Roundup: Pop Culture & the Arts ... Movies, Documentaries and Museum Exhibits

A Century Later, Sophie Tucker is Still Red Hot

Has any pop star had as many nicknames as Sophie Tucker? In a career that spanned seven decades, Tucker was variously billed as “The Empress of Songs,” “The Syncopated Cyclone” and “Our Lady Nicotine”; as “Iron Lungs,” “Muscle Dancer” and “Vaudeville’s Pet”; as “The Ginger Girl,” “The Grizzly Bear Girl” and “The Girl Who Never Disappoints.” During her early years as a vaudeville headliner, when rags were the rage, she was “The Tetrazzini of Ragtime.” When jazz took over, she became “The Queen of

Most Important Viking Treasure in 150 Years is Jointly Acquired by Two British Museums

The Vale of York hoard has been acquired through a unique partnership between the York Museums Trust and the British Museum. This major Viking hoard, an important and exciting find, is joint-owned and will be displayed equally between the two partners. Highlights of the hoard will be displayed initially at the Yorkshire Museum in York (17 September – 1 November 2009). It will then travel to the British Museum. The hoard was declared Treasure and was valued at £1,082,0

National Portrait Gallery Exhibits Portrait of Ted Kennedy Painted by Andy Warhol

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery installed a portrait of Sen. Edward Kennedy by Andy Warhol. It went on view when the museum opened to the public at 11:30 a.m. in a first-floor gallery that is designated for remembrance of recently deceased individuals represented in the gallery’s collection. Warhol’s silkscreened portrait of Kennedy was created in 1980 to raise funds for Kennedy’s campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. A special feature of the print is War

Great Expectations for New Ball and Chain Display at Museum of London Docklands

One of the most unusual discoveries from the Thames in recent years, a ball and chain dating from the 17th - 18th century, goes on display at Museum of London Docklands today. Museum experts believe it would have been used to shackle prisoners during transport, but it was uncovered with the lock fastened and no key. This raises the possibility that a prisoner may have slipped out of custody, although a less happy outcome would probably have awaited the unfortunate person who found

Stolen Painting by Picasso Worth $10 Million Found in Iraq

painting by Pablo Picasso believed to have been stolen during the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait has been found in the possession of an Iraqi man in Babel, south of Baghdad, the Al Sabah newspaper reported Wednesday. Police launched a sweep in Yebla, an area in Babel province, after intelligence indicated the painting was being kept by someone in the area, the newspaper said, citing unnamed sources. Officers arrested the man who had Picasso's "La Mujer Desnuda,&q

Extraordinary Exhibition at the Getty to Show Iconic Drawings by Rembrandt and His Pupils

The J. Paul Getty Museum has organized an extraordinary exhibition, which is the result of more than 30 years of scholarly research on the working practice of the great Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) and the teaching process he employed in his studio. Drawings by Rembrandt and His Pupils: Telling the Difference will be on view exclusively at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center from December 8, 2009-February 28, 2010. The exhibition will explore the differences between Rembr

Hitler Surprisingly Popular With Foreign Advertisers; Dictator Touts Hats, Chopsticks, Pens and Thumb Drives

Want to know which superstar product-endorser foreign ad agencies love the most? It’s Adolf Hitler. Yes, that Hitler. The one who started the Holocaust. In foreign countries, the fuhrer can be found in posters promoting everything from Hewlett-Packard’s thumb drives to Hut Weber hats. (See gallery of Hitler ads below.) That Hitler smelling a rose at right? He’s advertising Raysana, a brand of “anti-stress” tea in Turkey. It’s a sharp contrast to the U.S. and much of Western Europe, where u

James Lord, Biographer of Artists, Is Dead at 86

James Lord, an intimate of Picasso and Giacometti whose biographies and memoirs provide a vivid picture of the artistic milieu of Montparnasse after World War II, died Sunday at his home in Paris. He was 86. The cause was a heart attack, said his longtime companion and adopted son, Gilles Foy-Lord. Mr. Lord, while serving with Army intelligence during the war, traveled to Paris on a three-day pass in December 1944 and made a beeline to Picasso’s studio on the Rue des Gr

TIME Photo: The Kennedy family visits Pope Pius XII in Vatican City, 1939

In happier times: The Kennedy family visits Pope Pius XII in Vatican City, 1939. Young Ted stands in front of his father Joseph. Related articleAfter Kennedy's Death: Silence from the Pope

