James (Jimmy) W. Walter, Junior (born 1947)^[1] is an American venture capitalist, author, formerly involved in the 9/11 Truth Movement.^[2][3] He is best known for sponsoring advertisements asking to reopen the investigation of the September 11, 2001 attacks and offering financial rewards to anyone that could prove the World Trade Center was destroyed without the use of explosives.^[4][5]

Biography[link]

Walter is the older of two sons of James W. Walter, Sr., a Tampa, Florida home builder and industrialist. He excelled at math and science in school, completing high school at the Asheville School in North Carolina, and was offered a Morehead scholarship to the University of North Carolina, but turned it down at his father's urging in order to enter business school.^[1]

Walter earned a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina in 1969,^[6] and worked in his father's business for two years. His father's political influence helped Walter join the Air Force Reserves to stay out of active combat in the Vietnam War; he earned an officer's commission and served for four years.^[1]

After leaving Walter Industries, Walter lived in New York, Hong Kong, and Tampa. He worked in a number of jobs and industries, including financial public relations in New York City, and founded several corporations.^[6]

On May 28, 1991, Walter and Jack Edwards co-wrote Banzai, You Bastards (ISBN 028563027X), the story of Edwards's abuse in a Japanese World War II prisoner-of-war camp.^[6]

When his father died in January 2000, Walter inherited a fortune reported between $7–14.3 million; he says $11 million.^[4][7] Much of that has been spent on his campaigns.^[5] He no longer receives a salary, but receives income from investments.^[1]

Since January 2005, Walter has been living in self-imposed exile in Vienna, Austria, after being attacked and threatened due to his campaign.^[1][2][5][8]

Non-profit organizations[link]

In the early 1990s, Walter used outside funding and US$3 million of his own money to found the Life Skills Foundation, an organization that taught skills and goal setting to Florida prison inmates.^[1] The project produced results, but was shut down after the governor cut state financial backing.^[9]

Walter is also the founder of "Walden Three", a non-profit educational foundation in Santa Barbara, California that researches ideas for sustainable, environmentally friendly urban development. The foundation has developed a computer model for the ideal sustainable living, carfree and fossil fuel-free city or society that produces almost all of the consumables, durable goods, structures, mass transportation and social security needed by its citizens. The model uses rational-emotive therapy (REBT), developed by Dr. Albert Ellis.^[10] Walter considers Walden Three his "day job" when he is not involved with campaigning.^[1]

Anti-war campaign[link]

Walter had been opposed to the Vietnam War, a source of contention with his father,^[1] but had not used his money to act on his convictions. On February 27, 2003, Walter spent US$125,000 to take out a full-page advertisement in the New York Times attacking Secretary of State Colin Powell's justification for the impending 2003 invasion of Iraq. It was headlined "Powell Lied?" describing Powell's February 5, 2003 speech to the United Nations Security Council—the New York Times insisted on adding the question mark. Walter took out similar advertisements in English and Spanish in local newspapers in Santa Barbara, California, where he was living. His stance was unpopular; posters he attached to his house were torn down, and a rock was put through his car's window. Walter did not repeat the advertisement.^[11]

Walther's caricature of George W. Bush

Walter also created a "Chicken-Hawk-In-Chief" design mocking George W. Bush which he put on t-shirts, sweatshirts, and a full costume.^[1] In May 2004, a Williamstown, Vermont middle school student gained national attention when he wore the t-shirt and was required to cover parts of the design depicting Bush drinking and snorting cocaine.^[12] On August 30, 2006, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the school was wrong to censor the shirt, and on June 29, 2007 the US Supreme Court rejected an appeal, allowing that ruling to stand.^[13][14]

Reopen 9/11 campaign[link]

Walter began a series of advertisements about the September 11, 2001 attacks in October 2004, which included full page ads in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, and 30 second cable television spots on CNN, Fox News, and ESPN. They implied that no plane flew in to The Pentagon, and that 7 World Trade Center was brought down by internal explosives. They called for a new investigation into what happened on September 11, and referred viewers to the website reopen911.org.^[7][15] In conjunction with the campaign, Walter sponsored an October 2004 Zogby poll, which found that 66% of New York City residents wanted a fuller investigation of the events of September 11.^[16]

Walter's theory is that the hijacked planes were replaced by remote controlled drones that were crashed into the World Trade Center and Pentagon,^[17] while the buildings were brought down by preset explosives,^[4] to create a pretext for the war in Afghanistan and 2003 invasion of Iraq.^[17] At the web site, Walter offered a US$10,000 reward for a mathematical proof of how the World Trade Center buildings collapsed from the fire and impact, the way the 9/11 Commission said.^[4][18] By 2005, the reward had grown to $1,000,000 for proof that explosives were not used in the collapse of the World Trade Center.^[5]

On November 10, and November 11, 2004, Walter appeared on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360°, where he debated journalist Gerald Posner about the claims made by the campaign.^[16][18] On May 9, 2005, Walter was featured on the "Conspiracy Theories" episode of Showtime cable television program Penn & Teller: Bullshit!,^[19]

