's office (on which they declare the parts of the island they intend to visit). Hiking permits are free, whereas bicycle permits are available for a fee.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: Catalina's isolation offered good opportunities to experiment with new communication technologies throughout its history. The first of these communication innovations was the use of pigeons by Catalina's gold prospectors. Homing pigeons delivered messages to the mainland in 45 minutes, compared to 10 days to deliver mail from Isthmus to Wilmington by regular post in 1864. Even today, Avalon Post Office does not match the airmail service enjoyed by the miners. Pigeons were used to deliver messages for Catalina residents until 1899. By 1902, the first commercial wireless telegraph station was built in Avalon where the Chimes Tower now stands.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: On July 16, 1920, the world's first commercial wireless radiotelephone toll circuit was opened to the public between San Pedro and Avalon. Designed by and installed under the direction of Western Electric Company/Bell Labs engineer Lewis M. Clement (1892–1979), the system drew other engineers from all over the world to study it. The Avalon telephone directory in 1920 listed 52 subscribers serviced by a manual switchboard. People stood for hours to use this new technology, the only drawback of which was that all conversations could be monitored by anyone listening to their radio. Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Co. solved that problem with the installation of two submarine cables running 23 miles from Avalon to San Pedro in 1923. Another communication first touched Catalina when the world's first commercial microwave telephone system was installed in 1946. Although microwave telephones had been used for wartime applications, this was the first peacetime use of this technology.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: Catalina's isolation also left the island as the last central office in the US Bell System to operate entirely using manual switchboard operators. The Catalina Island exchange was converted to dial in 1978. The island shares area code 310 and overlay area code 424 with parts of Ventura and Los Angeles County.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) operates the Avalon Station serving Santa Catalina Island.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: Fire Protection is provided by the Avalon Fire Department inside city limits, and by the Los Angeles County Fire Department in other areas of the island. Two county fire stations are located on Catalina Island: Station #55 is located just outside Avalon in Avalon Canyon and on-call firefighters staff Station #155 in Two Harbors.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: Paramedic and lifeguard services are provided by the County Fire Department's Lifeguard Division, also known as Baywatch. Catalina Island Medical Center, located in Avalon, is the island's only hospital/medical center. It operates around the clock. Baywatch operates Baywatch Rescue/Lifeguard Boats.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: For decades the water was supplied primarily by a reservoir. Forty percent of drinking water on the island is provided by a desalination plant that opened in Avalon in 2016.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: Avalon's sewer system was identified by researchers as the cause of ocean pollution in 2011. Many of the city's century-old clay and metal pipes had deteriorated to the point where they had vanished, allowing human sewage to enter the into the bay. From 2000 to 2013, 11 out of 13 annual reports released by the Natural Resources Defense Council listed Avalon as one of the 10 most chronically polluted beaches in the nation for failing state health tests as much as 73% of the time. In February 2012, a cease and desist order was issued against the City for illegally discharging polluted water into the bay. The city invested $5.7 million on sewer main improvements and inspection and tracking systems. The 2014 report showed that water quality had improved, and Avalon Beach was removed from the list of the most polluted beaches.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: In its heyday in the 1930s, due to its proximity to Hollywood, Catalina Island was a favored getaway destination for Hollywood stars such as Clark Gable. The island also served as a filming location for dozens of movies.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: The 2008 movie "Step Brothers" features a so-called Catalina Wine Mixer event. While the scene in the movie was filmed at the Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes, the real island can be seen offshore in the background. The movie inspired a real-life Catalina Wine Mixer, hosted by the Catalina Island Company every year.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: The island is mentioned in the 2020 action-adventure game The Last of Us Part II, and the Catalina Casino building features as the backdrop of the loading screen after the game is completed.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: In 1920, the song "Avalon", which directly references the town of Avalon on the island, was popularized by Al Jolson.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: In 1958, The Four Preps released the song "26 Miles (Santa Catalina)", which reached number two on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and number six on the "Billboard" R&B chart.


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: The 1982 Descendents album Milo Goes to College references a fishing trip to the island in a song named "Catalina".


title: Santa Catalina Island (California)

text: Apple's desktop operating system, macOS Catalina, announced on June 3 2019 at WWDC, is named after this region.


title: Chitrangada Singh

text: Chitrangda Singh (born 30 August 1976) is an Indian actress who works primarily in Hindi cinema. She made her acting debut in 2005 with "Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi" for which she won Bollywood Movie Award – Best Female Debut.


title: Chitrangada Singh

text: Singh has starred in films like "Yeh Saali Zindagi" (2011), "Desi Boyz" (2011), "I, Me Aur Main" (2013), "Baazaar" (2018) and "Bob Biswas" (2021). She turned Producer with the film "Soorma" (2018).


title: Chitrangada Singh

text: Chitrangda Singh was born in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, growing up there as well as in Kota, Rajasthan, and also Bareilly and Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, the latter city being the last where her father, Col. Niranjan Singh, an ex-Indian Army officer with a transferable job, was posted. Her brother Digvijay Singh Chahal is a golfer. After her schooling in Meerut at Sophia Girls' School, she completed her graduation in Home Science (food and nutrition) from Lady Irwin College, New Delhi.


title: Chitrangada Singh

text: Chitrangda Singh was married to golfer Jyoti Randhawa. After a five-year-long courtship, the couple married in 2001. They have a son named Zorawar. Chitrangada and her husband separated in 2013 and then formally got divorced in April 2015. The custody of their son was granted to Chitrangada.


title: Chitrangada Singh

text: Singh began her career as a model before making the transition to the silver screen. After completing her college education she began modeling with brands like ICICI bank and Alukkas Jewellery among others. She got fame highlighted in Tum To Thehre Pardesi Album sung by Altaf Raja.


title: Chitrangada Singh

text: She drew attention after performing in a music video "Sunset Point" by Gulzar. A music video of singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya followed.


title: Chitrangada Singh

text: Singh made her much acclaimed debut with Sudhir Mishra's film "Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi" in 2005. The role got her wide acclaim: a review in "The Washington Post" noted her for giving "her character a deep sense of dignity and decency." After that Chitrangada acted in the 2005 film "Kal: Yesterday and Tomorrow".


title: Chitrangada Singh

text: She took a break from acting from 2005 to 2008. In 2008, she made her comeback with the leading role opposite Sanjay Suri in the director Onir's romantic-comedy, "Sorry Bhai!". Its release over the weekend of the Mumbai terror attacks proved disastrous at the box office.


title: Chitrangada Singh

text: She starred in Rohit Dhawan's "Desi Boyz" in 2011.she played the role of an economics teacher opposite Akshay Kumar. "Desi Boyz" also starred John Abraham and Deepika Padukone.


