William Farnum

William Farnum (July 4, 1876 – June 5, 1953) was an American film actor.

Biography

One of three brothers, Farnum grew up in a family of actors. He made his acting debut at the age of ten in Richmond, Virginia in a production of Julius Caesar, with Edwin Booth playing the title character.

His first major success was as the title character of Ben-Hur in 1900 though replacing the original actor Edward Morgan who premiered the character in 1899. Later plays Farnum appeared in were the costume epic The Prince of India (1906), The White Sister (1909) starring Viola Allen, The Littlest Rebel (1911) co-starring his brother Dustin and a child actress named Mary Miles Minter (then nine years old) and Arizona (1913) with Dustin and stage beauty Elsie Ferguson. In The Spoilers in 1914, Farnum and Tom Santschi staged a classic movie fight which lasted for a full reel. In 1930, Farnum and Santschi coached Gary Cooper and William Boyd in the fight scene for the 1930 version of The Spoilers. Other actors influenced by the Farnum/Santschi scene were Milton Sills and Noah Beery in 1922 and Randolph Scott and John Wayne in 1942.

Treasure Island

Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "buccaneers and buried gold". It was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881 and 1882 under the title Treasure Island, or the mutiny of the Hispaniola, credited to the pseudonym "Captain George North". It was first published as a book on 14 November 1883 by Cassell & Co.

Treasure Island is traditionally considered a coming-of-age story, and is noted for its atmosphere, characters, and action. It is also noted as a wry commentary on the ambiguity of morality—as seen in Long John Silver—unusual for children's literature. It is one of the most frequently dramatized of all novels. Its influence is enormous on popular perceptions of pirates, including such elements as treasure maps marked with an "X", schooners, the Black Spot, tropical islands, and one-legged seamen bearing parrots on their shoulders.

Plot summary

An old sailor, calling himself "the captain"—real name "Billy" Bones—comes to lodge at the Admiral Benbow Inn on the west English coast during the mid-1700s, paying the innkeeper's son, Jim Hawkins, a few pennies to keep a lookout for a one-legged "seafaring man." A seaman with intact legs shows up, frightening Billy—who drinks far too much rum—into a stroke, and Billy tells Jim that his former shipmates covet the contents of his sea chest. After a visit from yet another man, Billy has another stroke and dies; Jim and his mother (his father has also died just a few days before) unlock the sea chest, finding some money, a journal, and a map. The local physician, Dr. Livesey, deduces that the map is of an island where a deceased pirate—Captain Flint—buried a vast treasure. The district squire, Trelawney, proposes buying a ship and going after the treasure, taking Livesey as ship's doctor and Jim as cabin boy.

Treasure Island (1987 film)

Treasure Island is an animated cartoon for television produced in 1987 by Burbank Films Australia. It is an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1883 novel Treasure Island.

Treasure Island (show)

Treasure Island is a popular reality television game show produced in New Zealand by Eyeworks Touchdown as well as in Ireland and Australia. In the show, contestants are isolated on a remote Fijian island (early shows were filmed in Tonga) and compete for a cash prize (of NZ$50,000, about US$40,000). "Treasure Island" is based on the successful Swedish show Expedition: Robinson and precedes the American reality show Survivor.

Elimination

Celebrity Treasure Island: Season 1

Celebrity Treasure Island: Season 2

Season 3 Cast (Any Order)

End of the game

Concept history

The Secret of Treasure Island

The Secret of Treasure Island (1938) is a Columbia movie serial based on Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Treasure Island. The serial is broken into fifteen chapters. Reporter Larry Kent travels to an island in the Caribbean to investigate the disappearance of his colleague, and discovers that the island contains a lost treasure trove of gold. Kent meets Toni Morrell, the daughter of a shipmate whose partner knew the location of the treasure, who helps him in his investigation and they search for the treasure together. During their investigation they are opposed by a villain named Collins and Dr. X., who attempts to kill Kent. Kent defeats Dr. X. in the final installment of the serial.

The story was written by L. Ron Hubbard, at the time a writer of pulp fiction who went on to found the controversial religion Scientology. Associate producer Louis Weiss hired Elmer Clifton to direct, and Yakima Canutt worked on the action sequences. The serial was well received by fans, and William C. Cline wrote positively of the action sequences in his book In the Nick of Time: Motion Picture Sound Serials. The serial received a one and a half star rating from Allmovie.