Misplaced Pages

#52947

132-665: Billy Wilder ( / ˈ w aɪ l d ər / ; German: [ˈvɪldɐ] ; born Samuel Wilder ; June 22, 1906 – March 27, 2002) was an American filmmaker and screenwriter. He was born in Sucha Beskidzka , Poland, a town in Austria-Hungary at the time of his birth. His career in Hollywood spanned five decades, and he is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Classic Hollywood cinema . He received seven Academy Awards (among 21 nominations),

264-795: A BAFTA Award , the Cannes Film Festival 's Palme d'Or and two Golden Globe Awards . Wilder became a screenwriter while living in Berlin. The rise of the Nazi Party and antisemitism in Germany saw him move to Paris. He then moved to Hollywood in 1934, and had a major hit when he, Charles Brackett and Walter Reisch wrote the screenplay for the Academy Award -nominated film Ninotchka (1939). Wilder established his directorial reputation and received his first nomination for

396-718: A concert hall to be constructed within the Library of Congress building and an honorarium established for the Music Division to pay live performers for concerts. A number of chairs and consultantships were established from the donations, the most well-known of which is the Poet Laureate Consultant . The library's expansion eventually filled the library's Main Building, although it used shelving expansions in 1910 and 1927. The library needed to expand into

528-541: A roundhouse was built in the 1880s. Until 1964, the town was called Sucha. The adjective Beskidzka, added in that year, refers to the Beskidy Mountains . In the late Middle Ages , the area of Sucha Beskidzka belonged to Duchy of Oświęcim . In the early years of the 15th century, Prince Jan III of Oświęcim initiated a program of settlement of the sparsely populated forested areas in the Beskids . In 1405,

660-618: A tourist centre for the Beskidy Mountains (part of the Carpathians ). Here several tourist trails begin, which lead into the mountains. First trail was marked in 1906. In the town there are fine examples of old architecture: a Renaissance castle (16th century), named Little Wawel after the royal palace in Kraków (now it serves as a hotel with a restaurant), a church with a cloister (17th century) and an old wooden inn , called Rzym (literally meaning " Rome "; 18th century). In

792-508: A tragic heroine in film melodramas ), and was popularly and critically acclaimed. With the byline "Garbo Laughs!", it also took Garbo's career in a new direction. The film marked Wilder's first Academy Award nomination, which he shared with co-writer Charles Brackett (although their collaboration on Bluebeard's Eighth Wife and Midnight had been well received). Wilder co-wrote many of his films with Brackett from 1938 to 1950. Brackett described their collaboration process: "The thing to do

924-1140: A "democracy alcove" in the Main Reading Room of the Jefferson Building for essential documents such as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and The Federalist Papers . The Library of Congress assisted during the war effort, ranging from storage of the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution in Fort Knox for safekeeping to researching weather data on the Himalayas for Air Force pilots. MacLeish resigned in 1944 when appointed as Assistant Secretary of State. President Harry Truman appointed Luther H. Evans as Librarian of Congress. Evans, who served until 1953, expanded

1056-540: A "rambunctious kid"; inspired by Buffalo Bill's Wild West Shows , which she saw while living briefly in New York, she nicknamed him "Billie", which he changed to "Billy" upon moving to America. Wilder's elder brother, W. Lee Wilder , was also a filmmaker. His parents had a successful cake shop in Sucha's train station that flourished into a chain of railroad cafes. Eugenia and Max Wilder did not persuade their son to join

1188-403: A $ 5,000 appropriation for the Library of Congress, noting the need to improve its collections in "Law, Politics, Commerce, History, and Geography," which were crucial for Congress. On December 24, 1851, the largest fire in the library's history destroyed 35,000 books, two-thirds of the library's collection, and two-thirds of Jefferson's original transfer. Congress appropriated $ 168,700 to replace

1320-406: A central cross-dressing theme. Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis played musicians disguised as women to escape pursuit by a Chicago gang. Curtis's character courts a singer (Monroe), while Lemmon is wooed by Joe E. Brown  – setting up the film's final joke in which Lemmon reveals that his character is a man and Brown blandly replies "Well, nobody's perfect". A box office success, the film

1452-453: A legislative and national library. Asked by Joint Library Committee chairman Senator Claiborne Pell (D-RI) to assess operations and make recommendations, Douglas Bryant of Harvard University Library proposed several institutional reforms. These included expanding national activities and services and various organizational changes, all of which would emphasize the library's federal role rather than its legislative role. Bryant suggested changing

SECTION 10

#1732772241053

1584-526: A man named Strzala was allowed to found a settlement, which later took on the name Sucha. Most likely, the Strzala family remained owners of the settlement until the late 15th century, when Sucha was transferred into the hands of the Słupski family. In 1554, Stanisław Słupski sold the village to an Italian-born goldsmith from Kraków , Gaspare Castiglione, who changed his name to Kasper Suski. Castiglione initiated

1716-546: A more general one. He organized his books based on Francis Bacon 's organization of knowledge , grouping them into Memory, Reason, and Imagination with 44 subdivisions. The library used this scheme until the late 19th century when librarian Herbert Putnam introduced the Library of Congress Classification , now applying to over 138 million items. A February 24, 1824, report from the Committee of Ways and Means recommended

1848-430: A national library and a legislative resource. He was aided by expansion of the federal government after the war and a favorable political climate. He began comprehensively collecting Americana and American literature , led the construction of a new building to house the library, and transformed the librarian of Congress position into one of strength and independence. Between 1865 and 1870, Congress appropriated funds for

1980-595: A new structure. Congress acquired nearby land in 1928 and approved construction of the Annex Building (later known as the John Adams Building ) in 1930. Although delayed during the Depression years, it was completed in 1938 and opened to the public in 1939. After Putnam retired in 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed poet and writer Archibald MacLeish as his successor. Occupying

2112-509: A northwards connection with Kraków was added in 1884, after which Sucha became an important rail junction. In 1896 Austrian authorities finally granted town charter to Sucha. In 1895 – 1907, a new church was built, and in 1910, new building of Bank Spółdzielczy. In the Second Polish Republic , Sucha belonged to Kraków Voivodeship , and was part of Żywiec County (later the town was transferred to Wadowice County). In 1922–1939,