title: Chitrangada Singh

text: Her next movie was "I, Me Aur Main" with John Abraham in 2013. She got together again with her mentor Sudhir Mishra for a short movie "Kirchiyaan" and for the film "Inkaar" in 2013. In 2014, she then appeared in a special song with Suriya in Tamil film "Anjaan".


title: Chitrangada Singh

text: In 2015, she again performed a special song with Akshay Kumar for the second time in his film, "Gabbar Is Back". She will next be seen in "Bob Biswas".


title: Chitrangada Singh

text: Singh is a brand ambassador for Airtel, Parachute, Puma, Borges Olive Oil, Garnier, Aliva Crackers, Taj Mahal Tea and Joyalukkas Jewellers. She also endorses Tata Group's Tanishq and Titan Eye Plus.


title: Kate Dickie

text: Kate Dickie (born 1971) is a Scottish actress who has appeared in television series, stage plays and films. She is known for her television roles as Lex in the BBC series "Tinsel Town" (2000–2001) and Lysa Arryn in the HBO series "Game of Thrones" (2011, 2014).


title: Kate Dickie

text: Dickie is also known for her portrayal of the security operative Jackie in her 2006 feature-film debut "Red Road", directed by Andrea Arnold, for which she won several awards, including Best Actress at the British Academy Scotland Awards and the British Independent Film Award for Best Actress. She again won Best Actress at the 2016 British Academy Scotland Awards for the film "Couple in a Hole". Her other film appearances include "Prometheus" (2012), "Filth" (2013), "The Witch" (2015), and "" (2017).


title: Kate Dickie

text: She supports the theatre company Solar Bear, which is known for its collaborations with deaf people, in part through her role as a patron.


title: Kate Dickie

text: Dickie was born in East Kilbride, Scotland. She spent part of her childhood in different parts of Scotland, Wigtownshire, Galloway, Perthshire and Ayrshire, due to frequent moves by her family. From an early age she discovered her passion for acting, which her parents supported. Coming from a working-class family (her father was a farmer and gardener) in which no family member had been in the arts before, she was embarrassed to call herself an actress since she was afraid to be called pretentious.


title: Kate Dickie

text: Her desire for drama classes supported her to overcome her insecurities that appeared through the frequent school changes and helped her dealing with adjusting to new people and surroundings. After leaving school she went to college in Kirkcaldy to study for a national certificate in drama. In 1990, she won a place at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and decided to stay in Glasgow.


title: Kate Dickie

text: Dickie started to work in theatre. She achieved her breakthrough in 2000, in the BBC Scotland / Raindog series "Tinsel Town".


title: Kate Dickie

text: Through Dickie's performance in her film debut "Red Road" with her former drama school mate and co-star Tony Curran, she gained more recognition as a serious actress.


title: Kate Dickie

text: In the stage play "Aalst", based on the true story of a couple who had killed their children and were sentenced in a high-profile trial, Dickie plays one of the parents. Her motivation to perform this role was her feeling of "responsibility to play people like that and to give them a voice. People that are not necessarily good or nice and have good lives."


title: Kate Dickie

text: Dickie reprised the role of Jackie in "Donkeys", a follow-up to "Red Road" which is directed by Morag McKinnon. She portrayed Mary in the United Kingdom supernatural thriller film "Outcast". Dickie was a swimming trainer in the 2010 television film "Dive".


title: Kate Dickie

text: In 2018, Dickie appeared in a season 5 episode of "Shetland". In 2020, she appeared with Emma Stansfield in the music video for Sleaford Mods' previously unreleased song "Second".


title: King Ranch

text: King Ranch is the largest ranch in the United States. At some it is larger than the state of Rhode Island and country of Luxembourg. It is mainly a cattle ranch, but also produced the Triple Crown winning racehorse Assault.


title: King Ranch

text: The ranch is located in South Texas between Corpus Christi and Brownsville adjacent to Kingsville. It was founded in 1853 by Captain Richard King and Gideon K. Lewis. It includes portions of six Texas counties; most of Kleberg and much of Kenedy, with portions extending into Brooks, Jim Wells, Nueces, and Willacy counties.


title: King Ranch

text: The ranch does not consist of one single contiguous plot of land, but rather four large sections called divisions. The divisions are the Santa Gertrudis, the Laureles, the Encino and the Norias. Only the first two of the four divisions border each other, and that border is relatively short. The ranch was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961. The Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame inducted the ranch in 2019. King Ranch was one of the very first ranches to be added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966 because of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 which was signed that same day.


title: King Ranch

text: Richard King (1824–1885) was a river pilot, born in New York City to Irish immigrants. He was indentured to a jeweler at age 11, but later ran to sea, eventually attaining a pilot's rating. In 1843, King first met his future business partner in the King Ranch, Mifflin Kenedy (1818–1895), captain of the steamboat "Champion". Both served under General Zachary Taylor (later the 12th US president) operating steamboats from Brazos Santiago Harbor in Texas, USA, to Matamoros in Mexico, and on up river to Camargo, Tamaulipas, in support of the U.S. invasion of Monterrey and Saltillo. After the Mexican–American War, King made a good living hauling merchandise on the Rio Grande, as far up river as Camargo, and Rio Grande City. In the meantime, Kenedy was able to make money by carrying goods overland into Mexico. By March 1, 1850, King, Kenedy, Charles Stillman, founder of Brownsville, and James O'Donnell entered into a business partnership (M. Kenedy & Co.) to transport Stillman's goods from Brazos Santiago Harbor on the Gulf of Mexico and up the Rio Grande. The enterprise required two types of steamers — the "Grampus" and "Comanche". During the American Civil War, the steamboat fleet was reflagged under the name of the Matamoros, Mexico citizen Francisco Iturria and the Mexican flag. As Mexico was a neutral country, the steamboats could not be stopped by Union blockaders, and engaged in a lively commerce of transporting Texas cotton to many deep-water ships anchored offshore Matamoros, on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande. Stillman sold his share of the enterprise after the Civil War; the new firm operated as King, Kenedy & Co. until 1874.


title: King Ranch

text: King first saw the land that would become part of the King Ranch in April 1852 as he traveled north from Brownsville to attend the Lone Star Fair in Corpus Christi, a four-day trip by horseback. After a grueling ride, King caught sight of the Santa Gertrudis Creek, from the Rio Grande. It was the first stream he had seen on the Wild Horse Desert. The land, which was shaded by large mesquite trees, so impressed him, when he arrived at the fair, he and a friend, Texas Ranger Captain Gideon K. "Legs" Lewis, agreed then and there to make it into a ranch.


