Freedom of the City

The Freedom of the City is an honour bestowed by a municipality upon a valued member of the community, or upon a visiting celebrity or dignitary. Arising from the medieval practice of granting respected citizens freedom from serfdom, the tradition still lives on in countries such as the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand – although today the title of "freeman" confers no special privileges. The Freedom of the City can also be granted by municipal authorities to military units which have earned the city's trust; in this context, it is sometimes called the Freedom of Entry. This allows them the freedom to parade through the city, and is an affirmation of the bond between the regiment and the citizenry.

The honour was sometimes accompanied by a "freedom box", a small gold box inscribed to record the occasion; these are not usual today. In some countries, such as the United States, esteemed residents and visitors may instead be presented with the Key to the City, a similarly symbolic honour. Other cities award Honorary Citizenship, with just a certificate.

Key to the City (disambiguation)

The Key to the City is an honor bestowed by a city upon esteemed residents and visitors.

Key to the City, or Keys to the City, may also refer to:

Key to the City (film)

Key to the City is a 1950 romantic comedy film starring Clark Gable and Loretta Young as mayors who meet during a convention in San Francisco and, despite their contrasting personalities and views, fall in love. This was the second (and final) time that Gable and Young starred together, the first being in the film The Call of the Wild (1935). Key to the City featured the final performance by character actor Frank Morgan, who died before the film was released.

Plot

Steve Fisk is the mayor of a town called Puget City. At a convention in San Francisco, he mistakes Clarissa Standish, the mayor of Wenonah, Maine, for a "balloon dancer" he was expecting.

A former longshoreman, Steve feels that Clarissa might be too refined a woman for him, but he's definitely attracted. He needs to be careful, however, because a crooked city councilman would love to have any hint of scandal to use against Steve politically back home.

Steve proceeds to inadvertently get Clarissa arrested twice, first after a brawl in a Chinatown restaurant, then on their way to a costume party. A photographer clicks a picture of Clarissa making it appear she's at the police station for public drunkenness. She doesn't think it funny, but her uncle, Judge Standish, is privately delighted that the prim Clarissa seems to finally be loosening up.

The City (season 1)

The first season of The City premiered on December 29, 2008 and concluded on March 16, 2009. It followed Whitney Port's move to New York City after leaving Los Angeles as she followed her dream job. Instead of ordering a complete 2nd season for The City MTV ordered 10 extra episodes to Season 1. Therefore, the so-called Season 2, is in fact Season 1, Part 2 which began on September 29, 2009 and thus forth concluding the entire first season on December 1, 2009. On December 1, 2009, on The Hills/The City Aftershow, Port confirmed there will be a second season coming soon.

Synopsis

In Part 1, Whitney Port of 'The Hills' moves from her hometown of Los Angeles, California to Manhattan. The first half follows her, best friend Erin, and boyfriend Jay while Port tackles her new job at global design house, Diane Von Furstenberg. Jays roommate, Adam, struggles in a relationship with his on/off girlfriend, Allie. Olivia, New York socialite, and Whitney's co-worker, deals with her cousin Nevan, who's living off of her for a while. Erin deals with an old boyfriend coming into her life, and Samantha "Sammy", is by her friends side through all the drama. Meanwhile the fashion world takes them all by storm daily in the fierce streets of New York. In the second half of season 1, newly single Port goes back to working for Kelly Cutrone while her friend/former co-worker, Olivia Palermo, is working at ELLE Magazine now. Whitney's old friend, Roxy, moves in with her and gets a job at People's Revolution, while Olivia has met her match, Erin K., at her new job. The second half focused more on the fashion world drama, instead of relationship drama. The road to Whitney's official launch of her clothing line "Whitney Eve" release was the main plot in this half of the season. The ratings went down some in the second half, but the series was picked up for a full second season run in December 2009.

The City (poem)

The City (Greek: Ἡ Πόλις) is an 1894 poem by Constantine Cavafy.

Cultural Impact

An English translation of the poem appears in the appendix of the Lawrence Durrell novel Justine; Cavafy is a character in the work. The narrator of Justine refers to his translation of this poem as "by no means literal".

References

External links

The City (1939 film)

The City is a pioneering short documentary film from 1939 that contrasts the problems of the contemporary urban environment with the superior social and physical conditions that can be provided in a planned community. It was directed and photographed by Ralph Steiner and Willard Van Dyke based on a treatment by Lewis Mumford based on an outline by Pare Lorentz. Aaron Copland wrote the musical score and Morris Carnovsky provided the narration.

Summary

The film follows a historical sequence and uses the following locations:

Greenbelt, Maryland, had been constructed a few years earlier as a New Deal project.

Production

The film was the idea of Catherine Bauer, an urban planner and public housing advocate. It was produced for the American Institute of Planners (predecessor of the APA) to be shown at the 1939 New York World's Fair as part of the "City of Tomorrow" exhibit. Bauer's original idea was to commission a full-scale mini neighborhood on a 10-acre (4.0 ha) site to showcase innovative housing design and community planning. This was to be done in conjunction with MoMA. When the plan was dropped for lack of time and resources, Bauer came up with the idea of the film. Robert Kohn agreed and commissioned it. At the end of 1937, Henwar Rodakiewicz moved to New York to assist Steiner in the production, including participating in writing and editing.