Review: 'Woodstock' Is One Boring Trip, Man

In the summer of 1969, half a million people gathered in and around a 600-acre field in Bethel, N.Y., for what was officially described as three days of peace and music, and less officially as three days of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll—the Woodstock festival. If you can remember it, so the old joke goes, you probably weren't there. Former flower children who were on the scene and on psychotropics for those three fab, far-out days but are hazy on the details, and those who weren't there but wa

Baltimore Sun Publishing Archive Photos of the First Day at School

#21 of 29:"Crossing guard, 1963" (WALTER M. MCCARDELL/ BALTIMORE SUN PHOTO / September 5, 1963)

G.I. Joe, Post-American Hero

[Tom Engelhardt, co-founder of the American Empire Project, runs the Nation Institute's TomDispatch.com. He is the author of The End of Victory Culture, a history of the Cold War and beyond, as well as of a novel, The Last Days of Publishing. He also edited The World According to TomDispatch: America in the New Age of Empire (Verso, 2008), an alternative history of the mad Bush years.] The Long, Slow Death of American Triumphalism The Prequel: In my childhood, I p

MoMA Launches Two-Year "Auteurist History of Film" Series

The Museum of Modern Art has unveiled an ambitious new program that celebrates the director as the primary force behind the collaborative creation of film. “An Auteurist History of Film”, a two-year series of films drawn entirely from MoMA’s collection that will explore “the dawn of the cinematic art form.” Intended to serve as “both an exploration of the richness of the Museum’s collection” and as a basic introduction to “the development of cinema as a predominant art form of the 20th century,”

A history video game?

A grant from one of the largest foundations in the United States is allowing a group from Queen's University to complete a video game focusing on Canadian history. The $150,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation will mean that the Centre for the Study of Democracy at Queen's will be able to finish the last two chapters of the educational game, which focus on building Canada through Sir John A. Macdonald. Modelled after the popular game Civilization, the Queen's think-tank pl

Jefferson's wine bottles or fakes?

Last month, British wine expert Michael Broadbent filed a libel suit in London against Random House over Benjamin Wallace's best-selling book, The Billionaire's Vinegar. Broadbent, the legendary former head of Christie's wine department, alleges that Wallace defamed him in his gripping whodunit about the so-called Thomas Jefferson bottles—a trove of wines initially said to have belonged to the oenophilic Virginian but now almost universally believed to have been fakes. Three of the bottles, all

Ancient Map Offers Key to Mesoamerican History

A map painted by Mexican Indians in the mid-16th century has become a key document for understanding the migration of Mesoamerican peoples from their land of origin in what is now the U.S. Southwest, according to a scholar at Harvard University Divinity School. "Five years of research and writing (2002-2007) by 15 scholars of Mesoamerican history show that this document, the Map of Cuauhtinchan 2, with more than 700 pictures in color, is something like a Mesoamerican Iliad and

Arkansas Arts Center Presents Exotic Lands: Europe Imagines Egypt and the East

The Arkansas Arts Center presents the exhibition Exotic Lands: Europe Imagines Egypt and the East, on view September 25 – November 22, 2009. This exhibition, drawn from the Arkansas Arts Center Collection, showcases works by Paul Cézanne, Eugène Delacroix, Paul Signac and more. Scenes from the Middle East and Northern Africa enthralled European artists as early as the 16th century. The vogue for artifacts and souvenirs from the Orient reached its height in the colonial era — an int

Historic Last Column Returns to World Trade Center Site for Permanent Installation

The historic 'Last Column,‛ the final steel column to be removed from the World Trade Center site, returned to the site this morning for permanent installation in the 9/11 Memorial Museum. The massive ‚Last Column‛ was covered in tributes from members of the construction trades, rescue personnel, and family members before the column was removed from the site, marking the end of the nine-month recovery efforts in May 2002. The return of the ‚Last Column‛ marks a majo

New Doubts Raised Over Famous War Photo

After nearly three-quarters of a century Robert Capa’s “Falling Soldier” picture from the Spanish Civil War remains one of the most famous images of combat ever. It is also one of the most debated, with a long string of critics claiming that the photo, of a soldier seemingly at the moment of death, was faked. Now, a new book by a Spanish researcher asserts that the picture could not have been made where, when or how Capa’s admirers and heirs have claimed. In “Shadows of Photography,

National Institute of Anthropology and History Says Culture, Key to Mexico's Foreign Policy

Cultural heritage must be the letter of introduction of Mexico abroad: diplomacy based on this theme will boost all areas of economic interest in the country and impact employment generation. This was pointed out by Alfonso de Maria y Campos, general director of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) and Javier Barros Valero, ex sub secretary of Foreign Affairs, during a debate organized to present the 85th issue of Revista Mexicana de Politica Exterior (Mexican