Maya Rudolph

Maya Khabira Rudolph (born July 27, 1972) is an American actress and comedian. She rose to prominence on the NBC television show Saturday Night Live, where she was a cast member from 2000 to 2007. She has also starred in films such as Idiocracy (2006), Away We Go (2009), Grown Ups (2010), Bridesmaids (2011), Grown Ups 2 (2013), and Sisters (2015). She starred as Ava Alexander in the NBC sitcom Up All Night from 2011 to 2013. Rudolph's self-titled variety show television pilot aired on May 19, 2014. It was later announced that she would star in variety series Maya and Marty in Manhattan together with Martin Short.

Early life

Rudolph was born in Gainesville, Florida. She is the daughter of soul singer-songwriter Minnie Riperton and composer, songwriter, and producer Richard Rudolph. Her father is an Ashkenazi Jew, and her mother was African-American. Her paternal grandfather was Sidney Rudolph, a philanthropist who once owned all of the Wendy's and Rudy's restaurants in Dade County, Florida. Her great-grandfather, who was born in Vilnius, Lithuania, changed his surname from "Rudashevsky" to "Rudolph," and was one of the founding members of Congregation Beth Shalom, a Conservative Jewish synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live (abbreviated as SNL) is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title NBC's Saturday Night. The show's comedy sketches, which parody contemporary culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest (who usually delivers an opening monologue and performs in sketches with the cast) and features performances by a musical guest. An episode normally begins with a cold open sketch that ends with someone breaking character and proclaiming, "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!", properly beginning the show.

In 1980, Michaels left the series to explore other opportunities. He was replaced by Jean Doumanian, who was replaced by Ebersol after a season of bad reviews. Ebersol ran the show until 1985, when Michaels returned; Michaels has remained since then. Many of SNL's cast found national stardom while appearing on the show, and achieved success in film and television, both in front of and behind the camera. Others associated with the show, such as writers, have gone on to successful careers creating, writing, or starring in TV and film.

Saturday Night Live (season 14)

The fourteenth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between October 8, 1988, and May 20, 1989.

Before the start of the season, no changes were made to the cast. Al Franken, having rejoined the show as a writer and occasional on-screen performer three years ago, was once again credited as a featured cast member. As the season progressed, Lorne Michaels would hire two new people to the cast: Mike Myers and Ben Stiller, who joined the show midseason as featured players. Stiller had actually appeared on the show before; his film made it onto the show in the episode hosted by Charlton Heston in 1987. This was the only season of the show for Stiller. After being on the show for five episodes, Stiller left due to creative differences with Michaels.

This season notably saw the second death of an original cast member, Gilda Radner, who died on the day of the season finale from ovarian cancer. In memory of Radner, Steve Martin showed a clip from the famous "Dancing in the Dark" sketch from the 1978 episode hosted by Martin in lieu of his planned monologue.

Saturday Night Live (season 12)

The twelfth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between October 11, 1986, and May 23, 1987.

History

Many of season 11's cast members were fired, except for Nora Dunn, Jon Lovitz, featured player A. Whitney Brown, and Weekend Update anchor Dennis Miller. Al Franken was rehired as a writer. The rest were relative unknowns, led by Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Victoria Jackson, and Kevin Nealon. Hartman helped write sketches in season 11's Thanksgiving episode hosted by Pee-wee Herman, and appeared in a sketch as a Pilgrim.

The first show of the 1986–87 season opened with Madonna, host of the previous season opener, reading a "statement" from NBC about season 11's mediocre writing and bad cast choices. According to the "statement", the entire 1985–86 season was "...all a dream. A horrible, horrible dream."

The season included "Masterbrain", a skit written by Jim Downey and Al Franken, in which Phil Hartman portrayed two sides of Ronald Reagan; 25 years later Todd Purdum called the skit "surely among the show’s Top 10 of all time."

Jingle bell

A jingle bell or sleigh bell is a type of bell which produces a distinctive 'jingle' sound, especially in large numbers. They find use in many areas as a percussion instrument, including the classic sleigh bell sound and morris dancing. They are typically used as a cheaper alternative to small 'classic' bells.

The simplest jingle bells are produced from a single piece of sheet metal bent into a roughly spherical shape to contain a small ball bearing or short piece of metal rod. This method of production results in the classic two- or four-leaved shape. Two halves may also be crimped together, resulting in a ridge around the middle. A glass marble may also be used as the ringer on larger bells.

History

Bells of this type were developed centuries ago for fastening to harnesses used with horses or teams of horses. Typically they were used for horse-drawn vehicles, such as carriages and sleighs. The bell was designed to make sound whenever the horse and thus the vehicle was in motion. The purpose was perhaps to herald the approach of someone important, or likely to warn pedestrians of the vehicle's approach so that they might step aside to avoid collisions and potential injuries. This was especially important for sleighs, which otherwise make almost no sound as they travel over packed snow, and are difficult to stop quickly.

Sleigh Bells

Sleight Bells may refer to:

See also

Sleigh Bells (film)

Sleigh Bells is an American animated short film featuring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. It was directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, and released in 1927 by The Walt Disney Studio. The film was thought to be lost until a print was discovered in the BFI National Archives in 2015.

Plot

The film has Oswald the Lucky Rabbit playing in an ice hockey game with surreal plot points. With a "winter wonderland backdrop", Oswald takes off his ear to form a balloon plus a laughing donkey, who gets the puck in the mouth which sticks.

History

The short was animated by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks and was released in 1928. The found footage of film was dated 1931 at a Soho film laboratory. That lab went out of business with its film being sent to the BFI archives in 1981. A lost Disney titles researcher searched through the BFI archive catalog and found its listing. The short was returned to Disney and has since been restored by the Walt Disney Animation Studios. On December 12, 2015, Sleigh Bells was featured in It’s a Disney Christmas: Seasonal Shorts program at BFI Southbank.