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Logan, Joshua

(Encyclopedia)Logan, Joshua, 1908–88, American theatrical and film director and writer, b. Texarkana, Tex. He directed several successes in New York, including Knickerbocker Holiday (1938) and Annie Get Your Gun ...

Martin, Mary

(Encyclopedia)Martin, Mary, 1913–90, American musical comedy star, b. Weatherford, Tex. From Martin's first stage appearance in Leave It to Me (1938), she starred in several enormously successful musicals, includ...

recoilless rifle

(Encyclopedia)recoilless rifle, light artillery piece, without recoil, usually operated by two men. An American invention, it was used as an infantry weapon for attacking fortifications such as pillboxes and bunker...

gunboat

(Encyclopedia)gunboat, small warship for use on rivers and along coasts in places inaccessible to vessels of larger displacement. In the U.S. Civil War both sides used as gunboats, on the Mississippi and other rive...

Merman, Ethel

(Encyclopedia)Merman, Ethel, 1908–84, American musical comedy star, b. Astoria, N.Y., originally named Ethel Zimmerman. Merman's theater debut was in George and Ira Gershwin's Girl Crazy (1930). Noted for her bra...

Eskilstuna

(Encyclopedia)Eskilstuna ĕˈskĭlstüˌnä [key], city, Södermanland co., SE Sweden, between lakes Hjälm...

Oakley, Annie

(Encyclopedia)Oakley, Annie, 1860–1926, American theatrical performer, b. Darke co., Ohio. Her original name was Phoebe Anne Oakley Mozee. From childhood on she was a “dead shot” with a rifle. She defeated in...

Pitcher, Molly

(Encyclopedia)Pitcher, Molly, 1744–1832, American Revolutionary heroine whose real name was Mary Ludwig Hays or Heis, b. near Trenton, N.J. As the wife of John Hays or Heis, she carried water for her husband and ...

damascening

(Encyclopedia)damascening –skēnˈ– [key], the art of decorating iron, steel, or bronze with inlaid threads of gold or silver, or producing a watered effect in forging, as in sword blades, gun barrels, and vari...

Olitski, Jules

(Encyclopedia)Olitski, Jules ŏlĭtˈskē [key], 1922–2006, American painter, b. Russia as Jevel Demikovsky. While considered a color-field painter (see color-field painting), Olitski produced works that are free...