名人轶事:Movie Pioneers

By Cynthia Kirk

Broadcast: November 21, 2004

(THEME)

VOICE ONE:

I'm Sarah Long.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember with People in America in VOA Special English. Today we

tell about three people who helped make Hollywood the center of the movie

industry.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

When you hear the name Hollywood, you probably think of excitement, lights,

cameras and movie stars. Famous actors are not the only important people in

the entertainment business. Directors and producers are important, too.

Today, Hollywood is full of producers and directors. However, very few are as

famous and successful as Hollywood's first motion picture businessmen, Cecil

B. DeMille, Samuel Goldwyn and Louis Mayer.

((("There's No Business Like Show Business", CDP-8244)))

VOICE TWO:

Cecil B. Demille

Cecil Blount DeMille was born in Ashfield, Massachusetts in Eighteen-Eighty-

One. Both his parents were writers of plays. His father died when he was

twelve years old. His mother kept the family together by establishing a

theater company. Cecil joined the company as an actor. He continued working

in his mother's theater company as an actor and a manager until Nineteen-

Thirteen. That year, he joined Jesse L. Lasky and Samuel Goldfish to form the

Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company. Goldfish later changed his name to

Samuel Goldwyn.

VOICE ONE:

The three men started making motion pictures immediately. They loved working

in the movie business. They were deeply interested in its creative and

financial possibilities. DeMille, Lasky and Goldfish began working on a movie

version of the popular American western play, "Squaw Man." DeMille urged that

the movie be made in the real American West. He chose Flagstaff, Arizona.

DeMille and the company traveled to Flagstaff by train. When they arrived,

DeMille thought the area looked too modern. They got back on the train and

keep going until they reached the end of the line. They were in a quiet

little town in southern California. The town was called Hollywood. DeMille

decided² this was the perfect place to film the movie.

"Squaw Man" was one of the first full-length movies produced in Hollywood. It

was released in Nineteen-Thirteen and was an immediate¹ success. DeMille is

considered the man who helped Hollywood become the center of the motion

picture business. He quickly became a creative force in the new movie

industry. His success continued with "Brewster's Millions," "The Call of the

North" and "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine."

VOICE TWO:

Cecil B. DeMille was among the very few filmmakers in Hollywood whose name

appeared above the title of his movie. His name was more important to movie-

goers than the names of the stars in the movie. DeMille's movies were known

to be big productions. He combined a lot of action, realistic storytelling

and hundreds of actors to make some of Hollywood's best movies. He made many

kinds of movies including westerns, comedies, romances⁴ and ones dealing⁵ with

moral issues

DeMille gained a great deal of fame with the kind of movie known as an epic⁶.

An epic tells a story of events that are important in history. DeMille's epic

movies were based on the settling of the American West, Roman history or

stories from the Bible. His first version of the historic⁷ film "The Ten

Commandments" was a huge success among silent films in Nineteen-Twenty-Three.

In Nineteen-Fifty-Six, he released a new version of "The Ten Commandments" to

include sound. It is broadcast still on American television during the

Christian⁸ observance of Easter.

VOICE ONE:

Cecil B. DeMille produced and directed seventy movies. In Nineteen-Forty-Nine

he received a special Academy Award for "thirty-seven years of brilliant

showmanship." He died of heart failure in Nineteen-Fifty-Nine.

One of DeMille's last films was "The Greatest Show on Earth." It won the

Academy Award for best picture in Nineteen-Fifty-Two. It was about people who

performed in the circus. Some people say it was a fitting⁹ subject because

Cecil B. DeMille often was called the greatest showman in Hollywood.

(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:

In Eighteen-Ninety-Five, a thirteen-year-old boy from Warsaw, Poland found

his way to the United States. Samuel Goldfish was alone. He had no money. He

found work as a glove maker³. He continued working in the glove-making

industry until he was almost thirty years old.

VOICE TWO(cont):

Samuel Goldwyn

1 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

4 romances   

n.浪漫史( romance的名词复数 )；爱情小说；恋爱；传奇色彩

参考例句：

• The Arabian Nights and Treasure lsland are romances. 《一千零一夜》和《金银岛》都是传奇故事。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Most teenage romances are transitory. 绝大多数青少年的恋情都转瞬即逝。 来自辞典例句

5 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

6 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

7 historic   

adj.历史上著名的，具有历史意义的

参考例句：

• This is a historic occasion.这是具有重大历史意义的时刻。
• We are living in a great historic era.我们正处在一个伟大的历史时代。

8 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

9 fitting   

n.[pl.]设备，家具，配件，试穿；adj.适合的

参考例句：

• I'm going to a fitting tomorrow.明天我要去试穿新衣。
• The President's address was a fitting end to a bitter campaign.总统的讲话为一场激烈的竞选运动适时画上了句号。

10 metro   

n.地铁；adj.大都市的；(METRO)麦德隆(财富500强公司之一总部所在地德国，主要经营零售)

参考例句：

• Can you reach the park by metro?你可以乘地铁到达那个公园吗？
• The metro flood gate system is a disaster prevention equipment.地铁防淹门系统是一种防灾设备。

11 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

12 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

13 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

14 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

15 supervising   

v.监督，管理( supervise的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She had something to do in the house, supervising that native. 她待在家里，究竟还有点儿事情可以做做，可以监视那个土人。 来自辞典例句
• In addition, nuisance law fails to provide a systematic mechanism for supervising emissions. 另外，妨害法不能提供一个监督排放的系统性机制。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法