title: King Ranch

text: King and Lewis established a cow camp on Santa Gertrudis Creek. During this time, Richard King purchased the "Rincón de Santa Gertrudis" grant, a holding that encompassed present-day Kingsville, Texas. It was purchased from the heirs of Juan Mendiola of Camargo on July 25, 1853, for $300. King sold Lewis an undivided half-interest in the land for $2,000. At the same time, Lewis sold King undivided half-interest in the ranchos of Manuel Barrera and of Juan Villareal for the same sum, on November 14, 1853. In 1854, King and Lewis purchased the "de la Garza Santa Gertrudis" grant from Praxides Uribe of Matamoros for $1,800, on the condition of a perfected title (complete documentation of the land grant) on May 20, 1854 to . As the years passed, more land was added, growing to 1.2 million acres (1,875 sq mi, 4,900 km²) at its largest extent, until reaching its current total.


title: King Ranch

text: In 1855, Lewis was killed by the husband of a woman with whom he had been having an affair. On July 1, 1856, a court sale of Lewis' property (including the undivided half-interest in the land of the Ranch) was held. King had arranged for Major W. W. Chapman (died 1859) to bid on the Rincón property, which Chapman acquired for $1,575. Chapman had been the quartermaster of Fort Brown in Brownsville, and regulated the steamboat contracts to supply Fort Ringgold, up river in Rio Grande City. Chapman's heirs published the letters home from his wife in the 1992 book "The News From Brownsville".


title: King Ranch

text: King interested Captain James Walworth in acquiring the entire de la Garza grant, which Walworth completed on December 26, 1856, for $5,000 paid to Praxides Uribe. King thus retained operational control of the Ranch, with Walworth as a silent partner who held title to the land, and who paid taxes on it.


title: King Ranch

text: King and Walworth's livestock brand was registered June 27, 1859 along with his earlier brands. (see below)


title: King Ranch

text: When King and his partners began hiring people to staff the ranch, they hired a number of Mexican hands. In one notable case, King traveled to the village of Cruillas, Tamaulipas, Mexico in the early months of 1854 (the village having been decimated by a severe drought) and purchased the village's entire cattle population. But shortly after leaving the village, King realized that, by solving the village's short-term problem by providing needed income to survive the drought, he created a longer-term one, by removing its source of future income. King thus returned to Cruillas and offered the villagers the opportunity to work for him, in exchange for food, shelter, and income. Many of the villagers accepted King's offer and relocated to Texas. As the ranch grew, these workers came to be called "kineños", or "King's men". Over time, some original grantees returned to their land. King once said he "could not have kept on and held on if Andrés Canales had not been adjoining."


title: King Ranch

text: Records show a Mexican range cow cost $6 in 1854, a mustang horse cost $6, and a stud horse cost $200–300. In sum, in 1854, King paid $12,275.79. Lea estimated the 1855 expenses were smaller. The first brand was the "ere flecha" (an R with arrow through it).


title: King Ranch

text: In 1859, the ranch recorded its first official brands (HK and LK). In 1869, the ranch registered its "Running W" brand, which remains the King Ranch's official mark today. At the time, the ranch grazed cattle, horses, sheep and goats. By the mid-1870s, though, the ranch's hallmark stock had become the hardy Texas Longhorn. The ranch also boasted several Brahman bulls, as well as Beef Shorthorns and Herefords.


title: King Ranch

text: The Brahmans, which were native to South Asia, were well adapted to thrive in South Texas' hot climate; they were crossed with the ranch's Beef Shorthorns to produce the ranch's own trademark stock — the Santa Gertrudis cattle, which were recognized as a breed in 1940.


title: King Ranch

text: Lea portrays King's purchase of the Ranch as motivated by his wooing of Henrietta Maria Morse Chamberlain (1832–1925), whom he married in the First Presbyterian Church, Brownsville, on Sunday, December 10, 1854. The King Ranch HK livestock brand stands for Henrietta King.


title: King Ranch

text: In the United States Civil War, initially, the disruption of the flow of cattle to market caused a drop in beef prices. In 1861, the price of cattle dropped to $2 a head, rising to $11 per head by August 1862.


title: King Ranch

text: The 1863–1864 winter pushed uncounted cattle south toward the Nueces River and Rio Grande. By the end of the Civil War, the Texas Rangers were disbanded by the following reconstruction of the United States. It became too tempting to simply herd cattle across the Nueces or Rio Grande.


title: King Ranch

text: Even in this time of loss, by 1869, King was able to round up 48,664 of an estimated 84,000 head of cattle. Allowing for 10,000 remaining, King claimed a loss of 33,827 head from 1869 to 1872.


title: King Ranch

text: To handle depredations (rustling), the ranchers formed the Stock Raisers Association of Western Texas in 1870; Mifflin Kenedy led the first meeting.


title: King Ranch

text: By 1870, 300,000 head of cattle made their way from the West to the railroads of Kansas, and thence to the stockyards of Chicago. On a Texas ranch, a steer worth $11 would bring $20 from a buyer in Abilene. The buyer in turn could ask $31.50 at the Union Stock Yards. King could drive his cattle for a hundred days to the railheads of Kansas.


title: King Ranch

text: By 1871, though, 700,000 head of cattle caused a market glut, which King avoided by personal negotiation in Abilene.


title: King Ranch

text: King managed to avoid the September 19, 1873, 'Black Friday panic' by selling early. During the lean year that followed, King continued to fence his land, and manage his cattle, horses and sheep.


title: King Ranch

text: One technique King used to manage costs was to make his trail bosses the owners of the herd. The bosses would sign a note for the cattle, which they would begin to drive to market in February of each year, for the 100-day drive. The bosses were also the employers of the outfit. Upon the sale of the herd to the northern buyers, the trail bosses could relieve their indebtedness, and earn a profit greater than their ordinary wages.


title: King Ranch

text: At the death of Henrietta King in 1925, the ranch totaled 1.2 million acres that were divided among her heirs. Bob Kleberg and his wife Alice inherited over 800,000 acres that were incorporated as the King Ranch in 1934. The appraiser's "Statement of Gross Estate, Mrs. H. M. King" listed a net total of $5.4 million, as the owner of 997,444.56 acres (4,036.5 km), which did not include the Santa Gertrudis headquarters, nor did it include the Kleberg's Stillman and Lasater tracts, which were not of the estate. Her son-in-law, Bob Kleberg, Sr., said "A valuation of four to five dollars an acre ($1236/km²) on a million acres (4000 km²) of raw ranchland was about right, but it took a long time for the Government to admit it." By 1929, the taxes ($859,000) had been paid up, in installments, but the trustees had to borrow money, so by the market crash of 1929, Henrietta King's estate was in debt $3,000,000.