2244-497: A permanent display), on the global celebration commemorating the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta , and on early American printing, featuring the Rubenstein Bay Psalm Book . Onsite access to the Library of Congress has been increased. Billington gained an underground connection between the new U.S. Capitol Visitors Center and the library in 2008 in order to increase both congressional usage and public tours of

2376-422: A place in the Library of Congress, stating: I do not know that it contains any branch of science which Congress would wish to exclude from their collection; there is, in fact, no subject to which a Member of Congress may not have occasion to refer. Jefferson's library was a working collection for a scholar, not for display. It doubled the size of the original library, transforming it from a specialist's library to

2508-476: A reclusive silent film actress ( Gloria Swanson ), who dreams of a comeback with delusions of her greatness from a bygone era. She accompanies an aspiring screenwriter ( William Holden ), who becomes her gigolo partner. This critically acclaimed film was the final film Wilder collaborated with Brackett. The film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards; together Wilder and Brackett won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay . In 1951, Wilder directed Ace in

2640-676: A record until 1997 when Woody Allen received a 13th nomination for Deconstructing Harry . In 2017, Vulture.com named Wilder the greatest screenwriter of all time. He directed fourteen actors in Oscar-nominated performances. Wilder's epitaph, a paraphrase of the last line of Some Like It Hot , is "I'm a writer but then nobody's perfect." Wilder received twenty-one nominations at the Academy Awards , winning six. In total, he received twelve nominations for his screenwriting, eight for his direction, and one for producing. He won both

2772-467: A residence. Furthermore, Sucha was a center of early industry, with glass works, watermill, brewery, and iron works. Due to several royal privileges, Sucha emerged as a local trade center; the village prospered under Anna Konstancja Wielopolska, who owned it in 1693 – 1726. The area of Sucha was one of centers of the Bar Confederation , and in 1772 (see Partitions of Poland ), the village, with

SECTION 20

#1732772241053

2904-446: A restricted scope for the Library of Congress reflected those shared by members of Congress. While Meehan was a librarian, he supported and perpetuated the notion that "the congressional library should play a limited role on the national scene and that its collections, by and large, should emphasize American materials of obvious use to the U.S. Congress." In 1859, Congress transferred the library's public document distribution activities to

3036-749: A small congressional library was housed in the Capitol. Much of the original collection was lost in the August 1814 Burning of Washington by the British during the War of 1812 . Congress accepted former president Thomas Jefferson 's offer to sell his entire personal collection of 6,487 books to restore the library. The collection grew slowly and suffered another major fire in 1851, which destroyed two-thirds of Jefferson's original books. The Library of Congress faced space shortages, understaffing, and lack of funding, until

3168-473: A vote by show of hands. Only John Huston and Wilder opposed. Huston said, "I am sure it was one of the bravest things that Billy, as a naturalized German, had ever done. There were 150 to 200 directors at this meeting, and here Billy and I sat alone with our hands raised in protest against the loyalty oath." Wilder was not affected by the Hollywood blacklist. Of the blacklisted ' Hollywood Ten ' he said, "Of

3300-529: Is Wilder's casting of Fred MacMurray in Double Indemnity and The Apartment . MacMurray had become Hollywood's highest-paid actor portraying a decent, thoughtful character in light comedies, melodramas, and musicals; Wilder cast him as a womanizing schemer. Humphrey Bogart shed his tough-guy image to give one of his warmest performances in Sabrina . James Cagney , not usually known for comedy,

3432-489: Is a fast-paced, high-pitched, hard-hitting, lighthearted farce crammed with topical gags and spiced with satirical overtones. Story is so furiously quick-witted that some of its wit gets snarled and smothered in overlap." It was followed by the romantic comedy Irma la Douce (1963) starring Lemmon and MacLaine. The film was the fifth highest-grossing film of the year. Wilder received a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for his screenplay. Wilder then wrote and directed

3564-594: The Academy Award for Best Director and the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for both The Lost Weekend (1945) and The Apartment (1960). The former was awarded the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film at the Cannes Film Festival , and the latter also won him the BAFTA Award for Best Film . Wilder garnered eight Directors Guild of America Award nominations, with the sole win for his work on The Apartment . He received seven nominations at

3696-494: The Academy Award for Best Director with the film noir Double Indemnity (1944), based on the novel by James M. Cain with a screenplay by Wilder and Raymond Chandler . Wilder won the Best Director and Best Screenplay Academy Awards for The Lost Weekend (1945), which also won the Academy Award for Best Picture . In the 1950s, Wilder directed and co-wrote a string of critically acclaimed films, including

3828-735: The American Film Institute (AFI) Life Achievement Award in 1986. He received the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1988, the Kennedy Center Honors in 1990 and the National Medal of Arts in 1993. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . Wilder became well known for owning one of the finest and most extensive art collections in Hollywood, mainly collecting modern art. As he described it in

3960-593: The American Library Association testified that the library should continue its expansion to become a true national library. Based on the hearings, Congress authorized a budget that allowed the library to more than double its staff, from 42 to 108 persons. Senators Justin Morrill of Vermont and Daniel W. Voorhees of Indiana were particularly helpful in gaining this support. The library also established new administrative units for all aspects of

4092-705: The Congressional Research Service . After Mumford retired in 1974, President Gerald Ford appointed historian Daniel J. Boorstin as a librarian. Boorstin's first challenge was to manage the relocation of some sections to the new Madison Building, which took place between 1980 and 1982. With this accomplished, Boorstin focused on other areas of library administration, such as acquisitions and collections. Taking advantage of steady budgetary growth, from $ 116 million in 1975 to over $ 250 million by 1987, Boorstin enhanced institutional and staff ties with scholars, authors, publishers, cultural leaders, and

Billy Wilder - Misplaced Pages Continue

4224-724: The Department of the Interior and its international book exchange program to the Department of State . During the 1850s, Smithsonian Institution librarian Charles Coffin Jewett aggressively tried to develop the Smithsonian as the United States national library. His efforts were rejected by Smithsonian secretary Joseph Henry , who advocated a focus on scientific research and publication. To reinforce his intentions for

