Etymology and mainstream usage.

The English word "cowboy" has an origin from several earlier terms that referred to both age and to cattle or cattle-tending work.  The English word "cowboy" was derived from "vaquero", a Spanish word for an individual who managed cattle while mounted on horseback. "Vaquero" was derived from "vaca," meaning "cow," which came from the Latin word "vacca." “Cowboy” was first used in print by Jonathan Swift in 1725, referring to a boy tending cows. It was used in Britain from 1820 to 1850 to describe young boys who tended the family or community cows. Originally though, the English word "cowherd" was used to describe a cattle herder (similar to "shepherd", a sheep herder), and often referred to a pre-adolescent or early adolescent boy, who usually worked on foot. This word is very old in the English language, originating prior to the year 1000.  By 1849 "cowboy" had developed its modern sense as an adult cattle handler of the American West. Variations on the word appeared later. "Cowhand" appeared in 1852, and "cowpoke" in 1881, originally restricted to the individuals who prodded cattle with long poles to load them onto railroad cars for shipping. Names for a cowboy in American English include "buckaroo", "cowpoke", "cowhand", and "cowpuncher". Another English word for a cowboy, "buckaroo," is an anglicization of "vaquero."().  Today, "cowboy" is a term common throughout the west and particularly in the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains, "buckaroo" is used primarily in the Great Basin and California, and "cowpuncher" mostly in Texas and surrounding states.  Equestrianism required skills and an investment in horses and equipment rarely available to or entrusted to a child, though in some cultures boys rode a donkey while going to and from pasture. In antiquity, herding of sheep, cattle and goats was often the job of minors, and still is a task for young people in various third world cultures.  Because of the time and physical ability needed to develop necessary skills, both historic and modern cowboys often began as an adolescent. Historically, cowboys earned wages as soon as they developed sufficient skill to be hired (often as young as 12 or 13). If not crippled by injury, cowboys may handle cattle or horses for a lifetime. In the United States, a few women also took on the tasks of ranching and learned the necessary skills, though the "cowgirl" (discussed below) did not become widely recognized or acknowledged until the close of the 19th century. On western ranches today, the working cowboy is usually an adult. Responsibility for herding cattle or other livestock is no longer considered suitable for children or early adolescents. However, both boys and girls growing up in a ranch environment often learn to ride horses and perform basic ranch skills as soon as they are physically able, usually under adult supervision. Such youths, by their late teens, are often given responsibilities for "cowboy" work on the ranch.

History.

The origins of the cowboy tradition come from Spain, beginning with the hacienda system of medieval Spain. This style of cattle ranching spread throughout much of the Iberian peninsula, and later was imported to the Americas. Both regions possessed a dry climate with sparse grass, thus large herds of cattle required vast amounts of land to obtain sufficient forage. The need to cover distances greater than a person on foot could manage gave rise to the development of the horseback-mounted "vaquero".

Spanish roots.

Various aspects of the Spanish equestrian tradition can be traced back to Islamic rule in Spain, including Moorish elements such as the use of Oriental-type horses, the "la jineta" riding style characterized by a shorter stirrup, solid-treed saddle and use of spurs, the heavy noseband or hackamore, (Arabic "šakīma", Spanish "jaquima") and other horse-related equipment and techniques. Certain aspects of the Arabic tradition, such as the hackamore, can in turn be traced to roots in ancient Persia.  During the 16th century, the Conquistadors and other Spanish settlers brought their cattle-raising traditions as well as both horses and domesticated cattle to the Americas, starting

Vaqueros.

Though popularly considered American, the traditional cowboy began with the Spanish tradition, which evolved further in what today is Mexico and the Southwestern United States into the "vaquero" of northern Mexico and the "charro" of the Jalisco and Michoacán regions. While most "hacendados" (ranch owners) were ethnically Spanish "criollos", many early

Rise of the cowboy.

As English-speaking traders and settlers expanded westward, English and Spanish traditions, language and culture merged to some degree. Before the Mexican–American War in 1848, New England merchants who traveled by ship to California encountered both "hacendados" and "vaqueros", trading manufactured goods for the hides and tallow produced from vast cattle ranches. American traders along what later became known as the Santa Fe Trail had similar contacts with "vaquero" life. Starting with these early encounters, the lifestyle and language of the "vaquero" began a transformation which merged with English cultural traditions and produced what became known in American culture as the "cowboy".  The arrival of English-speaking settlers in Texas began in 1821. Rip Ford described the country between Laredo and Corpus Christi as inhabited by "... countless droves of mustangs and... wild cattle... abandoned

Mustang running.

Mustang-runners or "Mesteñeros" were cowboys and vaqueros who caught, broke and drove Mustangs to market in Mexico, and later American territories of what is now

Roundups.

Large numbers of cattle lived in a semi-feral, or semi-wild state on the open range and were left to graze, mostly untended, for much of the year. In many cases, different ranchers formed "associations" and grazed their cattle together on the same range. In order to determine the ownership of individual animals, they were marked with a distinctive brand, applied with a hot iron, usually while the cattle were still young calves. The primary cattle breed seen on the open range was the Longhorn, descended from the original Spanish Longhorns imported in the 16th century, though by the late 19th century, other breeds of cattle were also brought west, including the meatier Hereford, and often were crossbred with Longhorns.  In order to find young calves for branding, and to sort out mature animals intended for sale, ranchers would hold a roundup, usually in the spring. A roundup required a number of specialized skills on the part of both cowboys and horses. Individuals who separated cattle from the herd required the highest level of skill and rode

Cattle drives.

Prior to the mid-19th century, most ranchers primarily raised cattle for their own needs and to sell surplus meat and hides locally. There was also a limited market for hides, horns, hooves, and tallow in assorted manufacturing processes. While Texas contained vast herds of stray, free-ranging cattle available for free to anyone who could round them up, prior to 1865, there was little demand for beef. However, at the end of the American Civil War, Philip Danforth Armour opened a meat packing plant in Chicago, which became known as Armour and Company. With the expansion

End of the open range.

Barbed wire, an innovation of the 1880s, allowed cattle to be confined to designated areas to prevent overgrazing of the range. In Texas and surrounding areas, increased population required ranchers to fence off their individual lands. In the north, overgrazing stressed the open range, leading to insufficient winter forage for the cattle and starvation, particularly during the harsh winter of 1886–1887, when hundreds of thousands of cattle died across the Northwest, leading to collapse of the cattle

Culture.

Ethnicity.

American cowboys were drawn from multiple sources. By the late 1860s, following the American Civil War and the expansion of the cattle industry, former soldiers from both the Union and Confederacy came west, seeking work, as did large numbers of restless white men in general. A significant number of African-American freedmen also were drawn to cowboy life, in part because there was not quite as much discrimination in the west as in other areas of American society at the time. A significant number of Mexicans and American Indians already living in the region also worked as cowboys. Later, particularly after 1890, when American policy promoted "assimilation" of Indian people, some Indian boarding schools also taught ranching skills. Today, some Native Americans in the western United States own cattle and small ranches, and many are still employed

Social world.

Over time, the cowboys of the American West developed a personal culture of their own, a blend of frontier and Victorian values that even retained vestiges of chivalry. Such hazardous work in isolated conditions also bred a tradition of self-dependence and individualism, with great value put on personal honesty, exemplified in songs and poetry. The cowboy often worked in an all-male environment, particularly

Development of the modern cowboy image.

The traditions of the working cowboy were further etched into the minds of the general public with the development of Wild West Shows in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which showcased and romanticized the life of both cowboys and Native Americans. Beginning in the 1920s and continuing to the present day, Western movies popularized the cowboy lifestyle but also formed persistent stereotypes, both positive and negative. In some cases, the cowboy and the violent gunslinger are often associated with one another. On the other hand, some actors who portrayed cowboys promoted positive values, such as the "cowboy code" of Gene Autry, that encouraged honorable behavior, respect and patriotism. Historian Robert K. DeArment draws a connection between the popularized

Cowgirls.

The history of women in the west, and women who worked on cattle ranches in particular, is not as well documented as that of men. However, institutions such as the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame have made significant efforts in recent years to gather and document the contributions of women.  There are few records mentioning girls or women working to drive cattle up the cattle trails of the Old West. However women did considerable ranch work, and in some cases (especially when the men went to war or on long cattle drives) ran them. There is little doubt that women, particularly the wives and daughters of men who owned small ranches and could not afford to hire large numbers of outside laborers, worked side by side with men and thus needed to ride horses and be able to perform related tasks. The largely undocumented contributions of women to the west were acknowledged in law; the western states led the United States in granting women the right to vote, beginning with Wyoming in 1869. Early photographers such as Evelyn Cameron documented the life of working ranch women and cowgirls during the late 19th and early 20th century.  While impractical for everyday work, the sidesaddle was a tool that gave women the ability to ride horses in "respectable" public settings instead of being left on foot or confined to horse-drawn vehicles. Following the Civil War, Charles Goodnight modified the traditional English sidesaddle, creating a western-styled design. The traditional "charras" of Mexico preserve a similar tradition and ride sidesaddles today in "charreada" exhibitions on both sides of the border.  It wasn't until the advent of Wild West Shows that "cowgirls" came into their own. These adult women were skilled performers, demonstrating riding, expert marksmanship, and trick roping that entertained audiences

Regional traditions within the United States.

Geography, climate and cultural traditions caused differences to develop in cattle-handling methods and equipment from one part of the United States to another. The period between 1840 and 1870 marked a mingling of cultures when English and French-descended people began to settle west of the Mississippi River and encountered the Spanish-descended people who had settled in the parts of Mexico that later became Texas and California. In the modern world, remnants of two major and distinct cowboy traditions remain, known today as the "Texas" tradition and the "Spanish", "Vaquero", or "California" tradition. Less well-known but equally distinct traditions also developed in Hawaii and Florida. Today, the various regional cowboy traditions have merged to some extent, though a few regional differences in equipment and riding style still remain, and some individuals choose to deliberately preserve the more time-consuming but highly skilled techniques of the pure "vaquero" or "buckaroo" tradition. The popular "horse whisperer" style of natural horsemanship was originally developed by practitioners who were predominantly from California and the Northwestern states, clearly combining the attitudes and philosophy of the California vaquero with the equipment and outward look of the Texas cowboy.