title: King Ranch

text: Robert Justus Kleberg Jr. and Alice Gertrudis King had one child named Helen. In 1933, Robert Jr. leased the exploration and drilling rights on the ranch to Humble Oil of Houston, Texas for $127,824, in exchange for the usual royalty of 1/8 of every barrel of oil (20 L) pumped from the property. Humble Oil loaned enough money to pay the debts of the H.M. King estate, secured by a first mortgage on the land. Humble struck oil and gas by 1939. During all of this, the Ranch was a going concern, with a net profit of $227,382, as early as 1926. Kleberg was married to Helen Campbell, and together they had one child they named Helen.


title: King Ranch

text: Lauro Cavazos, who served as the first Hispanic United States Cabinet officer, was born on the King Ranch during his father's service as a ranch foreman in January, 1927.


title: King Ranch

text: On November 18, 1936, Luther Blanton and his son, John, trespassed on the ranch by crawling through the fence surrounding it. They had intended to hunt ducks and nearby residents reported hearing shots fired. Shortly thereafter, locals organized a group to force their way onto the ranch around the area where they were known to have gone hunting. However, neither Blanton nor his son were ever seen again. A subsequent police investigation resulted in no arrests. Although most residents suspected them being murdered by ranch guards for trespassing, it remains a long-standing unsolved mystery.


title: King Ranch

text: In 1999, the Ford Motor Company began using the King Ranch brand on its vehicles. Over the years there have been King Ranch versions of the Ford F-150, Super Duty, Explorer, and the Expedition. The vehicles include dark brown leather seats, and the badges show the King Ranch 'Running W' brand.


title: King Ranch

text: Edna Ferber's novel "Giant" of the ranches of Texas was turned into a film of the same name. Many of the events of the King Ranch, such as the discovery of oil on the property, are also in the film. Working-class millionaires can still be found in the oil towns of Texas, as well.


title: King Ranch

text: "Forever Texas," the 2022 historical western novel by bestselling authors William W. Johnstone and J.A. Johnstone, is based on the true story of the founding of King Ranch.


title: King Ranch

text: In the James Michener novel "Centennial", the Venneford Ranch was said to be patterned after the King Ranch.


title: King Ranch

text: The historical fiction novel "Lords of the Land" by Matt Braun is based on the King Ranch and its founder, although names and some circumstance have been altered.


title: King Ranch

text: A cowboy's perspective on the King Ranch subsidiary in Australia, the cattle station Brunette Downs, is captured in the 2012 autobiography by Nick Campbell-Jones "Don't Die Wondering". Campbell-Jones was a jackaroo (Australian cowboy) who started at Brunette Downs in 1963 and worked his way up to overseer and assistant manager before leaving in 1975.


title: Albert Einstein's brain

text: The brain of Albert Einstein has been a subject of much research and speculation. Albert Einstein's brain was removed within seven and a half hours of his death. His apparent regularities or irregularities in the brain have been used to support various ideas about correlations in neuroanatomy with general or mathematical intelligence. Studies have suggested an increased number of glial cells in Einstein's brain.


title: Albert Einstein's brain

text: Einstein's autopsy was conducted in the lab of Thomas Stoltz Harvey. Shortly after Einstein's death in 1955, Harvey removed and weighed the brain at 1230g. Harvey then took the brain to a lab at the University of Pennsylvania where he dissected it into several pieces. Some of the pieces he kept to himself while others were given to leading pathologists. He hoped that cytoarchitectonics, the study of brain cells under a microscope, would reveal useful information. Harvey injected 50% formalin through the internal carotid arteries and afterward suspended the intact brain in 10% formalin. He also photographed the brain from many angles.


title: Albert Einstein's brain

text: Harvey dissected the brain into about 240 blocks (each about 1 cm) and encased the segments in a plastic-like material called collodion. Harvey also removed Einstein's eyes. He gave them to Henry Abrams, Einstein's ophthalmologist.


title: Albert Einstein's brain

text: Whether or not Einstein's brain was preserved with his prior consent is a matter of dispute. Ronald Clark's 1979 biography of Einstein states "he had insisted that his brain should be used for research and that he be cremated." More recent research has suggested that the brain was removed and preserved without the permission of either Einstein or his close relatives. Hans Albert Einstein, the physicist's elder son, endorsed the removal after the event. However, he insisted that his father's brain should be used only for research to be published in scientific journals of high standing.


title: Albert Einstein's brain

text: In 1978, Einstein's brain was rediscovered in Harvey's possession by journalist Steven Levy. Its sections had been preserved in alcohol in two large mason jars within a cider box for over 20 years.


title: Albert Einstein's brain

text: The brain was driven across many U.S. states and to Hamilton, Ontario, accompanied by Harvey. A journalist and chauffeur, Michael Paterniti, wrote about some of the journeying that took place in 1997.


title: Albert Einstein's brain

text: In 2010, Harvey's heirs transferred all of his holdings constituting the remains of Einstein's brain to the National Museum of Health and Medicine. This included 14 photographs of the whole brain (which was now in fragments), never before revealed to the public.


title: Albert Einstein's brain

text: More recently, 46 small portions of Einstein's brain were acquired by the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia. In 2013, segments of the brain went on exhibit in the museum's permanent galleries. The exhibit featured thin slices of Einstein's brain, mounted on microscope slides.


title: Albert Einstein's brain

text: Harvey had reported that Einstein had no parietal operculum in either hemisphere, but this finding has been disputed.<ref name="doi10.1093/brain/aws295"></ref> Photographs of the brain show an enlarged Sylvian fissure.


title: Albert Einstein's brain

text: In 1999, further analysis by a team at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario revealed that his parietal operculum region in the inferior frontal gyrus in the frontal lobe of the brain was vacant. Also absent was part of a bordering region called the lateral sulcus (Sylvian fissure). Researchers at McMaster University speculated that the vacancy may have enabled neurons in this part of his brain to communicate better. "This unusual brain anatomy...[missing part of the Sylvian fissure]... may explain why Einstein thought the way he did," said Professor Sandra Witelson who led the research published in "The Lancet". This study was based on photographs of the whole brain made at autopsy in 1955 by Harvey and not a direct examination of the brain. Einstein himself claimed that he thought visually rather than verbally. Professor Laurie Hall of Cambridge University, commenting on the study, said, "To say there is a definite link is one bridge too far, at the moment. So far, the case isn't proven. But magnetic resonance and other new technologies are allowing us to start to probe those very questions."


