document_title: She's the Man

question_text: who plays unis in she's the man

question_tokens: who plays unis in she 's the man

text: She's the Man

text: Plot[edit]

text: Viola Hastings (Amanda Bynes) is a teen girl who plays for Cornwall College’s soccer team until the team gets cut. Meanwhile, her twin brother, Sebastian (James Kirk), is supposed to enroll in Illyria, an elite boarding school, but he secretly goes to London with his fledgling band instead. Viola agrees to cover for him and decides to pass herself off as Sebastian, in hopes of joining their boys' team and beating Cornwall to prove their coach and her cocky ex-boyfriend, Justin (Robert Hoffman), wrong. With the help of her stylist friend, Paul (Jonathan Sadowski), she is transformed into "Sebastian" and attends Illyria in his place.

text: While moving in, she meets her roommate, Duke Orsino (Channing Tatum), an attractive soccer player and Illyria's team captain. During tryouts, Viola fails to impress Coach Dinklage (Vinnie Jones) and is assigned to second string, much to her dismay. Her teammates, including Duke, initially dislike "Sebastian" due to his awkward and strange behavior. However, with help from Paul once again, they begin to accept him into their social circle. "Sebastian" then gets the popular and pretty Olivia (Laura Ramsey) as his lab partner, which frustrates Duke, as he has feelings for her. "Sebastian" agrees to put in a good word for Duke if he promises to train him to be a better soccer player. Coach Dinklage eventually notices "Sebastian's" effort and improvement, thus promoting him to first string.

text: At the Junior League carnival, where her mother has made her volunteer, Viola works a shift at the kissing booth and shares a kiss with Duke. Duke expresses to "Sebastian" that he might move on from Olivia as he is starting to like Viola now. Viola is delighted as she secretly feels the same way.

text: Olivia who now has a crush on "Sebastian", asks Duke out on a date in hopes that it will make "Sebastian" jealous. Viola, who is unaware of Olivia's true intentions, is enraged instead because Duke has now abandoned his interest in Viola. When Viola finds out the truth, she encourages Olivia to tell "Sebastian" directly about her feelings.

text: The situation becomes even more complicated when the real Sebastian returns from London a day early, unbeknownst to Viola. As soon as he arrives at Illyria, Olivia confesses her feelings and kisses him. Duke, seeing this, believes his roommate has betrayed him. When "Sebastian" returns to their room, the two have an argument and Duke kicks him out. Viola oversleeps and misses the first half of the game, while the real Sebastian is mistaken for "Sebastian" and winds up poorly playing his sister's game instead. At half-time, Viola explains the situation to Sebastian and they switch places again.

text: Duke, still furious at "Sebastian", refuses to cooperate with him on the field. Determined to makes amends with Duke, "Sebastian" explains that he is actually Viola. Illyria wins the game when Viola scores a goal, finally humiliating Justin and the rest of the Cornwall boys.