California tradition.

The vaquero, the Spanish or Mexican cowboy who worked with young, untrained horses, arrived in the 18th century and flourished in California and bordering territories during the Spanish Colonial period. Settlers from the United States did not enter California until after the Mexican–American War, and most early settlers were miners rather than livestock ranchers, leaving livestock-raising largely to the Spanish and Mexican people who chose to remain in California. The California vaquero or buckaroo, unlike the Texas cowboy, was considered a highly skilled worker,

Buckaroos.

Some cowboys of the California tradition were dubbed "buckaroos" by English-speaking settlers. The words "buckaroo" and "vaquero" are still used on occasion in the Great Basin, parts of California and, less often, in the Pacific Northwest. Elsewhere, the term "cowboy" is more common.  The word "buckaroo" is generally believed to be an anglicized version of "vaquero" and shows phonological characteristics compatible with that origin. "Buckaroo" first appeared in American English in 1827. The word may also have developed with influences from the English word "buck" or bucking, the behavior of young, untrained horses. In 1960, one etymologist suggested that "buckaroo" derives, through, from the Ibibio and, meaning "white man, master, boss". Although that derivation was later rejected, another possibility advanced was that "buckaroo" was a pun on "vaquero," blending both Spanish and African sources.

Texas tradition.

In the 18th century, the residents of Spanish Texas began to herd cattle on horseback to sell in Louisiana, both legally and illegally. Their horses were of jennet type which became the Spanish Mustang. By the early 19th century, the Spanish Crown, and later, independent Mexico, offered "empresario" grants in what would later be Texas to non-citizens, such as settlers from the United States. In 1821, Stephen F. Austin led a group which became the first English-speaking Mexican citizens. Following Texas independence in 1836, even more Americans immigrated into the "empresario" ranching areas of Texas. Here the settlers were strongly influenced by the Mexican "vaquero" culture, borrowing vocabulary and attire from their counterparts, but also retaining some of the livestock-handling traditions and culture of the Eastern United States and Great Britain. The Texas cowboy was typically a bachelor who hired on with different outfits from

Florida cowhunter or "cracker cowboy".

The Florida "cowhunter" or "cracker cowboy" of the 19th and early 20th centuries was distinct from the Texas and California traditions. Florida cowboys did not use lassos to herd or capture cattle. Their primary tools were bullwhips and dogs. Since the Florida cowhunter did not need a saddle horn for anchoring a lariat, many did not use Western saddles, instead using a McClellan saddle. While some individuals wore boots that reached above the knees for protection from snakes, others wore brogans. They usually wore inexpensive wool or straw hats, and used ponchos for protection from rain.  Cattle and horses were introduced into Florida in the 16th century. The cattle introduced by the Spanish persist today in two rare breeds: Florida Cracker cattle and Pineywoods cattle. The Florida Cracker Horse, which is still used by some Florida cowboys, is descended from horses introduced by the Spanish. From shortly after 1565 until the end of the 17th century, cattle ranches owned by Spanish officials and missions operated in northern Florida to supply the Spanish garrison in St. Augustine and markets in Cuba. Raids

Hawaiian "Paniolo".

The Hawaiian cowboy, the "paniolo", is also a direct descendant of the "vaquero" of California and Mexico. Experts in Hawaiian etymology believe "Paniolo" is a Hawaiianized pronunciation of "español." (The Hawaiian language has no /s/ sound, and all syllables and words must end in a vowel.) Paniolo, like cowboys on the mainland of North America, learned their skills from Mexican "vaqueros". Other theories of word origin suggest "Paniolo" was derived from "panuelo" (Spanish for handkerchief) or possibly from a Hawai'ian language word meaning "hold firmly and sway gracefully."  Captain George Vancouver brought cattle and sheep in 1793 as a gift to Kamehameha I, monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom. For 10 years, Kamehameha forbade killing of cattle, and imposed the death penalty on anyone who violated his edict. As a result, numbers multiplied astonishingly, and were wreaking havoc throughout the countryside. By the reign of Kamehameha III the number

Other.

Montauk, New York, on Long Island makes a somewhat debatable claim of having the oldest cattle operation in what today is the United States, having run cattle in the area since European settlers purchased land from the Indian people of the area in 1643. Although there were substantial numbers of cattle on Long Island, as well as the need to herd them to and from common grazing lands on a seasonal basis, no consistent "cowboy" tradition developed amongst the

Canada.

Ranching in Canada has traditionally been dominated by one province, Alberta. The most successful early settlers of the province were the ranchers, who found Alberta's foothills to be ideal for raising cattle. Most of Alberta's ranchers were English settlers, but cowboys such as John Ware—who brought the first cattle into the province in 1876—were American. American style open range dryland ranching began to dominate southern Alberta (and, to a lesser extent, southwestern

Outside North America.

In addition to the original Mexican "vaquero", the Mexican "charro", the cowboy, and the Hawaiian "paniolo", the Spanish also exported their horsemanship and knowledge of cattle ranching to the "gaucho" of Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and (with the spelling "gaúcho") southern Brazil, the "chalán" and "Morochuco" in Peru, the "llanero" of Venezuela, and the "huaso" of Chile.  In Australia, where ranches are known as stations, cowboys are known as stockmen and ringers, ("jackaroos" and "jillaroos" who also do stockwork are trainee overseers and property managers). The

Modern working cowboys.

On the ranch, the cowboy is responsible for feeding the livestock, branding and earmarking cattle (horses also are branded on many ranches), plus tending to animal injuries and other needs. The working cowboy usually is in charge of a small group or "string" of horses and is required to routinely patrol the rangeland in all weather conditions checking for damaged fences, evidence of predation, water problems, and any other issue of concern.  They also move the livestock to different pasture locations, or herd them into corrals and onto trucks for transport. In addition, cowboys may do many other jobs, depending on the size of the "outfit" or ranch, the terrain, and the number of livestock. On a smaller ranch with fewer cowboys—often just family members, cowboys are generalists who perform many all-around tasks; they repair fences, maintain ranch equipment, and perform other odd jobs. On a very large ranch (a "big outfit"), with many employees, cowboys are able to specialize on tasks solely related to cattle and horses. Cowboys who train horses often specialize in this task only, and some may "Break" or train young horses for more than one ranch.  The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics collects no figures for cowboys, so the exact number of working cowboys is unknown. Cowboys are included in the 2003 category, "Support activities for animal production", which totals 9,730 workers averaging $19,340 per annum. In addition to cowboys working on ranches, in stockyards, and as staff or competitors at rodeos, the category includes farmhands working with other types of livestock (sheep, goats, hogs, chickens, etc.). Of those 9,730 workers, 3,290 are listed in the subcategory of "Spectator sports" which includes rodeos, circuses, and theaters needing livestock handlers.

Attire.

Most cowboy attire, sometimes termed "Western wear", grew out of practical need and the environment in which the cowboy worked. Most items were adapted from the Mexican "vaqueros", though

Horses.

The traditional means of transport for the cowboy, even in the modern era, is by horseback. Horses can travel over terrain that vehicles cannot access. Horses, along with mules and burros, also serve as pack animals. The most important horse on the ranch is the everyday working ranch horse that can perform a wide variety of tasks; horses trained to specialize exclusively in one set of skills such as roping or cutting are very rarely used on ranches. Because the rider often needs to keep one hand free while working cattle, the horse must neck rein and have good "cow sense"—it must instinctively know how to anticipate and react to cattle.  A good stock horse is on

Horse equipment or tack.

Equipment used to ride a

Vehicles.

The most common motorized vehicle driven in modern ranch work is the pickup truck. Sturdy and roomy, with a high ground clearance, and often four-wheel drive capability, it has an open box, called a "bed," and can haul supplies from town or over rough trails on the ranch. It is used to pull stock trailers transporting cattle and livestock from one

Rodeo cowboys.

The word "rodeo" is from the Spanish "rodear" (to turn), which means "roundup". In the beginning there was no difference between the working cowboy and the rodeo cowboy, and in fact, the term "working cowboy" did not come into use until the 1950s. Prior to that it was assumed that all cowboys were working cowboys. Early cowboys both worked on ranches and displayed their skills at the roundups.  The advent of professional rodeos allowed cowboys, like many athletes, to earn a living by performing their skills before an audience. Rodeos also provided employment for many working cowboys who

In popular culture.

As the frontier ended, the cowboy life came to be highly romanticized. Exhibitions such as those of Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show helped to popularize the image of the cowboy as an idealized representative of the tradition of chivalry.  In today's society, there is little understanding of the daily realities of actual agricultural life. Cowboys are more often associated with (mostly fictitious) Indian-fighting than with their actual life of ranch work and cattle-tending. The cowboy is also portrayed as a masculine ideal via images ranging from the Marlboro Man to the Village People. Actors such as John Wayne are thought of as exemplifying a cowboy ideal, even though western movies seldom bear much resemblance to real cowboy life. Arguably, the modern rodeo competitor is much closer to being an actual cowboy, as many were actually raised on ranches and around livestock, and the rest have needed to learn livestock-handling skills on the job.  However, in the United States and the Canadian West, as well as Australia, guest ranches offer people the opportunity to ride horses and get a taste of the western life—albeit in far greater comfort. Some ranches also offer vacationers the opportunity to actually perform cowboy tasks by participating in cattle drives or accompanying wagon trains. This type of vacation was popularized by the 1991 movie "City Slickers," starring Billy Crystal.

Symbolism.

In 2005, the United States Senate declared the fourth Saturday of July as "National Day of the American Cowboy" via a Senate resolution and has subsequently renewed this resolution each year, with the United States House of Representatives periodically issuing statements of support. The long history of the West in popular culture tends to define those clothed in Western clothing as cowboys or cowgirls whether they have ever been on a horse or not. This is especially true when applied to entertainers and those in the public arena who wear western wear as part of their persona. However, the reality is that many people, particularly in the West, including lawyers, bankers, and other white collar professionals wear elements of Western clothing, particularly cowboy boots or hats, as a matter of form even though

Negative associations.