title: Albert Einstein's brain

text: In the 1980s, University of California, Berkeley professor Marian Diamond received four sections of the cortical association regions of the superior prefrontal and inferior parietal lobes in the right and left hemispheres of Albert Einstein's brain from Thomas Harvey. In 1984, Marian Diamond and her associates were the first ever to publish research on the brain of Albert Einstein. She compared the ratio of glial cells in Einstein's brain with that of the preserved brains of 11 other males. (Glial cells provide support and nutrition in the brain, form myelin, and participate in signal transmission, and are the other integral component of the brain, besides the neurons.) Dr. Diamond's laboratory made thin sections of Einstein's brain, each 6 micrometers thick. They then used a microscope to count the cells. Einstein's brain had more glial cells relative to neurons in all areas studied, but only in the left inferior parietal area was the difference statistically significant. This area is part of the association cortex, regions of the brain responsible for incorporating and synthesizing information from multiple other brain regions. A stimulating environment can increase the proportion of glial cells and the high ratio could possibly result from Einstein's life studying stimulating scientific problems.


title: Albert Einstein's brain

text: The limitation that Diamond admits in her study is that she had only one Einstein to compare with 11 brains of normal intelligence individuals. S. S. Kantha of the Osaka Bioscience Institute criticized Diamond's study, as did Terence Hines of Pace University. Other issues related to Diamond's study point out glial cells continue dividing as a person ages and although Einstein's brain was 76, it was compared to brains that averaged 64 in age (eleven male brains, 47–80 years of age). Diamond in her landmark study "On the Brain of a Scientist: Albert Einstein" noted that the 11 male individuals whose brains were used in her control base had died from nonneurologically related diseases. She also noted that "Chronological age is not necessarily a useful indicator in measuring biological systems. Environmental factors also play a strong role in modifying the conditions of the organism. One major problem in dealing with human specimens is that they do not come from controlled environments."


title: Albert Einstein's brain

text: Additionally, there is little information regarding the samples of brains that Einstein's brain was compared against such as IQ score, or other relevant factors. Diamond also admitted that research disproving the study was omitted.


title: Albert Einstein's brain

text: Dr. Dahlia Zaidel of the University of California, Los Angeles, examined two slices of Albert Einstein's brain containing the hippocampus in 2001. The hippocampus is a subcortical brain structure that plays an important role in learning and memory. The neurons on the left side of the hippocampus were found to be significantly larger than those on the right, and when compared with normal brain slices of the same area in ordinary people, there was only minimal, inconsistent asymmetry in this area. "The larger neurons in the left hippocampus, Zaidel noted, imply that Einstein's left brain may have had stronger nerve cell connections between the hippocampus and another part of the brain called the neocortex than his right. The neocortex is "where detailed, logical, analytical and innovative thinking takes place," Zaidel noted in a prepared statement."


title: Albert Einstein's brain

text: A study published in the journal "Brain" in September 2013 analyzed Einstein's corpus callosum - a large bundle of fibers that connects the two cerebral hemispheres and facilitates interhemispheric communication in the brain - using a novel technique that allowed for a higher resolution measurement of the fiber thickness. Einstein's corpus callosum was compared to two sample groups: 15 brains of elderly people and 52 brains from people aged 26. Einstein was 26 in 1905, his Annus Mirabilis (Miracle Year). The findings show that Einstein had more extensive connections between certain parts of his cerebral hemispheres compared to both younger and older control group brains.


title: Albert Einstein's brain

text: A study, "The cerebral cortex of Albert Einstein: a description and preliminary analysis of unpublished photographs", was published on November 16, 2012, in the journal "Brain". Dean Falk, an evolutionary anthropologist at Florida State University, led the study - which analyzed 14 recently discovered photographs - and described the brain: "Although the overall size and asymmetrical shape of Einstein's brain were normal, the prefrontal, somatosensory, primary motor, parietal, temporal and occipital cortices were extraordinary." There was a fourth ridge (apart from the three normal people have) in Einstein's mid-frontal lobe involved in making plans and working memory. The parietal lobes were markedly asymmetrical and a feature in Einstein's primary motor cortex may have been associated with his musical ability.


title: Albert Einstein's brain

text: Another study led by Shanghai-based East China Normal University's Department of Physics, "The Corpus Callosum of Albert Einstein's Brain: Another Clue to His High Intelligence", published in the journal "Brain" on September 24, 2013, showed a new technique to conduct the study, which is the first to detail Einstein's corpus callosum, the brain's largest bundle of fibers that connects the two cerebral hemispheres and facilitates interhemispheric communication. Einstein's corpus callosum was thicker than those in control groups, possibly indicating better cooperation between the hemispheres. Scientists currently cannot tell how far the unusual features above were innate or how far they were due to Einstein's devoting his life to higher thought.


title: Albert Einstein's brain

text: Publication bias may have influenced published results, which means that results showing differences between Einstein's brain and other brains tend to get published while results showing that in many respects Einstein's brain was like other brains tend to be neglected. Researchers knew which brain was Einstein's and which were controls, allowing possible conscious or unconscious bias and preventing impartial research.


title: Albert Einstein's brain

text: Neurologist Terence Hines of Pace University is strongly critical of the studies and has stated that they are flawed. Hines maintains that all human brains are unique and different from others in some ways. Therefore, assuming unique features in Einstein's brain were connected with his genius, in Hines opinion, goes beyond the evidence. He argues further that correlating unusual brain features with any characteristic requires studying many brains with those features, and says that scanning the brains of many very capable scientists would be better research than investigating the brains of just one or two geniuses.


title: Albert Einstein's brain

text: Preserving the brains of geniuses was not a new phenomenon—another brain to be preserved and discussed in a similar manner was that of the German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss almost a hundred years earlier. His brain was studied by Rudolf Wagner who found its weight to be 1,492 grams and the cerebral area equal to 219,588 square millimeters. Also found were highly developed convolutions, which was suggested as the explanation of his genius. Other brains that were removed and studied include those of Vladimir Lenin, the mathematician Sofia Kovalevskaya, and the Native American Ishi. The brain of Edward H. Rulloff, a noted philologist and criminal, was removed after his death in 1871; in 1972, it was still the second largest brain on record.


title: David A. Sinclair

text: David Andrew Sinclair (born June 26, 1969) is an Australian biologist and academic known for his research on aging and epigenetics. Sinclair is a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School and is the co-director of its Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research. He is an officer of the Order of Australia (AO).


title: David A. Sinclair

text: Sinclair has appeared in "Time" magazine, "The New York Times", "The Charlie Rose Show", "60 Minutes", "Boston" magazine, "The Washington Post", "The Economist", TED and "The Joe Rogan Experience".


title: David A. Sinclair

text: David Andrew Sinclair was born in Australia in 1969, and he grew up in St Ives, New South Wales. His paternal grandmother had emigrated to Australia following the suppression of the Hungarian Uprising of 1956, and his father changed the family name from Szigeti to Sinclair. Sinclair studied at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, obtaining a BSc in biochemistry with honours in 1991 and a Ph.D. in molecular genetics in 1995, focusing on gene regulation in yeast. He also won the Australian Commonwealth Prize.