As of December 2004, Walter estimated the total cost of the campaign at more than $3 million;^[4][15] by December 2005 it rose to $5.5 million.^[1]

In May 2005, Walter financed European tours of speaking engagements for William Rodriguez and his lawyer in the Rodriguez v. Bush lawsuit, Philip Berg.^[20] Rodriguez claims that he saved hundreds of people in the World Trade Center who were trapped behind locked fire escape doors.^{[citation needed]}

In 2006, Walter traveled to Malaysia with Rodriguez, appearing at a conference with Michael Collins Piper. Rodriguez and Walter also traveled to Venezuela.^[21]

[edit] Confronting the Evidence

Walter produced a video documentary called Confronting the Evidence in 2005 and distributed over 300,000 free copies on DVD,^[1] including one to every household in Tony Blair's Sedgefield constituency.^[22] Confronting the Evidence was broadcast on Italian Rai Tre television on September 24, 2006 at 9:00 p.m., during the Report program.^[23]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Jimmy Walter.com Personal home page
• "Reopen 9/11 - Catch the Real Terrorists" Reopen911.org, site offering award
• Walden Three Project home page

v t e Private equity and venture capital investors Investment strategy Buyout · Venture · Growth · Mezzanine · Secondaries History History of private equity and venture capital · Early history of private equity · Private equity in the 1980s · Private equity in the 1990s · Private equity in the 2000s Investor types Private equity investors · Venture capitalists · Corporate raiders

Jimmy Fallon
Jimmy Fallon, 2010
Birth name	James Thomas Fallon, Jr.
Born	(1974-09-19) September 19, 1974 (age 37) Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up, music, television, film
Nationality	American
Years active	1990–present
Genres	Satire/political satire/news satire, observational comedy, musical comedy, surreal humor, awkward
Subject(s)	American culture, American politics, pop culture, current events, mass media/news media
Influences	Dana Carvey, Robin Williams
Spouse	Nancy Juvonen (2007–present)
Notable works and roles	Saturday Night Live Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (host, 2009–present)

James Thomas "Jimmy" Fallon, Jr. (born September 19, 1974) is an American actor, comedian, singer, musician and television host. He currently hosts Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, a late-night talk show that airs Monday through Friday on NBC. Prior to that he appeared in several films, and was best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1998–2004.

Early life[link]

James Thomas Fallon, Jr., was born in Brooklyn, New York. Jimmy is the son of Gloria and James Fallon, Sr.,^[1] who is a Vietnam War veteran.^[2] His family later settled in Saugerties, New York, while his father worked at IBM in nearby Kingston, New York. He is of Irish descent.^[3] As a child, he and his older sister, Gloria, would reenact the “clean parts” of Saturday Night Live that his parents had taped for him.^[4] Fallon was such a fan of Saturday Night Live that he made a weekly event of watching it in his dormitory during college. In his teens, he impressed his parents with different impersonations, the first being of James Cagney.^[5][6] He was also musically inclined, and started playing guitar at age 13. He would go on to mix comedy and music in contests and shows.^[6]

Education[link]

Fallon attended St. Mary of the Snow, a Roman Catholic parochial school, and Saugerties High School, from which he graduated in 1992. He attended The College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York. He was a Computer Science major, but switched to Communications in his senior year, dropping out a semester shy of a degree.^[7][8] "I was a Computer Science major. I got out once it got really hard. I made it up to C++. Then I couldn't do the math – it got really confusing. I switched to Communications, which is a ridiculous major – let's be honest," he recalls.^[9] On May 9, 2009, Fallon received a B.A. in Communications and^[10] an honorary doctorate degree from The College of Saint Rose after presenting college officials with his portfolio, which satisfied all requisites for his degree.^[7] In addition to receiving a BA, Fallon spoke at the school's 86th commencement. That night, on Saturday Night Live, he held up his diploma during the closing of the show. Additionally, he showed excerpts from the ceremony on his late night show May 11, 2009.

Career[link]

Stand-up[link]

Fallon gives credit to troll dolls for his big break. He was given a troll doll with a graduation cap in his senior year of high school. His mother heard about an impression contest at Bananas Comedy Club in Poughkeepsie, NY. Fallon came up with a stand-up routine that was a commercial for troll dolls. He would impersonate various celebrities auditioning to be the spokesperson. He won the contest and after college he began to do stand-up tours across the country. When he was in Los Angeles, he took improv classes with The Groundlings.^[5]

Early work[link]

Fallon appeared in the feature film The Scheme (originally entitled The Entrepreneurs). His one line in Father's Day was cut but he can still be seen in the background. In 1998 Fallon appeared briefly on the show Spin City in the second season as a man selling photographs. By late 1998, Fallon was studying at the Groundlings Theater in Los Angeles, making $7.50 a set at The Improv Theater, when he was summoned to New York to audition for the long-running late night sketch comedy show, Saturday Night Live. Fallon did his impersonations of Jerry Seinfeld,^[11] French Stewart, Pat O'Brien, Chris Rock, Hilary Swank, Gilbert Gottfried, Enrique Iglesias, Adam Sandler, Jeff Foxworthy, Eddie Murphy, Larry the Cable Guy, many of which drew laughter from producer Lorne Michaels, which is generally unheard of. Fallon also did musical impersonations of Bono of U2, Adam Duritz of Counting Crows, Alanis Morissette, and Robert Smith of The Cure.^[4]

