VOA慢速英语-THIS IS AMERICA - If You Love Lucy and the Three Sto

A guided tour of celebrity¹ museums in the U.S., including the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center and the Stoogeum. Transcript² of radio broadcast:
01 June 2008

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. This week on our program, we tell you about some celebrity museums.

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VOICE ONE:

Some museums present the best of high culture. These are not the museums we are going to talk about today. We are going to explore places where people can learn about the lives of famous entertainers from the past.

We start with a museum that is not even very easy to find. It opened in two thousand four in a building behind an office park and a food store near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Welcome to the Stoogeum. It honors the old comedy team the Three Stooges.

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VOICE TWO:

Over the years there were more than three Stooges, but the best remembered team was Larry, Moe and Curly³. The Three Stooges were popular in movies during the nineteen thirties and forties. They were on television in the fifties and sixties.
　

The Stoogeum is the headquarters of the Three Stooges Fan Club, with 2,000 members worldwide

They were known especially for their physical comedy -- things like hitting each other over the head while caught in some bad situation.

Fans can relive the group's history at the Stoogeum. About fifty thousand photographs and articles written about the Three Stooges are on display. The museum also has about twenty thousand other objects in its collection.

The Stoogeum is a public display of the personal collection of Gary Lassin. He began collecting items about the Three Stooges more than twenty-five years ago. That was after he met his future wife, Robin⁴.

Gary Lassin always liked the Three Stooges. But his interest grew after he learned that Robin's grandfather was the brother of Larry Fine -- the Larry in Larry and Moe.

VOICE ONE:
　

Emil Sitka, second from left, is shown in an undated studio photo with the Three Stooges, from left, Shemp Howard, Larry Fine and Moe Howard

The Three Stooges got their start in the stage entertainment of the nineteen twenties known as vaudeville⁵. The museum collection follows them from there through TV appearances in the nineteen seventies.

The collection include games, comic strips, comic book covers, theater posters, costumes, show scripts and an art gallery. The gallery has a room-size painting along with drawings of the Stooges made by famous artists. And the museum has an eighty-five seat theater that continually plays Three Stooges films.

People who want to visit the Stoogeum must make an appointment. Gary Lassin has a full time job, at a mail-order company. But there is no charge to see the collection. He just wants to share it with others.

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VOICE TWO:

A museum in Branson, Missouri, honors Roy Rogers and his wife, Dale Evans. They entertained people for more than a half a century. Roy Rogers was called the King of the Cowboys. He sang and acted in cowboy movies beginning in the nineteen thirties. He and Dale later had their own television show.

The museum includes western hats, boots and saddles; family photographs; letters and recordings⁶; and items from their movies and TV shows.

A statue of Roy Rogers' horse, Trigger⁷, stands outside the museum. Inside the museum are mountings of Trigger; Dale Evans’ horse, Buttermilk; and their dog, a German shepherd named Bullet. These animals were among the most famous ever to appear in Hollywood movies.

The museum also has a cowboy-western show presented by Roy Rogers Junior. He talks about growing up with Roy and Dale. He also performs songs that his parents sang -- like the one at the end of their TV show in the nineteen fifties. Here are Roy Rogers and Dale Evans with "Happy Trails."

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VOICE ONE:
　

Visitors at the Lucy-Desi Museum in Jamestown, New York

Another museum, this one in New York State, honors two other entertainers who were married to each other: Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center is in Jamestown, New York, where she was born.

Lucy and Desi are best known for their weekly television series "I Love Lucy" in the nineteen fifties. It was a situation comedy.

Plots often went like this: Lucy would get into some kind of trouble, often as a result of some attempt to break into show business. Her nightclub-entertainer husband, the Cuban-born Ricky (played by Desi) would get mad at her. Fred and Ethel, their friends who owned the building where they all lived, would get involved. And somehow there was always a funny ending.

The show has remained popular in repeats all these years. The museum says "I Love Lucy" has never been off the air in the United States since it was first broadcast in nineteen fifty-one. The show has appeared in twenty-two languages in more than seventy countries around the world.

