- published: 30 Dec 2015
- views: 1
Selmer Jackson (May 7, 1888 – March 30, 1971) was an American film actor. He appeared in nearly 400 films between 1921 and 1963. He was born in Lake Mills, Iowa and died in Burbank, California from a heart attack.
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Often referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His contribution to music, dance, and fashion, along with a much-publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971.
In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. The music videos for his songs, including those of "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller", were credited with transforming the medium into an art form and a promotional tool, and the popularity of these videos helped to bring the relatively new television channel MTV to fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made him a staple on MTV in the 1990s. Through stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style influenced numerous hip hop, post-disco, contemporary R&B, pop and rock artists.
Robert "Bobby" Jordan (April 1, 1923 – September 10, 1965) was an American actor, born in Harrison, New York, most notable for being a member of the Dead End Kids, the East Side Kids and the Bowery Boys.
Bobby Jordan was a talented toddler and by the time he was six years old, he could sing, tap dance and play the saxophone. At the age of four, he was working in an early film version of A Christmas Carol.
His mother took him to talent shows in and around Harrison, New York. He also modeled for newspaper and magazine advertisements, and appeared in short films and radio programs. In the late 1920s, his family moved to the upper west side of Manhattan. In 1929, he was cast as Charles Hildebrand in the 1929 Broadway play, Street Scene.
Though he was the youngest, Jordan was the first of the boys who made up the Dead End Kids to work in films, with a role in a 1933 Universal short. In 1935, he became one of the original Dead End Kids by winning the role of Angel in Sydney Kingsley's Broadway drama Dead End, about life in the slums of the east side New York City. The play was performed at the Belasco Theatre, and ran for three years with over 600 performances. He appeared for the first season and the beginning of the second, but left in mid-November 1936. He returned in time to join the others in 1937 in Hollywood to make the movie version of the play, starring big names such as Humphrey Bogart, Joel McCrea, Sylvia Sidney and Claire Trevor.