[edit] Saturday Night Live

Fallon's impersonations helped land him on Saturday Night Live as a featured player in the 1998–1999 season,^[12] and he was promoted to full cast member in the summer of 1999.^[4] Among his signature bits were his song parodies, which he performed when Colin Quinn was doing Update and continued to showcase on special occasions after he had replaced him. He became co-anchor of Weekend Update with Tina Fey with the October 7, 2000 season premiere.^[13] Fallon left SNL in 2004 and began pursuing a film career.

Fallon returned to SNL, hosting the December 17, 2011 episode, having made several cameos in episodes in the years since his departure.^[14]

Recurring characters[link]

• Dave, a young man in the Will Ferrell/Rachel Dratch recurring sketch, "The Lovers", often used as a pawn in Roger and Virginia's matchmaking.
• Jarret (from Jarret's Room), a stoner who hosts his own Internet webcam show.
• Jeffrey's clerk, one of the clerks (the other being a male host for the show) of an upscale department store.
• Joey Mack, an obnoxious radio DJ who mocks his celebrity guests.
• Kip Bloder, brother to Chris Parnell's Wade Bloder.
• The Leather Man, an intense man who owns a shop filled with leather clothes.
• Nick Burns, a sarcastic tech support representative who helps office workers with computer problems (and is almost always exposed as not knowing as much as he should by one of the workers). He frequently used the catchphrase "Moooooove!" when ousting people from their desk so he could fix the problem.
• Pat Sullivan, nicknamed "Sully", one of the Boston Teens, boyfriend of Rachel Dratch's Denise character.
• Patrick Fitzwilliam, a surly Irishman who hosts a show called Top O' The Morning with his friend, William Fitzpatrick (played by Seth Meyers)
• Randy Goldman, from "Wake Up Wakefield", Megan's (Maya Rudolph) crush who does not know she exists.
• Rodney "The Zipper" Calzoun, the MC at the Rialto Grande
• Señor Guadalupe Ramirez, one of the guitar players on the recurring sketch, "The 'How Do You Say, Ah, Yes' Show"
• Wade, one of the members of the boy band 7 Degrees Celsius
• Barry Gibb, in the skit called "The Barry Gibb Talk Show", he hosts along with his brother Robin Gibb (played by Justin Timberlake).
• Carson Daly, whom he impersonated with the catch phrase "I am a massive tool."^[15]
• Pat O'Brien, who "doesn't breathe through his nose ever!"

[edit] Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

Fallon succeeded fellow Saturday Night Live alumnus Conan O'Brien as the host of NBC's Late Night after O'Brien left the show to prepare to take over The Tonight Show from Jay Leno in 2009.^[16] The deal for the long-expected succession was confirmed April 24, 2008, with an official announcement made on May 12, 2008 at NBC's upfront presentation.^[17][18] The official press conference was released on Hulu.com.^[19]

The show, titled Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, first aired on March 2, 2009 with guests Robert De Niro, Justin Timberlake, Nick Carter, and musical guest Van Morrison. Guests on the show's first week included Tina Fey, Jon Bon Jovi, Cameron Diaz, Donald Trump, and Drew Barrymore.

"Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" sometimes features parodies by Fallon impersonating various musicians, and he has been praised for his ability to pull off spot-on impressions. Fallon often changes the lyrics to honour a recent event in popular culture and videos of these performances tend to go viral. In one segment, on May 26, 2011, Fallon impersonated Neil Young, singing along with guests Graham Nash and David Crosby, of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Recent victims include Fallon making parodies of Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam performing "Jeremy (Lin)" in light of the hysteria surrounding New York Knicks shocking standout Jeremy Lin, the Doors singing the theme song to the PBS children's show "Reading Rainbow", Neil Young's version of the "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" theme song, and David Bowie's "Space Oddity" with inspiration by Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow. First appearing in January 2012, and dubbing himself as "Tebowie", Fallon's impersonation of the famously-religious quarterback went viral. Due to overwhelmingly positive acclaim from the public, Fallon revived the act on March 20, 2012 after the Denver Broncos acquired superstar and future hall of fame quarterback Peyton Manning, and revealed their intentions to trade Tebow. Fallon continues to do impersonations, in some of the show's comedy segments, especially impersonations of famous singers.

