Fact, Fiction, Film: Rex Beach and the Spoilers

Alexander McKenzie and Rex Beach both traveled to Nome, Alaska, in the summer of 1900 to get rich. McKenzie attempted to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from the region\u27s gold mines in one of the most outlandish schemes in the history of the American legal system. His plan failed and McKenzie xvas found guilty of contempt and sentenced to one year in jail. The incident began a twenty year slide in political power until his death in 1922. Rex Beach intended to discover gold, but like McKenzie, he also failed in his attempt. But he found a gold mine of another sort. A mine of stories, anecdotes and colorful characters, plus the details of the McKenzie conspiracy provided the basis for a series of muckraking articles that he published in 1905. This series led to his most popular novel, The Spoilers, published in December, 1905, and a stage production of the same name which appeared briefly in Chicago and New York in 1906 before going on the road. In 1914 the first movie version was released, followed by different versions in 1923, 1930, 1942 and 1955. McKenzie\u27s failure get rich in 1900 thus led to the spectacularly successful career of Rex Beach, who defined the twentieth century popular author by writing a popular story and then exploiting every medium possible to profit from his effort

Qualitative Behaviour Assessment of dogs in the shelter and home environment and relationship with quantitative behaviour assessment and physiological responses

Qualitative Behaviour Assessment (QBA) was utilised to examine the behavioural expression of dogs in different housing environments and the results were compared to measurements of quantitative behaviour and physiology. Firstly, quantitative behavioural and physiological differences were investigated between dogs in 3 housing environments (short-term shelter confinement, ≤ 4 days, n = 10; long-term shelter confinement, > 30 days, n = 9; and domestic living situations, n = 10). Each dog’s behaviour was recorded over a 4 h period using an ethogram consisting of 21 behaviour categories. Dogs in both short (SD) and long (LD) term confinement displayed higher frequencies of paw-lifting (P < 0.001), displacement behaviour (digging and/or drinking P < 0.01), vocalisation (P < 0.05) and locomotory activity (P < 0.001) compared to dogs maintained as family pets (PD). Salivary cortisol concentrations did not differ amongst groups (H = 0.55, P = 0.76). Secondly, quantitative behaviour and QBA were combined to investigate differences among these same 29 dogs when filmed for 1 min in both their Home Environment and a standardised Novel Environment. QBA of these video clips was made by 10 observers utilising Free-Choice-Profiling methodology. Generalised Procrustes Analysis was used to calculate a consensus profile and three main dimensions of dog expression in both Environments. The observers repeated dog scores on these dimensions with high accuracy (P < 0.001). Observers perceived dogs as more ‘relaxed/content’ in the Home Environment (H = 17.86, P < 0.0001), and more ‘calm/relaxed’ in the Novel Environment (H = 13.58, P < 0.001), than SD and LD dogs. In the Novel Environment, LD dogs were perceived as more ‘inquisitive/curious’ (H = 5.97, P < 0.05), and SD dogs as more ‘curious/cautious’ (H = 6.82, P < 0.05), than the other groups. Quantitative assessment of the 1 min Home and Novel Environment video clips were analysed using Principle Component Analysis (PCA), generating two main factors explaining 88% and 76% of the variation respectively. PCA factor 1 (‘rest’) and QBA Dimension 1 (‘relaxed/content’) correlated (P < 0.0001) in the Home Environment’. In the Novel Environment PCA factor 1 (‘stand’, ‘sniff’) correlated with QBA Dimension 1 (‘clam/relaxed’) and PCA factor 2 (‘sniff’, ‘walk’) correlated with QBA Dimension 2 (‘curious/inquisitive’). There was no correlation between QBA dimensions and cortisol concentrations. In sum, these results indicate that a combined quantitative/qualitative assessment facilitates the interpretation of behavioural variances resulting from housing differences and supports utilising QBA for the assessment of dog behavioural expression

Lux Presents Noir: The Presentation of Film Noir Adaptation to Radio on ‘Lux Radio Theater

The film noir is a collection of Hollywood films produced between 1941 and 1958 that were dominated by a visual, thematic and tonal style that set them apart from other films released in that same period. Films noir contained seriously flawed protagonists who romanced mysterious bimbos with names like Velda and Flaxy and Velma, who, “behind their bright eyes and red lips existed a moral cesspool” These films further exposed alienation, loneliness and desire through the use of odd camera angles, low cast lighting and the depiction of light and shadow designed to invoke a sordid underside of life. Set in cities, scenes were dominated by vertical lines, tall buildings, alleyways and narrow hallways, as well as flashing neon signs and city streets dampened by recent rains. The effect was visual. The adaptation of this visual style to the aural medium of radio posed some rather interesting, but surmountable difficulties. This paper will explore the adaptation of a select few important films noir, such as The Maltese Falcon, The Big Clock and Pitfall, to radio plays in the anthology radio series, The Lux Radio Theater. This radio series, beginning in 1935 and lasting until 1955, featured a recently released motion picture as a one hour radio play every Sunday evening on CBS during that twenty year period. The radio series was the most expensive and the most lavishly produced program, setting the standard of excellence during the golden years of radio broadcasting. Using the best writers and soundmen, and also a casts of prominent movie stars, the show averaged $50, 000.00 per week to produce. Top shows averaged about$30,000.00, while half-hour dramas and sit-coms averaged $6,000 to$10,000.00 per week. The presentation will emphasize the task of presenting “visual” dialogue, effective sound effects and appropriate musical bridges, plus the usual voice-over narrative approach to create the visual effects of the Noir films in an aural medium. This is part of an ongoing study so that a conclusion is still pending

Lux Presents Noir: The Presentation of Film Noir Adaptation to Radio on ‘Lux Radio Theater

The film noir is a collection of Hollywood films produced between 1941 and 1958 that were dominated by a visual, thematic and tonal style that set them apart from other films released in that same period. Films noir contained seriously flawed protagonists who romanced mysterious bimbos with names like Velda and Flaxy and Velma, who, “behind their bright eyes and red lips existed a moral cesspool” These films further exposed alienation, loneliness and desire through the use of odd camera angles, low cast lighting and the depiction of light and shadow designed to invoke a sordid underside of life. Set in cities, scenes were dominated by vertical lines, tall buildings, alleyways and narrow hallways, as well as flashing neon signs and city streets dampened by recent rains. The effect was visual. The adaptation of this visual style to the aural medium of radio posed some rather interesting, but surmountable difficulties. This paper will explore the adaptation of a select few important films noir, such as The Maltese Falcon, The Big Clock and Pitfall, to radio plays in the anthology radio series, The Lux Radio Theater. This radio series, beginning in 1935 and lasting until 1955, featured a recently released motion picture as a one hour radio play every Sunday evening on CBS during that twenty year period. The radio series was the most expensive and the most lavishly produced program, setting the standard of excellence during the golden years of radio broadcasting. Using the best writers and soundmen, and also a casts of prominent movie stars, the show averaged $50, 000.00 per week to produce. Top shows averaged about$30,000.00, while half-hour dramas and sit-coms averaged $6,000 to$10,000.00 per week. The presentation will emphasize the task of presenting “visual” dialogue, effective sound effects and appropriate musical bridges, plus the usual voice-over narrative approach to create the visual effects of the Noir films in an aural medium. This is part of an ongoing study so that a conclusion is still pending