4356-685: The Golden Globe Awards , winning Best Director for The Lost Weekend and Sunset Boulevard (1950). He won seven Writers Guild of America Awards including two Laurel Awards for Screenwriting Achievement . He garnered a number of lifetime achievement awards including the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award , the BAFTA Fellowship , the David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures , and

4488-693: The Gutenberg Bible . Putnam established the Legislative Reference Service (LRS) in 1914 as a separative administrative unit of the library. Based on the Progressive era 's philosophy of science to be used to solve problems, and modeled after successful research branches of state legislatures, the LRS would provide informed answers to Congressional research inquiries on almost any topic. Congress passed in 1925 an act allowing

4620-490: The Holocaust . For decades it was assumed that it happened at Auschwitz Concentration Camp , but while researching Polish and Israeli archives, his Austrian biographer Andreas Hutter discovered in 2011 that they were murdered in different locations: his mother, Eugenia "Gitla" Siedlisker, in 1943 at Plaszow ; his stepfather, Bernard "Berl" Siedlisker, in 1942 at Belzec ; and his grandmother, Balbina Baldinger, died in 1943 in

4752-458: The Holocaust . He praised Steven Spielberg's adaptation, Schindler's List . To those who denied the Holocaust , Wilder wrote in a German newspaper, "If the concentration camps and the gas chambers were all imaginary, then please tell me—where is my mother?" Wilder's directorial choices reflected his belief in the primacy of writing. He avoided, especially in the second half of his career,

4884-648: The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). He co-created the Committee for the First Amendment , of 500 Hollywood personalities and stars to "support those professionals called upon to testify before the HUAC who had classified themselves as hostile with regard to the interrogations and the interrogators". Some anti-Communists wanted those in the cinema industry to take oaths of allegiance. The Screen Directors Guild had

5016-537: The John Adams Building (opened in 1939) and the James Madison Memorial Building (opened in 1980), were later added. The LOC's primary mission is to inform legislation, which it carries out through the Congressional Research Service . The library is open to the public for research, although only members of Congress, their staff, and library employees may borrow materials for use outside the library. James Madison of Virginia proposed

5148-900: The Kennedy Center Honors in 1990, the National Medal of Arts in 1993 and the BAFTA Fellowship Award in 1995. He also received the Directors Guild of America 's Lifetime Achievement Award, the Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement and the Producers Guild of America 's Lifetime Achievement Award. Seven of his films are preserved in the United States National Film Registry of the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant". Samuel Wilder ( Yiddish : שמואל װילדער Shmuel Vilder )

5280-518: The Marx Brothers , he leads the list of films on the American Film Institute 's AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs and he earned the top spot on it with Some Like It Hot . Also on the list are The Apartment and The Seven Year Itch , which he directed, and Ball of Fire and Ninotchka , which he co-wrote. The AFI listed Double Indemnity , Sunset Boulevard , Some Like It Hot and The Apartment on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies . Wilder

5412-651: The National Film Registry , a collection of American films, for which the Library of Congress accepts nominations each year. There also exists a National Recording Registry administered by the National Recording Preservation Board that serves a similar purpose for music and sound recordings. The library has made some of these available on the Internet for free streaming and additionally has provided brief essays on

Billy Wilder - Misplaced Pages Continue

5544-687: The Palme d'Or , and four Academy Awards including for Best Picture . Wilder earned the Oscars for Best Director and Best Screenplay and Milland won Best Actor . The film remained to be one of the three films, winning both the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d' Or, alongside Marty and Parasite . In 1950, Wilder co-wrote and directed the cynical noir comedy film Sunset Boulevard . It follows

5676-406: The film noir Double Indemnity , starring Fred MacMurray , Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson , was a major hit. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Director, Screenplay and Actress; Wilder co-wrote it with Raymond Chandler . The film not only set conventions for the noir genre (such as "venetian blind" lighting and voice-over narration), but is a landmark in

5808-471: The interlibrary loan service, transforming the Library of Congress into what he referred to as a "library of last resort". Putnam also expanded library access to "scientific investigators and duly qualified individuals", and began publishing primary sources for the benefit of scholars. During Putnam's tenure, the library broadened the diversity of its acquisitions. In 1903, Putnam persuaded President Theodore Roosevelt to use an executive order to transfer

5940-473: The librarian of Congress and establishing a Joint Committee on the Library to oversee it. The law also extended borrowing privileges to the president and vice president. In August 1814, British forces occupied Washington and, in retaliation for American acts in Canada, burned several government buildings, including the Library of Congress. Most of its 3,000 volumes were destroyed. These volumes were held in

6072-520: The librarian of Congress , and its buildings are maintained by the architect of the Capitol . The LOC is one of the largest libraries in the world , containing approximately 173 million items and employing over 3,000 staff. Its collections are "universal, not limited by subject, format, or national boundary, and include research materials from all parts of the world and in more than 470 languages". When Congress moved to Washington in November 1800,

6204-399: The 1897 reorganization upon moving into its new home, the Library of Congress began to grow and develop more rapidly. Librarian Spofford's successor John Russell Young overhauled the library's bureaucracy, used his connections as a former diplomat to acquire more materials from around the world, and established the library's first assistance programs for the blind and physically disabled, with

6336-665: The 1930 film People on Sunday . Eschewing the German Expressionist styles of F. W. Murnau and Fritz Lang , People on Sunday was considered as a groundbreaking example of the Neue Sachlichkeit or New Objectivity movement in German cinema. Furthermore, this genre of Strassenfilm ("street film") paved way to the birth of Italian neorealism and the French New Wave . He wrote the screenplay for

6468-903: The 1931 film adaptation of a novel by Erich Kästner , Emil and the Detectives , also screenplays for the comedy The Man in Search of His Murderer (1931), the operetta Her Grace Commands (1931) and the comedy A Blonde Dream (1932), all of them produced in the Babelsberg Studios in Potsdam near Berlin. In 1932 Wilder collaborated with the writer and journalist Felix Salten on the screenplay for "Scampolo". After Adolf Hitler's rise to power , Wilder went to Paris, where he made his directorial debut film Mauvaise Graine (1934). He relocated to Hollywood prior to its release. Wilder's mother, grandmother and stepfather were all victims of