To celebrate the second anniversary on March 2, 2011, Ben & Jerry's launched a personalized "Late Night Snack" ice cream. This was immediately parodied on The Colbert Report the next day and the two show hosts engaged in a brief ice cream personality war. Colbert used numerous "fecal matter" jokes to describe the flavor of the ice cream named after Jimmy Fallon.^[20]

On November 21, 2011 U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann, who was active in the Republican Presidential Primaries at the time, appeared as a guest on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. As she walked onto the stage, the band played a funk song titled "Lyin' Ass Bitch," without any lyrics. Hours earlier, the band's drummer Questlove had sent a tweet about the song choice: “late night walkon song devotees: you love it when we snark: this next one takes the cake. ask around cause i aint tweeting title.” After a prominent Democratic Congress woman complained, Fallon made a general apology by tweet.^[21] Fallon began his tweet with the words: "I'm honored that @michelebachmann was on our show yesterday and I'm so sorry about the intro mess."^[22] Fallon also used his Twitter account to tease his Roots bandleader Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson that he was "grounded".^[22]

Fallon in April 2007

Fallon has appeared in Taxi, Anything Else, Almost Famous, Fever Pitch, Band of Brothers, Doogal, Factory Girl and Whip It. He occasionally does stand up comedy at the Comedy Club in New York City and has also performed at the House of Blues in Boston, Massachusetts on occasions.

In 2002, Fallon released the comedy album The Bathroom Wall. In a mixed review, Rolling Stone praised the album's songs, calling the album the "second-best Prince parody ever, after Beck's 'Debra'." However the magazine panned the album's comedy routines, ultimately giving it two-out-of-five stars.^[23] The album was nominated for a Grammy in 2003 for Best Spoken Comedy Album. Fallon co-hosted the 2001 MTV Movie Awards with Kirsten Dunst on June 7, 2001.^[24] Fallon has played Neo in Sex and the Matrix, a comedic two-in-one parody of Sex and the City and The Matrix.^[25] He hosted the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards alone that year.^[26] His opening number included parodies of videos by Eminem, Avril Lavigne, Nelly, The White Stripes, Dave Matthews and Enrique Iglesias.

Also in 2002, Fallon appeared in The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch as the son of Melvin Hall, and constantly pesters his father, often stealing his mike, claiming that the film is "his documentary."^[27]

Fallon also hosted the 2005 MTV Movie Awards and played Anakin Skywalker in comedic parody of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith's Mustafar scene, in which Anakin and Padme have their last conversation. Fallon was named one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in 2002, an honor Fallon found embarrassing.^[28]

Following the Boston Red Sox's World Series clinching game over the St. Louis Cardinals in 2004, Fallon ran onto the field at Busch Stadium with Drew Barrymore to film a scene for their movie Fever Pitch.

In 2006, Fallon starred in "Spontaneous Combustion", a Traktor-directed Pepsi television commercial with actress Parker Posey. In the ad, Fallon and Posey can be seen dancing and jumping around to the song Streamline by Newton. In October of that year, Fallon appeared on stage in The Secret Policeman's Ball, a charity gig filmed to raise awareness of Amnesty International at the Royal Albert Hall. Fallon made three appearances during the show, the first in a sketch in which he performed impressions of people such as David Bowie, Jerry Seinfeld and David Blaine in order to get past a doorman (Shaun Williamson) who claims Fallon is not on the list. The doorman finally recognizes him for his role in Taxi, but still will not let him in. He later masqueraded as Russell Brand before being led off by Williamson, and made one final appearance in a cameo role as the front of a pantomime horse in the Al Murray "pub landlord" routine. He also provided the voice of Dylan in Doogal.

In 2007, Fallon wrote the song "Car Wash for Peace" and donated all proceeds to charity. He performed the song on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The View and dedicated a MySpace page to the cause. Around the same time, a video circulated on various Internet sites called lonelyfallon32, in which Fallon parodied YouTube celebrity Jessica Rose (a.k.a. lonelygirl15) and later performed the song.

Fallon, along with his sister Gloria, wrote I Hate This Place: The Pessimist's Guide to Life for TV Books in 1999. A second book is anticipated but has not yet been released, to be titled "I Hate This Place 2: Tokyo Drift."^[4] Fallon has also written a children's book, illustrated by Adam Stower, entitled Snowball Fight.

Fallon also appeared on Diggnation's 185th show.^[29]

On May 4, 2010, NBC announced that Fallon would host the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards.^[30] With Fallon as host, viewership of the 2010 Emmy Awards increased by over 200,000 viewers from the year before.^[31]

On April 24, 2012, Jimmy Fallon filmed his live show in Chapel Hill, NC on the campus of the University of North Carolina. His guest was President Barack Obama, who spoke primarily about Congress potentially doubling the interest rates of student loans. His musical guest was Dave Matthews.

Personal life[link]

Fallon married Nancy Juvonen on December 22, 2007.^[32] Juvonen and Drew Barrymore own the production company Flower Films.