title: David A. Sinclair

text: In 1993, he met Leonard P. Guarente, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who studied genes involved in the regulation of aging, when Guarente was on a lecture tour in Australia, and the meeting spurred Sinclair to apply for a post-doc position in Guarente's lab. Earlier that year Cynthia Kenyon's lab at UCSF had discovered that a single-gene mutation in (Daf-2) could double the lifespan of "C. elegans".


title: David A. Sinclair

text: In 1999, after four years of working as a postdoctoral researcher for Guarente, Sinclair was hired at Harvard Medical School. In 2003, his lab was small and struggling for funding. In 2004, Sinclair met with the philanthropist Paul F. Glenn who donated $5 million to Harvard to establish the Paul F. Glenn Laboratories for the Biological Mechanisms of Aging at Harvard, of which Sinclair became the founding director. He currently serves as the co-director with Bruce Yankner.


title: David A. Sinclair

text: In 2004, Sinclair, along with serial entrepreneur Andrew Perlman, Christoph Westphal, Richard Aldrich, Richard Pops, and Paul Schimmel, founded Sirtris Pharmaceuticals. Sirtris was focused on developing Sinclair's research into activators of sirtuins, work that began in the Guarente lab. The company was specifically focused on resveratrol formulations and derivatives as activators of the SIRT1 enzyme; Sinclair became known for making statements about resveratrol like: "(It's) as close to a miraculous molecule as you can find. ... One hundred years from now, people may be taking these molecules on a daily basis to prevent heart disease, stroke, and cancer." Most of the anti-aging field was more cautious, especially with regard to what else resveratrol might do in the body and its lack of bioavailability. The company's initial product was called SRT501, and was a formulation of resveratrol. Sirtris went public in 2007 and was subsequently purchased and made a subsidiary of GlaxoSmithKline in 2008 for $720 million. Five years later, GSK shuttered the Sirtris program without successful drug development.


title: David A. Sinclair

text: In 2006, Genocea Biosciences was founded based on work of Harvard scientist Darren E. Higgins around antigens that stimulate T cells and the use of these antigens to create vaccines; Sinclair was a co-founder. Genocea laid off most of its workforce in 2022 after presenting disappointing data at AACR


title: David A. Sinclair

text: In 2008, Sinclair was promoted to tenured professor at Harvard Medical School. A few years later, he also became a conjoint professor at the School of Medical Sciences at the University of New South Wales.


title: David A. Sinclair

text: In 2008, Sinclair joined the scientific advisory board of Shaklee and helped them devise and introduce a product containing resveratrol called "Vivix"; after the "Wall Street Journal" requested an interview about his work with the company and its marketing, he disputed the use of his name and words to promote the supplement, and resigned.


title: David A. Sinclair

text: In 2011, Sinclair was a co-founder of OvaScience with Michelle Dipp (who had been involved with Sirtris), Aldrich, Westphal, and Jonathan Tilly, based on scientific work done by Tilly concerning mammalian oogonial stem cells and work on mitochondria by Sinclair. Tilly's work was controversial, with some groups unable to replicate it. The company ultimately came under pressure for skirting US regulatory authorities for fertility testing.


title: David A. Sinclair

text: In 2011, Sinclair was also a co-founder of CohBar, along with Nir Barzilai and other colleagues. CohBar aimed to discover and develop novel peptides derived from mitochondria. Cohbar describes itself as a clinical stage biotechnology company but has no drug candidates in clinical testing.


title: David A. Sinclair

text: In 2015, Sinclair described to "The Scientist" his efforts to get funding for his lab, how his lab grew to around 20 people, shrank back down to about 5, and then grew again as he brought in funding from philanthropic organizations and companies, including companies that he helped to start. In 2015, his lab had 22 people and was supported by one R01 grant and was 75% funded by non-federal funds. However, as of 2016, this was no longer true as his federal funding began to increase.


title: David A. Sinclair

text: In September 2019, Sinclair published "", a "New York Times" bestseller, co-written with journalist Matthew LaPlante and translated into 18 languages. This was also released as an audiobook on Audible and read by Sinclair. Sinclair broadly discusses his longevity practices on social media and includes them in his book. They include daily doses of NMN and resveratrol, which Sinclair says are activators of SIRT1.


title: David A. Sinclair

text: While Sinclair was in Guarente's lab, he discovered that sirtuin 1 (called "sir2" in yeast) slows aging in yeast by reducing the accumulation of extrachromosomal rDNA circles. Others working in the lab at the time identified NAD as an essential cofactor for sirtuin function. In 2002, after he had left for Harvard, he clashed with Guarente at a scientific meeting at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, challenging Guarante's description of how "sir2" might be involved in aging; this set off a scientific rivalry.


title: David A. Sinclair

text: In 2003, when his lab was still small, Sinclair learned that scientists at a Pennsylvania biotech company called Biomol Research Laboratories discovered that polyphenols including resveratrol could activate "sir2", and he collaborated with them to confirm this. This led to publications authored in part by Sinclair in both "Nature" and "Science" in 2003. Sinclair's outspoken advocacy for resveratrol as an anti-aging compound started a scientific controversy over whether this was true, and whether resveratrol even activated sirtuins. High-profile papers claiming age reversal of mice have also come under intense scrutiny. Work in another lab, done partially with funding from Sirtris, found increases in the number of mitochondria in the cells of mice given high doses of resveratrol. Sinclair's lab continued to work on resveratrol and analogues of it, as well as on mitochondria and NAD, all directed to understanding aging and how to prevent it.


title: David A. Sinclair

text: He has expressed the view that advances in aging research could enable humans to live to be 200 years old.


title: David A. Sinclair

text: Sinclair has received numerous awards for his research, including the Irving S. Wright Award of Distinction from the American Federation for Aging Research in 2018, the Advance Award in Life Sciences from the Australian government in 2017, and the Australian Society for Medical Research Medal in 2014.


title: David A. Sinclair

text: In 2014, Sinclair was included in "Time" 100 as one of the hundred most influential people in the world, and in 2018 he was included in "Time" magazine's 50 Most Influential People in Health Care. In 2018, Sinclair was made an officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for "distinguished service to medical research into the biology of ageing and lifespan extension, as a geneticist and academic, to biosecurity initiatives, and as an advocate for the study of science" (2018 Australia Day Honours).


title: Cas Anvar

text: Cas Anvar (; born 15 March 1966) is a Canadian actor and writer known for the SyFy/Amazon Prime Video science fiction television series "The Expanse".