The word "cowboy" is also used in a negative sense. Originally this derived from the behavior of some cowboys in the boomtowns of Kansas, at the end of the trail for long cattle drives, where cowboys developed a reputation for violence and wild behavior due to the inevitable impact of large numbers of cowboys, mostly young single men, receiving their pay in large lump sums upon arriving in communities with many drinking and gambling establishments.  "Cowboy" as an adjective for "reckless" developed in the 1920s. "Cowboy" is sometimes used today in a derogatory sense

A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the "vaquero" traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of special significance and legend. A subtype, called a wrangler, specifically tends the horses used to work cattle. In addition to ranch work, some cowboys work for or participate in rodeos. Cowgirls, first defined as such in the late 19th century, had a less-well documented historical role, but in the modern world work at identical tasks and have obtained considerable respect for their achievements. Cattle handlers in many other parts of the world, particularly South America and Australia, perform work similar to the cowboy.

Ein Cowboy [] ( wörtlich: "Kuhjunge") ist die in Nordamerika gebräuchliche Bezeichnung für einen Viehhirten. In anderen Regionen der Neuen Welt nennt man sie "Gauchos" (Argentinien, Paraguay, Uruguay), "Huasos" (Chile), "Charros" (Mexiko) oder "Vaqueiros" (Brasilien) bzw. "Vaqueros" (Venezuela). In Australien heißen sie "Stockmen."


Early life and career.

Randhawa was born on 29th January 1976 in Raniganj, Asansol, West Bengal. Her father served in the Indian police, which enabled Kuljeet to travel across India including Patiala, Punjab where her father was serving at the time of her suicide. She began modelling as a student, and her work included several ads and runway shows for major designers. She earned her Honours in Psychology from Delhi University.  Randhawa began her career starring in Hip Hip Hurray replacing Shweta Salve as 'Prishita'. Her performance was appreciated but she came into the spotlight when she was signed as the new lead in UTV show C.A.T.S. where she again replaced an actress Karminder Kaur. The TV starring Nafisa Joseph and Malini Sharma became popular but remained slow on the ratings front. Randhawa was highly appreciated for her part as detective 'Ash'. Following the end of the series, Kuljeet continued to appear in many TV shows as cameos and side by side also featured in modelling assignments.  Randhawa saw a huge success as a model but was completely choosy when it comes to acting. After C.A.T.S. she was not seen in a lead role and after a long gap she returned in a lead role in Star One's Special Squad Star One. Randhawa was not happy with the content being portrayed on Indian Television where actresses were mostly crying. She always opted for bold and strong women centric roles which is why she used to get typecasted in thriller roles. Randhawa played a cop/detective in more than five TV shows which was a record for any Indian Television actress and a unique one which no actress could follow successfully.  Her performance was very well received in Special Squad but in order to increase the ratings, Gauri Pradhan Tejwani was signed as another female lead in the show. After six episodes, Kuljeet quit the show citing professional decisions however it was indicated that Kuljeet left the show because of Gauri which the previous declined later.  Right after she quit Special Squad, Randhawa was signed to play 'Irawati Kohli' in Cinevistaas and Sahara One Production 'Kohinoor'. In an exclusive chat transcript, Randhawa revealed details about the show, Special Squad, Nafisa Joseph and more about herself. The season one of Kohinoor was well received by the audience and the makers were planning another season but it couldn't materialize after Randhawa committed suicide in 2006.  Randhawa also appeared in several television series including "Hip Hip Hurray", "C.A.T.S.", and a lead role in STAR One's "Special Squad".  She was supposed to appear in a film called 'By Chance' but the film was stalled and never released  Besides Acting, Randhawa worked on a number of modelling assignments for brands like Reid and Taylor, Recova, Maggi, Anchor Switches etc.

Death.

On 8 February 2006, Kuljeet hanged herself in her apartment in Juhu, a town in western Maharashtra. In a suicide note, Kuljeet stated that she was ending her life as she was unable to cope with life's pressures. Shortly before her death, she had completed filming for the movie "By Chance". She died at the age of 30.

Kuljeet Randhawa (29th January 1976 – 8 February 2006) was an Indian model and actress. The former Gladrags model was known for her portrayal of bold and strong women-centric characters. She is best known for her work in TV series "C.A.T.S.", "Special Squad" and "Kohinoor".

Kuljeet Randhawa (* 1. Januar 1976; † 8. Februar 2006 in Mumbai) war eine indische Schauspielerin. Randhawa war ein bekanntes Gesicht aus der Werbung, insbesondere aus Werbeclips für Pepsi und Whirlpools. Als Schauspielerin war sie in Indien als „Irawati Kohli“ in der Fernsehserie "Kohinoor" und der Serie "Special Squad" ein Publikumsliebling.


Early life and education.

Weill was born in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, New York, to Polish Jewish immigrants, Etta Kalika and Max Weill. He attended P.S. 200 in Bensonhurst. He also attended Peekskill Military Academy in Peekskill, New York, then enrolled at Cornell University where he was active in the Air Force ROTC and the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity. Weill received a Bachelor of Arts degree in government from Cornell in 1955.  Weill's middle initial of "I" is not an abbreviation for anything. He has said:

Business career.

Weill, shortly after graduating from Cornell University, got his first job on Wall Street in 1955 – as a runner for Bear Stearns. In 1956, he became a licensed broker at Bear Stearns. Rather than making phone calls or personal visits to solicit clients, Weill found he was far more comfortable sitting at his desk, poring through companies' financial statements and disclosures made to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. For weeks his only client was his mother, Etta, until his later to be wife, Joan, persuaded an ex-boyfriend to open a brokerage account.

Building Shearson (1960–1981).

While working at Bear Stearns, Weill was a neighbor of Arthur L. Carter who was working at Lehman Brothers. Together with Roger Berlind and Peter Potoma, they formed Carter, Berlind, Potoma & Weill in May 1960. In 1962 the firm became Carter, Berlind & Weill after the New York Stock Exchange brought disciplinary proceedings against Potoma.  In 1968, with the departure of Arthur Carter, the firm was renamed Cogan, Berlind, Weill & Levitt (Marshall Cogan, Arthur Levitt), or CBWL jokingly referred to on Wall Street as "Corned Beef With Lettuce". Weill served as the firm's Chairman from 1965 to 1984, a period in which it completed over 15 acquisitions to become the country's second-largest securities brokerage firm. The company became CBWL-Hayden, Stone, Inc. in 1970; Hayden Stone, Inc. in 1972; Shearson Hayden Stone in 1974, when it merged with Shearson Hammill & Co.; and Shearson Loeb Rhoades in 1979, when it merged with Loeb, Rhoades, Hornblower & Co.  With capital totaling $250 million, Shearson Loeb Rhoades trailed only Merrill Lynch as the largest securities broker.

American Express (1981–1985).

In 1981, Weill sold Shearson Loeb Rhoades to American Express for about $915 million in stock. In 1982, he founded the National Academy Foundation with the Academy of Finance to educate high school students. Weill began serving as president of American Express Co. in 1983 and as chairman and CEO of American Express's insurance subsidiary, Fireman's Fund Insurance Company, in 1984. Weill was succeeded by his protégé, Peter A. Cohen, who became the youngest head of a Wall Street firm. While at American Express, Weill began grooming his newest protégé, Jamie Dimon, the future CEO of JPMorgan Chase.

Before Citigroup (1986–1998).

Weill resigned from American Express in August 1985 at age 52. After an attempt to become the CEO of BankAmerica Corp., he persuaded Minneapolis-based Control Data Corporation to spin off a troubled subsidiary, Commercial Credit, a consumer finance company. In 1986 Weill bought Commercial Credit for $7 million. After a period of layoffs and reorganization, the company completed a successful IPO.  In 1987, he acquired Gulf Insurance. The next year, he paid $1.5 billion for Primerica, the parent company of Smith Barney and the A. L. Williams insurance company. In 1989, he acquired Drexel Burnham Lambert's retail brokerage outlets. In 1992, he paid $722 million to buy a 27% share of Travelers Insurance, which had gotten into trouble because of bad real estate investments.  In 1993 he reacquired his old Shearson brokerage (now Shearson Lehman) from American Express for $1.2 billion. By the end of the year, he had completely taken over Travelers Corp in a $4 billion stock deal and officially began calling his corporation Travelers Group Inc. In 1996 he added to his holdings, at a cost of $4 billion, the property and casualty operations of Aetna Life & Casualty. In September 1997 Weill acquired Salomon Inc., the parent company of Salomon Brothers Inc. for over $9 billion in stock.

Citigroup (1998-2003).

In April 1998, Travelers Group announced an agreement to undertake the $76 billion merger between Travelers and Citicorp, and the merger was completed on October 8, 1998. The possibility remained that the merger would run into problems connected with federal law. Ever since the Glass–Steagall Act, banking and insurance businesses had been kept separate. Weill and John S. Reed bet that Congress would soon pass legislation overturning those regulations, which Weill, Reed and a number of businesspeople considered not in their interest.  To speed up the process, they recruited ex-President Gerald Ford (Republican) to the Board of Directors and Robert Rubin (Secretary of Treasury during Democratic Clinton Administration) whom Weill was close to. With both Democrats and Republican on their side, the law was taken down in less than two years. Many European countries, for instance, had already torn down the firewall between banking and insurance. During a two-to-five-year grace period allowed by law, Citigroup could conduct business in its merged form; should that period have elapsed without a change in the law, Citigroup would have had to spin off its insurance businesses. Weill's office holds a wood etching of him engraved with the words "The Shatterer of Glass–Steagall". Weill denies that the repeal of Glass–Steagall played a role in the recent financial crisis.  In 1998, Weill was the recipient of "FinancialWorld Magazine"s CEO of the Year Award and received the same honor from "ChiefExecutive Magazine" in 2002.  In 2001, Weill became a Class A director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Class A directors are those elected by Federal Reserve member banks. Also in 2001, Weill established several offshore enterprises, including one through which he owned his yacht. These entities were identified in the Panama Papers.  In 2002, the company was hit by the wave of Wall Street managerial restructuring that followed the stock market downturn of 2002. In 2003, Weill sold 5.6 million shares of Citigroup back to the financial institution for nearly $264 million and relinquished the title of CEO to Charles O. Prince. He remained Chairman of Citigroup until 2006.

Advocate for bank break-up.