On February 22, 2011, Fallon was on The Dr. Oz Show. He had a mole removed from his left hand in front of a live studio audience by visiting cosmetic surgeon Arthur Perry.^[33][34]

Television[link]

• Saturday Night Live (1998–2004)
• Spin City (1998)
• Band of Brothers as 2nd Lt. George C. Rice in "Crossroads"(2001)
• 30 Rock (2009)
• Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (2009–present)
• The Electric Company (2009)
• Family Guy (2009)
• Saturday Night Live (December 17, 2011)
• Silent Library (2011)
• 30 Rock (2012) - Young Jack
• iCarly (2012) - As Himself

Filmography[link]

• Almost Famous (2000)
• The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch (2002)
• Anything Else (2003)
• The Entrepreneurs a.k.a. The $cheme (filmed in 1998, released in 2003)
• Taxi (2004)
• Fever Pitch (2005)
• The Magic Roundabout (2006) (voice)
• Arthur and the Invisibles (2006) (voice)
• Factory Girl (2006)
• The Year of Getting to Know Us (2008)
• Whip It (2009)
• Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• The Bathroom Wall (2002)
• Blow Your Pants Off (2012)

Singles[link]

• "Idiot Boyfriend" (2002)
• "Car Wash for Peace" (2008)
• "Drunk On Christmas (feat. John Rich)" (2010)

Further reading[link]

• Baldwin, Kristen (2002-05-10), "Update with Destiny". Entertainment Weekly. (653):26
• Thank You Notes (Jan 2012)

References[link]

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (May 2011)

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• Jimmy Fallon at the Internet Movie Database
• Food Bank For New York City public service announcement
• Jimmy Fallon with Popular Radio Personality Rich Stevens
• JimmyFallon.net – Bathroom Wall
• NBC's Official Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Site
• Interview of Jimmy Fallon for New Beacon Theatre Documentary

Boris Vian
Born	(1920-03-10)10 March 1920 Ville-d'Avray, Hauts-de-Seine, France
Died	23 June 1959(1959-06-23) (aged 39) Paris, France
Pen name	Vernon Sullivan, Bison Ravi, Baron Visi, Brisavion
Occupation	Novelist, playwright, journalist, engineer
Nationality	French
Notable work(s)	L'Écume des jours

Boris Vian (10 March 1920 – 23 June 1959) was a French polymath: writer, poet, musician, singer, translator, critic, actor, inventor and engineer. He is best remembered today for his novels. Those published under the pseudonym Vernon Sullivan were bizarre parodies of criminal fiction, highly controversial at the time of their release. Vian's other fiction, published under his real name, featured a highly individual writing style with numerous made-up words, subtle wordplay and surrealistic plots. L'Écume des jours (Froth on the Daydream) is the best known of these works, and one of the few translated into English.

Vian was also an important influence on the French jazz scene. He served as liaison for Hoagy Carmichael, Duke Ellington and Miles Davis in Paris, wrote for several French jazz-reviews (Le Jazz Hot, Paris Jazz) and published numerous articles dealing with jazz both in the United States and in France. His own music and songs enjoyed popularity during his lifetime, particularly the anti-war song "Le Déserteur" (The Deserter).

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Boris Vian was born in 1920 into an upper middle-class family in the wealthy Parisian suburb of Ville d'Avray (Hauts-de-Seine). His parents were Paul Vian, a young rentier and Yvonne Ramenez, amateur pianist and harpist. From his father Vian inherited the distrust of the Church and the Army, as well as a love of the bohemian life. Vian was the second of four children: the others were Lélio (1918), Alain (1921–1995) and Ninon (1924). The family occupied the Les Fauvettes villa. The name "Boris" does not indicate Russian ancestry; it was chosen by Yvonne, who was an avid classical music lover, after seeing a performance of Mussorgsky's opera Boris Godunov.^[1]

Vian suffered from ill health throughout his childhood and had to be educated at home until the age of five. From 1926 to 1932 he studied first at a small lycée, then at Lycée de Sèvres. After the Wall Street Crash of 1929 the family's financial situation worsened considerably and they moved to a small lodge near Les Fauvettes (from 1929 to 1932 the Vians rented the villa to Yehudi Menuhin's family). Shortly after Vian's 12th birthday he developed rheumatic fever and after a while he also contracted typhoid. This combination led to severe health problems and left Vian with a heart condition that would ultimately lead to an early death.

Formal education and teenage years[link]

From 1932 to 1937 Vian studied at Lycée Hoche in Versailles. In 1936 Vian and his two brothers started organizing what they called "surprise-parties" (surprises-parties). They partook of mescaline in the form of a Mexican cacti called peyote. These gatherings became the basis of his early novels: Trouble dans les andains(Turmoil in the Swaths) (1943) and particularly Vercoquin et le plancton(Vercoquin and the Plankton) (1943–44). It was also in 1936 that Vian got interested in jazz; the next year he started playing the trumpet and joined the Hot Club de France.

In 1937 Vian graduated from Lycée Hoche, passing baccalauréats in mathematics, philosophy, Latin, Greek and German. He subsequently enrolled at Lycée Condorcet, Paris, where he studied special mathematics until 1939. Vian became fully immersed in the French jazz scene: for example, in 1939 he helped organize Duke Ellington's second concert in France. When the WWII started, Vian was not accepted into the army due to poor health. He entered École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures in Paris and subsequently moved to Angoulême when the school moved there because of the war.

