Oliver F. Atkins
Oliver F. (Ollie) Atkins (February 18, 1917 – January 24, 1977) was an American photographer who worked for the Saturday Evening Post and as personal photographer to President Richard Nixon.
Early life and career
Atkins was born in 1917 in Hyde Park, Massachusetts, and grew up in New York. He moved to the University of Alabama to get his BA in Journalism, graduating in 1938. Taking a job at the Birmingham Post, he quickly rose through the ranks, becoming chief photographer for the paper. He left Alabama in 1940 to join the staff of The Washington Daily News. In 1942, after the United States entry into World War II, he began reporting for the American Red Cross. In that position, he covered such campaigns as the African campaign, the invasion of Sicily, the beachheads of Southern Italy, and the Allied invasions of Southern France and Germany.
After the war and Nixon
When the war ended, he was a photographer for the Saturday Evening Post. For the Post he traveled the world taking pictures of such historic figures as Josip Broz Tito, Charles de Gaulle and Gamal Abdel Nasser. When Nixon started campaigning for President in 1968, he became Nixon's personal photographer, following him on the campaign trail. When Nixon was elected, he joined the White House staff as official photographer. In that position, he took pictures of the president with many heads of state and celebrities. A secret meeting between Nixon and Elvis Presley is Atkins' most requested picture. Both Elvis and Nixon wanted to keep the meeting secret as Nixon's ratings were dropping and Elvis was planning a comeback; neither of their fans would understand a meeting between the two. The picture is now one of the most requested images in the National Archives and Records Administration, being more popular than the Bill of Rights or the Constitution of the United States.
Oliver!
Oliver! is an English musical, with music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.
It premiered in the West End in 1960, enjoying a long run, and successful long runs on Broadway, tours and revivals, after being brought to the US by producer David Merrick in 1963. It was made into a musical film in 1968. Major London revivals played from 1977–80, 1994–98, 2008–11 and on tour in the UK from 2011-13.
Background
Oliver! was the first musical adaptation of a famous Charles Dickens work to become a stage hit. There had been two previous Dickens musicals in the 1950s, both of them television adaptations of A Christmas Carol. The plot of Dickens' original novel is considerably simplified for the purposes of the musical, with Fagin being represented more as a comic character than as a villain, and large portions of the latter part of the story being completely left out. (It may well be that Bart based his musical on David Lean's film, rather than Dickens' book.) Although Dickens' novel has been called antisemitic in its portrayal of the Jew Fagin as evil, the production by Bart (himself a Jew) was more sympathetic and featured many Jewish actors in leading roles: Ron Moody (Ronald Moodnik), Georgia Brown (Lilian Klot), and Martin Horsey.
Oliver
Oliver is a given name. It is also used as a surname (see Oliver (surname)), in particular of a Scottish sept (see Oliver (Scottish surname)).
It may also refer to:
Places
Business
Culture
Film
Oliver! (song)
Oliver! is the title song from the 1960s original West End and Broadway musical Oliver! and the 1968 film of the same name.
Background
The song begins with the workhouse boys and Mr. Bumble praying for the food they will receive and for a blessing of thankfulness. However, Oliver asks for more gruel and that makes Mr. Bumble and the Widow Corney very angry at him and they think of ways to punish him for his ingratitude and ask who he is. The punishment that Oliver is to receive, as stated in the song is that he is to be sent down a stairway without a bannister and to be fed cockroaches served in a canister or they would push Oliver up a chimney full of soot. Even the Board of Governors is stunned by Oliver's ingratitude and join in the song (but only in the West End productions). The punishment that the Board of Governors suggest is that Oliver should be imprisoned and put up for sale for apprenticeship, though their lyrics are cut from the Broadway version.
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