title: Cas Anvar

text: Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, to Iranian parents and raised in Montreal, Quebec, Anvar speaks English, French, Persian, and limited Arabic, Hindi, and Spanish.


title: Cas Anvar

text: He graduated from Beaconsfield High in 1983. He stated that he is of Iranian, Lebanese, Indian, and Latino descent.


title: Cas Anvar

text: Anvar stated that after attempts to study psychology and sciences at McGill University he graduated from the National Theatre School in 1989. As Repercussion Theatre's founding Artistic Director, he worked with the company, since 1988 touring parks of Montreal, then North America, with annual Shakespeare in the Park Festival. Meanwhile, he continued performing in theatre and, after debuting in "Urban Angel" in 1992, in television and film.


title: Cas Anvar

text: In a 2013 interview on "George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight" for CBC, Anvar said: "I have a lot of passion for women's rights, domestic abuse, bullying".


title: Cas Anvar

text: First broadcast in December 2015, Anvar starred in the science fiction television series "The Expanse" as Alex Kamal.


title: Cas Anvar

text: In June 2020, Alcon Entertainment hired an independent firm to investigate over 30 allegations of sexual harassment and assault made against Anvar. In November 2020 Alcon announced that Anvar would not be returning for the sixth and final season of "The Expanse".


title: Colossal (film)

text: Colossal is a 2016 science fantasy black comedy film directed and written by Nacho Vigalondo. The film stars Anne Hathaway, Jason Sudeikis, Dan Stevens, Austin Stowell, and Tim Blake Nelson. The film follows an unemployed writer who unwittingly manifests a giant creature in Seoul while struggling with alcoholism and an abusively controlling colleague.


title: Colossal (film)

text: The film is an international co-production between producers in Canada, Spain, the United States and South Korea. Anne Hathaway signed onto the project in May 2015, which was described as ""Godzilla" meets "Lost in Translation"". Prior to the start of filming, Toho brought a lawsuit against Voltage Pictures, the film's producers, for unauthorized usage of Godzilla's image. However, a settlement was reached in October, 2015. Principal photography began on October 18, 2015 and primarily took place in and around Vancouver, British Columbia, finishing on November 25, 2015.


title: Colossal (film)

text: "Colossal" held its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on 9 September 2016 and was followed by several festival screenings. It was theatrically released in the United States on April 7, 2017 by Neon, in South Korea on April 20 by Dreamfact Entertainment, in Canada on April 21 by Mongrel Media, and in Spain on June 30 by Versus Entertainment; it aired a day earlier, on June 29, on as an exclusive preview. The film received positive reviews, with praise for the acting, direction, screenplay, and themes. Hathaway and Sudeikis were singled out by many critics for particular acclaim. The film grossed $4.5 million worldwide against a production budget of $15 million.


title: Colossal (film)

text: Gloria is an unemployed writer struggling with alcoholism. Her boyfriend Tim, frustrated with her errant behavior, breaks up with her and kicks her out of their New York City apartment. Forced to move back to her family home in Mainhead, New Hampshire, Gloria reunites with her childhood friend Oscar, who now runs his late father's bar. Oscar warmly welcomes Gloria and offers her a job at the bar, which she accepts.


title: Colossal (film)

text: Working at the bar aggravates Gloria's alcohol problem. After each shift, she drinks with Oscar and his friends, Garth and Joel, until morning, then sleeps it off in her nearly empty childhood home. At the same time, a giant reptilian monster appears in Seoul, leaving death and destruction in its wake. Gloria realizes when she walks through a local playground at exactly 8:05 am, she causes the monster to manifest and can remotely control it.


title: Colossal (film)

text: Gloria shares her discovery with Oscar and his friends by dancing in the playground while they watch a newsfeed of the monster mimicking her movements. When a helicopter launches a missile at the monster, causing Gloria pain, and prompting her to lash out and destroy the helicopter, killing the pilots on board. Horrified at what she has just done, she panics and collapses, causing widespread destruction. She awakens to find that a delighted Oscar also manifested in Seoul, but as a giant robot. She tries to make amends by having the monster spell out an apology in Korean, to the delight of the South Korean people and media. She begins to avoid both the playground and alcohol.


title: Colossal (film)

text: After spending the night with Joel, Gloria discovers a drunken Oscar controlling the robot to taunt South Korea. After a tense confrontation, she makes him leave. Oscar thinks something happened between Gloria and Joel and is jealous. That night, he drunkenly insults his friends at the bar and demands Gloria have a beer, threatening to return to the playground if she refuses. The next morning, a sober Oscar apologizes to Gloria.


title: Colossal (film)

text: Tim arrives in town to see Gloria but is irritated by and dismissive about her life situation before apologizing. Upon meeting Tim at the bar, Oscar provokes a confrontation by setting off fireworks indoors. Tim tries to get Gloria to leave with him, but she stays to curb Oscar's destructive behavior. Oscar later goes to her house to prevent her from going back with Tim.


title: Colossal (film)

text: A flashback reveals Gloria made a paper diorama of Seoul as a school project. When it is blown into what would later become the playground, Oscar retrieves it but, jealous that it is better than his, smashes it. Gloria's anger triggers lightning that strikes them, Oscar's toy robot, and her toy reptilian monster. Back in the present, Gloria recognizes that Oscar's manipulative behavior arises from his self hatred at never having amounted to anything, and that the robot manifests as his way of making himself feel important. She resolves to leave town with Tim.


title: Colossal (film)

text: Gloria and Oscar race for the playground. She arrives first and attempts to fight him, but he incapacitates her and destroys a large portion of Seoul, killing many people. He says Gloria is free to leave if she wishes, but every morning she remains absent, he'll take a walk through the playground. She resolves to leave and flies to South Korea. Gloria apologizes over the phone to Tim for not going with him, but insists she owes him no explanations as he had ended their relationship. At 8:05 am in the US, Oscar follows through on his threat and makes the giant robot manifest in Seoul. Gloria walks towards it in Seoul, making her monster appear at the playground back home. Her monster catches Oscar and flings him far over the horizon, causing the robot to disappear.


title: Colossal (film)

text: Gloria retreats to a bar and asks the bartender if she would like to hear an amazing story. The bartender says yes ,and offers Gloria a drink, at which Gloria sighs.


title: Colossal (film)

text: Hathaway was the first actress to sign on at a time when the project had no financial backing. Hathaway heard about the script after finding herself "in a little bit of an artistic no man's land" for inspiration. Director Jonathan Demme screened for her a copy of "A Field in England", after which Hathaway decided that it represented exactly the type of movie she wanted to make. After asking her representation to see a similar script that she could join, she was sent the "Colossal" script. Hathaway found herself attracted to the genre-hopping nature of the script, later comparing it to "Being John Malkovich", one of her favorite films.