In 1940 Vian met Michelle Léglise, who became his wife in 1941. She taught Vian English and introduced him to translations of American literature. Also in 1940 Vian met Jacques Loustalot, who became a recurring character in several early novels and short stories. In 1942 Vian and his brothers joined a jazz orchestra under the direction of Claude Abbadie, who became a minor character in Vian's Vercoquin et le plancton. The same year Vian graduated from École Centrale with a diploma in metallurgy and also in 1942 Boris and Michelle's son Patrick was born.

Career[link]

After Vian's graduation, he and Michelle moved to Paris' 10th arrondissement and, on 24 August 1942 he became an engineer at the French Association for Standardisation (AFNOR). By this time he was an accomplished jazz trumpeter, and in 1943 he wrote his first novel, Trouble dans les andains (Turmoil in the Swaths). His literary career started in 1943 with his first publication, a poem, in the Hot Club de France bulletin. The poem was signed Bison Ravi ("A Delighted Bison"), an anagram of Vian's real name. The same year Vian's father died, murdered at home by burglars.

In 1944 Vian completed Vercoquin et le plancton(Vercoquin and the Plankton), a novel inspired partly by surprise-parties of his youth and partly by his job at the AFNOR (which is heavily satirized in the novel). Raymond Queneau and Jean Rostand helped Vian to publish this work at Éditions Gallimard in 1947, along with several works Vian completed in 1946. These included his first major novels, L'Écume des jours and L'automne à Pékin (Autumn in Peking). The former, a tragic love story in which real world objects respond to the characters' emotions, is now regarded as Vian's masterpiece, but at the time of its publication it failed to attract any considerable attention. L'automne à Pékin, which also had a love story at its heart but was somewhat more complex, also failed to sell well.

Frustrated by the commercial failure of his works, Vian vowed he could write a best-seller and wrote the hard-boiled novel I Spit on Your Graves (J'irai cracher sur vos tombes) in only 15 days. Vian wrote an introduction in which he claimed to be the translator of the American shooting star writer by the name Vernon Sullivan. Vian persuaded his friend Jean d'Halluin, a début publisher, to publish the novel in 1947. Eventually the hoax became known and the book became one of the best-selling titles of that year. Vian wrote three more Vernon Sullivan novels in 1947–49.

The year 1946 marked a turning point in Vian's life: At one of the popular parties that he and Michelle hosted he made acquaintance of Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and Albert Camus, became a regular in the inner literary cycles and started regularly publishing various materials in Les Temps Modernes. Vian admired Jean-Paul Sartre in particular and gave him a prominent role in "Froth on a Daydream". Ironically, Sartre and Michelle Vian commenced a relationship that would eventually destroy Vian's marriage.

Despite his literary work becoming more important, Vian never left the jazz scene. He became a regular contributor to various jazz-related magazines, and played trumpet at Le Tabou. As a result, his financial situation improved, and he abandoned the job at the AFNOR. Vian also formed his own choir, La petite chorale de Saint-Germain-des-Pieds [sic].^[2]

Later years[link]

The year 1948 saw the birth of Vian's daughter, Carole. He continued his literary career by writing Vernon Sullivan novels, and also published poetry collections: Barnum's Digest (1948) and Cantilènes en gelée (Cantelinas in Jelly) (1949). Vian also started writing plays, the first of which, L'Équarrissage pour tous (Slaughter for Everyone), was staged the year it was written, 1950. The same year saw publication of Vian's third major novel, L'Herbe rouge (The Red Grass). This was a much darker story than its predecessors, centering around a man who built a giant machine that could help him psychoanalyse his soul. Like the other two books, it did not sell well; Vian's financial situation had been steadily worsening since late 1948, and he was forced to take up translation of English-language literature and articles to get by. Vian separated from his wife, and in 1950 he met Ursula Kübler (1928-2010), a Swiss dancer; the two started an affair, and in 1951 Vian divorced Michelle. Ursula and Boris married in 1954.

Vian's last novel, L'Arrache-cœur (The Heart-extractor), was published in 1953, yet again to poor sales and Vian effectively stopped writing fiction (the only other work that appeared after 1953 was a revised version of L'automne à Pékin', published 1956). He concentrated on a new field, song-writing and performing, and continued writing poetry. Vian's songs were successful; in 1954 he embarked on his first tour as singer-songwriter. By 1955, when he was working as art director for Philips, Vian was active in a wide variety of fields, from song-writing to opera. He also wrote screenplays and several more plays. His first album, Chansons possibles et impossibles (Possible and Impossible Songs), was also recorded in 1955. He was also wrote the first French rock and roll songs with his friend Henri Salvador, who sang them under the nickname Henry Cording. He wrote "Java Pour Petula" (a song about an English girl arriving in France, written in Parisian argot) for Petula Clark's first concert performances in France.

Vian's life was endangered in 1956 by a pulmonary edema, but he survived and continued working with the same intensity as before. In 1957 Vian completed another play, Les Bâtisseurs d'empire (The Empire Builders) (only published and staged in 1959); in 1958 Vian worked on the opera Fiesta with Darius Milhaud, and a collection of essays, En avant la zizique... Et par ici les gros sous (On with the Muzak... And Bring in the Big Bucks), was published the same year.