6600-414: The 43rd best movie ever made, and the second-highest-ranking comedy. In 1960, Wilder directed the comedy romance film The Apartment . It follows an insurance clerk (Lemmon), who allows his coworkers to use his apartment to conduct extramarital affairs until he meets an elevator woman ( Shirley MacLaine ). The film was a critical success with The New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther , who called

6732-586: The American Civil War increased the importance of legislative research to meet the demands of a growing federal government. In 1870, the library gained the right to receive two copies of every copyrightable work printed in the United States; it also built its collections through acquisitions and donations. Between 1890 and 1897, a new library building, now the Thomas Jefferson Building , was constructed. Two additional buildings,

SECTION 50

#1732772241053

6864-430: The Best Actor Academy Award, romantic comedy Sabrina , for which Audrey Hepburn was nominated for Best Actress, and romantic comedy The Seven Year Itch , which features the iconic image of Marilyn Monroe standing on a subway grate as her white dress is blown upwards by a passing train. Wilder was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for the first two films and shared a nomination for Best Screenplay for

6996-440: The Capitol building . Hayden clarified two days later that rioters did not breach any of the Library's buildings or collections and all staff members were safely evacuated. On February 14, 2023, the Library announced that the Lilly Endowment gifted $ 2.5 million, five-year grant to "launch programs that foster greater understanding of religious cultures in Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East". The Library plans to leverage

7128-440: The Castle due to its Norman architectural style, was severely damaged by fire. This incident presented Henry with an opportunity related to the Smithsonian's non-scientific library. Around this time, the Library of Congress was planning to build and relocate to the new Thomas Jefferson Building , designed to be fireproof. Authorized by an act of Congress, Henry transferred the Smithsonian's non-scientific library of 40,000 volumes to

7260-465: The Egyptian queen wrapped à la Christo , or splattered à la Jackson Pollock , or sporting a Campbell's soup can in homage to Andy Warhol . Wilder married Judith Coppicus on December 22, 1936. The couple had twins, Victoria and Vincent (born 1939), but Vincent died shortly after birth. They divorced in 1946. Wilder met Audrey Young while filming The Lost Weekend . They were married on June 30, 1949. Wilder died of pneumonia on March 27, 2002. He

7392-433: The Hole (a.k.a. The Big Carnival ) starring Kirk Douglas in a tale of media exploitation of a caving accident. The idea had been pitched over the phone to Wilder's secretary by Victor Desny . Desny sued Wilder for breach of an implied contract in the California copyright case Wilder v Desny , ultimately receiving a settlement of $ 14,350. Although a critical and commercial failure at the time, its reputation has grown over

7524-501: The Hollywood drama Sunset Boulevard (1950), for which he won his second screenplay Academy Award; Ace in the Hole (1951), Stalag 17 (1953) and Sabrina (1954). Wilder directed and co-wrote three films in 1957: The Spirit of St. Louis , Love in the Afternoon and Witness for the Prosecution . During this period, Wilder also directed Marilyn Monroe in two films, The Seven Year Itch (1955) and Some Like It Hot (1959). In 1960, Wilder co-wrote, directed and produced

7656-493: The Honorary Golden Bear from the Berlin International Film Festival . Sucha Beskidzka Sucha Beskidzka lies in a basin, between the hills of the Beskids (Beskid Makowski and Beskid Maly), on the Skawa river. In 2002, Sucha had the area of 27,46 km ., with forests occupying 44%. The town is a rail junction, located along two lines – the 97th from Skawina to Żywiec , and the 98th from Sucha Beskidzka to Chabowka . The rail station PKP Sucha Beskidzka, together with

7788-415: The Jefferson Building were enlarged and technologically enhanced to serve as a national exhibition venue. It has hosted more than 100 exhibitions. These included exhibits on the Vatican Library and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France , several on the Civil War and Lincoln, on African-American culture, on Religion and the founding of the American Republic, the Early Americas (the Kislak Collection became

7920-431: The Library Collections Security Oversight Committee in 1992 to improve protection of the collections, and also the Library of Congress Congressional Caucus in 2008 to draw attention to the library's curators and collections. He created the library's first Young Readers Center in the Jefferson Building in 2009, and the first large-scale summer intern (Junior Fellows) program for university students in 1991. Under Billington,

8052-427: The Library of Congress as "one of the last refuges in Washington of serious bipartisanship and calm, considered conversation", and "one of the world's greatest cultural centers". Carla Hayden was sworn in as the 14th librarian of Congress on September 14, 2016, the first woman and the first African American to hold the position. In 2017, the library announced the Librarian-in-Residence program, which aims to support

SECTION 60

#1732772241053

8184-444: The Library of Congress in 1866. President Abraham Lincoln appointed John G. Stephenson as librarian of Congress in 1861; the appointment is regarded as the most political to date. Stephenson was a physician and spent equal time serving as librarian and as a physician in the Union Army . He could manage this division of interest because he hired Ainsworth Rand Spofford as his assistant. Despite his new job, Stephenson focused on

8316-402: The Library of Congress is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States . It is housed in three buildings on Capitol Hill , adjacent to the United States Capitol , along with the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Virginia , and additional storage facilities at Fort George G. Meade and Cabin Branch in Maryland. The library's functions are overseen by

8448-426: The Library of Congress to establish a trust fund board to accept donations and endowments, giving the library a role as a patron of the arts . The library received donations and endowments by such prominent wealthy individuals as John D. Rockefeller , James B. Wilbur, and Archer M. Huntington . Gertrude Clarke Whittall donated five Stradivarius violins to the library. Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge 's donations paid for

8580-429: The Prosecution , Elsa Lanchester in Witness for the Prosecution , Jack Lemmon in Some Like It Hot and The Apartment , Jack Kruschen in The Apartment , Shirley MacLaine in The Apartment and Irma la Douce and Walter Matthau in The Fortune Cookie . Wilder mentored Lemmon, and was the first director to pair him and Matthau in The Fortune Cookie . Wilder and Lemmon worked on seven films. Wilder opposed