text: Everyone at Illyria celebrates their victory over Cornwall, except for Duke who is hurt about Viola's deception. Viola introduces Sebastian and Olivia officially, and they begin dating. Viola and Sebastian's divorced parents also make up, exchanging contact information so as to be better parents towards their children. She invites Duke to her debutante ball, with an invitation delivered by Sebastian, now Duke's roommate. Still hurt, Duke doesn't respond to Viola's invitation, which devastates her. At the ball, Viola is skeptical that Duke will show up; she distracts herself by assisting Olivia, who is being escorted by Sebastian to the ball, and is touched when Paul asks to be her date. Her mother shows up with a dress that will suit Viola's "no ruffles" policy, but Viola decides to go for a walk instead. She runs into Duke outside, who tells her that he has feelings for her, but that he doesn't want there to be any more deception on her part; Viola promises to be honest with him. Later, Monique is escorted by Justin, Olivia is escorted by Sebastian, and Viola and Duke enter the stage late, but together, with Viola in her new dress, much to the joy of her mother. Viola and Duke share a kiss before joining the crowd. At the end of the film, Viola and Duke are shown happily playing on Illyria's soccer team together.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Amanda Bynes as Viola/Sebastian Hastings
Channing Tatum as Duke Orsino
Laura Ramsey as Olivia Lennox
Emily Perkins as Eunice Bates, Olivia's nerdy, eccentric friend and Duke's lab partner
James Snyder as Malcolm Festes, the school nerd and Sebastian's (Viola's) rival
Robert Hoffman as Justin Drayton, Viola's ex-boyfriend and Duke's rival
James Kirk as Sebastian Hastings
Alex Breckenridge as Monique Valentine, Sebastian's superficial girlfriend
Brandon Jay McLaren as Toby, one of Duke's best friends
Clifton Murray as Andrew, one of Duke's best friends
Jonathan Sadowski as Paul Antonio, one of Viola's best friends and hair stylist
Amanda Crew as Kia, one of Viola's best friends
Jessica Lucas as Yvonne, one of Viola's best friends
David Cross as Principal Horatio Gold
Vinnie Jones as Coach Dinklage
Julie Hagerty as Daphne Hastings, the mother of Viola and Sebastian
John Pyper-Ferguson as Roger Hastings, the father of Viola and Sebastian
Lynda Boyd as Cheryl, the debutante ball's hostess
Robert Torti as Coach Pistonek
Mark Acheson as Groundskeeper

text: Reception[edit]

text: Box office[edit]

text: The film opened at #4 at the North American box office making $10.7 million USD in its opening weekend. Its budget was approximately $20,000,000. She's the Man grossed a total of $33.7 million domestically with a total gross of $57.2 million worldwide.[1]

text: Critical response[edit]

text: Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gave She's the Man a rating of 43%, based on 109 reviews. The critical consensus reads, "Shakespeare's wit gets lost in translation with She's the Man's broad slapstick, predictable jokes, and unconvincing plotline."[2] Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 reviews from film critics, the film has a rating score of 45 out of 100 based on 28 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[3]


document_title: Jingle All the Way

question_text: who played booster in jingle all the way

root

text: Jingle All the Way

text: Plot[edit]

text: Howard Langston is a workaholic mattress salesman with no time for his wife, Liz, and his 9-year-old son, Jamie — especially when compared to next door "superdad" divorcee, Ted Maltin, who continually puts Howard in a bad light. After missing Jamie's karate class graduation, Howard resolves to redeem himself by fulfilling Jamie's ultimate Christmas wish: getting an action figure toy of Turbo-Man, a wildly popular TV superhero. On Christmas Eve, Howard sets out to buy a Turbo-Man doll at a store, telling Liz that he already has one at work that he must retrieve.

tag: p

text: Along the way, Howard meets Myron Larabee, a postal worker dad with a rival ambition, and the two soon become bitter competitors in their race for the action figure. During his search, Howard runs his car into the parked police motorcycle of Officer Hummel, who earlier pulled him over and gave him a ticket. After several failed attempts to find the toy in a store, Howard attempts to buy a Turbo-Man from a Mall of America Santa, who is actually the leader of a band of counterfeit toy makers. When he accuses the Santa of undermining the values of Christmas (having been ripped off and sold a defective toy that falls apart the moment he opened the package), Howard ends up in a brawl with the gang. He narrowly escapes when the police raid their warehouse and gets out by posing as an undercover detective using a toy badge.

text: Later, Howard arrives at Mickey's Diner and uses their phone to call home. As he tried to get a hold of Liz, he unintentionally scolds Jamie on the phone over Turbo-Man. Jamie, in turn, rebukes his father about how he never keeps his promises, and hangs up. Liz overhears the argument and becomes disappointed in her husband. Howard then encounters Myron at the diner. As they sat down and talk, Myron tells Howard about the time when his father was unable to get him a Johnny Seven OMA toy on Christmas. They hear on the KQRS radio station that there is a trivia competition in which the winner will receive a Turbo-Man doll. They rush to the studio, with Howard breaking the door to the recording booth, under the impression that the DJ has a Turbo-Man doll in the studio. After Myron threatens to blow up the studio with a package he claims is a mail bomb, he and Howard find out that whoever wins the competition will get a doll "eventually." The package is revealed to be a music box. The police, led by Officer Hummell, arrive in the studio, and Myron bluffs the police into backing off by threatening them with another "mail bomb," allowing him and Howard to escape. Hummell confidently rips open the package and it explodes, leaving his face covered in soot.

