title: Sha Wujing

text: The "Tang Sanzang ji" (唐三藏记, Record of the Tang Monk Tripitaka), a book of unknown date appearing in an 11th-century Japanese collection of tales known as "Jōbodai shū" (成菩堤集), states Xuanzang (Tang Sanzang) was magically provided food and drink by a Deva while in the "Flowing Sands" ("liusha", 流沙) desert. The compiler of the "Jōbodai shū" explained: "This is the reason for the name Spirit of the Deep Sands ("Shensha shen", 深沙神)." After performing a pilgrimage to China in 838–839, the Japanese Buddhist monk "Jōgyō" (常晓) wrote a report which mentions Xuanzang's fabled exchange with the deity, as well as equates "Shensha shen" with King Vaiśravaṇa, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Buddhism. Therefore, the "Tang Sanzang ji" most likely hails from the Tang Dynasty (618–907). The "Jōbodai shū" also mentions the god manifested itself before the famous Chinese Buddhist monk Faxian (c. 4th century) during his pilgrimage to India. "Shensha shen" tells him: "I am manifested in an aspect of fury. My head is like a crimson bowl. My two hands are like the nets of heaven and earth. From my neck hang the heads of seven demons. About my limbs are eight serpents, and two demon heads seem to engulf my (nether-) limbs…"


title: Sha Wujing

text: By the compiling of the ""Kōzanji" version" (高山记, 13th century), the earliest known edition of "Journey to the West," "Shensha shen" was transformed into a blood thirsty demon who had continuously eaten Tang Sanzang's past reincarnations. The demon tells him: "Slung here from my neck are the dry bones from when I twice before devoured you, monk!" "Shensha Shen" only helps him to pass over the deep sands with the aid of a magic golden bridge after Tang Sanzang threatens him with heavenly retribution.


title: Sha Wujing

text: As can be seen, the complete version of "Journey to the West" anonymously published in 1592 borrowed liberally from tales concerning "Shensha shen". The character of Sha Wujing was given his monstrous appearance and dress. The skulls of the nine Buddhist monks hanging from his head recalls both the demon skulls worn by the spirit, and the skulls of Tang Sanzang's past incarnations worn by his wrathful counterpart from the "Kōzanji" version. His home of the "Flowing Sands River" ("Liusha he" 流沙河) is derived from the "Flowing Sands" desert inhabited by "Shensha shen". Sha Wujing also aids Tang Sanzang pass over the Flowing Sands River by tying his nine skulls into a makeshift raft.


title: Laryngeal cancer

text: Laryngeal cancers are mostly squamous-cell carcinomas, reflecting their origin from the epithelium of the larynx.


title: Laryngeal cancer

text: Cancer can develop in any part of the larynx. The prognosis is affected by the location of the tumour. For the purposes of staging, the larynx is divided into three anatomical regions: the glottis (true vocal cords, anterior and posterior commissures); the supraglottis (epiglottis, arytenoids and aryepiglottic folds, and false cords); and the subglottis.


title: Laryngeal cancer

text: Most laryngeal cancers originate in the glottis, with supraglottic and subglottic tumours being less frequent.


title: Laryngeal cancer

text: Laryngeal cancer may spread by: direct extension to adjacent structures, metastasis to regional cervical lymph nodes, or via the blood stream. The most common site of distant metastases is the lung. Laryngeal cancer occurred in 177,000 people in 2018, and resulted in 94,800 deaths (an increase from 76,000 deaths in 1990). Five-year survival rates in the United States are 60.3%.


title: Laryngeal cancer

text: The symptoms of laryngeal cancer depend on the size and location of the tumour. Symptoms may include the following:


title: Laryngeal cancer

text: Adverse effects of treatment can include changes in appearance, difficulty eating, dry mouth, or loss of voice that may require learning alternate methods of speaking.


title: Laryngeal cancer

text: The most important risk factor for laryngeal cancer is tobacco smoking. Death from laryngeal cancer is 20 times more likely for the heaviest smokers than for their non-smoking peers. Heavy chronic consumption of alcohol, particularly alcoholic spirits, is also a significant risk factor. When present in combination, the usages of alcohol and tobacco appear to have a synergistic effect. Other reported risk factors include being of low socioeconomic status, male sex, or age greater than 55 years.


title: Laryngeal cancer

text: Occupational exposure to environmental factors such as wood dust, paint fumes, and certain chemicals used in the metalworking, petroleum, plastics, and textile industries is also believed to be a risk factor for laryngeal cancers. Infections by some strains of Papillomaviridae carry some risk of laryngeal carcinoma.


title: Laryngeal cancer

text: People with a history of head and neck cancer are known to be at higher risk (about 25%) of developing a second, separate cancer of the head, neck, or lung. This is likely due to chronic exposure to the carcinogenic effects of alcohol and tobacco. In this situation, a field change effect may occur, where the epithelial tissues start to become diffusely dysplastic with a reduced threshold for malignant change. This risk may be reduced by quitting alcohol and tobacco.


title: Laryngeal cancer

text: Diagnosis is made by the doctor on the basis of a medical history, physical examination, and special investigations which may include a chest x-ray, CT or MRI scans, and tissue biopsy. The examination of the larynx requires some expertise, which may require specialist referral.


title: Laryngeal cancer

text: The physical exam includes a systematic examination of the whole patient to assess general health and to look for signs of associated conditions and metastatic disease. The neck and supraclavicular fossa are palpated to feel for cervical adenopathy, other masses, and laryngeal crepitus. The oral cavity and oropharynx are examined under direct vision. The larynx may be examined by indirect laryngoscopy using a small angled mirror with a long handle (akin to a dentist's mirror) and a strong light. Indirect laryngoscopy can be highly effective, but requires skill and practice for consistent results. For this reason, many specialist clinics now use fibre-optic nasal endoscopy where a thin and flexible endoscope, inserted through the nostril, is used to clearly visualise the entire pharynx and larynx. Nasal endoscopy is a quick and easy procedure performed in clinic. Local anaesthetic spray may be used.


title: Laryngeal cancer

text: If there is a suspicion of cancer, biopsy is performed, usually under general anaesthetic. This provides histological proof of cancer type and grade. If the lesion appears to be small and well localised, the surgeon may undertake excision biopsy, where an attempt is made to completely remove the tumour at the time of first biopsy. In this situation, the pathologist will not only be able to confirm the diagnosis, but can also comment on the completeness of excision, i.e., whether the tumour has been completely removed. A full endoscopic examination of the larynx, trachea, and esophagus is often performed at the time of biopsy.


title: Laryngeal cancer

text: For small glottic tumours further imaging may be unnecessary. In most cases, tumour staging is completed by scanning the head and neck region to assess the local extent of the tumour and any pathologically enlarged cervical lymph nodes.


title: Laryngeal cancer

text: The final management plan will depend on the site, stage (tumour size, nodal spread, distant metastasis), and histological type. The overall health and wishes of the patient must also be taken into account. A prognostic multigene classifier has been shown to be potentially useful for the distinction of laryngeal cancer of low or high risk of recurrence and might influence the treatment choice in future.


title: Laryngeal cancer

text: Laryngeal tumours are classified according to the guidelines set by academic organisations such as the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) . Overall classification, also known as "staging", can help predict treatment options for patients. Staging consists of three separate evaluations. The first is of the tumour/cancer itself ("T"). The second is the extent to which adjacent lymph nodes are involved in the tumour/cancer's spread ("N"). The third is the presence or absence of any distant metastases ("M). The specific “staging” criteria for laryngeal cancer, as utilised in the NCCN’s 2019 Guidelines for Head and Neck Cancers, are:


title: Laryngeal cancer

text: Specific treatment depends on the location, type, and stage of the tumour. Treatment may involve surgery, radiotherapy, or chemotherapy, alone or in combination.


title: Laryngeal cancer

text: Surgical treatment may involve partial or full removal of the tumour. Neighbouring tissues and structures may or may not be removed, depending on their involvement in the tumour’s structure and spread. Full removal of the larynx may be necessary in some cases.


title: Laryngeal cancer

text: Adjunct treatment, most commonly the administration of chemotherapy or radiotherapy, may be necessary. Chemotherapy or radiotherapy may be necessary singly, in combination with each other, or in combination with surgery. Adjunct treatment may be necessary prior to surgical treatment, alongside surgical treatment, or after surgical treatment. Clinical decision-making can be difficult in circumstances where the patient is unable to access necessary adjunct treatment.


title: Laryngeal cancer

text: Often, successful treatment of and recovery from laryngeal cancer will involve expertise outside of the realms of surgery or oncology. Physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, psychiatrists, psychologists, oral/maxillofacial surgeons,  dentists, neurologists, neurosurgeons, and endocrinologists may all become involved in the care of patients with laryngeal cancer.


title: Laryngeal cancer

text: Incidence is five in 100,000 (12,500 new cases per year) in the US. The American Cancer Society estimated that 9,510 men and women (7,700 men and 1,810 women) would be diagnosed with and 3,740 men and women would die of laryngeal cancer in 2006.


title: Laryngeal cancer

text: According to the GLOBOCAN 2018 estimates of cancer incidence and mortality produced by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, there were 177,422 new cases of laryngeal cancer worldwide in 2018 (1.0% of the global total.) Among worldwide cancer deaths, 94,771 (1.0%) were due to laryngeal cancer.


title: Laryngeal cancer

text: In 2019, it is estimated that there will be 12,410 new laryngeal cancer cases in the United States, (3.0 per 100,000). The number of new cases decreases every year at a rate of 2.4%, and this is believed to be related to decreased cigarette smoking in the general population.


title: Laryngeal cancer

text: Laryngeal cancer is listed as a "rare disease" by the Office of Rare Diseases (ORD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This means that laryngeal cancer affects fewer than 200,000 people in the US.


title: Periodic acid–Schiff stain

text: Periodic acid–Schiff (PAS) is a staining method used to detect polysaccharides such as glycogen, and mucosubstances such as glycoproteins, glycolipids and mucins in tissues. The reaction of periodic acid oxidizes the vicinal diols in these sugars, usually breaking up the bond between two adjacent carbons not involved in the glycosidic linkage or ring closure in the ring of the monosaccharide units that are parts of the long polysaccharides, and creating a pair of aldehydes at the two free tips of each broken monosaccharide ring. The oxidation condition has to be sufficiently regulated so as to not oxidize the aldehydes further. These aldehydes then react with the Schiff reagent to give a purple-magenta color. A suitable basic stain is often used as a counterstain.