8712-431: The Prosecution , featuring Tyrone Power , Marlene Dietrich and Charles Laughton . Wilder received an Academy Award nomination for Best Director for the last film. In 1959, Wilder reunited with Monroe in the United Artists released Prohibition-era farce film Some Like It Hot . It was released, however, without a Production Code seal of approval, which was withheld due to the film's unabashed sexual comedy, including

8844-405: The Senate wing of the Capitol; one surviving volume was a government account book from 1810. This volume was taken by British commander George Cockburn as a souvenir and returned to the U.S. by his family in 1940. Within a month, Jefferson offered to sell his large personal library as a replacement. He had reconstituted his own collection after losing part of it to a fire. Congress accepted

8976-429: The Smithsonian, Henry established laboratories, developed a robust physical sciences library, and started the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge , the first of many publications intended to disseminate research results. For Henry, the Library of Congress was the obvious choice as the national library. Unable to resolve the conflict, Henry dismissed Jewett in July 1854. In 1865, the Smithsonian building, also called

9108-453: The Twitter archive remains unfinished. Before retiring in 2015, after 28 years of service, Billington had come "under pressure" as librarian of Congress. This followed a GAO report that described a "work environment lacking central oversight" and faulted Billington for "ignoring repeated calls to hire a chief information officer, as required by law." When Billington announced his plans to retire in 2015, commentator George Weigel described

9240-503: The battle against Hollywood censorship. Based on James M. Cain 's novel, it featured two love triangles and a murder plotted for insurance money. While the book was popular with the reading public, it had been considered unfilmable under the Hays Code because adultery was central to the plot. In 1945, the Psychological Warfare Department of the United States Department of War produced an American documentary film directed by Wilder. The film known as Death Mills , or Die Todesmühlen ,

9372-434: The business community. His activities changed the post of librarian of Congress so that by the time he retired in 1987, The New York Times called this office "perhaps the leading intellectual public position in the nation." President Ronald Reagan nominated historian James H. Billington as the 13th librarian of Congress in 1987, and the U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed the appointment. Under Billington's leadership,

9504-737: The castle belonged to the Tarnowski family . In 1939, population of the town was 6,200. On September 3, 1939 (see Invasion of Poland ), Sucha was captured by the Wehrmacht . In late 1939, the town was annexed by the Third Reich , and was located near the border with the General Government . Jews, of whom there were about 500 in the town, were immediately put to work as forced laborers. Many Poles were dispossessed of their homes to make room for ethnic Germans who arrived in town from

9636-437: The characters seriously, or at least as seriously as the material allowed, and got a lot of the laughs by playing scenes straight." For Stalag 17 , Wilder squeezed an Oscar-winning performance out of a reluctant William Holden (Holden had wanted to make his character more likable; Wilder refused). At a casting meeting, Wilder reportedly said, "I'm tired of clichéd typecasting—the same people in every film." An example of this

9768-459: The collection. In its bill, Congress strengthened the role of librarian of Congress: it became responsible for governing the library and making staff appointments. As with presidential Cabinet appointments, the Senate was required to approve presidential appointees to the position. In 1893, Elizabeth Dwyer became the first woman to be appointed to the staff of the library. With this support and

9900-411: The construction of the Thomas Jefferson Building , placed all copyright registration and deposit activities under the library's control, and restored the international book exchange. The library also acquired the vast libraries of the Smithsonian and of historian Peter Force , strengthening its scientific and Americana collections significantly. By 1876, the Library of Congress had 300,000 volumes; it

10032-666: The construction of the Sucha Castle. In the early 17th century Sucha belonged to the Komorowski family. The village remained in private hands until 1939, as the so-called "Sucha State" ( panstwo suskie ). Among its owners were the Wielopolski family, the Branicki family , and the Tarnowski family . In the 1610s, Piotr Komorowski funded here a parish church, and vastly expanded the castle of Kasper Suski, turning it into

10164-516: The critically acclaimed film The Apartment . It won Wilder Academy Awards for Best Picture , Best Director and Best Original Screenplay . Other notable films Wilder directed include One, Two, Three (1961), Irma la Douce (1963), Kiss Me, Stupid (1964), The Fortune Cookie (1966) and Avanti! (1972). Wilder received various honors for his distinguished career including the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1986,

10296-407: The day after and told him: "Fernando, it's God." French filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius thanked Billy Wilder in the 2012 Best Picture Oscar acceptance speech for The Artist : "I would like to thank the following three people, I would like to thank Billy Wilder, I would like to thank Billy Wilder, and I would like to thank Billy Wilder." Wilder's 12 Academy Award nominations for screenwriting were

10428-678: The donation in these areas: The collections of the Library of Congress include more than 32 million catalogued books and other print materials in 470 languages; more than 61 million manuscripts ; the largest rare book collection in North America, including the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence , a Gutenberg Bible (originating from the Saint Blaise Abbey, Black Forest —one of only three perfect vellum copies known to exist); over 1 million U.S. government publications; 1 million issues of world newspapers spanning

10560-554: The early '90s, Wilder had amassed many plastic-artistic constructions, many of which were made in collaboration with artist Bruce Houston. In 1993, art dealer Louis Stern , a longtime friend, helped organize an exhibition of Wilder's work at his Beverly Hills gallery. The exhibition was titled Billy Wilder's Marché aux Puces and the Variations on the Theme of Queen Nefertete segment was notably popular. This series featured busts of

10692-465: The east. In June 1942, more than 200 Jews were rounded up and sent to Auschwitz , where most of them were murdered. The remaining 300 Jews were forced into a ghetto in an old brewery. Many worked as forced laborers to improve flood control along the Skawa River. In May 1943, about half the remaining Jews were sent to Auschwitz where most were murdered. The rest were sent to labor camps. After

10824-573: The establishment of the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled . Librarian Young's successor Herbert Putnam held the office for forty years of the 20th century from 1899 to 1939. Two years after he took office, the library became the first in the United States to hold one million volumes. Putnam focused his efforts to make the library more accessible and useful for the public and for other libraries. He instituted