text: After his car is stripped by thieves, Howard is ultimately forced to return home empty-handed. Outside his home, he sees Ted in his house placing the star on his tree. In anger, Howard breaks into Ted's house and steals the Turbo-Man doll from under his tree. He realizes that he is stealing from a child and changes his mind. He is attacked by Ted's pet reindeer, accidentally setting one of Ted's decorations on fire, and kicking it out the window trying to stamp it out, drawing the attention of Ted and Liz. Liz, having had enough, leaves with Jamie, Ted, and his son Johnny to the local Christmas parade; Howard follows, aiming to make amends.

text: At the parade, Ted makes a pass at Liz and she hits him with a thermos of eggnog. Howard witnesses Ted's actions from a distance, and on his way to confront him, he runs into Officer Hummel, spilling his hot coffee all over him. Howard runs and Hummell chases him, and Howard enters a room where he is mistaken as the replacement actor for Turbo-Man. As the "real" Turbo-Man, he presents the coveted limited-edition Turbo-Man doll to his son. Before he recognizes his father, Jamie is chased by Myron, who has dressed as Turbo-Man's arch enemy Dementor (having caught, tied up and gagged the real actor). As the crowd assumes this is all part of the show, Howard attempts to rescue his son by utilizing the Turbo-Man suit's equipment.

text: Howard catches Jamie as he falls from a roof and reveals himself to his son. Officer Hummell gives the doll to Jamie, then asks Howard (as Turbo-Man) to join the police force, saluting him. Howard turns and reveals himself and Hummell is dumbfounded, as Howard apologizes for all the trouble. Myron is arrested while ranting about having to explain his failure to get the Turbo-Man toy for his son. Jamie decides to give the doll to him, telling Howard that he has "the real Turbo-Man at home."

text: During the after-credits scene, It is snowing outside. Howard puts the star on the top of his tree and celebrates Christmas with Jamie and Liz. Liz commends Howard for everything he's done just to make Jamie happy, and then asks Howard what he got her for Christmas. Howard stares in shock at the camera before the fadeout.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Arnold Schwarzenegger – Howard Langston
Sinbad – Myron Larabee
Phil Hartman – Ted Maltin
Rita Wilson – Liz Langston
Jake Lloyd – Jamie Langston
Robert Conrad – Officer Alexander Hummell
Martin Mull – a KQRS D.J. (Mr. Ponytail Man)
Jim Belushi – Mall of America Santa
E.J. De La Pena – Johnny Maltin
Laraine Newman – First Lady
Justin Chapman – Billy
Harvey Korman – President
Richard Moll – Dementor
Daniel Riordan – Turbo Man
Jeff L. Deist – TV Booster/Puppeteer
Paul Wight – Giant Santa
Chris Parnell – Toy Store Clerk
Curtis Armstrong – Booster

tag: ul

text: Production[edit]

text: Development[edit]

text: The film draws inspiration from the high demand for Christmas toys such as the Cabbage Patch Kids and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers in the late 1980s and early 1990s, which often led to intense searching and occasional violence amongst shoppers.[3][4] Randy Kornfield wrote the film's original screenplay after witnessing his in-laws go to a Santa Monica toy store at dawn in order to get his son a Power Ranger.[3] While admitting to missing the clamor for the Cabbage Patch Kids and Power Rangers, producer Chris Columbus experienced a similar situation in 1995 when he attempted to obtain a Buzz Lightyear action figure from the film Toy Story, released that year. As a result, he rewrote Kornfield's script, which was accepted by 20th Century Fox.[4] Columbus was always "attracted to the dark side of the happiest holiday of the year", so wrote elements of the film as a satire of the commercialization of Christmas.[5] Brian Levant was hired to direct the film. Columbus said Levant "underst[ood] the humor in the material" and "was very animated and excited, and he had a vision of what he wanted to do". Levant said "The story that was important to me was between the father and son...it's a story about love, and a father's journey to deliver it in the form of a Turbo Man doll. The fact that I got to design a toy line and do the commercials and make pajamas and comic books was fun for me as a filmmaker. But at its root, the movie's about something really sweet. It's about love and building a better family. I think that's consistent with everything I've done."[6]