title: Periodic acid–Schiff stain

text: • PAS diastase stain (PAS-D) is PAS stain used in combination with diastase, an enzyme that breaks down glycogen.


title: Periodic acid–Schiff stain

text: PAS staining is mainly used for staining structures containing a high proportion of carbohydrate macromolecules (glycogen, glycoprotein, proteoglycans), typically found in e.g. connective tissues, mucus, the glycocalyx, and basal laminae.


title: Periodic acid–Schiff stain

text: Presence of glycogen can be confirmed on a section of tissue by using diastase to digest the glycogen from a section, then comparing a diastase digested PAS section with a normal PAS section. The diastase negative slide will show a magenta staining where glycogen is present within a section of tissue. The slide that has been treated with diastase will lack any positive PAS staining in those locations on the slide


title: Periodic acid–Schiff stain

text: PAS staining is also used for staining cellulose. One example would be looking for implanted medical devices composed of nonoxidized cellulose.


title: Periodic acid–Schiff stain

text: If the PAS stain will be performed on tissue, the recommended fixative is 10% neutral-buffered formalin or Bouin solution. For blood smears, the recommended fixative is methanol. Glutaraldehyde is not recommended because free aldehyde groups may be available to react with the Schiff reagent, which may result in false positive staining.


title: Never Back Down: No Surrender

text: Never Back Down: No Surrender (also known as Never Back Down 3 and The Fighters 3: No Surrender) is a 2016 martial arts film, directed by Michael Jai White, written by Chris Hauty and Jai White, produced by Craig Baumgarten and starring Jai White, Josh Barnett, Gillian White, Steven Quardos, Nathan Jones and Esai Morales. It is the sequel to "", and was released on DVD on June 7, 2016. In "No Surrender", which picks up two years after the events of the second film, the former MMA champion Case Walker is on the comeback trail to become champion once again.


title: Never Back Down: No Surrender

text: It has been two years since Case Walker has re-entered the world of professional mixed martial arts fighting, but had grown tired of it. He now competes in amateur bouts in an effort to teach his opponents how to utilize their skills. After such a match in Beaumont, Texas, Case runs into Brody James, an old friend who is also an MMA fighter. Brody has signed with PFC Combat, a promotion run by Hugo Vega, in which Brody has signed to fight the 7-foot beast Caesar Braga for the PFC Championship in Bangkok. Brody asks Case to help him train for the fight, knowing Case needs to find his way back as well as attempt to help Brody go on the straight and narrow. Case reluctantly accepts Brody's offer and travels to Thailand.


title: Never Back Down: No Surrender

text: Case goes to the Top Fight Gym, where he already finds resistance from Brody's other trainer Matty Ramos. To make matters worse, Case is ridiculed for his training by "Cobra" O'Connor, a younger fighter whose arrogance gets the best of him. During a challenge, Case deflects Cobra's moves and uses elements from Kyokushin to knock Cobra out. Case soon finds himself becoming a mentor to two up-and-coming fighters, Taj and "Creech". Case's pummeling of Cobra attracts the attention of Vega, who is revealed to have some sort of history with Case. PFC marketing director Myca Cruz begins to have a liking to Case and asks him on a date to get to know him, to which he agrees.


title: Never Back Down: No Surrender

text: When Case has his date with Myca, Matty watches the two together and decides to use it against Case when it comes to Brody. Brody has been slowing down his training and Vega, in an effort to make the fight a success, recommends that Brody use steroids from his supplier to help him better himself. Matty tells Brody of Myca and Case, in which their date ends abruptly when Myca brings up Case's time in prison, making him feel very uncomfortable. When Brody offers to spar with Case, the session gets out of hand as Brody goes too far, hitting Case in the head, to which he retaliates in a way he never expected. Despite apologizing to Brody, their friendship seems to have ended. That is until Case notices Brody using steroids. After training one night, Case and Brody go out to eat. It is then when Brody realizes his mistakes and apologizes. He vows to Case he will do things the right way and even tells Case that Myca would be a good woman for him. Brody and Case work together to begin training for the fight along with Matty, who thanks to an intervention from Brody, agrees to work with Case in training Brody for the title fight. However, viral footage of Case beating up the racist policemen from two years prior has grabbed the attention of many, thus causing Vega to realize that Brody may not be the one worthy of the fight against Braga.


title: Never Back Down: No Surrender

text: During training, a Sambo wrestler named Boris injures Brody's knee. Case reveals that he had secretly replaced Brody's steroids with baby aspirin and other placebo drugs. Vega offers Case a million dollars to fight Braga. Beginning to train for the fight under the mentorship of Brody and physical training from Matty, Taj confronts Case, accusing him of "selling out". The next day, Case's suspicions are confirmed as he breaks into Boris's locker and discovering a text message telling Vega "It's done". Case knows that he is forced to fight, but must find a way to stop both Braga and Vega, who is set to make a lot of money off the fight and prove that he is responsible for Brody's injury.


title: Never Back Down: No Surrender

text: At the night of the fight, Myca, who has become Case's girlfriend, tells Vega she quits. Case realizes how he can stop Vega and starts a fight with Braga outside the ring. When Braga gets the best of Case, Case resorts to using Kyokushin again, this time using a "Nakadaka Ken" (Extended Middle Knuckle Punch) that damages Braga's ribs. Case continues using traditional karate techniques and knocks Braga out with a "Kaiten Geri" (Rolling Wheel Kick) to his head. Vega threatens to sue, but Case tells Vega that they have the proof of him causing Brody's injury and that suing could cost Vega millions of dollars. To make matters worse, Vega must pay back everyone who came to see the fight, to which he storms off in anger, knowing he has been defeated. Case, Myca, Brody, and their crew leave the ring arena knowing they have achieved victory.


title: Never Back Down: No Surrender

text: Ron Smoorenburg appears uncredited as Case's first opponent. Evan Peters appears as Max Cooperman in a flashback scene from "".


title: Never Back Down: No Surrender

text: A sequel, titled "Never Back Down: Revolt", was released on November 16, 2021. It began filming in London on November 23, 2020 with Kellie Madison as the director and a new cast includes Olivia Popica, Michael Bisping, Brooke Johnston, Vanessa Campos, Diana Hoyos, Neetu Chandra and James Faulkner.


title: Monorepo

text: In version-control systems, a monorepo ("mono" meaning 'single' and "repo" being short for 'repository') is a software-development strategy in which the code for a number of projects is stored in the same repository. This practice dates back to at least the early 2000s, when it was commonly called a shared codebase. Google, Meta, Microsoft, Uber, Airbnb, and Twitter all employ very large monorepos with varying strategies to scale build systems and version control software with a large volume of code and daily changes.


title: Monorepo

text: A related concept is the monolithic application, but whereas a monolith combines its sub-projects into one large project, a monorepo may contain multiple independent projects.


title: Monorepo

text: Companies with large projects have come across hurdles with monorepos, specifically concerning build tools and version control systems. Google's monorepo, speculated to be the largest in the world, meets the classification of an ultra-large-scale system and must handle tens of thousands of contributions every day in a repository over 80 terabytes in size.


title: Monorepo

text: Companies using or switching to existing version control software found that software could not efficiently handle the amount of data required for a large monorepo. Facebook and Microsoft chose to contribute to or fork existing version control software Mercurial and Git respectively, while Google eventually created their own version control system.


title: Monorepo

text: For more than ten years, Google had relied on Perforce hosted on a single machine. In 2005 Google's build servers could get locked up to 10 minutes at a time. Google improved this to 30 seconds–1 minute in 2010. Due to scaling issues, Google eventually developed its own in-house distributed version control system dubbed Piper.


title: Monorepo

text: Facebook ran into performance issues with the version control system Mercurial and made upstream contributions to the client, and in January 2014 made it faster than a competing solution in Git.


title: Monorepo

text: In May 2017 Microsoft announced that virtually all of its Windows engineers use a Git monorepo. In the transition, Microsoft made substantial upstream contributions to the Git client to remove unnecessary file access and improve handling of large files with Virtual File System for Git.


title: Monorepo

text: Few build tools work well in a monorepo, and flows where builds and continuous integration testing of the entire repository are performed upon check-in will cause performance problems. Directed graph builds systems like Buck, Bazel, Pants, and Please solve this by compartmentalizing builds and tests to the active area of development.


title: Monorepo

text: Twitter began development of Pants in 2011, as both Facebook's Buck and Google's Bazel were closed-source at the time. Twitter open-sourced Pants in 2012 under the Apache 2.0 License.


title: Monorepo

text: Please, a Go-based build system, was developed in 2016 by Thought Machine who was also inspired by Google's Bazel and dissatisfied with Facebook's Buck.


title: Spanx

text: Spanx, Inc. is an American underwear maker focusing on shaping briefs and leggings, founded in Atlanta, Georgia. The company manufactures mainly pantyhose and other underwear for women and, since 2010, produces male underwear as well. Spanx specializes in foundation garments intended to make people appear thinner or more shapely.


title: Spanx

text: Following her graduation from Florida State University (FSU) in 1993, Walt Disney World Resort employee Sara Blakely joined local stationery company Danka to sell fax machines door-to-door. In the heat and humidity of Florida, she tried unsuccessfully to find pantyhose that did not have seamed toes and that did not roll up the leg after she cut them.


title: Spanx

text: Investing her life-savings of $5,000, she moved to Atlanta at age 27, where she researched and developed a hosiery concept predominantly on her own. The creation of the initial product prototype was completed over the course of a year and involved Blakely, her mother, and her friends personally testing the garments. This was innovative at the time, as the industry did not test products with people. Blakely's research revealed that the industry had previously been using the same size waistband for all hosiery products to cut costs, and a rubber cord was inserted into the waistband. For her product development, Blakely created different waistbands to suit different-sized consumers.


title: Spanx

text: Blakely finalized her patent application with a patent attorney prior to her submission to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Following the submission of the online application, Blakely then worked on the packaging of her product, which she intended to color red for the purpose of boldness, as the other brands at the time were all packaged in "beige, white or grey." Additionally, Blakely used three animated images of different-looking women, which was also novel at the time, when other brands displayed the same type of female model.