title: Colossal (film)

text: Prior to the start of filming, Japanese company Toho brought a lawsuit against Voltage Pictures for unauthorized usage of Godzilla's image and stills from previous "Godzilla" films in emails and press documents sent to potential investors. A settlement was reached that October.


title: Colossal (film)

text: Principal photography on the film also began in Vancouver on October 18, 2015, and ended on November 25, 2015. No motion captured footage was used for the creation of the monster; rather, footage of Hathaway acting out her parts was given to the CG team, who used this as reference points. The CG artists, as opposed to Vigalondo, were responsible for the look of the monster itself. Vigalondo stated that this was partly due to his lack of artistic skill and partly due to him "[wanting] them to feel like characters that felt like a part of the genre we're playing with".


title: Colossal (film)

text: The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2016. Shortly after, an unnamed Chinese company acquired distribution rights to the film, which was later announced as Neon, a newly-founded distribution company. It held its European premiere at the San Sebastián International Film Festival on September 19, 2016. The film was selected as the closing screening for Fantastic Fest at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar on September 29, 2016, where it was awarded Best Picture in the Fantastic Features section. It was screened at the Sitges Film Festival on October 7, 2016. The film went on to screen at the Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2017, and at South by Southwest on March 10, 2017. The film began a limited theatrical release in the United States on April 7, 2017. In South Korea, the film was released on April 20 by Dreamfact Entertainment. It was released in Canadian theaters the following day, on April 21, by Mongrel Media. In Spain, the film was co-distributed by Versus Entertainment and Movistar+. It premiered as an exclusive preview on June 29, 2017 on before it was released theatrically the following day, on June 30, by Versus Entertainment.


title: Colossal (film)

text: "Colossal" earned $3 million in the United States and Canada and $1.5 million in other territories for a total international gross of $4.5 million against a production budget of $15 million.


title: Colossal (film)

text: "Colossal" earned $120,226 in its opening weekend from four theaters at an average of $30,056 per theater, finishing twenty-ninth at the box office. The film grew by 278% in its second weekend, grossing $454,258 in 98 theaters and finishing in #17. In its third weekend, the film grew again by 35%. earning $615,089 in 239 theaters. By its fourth weekend, the film crossed $2 million domestically, earning $563,344 on 326 screens, averaging $1,728 per theater. The film made its international debut in South Korea on April 21, 2017, where it grossed $50,712 (₩57,518,565) in 294 theaters.


title: Colossal (film)

text: On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 81% based on 259 reviews, with an average rating of 7.17/10. The site's critical consensus reads, ""Colossal"s singular strangeness can be disorienting, but viewers who hang on may find that its genre-defying execution—and Anne Hathaway's performance—is well worth the ride." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 70 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Colossal (film)

text: Writing for RogerEbert.com, Matt Zoller Seitz awarded "Colossal" 3.5 out of 4 stars, stating "I'll just say that the cast is quietly superb, that the movie always knows what it is and what it wants to say." IGN awarded it 7.0 out of 10, saying "It isn't always successful, but when the film works, it's a blast—another completely original and unique genre mash-up from the mad mind of Nacho Vigalondo." Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" awarded it 3.5 out of 4, saying ""Colossal" is seriously unmissable".


title: Colossal (film)

text: Jake Coyle writing for the Associated Press gave it 2 out of 4 stars, saying "The one-trick act of 'Colossal' becomes tiresome even as its leads—particularly an excellent Hathaway—work to find some depth in the story." Mark Jenkins of NPR said "The longer the movie runs, the more its novelty fades. The tone wavers, and plot holes that appeared small at the halfway point start looking like chasms." Rex Reed of "The New York Observer" gave it 0 out of 4 stars, saying the film was "almost as unwatchable as it ["sic"] incomprehensible".


title: Colossal (film)

text: As the movie's director claimed the film was "The Cheapest Godzilla movie ever made," and showed photos of the character in its showing at the Cannes Film Festival, Godzilla's copyright owner, Toho, was not pleased. As a result of a settlement of the lawsuit which took place before the film was even released, the movie's location was moved from Tokyo to Seoul, South Korea, and that the movie would not use a derivative of Godzilla.


title: Tamara Taylor

text: Tamara Taylor (born September 27, 1970) is a Canadian actress. She appeared in the role of Dr. Camille Saroyan, head of the Forensic Division, in the forensic crime drama "Bones". She also appeared in season seven of "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.", in which she played the secondary antagonist Sibyl. She also starred in the first two seasons of "".


title: Tamara Taylor

text: Taylor was born in Toronto to a Bajan father and a Scottish mother. She dropped out of high school to try modeling and see the world, with her mother supportive of her decision: "School will always be there, she told me."


title: Tamara Taylor

text: She has appeared in the CBS medical drama "3 lbs" as Della and the UPN series "Sex, Love & Secrets" in the role of Nina; both series were short-lived.


title: Tamara Taylor

text: Taylor has made guest appearances on "NCIS", "Numb3rs", "Lost", "", "Without a Trace", "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek". In her feature film debut, "Senseless", she played Marlon Wayans's love interest. She portrayed Debrah Simmons in the 2005 romantic-comedy "Diary of a Mad Black Woman", Halle Berry's best friend in "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge", and had a brief role in "Serenity", the movie conclusion of the TV series "Firefly" by Joss Whedon. Through her part in "Serenity", Taylor was able to audition for a show with actor David Boreanaz, who had previously worked with Whedon in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel". She also appeared in the TV series "Lost", as the former girlfriend of Michael and mother of Walt.


title: Tamara Taylor

text: She first appeared in "Bones" in the first episode of the second season, "The Titan on the Tracks", portraying the character Dr. Camille Saroyan. In the first six episodes of the season, she was credited as a guest star because creator and writer Hart Hanson had planned to kill her off in episode 12 when Howard Epps, a recurring serial killer, poisoned her, to create more tension and drama between the two main characters, but the response to her character was so strong that the writers offered her a position as a recurring regular in the show. Thus, from the following episode, "The Girl with the Curl", she was credited as a main character for the remainder of the series.


title: Tamara Taylor

text: Tamara Taylor later recurred on the final season of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." portraying the Chronicom Sibyl, who was the season's secondary antagonist.


title: Tamara Taylor

text: In October 2022 it was announced that Taylor would join the final series of the FX series "Snowfall" in an as-yet unannounced role.


title: Tamara Taylor

text: Taylor is a second cousin by marriage to Neve Campbell, with whom she appeared on "Party of Five". Taylor married attorney Miles Cooley in 2007 but the couple divorced in May 2012.