On July 25, 2012, Weill apparently reversed course on the financial supermarket. "What we should probably do is go and split up investment banking from banking, have banks be deposit takers, have banks make commercial loans and real estate loans, have banks do something that's not going to risk the taxpayer dollars, that's not too big to fail," Weill said on CNBC. "If they want to hedge what they're doing with their investments, let them do it in a way that's going to be mark-to-market so they're never going to be hit."

Personal life.

Weill married Joan Mosher on June 20, 1955. The couple lives in Greenwich, Connecticut. They have two adult children, Marc Weill (formerly married to news anchor E. D. Hill) and Jessica Weill Bibliowicz, and four grandchildren.

Philanthropy.

Weill served as a Cornell Trustee for many years, and in 1998 he endowed Cornell's medical school, now known as the Weill Cornell Medical College. As chairman of the Board of Overseers of Weill Cornell Medical College and an emeritus member of the Board of Trustees of Cornell University, Weill orchestrated a $400 million donation to Cornell, of which he and his wife personally contributed $250 million. In June 2007, he endowed the Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology at Cornell, housed in a new life science building named Weill Hall. On September 10, 2013, Joan and Sandy Weill and the Weill Family Foundation announced a $100 million gift to Weill Cornell. Weill is Chairman of the Board of Overseers of Weill Cornell Medical College and Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, having joined the board in 1982 and becoming chair in 1995. Weill Cornell established the first American medical school overseas in Doha, Qatar, in 2001. This was made possible through a special partnership between Weill Cornell and the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development. Weill Cornell's inaugural class in Qatar graduated in 2008. Weill also serves on the Board of Governors of Sidra, a 380-bed speciality teaching hospital was scheduled to open in 2014 in Qatar. Sidra is supported by a $9 billion endowment from the Qatar Foundation. In addition, he is a Trustee of New York-Presbyterian Hospital; a Trustee of Hospital for Special Surgery; and a member of the Executive Council of the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center.  In May 2003, he received the Baruch Medal for Business and Civic Leadership, presented by Baruch College for his work in public education and his accomplishments in business.  Long a proponent of education, Weill instituted a joint program with the New York City Board of Education in 1980 that created the Academy of Finance, which trains high school students for careers in financial services. He serves as Founder and Chairman of the NAF, which oversees more than 100,000 students in 617 career-themed academies of finance, hospitality and tourism, information technology, engineering, and health sciences, in 35 states, as well as the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Ninety-nine percent of NAF's students graduate, with eighty-seven percent going on to post-secondary education – often as the first in their families to attend college. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo appointed Weill as a member of his New York Education Reform Commission. Weill has received honorary degrees from Howard University, Hofstra University, University of New Haven, The New School, and Sonoma State University.  He is also the Chairman of the Board of Carnegie Hall and is an avid champion of classical music in the United States. Since 1986, one of the three performance halls in Carnegie Hall has been named after Weill and his wife, Joan and Sanford I. Weill Recital Hall. The 1997 recipient of the New York State Governor's Art Award, Weill has been Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Carnegie Hall since 1991. For Weill's 70th birthday, Carnegie Hall raised a record $60 million in one evening through a generous $30 million match by Weill and his wife for the Weill Music Institute, which established broad-reaching music education programs. Weill is also chairman of the Green Music Center Board of Advisors at Sonoma State University and a director of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation.  In September 2006, Joan and Sanford Weill Hall was dedicated at the University of Michigan. The building is home to the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Weill donated $5 million towards the construction of the building and an additional $3 million to endow the position of the dean of the school.  Joan and Sanford Weill have been co-chairs, of the annual "Louis Marshall Award Dinner", for most of the past decade (2000–2010).  In 2002, the Joan Weill Adirondack Library and Joan Weill Student Center were dedicated at Paul Smith's College.  The Weills are recipients of the 2009 Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy Award. Sanford I. Weill was the 2015 recipient of the Carnegie Hall Medal of Excellence.  In 2010, the Weills bought a 362-acre estate in Sonoma County, California. In March 2011, the Weills announced a $12 million gift to Sonoma State University, providing the funds to complete the Donald and Maureen Green Music Center concert hall for a fall 2012 opening. The facility, inspired by Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, has been named the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Hall. "We love to be involved in the communities where we spend time," Sandy Weill commented to an interviewer.  In 2011, Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, Israel and the American Friends of the Rambam Medical Center announced that Joan and Weill and the Weill Family Foundation made a donation of $10 million. In addition, the money was intended to support the Israeli-Palestinian Friendship Center and enable the hospital to better serve patients from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank by making residential hostel facilities available to their families while providing advanced medical training to Palestinian residents, fellows, and nursing staff.  In 2012, Weill was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.  In September 2013, Weill and his wife wrote an op-ed for CNBC stating that philanthropy goes beyond just money. "For us, philanthropy is much more than just writing a check. It's donating your time, energy, experience, and intellect to the causes and organizations you are passionate about."  In 2015, Joan Weill offered an additional $20 million to Paul Smith's College, but only if it changed its name to Joan Weill-Paul Smith's College, a change that would have violated the terms of the devise of the school's real property, which required that the school be "forever known" as Paul Smith's College of Arts and Sciences. Paul Smith's applied to the New York Supreme Court for a release from the naming clause of the donor's will, arguing that its continued financial survival depended on receipt of Mrs. Weill's $20 million gift. Notwithstanding that argument, there was considerable opposition to the requested name change from alumni and others. The college was originally funded by the will of Paul Smith's son, Phelps Smith, who specified that the institution should be "forever known" by his father's name. In light of the potential donation, the college petitioned to be released from the will's conditions, but their appeal was denied by Judge Ellis.  In 2016 Sandy and Joan Weill announced a $185 million contribution to the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) for a new neuroscience institute. At the time, the gift was the largest donation in the school's history. The Weill Institute for Neurosciences is housed in a $316 million facility at UCSF's Mission Bay campus. The Weills hope the institute will develop more effective treatments for such diseases as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis, sleep disorders, autism, and other brain-related ailments. In 2019, the Weills pledged an additional $106 million for neuroscience research at UCSF, Berkeley, and the University of Washington.

Sanford I. "Sandy" Weill (; born March 16, 1933) is an American banker, financier and philanthropist. He is a former chief executive and chairman of Citigroup. He served in those positions from 1998 until October 1, 2003, and April 18, 2006, respectively.

Sanford I. „Sandy“ Weill (* 16. März 1933 im New Yorker Stadtteil Brooklyn) ist der ehemalige Aufsichtsratsvorsitzende und Gründer der "Citigroup".


Career.

Her top finishes include third place at the Nations Cup in Igls, Austria in January 2004, and third place at the Nations Cup in Königssee, Germany, February 2004. She finished in the top 10 in seven of the eight events in the 2004-2005 Nations Cup series. Abernathy finished 25th in the 37th World Championships in 2004 in Nagano, Japan, but did not compete in the 2005 championships in Park City, Utah due to injuries suffered during homologation at the Cesana Pariol track in Cesana, Italy three weeks earlier.  Abernathy suffered a serious accident during a World Cup race in Altenberg, Germany in January 2001 that resulted in a severe brain injury. To recover from the injury, she used an alternative medicine treatment involving controlling rockets in a video game through electrical impulses from brain waves, a therapy designed to help her retrain her brain to compensate for the damaged areas. The therapy was successful and Abernathy was able to return to competition in time to qualify for the 2002 Winter Olympics. The story of Abernathy's crash and recovery was featured on the Discovery Health Channel series "".  During practice for the competition at the 2006 Winter Olympics, Abernathy crashed and broke her wrist and her scapula, and was forced to withdraw from competition.  Abernathy is the oldest woman to ever compete in the Winter Olympic Games, breaking the old record during the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. She is the only woman to qualify for six Winter Olympic Games and one of only two female athletes to compete in five Winter Olympics. In 2006, she became the first woman over 50 to qualify for the Winter Olympics.  Abernathy was the first woman to qualify for six Winter Olympics. In the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City she became the oldest woman to ever compete in the Winter Games. She is the oldest female Olympian in any Olympic Games (Winter or Summer) and the first woman over the age of 50 in the Winter Olympics.  During the Albertville Winter Olympics, she became the first athlete to compete with a camera on board, a feat that was nominated for an Emmy in technical broadcast achievement.  In the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, Abernathy became the first athlete to create an on-line diary (now known as a blog) which was an exclusive on AOL.  Before her first Olympic appearance in 1988, Abernathy was diagnosed and treated for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (cancer). Although the cancer returned several times during her sports career, the fact was kept hidden from the public through three Olympic appearances until it was revealed in a front-page article of the "Washington Post" prior to the 1998 Nagano Olympics.

Anne Abernathy (born April 12, 1953) is a luge athlete from the United States Virgin Islands and is the oldest female athlete to compete in the Winter Olympics. The 2006 Winter Olympics were her sixth. Despite her age, she is a strong competitor with numerous international podium finishes, and she is consistently ranked in the top 20 world rankings. She is known within luge circles as "Grandma Luge." She is training for the 2020 Summer Olympics as an archer.

Julianne „Anne“ Abernathy [] (* 12. April 1953 auf Saint Thomas, Amerikanische Jungferninseln) ist eine Rennrodlerin von den US-Jungferninseln. Sie ist die älteste Sportlerin, die jemals an Olympischen Winterspielen teilgenommen hat und wurde dafür in das Guinness-Buch der Rekorde aufgenommen. Daher trägt sie den Namen "Grandma Luge" (dt. "Großmutter Rennschlitten").


Development and production history.

On 3 October 1916 William Tritton, about to be knighted for developing the Mark I, proposed to the Tank Supply Committee that a faster and cheaper tank, equipped with two engines like the Flying Elephant, should be built to exploit gaps that the heavier but slow tanks made, an idea that up till then had been largely neglected. This was accepted on 10 November and approved by the War Office on 25 November. At that time the name for the project was the "Tritton Chaser". Traditionally, the name "Whippet" (after the fast-running dog breed) is attributed to Sir William himself. Actual construction started on 21 December. The first prototype, with a revolving turret taken from an Austin armoured car — the first for a British tank design, as Little Willie's original turret was fixed — was ready on 3 February 1917 and participated (probably without one) in the tank trials day at Oldbury on 3 March. The next day, in a meeting with the French to coordinate allied tank production, the Commander-in-Chief of the British forces Field Marshal Haig ordered the manufacture of two hundred vehicles, the first to be ready on 31 July. Although he was acting beyond his authority, as usual, his decisions were confirmed in June 1917. The first production tanks left the factory in October and two were delivered to the first unit to use them, F Battalion of the Tank Corps (later 6th Battalion), on 14 December 1917. In December 1917 the order was increased from 200 to 385 but this was later cancelled in favour of more advanced designs, the Medium Mark B, Medium Mark C and Medium Mark D.