title: Spanx

text: Requiring a brand name for her product, Blakely was frustrated after failing to settle on a title that satisfied her, after a year and a half of ideation. At the time she finalized her brand name, Blakely knew that Coca-Cola and Kodak were two of the most recognized brand names in the world, and that both contained a strong "k" sound. Blakely read that the founder of Kodak liked the sound so much that he used it as the beginning and end of his brand name and then proceeded to create a functioning word based upon this foundation. The name "Spanks" eventually came to Blakely, and she decided to replace the "ks" with an "x", as her research had shown that constructed names were more successful and were easier to register as a trademark. Blakely then used her credit card to purchase the "Spanx" trademark on the USPTO website for US$150.


title: Spanx

text: In 2000, Blakely launched the Spanx brand from her apartment, undertaking all initial calls and marketing herself. Her boyfriend at the time, a healthcare consultant, later resigned from his job and joined Blakely in the running of the nascent business.


title: Spanx

text: Blakely previously conducted a meeting with a representative of the Neiman Marcus Group, at which she changed into the product in the ladies restroom in the presence of the Neiman Marcus buyer to prove the benefits of her innovation. Blakely's product was sold in seven Neiman Marcus stores as a result of the meeting; Bloomingdales, Saks, and Bergdorf Goodman soon followed.


title: Spanx

text: Following the establishment of the company, Blakely's then-boyfriend eventually became Spanx's chief operating officer (COO) and met Laurie Ann Goldman at the Saks Fifth Avenue in Atlanta in 2001, while she was on maternity leave from her employer at the time, Coca-Cola. Goldman was specifically looking for a Spanx product, and the pair exchanged contact details—Goldman became the CEO of Spanx in 2002.


title: Spanx

text: Writing for "Fortune" magazine in February 2014, Colleen Leahey identified Goldman as a key aspect of the company's successful growth:


title: Spanx

text: Goldman crafted a business model for the company based on lessons she learned during her 10-year stint at Coke: thinking big, starting small, and scaling fast. She advised her team at SPANX to focus on product quality over profit margins. “Every time somebody puts on a SPANX product, one of two things can happen: Our brand can get stronger, or our brand can get weaker. We gain leverage or we lose leverage.”


title: Spanx

text: In the first half of 2014, Blakely worked on building the company's first standalone retail stores in shopping malls along the East Coast of the U.S., and also introduced denim to an expanding Spanx product line for the "Fall" range in March.


title: Spanx

text: Goldman resigned from the company in February 2014, after over 10 years at the head of the Spanx. Gregg Ribatt, who had previously worked as an executive for Bennett Footwear, Stuart Weitzman Holdings and Collective Brands' Performance & Lifestyle Group, was appointed as interim chief executive officer. Ribatt's appointment generated discussions about a potential footwear expansion by Spanx according to a statement Blakely made in October 2013 explaining her ambition to design the world's most comfortable high-heel shoe prior to retirement.


title: Spanx

text: In Blakely's June 2014 "Forbes" profile, the publication claims that the company generates "over $250 million in annual revenues and net profit margins estimated at 20%", while Blakely is very strongly committed to maintaining the private status of Spanx. However, speculation arose about a possible IPO following Goldman's resignation.


title: Spanx

text: In April 2020, Spanx owner Sara Blakely partnered with longtime friend and restaurant owner Justin Anthony to feed frontline workers to fight the coronavirus. Workers at Atlanta's Children's Healthcare and its associated clinics receive free typical South African meals.


title: Spanx

text: It was announced on October 20th, 2021 that Sara Blakely, owner of Spanx, had sold a majority stake in the business to Blackstone.


title: Spanx

text: The company was valued at 1.2 billion US dollars. The deal was prepared by an all-female investment team from Blackstone, and it was announced that the Board of Directors would be all-female under Sara Blakely as the Executive Chairwoman.


title: Spanx

text: The brand produces lines with names such as "Bod-a-Bing!" and "Hide & Sleek." In 2009, Spanx launched a deluxe collection called "Haute Contour" that included items such as a lace thong with waist reinforcements and color options like pink. Following the release, Blakely explained, "I said, 'Let's make it beautiful ... like shapewear in disguise.'"


title: Spanx

text: Spanx started manufacturing body-shaping undergarments for men ("Spanx for MenMANX") in 2010, and then introduced denim to an expanding Spanx product line for the brand's "Fall" range in March 2014.


title: Spanx

text: During the inception of Spanx, Blakely was contacting friends and acquaintances, including those from her past, and asking them to seek out her products at select department stores in exchange for a check that she would send to them by mail as a token of appreciation. However, Spanx received a marketing boost shortly afterwards, when Oprah Winfrey endorsed the product as one of her "Favorite Things" on her television show in 2000. Prior to officially establishing the company, Blakely had sent a basket of Spanx products to Winfrey's television program, with a gift card that explained what she was attempting to develop, and this garnered Winfrey's attention.


title: Spanx

text: Winfrey's production team explained to Blakely that, while Winfrey usually only promoted the product itself, they sought to travel to Blakely's apartment in Atlanta and interviewed her in her home, as Winfrey was especially interested by the entrepreneur's story. At the time, Blakely was still a fax machine salesperson and needed to enlist the help of friends to act as employees for the purposes of the filming of the episode.


title: Spanx

text: Blakely was later caught on CCTV by a department store repositioning her products so they were displayed more prominently.


title: Spanx

text: Spanx is a private company and has not released financial information. Forbes estimates its value at $540 million in 2021. Blakely owns the entirety of the brand and employed approximately 100 personnel as of 2011. Goldman was the CEO of Spanx from 2002 to February 2014, when she resigned.


title: Spanx

text: In search of a manufacturing partner, Blakely searched ThomasNet to find North Carolina hosiery manufacturers. Highland Mills in Charlotte, on the recommendation of the CEO’s daughters, ultimately transformed Blakely’s ideas into a prototype sufficient to interest Neiman Marcus.


title: Spanx

text: In 2000, the first year of the company’s existence, Blakely recruited friends to fill orders out of her Atlanta apartment, and generated $8 million in retail sales. Because Highland had no interest in distribution, Blakely took Spanx production to a small mill in Siler City, which then went out of business. Acme-McCrary Corporation, a hosiery mill founded in Asheboro, North Carolina, in 1908, then took over production and distribution. Sales have grown from about $15 million in 2002, when Acme-McCrary began working with Blakely, to more than $400 million in 2014. The North Carolina firm is no longer the sole manufacturer of Spanx, but remains highly involved with Blakely in new product development, yarn specifications and manufacturing expertise.


Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen were an American rock band founded in 1967. The group's leader and co-founder was pianist and vocalist George Frayne IV, alias Commander Cody (born July 19, 1944 in Boise, Idaho, died September 26, 2021 in Saratoga Springs, New York).


title: Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen

text: The band became known for marathon live shows. Alongside Frayne, the classic lineup was Billy C. Farlow (b. Decatur, Alabama) on vocals and harmonica; John Tichy (b. St. Louis, Missouri) on guitar and vocals; Bill Kirchen (Kirchen was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, June 29, 1948 but grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan) on lead guitar; Andy Stein (b. August 31, 1948 in New York City) on saxophone and fiddle; "Buffalo" Bruce Barlow (b. December 3, 1948 in Oxnard, California) on bass guitar; Lance Dickerson (b. October 15, 1948 in Livonia, Michigan, died November 10, 2003, in Fairfax, California) on drums; and Steve "The West Virginia Creeper" Davis (b. July 18, 1946 in Charleston, West Virginia), followed by Bobby Black, on pedal steel guitar.


text: Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen formed in 1967 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States, with Frayne taking the stage name Commander Cody. The band's name was inspired by 1950s film serials featuring the character Commando Cody and from a feature version of an earlier serial, "King of the Rocket Men", released under the title "Lost Planet Airmen".


text: After playing for several years in local bars, in 1969 the core members migrated to Berkeley, California and soon got a recording contract with Paramount Records. (About a year later, Commander Cody invited western swing revival group Asleep at the Wheel to relocate to the Bay Area.) The group released their first album in November 1971, "Lost in the Ozone", which yielded its best-known hit, a cover version of the 1955 song "Hot Rod Lincoln", which reached the top ten on the "Billboard" singles chart in early 1972. Shortly thereafter drummer Lance Dickerson, Bruce Barlow, the band's manager and the band's bus driver moved to a ranch in Kenwood, California named "The Casa Felice". Here in the basement of one of the 3 houses is where the band set up a studio and practiced for upcoming tours. The tour bus at the time was a converted Greyhound bus with the name and logo "Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen" painted on the side. For a short time, the bus could be seen parked on the side of Warm Springs Road in Kenwood. The band's 1974 live recording, "Live from Deep in the Heart of Texas" features cover art of armadillos by Jim Franklin. The band released several moderately successful albums through the first half of the 1970s. Their 1975 album "Tales From The Ozone" was produced by Hoyt Axton. After appearing in the Roger Corman movie "Hollywood Boulevard", Frayne disbanded the group in 1976.


text: Geoffrey Stokes' 1976 book "Star-Making Machinery" featured Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen as its primary case study of music industry production and marketing. Stokes relates the difficulties the band had recording its first album for Warner Bros. Records. The label wanted a hit album along the lines of the soft country-rock of The Eagles, but the band was not inclined to change its raw-edged style. The book also detailed various internal conflicts within the band, some related to the recording process, others not.


text: Later some unauthorized Lost Planet Airmen recordings were released in Europe and Australia along with previously unreleased LPA tracks and some outtakes from existing Paramount and Warner releases.


text: Kirchen and Stein went on to have successful musical careers, with Kirchen being acknowledged as one of the preeminent Telecaster players in the world. Stein had a long association with the radio program, "A Prairie Home Companion". Tichy had previously earned a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and became head of the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York.


text: "Hot Rod Lincoln", the band's most famous recording, was voted a Legendary Michigan Song in 2008. The following year Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen were inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame.


text: Members of the original group, excepting Frayne, held a 50th anniversary reunion in the San Francisco Bay area in June 2019.


text: The band disbanded in 1977, but the name "Commander Cody" survived, being used by Frayne in various iterations in his solo career.


text: Retaining his stage name, George Frayne had a subsequent solo career, touring and releasing albums from 1977 on under various names including Commander Cody, the Commander Cody Band, Commander Cody and His Modern Day Airmen, and Commander Cody and His Western Airmen.