text: Arnold Schwarzenegger was quickly cast.[4] He became available in February 1996 after Fox's remake of Planet of the Apes was held up again;[2] Columbus also exited that project to work on Jingle All the Way.[7] The film marks Schwarzenegger's fourth appearance as the lead in a comedy film, following Twins (1988), Kindergarten Cop (1990) and Junior (1994).[8] Schwarzenegger was paid a reported $20 million for the role.[9] He enjoyed the film, having experienced last-minute Christmas shopping himself,[9] and was attracted to playing an "ordinary" character in a family film.[10] Columbus initially wanted Joe Pesci to play Myron.[10] Comedian Sinbad was chosen instead, partly due to his similar height and size to Schwarzenegger.[10] Sinbad was suggested for the part by Schwarzenegger's agent, but the producers felt he was unsuited to the role of a villain as it could harm his clean, family-oriented comedy act and reputation, although Sinbad felt the character would generate the audience's sympathy rather than hate.[11] Furthermore, he missed the audition due to his appearance with First Lady Hillary Clinton and musician Sheryl Crow on the USO tour of Bosnia and Herzegovina,[12] but Columbus waited for him to return to allow him to audition and, although Sinbad felt he had "messed" it up, he was given the part.[11] He improvised the majority of his lines in the film;[11] Schwarzenegger also improvised many of his responses in his conversations with Sinbad's character.[13]

text: Filming[edit]

text: Filming took place in Minnesota for five weeks from April 15, 1996; at the time, it was the largest film production to ever take place in the state.[14] Jingle All the Way was set and filmed in the Twin Cities metropolitan area of Minnesota at locations such as Bloomington's Mall of America,[1] Mickey's Diner,[15] downtown Minneapolis, Linden Hills, residential areas of Edina and primarily downtown Saint Paul. Unused shops in the Seventh Place Mall area were redecorated to resemble Christmas decorated stores,[14] while the Energy Park Studios were used for much of the filming and the Christmas lights stayed up at Rice Park for use in the film.[16] The Mall of America and the state's "semi-wintry weather" proved attractive for the studio.[9] Although Schwarzenegger stated that the locals were "well-behaved" and "cooperative", Levant often found filming "impossible" due to the scale and noise of the crowds who came to watch production, especially in the Mall of America,[9] but overall found the locals to be "respectful" and "lovely people."[15] Levant spent several months in the area before filming in order to prepare. The film uses artistic license by treating Minneapolis and Saint Paul as one city, as this was logistically easier; the police are labeled "Twin Cities Police" in the film.[15] Additionally, the city's Holidazzle Parade is renamed the Wintertainment Parade and takes place on 2nd Avenue during the day, rather than Nicollet Mall at night. Levant wanted to film the parade at night but was overruled for practical reasons.[15]

text: The parade was filmed at Universal Studios Hollywood in California on the New York Street set,[17] due to safety concerns. The set was designed to resemble 2nd Avenue; the parade was shot from above by helicopters and stitched into matte shots of the real-life street.[15] It took three weeks to film, with 1,500 extras being used in the scene, along with three custom designed floats.[17] Other parts of the film to be shot in Los Angeles, California included store interiors,[16] and the warehouse fight scene between Howard and the criminal Santas, for which a Pasadena furniture warehouse was used.[17] Turbo-Man was created and designed for the film. This meant the commercials and scenes from the Turbo-Man TV series were all shot by Levant, while all of the Turbo-Man merchandise, packaging and props shown in the film were custom made one-offs and designed to look "authentic, as if they all sprang from the same well."[2] Along with Columbus and Levant, production designer Leslie McDonald and character designer Tim Flattery crafted Turbo-Man, Booster and Dementor and helped make the full-size Turbo-Man suit for the film's climax.[17] Principal production finished in August; Columbus "fine-tun[ed] the picture until the last possible minute," using multiple test audiences "to see where the big laughs actually lie."[18]