Description.

This armoured fighting vehicle was intended for fast mobile assaults. Although the track design appears more "modern" than the British Tanks Mark I to V, it was directly derived from "Little Willie", the first tank prototype, and was unsprung. The crew compartment was a fixed, polygonal turret at the rear of the vehicle, and two engines of the type used in contemporary double-decker buses were in a forward compartment, driving one track each.

Steering.

When driving in a straight line the two engines were locked; turning the steering wheel gradually closed the throttle for the engine of one track and opened the throttle for the engine driving the other. The two engines were joined at their cross-shafts, from which the final drive to the tracks was by chains to sprockets on either side. When steering the clutches joining the cross-shafts were released, one engine sped up while the other slowed down, the turn being on the side opposite to that of the faster running engine. The steering effect could be increased by use of the brakes on one engine or another. This arrangement had the advantage over that of earlier tanks of being controlled by one man only, but called for great skill on the part of the driver, because one or both of the engines could be stalled if care was not exercised. Although in theory a simple solution to give gradual steering, in practice it proved impossible to control the speeds of the engines, causing the vehicle to take an unpredictable path. Drivers grew wary and stopped the vehicle and locked one track before every turn; this caused many track breaks, as the movement became too abrupt. Nevertheless, the vehicle could easily negotiate shell craters. Crews that believed that treads had to be as long as the hull, as with the heavy tanks, were surprised to see the Whippet, with shorter tracks, successfully exit holes.

Other features.

The fuel tank was in the front of the hull. The sides featured large mud chutes which allowed mud falling from the upper treads to slide away from the tank, instead of clogging the track plates and rollers.

Armament.

Armament was four 0.303-inch Hotchkiss Mk 1 machine guns, one covering each direction. As there were only three crewmen, the gunner had to jump around a lot, though often assisted by the commander. Sometimes a second gunner was carried in the limited space, and often a machine gun was removed to give more room, as the machine guns could be moved from one mounting position to another to cover all sides.

Variants.

Major Philip Johnson, the unofficial head of Central Tank Corps Workshops in France, as soon as he received them began fitting one of the Whippets with leaf springs. Later, in 1918, he fitted this vehicle with sprung track rollers, Walter Gordon Wilson's epicyclical transmission from the Mark V and a 360 hp V12 Rolls-Royce Eagle aero-engine. A top speed of about was reached. This project made Johnson the best qualified man to develop the later fast Medium Mark D, which looks like a reversed Medium A. Other experiments included the fitting of a large trailing wheel taken from an old Mark I tank and attaching a climbing tail, in both cases attempts to increase trench-crossing ability.  For a time it was assumed that after the war some Whippets were rebuilt as armoured recovery vehicles, but this was not the case.  The Medium Mark B, a completely different design by Wilson, also had the name "Whippet". For a time it was common to describe any of the lighter tank designs as a Whippet, even the French Renault FT. It had become a generic name.  The German "Leichter Kampfwagen" — developed from December 1917 — being also a turret-less tank with the engine in front resembled the Whippet, but was a smaller vehicle with thinner armour.

Combat history.

Whippets arrived late in the First World War, at a time when the entire British Army, recovering from the offensives in Flanders, was quite inactive. They first went into action in March 1918, and proved very useful to cover the fighting withdrawal of the infantry divisions recoiling from the German onslaught during the Spring Offensive. Whippets were then assigned to the normal Tank Battalions as extra "X-companies". In one incident near Cachy, a single Whippet company of seven tanks wiped out two entire German infantry battalions caught in the open, killing over 400. That same day, 24 April, one Whippet was destroyed by a German A7V in the world's second tank battle, the only time a Whippet fought an enemy tank.  The Whippet was, a British tank veteran wrote, "the big surprise" of the Royal Tank Corps. Crews used their vehicles' speed to attack troops in the rear. They were so successful that by summer 1918 civilians "seemed to talk in terms of whippets," not knowing of heavy tanks' importance in breaking through fortifications and barbed wire. British losses were so high however that plans to equip five "Tank Battalions (Light)" with 36 Whippets each had to be abandoned. In the end only the 3rd Tank Brigade had Whippets, 48 in each of its two battalions (3rd and 6th TB). Alongside Mark IV and V tanks, they took part in the Amiens offensive (8 August 1918) which was described by the German supreme commander General Ludendorff, as "the Black Day of the German Army". The Whippets broke through into the German rear areas causing the loss of the artillery in an entire front sector, a devastating blow from which the Germans were unable to recover. During this battle, one Whippet – "Musical Box" – advanced so far it was cut off behind German lines. For nine hours it roamed at will, destroying an artillery battery, an observation balloon, the camp of an infantry battalion, and a transport column of the German 225th Division, inflicting heavy casualties. At one point, cans of petrol being carried on "Musical Box"'s roof were ruptured by small-arms fire and fuel leaked into the cabin. The crew had to wear gas masks to survive the fumes. Eventually, a German shell disabled it and as the crew abandoned the tank, one of them was shot and killed, and the other two were taken prisoner.  The Germans captured fewer than fifteen Whippets, two of which were in running condition. They were kept exclusively for tests and training purpose during the war, but one of them saw action afterwards with the Freikorps in the German Revolution of 1918–1919. The Germans gave them the designation "Beutepanzer A".  After the war, Whippets were sent to Ireland during the Anglo-Irish War as part of the British forces there, serving with 17th Battalion, Royal Tank Corps. Seventeen were sent with the Expedition Forces in support of the Whites against Soviet Russia. The Red Army captured twelve, using them until the 1930s, and fitted at least one vehicle with a French 37 mm "Puteaux" gun. The Soviets, incorrectly assuming that the name of the engine was "Taylor" instead of "Tylor" (a mistake many sources still make) called the tank the "Tyeilor". A few (perhaps six) were exported to Japan, where they remained in service until around 1930.

Surviving vehicles.

Five Whippets survive:

The Medium Mark A Whippet was a British tank of the First World War. It was intended to complement the slower British heavy tanks by using its relative mobility and speed in exploiting any break in the enemy lines. Whippets later took part in several of the British Army's postwar actions, notably in Ireland, North Russia and Manchuria.

Der "medium Tank" Mark A, auch Whippet, war ein frühes Panzermodell der Zeit des Ersten Weltkrieges aus britischer Produktion. Er war der erste Kavalleriepanzer überhaupt und unterschied sich grundsätzlich von den anderen Panzern seiner Zeit. Er erreichte eine für damalige Verhältnisse hohe Geschwindigkeit (13 km/h), die durch zwei separat laufende 45-PS-Tylor-Vierzylinder-Motoren erreicht wurde, und war eher leicht gepanzert. Jeder der beiden Motoren hatte eine eigene Kupplung und Getriebe und trieb je eine Kette an. Das Lenkrad war direkt mit den Gashebeln verbunden, sodass beim Drehen auf einem Motor mehr, auf dem anderen weniger Gas gegeben wurde. Außerdem besaß er ein ungefedertes Kettenlaufwerk, das sehr flach ausgeführt war, was Gewicht sparte und ihn relativ wendig machte. Der Kampfraum befand sich am Heck des Fahrzeugs, in dem der Fahrer, der Kommandant und zwei MG-Schützen untergebracht waren. Darüber befand sich ein fester facettierter Aufbau mit einem Hotchkiss-Maschinengewehr auf jeder Seite. Da der Platz im Mark A sehr beengt war, wurde zumeist ein Schütze weggelassen.


Manufacturers.

As a result of heavy traffic demands on the Otavi Railway in South West Africa (SWA), three additional locomotives were ordered in 1931. The Class NG15 Mikado type narrow-gauge steam locomotive was designed by the South African Railways (SAR) and built by Henschel and Son for the Otavi Mining and Railway Company. The company operated the narrow-gauge Otavi Railway across the Namib Desert from Swakopmund on the Atlantic coast to Tsumeb and Grootfontein in northern SWA. The first three locomotives were delivered in 1931, numbered in the range from NG17 to NG19. They were followed by three more in 1939, numbered in the range from NG117 to NG119.  Ten more of these locomotives were built for the Otavi line by Société Franco-Belge and delivered in two batches of five in 1950 and 1953, numbered in the ranges from NG120 to NG124 and NG132 to NG136 respectively.  In 1958, five more of these locomotives, built by Henschel and numbered in the range from TC1 to TC5, were delivered to the Tsumeb Copper Corporation for use by the SAR in terms of an agreement between the SAR and the Corporation. They were later renumbered in the SAR range from NG144 to NG148.

Forerunners.

The Class NG15 locomotive was a development of the Class Hd and Class NG5 locomotives which had been acquired for the Otavi Mining and Railway Company in SWA in 1912 and 1921 respectively. In the 1920s, one of the Class NG5 locomotives was sent to the Avontuur Railway in South Africa for trials, but since it jammed on the tighter curves in the Langkloof despite having one set of flangeless coupled wheels, it was returned to SWA.  The usual practice of the SAR in the steam era was to design locomotives in their own drawing offices and to then go out and find a builder. The drawing board work for the Class NG15 has been attributed to a Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Otavi Railway, a German engineer known in SWA as Mr. Peters, who was employed as a draughtsman by the SAR. Since the earlier trials with the Class NG5 locomotive, the sharpest curves on the Avontuur line had been eased and the experience gained in the process was taken into consideration during the design of the Class NG15.

Characteristics.

