Mata Hari

Margaretha Geertruida "Margreet" MacLeod (née Zelle; 7 August 1876 – 15 October 1917), better known by the stage name Mata Hari, was a Dutch Frisian exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy and executed by firing squad in France under charges of espionage for Germany during World War I.

Early life

Margaretha Zelle was born in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. She was the eldest of four children of Adam Zelle (2 October 1840 – 13 March 1910) and his first wife Antje van der Meulen (21 April 1842 – 9 May 1891). She had three brothers. Her father owned a hat shop, made successful investments in the oil industry, and became affluent enough to give Margaretha a lavish early childhood that included exclusive schools until the age of 13.

Soon after Margaretha's father went bankrupt in 1889, her parents divorced, and then her mother died in 1891. Her father remarried in Amsterdam on 9 February 1893 to Susanna Catharina ten Hoove (11 March 1844 – 1 December 1913), by whom he had no children. The family fell apart, and Margaretha moved to live with her godfather, Mr. Visser, in Sneek. In Leiden, she studied to be a kindergarten teacher, but when the headmaster began to flirt with her conspicuously, she was removed from the institution by her offended godfather. A few months later, she fled to her uncle's home in The Hague.

Mata Hari (pinball)

Mata Hari is a pinball machine created by Bally Manufacturing in 1977 and released in 1978. The theme of the game is based on Dutch exotic dancer, Mata Hari. It was mainly produced in solid state electronic but also 170 electro-mechanical versions were released. It was the last model manufactured by Bally in two such versions. Approximately 20 sample games were produced with a plastic playfield, instead of the traditional wooden playfield.

Description

The design noticeably consists of mainly dark, red and gold color artwork and a prominent image of a dagger running up the middle. A dagger is also depicted on the backglass in the hand of Mata Hari. One version is blank and one shows an inscription with the motto of the Waffen SS "Meine Ehre heißt Treue" (German, "My honor is loyalty"). Mata Hari died during World War I therefore the inscription is an anachronism. Contrary to a popular belief, the version with inscription is not more rare than the one without. There were about equal numbers of both versions of backglasses made.

Mata Hari (song)

"Mata Hari" was the Norwegian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1976, performed in English by Anne-Karine Strøm.

The song is an up-tempo number, in which Strøm sings about the difficulties she faces in life. The cure for these, she sings, is to borrow some of the mystique of Mata Hari, to whom she addresses the song. The sexual exploits of the famous woman are implied to have been considerable.

The song was performed ninth on the night, following the Netherlands' Sandra Reemer with "The Party's Over" and preceding Greece's Mariza Koch with "Panayia Mu, Panayia Mu". At the close of voting, it had received 7 points, placing 18th (last) in a field of 18.

Strøm had represented Norway at Eurovision twice before, once in 1973 as part of vocal group The Bendik Singers and again as a solo performer in the 1974 Contest.

As of 2012, Strøm still holds the record as the only artist in the history of Eurovision to have finished in last place twice. The first time came in 1974 with the song "The First Day of Love".

Hari Mata Hari

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Hari Mata Hari is a popular music band from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Hari Mata Hari is the stage name for the singer Hajrudin "Hari" Varešanović. The group originated from the city of Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The group has performed over 1,000 concerts and sold 5,000,000 albums to date. Their songs are among the most famous and popular love ballads in the former Yugoslavia era. Hari Mata Hari was the representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 held in Athens, Greece.

The Group

The band, Hari Mata Hari, has constantly changed its members. Today, the group is composed of Hajrudin VareÅ¡anović (vocal), Izudin Izo KoleÄ?ić (percussion), Karlo Martinović (solo guitar, background vocal), and Željko Zuber (bass guitar, background vocal). Most of the Hari Mata Hari's songs are arranged by Hajrudin VareÅ¡anović. The lyrics are primarily written by Fahrudin Pecikoza - also known as Peco.

Mata Hari (musical)

Mata Hari is a musical with a book by Jerome Coopersmith, lyrics by Martin Charnin and music by Edward Thomas. The exotic dancer Mata Hari was accused of spying for the Germans during World War I and was executed by a French firing squad, but her guilt is still being debated. The musical is centered around her affair with a French intelligence officer who plays a major role in her arrest and execution and later regrets it. A parallel sequence of events follows a young French soldier who fights in the trenches, illustrating what war is really about. The musical was perceived as an anti-war piece at a time when the US war in Vietnam was sinking in popularity.

The show's premiere production was directed by Vincente Minnelli and produced in 1967 by David Merrick at National Theatre in Washington, DC. The production lost at least $500,000, and Merrick decided not to bring the show to Broadway. In 1968, after Merrick withdrew his support of the musical, the authors brought a more modest version of it to New York's off-Broadway Theatre DeLys (now the Lucille Lortel Theater) under the title "Ballad For a Firing Squad". In 1996, York Theatre in New York revived the 1968 version under the original title Mata Hari. A cast recording of that production was released in 2001.

Mata Hari (disambiguation)

Mata Hari (Malay: sun, literally: "eye of the day") was an exotic dancer executed for espionage during World War I.

Mata Hari or Matahari may also refer to:

Mata Hari (1931 film)

Mata Hari is a 1931 American Pre-Code film loosely based on the life of Mata Hari, an exotic dancer/courtesan executed for espionage during World War I. The film stars Greta Garbo in the title role. The film is credited with popularizing the legend of Mata Hari.

Plot

In 1917, France is embroiled in World War I. Dubois (C. Henry Gordon), head of the French spy bureau, offers to spare the life of a captured agent (an uncredited Mischa Auer) if he will reveal who he is protecting. Dubois suspects it is Mata Hari, a celebrated, wildly popular exotic dancer, but the prisoner chooses execution by firing squad.

Lieutenant Alexis Rosanoff (Ramon Novarro) of the Imperial Russian Air Force lands in Paris after a dangerous flight over enemy territory, bringing important dispatches from Russia. He persuades his superior, General Serge Shubin (Lionel Barrymore), to take him to see Mata Hari perform that night. Rosanoff is instantly smitten by her (as are most of the men of Paris). By youthful exuberance and good looks, he persuades her to spend the night with him. However, the next morning, she makes it clear to him that it was a one-time dalliance.