Here is Desi Arnaz singing the words to the familiar theme song.

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VOICE TWO:

The Lucy-Desi museum opened in nineteen ninety-six. It tells about the lives of the famous Hollywood couple. Included are stories told by some of Lucy's childhood friends in Jamestown.

Also part of the center is the Desilu Playhouse. Desilu was the name of their production company. The playhouse has clothing from the show as well as some of the sets used in the filming. These include the couple's New York apartment and the California hotel rooms where Lucy had some of her adventures.

Groups visiting the museum can hold parties on the set of the Tropicana nightclub where Ricky worked in the show. One of the songs he performed was "Babalu."

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VOICE ONE:

The city of Indiana, Pennsylvania, is home to a museum that honors a local resident who became a famous actor. James Maitland Stewart, better known as Jimmy Stewart, was born and raised in the community. His father's hardware store had been in the family since the eighteen fifties.

Jimmy Stewart appeared on stage and television, but he is best remembered for his work in the movies. He won an Academy Award for best actor in "The Philadelphia Story." He also appeared in seventy-nine other films -- funny ones, sad ones, dramatic ones and musical ones. He even sang in the movie "Born To Dance." The song is called "Easy To Love."

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VOICE TWO:

The Jimmy Stewart Museum is on the third floor of the Indiana Free Public Library. The library is across the street from the building that once was the hardware store owned by the Stewart family. A bronze statue of Jimmy Stewart is nearby, in front of the courthouse.

The museum tells the story of his life in relation to history and the development of the communications and entertainment industries. There is a lot to tell. The actor was also a fighter pilot during World War Two, and later rose to the rank of major general in the Air Force.

The museum displays some of the awards he received going as far back as when he was a Boy Scout⁸. The museum says Jimmy Stewart's life was an example of good character and citizenship⁹. Many of his movies celebrated¹⁰ loyalty¹¹ and love of family, values he learned as a child growing up in western Pennsylvania.

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VOICE ONE:

Opening a celebrity museum can be risky¹² from a business position.

In two thousand four, a man named David Loehr opened the James Dean¹³ Museum in the state of Indiana. He established it in Fairmount, the community where the actor grew up.

James Dean was a movie star in the nineteen fifties. He was killed in a car crash in nineteen fifty-five at the age of twenty-four. He appeared in only three films --"East of Eden," "Rebel Without a Cause" and "Giant." Yet his fame has lived on all these years.

But not enough people came to see the museum. So David Loehr first moved it out of Fairmount, then finally closed it in two thousand six.

Still, the Fairmount Historical Museum has a James Dean collection, including his motorcycle.


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VOICE TWO:

Our program was written by Nancy Steinbach and produced by Caty Weaver¹⁴. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

1 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 curly   

adj.卷曲的，卷缩的

参考例句：

• The little boy has curly hair.这小男孩长着一头卷发。
• She is tall and dark with curly hair.她高高的个子，黑皮肤，卷头发。

4 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

5 vaudeville   

n.歌舞杂耍表演

参考例句：

• The standard length of a vaudeville act was 12 minutes.一个杂耍节目的标准长度是12分钟。
• The mayor talk like a vaudeville comedian in his public address.在公共演讲中，这位市长讲起话来像个歌舞杂耍演员。

6 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

7 trigger   

n.触发器，板机，制滑机；v.触发（事件）

参考例句：

• His index finger tightened on the trigger but then relaxed again.他的食指扣住扳机，然后又松开了。
• He pulled the trigger but the gun didn't go off.他打了一枪，没有发火。

8 scout   

n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索

参考例句：

• He was mistaken for an enemy scout and badly wounded.他被误认为是敌人的侦察兵，受了重伤。
• The scout made a stealthy approach to the enemy position.侦察兵偷偷地靠近敌军阵地。

9 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

10 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

11 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。

12 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

13 Dean   

n.(大学)院长，系主任，教务长

参考例句：

• The students much like the new dean.学生们很喜欢这位新系主任。
• Who is the dean of the Foreign Languages Department?外语系主任是谁？

14 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。