Like the Class NG5, the locomotives were built on plate frames and their valves were actuated by Walschaerts valve gear, but they were fitted with piston valves instead of flat slide valves. While the sand boxes of the older locomotives were mounted on top of the boiler, aft of the dome on the Class Hd and ahead of the dome on the Class NG5, those of the Class NG15 were arranged on the running boards. The seats of the driver and stoker were mounted on poles which allowed them to be swung around to outside the cab and crews could often be seen riding outside in hot weather. Similar swing-seats were used on the SAR's narrow-gauge Garratts and on the Cape gauge Class 6 and Class 7.  Unlike the Class Hd and Class NG5 locomotives, their leading wheels were mounted in a Krauss-Helmholtz Bissel truck which was arranged in front instead of to the rear of the cylinders. The leading pair of coupled wheels of the Class NG15 had a limited amount of sideplay and were linked to the leading Bissel truck, while the axle of the leading coupled wheels still remained parallel to the other three coupled axles at all times.  This linking of a pony truck and coupled axle is known as a Krauss-Helmholtz bogie, an invention of Richard von Helmholtz who was the chief designer at the Krauss works in Munich from 1884 to 1917. On standard-gauge railways in Europe, the inclusion of a Krauss-Helmholtz bogie has allowed the use of large 2-10-0 locomotives on sharply curved mountain sections. Some early electric locomotives also used Krauss-Helmholtz bogies. The Class NG15 had larger tenders than the Class NG5 with a working order weight of, compared to the of the Class NG5's tender. The tenders had low-slung sides, with the bottom part of the water tank extending down to below axle level on either side of the tender bogies to lower the vehicle's roll centre on the narrow track gauge.  The original tenders were built as flat-sided box-shaped vehicles. A second tender version was delivered with the later batches of locomotives, with the coal bunker sides set inward for reasons unknown. The new shape made no difference to the crew's rearward field of vision and the only likely benefit was a reduced axle load as a result of the reduced coal capacity.

Service.

In SWA, the Class Hd, Class NG5 and Class NG15 Mikado locomotives operated in a common pool. They were the most powerful non-articulated narrow-gauge steam locomotives in SAR service.  In 1960, when all the SWA narrow-gauge lines were widened to Cape gauge, the Class Hd and Class NG5 locomotives were withdrawn from service while the 21 Class NG15 locomotives were all shipped to Port Elizabeth for use on the Langkloof line to Avontuur. The first one was offloaded in Port Elizabeth in April 1961, still equipped with a single central buffer and side chains, the preferred drawgear on the ex-German lines in SWA. Their arrival increased the number of locomotives on the Avontuur Railway from a total of 23 in March 1961 to 43 by July. As a result, all but one of the Class NG10 as well as Class NG G11 no. 51, South Africa’s first Garratt, were withdrawn from service by July 1962.  On the Avontuur Railway, the Class NG15 was nicknamed "Kalahari", inappropriately so since its previous stamping ground was across the Namib desert to the west of the Kalahari. Garratts initially continued to operate in the Langkloof since the Class NG15 was not allowed to work beyond Humansdorp from Port Elizabeth because of a lack of turning facilities, the only existing triangle at the time being the one at the end of the line at Avontuur. More turning facilities had not been required until then since the Langkloof had for years been the domain of bi-directional Garratt locomotives. During 1963-1964, turning facilities were installed at Assegaaibos, Louterwater and Misgund. From then on the use of Garratts west of Assegaaibos was confined mainly, but not entirely, to the daily transship and pick-up (T&P) workings.  Even though Garratts were still present, the Class NG15 with its spacious cab soon became the enginemen’s favourites. They were free-steaming and fast and there was little difference in hauling capacity between the two types. The Class NG15s and their crews were soon doing round trips of just over in one shift to Assegaaibos and back, unheard of in the Garratt days. In the fruit season the "Kalaharis" regularly logged more than per month.  During the last years of steam traction on the Avontuur Railway, the Class NG15 was the only non-Garratt steam locomotive working in the Langkloof. Outside the apple season, the Class NG15 became well known for hauling the "Apple Express" from the Humewood Road railway station in Port Elizabeth to Loerie and back every Saturday to cater for tourists. It gained further fame when the "Apple Express" instituted an annual train race marathon, where athletes could compete against an "Apple Express" train filled with spectators.  Towards the end of 1986, preparations commenced to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the opening of the Apple Train line to Avontuur on 1 January 1907. Numbers NG122 and NG124 were repainted at Humewood diesel depot in red and green respectively and no. NG122 was fitted with a headboard with an apple logo. The red no. NG122 was named "Starking" after the red apple variety grown in the Langkloof and the green no. NG124 was named "Granny Smith" after the green apples that finished off each season.  In c. 1990, numbers NG19 and NG146 were sold to private individuals and relocated to the Alfred County Railway (ACR) at Port Shepstone in Natal. No. NG19 was stored in poor condition, amongst others without a cab and chimney, and was never used by the ACR. It is believed the owner sold it to or came to an arrangement with Sandstone Estates who collected the engine on 11 April 2003 and the tender on 18 July 2003.  No. NG146 appeared to be staged out of use until late April 1992, when it was found being repaired. It re-entered traffic on the ACR’s Izotsha trains on the Harding line before the end of May 1992. After a triangle was installed at Paddock in June 1994 it was also able to work Paddock trains. The locomotive was eventually sold by its owner to the Brecon Mountain Railway in the United Kingdom and was loaded on a road rig for transport to Durban Harbour on 17 September 2001.

End of steam.

In 1973, steam traction in the Langkloof began to be replaced by diesel-electric power upon the introduction of the General Electric-built Class 91-000 type GE UM6B diesel-electric locomotive. Diesel and steam served the Langkloof together for some years, but by the late 1980s road transport had triumphed over rail transport on the apple route as well and the narrow-gauge steam fleet was withdrawn from service. Engine no. NG147, the last "Kalahari", was plinthed next to the now unused Avontuur Station while the red no. NG122 "Starking" is on display at the Outeniqua Transport Museum in George.

Works numbers.

The builders, works numbers and SAR renumbering of the Class NG15 locomotives are listed in the table.

Current locomotive status.

Since the preservation of heritage locomotives is always dependent on the attitude and disposition of the current incumbents of positions of authority, the current status as set out in the table should be considered as a snapshot of the situation at a point in time. The information was last updated on 29 May 2017.

Illustration.

The main picture shows Franco-Belge-built no. NG124 equipped with smoke deflectors, crossing the Van Stadens River with the "Apple Express" on 26 October 1985.

The South African Railways Class NG15 2-8-2 is a class of narrow-gauge steam locomotive. In 1931, three narrow-gauge Class NG15 locomotives with a Mikado type wheel arrangement, similar in design to the existing Class Hd and Class NG5 locomotives, were acquired by the South African Railways for the Otavi Mining and Railway Company in South West Africa. More were purchased for the Otavi Railway and the Tsumeb Copper Corporation during the subsequent years, eventually bringing the total number of these locomotives to 21 by 1958.

Die Lokomotiven der Klasse NG 15 der South African Railways (SAR) sind Schlepptender-Dampflokomotiven für 610-mm-Schmalspur ("NG" steht für "Narrow Gauge"); sie gehören zu den größten und leistungsfähigsten für diese Spurweite gebauten steifrahmigen, also nicht gelenkigen Dampflokomotiven. Zusammen mit ihrem vergleichsweise großen Tender sind sie sogar länger als die Garratts der Klasse NGG 13/16.


Die Schöne und das Biest (Broadway-Musical)

Background and inception.

Still recovering from Walt Disney's demise, Disney's animated films continued to experience a noticeable decline in quality while struggling to attain critical and commercial success during the 1970s and 1980s. The Walt Disney Company CEO Michael Eisner was hired to ensure the performance of the studio's next animated projects, despite having virtually no animation experience. Eisner himself had been a theatre major in college. Eisner's first hire as Disney's CEO was theatrical producer Peter Schneider, who subsequently became responsible for hiring more artists who shared similar theatrical backgrounds to contribute to the studio's next animated releases, among them lyricist Howard Ashman and his long-time collaborator, composer Alan Menken. Ashman and Menken had previously amassed great live musical success with their Off-Broadway production "Little Shop of Horrors", but the performance of Ashman's first Broadway venture "Smile" had been disappointing. Eager to redeem himself, Ashman agreed to work on Disney's animated film "The Little Mermaid" (1989), which he and Menken would famously decide to approach as though they were scoring a Broadway musical. Upon release, "The Little Mermaid" was a massive critical and commercial success, garnering two Academy Awards, both of them for Ashman and Menken's original music. Disney established a successful renaissance period, during which Ashman and Menken became responsible for teaching the art of transforming traditional animated films into animated musicals.  Inspired by "Mermaid"s success, production on an animated musical adaptation of the "Beauty and the Beast" fairy tale began shortly afterward, during which Ashman finally confessed to Menken that he was dying of AIDS, a secret he had been keeping from the studio in fear of being discriminated against or fired. Before the film had even been completed, executive vice president Ron Logan suggested to Eisner that he consider adapting "Beauty and the Beast" for Broadway, an idea Eisner quickly deflected. While the film, written by screenwriter Linda Woolverton, was premiering at the New York Film Festival, an ailing Ashman was being cared for at St. Vincent's Hospital; the lyricist succumbed to his disease four days later on March 14, 1991, dying eight months before the film's November release. "Beauty and the Beast" became the last project on which Menken worked with Ashman. The film was released to immediate critical acclaim and commercial success, outperforming "The Little Mermaid" by becoming the highest-grossing animated film in history, as well as the first animated film to be nominated for

Development.

Writing and screen-to-stage modifications.

Roth summarized "Beauty and the Beast" as a story about "seeing past the exterior of a person and into his or her heart". Woolverton learned that Disney had commissioned her to adapt the animated film she had written into a Broadway musical while she was vacationing with her family in Maui, and her initial response to the idea was "Yikes." In the process of adapting her own animated screenplay into a full-length, two-act libretto for the stage, Woolverton contributed several distinct changes to the material, specifically instilling more emotional "depth" into each main character. The writer expanded the story by both "fleshing out" each character and allowing room for new musical numbers. Namely, Woolverton made the Beast a more threatening yet sympathetic figure; the writer expanded upon his characterization by developing the Beast into "a fuller character", aided by the addition of his own song, "If I Can't Love Her". Meanwhile, the book-loving Belle was adapted into a more headstrong and determined heroine. Belle and the Beast's relationship benefits from a new scene Woolverton wrote specifically for the stage, during which the couple read in the castle's library; Belle introduces the Beast to the tale of "King

Casting.