text: Frayne was also a visual artist. He received a bachelor's in design from the University of Michigan in 1966 and a master's in Sculpture and Painting from the Rackham School of Graduate Studies of the University of Michigan in 1968. He taught at University of Michigan and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and his art was exhibited at numerous shows around the country. He was a student of cinematography, and has a video (Two Triple Cheese Side Order of Fries) in the Museum of Modern Art's permanent video archive. He has assembled many old movies to go with the band's music as shown on his YouTube channel. Some of his paintings are oversized; most are medium-sized acrylics and present pop art images from media sources and historic photos. His book, "Art Music and Life" was released by Qualibre Publications in 2009 and is a mix of his best work and anecdotal comments and related stories. He still did portraits of famous automobiles for the Saratoga Auto Museum in Saratoga Springs, New York, where he resided in April, 1997.


text: George's brother Chris Frayne is credited with the cover art for the "Lost in the Ozone", "Sleazy Roadside Stories", "Hot Licks, Cold Steel & Truckers' Favorites", and "Country Casanova" albums. He shared credit with George for the album cover for "Aces High", and designed other album covers in the music industry. Chris Frayne died in 1992 of multiple sclerosis.


text: The band's music encompasses country, Western swing, rockabilly, boogie-woogie, blues, jump blues, jazz, progressive country, rhythm and blues, rock and roll and swing. The band was influential on the development of country rock, roots rock, alternative country and Americana.


title: Series 7 exam

text: In the United States, the Series 7 exam, also known as the General Securities Representative Exam (GSRE), is a test for entry-level registered representatives, to buy or sell security products such as corporate securities, municipal securities, options, direct participation programs, investment company products and variable contracts. The Series 7 is administered by Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), an industry regulatory agency.


title: Series 7 exam

text: The corequisite is the Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) exam, a change FINRA enacted in 2018. In October 2018, the 250-question Series 7 exam was replaced by the current top-off exam that is now taken in conjunction with the SIE exam. (A correlative change was made to the Series 6 exam.)


title: Series 7 exam

text: The Series 7 is a three hour and forty five minute exam. It is held in one four-hour session. There are 125 questions on the test. Candidates have to score at least 72 percent to pass. The SIE Exam and the Series 7 Exam are co-requisite exams.


title: Series 7 exam

text: In order to take the exam, an individual must be sponsored by a member firm of either FINRA or a self-regulatory organization (SRO).


title: Oddbods

text: Oddbods (also known as The Oddbods Show) is a Singaporean computer-animated comedy television series produced by One Animation. The series centers on seven characters—Bubbles, Pogo, Newt, Jeff, Slick, Fuse and Zee—wearing furry suits of different colors. The characters make sounds but there is no dialogue, making the series easily translatable and international.


title: Oddbods

text: The series debuted in 2013, and the first season ended in 2015. Each season has 60 episodes. Season two followed in 2016. Season three released in April 4, 2022 on Netflix. Each episode is relatively short, and various formats have been broadcast, including one-, five-, and seven-minute episodes.


title: Oddbods

text: The series has won several awards since its debut, including the Asian Television Awards, Apollo Awards, Gold Panda Awards, and Web TV Asia Awards. In 2017, it was nominated for an international Kids Emmy Award.


title: Oddbods

text: The series focuses on seven creatures in colorful furry suits called "the Oddbods": Fuse, Pogo, Newt, Slick, Bubbles, Jeff and Zee.


title: Oddbods

text: The storyline of each episode depicts how these characters "survive the perils of everyday life, unintentionally turning ordinary situations into unexpected, extraordinary and always humorous events." Episodes typically employ physical comedy and pranks played out between the characters, and the events that follow.


title: Oddbods

text: The series was conceived as a "non-dialogue" comedy, which the series' creators and writers say, "captures the madcap yet charming antics of the Oddbods, who celebrate success where they find it and take failure in their stride. To turn 'different' into a positive; celebrating individuality in a humorous, warm and unexpected way."


title: Oddbods

text: Speaking in an interview with the Manchester Evening News in 2016, Richard Thomas, the creator of the Oddbods and creative director at One Animation described how he first devised the show:


title: Oddbods

text: Founded in 2008, One Animation Pte Ltd is a Singaporean CGI animation studio based in the Alexandra subzone of the Bukit Merah district. The company has also produced "Rob the Robot", "Insectibles" and Development Series ("Hard Boiled" and "Abigail's Tales"). The company has produced a portfolio of successful animated series that are broadcast on global networks such as Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Disney XD, Discovery Kids, ABC, and seen across more than 100 countries worldwide.


title: Oddbods

text: The company focuses on developing family-focused TV, film and new media content, facilitating shorter than average production schedules, utilizing a crew that is typically one-third the size of a traditional CGI animation production team.


title: Oddbods

text: The series has been broadcast on 25 networks in 105 countries worldwide on free-to-air, as well as subscription channels, such as Boomerang, Disney Channel, Teletoon+, ITV (UK), Cartoonito (Italy), RCTI, ANTV, RTV (coming soon) Spacetoon (Now) (Indonesia), Kapamilya Channel (Philippines), ETTV Yoyo (Taiwan) and Cartoon Network. It is also available on-demand on social media channels, most notably YouTube, iQIYI (China) and ABC Me (Australia), where it has gained over one billion views in just one year. There are currently approximately 2 Million subscribers to the series' YouTube channel. In 2015, the series aired on Disney XD in the United States and last aired in 2015. In 2016 Japan, the series aired on Disney XD with adaptation of "The Oddbods Show", only showing in season 1, but it stopped airing and removed the show. The series came on ITVBe's LittleBe on 3 September 2018. Also, the series came to Disney XD in 2020, but stopped airing and streamed episodes on DisneyNOW, which also stopped streaming episodes. In 2017, Netflix added seasons 1 and 2 into their streaming service only other countries available in season 2, such as Singapore, Philippines, Japan and South Korea, the streaming removed season 2 and only showing season 1 in 2021.


title: Oddbods

text: In 2015, "Oddbods" was one of the highest-rated children's television shows in the United Kingdom, by number of viewers. It was one of CiTV's top five shows for the first quarter of 2016.


title: Oddbods

text: In January 2017, One Animation launched a new look website dedicated to the Oddbods as a place where fans of the show (adults and children alike) can interact with the brand.


title: Oddbods

text: The site hosts seven games with player leaderboards. Other features include videos, user generated content, in store section, shop now section, interactive background pages on each of the characters complete with trading card-style character summary and related videos. There is also an interactive collector poster which allows fans to view the episode their collectible figurine was inspired by.


title: Oddbods

text: In 2016, One Animation announced via press releases various partnerships with key licensing partners for Oddbods around the world including, amongst others, with ITV Studios Global Entertainment (ITVS GE) and Copyright Promotions and Licensing Group (CPLG).


title: Oddbods

text: This led to the commencement of a global licensing programme being rolled out, the first of which was a range of toys made available first in Europe and the Middle East. As well as extending the toy availability around the world over the course of 2017/18, a wider range of consumer products including apparel, giftware and stationery are also in the pipeline.


title: Paradise (Coldplay song)

text: "Paradise" is a song by the British rock band Coldplay, released on 12 September 2011 as the second single from their fifth album, "Mylo Xyloto". The song received its radio debut at 7:50 a.m. on "The Chris Moyles Show" (BBC Radio 1) on 12 September 2011. According to Coldplay's official website, the single was not initially chart eligible in the United Kingdom, because it was available on iTunes as an "instant grat" (immediate download) when pre-ordering the album. Following the release of the album on 30 October 2011, the song became chart eligible in the UK and entered the UK Singles Chart at number 14, before taking the number 1 spot on its tenth week, becoming the band's second number-one single after "Viva la Vida" in 2008. The song was met with positive reviews, and was the best selling rock song of 2011 in the United Kingdom, selling 410,000 copies.


title: Paradise (Coldplay song)

text: On 30 November, the song was nominated for a Grammy Award, in the category Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. On 12 February 2012, Coldplay performed "Paradise" live at the RE, along with "Princess of China". At the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards on 6 September, the song won the award for Best Rock Video. Following the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs on CBC, the song was featured in a yearly finale montage on CBC recapping the Stanley Cup Playoffs as well as British and American television advertisements and trailers for the film "Life of Pi", which was nominated for eleven Academy Awards.


title: Paradise (Coldplay song)

text: In 2010, the producers of ITV reality show "The X Factor" originally approached singer Chris Martin to write a winner's song for the seventh series of the show in 2010. "Paradise" was originally conceived by Martin as a response to the show's request, but drummer Will Champion insisted that the song be included on "Mylo Xyloto".


title: Paradise (Coldplay song)

text: The song was met with positive reviews from the majority of music critics. "Billboard" gave a positive review calling the track "another slice of hug-warm ecstasy" and gave praise to the "boiling strings, rattling synthesizers, and bass-heavy-beats" saying "it shows they know how to bring a few new tricks to the table". Both "Q" and "Rolling Stone" offered similar praise, and also noted that it was another step in the right direction. Altsounds.com gave a similar review remarking that there are "Drums that you would expect in a Rihanna song and melodies you would expect from a band like Friendly Fires and the "oohs" from 3OH!3 is what you first hear. That is, of course, until Chris Martin's vocals come into play and there is no doubt in your mind that this is Coldplay. A wonderful chorus of "para-para-paradise" reminds you just how good they really are. It will remain with you for weeks to come, like that new piece of clothing you just can't get enough of".


title: Paradise (Coldplay song)

text: About.com said, in a three-and-a-half star review, that "even when Coldplay sound a bit like they are spinning their wheels musically, it can still have quite beautiful moments." The review called the opening fanfare "simply gorgeous" but felt the rest of the song did not hold up as well as it could have. "NME" gave a more mixed reaction to the song and felt that "It's hard to say what the band is aiming for with the song. To replicate the epic football stadium 'moment' of 'Yellow'? The energy of a 'Viva La Vida'? If so it doesn't quite work on either count" but continued "if you're going to have a mid-paced Coldplay-by-numbers single-single, you may as well have one as grand and gorgeous as 'Paradise'." "Rolling Stone" ranked the song at number 41 on their "50 Best Singles of 2011" list. In 2013, MTV Australia included "Paradise" on their unranked list of the "Top 1000 All Time Classics". The song was later part of "Q"'s unranked "Songs of the Decade" editorial in 2019.