10956-513: The exuberant cinematography of Alfred Hitchcock and Orson Welles because, in Wilder's opinion, shots that called attention to themselves would distract the audience from the story. Wilder's films have tight plotting and memorable dialogue. Despite his conservative directorial style, his subject matter often pushed the boundaries of mainstream entertainment. Once a subject was chosen, he would begin to visualize in terms of specific artists. His belief

11088-534: The family business. Max moved to Kraków to manage a hotel before moving to Vienna and dying when Billy was 22 years old. After the family moved to Vienna, Wilder became a journalist instead of attending the University of Vienna . In 1926, jazz band leader Paul Whiteman was on tour in Vienna where he was interviewed by Wilder. Whiteman liked young Wilder enough that he took him with the band to Berlin , where Wilder

11220-480: The film "gleeful, tender, and even sentimental" and Wilder's direction "ingenious". The film received ten Academy Awards nominations and won five awards, including three for Wilder: Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay. Wilder directed the Cold War political farce film One, Two, Three (1961), starring James Cagney , which won critical praise with Variety writing, "Billy Wilder's One, Two, Three

11352-519: The film "pitifully unfunny". Wilder gained his final Academy Award nomination and a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for the screenplay of The Fortune Cookie . It was the first film pairing Jack Lemmon with Walter Matthau . (The film was titled Meet Whiplash Willie in the United Kingdom.) In 1970, he directed The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes , which was intended as a major roadshow theatrical release , but to Wilder's dismay

11484-478: The films that have been added to the registry. By 2015, the librarian had named 650 films to the registry. The films in the collection date from the earliest period to ones produced more than ten years ago; they are selected from nominations submitted to the board. Further programs included: During Billington's tenure, the library acquired General Lafayette 's papers in 1996 from a castle at La Grange, France; they had previously been inaccessible. It also acquired

11616-599: The first library-wide audit. He created the first Office of the Inspector General at the library to provide regular, independent reviews of library operations. This precedent has resulted in regular annual financial audits at the library; it has received unmodified ("clean") opinions from 1995 onward. In April 2010, the library announced plans to archive all public communication on Twitter , including all communication since Twitter's launch in March 2006. As of 2015 ,

11748-619: The future generation of librarians by giving them the opportunity to gain work experience in five different areas of librarianship, including: Acquisitions/Collection Development, Cataloging/Metadata, and Collection Preservation. On January 6, 2021, at 1:11 pm EST, the Library's Madison Building and the Cannon House Office Building were the first buildings in the Capitol Complex to be ordered to evacuate as rioters breached security perimeters before storming

11880-666: The ghetto in Nowy Targ . After arriving in Hollywood in 1934, Wilder continued working as a screenwriter. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1939, having spent time in Mexico waiting for the government after his six-month card expired in 1934, an episode reflected in his 1941 Hold Back the Dawn . Wilder's first significant success was Ninotchka , a collaboration with fellow German immigrant Ernst Lubitsch . The romantic comedy starred Greta Garbo (generally known as

12012-605: The idea of creating a congressional library in 1783. Though initially rejected, this was the first introduction of the concept. After the Revolutionary War, the Philadelphia Library Company and New York Society Library served as surrogate congressional libraries when Congress was in those cities. The Library of Congress was established on April 24, 1800, when President John Adams signed an act of Congress that included appropriating $ 5,000 "for

12144-477: The lexicon of moviegoing" and that Some Like It Hot is a "national treasure." Roger Ebert asked, "Of all the great directors of Hollywood's golden age, has anybody made more films that are as fresh and entertaining to this day as Billy Wilder's?...And who else can field three contenders among the greatest closing lines of all time?", citing the closing lines of Sunset Boulevard , Some Like it Hot , and The Apartment . Ron Shelton recalls encountering Wilder: I

12276-549: The library doubled the size of its analog collections from 85.5 million items in 1987 to more than 160 million items in 2014. At the same time, it established new programs and employed new technologies to "get the champagne out of the bottle". These included: Since 1988, the library has administered the National Film Preservation Board . Established by congressional mandate, it selects twenty-five American films annually for preservation and inclusion in

12408-473: The library of the Romanov family on a variety of topics. Collections of Hebraica , Chinese, and Japanese works were also acquired. On one occasion, Congress initiated an acquisition: in 1929 Congressman Ross Collins (D-Mississippi) gained approval for the library to purchase Otto Vollbehr 's collection of incunabula for $ 1.5 million. This collection included one of three remaining perfect vellum copies of

12540-666: The library sponsored the Gateway to Knowledge in 2010 to 2011, a mobile exhibition to ninety sites, covering all states east of the Mississippi, in a specially designed eighteen-wheel truck. This increased public access to library collections off-site, particularly for rural populations, and helped raise awareness of what was also available online. Billington raised more than half a billion dollars of private support to supplement Congressional appropriations for library collections, programs, and digital outreach. These private funds helped

12672-590: The library to continue its growth and outreach in the face of a 30% decrease in staffing, caused mainly by legislative appropriations cutbacks. He created the library's first development office for private fundraising in 1987. In 1990, he established the James Madison Council, the library's first national private sector donor-support group. In 1987, Billington also asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct

12804-436: The library's Thomas Jefferson Building. In 2001, the library began a mass deacidification program, in order to extend the lifespan of almost 4 million volumes and 12 million manuscript sheets. In 2002, a new storage facility was completed at Fort Meade, Maryland , where a collection of storage modules have preserved and made accessible more than 4 million items from the library's analog collections. Billington established

12936-598: The library's acquisitions, cataloging, and bibliographic services. But he is best known for creating Library of Congress Missions worldwide. Missions played a variety of roles in the postwar world: the mission in San Francisco assisted participants in the meeting that established the United Nations , the mission in Europe acquired European publications for the Library of Congress and other American libraries, and

13068-509: The lost books in 1852 but not to acquire new materials. (By 2008, the librarians of Congress had found replacements for all but 300 of the works that had been documented as being in Jefferson's original collection. ) This marked the start of a conservative period in the library's administration by librarian John Silva Meehan and joint committee chairman James A. Pearce , who restricted the library's activities. Meehan and Pearce's views about