Broadway producers are usually eager to cast big-named performers in their musicals, but Katzenberg, famous at the time for avoiding working with actors of such caliber, decided against this practice for "Beauty and the Beast". Eisner concluded that most of the film's original voice actors would be too busy to reprise their roles onstage. In her Broadway debut, then-22-year-old actress Susan Egan was cast as the musical's original Belle. Egan, who had not yet seen the film, had been auditioning for several other Broadway projects at the time – namely "My Fair

Musical numbers and choreography.

All eight of the film's original songs were retained for the Broadway adaptation. The song "Human Again" had originally been written for the film, but it was ultimately abandoned due to time and story constraints; the musical number was finally resurrected for and included in the production. Composer Alan Menken, who had both scored and written the film's songs alongside lyricist Howard Ashman, returned to the project to write six new songs for the musical. Lyricist Tim Rice joined Menken to co-write the new numbers, replacing Ashman who had died in 1991, before the film was released. Both Menken and Rice initially approached the project with some resistance; Menken's emotional attachment to the music he had written with Ashman made him fear Disney's vision of a

Set and costumes.

Stanley Meyer designed the production's set. Following Disney's instructions "to make the animated film come to life", Meyer's set was very much a literal interpretation of the film. Meyer found it "tricky" to translate two-dimensional environments into a three-dimensional world. The West Wing's appearance mirrors that of its resident the Beast, being hideous on the outside but beautiful when the audience is finally taken inside of it. In stark contrast to popular musicals "The Phantom of the Opera" and "Into the Woods", "Beauty and the Beast"s set resembles a hybrid of Gothic Victorian and Louis Quinze. Disney hired costume designer Ann Hould-Ward to design the musical's costumes because the studio enjoyed a "certain aesthetic" she had used in her previous work, and thus allowed her much creative freedom. Roth was particularly impressed with the designer's contributions to the musicals "Sunday in the Park With George" and "Into the Woods". Hould-Ward accepted Disney's offer because she was interested in seeing exactly how a corporate company producing a Broadway musical for the first time would "change the Broadway world." Conceptualization began in summer 1992. For research purposes, Disney encouraged Hould-Ward to reference the animated film; she also researched clothing worn throughout the late 18th century, during which the original fairy tale was written, and spent one year discovering

Lighting and special effects.

Lighting designer Natasha Katz was hired to work on "Beauty and the Beast". When Disney first approached Katz to offer her the job, several of Katz's cohorts – specifically other lighting designers – attempted to discourage her from accepting in fear of changing the appearance of musical theatre forever. In

Plot.

Act I.

On a cold winter's night, an old beggar woman comes to a young spoiled prince's castle, offering him a single rose in return for shelter. But the prince turns her away solely for her appearance. The old woman warns him not to be fooled by appearances, as true beauty lies within, only to be rejected again. She then transforms into a beautiful enchantress and turns the prince into a hideous Beast and his servants into various household objects. She gives him the rose to use as an hour-glass. The only way he can break the spell is to learn to love another and earn her love in return by the time the last petal falls ("Prologue").  Ten years later, a beautiful

Act II.

In the woods, Belle is attacked by wolves and is only rescued when the Beast comes to her aid, but he is injured during the fight and collapses ("Entr'acte/Wolf Chase"). Instead of taking the chance to run home Belle helps him back to the castle. She cleans his injuries and after a brief argument about whose fault this is, the Beast thanks her for her kindness and thus their friendship is born. Wanting to give her a thank-you gift, the Beast gives Belle his huge library, which excites her. She notes a change in the Beast's personality as the servants note a change in Belle and the Beast's relationship ("Something

Productions.

"Beauty and the Beast" premiered in a joint production of Theatre Under The Stars and Disney Theatrical at the Music Hall, Houston, Texas, from November 28, 1993, through December 26, 1993.

Original Broadway production.

The musical opened on Broadway at the Palace Theatre on April 18, 1994, and ran there until September 5, 1999. The show then transferred to the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on November 11, 1999, with an official opening date of November 16, 1999. The musical closed on July 29, 2007, after 46 previews and 5,461 performances, and is Broadway's tenth-longest running production in history (). The production holds the record of being the longest running production at both the Palace Theatre, where it opened, and the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, where it closed its Broadway run. The production cost an estimated $12 million, arguably higher, becoming the most costly Broadway musical at the time. However, some analysists estimate the cost to be closer to $1.6 billion.  Directed by Robert Jess Roth with choreography by Matt

Original London production.

The West End production opened at London's Dominion Theatre on April 29, 1997, starring Julie-Alanah Brighten as Belle and Alasdair Harvey as the Beast. It also featured Burke Moses as Gaston, Derek Griffiths as Lumiere, Mary Millar as Mrs. Potts, Norman Rossington as Maurice, Barry James as Cogsworth, Di Botcher as Madame de la Grande

National tours.

The show had four US national tours. The first opened on November 15, 1995, and closed in 1999. It featured Kim Huber as Belle, Fred Inkley as the Beast, Patrick Page as Lumiere and Paige Davis as Babette. Patrick Page and Paige Davis met and fell in love during the tour and married. A second national tour opened in 1999 with Susan Owen as Belle and Grant Norman as The Beast. This production closed in 2003. The third national tour opened in 2001

Other productions.

The lesser known Halifax production at the

International productions.

"Beauty and the Beast" has been performed in more than 30 countries, including Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and United States. Over 35 million people have seen the show worldwide and it has grossed more than $1.7 billion.  On July 15, 1995, the musical began its original Australian run in Melbourne at the Princess Theatre, before moving on to Sydney. The original Australian cast included Michael Cormick as The Beast, Rachael Beck as Belle, Hugh Jackman as Gaston, and Ernie Bourne as Maurice.  In 1995, the musical opened in Japan and was performed by the Shiki Theatre Company. The musical continued to tour Japan until May 2017.  In December 1997, the musical opened in Stuttgart at the Palladium Theatre, Stuttgart and played there until December 22, 2000. Leah Delos Santos played Belle and Uwe Kröger played the Beast and Marc G. Dalio played Gaston.  In 1999, the musical opened

Amateur rights.

The show's rights became available (in association with Josef Weinberger Ltd.) to amateur performing groups

Broadway revival.

On April 24, 2019 Disney Theatrical Groups revealed that "Beauty and the Beast" would

Musical numbers.

<nowiki>*</nowiki> New song or instrumental cue  † Expanded vocal or instrumental content, using either cut lyrics by Ashman or dance arrangements by Glen Kelly, or both.  ‡ "Human Again" was written by Menken and Ashman for the movie, but was cut, due to the complications it made

Instrumentation.

Music Theatre International offers two orchestrations for "Beauty and the Beast".  The principal, larger orchestration is based on the original Broadway orchestration. It is scored for three synthesizers, a drum kit, a percussion section, double bass, three woodwind players, three French horns in F, two trumpets in B-flat, trombone, divided violins, cellos, and harp. The first woodwind player doubles on flute and piccolo, the second on English horn and oboe, and the

Cast information.

Notable Broadway cast replacements

Recordings.

The Original Broadway Cast Recording was released on April 26, 1994. The CD included Susan Egan as Belle, Terrence Mann as Beast, Burke Moses as Gaston, Gary Beach as Lumière, Tom Bosley as Maurice, Anna McNeeley as Madame de la Grande Bouche and Beth Fowler as Mrs. Potts.  The Original Australian Cast Recording was released in 1995. The principal cast included Rachael Beck as Belle, Michael Cormick as Beast, Hugh Jackman as Gaston, Ernie Bourne as Maurice, Toni Lamond as Madame de la Grande Bouche, Grant Smith as Lumière, Robyn Arthur as Mrs. Potts and Bert Newton as Cogsworth.  The Original Vienna Cast Recording was released in 1996. The principal cast included Ethan Freeman as Beast,

Junior version.

A "junior" version of the musical for middle and high school students was published by MTI. This version only included a selected number of the songs, including "Belle", "Belle (Reprise)", "Home", "Home (Tag)", "Gaston", "Gaston (Reprise)", "Be Our Guest",

Critical reception.

Reception towards the tryouts in Houston were so enthusiastic that the production was extended for two weeks. Jerome Weeks of "Variety" responded to the show with a positive review, praising the performances of Egan, Mann and Moses, as well as the Beast's new song "If I Can't Love Her". At the same time, Weeks felt that the production "gets close to slipping into a big-budget kiddie show or magic act with its overdone showbiz glitz and sparkly stage-illusion effects"at times, but in the end predicted that "'Beauty and the Beast' could well be the big new musical hit this Broadway season has been waiting for." However, in 1994, "Beauty and the Beast" finally premiered on Broadway to reviews that ranged from mixed to negative, leaving critics mostly unimpressed. Reactions from the New York theatre community and Broadway producers were particularly harsh, ridiculing Disney for deciding to produce the musical themselves as opposed to enlisting traditional theatre companies. Egan recalled that "the same five families [had] produced Broadway shows for a hundred years and Disney shook that up."  Nearly universally panned by theatre critics, they concurred that "Beauty and the Beast" was a "great spectacle, but not great theater". Likening the musical to the Empire State Building, David Richards of "The New York Times" called the show "hardly a triumph of art, but it'll probably be a whale of a tourist attraction." While awarding specific praise towards its musical numbers, choreography, costumes and cast – particularly Mann's ability to "convey the delicacy of awakening love" despite the physical demands of his costume, at the same time Richards criticized the production's set and special effects for lacking subtlety, ultimately accusing them of leaving little "to the imagination". Richards concluded, "The result is a sightseer's delight, which isn't the same thing as a theatergoer's dream." Also writing for "The New

Awards and nominations.

"Be Our Guest" was used as the commercial for the 1994 Tony Awards. Michael Goldstein of "New York" correctly predicted that Mann would earn a Tony Award nomination for his performance. Despite having been nominated for a total of nine individual awards, "Beauty and the Beast" was ultimately shunned at the ceremony, winning

Impact and legacy.