title: Paradise (Coldplay song)

text: "Paradise" became a top five hit in 16 countries. In the United States it peaked at number 15 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. Following the release on 12 September 2011, "Paradise" was revealed chart ineligible in the United Kingdom, having been offered as an "instant grat" (immediate download) for anyone who pre-ordered the album, "Mylo Xyloto". The release of the album on 24 October 2011 saw "Paradise" debut at number 14 on the UK Singles Chart with sales of 27,277 copies (the track had a total of 118,547 downloads in the six weeks of chart ineligibility). After being made purchasable at 59p (instead of 99p) on the UK's iTunes Store and being played on the "X Factor" final, "Paradise" regained momentum in the UK and climbed up to number two on 18 December 2011. On 1 January 2012, almost four months after its release, "Paradise" peaked at number one becoming the first number-one single of 2012 in the UK and becoming Coldplay's second UK number-one single after "Viva la Vida" in 2008. "Paradise" was the biggest-selling rock single of 2011 in the UK, with sales of 410,000 copies. It has sold 1,200,000 copies in the UK as of April 2017.


title: Paradise (Coldplay song)

text: "Paradise" was first ever played live before an audience on the night of 9 September 2011: it was shot before the studio audience of the Parisian music TV show "Taratata" on French television France 2. The crowd's response of this first performance was described as "unmistakable" by one of the band's roadies. The show was only broadcast later, in October 2011.


title: Paradise (Coldplay song)

text: The song was first played for a big audience at the Austin City Limits Taping event on 15 September 2011 and then on the following day at the Austin City Limits Festival when it was for the first time officially broadcast live.


title: Paradise (Coldplay song)

text: Coldplay performed the song on the finale of "The X Factor", as well as an episode of "Saturday Night Live" in which the band was the musical guest. On 28 October, the band performed the song before a studio audience on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show".


title: Paradise (Coldplay song)

text: "Paradise" became the anthem for the 2012 Summer Paralympics and was played twice during the closing ceremony, the latter performance featuring rapper Jay Z.


title: Paradise (Coldplay song)

text: Coldplay initially announced that the single's music video would be directed by Hype Williams, but that version was scrapped after shooting and the band decided instead to record a new version directed by long-time collaborator Mat Whitecross. The band called Whitecross just a day before the shooting and the video's concept was finished just hours before the director travelled from London to South Africa. Chris Martin created the video's concept storyline, which was ultimately filmed in the style of a nature documentary. Due to a combination of time constraints in shooting the video and Martin's conceptualization, the elephant suits were intendedly "lo-fi and spontaneous", and the unicycle had to be found in a hurry. The video was released on YouTube on 18 October 2011.


title: Paradise (Coldplay song)

text: In the video, Chris Martin, dressed as an elephant, escapes from the zoo. He finds an abandoned sharing system bicycle, rides it to Belsize Park London Underground station, and takes the train to Heathrow Airport in an attempt to hitch-hike his way to another country, doing so finally by stowing away inside a suitcase. An aerial shot reveals that his initial destination was Cape Town, South Africa. He is then seen wandering around Johannesburg at one point, walking past Nelson Mandela Bridge and a set of railway tracks in Braamfontein. He then earns enough money, which appears to be ZAR 67.05 (roughly equivalent to GBP 5.34 or US$8.40), by busking on the street, which shows portions of the song's lyrics in sync, to buy a bike; the shopkeeper suggests a unicycle instead. After a seemingly hopeless wander on his new unicycle (in which Martin takes off his elephant head for a second), he comes across three other elephants, who are the rest of Coldplay, playing the song in the veld. Will Champion is dressed as Snorky from the fictional band The Banana Splits, identifiable by his glasses and polka-dot ears. He starts playing with them, and the band eventually play a sell-out stadium concert together, before returning to the veld where they run towards the camera. The video was shot on location in London, Cape Town, the Klein Karoo in the Western Cape and Johannesburg. The zoo that Martin escapes from is Paradise Wildlife Park in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire. The bike shop shown is Woodstock Cycleworks in Woodstock, Cape Town. The concert segment was filmed during Coldplay's Mylo Xyloto Tour concert at the FNB Stadium on 8 October 2011. After performing this song live, the band donned their elephant heads and gloves and pretended to perform as the last minute of the studio recording played. The concertgoers were encouraged to cheer and sing along as if they were actually performing. As of August 2021, the video has over 1.48 billion views on YouTube.


title: Paradise (Coldplay song)

text: Another music video was directed by Shynola, who had directed the video for "Strawberry Swing". The video was intended as the first incarnation for the video before the band came up with the elephant concept. The promo pictures the life of a little girl that comes out from jail. A special video of "Paradise" was created for the 2012 Summer Paralympics and shown between event breaks. This version featured clips of Paralympian Athletes competing in events.


title: United States Army uniforms in World War II

text: The United States Army in World War II used a variety of standard and non-standard dress and battle uniforms, which often changed depending upon the theater of war, climatic environment, and supply exigencies.


text: U.S. Army basic service uniforms consisted of a winter service uniform of olive drab wool worn in temperate weather, and a summer service uniform of khaki cotton fabric worn in tropical weather. In addition to the service uniforms worn for ordinary duty and dress purposes there were a variety of fatigue and combat uniforms. Summer and winter service uniforms were worn during their respective seasons in the continental United States. During the war, the European Theater of Operations (Northwestern Europe) was considered a year-round temperate zone and the Pacific Theater of Operations a year-round tropical uniform zone. In the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, U.S. soldiers wore both seasonal uniforms.


text: The enlisted men's winter service uniform in 1941 consisted of a wool serge four-button coat with four pockets in olive drab shade no. 33 (OD 33), wool trousers, and a long-sleeved wool shirt, both in olive drab shade 32 (OD 32). A russet brown leather belt with a brass buckle was worn with the coat until 1941, when it was dropped as a leather conservation measure, with the belt hooks on the coat being eliminated as well. Many enlisted men added belt hooks to their coats, and privately purchased their own belts; they can often be seen being worn long after the 1941 termination date. Shirts, which featured two patch pockets and no shoulder straps, were either OD 32 wool flannel or khaki cotton chino cloth. Either color of shirt could be worn under the coat, however, the cotton shirt could not be worn as an outer garment with the wool trousers when the coat was not worn. The initial shirt design had a stand-up collar like a typical dress shirt. In 1941, the shirt was redesigned with the collar band removed so the collar would lie flat when worn without a necktie in the field. In 1944, the color of the shirt and trousers was changed to OD 33.


text: In 1941, the necktie for the winter uniform was black wool and the summer necktie was khaki cotton. In February 1942, a universal mohair wool necktie in olive drab shade no. 3 (OD 3) replaced both previous neckties. The OD 3 necktie was shortly superseded by a khaki cotton–wool blend necktie. The khaki necktie was mandated for wear with both summer and winter service uniforms. Whenever a shirt was worn as an outer garment, the necktie was tucked between the first and second exposed buttons of the shirt.


text: The enlisted man's summer service uniform consisted of the cotton khaki uniform shirt with matching trousers; the issue of the coat for this uniform was discontinued for enlisted men in the 1930s. The necktie was tucked between the first and second exposed buttons of the shirt. Although originally used as a summer combat uniform as well as a summer dress uniform, after the invasion of the Philippines in 1942 the khaki uniform was largely replaced as a summer combat uniform by the herringbone twill utility uniform.


text: The peaked cap was discontinued for official issue to most enlisted soldiers after the end of 1941, but remained a popular item for private purchase. Thereafter, only the garrison cap in either olive drab for winter or khaki for summer wear with piping in the color of the soldier's branch of service was the designated enlisted service headgear. The soldier's distinctive unit insignia (DUI) was worn on the left front of the curtain if the unit issued one. However, after 1943 the manufacture of new DUIs under government contract were suspended for the duration of the war.


text: Issue footwear consisted of russet brown low-quarter leather cap toe boots. For more on Army footwear see combat uniforms below.


text: The male officer's winter service uniform in 1941 consisted of a four-button, four-pocket coat of finer wool fabric in olive drab shade no. 51 (OD 51), a very dark olive green with brownish hue. The coat was worn with a russet brown leather Sam Browne belt until 1942 when the leather belt was replaced by a cloth belt of matching fabric. Officers could wear trousers matching the color and fabric of the coat, or optionally they were allowed trousers of a contrasting pinkish pale taupe, officially called "drab shade no. 54", of the same material as the coat. The combination was commonly called "pinks and greens". Officers were also authorized to use the more durable OD 33 enlisted uniforms, except for the enlisted men's four pocket service coat, as long as they were not mixed with OD 51 or taupe clothing.


text: Officers' shirts, unlike the enlisted shirts, included buttoned shoulder straps. Officers had additional shirt color and fabric options. In 1941 officers shirts included cotton or tropical worsted wool khaki shirts that could be worn with either the summer or winter service uniforms and wool shirts in OD 33 or OD 51 with the winter uniform. Additionally, in 1944 shade No. 54 taupe shirts matching the trousers were authorized. Officers wore black and khaki neckties with winter and summer uniforms respectively, like enlisted soldiers, until after February 1942 when the universal neckties were changed to khaki for all ranks. As with enlisted men, officers could not wear khaki shirts as an outer garment with the wool trousers. The shirt had to be either the same shade OD as the trousers or OD 51 with the taupe trousers.


text: Male officer's summer service uniforms usually consisted of a wash-and-wear cotton khaki uniforms like those of enlisted men, the main difference being that the shirts had shoulder straps added. However, for dress purposes officers also had the option of purchasing a khaki summer service uniform of tropical weight suiting fabric. The coat of the uniform was identical in cut to the winter officers' uniform, except the cloth belt of the winter service coat was omitted.


text: Officer's headgear for the winter uniform consisted of either an OD 51 peaked service cap with a russet leather visor or a garrison cap matching the OD fabric shade worn. The garrison cap for officers was piped around the curtain with black and gold cord except for general officers whose piping was all gold. The officer's rank insignia was worn on the left front side of the garrison cap. The service cap was also available in khaki tan with a removable top to be worn with the khaki summer uniform. Optionally khaki garrison caps were worn with the summer khaki uniform with the same piping as the winter OD version.


text: Footwear normally consisted of the same type of russet brown leather shoes used by enlisted soldiers.


