- published: 23 Jul 2015
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Minna is a city (estimated population 304,113 in 2007) in west central Nigeria. It's the capital of Niger State, one of Nigeria's 36 federal states, and is the headquarters of Chanchaga Local Government Area.
Archaeological evidence suggests settlement in the area dates back to about 47,000-37,000 years ago. Muslim culture filtered into Minna by way of the ancient Saharan trade routes and the city contains many mosques and Muslim organizations. Minna is the home of Nigeria's former military President Gen. Ibrahim B. Babangida, and of former Head of State Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar. Dr. Mu`azu Aliyu Babangida resides in Minna as the present governor of Niger State. He served a term of four years (2007-2011), and is currently serving another term of four years (2011-2015), obviuosly his last term as the political system does not allow elected governor to serve more than two terms.
Cotton, guinea corn, and ginger are the main agricultural products of the city. The economy also supports cattle trading, brewing, shea nut processing and gold mining. Traditional industries and crafts in Minna include leather work, metalworking, and cloth weaving.
Minna Gombell (May 28, 1892 – April 14, 1973) was an American film actress of the 1930s and 1940s.
She had a very successful stage career (calling herself Winifred Lee) from 1912 before being signed by the 20th Century Fox film company in the late 1920s. Her first film was Doctor's Wives (1931) in which she played under the name of "Nancy Gardner", a name given to her by Fox. After this she spent a time coaching several young actresses before returning to film under her real name.
She appeared in 50 Hollywood films including; Laurel and Hardy's Block-Heads, The Merry Widow, The First Year, Boom Town, High Sierra, Hoop-La, The Thin Man, and The Best Years of Our Lives.
Her third husband was the film writer, producer and director Myron Coureval Fagan.
Laurel and Hardy were one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comedy double acts of the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema. Composed of thin Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and fat American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957), they became well known during the late 1920s to the mid-1940s for their slapstick comedy, with Laurel playing the clumsy and childlike friend of the pompous Hardy. They made over 100 films together, initially two-reelers (short films) before expanding into feature length films in the 1930s. Their films include Sons of the Desert (1933), the Academy Award winning short film The Music Box (1932), Babes in Toyland (1934), and Way Out West (1937). Hardy's catchphrase "Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!" is still widely recognized.
Prior to the double act both were established actors with Laurel appearing in over 50 films and Hardy in over 250 films. Although the two comedians first worked together on the film The Lucky Dog (1921), this was a chance pairing and it was not until 1926, when both separately signed contracts with the Hal Roach film studio, that they began appearing in movie shorts together. Laurel and Hardy officially became a team the following year in the silent short film Putting Pants on Philip (1927). The pair remained with the Roach studio until 1940, then appeared in eight "B" comedies for 20th Century Fox and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1941 to 1945. After finishing their movie commitments at the end of 1944, they concentrated on stage shows, embarking on a music hall tour of England, Ireland, and Scotland. In 1950 they made their last film, a French/Italian co-production called Atoll K, before retiring from the screen. In total they appeared together in 107 films. They starred in 40 short sound films, 32 short silent films and 23 full-length feature films, and made 12 guest or cameo appearances, including the recently discovered Galaxy of Stars promotional film (1936).