Christy Cabanne (April 16, 1888 – October 15, 1950), born William Christy Cabanne, was an American film director, screenwriter and silent film actor. Christy Cabanne was, along with Sam Newfield and William Beaudine, one of the most prolific directors in the history of American film.

Cabanne (pronounced "CAB-a-nay") graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, and spent several years in the Navy, leaving the service in 1908. He decided on a career in the theater, and became a director as well as an actor. Although acting was his main profession, when he finally broke into the film industry it was chiefly as a director after appearing in over 40 short films between 1911 and 1914. He signed on with the Fine Arts Co., then was employed as an assistant to D.W. Griffith. Miriam Cooper credited him with discovering her as an extra in 1912.

Being a published author, he was hired by Metro Pictures to write a serial. After that he formed his own production company, but was shut down only a few years later. He then became a director for hire, mainly of low- to medium-budget films for such studios as FBO, Associated Exhibitors, Tiffany and Pathe, although he worked at MGM on a few occasions in the mid- to late 1920s on films such as The Midshipman (1925).

Virginia Bruce (September 29, 1910 – February 24, 1982) was an American actress and singer.

Born Helen Virginia Briggs in Minneapolis, Minnesota, she went with her family to Los Angeles intending to enroll in the University of California when a friendly wager sent her seeking film work. She got it as an extra in Why Bring That Up?. She was also in the Ziegfeld Follies. In 1930 she appeared on Broadway in the musical Smiles, followed by America's Sweetheart in 1931.

Bruce returned to Hollywood in 1932, where she married John Gilbert, her co-star in the film Downstairs. She retired briefly after the birth of their daughter Susan Ann Gilbert. The couple divorced in 1934, and Virginia returned to a hectic schedule of film appearances. Gilbert died in 1936. That same year, Bruce introduced the Cole Porter standard "I've Got You Under My Skin" in the film Born to Dance and costarred in the MGM musical The Great Ziegfeld. One of her final film appearances was in the 1960s Strangers When We Meet. Her final film appearance was in Madame Wang's in 1981.

Colin Clive (20 January 1900, Saint-Malo, Ille-et-Vilaine – 25 June 1937) was an English stage and screen actor best remembered for his portrayal of Dr. Frankenstein in James Whale's two Universal Frankenstein films Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein.

Clive was born in Saint-Malo, France, to an English colonel, and he attended Stonyhurst College and subsequently Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, where an injured knee disqualified him from military service and contributed to his becoming a stage actor. On stage, one of his roles was Steve Baker, the white husband of racially mixed Julie LaVerne, in the first London production of Show Boat. This production also featured Sir Cedric Hardwicke and Paul Robeson.

Clive first worked with James Whale in the Savoy Theatre production of Journey's End and subsequently joined the British community in Hollywood in the 1930s, repeating his stage role in the 1930 film version of Journey's End, which was directed by Whale.

Although Colin Clive made only three horror films, Whale's two Frankenstein films and Mad Love (1935), he is widely regarded as one of the essential stars of the genre by many film buffs. His portrayal of mad Dr. Frankenstein has proved inspiration and a launching pad for scores of other mad scientist performances in films over the years.

Beryl Mercer (13 August 1882 – 28 July 1939) was a Spanish-born American-based actress of the 1920s and 1930s.

Born to British parents in Seville, Beryl Mercer was best-known for her motherly roles in film and regularly appeared as a grandmother or cook or maid in some high profile films. She appeared in more than fifty films between 1916 and 1939 but her career was at a peak in the early- to mid-1930s when she regularly starred in between five and ten films a year.^{[citation needed]}

In 1933 Mercer appeared in Cavalcade, as a cook, and the following year made appearances in Jane Eyre, The Little Minister, and The Richest Girl in the World. In 1939, she appeared in The Little Princess as Queen Victoria.

Mercer died in Santa Monica, California in 1939, aged 56, following surgery for an undisclosed ailment.

"The Man" is a slang phrase that may refer to the government or to some other authority in a position of power. In addition to this derogatory connotation, it may also serve as a term of respect and praise.

The phrase "the Man is keeping me down" is commonly used to describe oppression. The phrase "stick it to the Man" encourages resistance to authority, and essentially means "fight back" or "resist", either openly or via sabotage.

The earliest recorded use^{[citation needed]} of the term "the Man" in the American sense dates back to a letter written by a young Alexander Hamilton in September 1772, when he was 15. In a letter to his father James Hamilton, published in the Royal Dutch-American Gazette, he described the response of the Dutch governor of St. Croix to a hurricane that raked that island on August 31, 1772. "Our General has issued several very salutary and humane regulations and both in his publick and private measures, has shewn himself the Man." ^{[dubious – discuss]} In the Southern U.S. states, the phrase came to be applied to any man or any group in a position of authority, or to authority in the abstract. From about the 1950s the phrase was also an underworld code word for police, the warden of a prison or other law enforcement or penal authorities.