text: During the war in Europe a short jacket was adopted by General Dwight D. Eisenhower as an alternative to the 4 pocket service coat. The "Eisenhower jacket", or "Ike jacket", was popular. It closely resembled the short British Battle Dress jacket that inspired it. However, development and approval by the Army was slow. Except for small runs of jackets made for soldiers in England, the U.S. Army did not provide the jacket as an issue item to enlisted soldiers until the war in Europe was almost over.


text: Two forerunner jackets were manufactured in England and issued to troops in the European Theatre of Operations (ETO) before the Ike jacket was approved Army-wide. The first of these was essentially a wool version of the 1941 pattern poplin field jacket, while the second more closely resembled the final Ike jacket in form. These jackets were authorized only in the ETO, and are commonly called "ETO jackets". There were also non-standard conversions of service costs made for soldiers, particularly officers, by tailors in the United Kingdom with degrees of variation.


text: The standard-issue M44 Wool Field Jacket, made of fine-quality OD 33 wool, was originally designed as a liner to be worn under the M1943 combat jacket. While originally intended as a field or combat jacket, it was nearly always reserved for service or dress wear. The full phase-out of the enlisted service coat was only completed after the war was over, though it had returned by the Korean War.


text: With the service uniform, the enlisted arm of service insignia was embossed on circular pins, while the officer's insignia was "free work" (i.e., open design with no backing). Officers' arm of service pins ("U.S." for the Regular Army) were worn on the upper lapels and their branch of service pins were worn on their lower lapels. Enlisted men wore the U.S. disk on the right and the branch disk on the left upper lapel. The rank of officers was worn on the outer edge of the shoulder loops whereas enlisted soldiers wore rank chevrons three inches wide points-up on both upper arms. Organizational patches were worn on the left upper shoulder only.


text: When the coat was worn, no insignia was worn on the shirts except sew-on patches. When the shirt was worn as an outer garment, officers wore pin on insignia on the shirt. Until 1942, the officers' U.S. pin was worn on the right collar point and the officers' branch insignia was worn on the left. The officers' rank was worn on the outer ends of the shoulder loops as on the coat. After September 1942, the U.S. pin was deleted, and the rank of the wearer was displayed on the right collar point.


text: Distinctive Unit Insignia pins (featuring the unit's coat-of-arms) were worn in the center of the epaulet for officers and on the lower lapels for enlisted men. These devices were relatively uncommon during the war as a metal-conservation measure.


text: Wound Chevrons (awarded from 1918 to 1932 for wounds in combat) were worn on the lower right sleeve between the cuff and the elbow. Service stripes, or "hash marks", (awarded for every 3 years of service) were worn on the lower left sleeve. World War I Overseas Chevrons (created 1918) and/or World War II Overseas Bars (created 1944) (awarded for each six months combat service overseas) were worn on the lower left sleeve between the elbow and lower sleeve, but above the Service Stripes. The World War II Bars were worn over the World War I Chevrons. After 1953 the Service Stripes were kept on the lower left sleeve and the Overseas Service Stripes were moved to the lower right sleeve.


text: Parachutist's Wings, Pilot's Wings, the Expert Infantryman Badge, the Combat Infantryman Badge, or the Combat Medical Badge were worn above the left pocket. Discharged soldiers returning home wore the embroidered Honorable Discharge Emblem (or "Ruptured duck") on the uniform over the right pocket on a diamond-shaped olive drab cloth backing. American and foreign medals or medal ribbons were worn above the left pocket. American and foreign Unit citation ribbons are worn over the right top tunic pocket. The Meritorious Unit Commendation patch (created 1944), awarded to a unit for at least six months of exemplary combat service or combat support, is worn on the lower right sleeve above the cuff and below the Wound Chevrons.


text: Female members of the U.S. Army during WWII were assigned to either the Army Nurse Corps (ANC) or the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC/WAC). The ANC preceded the WAAC/WAC so the two branches had separate uniform distinctions.


text: Prior to 1943, the ANC winter service uniform consisted of the ANC pattern dark blue cap or garrison cap with maroon piping, suit jacket with maroon cuff braid and gold army buttons, light blue or white shirt, black tie and light blue skirt; shoes were black or white. The ANC summer service uniform consisted of a similar suit in beige with maroon shoulder strap piping and cuff braid, beige ANC cap or beige garrison cap with maroon piping, white shirt, and black four-in-hand tie. During World War II the first flight nurses uniform consisted of a blue wool battle dress jacket, blue wool trousers and a blue wool men's style maroon piped garrison cap. The uniform was worn with either the ANC light blue or white shirt and black tie. After 1943 the ANC adopted olive drab service uniforms similar to the newly formed WAC. Nurses wore Army hospital whites on ward duty.


text: In May 1942 Congress approved the creation of the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps. Although the ANC were actual service members of the U.S. Army, the members of the WAAC were not, so they wore Army style uniforms with distinctly different insignia than U.S. Army service members. In the summer of 1943 the WAAC was converted to the Women's Army Corps (WAC). From that point the WAC were U.S. Army service members and their insignia was changed to that of the regular army.


text: Female service dress went through an evolution of patterns over the course of the war years, however throughout the period the service uniforms both summer and winter generally consisted of the WAC pattern "Hobby" hat or women's garrison cap, a women's suit coat, shirtwaist, four-in-hand tie, skirt, russet leather women's service shoes and hand bag. The women's olive drab wool "Ike jacket" was also worn as were women's service trousers. The colors essentially mirrored those of their male counterparts of corresponding rank in the equivalent service uniform although fabrics differed. There were also special off-duty dresses of summer beige and winter tan.


text: After the WAC were established the ANC adopted the WAC officer's uniforms, except for the ANC pattern hat and the ANC pattern handbag. However, those items were changed to olive drab and russet leather respectively. The ANC off duty dress was a separate ANC pattern in olive drab shade 51 or beige. The previous ANC beige summer service uniform with maroon trim was retained except that the tie was changed to maroon.


text: The U.S. Army during the inter-war period followed the previous model of having a standard uniform that combined elements of both the service uniform and field uniform. By combining the uniforms, it was thought that time and money could be saved. The temperate climate field configuration consisted of the olive drab wool trousers, shirt, and russet brown shoes from the service uniform worn with canvas leggings, helmet and web gear. An outer jacket or coat, either the Model 1938 "Overcoat, Mackinaw, Roll Collar" or the M1941 Field Jacket, nicknamed the "Parson jacket" after its designer, in OD 3 was issued. At the outset of the war, the khaki cotton summer uniform was intended to serve as a tropical climate field uniform.


text: In the European Theater of Operations, the basic wool uniform saw the most use and had the greatest functionality, being able to keep the soldier warm in the winter with its insulation and relatively cool and breathable in Northern European summer weather. However, the M-1941 field jacket received considerable criticism; it was poorly insulated and the light cotton shell provided little protection from wind or rain. In addition, the light OD 3 coloring was deemed inappropriate for use in northern Europe, as it stood out against most backdrops, making soldiers more visible targets.


text: Additionally, a fatigue-duty uniform made of 8.2-ounce heavy cotton herringbone twill (HBT) cloth was issued. The uniform consisted of a shirt, trousers, and a hat. Initially, this was a circular-brimmed "clamdigger"-style hat which was later replaced by a billed cap that was based on a design used by railroad workers. It was intended to be worn over the basic wool or cotton uniforms to provide protection during fatigue duties, but it proved to be much better material than the primary wool uniform for hot weather, as so it saw use as a combat uniform in nearly all of the major theaters of combat in which the US was involved.


text: The original 1941 version came in a light sage green color that faded with repeated washing. As a local measure for operations in New Guinea during 1942, uniforms were dyed a darker green. The later 1943 version had small changes in tailoring and came in a darker olive drab shade No. 7, matching the new M-1943 version of the field jacket.


text: Paratroopers assigned to airborne units during the earlier parts of the war wore a distinct field uniform intended to provide for the distinct conditions of airborne combat. The M42 Parachute Jumper uniform consisted of a coat with four front patch pockets with two button snaps on each, along with a unique dual-zippered knife pocket located on the upper lapel which was designed to contain a switchblade pocketknife. The trousers had five internal pockets and two large patch pockets located one on each thigh. The thigh pockets were also closed by two button snaps each. The uniform was worn with distinct jump boots instead of the low-quarter shoes and canvass leggings used by standard infantry. Due to the somewhat fragile nature of the uniform, however, the M42 was often reinforced with thicker, tougher canvas on the elbows, crotch and knees. It was replaced by the M1943 Uniform, though M42 uniforms continued to be worn through the Battle of Normandy and by some troopers until the end of the war.


text: The M-1943 uniform came into service in the later half of World War II. The uniform was designed as a layered system, meant to be worn over the wool shirt and trousers, and in conjunction with a wool sweater and liners in colder weather.


text: The most recognizable part of the uniform is the standardized M-1943 field jacket. It was longer than the earlier 1941 field jacket, coming down to the upper thighs. It was made of windproof cotton sateen and was issued in a new darker olive drab color, OD 7. The jacket also had a detachable hood, drawstring waist, two large breast pockets, and two lower skirt pockets.


text: The trousers were made out of the same OD 7 cotton sateen material were equipped with neither front nor rear pockets, but a more economical large cargo pocket sewn to each side. They also had buttoned tabs at the waist in order to cinch the waist.


text: In the ETO, initial issuance of the M-1943 was slowed as a consequence of opposition by some U.S. commanders. However, as U.S. and Allied troops pushed into Germany, more M-1943 uniforms or components of the uniform were issued as the supply situation (including replacements directly from stateside arrived) and the weather became harsher as winter arrived.


text: In use, the M-1943 was very popular with the men in the field, being relatively comfortable and having large amounts of pocket space.


text: In 1943, after extensive testing in the swamplands and jungles of Florida and Panama, the U.S. Army determined that an experimental tropical uniform made of "Byrd Cloth" (known in Britain as "Grenfell Cloth"), would best protect soldiers from insects and disease while cooling the body and minimizing losses from perspiration. Byrd Cloth, as used in the Experimental Tropical Uniform, was a single-layer uniform of untreated OD long-staple Egyptian cotton, made in a tightly woven herringbone twill to prevent mosquito bites. In use, the uniform was intended to cool the wearer even when continuously wetted, as might be expected in a humid, rainy jungle environment. The uniform featured a short-tailed shirt, trousers with cuffs fitted with half-inch boottop fastening tapes, and a flap-protected fly to keep out crawling insects such as leeches, ticks, and chiggers. Pockets were shallow and kept to a minimum to increase cooling; users carried all their gear in load-bearing belts, suspenders, or in low-mounted field packs designed to minimize body contact (jungle packs). The uniform, always in short supply because of a shortage of Byrd Cloth, was used in combat by members of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and the Mars Task Force (Army 5332nd Brigade-Provisional) in Burma.