13200-399: The mid-80s, "It's a sickness. I don't know how to stop myself. Call it bulimia if you want – or curiosity or passion. I have some Impressionists , some Picassos from every period, some mobiles by Calder . I also collect tiny Japanese trees, glass paperweights, and Chinese vases. Name an object and I collect it." Wilder's artistic ambitions led him to create a series of works of his own. By

13332-540: The mission in Japan aided in the creation of the National Diet Library . Evans' successor Lawrence Quincy Mumford took over in 1953. During his tenure, lasting until 1974, Mumford directed the initiation of construction of the James Madison Memorial Building , the third Library of Congress building on Capitol Hill. Mumford led the library during the government's increased educational spending. The library

13464-496: The name of the Library of Congress, a recommendation rebuked by Mumford as "unspeakable violence to tradition." The debate continued within the library community for some time. The Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 renewed emphasis for the library on its legislative roles, requiring a greater focus on research for Congress and congressional committees, and renaming the Legislative Reference Service as

13596-492: The offer in January 1815, appropriating $ 23,950 to purchase his 6,487 books. Some House members, like New Hampshire representative Daniel Webster , opposed the purchase, wanting to exclude "books of an atheistical, irreligious, and immoral tendency". Jefferson's collection, gathered over 50 years, covered various subjects and languages, including topics not typically found in a legislative library. He believed all subjects had

13728-399: The only copy of the 1507 Waldseemüller world map ("America's birth certificate") in 2003; it is on permanent display in the library's Thomas Jefferson Building. Using privately raised funds, the Library of Congress has created a reconstruction of Thomas Jefferson's original library. This has been on permanent display in the Jefferson building since 2008. Under Billington, public spaces of

13860-636: The papers of the Founding Fathers from the State Department to the Library of Congress. Putnam expanded foreign acquisitions as well, including the 1904 purchase of a 4,000-volume library of Indica, the 1906 purchase of G. V. Yudin's 80,000-volume Russian library, the 1908 Schatz collection of early opera librettos , and the early 1930s purchase of the Russian Imperial Collection, consisting of 2,600 volumes from

13992-420: The past three centuries; 33,000 bound newspaper volumes; 500,000 microfilm reels; U.S. and foreign comic books—over 12,000 titles in all, totaling more than 140,000 issues; 1.9 million moving images (as of 2020); 5.3 million maps ; 6 million works of sheet music ; 3 million sound recordings ; more than 14.7 million prints and photographic images including fine and popular art pieces and architectural drawings;

14124-488: The population of 3,000, became part of Austrian-Hungarian province of Galicia . In the 1840s, Sucha was purchased by the Branicki family, Korczak coat of arms , which opened a large library together with a museum in the Sucha Castle. The village already had ironworks, which operated until the 1880s. In the same period, Sucha received a rail station, along the Galician Transversal Railway . Here,

14256-536: The post from 1939 to 1944 during the height of World War II , MacLeish became the most widely known librarian of Congress in the library's history. MacLeish encouraged librarians to oppose totalitarianism on behalf of democracy; dedicated the South Reading Room of the Adams Building to Thomas Jefferson, and commissioned artist Ezra Winter to paint four themed murals for the room. He established

14388-423: The purchase of such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress ... and for fitting up a suitable apartment for containing them." Books were ordered from London, forming a collection of 740 books and three maps housed in the new United States Capitol . President Thomas Jefferson played a crucial role in shaping the Library of Congress. On January 26, 1802, he signed a bill allowing the president to appoint

14520-814: The second. He was interested in doing a film with one of the classic slapstick comedy acts of the Hollywood Golden Age. He first considered, and rejected, a project to star Laurel and Hardy . He held discussions with Groucho Marx concerning a new Marx Brothers comedy, tentatively titled A Day at the U.N . The project was abandoned after Chico Marx died in 1961. In 1957, three films Wilder directed were released: biopic The Spirit of St. Louis , starring James Stewart as Charles Lindbergh , romantic comedy Love In The Afternoon —Wilder's first screenplay with I. A. L. Diamond , who would become his regular partner—featuring Gary Cooper , Maurice Chevalier and Audrey Hepburn, and courtroom drama Witness for

14652-472: The sex comedy film Kiss Me, Stupid starring Dean Martin , Kim Novak , and Ray Walston , who was a last minute replacement for ailing Peter Sellers . The film was criticized by some critics for vulgarity, with Bosley Crowther blaming the film for giving American movies the reputation of "deliberate and degenerate corruptors of public taste and morals". A. H. Weiler of the New York Times called

14784-496: The ten, two had talent, and the rest were just unfriendly." In general, Wilder disliked formula and genre films. Wilder reveled in poking fun at those who took politics too seriously. In Ball of Fire , his burlesque queen 'Sugarpuss' points at her sore throat and complains "Pink? It's as red as the Daily Worker and just as sore." Later, she gives the overbearing and unsmiling housemaid the name " Franco ". Wilder received

14916-726: The town, there are two higher education schools: Sucha Beskidzka is twinned with: Library of Congress The Library of Congress ( LOC ) is a research library in Washington, D.C. , serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the de facto national library of the United States . It also administers copyright law through the United States Copyright Office . Founded in 1800,

15048-423: The war, the government of People's Republic of Poland again attached Sucha to Kraków Voivodeship. New districts with blocks of flats were built, new factories were opened. In 1956, for the first time in history, Sucha became the seat of a county, and in 1975, the town became part of Bielsko-Biała Voivodeship . In 1983, the new hospital was completed. Since the beginning of the 20th century Sucha Beskidzka has been

15180-547: The war. Three weeks into his term as Librarian of Congress, he left Washington, D.C., to serve as a volunteer aide-de-camp at the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg during the American Civil War . Stephenson's hiring of Spofford, who directed the library in his absence, may have been his most significant achievement. Librarian Ainsworth Rand Spofford , who directed the Library of Congress from 1865 to 1897, built broad bipartisan support to develop it as