Death[link]

On the morning of 23 June 1959, Boris Vian was at the Cinema Marbeuf for the screening of the film version of I Spit on Your Graves. He had already fought with the producers over their interpretation of his work, and he publicly denounced the film, stating that he wished to have his name removed from the credits. A few minutes after the film began, he reportedly blurted out: "These guys are supposed to be American? My ass!" He then collapsed into his seat and died from sudden cardiac death en route to the hospital.^[3]

Legacy[link]

During his lifetime, only the novels published under the name of Vernon Sullivan were successful. Those published in his real name, which had a real literary value in his eyes, remained a commercial failure, despite the support of famous authors of this time.^[4]

But, almost immediately after his death, L'Écume des jours, then L'automne à Pékin, L'Arrache-coeur, and L'Herbe rouge, started to get recognition in France. They finally made Boris Vian legend for the youth of the sixties and seventies.^[5]

Writing songs for artists of his time^[6] allowed Boris in 1954 to get out of the problems he had with the IRS by confessing, after the amnesty of 1947, he was the author of "I shall spit on your graves" (considered pornographic, which had incurred the wrath of justice in 1946, and was banned again in 1949, along with his play "L'Équarrissage pour tous" in 1950).^[7][8] However, when he decided to sing himself the songs which were rejected by the stars, he succeeded only in reaching a limited audience (among which Léo Ferré et Georges Brassens), the public remaining unconvinced by his talent for singing.^[9] Nevertheless the May 1968 in France generation, even more then the previous ones, loved his songs too, specially because of their impertinence.

As a song writer, Vian is also the source of the vocation of Serge Gainsbourg, who used to attend his show at the cabaret Les Trois Baudets, and wrote, thirty years after: I took it on the chin [...], he sang terrific things [...], it is because I heard him that I decided to try something interesting.^[10] As a critic, Boris Vian was the first to support Gainsbourg in Le Canard Enchaîné, in 1957.

Over the years Vian's work have become classics, often celebrated, and given to study in schools.^[11] Boris Vian is still today the emblematic figure of Saint Germain des Prés (as it refers to the postwar decade when this district was the Mecca of artistic and intellectual life of Paris) even more, probably, that Jean-Paul Sartre and Juliette Greco, while, contrary to legend, he did not create this movement.^[12][13]

Selected bibliography[link]

Prose[link]

Novels[link]

• Trouble dans les andains (Turmoil in the Swaths) (1942–43, published posthumously in 1966 by La Jeune Parque)
• Vercoquin et le plancton (Vercoquin and the Plankton) (1943–45, published 1947 by Éditions Gallimard)
• L'Écume des jours (Foam of the Days) (1946, published 1947 by Éditions Gallimard; translated variously as Froth on the Daydream, Mood Indigo and Foam of the Daze)
• L'automne à Pékin (Autumn in Peking) (1946, published 1947 by Éditions du Scorpion, revised version published in 1956; Autumn in Peking)
• L'Herbe rouge (The Red Grass) (1948–49, published 1950 by Éditions Toutain)
• L'Arrache-coeur (Heartsnatcher) (1947–1951, published 1953 by Éditions Vrille; Heartsnatcher)

Vernon Sullivan novels[link]

• J'irai cracher sur vos tombes (I Spit on Your Graves) (Éditions du Scorpion, 1946)
• Les morts ont tous la même peau (The Dead All Have the Same Skin) (Éditions du Scorpion, 1947)
• Et on tuera tous les affreux (To Hell With the Ugly) (Éditions du Scorpion, 1948)
• Elles se rendent pas compte (They Do Not Realize) (1948–50, published 1950 by Éditions du Scorpion)

Short story collections[link]

• Les Fourmis (The Ants) (1944–47, published 1949 by Éditions du Scorpion)
• Les Lurettes fourrées (Ages Fulfilled) (1948–49, published 1950 by Le Livre de Poche as an addendum to their edition of L'Herbe rouge)
• Le Ratichon baigneur (Toothy Bather) (1946–52, published posthumously in 1981 by Éditions Bourgois)
• Le Loup-garou (The Werewolf) (1945–53?, published posthumously in 1970 by Éditions Bourgois)

Dramatic works[link]

• L'Équarrissage pour tous (Squaring for All), play (1947, published 1950 by Éditions Toutain)
• Le Dernier des métiers (The Last of the Trades), play (1950, published 1965 by Éditions Pauvert)
• Tête de Méduse (Medusa's Head), comedy in one act (1951, published 1971 by U.G.E.)
• Série Blême (Pallid Series), tragedy in three acts (1952?, published 1971 by U.G.E.)
• Le Chasseur français (The French Hunter), vaudeville (1955, published 1971 by U.G.E.)
• Les Bâtisseurs d'Empire (The Empire Builders), (1957, published 1959 by Collège de 'Pataphysique)
• Le Goûter des généraux (The Snack of Generals), (1951, published 1962 by Collège de 'Pataphysique)

Poetry[link]