text: Because of the shortage of suitable weaving machines and resultant cost of weaving Byrd Cloth, a less expensive 5-ounce OD cotton poplin shirt and trouser were issued on an experimental basis in 1944 for use in jungle and tropical regions; while reports were favorable, existing HBT stockpiles were deemed adequate, and the uniform was not adopted.


text: Nurses wore Army hospital whites on ward duty although a seersucker version with brown and white stripes was created because the whites were hard to maintain in some overseas areas. This dress was inspired by a WAC seersucker version the same color. Sage green fatigue uniforms of herringbone cotton twill for women, along with women's combat boots, field jackets and flight clothing, were manufactured by the U.S. Army during World War II. However, when women's versions of these items were not available, as was often the case in overseas areas, men's issue work/fatigue clothing was used instead. The M1942 HBT "clamdigger" utility hat was used extensively by the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. They wore it with the back of the brim flipped up and the front of the brim pulled down and nicknamed it the "Daisy Mae Cap". It replaced the WAACs' distinctive "Hobby Hat" kepi for field use and fatigue duties.


text: Army combat footwear in World War II originally consisted of a basic tanned leather shoe, used with heavy canvas leggings, the "Shoes, Service, Composition Sole", also referred to as the"Type I" shoe in Army publications. This was an ankle-high field shoe made of tanned leather painted in a dark reddish-brown or "russet" color, originally with a rubber heel and leather sole. A rubber tap (half-sole) was added to the sole after late 1941 to extend the life of the shoe, creating the "Type II" shoe. In January 1943, a "roughout" field shoe designated "Shoes, Service, Reverse Upper, Composition Sole" or the "Type III" shoe began production. Designed as an improvement over the Type II shoe for field wear, it was essentially identical to the former in construction, but was made with a full rubber sole and heel and flesh-out uppers to improve water repellency by the addition of waterproofing wax. Once deliveries of the Type III shoe began for overseas use, the Type II shoe was restricted for issue in the continental United States only.


text: In January 1944, the "Boots, Service, Combat, Composition Sole," or "two-buckle boot," entered production, intended to replace the Type III service shoe. This boot was otherwise identical to the Type III shoe, but had a longer tongue and permanently-attached two-buckled leather cuff which was designed to replace the unpopular canvas leggings. Excepting combat testing in the Mediterranean Theater in 1943, the Type III shoes did not appear overseas in large numbers until just before D-Day, and the composition sole combat service boots in the fall of 1944; soldiers can be seen wearing both types of service shoes with leggings, and the newer combat boot. As the war went on, soles went from being made of natural rubber to synthetic or reclaimed rubber, and other measures were taken to conserve other shoe-making materials, such as leather and brass.


text: A rubber-soled, canvas-top Jungle boot was issued during the war for use by soldiers in the tropical and jungle environments typically encountered in the China-Burma-India (CBI) and the Pacific theaters. The 10th Mountain Division's troopers occasionally wore the Mountain Boot, a low-quarter brown leather boot with a square toe and rocker-type sole, though this boot was phased out in favor of the Type III Combat Boot in the last year of the war. In 1944, the M-44 Combat Boot, a high-top leather boot with full laces was adopted for service, but for the duration it was primarily worn by soldiers on stateside duty.


text: Parachute troops beginning in 1942 were issued Jump boots – high-lacing rubber-soled leather boots which were intended to provide additional ankle support when landing by parachute. Although these boots were to be replaced by the new M43 combat boots, jump boots continued to be worn throughout the war. Nicknamed "Corcorans", from the name of the first contractor to manufacture them, they have become a status symbol as the footwear of paratroopers and Rangers.