15312-577: The years. The following year, Wilder announced plans to direct and produce a film version of the Sophocles tragedy Oedipus Rex , adapted for the screen by Walter Reisch . They planned to shoot the film on location in Greece in Technicolor , but it never went into production. Subsequently, Wilder directed three adaptations of Broadway plays, war drama Stalag 17 , for which William Holden won

15444-434: Was a significant financial success with low budget. His final films, Fedora and Buddy Buddy , failed to impress critics or the public, although Fedora has since been re-evaluated and is now considered favorably. Wilder had hoped to make Thomas Keneally 's Schindler's Ark as his final film, saying "I wanted to do it as a kind of memorial to my mother and my grandmother and my stepfather," who had all been murdered in

15576-478: Was able to establish new acquisition centers abroad, including in Cairo and New Delhi . In 1967, the library began experimenting with book preservation techniques through a Preservation Office. This has developed as the most extensive library research and conservation effort in the United States. During Mumford's administration, the last significant public debate occurred about the Library of Congress's role as both

15708-472: Was able to make more connections in entertainment. Before achieving success as a writer, he was a taxi dancer in Berlin. After writing crime and sports stories as a stringer for local newspapers, he was eventually offered a regular job at a Berlin tabloid . Developing an interest in film, he began working as a screenwriter. From 1929 to 1933 he produced twelve German films. He collaborated with several other novices ( Fred Zinnemann and Robert Siodmak ) on

15840-608: Was born on June 22, 1906, to a Jewish family in Sucha , a small town in Galicia, present-day Poland, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire . Years later in Hollywood, he would describe it as being "Half an hour from Vienna. By telegraph." His parents were Eugenia ( née Dittler), from Zakopane , and Max Wilder, from Stanislawczyk ; they met in Kraków where Billy spent his early years. His mother described him as

15972-527: Was buried at Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park and Mortuary . A French newspaper, Le Monde , titled the front-page obituary: "Billy Wilder is dead. Nobody is perfect", a reference to the last line of Some Like It Hot . "Don't be boring". — Billy Wilder Wilder holds a significant place in the history of Hollywood censorship for expanding the range of acceptable subject matter. He directed two of film noir 's definitive films, Double Indemnity and Sunset Boulevard . Along with Woody Allen and

16104-464: Was heavily cut by the studio. He directed the comedy film Avanti! , which follows a businessman (Lemmon) attempting to retrieve the body of his deceased father from Italy. Wilder received two Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Director and Best Screenplay , and a Writers Guild of America Award nomination. Wilder directed The Front Page based on the Broadway play of the same name. It

16236-713: Was in a restaurant about six months after Bull Durham came out. And a man came over and said "Somebody would like to see you." And I looked over and it was Billy Wilder. And I went over and he said, "Great fuckin' picture, kid!" And I thought that was as good a review as you could have." When Belle Époque won the 1993 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Spanish filmmaker Fernando Trueba said in his acceptance speech: "I would like to believe in God in order to thank him. But I just believe in Billy Wilder... so thank you, Mr. Wilder." According to Trueba, Wilder called him

16368-531: Was intended for German audiences to educate them about the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime. For the German version, Die Todesmühlen , Hanuš Burger is credited as the writer and director, while Wilder supervised the editing. Wilder is credited with the English-language version. Two years later, Wilder adapted from Charles R. Jackson 's novel The Lost Weekend into a film of the same name . It

16500-493: Was lightly regarded by film critics during its original release, although it did receive six Academy Award nominations, including for Best Director and Best Screenplay. But its critical reputation grew prodigiously; in 2000, the American Film Institute selected it as the best American comedy ever made. In 2012, the British Film Institute decennial Sight and Sound poll of the world's film critics rated it as

16632-972: Was memorable in a high-octane comic role for Wilder's One, Two, Three . Wilder coaxed a very effective performance out of Monroe in Some Like It Hot . In total, he directed fourteen different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity , Ray Milland in The Lost Weekend , William Holden in Sunset Boulevard and Stalag 17 , Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim and Nancy Olson in Sunset Boulevard , Robert Strauss in Stalag 17 , Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina , Charles Laughton in Witness for

16764-414: Was ranked 6th in director's poll on Sight & Sound 's 2002 list of The Greatest Directors of All Time . In 1996, Entertainment Weekly ranked Wilder at No. 24 in its "50 Greatest Directors" list. Wilder was ranked at No. 19 on Empire 's "Top 40 Greatest Directors of All-Time" list in 2005. In 2007, Total Film magazine ranked Wilder at No. 13 on its "100 Greatest Film Directors Ever" list. Wilder

16896-465: Was suggest an idea, have it torn apart and despised. In a few days it would be apt to turn up, slightly changed, as Wilder's idea. Once I got adjusted to that way of working, our lives were simpler." "Wilder followed Ninotchka with a series of box office hits in 1942, including Hold Back the Dawn , Ball of Fire , and his directorial debut film The Major and the Minor . His third film as director,

17028-506: Was that no matter how talented the actor, none were without limitations and the result would be better if you bent the script to their personality rather than force a performance beyond their limitations. Wilder was skilled at working with actors, coaxing silent era legends Gloria Swanson and Erich von Stroheim out of retirement for roles in Sunset Boulevard . Regarding Wilder's more comedic films, Roger Ebert wrote: "he took

17160-520: Was the first major American film with a serious examination of alcoholism, another difficult theme under the Production Code . It follows an alcoholic writer ( Ray Milland ) opposing the protestations of his girlfriend ( Jane Wyman ). The film earned critical acclaim after it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and competed in the main competition, where it received the Festival's top prize,

17292-603: Was tied with the Boston Public Library as the nation's largest library. It moved from the Capitol building to its new headquarters in 1897 with more than 840,000 volumes, 40 percent of which had been acquired through copyright deposit. A year before the library's relocation, the Joint Library Committee held hearings to assess the condition of the library and plan for its future growth and possible reorganization. Spofford and six experts sent by

17424-419: Was voted at No. 4 on the "Greatest Directors of 20th Century" poll conducted by Japanese film magazine Kinema Junpo . Seven of his films are preserved in the United States National Film Registry of the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant". Anthony Lane writes that Double Indemnity , The Seven Year Itch , Sunset Boulevard and The Apartment are "part of

#52947