Arthur Terence Galt MacDermot (born December 18, 1928) is a Canadian composer, pianist and writer of musical theatre. He won a Grammy Award for the song "African Waltz" in 1960. His most successful musicals have been Hair (1967; its cast album also won a Grammy) and Two Gentlemen of Verona (1971). MacDermot has also written music for film soundtracks, jazz and funk albums, and classical music, and his music has been sampled in hit hip-hop songs and albums.
MacDermot was born in Montreal, Quebec, the son of a Canadian diplomat. He was educated at Upper Canada College and Bishop's University (Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada). He received a Bachelor of Music from Cape Town University, South Africa and made a study of African music his specialty. He also studied the piano privately with Neil Chotem.
MacDermot won his first Grammy Award for the Cannonball Adderley recording of his song "African Waltz" (the title track of the album of the same name) in 1960. He moved to New York City in 1964 where, three years later, he wrote the music for the hit musical Hair, which he later adapted for the 1979 film. Its Broadway cast album won a Grammy Award in 1969. His next musicals were Isabel's a Jezebel (1970) and Who the Murderer Was (1970), which featured British progressive rock band Curved Air. MacDermot had another hit with the musical Two Gentlemen of Verona (1971), which won the Tony Award for Best Musical. For that show, MacDermot was nominated for a Tony for best music and won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music. His later musicals, however, including Dude and Via Galactica (both 1973) and The Human Comedy (1984), have not been successful on Broadway.
The Climax is a horror film produced by Universal Pictures, first released in the United States in 1944. The credits state this is based on the play of the same name by Edward Locke, but the plot has little connection to Locke's play.
Originally intended to be a sequel to Universal's Phantom of the Opera, it featured new characters and a new plot. Susanna Foster was the only member of the cast to star in the new film.
The physician at the Vienna Royal Theatre, Dr. Hohner (Karloff) murders his fiancee, a prima donna, out of obsession and jealousy. Ten years later, he hears another young singer (Foster) who reminds him of the late diva, and is determined to make her sing only for him, even if it means silencing her forever.
The Climax is a 1930 American thriller film directed by Renaud Hoffman and written by Lillian Ducey, Julien Josephson, Edward Locke, Leslie Mason and Clarence Thompson. The film stars Jean Hersholt, Kathryn Crawford, LeRoy Mason, John Reinhardt and Henry Armetta. The film was released on January 26, 1930, by Universal Pictures.
The Climax is an 1893 illustration by Aubrey Beardsley (1872–1898), a leading artist of the Aesthetic movement during the 1890s. It depicts a scene from Oscar Wilde's play Salome, in which the femme fatale Salome has just kissed the decapitated head of John the Baptist, which she grasps in her hands. Elements of eroticism, symbolism, and Orientalism are present in the piece. This illustration is one of sixteen Wilde commissioned Beardsley to create for the publication of the play. The series is considered to be Beardsley's most celebrated work, created at the age of 21.
Beardsley was born in Brighton, England, in August 1872. His career was short-lived, as he died from tuberculosis at the age of 25. Nonetheless, he was the most influential artist of the 1890s, leading the Aesthetic and Decadent movements. These movements centered on the idea of L'art pour l'art (art for art’s sake). Proponents held a strong fascination with sex and a fear of its power, as well as an interest in the perverse and degenerate aspects of a society that at the time highly valued respectability. Beardsley became a well-known public figure after his works were featured in the artistic journal, The Studio. Beardsley’s earlier version of The Climax, J’ai baisé ta bouche Iokanaan, was featured in the journal, and this caught the attention of writer Oscar Wilde, another leader of the Aesthetic movement. Oscar Wilde then commissioned Beardsley to illustrate his play Salome.
We starve-look
At one another
Short of breath
Walking proudly in our winter coats
Wearing smells from laboratories
Facing a dying nation
Of moving paper fantasy
Listening for the new told lies
With supreme visions of lonely tunes
Somewhere
Inside something there is a rush of
Greatness
Who knows what stands in front of
Our lives
I fashion my future on films in space
Silence
Tells me secretly
Everything
Everything
Manchester England England
Manchester England England
(Eyes look your last)
Across the Atlantic Sea
(Arms take your last embrace)
And I'm a genius genius
(And lips oh you the
Doors of breath)
I believe in God
(Seal with a righteous kiss)
And I believe that God believes in Claude
(Seal with a righteous kiss )
That's me, that's me, that's me
(The rest is silence
The rest is silence
The rest is silence)
We starve-look
At one another
Short of breath
Walking proudly in our winter coats
Wearing smells from laboratories
Facing a dying nation
Of moving paper fantasy
Listening for the new told lies
With supreme visions of lonely tunes
Singing
Our space songs on a spider web sitar
Life is around you and in you
Answer for Timothy Leary, dearie
Let the sunshine
Let the sunshine in
The sunshine in
Let the sunshine
Let the sunshine in
The sunshine in
Let the sunshine
Let the sunshine in