text: Overshoes were normally issued to Army units during winter operations. In January 1945, some Army units operating in the ETO received shoepacs for wet winter wear. The shoepac was a leather boot with rubberized lower top and sole, worn in conjunction with the wool ski sock. While it was effective in keeping feet protected from soaking and freezing ground, the shoepac lacked foot support and tended to wear quickly; it also resulted in incidents of foot injuries when a soldier wearing shoepacs on a march in freezing weather stopped to rest, allowing perspiration-soaked socks inside the boot to freeze.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: Gruppo Bertone, commonly known as Bertone, was an Italian industrial design company which specialized in car styling, coachbuilding and manufacturing. It formerly was also a car manufacturing company. Bertone styling was distinctive, with most cars having a strong "family resemblance" even if they were badged by different manufacturers. Bertone had styled cars for Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, BMW, Citroën, Ferrari, FIAT, Iso, Lancia, Lamborghini, Mercedes-Benz, Opel, and Volvo, among others. In addition, the Bertone studio was responsible for two of the later designs of the Lambretta motorscooter.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: The company was based in Grugliasco in northern Italy. Gruppo Bertone was founded as "Carrozzeria Bertone" in 1912 by Giovanni Bertone. Designer Nuccio Bertone took charge of the company after World War II and the company was divided into two units: "Carrozzeria" for manufacturing and "Stile Bertone" for styling. Until its bankruptcy in 2014, the company was headed by the widow of Nuccio Bertone, Lilli Bertone. At the time of bankruptcy, it had some 100 direct employees. In 2014 most employees lost their jobs and were not absorbed by following acquisitions. Cars from the company museum went to other museums, like and Volandia.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: After its bankruptcy, the Bertone name was acquired by an architect and retained by some of its former employees, who continued as a Milan-based small external design office, Bertone Design, much more focused on industrial design and architecture.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: Bertone Design was sold to the group AKKA Technologies in the second quarter of 2016, which already had automotive design activities through Mercedes Benz Technologies, owned by the group AKKA Technologies for several years. The AKKA Technologies group thus took the opportunity to increase its positioning in engineering and services to manufacturers to deliver turnkey vehicle projects.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: The AKKA Technologies group subsequently sold the Bertone brand to Ideactive, a company owned by Mauro and Jean-Franck Ricci. The two Ricci brothers, who are passionate about cars, are planning to relaunch the brand and revive the legend in the future.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: Giovanni Bertone started a carriage manufacturing business in Turin at the age of 28. Along with three workers, he built horse-drawn vehicles.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: In the first decades of the 20th century, cars were not common; road traffic was dominated by horse-drawn carriages. The coaches built by the young Bertone were particularly regarded for their accuracy, quality, and solidity. In 1914, Bertone's second son, Giuseppe, nicknamed "Nuccio", was born. The outbreak of the First World War triggered a major crisis of the young Italian industrial sector and heavily affected Giovanni Bertone, who was forced to close his company.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: At the end of the First World War, Bertone's business restarted and expanded its activities and began focusing on the automotive sector. In 1920, a new plant was opened near the Monginevro 119 in Turin.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: Twenty people were on the payroll. One year later, the first important contract was signed to the company. This was a torpedo styled body based on the SPA 23S chassis. Then, the FIAT "501 Sport Siluro Corsa," the first of a family of models that would characterize the brand in the years to come, was designed.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: During the 1920s, Turin was represented as one of the worldwide centers of excellence of the car industry. Bertone was at its hub and formed partnerships with almost all the manufacturers of the time. Giovanni Bertone began doing bodywork on the Fast, Chiribiri, Aurea, SCAT, and Diatto chassis. The most important and long-lasting relationships were those with the two biggest Turin manufacturers: FIAT and Lancia.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: Vincenzo Lancia realized straight away that Giovanni Bertone was an outstanding skilled craftsman with a great future ahead of him. Affectionately nicknaming him "Bertunot", he commissioned Bertone to create complete car bodies, especially for the "limited series" that the companies of the day were not always equipped to manufacture. This was Bertone's first opportunity to carry out limited production of special cars on standard mechanical bases.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: These were exciting years for Bertone himself and for the evolution of industrial style and design. The car body shapes were slowly but continuously changing, angular shapes began to fade, and wings started to be joined together.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: Giovanni Bertone produced torpedo and saloon bodies for FIAT and Lancia, and for Itala, Diatto and SPA. He also worked on commissions for private customers eager for exclusivity. Alongside sports models like the 1928 Ansaldo 6BS, Giovanni Bertone also designed luxury cars like the Fiat 505 limousine and the Itala 51S, both in 1924. He later designed the Lancia Lambda VIII Series in 1928.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: Despite the fact that the depression of 1929 had been devastating on many Turin carmakers, Giovanni Bertone's shrewd management allowed the company to carry on creating cars with an appeal. In 1932, Giovanni designed the Lancia Artena, which was produced until 1936. In 1933, the following year, a cornerstone event for the Carrozzeria Bertone occurred. Nuccio Bertone, who was nineteen at the time, officially began working in his father's company. During the same period, Bertone began working on commercial vehicles, and as the business grew, new premises were needed. The company moved to Corso Peschiera 225. Gruppo Bertone now had fifty members of staff.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: In 1934, Bertone created the Fiat 527S Ardita 2500, a turning point in car design, with some new details such as the front headlights with fairing along the bonnet. With the Ardita, a new kind of style was created, which was destined to take off towards the end of the decade with FIAT and Lancia models. Examples were the 'six window' FIAT 1500 Aerodinamica, the opulent Lancia Aprilia Cabriolet, and the novel Fiat 1500 Torpedo, with structural features that had never been seen before, such as the fold-away hood which stowed away entirely inside the car.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: With the outbreak of the Second World War, the car market experienced a sudden, drastic downturn. Almost all the bodywork manufacturers, including Bertone, reacted to the crisis by turning to military vehicles of various kinds. The company created vehicles such as the Bertone ambulance on a Lancia Artena base. This was a hard time for Bertone; demand was scarce, raw materials and labor were lacking, and military orders were difficult to fulfil. But production did not stop in the Corso Peschiera plant, as some luxurious Lancia Aprilia were manufactured as well as the extremely elegant long chassis Fiat 2800 cabriolet, the only one of its kind, built on commission for race driver and motoring journalist Giovanni Lurani Cernuschi.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: After the war, as the long slow process of reconstruction began in Europe, the big industrial companies gradually scaled up their production levels, and the bodyworks got back to work. During these difficult years, Nuccio Bertone created cars like the Lancia Aprilia Cabriolet and the Fiat 1100 Stanguellini racing car, which were precursors to some of the design trends in the following decade.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: At the end of the 1940s, Nuccio Bertone turned to racing at the wheel of a number of different cars, including a Fiat 500 Barchetta, which Nuccio built for himself. At the end of the decade, the meeting with Vittorio Stanguellini led to the creation of a coupé with a Fiat 1100 chassis which got a high public appreciation.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: The 1950s brought in the first orders from countries other than Italy, in particular from MG and Bristol Cars Limited in 1952. The following year, Franco Scaglione designed the prototype for the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint, which was presented at the 1954 Turin Motor Show. A production of 1,000 units was originally planned, but by the end, nearly 40,000 vehicles were made between 1954 and 1965. The car ceased production in 1965.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: The relationship between Bertone and Alfa Romeo reached its creative peak with the Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnica (BAT) concept cars which pushed back the boundaries of car design and aerodynamics: the BAT 5 in 1953, the BAT 7 in 1954 and the BAT 9 of 1955. Research into aerodynamics culminated in the production of the Abarth 750 Record in 1956, built on a Fiat 600 chassis and tested on the high-speed track at Monza. This Abarth set an impressive ten world records, including doing at an average of 156.36 km/h and covering 10,125.26 km in 72 hours.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: In 1957, the company expanded to start the production of the NSU Sport Prinz. The factory in Corso Peschiera could not cope with the forecast production volumes. Construction work began in Grugliasco on the outskirts of Turin for a new plant that became operative in 1959, with a workforce of 550. At the end of the 1950s, Bertone came up with some sports Berlinettas which were to make history, such as the Giulietta Sprint Speciale, the Aston Martin DB2/4 and the Maserati 3500 GT.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: The 1960s were the years of the Italian-style GT. Giorgetto Giugiaro came up with five variations on the theme which would always be dear to his heart. They were in the shape of five extremely racy GT models: the Alfa Romeo 2600 Sprint, in coupé and cabriolet versions, two Ferrari 250 GTs, one named 'Wax' after the commissioning client, and the others for his personal use, the Aston Martin DB4 GT 'Jet' and the Maserati 5000 GT. At the same time, two new industrial partnerships were getting underway, with the work on the Simca 1000 Coupé and the BMW 3200 CS limited series. The important, but unfortunate ASA 1000 GT, better known as the "Ferrarina", or "little Ferrari" (as the project originated with Enzo Ferrari), was a commercial failure upon its release despite the high expectations of the public.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: The Iso Rivolta GT 300, the Iso Rivolta GT 340 and the Iso Grifo were also created in the 1960s. Giorgetto Giugiaro designed a prototype cabriolet of the latter and a racing version known as the A3C. The Grifo years were also the years of the Chevrolet Testudo, driven personally by Nuccio Bertone to the Geneva Motor Show in 1963. The following year saw the Alfa Romeo Canguro, followed in 1965 by the Alfa Romeo Giulia GT, the rightful heir of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: In 1965, Carrozzeria Bertone experienced a major turning-point, with the launch of the Fiat 850 Spider. The commercial success of this model led Nuccio Bertone to increase the company's production capacity to 120 units per day. Between 1965 and 1972 nearly 140,000 were produced, the great majority of which were sold in the United States. With the Fiat 850, the company took a giant leap forward in terms of production volumes, from the 13,000 units produced in 1966 to nearly 30,000 in 1968, an increase of 40 percent.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: The end of the 1960s saw the beginning of the partnership with Ferruccio Lamborghini that was destined to make history in the car world. The first vehicle to come out of this was the Lamborghini Miura, which was presented at the 1966 Geneva Motor Show and reinvented the high-performance coupé design concept. The Miura was followed by the Marzal in 1967 and the Espada in 1968. In the same period, two other coupés appeared: the Alfa Romeo Montreal and the Fiat Dino Coupé, both out in 1967. Astounding, ground-breaking cars, they invented their own language for the design of the future: these were Marcello Gandini's trademarks. At the Paris Motor Show of 1968, Bertone presented the Carabo concept car, based on an Alfa 33 chassis.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: By 1970, Bertone had a workforce of 1,500 staff, and the Grugliasco factory covered an area of . The partnership with Lamborghini led to the development of the Lamborghini Espada, by 1973 known as the world's fastest four-seater. The design was inspired by an earlier concept, the Jaguar Pirana. After his initial success with the Espada, he went on to design the Lamborghini Jarama and the Lamborghini Urraco. With the Stratos Zero prototype, which was built on a Lancia Fulvia 1.6 HF base, Bertone came to represent a new point of reference in modern art, as well as on the international car design scene. The Stratos Zero, which was presented at the 1970 Turin Motor Show, evoked a timeless blend of architecture, sculpture, and industrial design.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: The following year, with some of the Zero's styling cues as a starting point, Bertone created the Lancia Stratos Stradale, a compact coupé destined mainly for the racing circuit, and which went on to win numerous victories in world rally championships.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: In that year, as a tacit tribute to the company's founder, the Maserati Khamsin and the Fiat X1/9 were released. The latter, foreshadowed by the Autobianchi A112 Runabout concept car, was the heir of the 850 Spider and went on to enjoy the same runaway commercial success. Based on the Fiat 128 chassis but with a mid-rear-engine layout, the X1/9 was in production from 1972 to 1988, with 160,000 units manufactured.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: Meanwhile, Marcello Gandini's prolific drawing board saw a succession of supercars, runabouts, and provocative style concepts. These included the 1973 Series 3 version of the Lamborghini Espada, which redesigned the dashboard configuration, the Lamborghini Countach and the Ferrari 308 GT4 of 1973, the Audi 50 and Innocenti Mini 90 of 1974, the Fiat 131 Abarth Rally in 1975, and the prototype Alfa Romeo Navajo in 1976.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: In the same year, the company began working for Volvo on the 264 TE. The Volvo 262C, which was presented at the 1977 Geneva Motor Show, was entirely manufactured by Bertone, from the assembly of the basic body to the fitting of the mechanical components and the road trials.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: This procedural turning point had a big role in transforming the company, which was now set to become a car manufacturer in its own right.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: From the start of the 1980s, the Fiat Ritmo Cabrio and the Fiat X1/9 were produced and sold directly under the Bertone brand, meaning that the company was now responsible not only for production but also for the sales network and after-sales assistance for the two models.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: In 1982, Marcello Gandini turned out another important design, the Citroën BX. After entering into a joint-venture with Volvo in 1985 the company began production of the Volvo 780, a two-door saloon entirely created by Bertone, from the formal design of the model to the full production cycle.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: A new commercial agreement drawn up with General Motors Europe in 1986 saw the production of the Kadett Cabrio was handed over to Bertone. The new Pontiac Fiero GT body design was also due to this relationship with the stile Bertone department of the company. The partnership with Opel continued with the first generation of the Opel Astra Cabrio, and with the Astra Coupé.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: The end of the 1980s saw the Citroën XM, and the Freeclimber off-roader with mechanical components by Daihatsu and BMW engines.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: Without abandoning its commitment to exploring the new languages of car design, Bertone entered the 1990s with its focus on technological innovations.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: Capturing the attention of the public and experts alike at the 1992 Turin Motor Show was the aggressively futuristic Blitz Barchetta, a show car that featured an electric engine and avant-garde construction. The Barchetta had a tubular chassis in special steel integrated with sandwich-structured fiberglass panels, bodywork in composite materials, and carbon interiors.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: In 1993 the Opel Astra Cabrio and the Fiat Punto Cabrio began production, with the entire production cycle for both cars at the Grugliasco factory; assembly of the bodywork, mechanical components integration, paintwork, and fittings. A complete production cycle, ending with the final testing process, was carried out according to the procedures and standards of the commissioning companies.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: In 1994, continuing the company's research into low environmental impact vehicles, Bertone presented the Zero Emission Record (ZER), a futuristic reinterpretation of the Abarth 750 Record. Expressly conceived and created to yield the highest performance levels in the electric car sector, the ZER (which has a Cx of 0.11) set the world one-hour-long distance record (199.822 km), and broke the 300 km/h barrier, setting the new world speed record for electric cars (with a top speed of 303.977 km/h).


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: In 1994, Gruppo Bertone became the first manufacturer in Italy to be awarded the ISO 9001 quality certification. Meanwhile, Bertone did not turn its back on a past dedicated to bodywork and continued to design working prototypes; the Karisma in 1994, a four-seater Berlinetta on a Porsche base, the Kayak in 1995, a coupé on a Lancia K base, the Slalom 'coupé de chasse' on an Opel Astra Coupe/Cabrio base, and the Fiat Enduro 4x4, an SUV based on a Fiat Brava floorplan.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: On 26 February 1997, the evening of the Geneva Motor Show, Nuccio Bertone died, as "one of the greatest coachbuilders of the century, and international Maestro of Italian style," in the words of Fulvio Cinti, motoring journalist and car historian. His widow, Lilli Bertone, took over management of the company.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: In the past, car manufacturers had paid more attention to the engineering of a car than to its design. By the 1990s they had realized the importance of design to their brand's success and were increasingly bringing more of the creative work in-house. This even applied to supercar manufacturers, who in the past had been a major client of the Italian design consultancies (carrozzeria). While Chinese and Indian manufacturers provided some work, this too decreased as once they gained confidence and they established their own in-house design studios. Despite these difficulties, Bertone obtained some specialist manufacturing projects and continued with design consulting.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: However, by 2009, the worsening financial situation caused Bertone to sell its Grugliasco plant, along with its manufacturing activities to FIAT. Bertone underwent a major restructuring process and became a fully integrated service company in the automotive, transportation, and industrial design sectors. By then, the Bertone workforce had dropped to roughly 300 people, mainly engineers and designers, with a capacity of 300,000 engineering hours per year. This allowed it to manage up to four prototype projects per year, from first style drafts to effectively manufacturing prototypes.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: The financial turmoil continued, leading Bertone to sell off some of its treasured collection of concept cars in 2011.


title: Gruppo Bertone

text: After having ceased trading because of financial difficulties, Bertone on 18 March 2014 confirmed that it would be declared bankrupt if a suitable buyer was not found by the end of April.