Largely due to audience reception, "Beauty and the Beast" remains one of Broadway's biggest successes of the current era. "Beauty and the Beast" established itself as a musical that could survive on Broadway despite its unenthusiastic reviews. Several detractors had thought that musicals like "Beauty and the Beast" would be a one-time event, but the results ultimately turned out to be quite the opposite. According to theatrical producer Stuart Oken, Disney's success with "Beauty and the Beast" is responsible for today's biggest Broadway hits and making the medium "better than it has ever been". The groundbreaking performance of "Beauty and the Beast" inspired other major Hollywood studios to produce Broadway renditions of some of their own films. Disney soon began to commission Broadway adaptations of several of the studio's most popular musical films, namely "The Lion King" (1997), "Mary Poppins" (2004), "Tarzan" (2006), "The Little Mermaid" (2008), "Newsies" (2012) and "Aladdin" (2014), in addition to producing the musical "Aida". After completing her run in "Beauty and the Beast", Egan would famously go on to voice Meg in Disney's animated musical "Hercules" (1997), establishing herself as a popular voice and film actress. Following the success of "Human Again", the song was later incorporated into reissues of the animated film in the form of an animated musical sequence.  "Beauty and the Beast" is considered to be Broadway's first legitimate family show, responsible for birthing an entirely new generation of young theatregoers. The family demographic of the musical established inspired international productions of "Aladdin" and "Matilda". According to "The Complete Book of 1990s Broadway Musicals" author Dan Dietz, "the show's resounding success opened the floodgates for a spate of... productions based on Disney and other family-oriented films", transforming Broadway into "a theme park with a parade of musicals aimed at kids and teenagers." Dietz believes that the plethora of Broadway musicals that came after "Beauty and the Beast" have unfortunately resembled "feel-good family show[s] whose goal was to emulate its film source." Additionally, the success of the musical inspired a legion of Broadway productions geared towards young women, including "Hairspray" (2002), "Wicked" (2003), "Legally Blonde" (2007), "Matilda" (2013) and Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella" (2013). While these musicals flourished on Broadway, it seems as though more serious, adult-oriented fare struggled to perform as well. New York theatre critic Howard Kissel famously despised "the Kiddy Komponent of New York theatergoing" spearheaded by the successful 13-year Broadway run of "Beauty and the Beast". The success of "Beauty and the Beast" inspired Eisner to invest in his own theatre to house future stage adaptations of the studio's animated classics.

Beauty and the Beast is a musical with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, and book by Linda Woolverton. Adapted from Walt Disney Pictures' Academy Award-winning 1991 animated musical film of the same name – which in turn had been based on the classic French fairy tale by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont – "Beauty and the Beast" tells the story of a cold-blooded prince who has been magically transformed into an unsightly creature as punishment for his selfish ways. To revert into his true human form, the Beast must first learn to love a bright, beautiful young woman whom he has imprisoned in his enchanted castle before it is too late.

Die Schöne und das Biest (Originaltitel: "Beauty and the Beast") ist ein Musical, das von der Autorin Linda Woolverton, den Textern Howard Ashman und Tim Rice sowie dem Komponisten Alan Menken in Anlehnung an den gleichnamigen Walt-Disney-Zeichentrickfilm geschrieben wurde. Es feierte am 18. April 1994 unter der Regie von Robert Jess Roth am Palace Theatre auf dem Broadway in New York seine Weltpremiere und erreichte bis heute rund 25 Millionen Menschen in 13 Ländern. Das Musical wurde für neun Tony Awards nominiert und gewann 1998 den Laurence Olivier Award.


History.

The Cathedral Treasury derives from the treasury of the former Canonesses of Essen, which passed to St Johann Baptist after the secularisation of the order in 1803.  During the Ruhr Uprising in 1920, the entire treasury was smuggled out to Hildesheim in secret, from which it was returned in 1925.  During the Second World War the Treasury was taken first to Warstein, then to Albrechtsburg in Meissen and from there to Siegen, where it was sealed in Hain tunnel to protect it from aerial bombing. After the end of the war it was found there by American troops and brought to the State Museum in Marburg, and later to a collection of displaced artworks in Schloss Dyck, Rheydt. From April to October 1949, the Essen Cathedral Treasury was displayed in Brussels and Amsterdam and after that it was brought back to Essen.  In 1953 the Treasure was displayed in an exhibition in the Villa Hügel. In 1957 the Treasure became the property of the then newly established Diocese of Essen. The Treasury Chamber was first made accessible to the public without charge in 1958 at the wish of the first Bishop of Essen, Franz Hengsbach.  The Treasury had to be closed from 15 September 2008 until 15 May 2009 for a structural extension. The Treasure was displayed as the opening exhibit of the Ruhr Museum in the former coal washery of the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex from 20 October 2008 until 8 February 2009 with the tagline "Gold vor Schwarz" (“Gold in Black”). The new display of the Cathedral Treasure was opened on 15 May 2009, which was over seventy percent larger than the previous space and improved in line with the latest ideas in museum education.

Collection.

The collection is exceptional in its completeness because only a few pieces of the Abbey's Treasure, such as the golden shrine of St Marsus have been lost in the course of time, and particularly because the "liber ordinarius" survives, in which the liturgical use of the objects is laid out. The Essen Cathedral Treasury contains several artistically significant works, particularly from the Ottonian period, such as:  In addition to the Ottonian artworks, valuable objects from later times also belong to the Cathedral Treasury, such as the Bust of Marsus and sixteen Burgundian fibulae from the fourteenth century. Several manuscripts also belong to the Cathedral Treasury, including the Great Carolingian Gospels (Ms. 1) of linguistical and artistic significance, the "Liber Ordinarius" of Essen (Ms. 19), and the Necrology of Essen (Ms. 20).  There is also a vitrine in the Treasury with loaned items from the Diocesan Museum, such as the crosier, mitres, pectoral crosses and rings of the deceased Bishops of Essen.

The Essen Cathedral Treasury (German: Essener Domschatz) is one of the most significant collections of religious artworks in Germany. A great number of items of treasure are accessible to the public in the treasury chamber of Essen Minster. The cathedral chapter manages the treasury chamber, not as a museum as in some places, but as the place in which liturgical implements and objects are kept, which continued to be used to this day in the service of God, so far as their conservation requirements allow.

Der Essener Domschatz ist eine der bedeutendsten Sammlungen kirchlicher Kunstwerke in Deutschland. Eine Vielzahl von Schatzstücken ist der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich in der Domschatzkammer neben der Münsterkirche. Das Domkapitel versteht die Schatzkammer jedoch nicht als Museum, sondern als den Ort, an dem liturgische Geräte und Objekte aufbewahrt werden, die, soweit konservatorisch vertretbar, auch heute noch im Gottesdienst Verwendung finden.


Biography.

He completed the primary and secondary school in Vranje, and graduated from the University of Belgrade's Law School. It is said that he received some Western education—Paris—but returned unaffected to his native soil and subsequently immortalized it in his work. He worked as a clerk (first customs official then tax official) in Belgrade. During World War I he resided in Niš, then in Montenegro where he was taken captive by the Austrians and incarcerated in a PoW camp in Derventa in Bosnia. After the war he worked in the Department of Arts of the Ministry of Education. He died at Belgrade in 1927.

Work.

Borisav Stanković's best work is the 1910 novel entitled "Impure Blood" ("Nečista krv") about the plight of a young woman unable to free herself from the old customs and restrictions. In this story he explored the contradictions of man's spiritual and sensory life. This was the first Serbian novel to receive praise in its foreign translations from international literary critics. At the turn of the 20th century folk musicals became popular and the best play of this genre is Stanković's "Koštana", written in 1902. Its bittersweet story of a beautiful Gypsy girl and her amorous conquest of an entire provincial town is intertwined with quasi-philosophical musing about the meaning of life and the passing of youth. Stanković's other play, "Tašana", written in 1910, is also about provincial life in southern Serbia, which had just been liberated from the Turks but was still living under the imprint of the centuries-long occupation. In practically all his works Stanković presents strong characters who are at the same time victims of a strange weakness stemming from the realization that their time has irrevocably passed.  It is said that he is the most important late Serbian realist, who interconnected poetic and narrative procedures in a complex manner and departed so significantly from realist canon that his prose is regarded as transitional.  His other main works are: short story collections, "Iz starog jevandjelja" (From an Old Gospel, 1899), "Stari dani" (The Old Days, 1902), and "Božji ljudi" (God's Children, 1902); and a play "Tašana" (1910).  Literary critic Jovan Skerlić in his 1914 literary history of Serbia ("Istorija nove srpske književnosti") wrote the following about him:  Borisav Stanković takes the first place among the modern Serbian writers.... Before Borisav Stanković Serbian literature was limited to the northern and western Serbian regions. Stanković first introduced in the literature the southeastern Serbian lands, that part of Old Serbia which Serbia liberated in 1877–1878. He is a bard of that new picturesque and interesting exotic world, of his birthplace Vranja where he spent his childhood, that left the strongest and unforgettable memories and from which, in his stories, he cannot be set free. He does not sing about the present Vranja which is modernised but about Vranja of the 'old days', the patriarchal people, with their narrow views but cordial life. He describes what he saw and felt, he usually describes people who really existed and events that really happened.... There is in his description of Vranja life something very much 'Vranjanian', local, interesting archaic Serbian dialect. Moreover, in all this realistic description of one of the Serbian nooks where many archaic and patriarchal elements are still preserved, there is also something very personal, impressionistic, lyrical... In all his stories in which a struggle is going on between East and West, between the personality and the masses, passion and moral, dream and reality, poetry and prose of life, in all these things to which he could give magnitude and verse, Stanković always participates with all his open soul.

Borisav "Bora" Stanković (; 31 March 1876 – 22 October 1927) was a Serbian writer belonging to the school of realism. His novels and short stories depict the life of people from South Serbia. He belongs to an exceptional group of storytellers that suddenly appeared at the turn of the 20th century, Ivo Ćipiko, Petar Kočić, Milutin Uskoković, and others.

Borisav "Bora" Stanković (kyrillisch Борисав "Бора" Станковић; * 31. März 1876 in Vranje; † 22. Oktober 1927 in Belgrad) war ein serbischer Schriftsteller.