• Barnum's Digest (Barnum's Digest) (1948, a collection of 10 poems)
• Cantilènes en gelée (Cantelinas in Jelly) (1949)
• Je voudrais pas crever (I Would Like Not to Die) (posthumously published in 1962)

Translations[link]

• The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler as Le grand sommeil (1948)
• The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler as La dame du lac (1948)
• The World of Null-A by A. E. van Vogt, as Le Monde des Å (1958)

Other works[link]

• Manuel de St-Germain-des-Prés, originally commissioned to be a tourist guide to the St-Germain-des-Prés district (published 1950 by Éditions Toutain)

See also[link]

Poetry portal

• Existentialism
• Pataphysics
• Zazou
• Amour de poche (1957)

References[link]

• Biographie, in L'Arrache-cœur, LGF – Livre de Poche, 2006. ISBN 2-253-00662-9, ISBN 978-2-253-00662-6
• Geoffrey Dearson. Lexical Transfer in the novels of Boris Vian (Diss. University of Wales, UK), available online. This link is broken
• Philippe Boggio, Boris Vian, Le Livre de Poche-Hachette, Paris, 1995, 476 p. ISBN 978-2-253-13871-6
• Frédéric Richaud, Boris Vian, c'est joli de vivre, éditions du Chêne, Paris, 1999, 174 p. ISBN 978-2-84277-177-X
• Dictionnaire des auteurs, vol. 4, t. IV, by Antoine Berman, Laffont-Bompiani edition, Paris, 1990, 756 p ISBN 2-221-50175-6

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• (French) Boris Vian Official Web Site
• Biography at the Radio France International Website
• (French) Le Petit Cahier du Grand Boris Vian: Biography, Quotations, Articles, etc.
• Robert Whyte's Homepage, includes articles, dissertations and numerous other materials dealing with Vian's life and work
• Boris Vian page at the Tam Tam Books website, includes brief descriptions of several books
• Le Déserteur, a page about one of Vian's most popular songs
• Boris Vian at the Internet Movie Database
• (French) Boris Vian, J'irai chanter sur vos tombes site-conférence du Hall de la Chanson
• Vian in the Croatian language
• (French) Songs and poems by Boris Vian (public domain in Canada)

Suzy Delair (born 31 December 1917) is a French actress and singer. She's one of the most famous movie stars of the french cinema and one of the latest movie legends.

Born in Paris, Delair acted in films directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, Jean Dréville, Jean Grémillon, Marcel L'Herbier, Christian-Jaque, Marcel Carné, Luchino Visconti, René Clément and Gérard Oury.

For several years,^[vague] Delair was the companion of French film director Henri-Georges Clouzot.

Filmography[link]

• Un caprice de la Pompadour (Willy Wolff et Joë Hamman, 1930)
• Violettes impériales (Henri Roussell), 1932)
• La Dame de chez Maxim's (Alexander Korda), 1932)
• L'Or dans la rue (K. Bernhardt), 1934)... Madeleine
• The Depression Is Over (Robert Siodmak, 1934)
• Dédé (Abel Gance), 1935)... Poliche
• Prends la route (Jean Boyer), 1936)
• Trois Six Neuf (Raymond Rouleau, 1937)
• The Last One of the Six (Georges Lacombe, 1941)... Mila Malou
• The Murderer Lives at Number 21 (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1942)... Mila Malou
• Défense d'aimer (Richard Pottier, 1942)... Totte
• La Vie de Bohème (Marcel L'Herbier, 1945)... Phémie/Femia
• Quay of the Goldsmiths (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1947)... Jenny Lamour.
• Confessions of a Rogue (Jean Dréville, 1947)... Coraline
• Par la fenêtre (Gilles Grangier, 1948)... Fernande
• White Paws (Jean Grémillon, 1949)... Odette
• Lady Paname (Henri Jeanson, 1949)... Raymonde Bosset, dite Caprice
• I'm in the Revue (Mario Soldati, 1950)... La Chanteuse
• Lost Souvenirs (Christian-Jaque, 1950)... Suzy Henebey (episode "Une couronne mortuaire")
• Utopia (Léo Joannon, 1951)... Chérie Lamour
• Fly in the Ointment (Guy Lefranc, 1955)... Lucette Gauthier
• Fernandel the Dressmaker (Jean Boyer, 1956)... Adrienne Vignard
• Gervaise (René Clément, 1956)... Virginie
• Rocco e i suoi fratelli ("Rocco and his Brothers", Luchino Visconti, 1960)... Luisa.
• The Regattas of San Francisco (Claude Autant-Lara, 1960)... Lucilla.
• Du Mouron pour les petits oiseaux ("Chicken Feed for Little Birds", Marcel Carné, 1962).
• Is Paris Burning? (René Clément, 1966)... A Parisienne.
• The Mad Adventures of "Rabbi" Jacob (Gérard Oury, 1973)... Germaine Pivert.
• Forget Me, Mandoline (1976)... Mireille

External links[link]

• Suzy Delair at the Internet Movie Database
• Suzy Delair at AllRovi
• Suzy Delair at AlloCiné (French)