text: Soundtrack[edit]

text:
Jingle All the Way

Soundtrack album by Various

Released
1996

Genre
Various

Length
36:51

Label
TVT

tag: table

text: TVT Records released the film's soundtrack album on Audio CD on November 26, 1996.[19][20] It features only two of composer David Newman's pieces from Jingle All the Way, but features many of the songs by other artists included in the film, as well as other Christmas songs and new tracks by the Brian Setzer Orchestra.[21] Intrada Music Group released a Special Collection limited edition of Newman's full 23-track score on November 3, 2008.[22]

text: Track listing[edit]

text:
No.
Title
Writer(s)
Artist[19]
Length

1.
"Jingle Bells"
James Pierpont
The Brian Setzer Orchestra
2:18

2.
"So They Say It's Christmas"
Brian Setzer
Lou Rawls, The Brian Setzer Orchestra
4:05

3.
"Sleigh Ride"
Leroy Anderson, Mitchell Parish
Darlene Love, The Brian Setzer Orchestra
2:36

4.
"Run Rudolph Run"
Marvin Brodie, Johnny Marks
Chuck Berry
2:44

5.
"It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year"
Edward Pola, George Wyle
Johnny Mathis
2:47

6.
"Merry Christmas Baby"
Lou Baxter, Johnny Moore
Charles Brown
4:47

7.
"Back Door Santa"
Clarence Carter, Marcus Daniel
Clarence Carter
2:09

8.
"The Christmas Song"
Mel Tormé, Robert Wells
Nat King Cole
3:10

9.
"Jingle Bell Rock"
Joe Beal, Joseph Carleton Beal, Jim Boothe, James Ross Boothe
Bobby Helms
2:12

10.
"Father and Son"
Calvin Massey, David Newman, Cat Stevens
David Newman
3:00

11.
"Finale"
Geoffrey Burgon, Alfred Newman, Stephen Schwartz
David Newman
4:02

12.
"Deep in the Heart of Xmas"
Sammy Hagar, Jesse Harms
The Brian Setzer Orchestra and Darlene Love
2:52

text: Release[edit]

text: As Schwarzenegger only signed on for the film in February and the film was shot so quickly, only six and a half months were available for merchandising, instead of the ideal year. As such, merchandising was limited to a 13.5 inch replica $25 Talking Turbo-Man action figure and the West Coast exclusive Turbo-Man Time Racer vehicle, while no tie-in promotions could be secured.[2][4] Despite this, several critics wrote that the film was only being made in order to sell the toy. Columbus dismissed this notion, stating that with only roughly 200,000 Turbo-Man toys being made, the merchandising was far less than the year's other releases, such as Space Jam and 101 Dalmatians.[5] The film's release coincided with the Tickle Me Elmo craze, in which high demand for the doll during the 1996 Christmas season lead to store mobbing similar to that depicted for Turbo-Man.

text: The world premiere was held on November 16, 1996 at the Mall of America in Bloomington where parts of the film were shot. A day of events was held to celebrate the film's release and Schwarzenegger donated memorabilia from the film to the Mall's Planet Hollywood.[1] Opening on November 22[23] in 2,401, Jingle All the Way made $12.1 million in its first weekend, opening at #4 behind Star Trek: First Contact, Space Jam and Ransom; it went on to gross $129 million worldwide, recouping its $75 million budget.[24][25] The film was released on VHS in October 1997,[26] and in November 1998 it was released on DVD.[27] It was rereleased on DVD in December 2004,[28] followed by an extended director's cut in October 2007, known as the "Family Fun Edition". It contained several minutes of extra footage, as well as other DVD extras such as a behind the scenes featurette.[29][30] In December of the following year, the Family Fun Edition was released on Blu-ray Disc.[31] The film was released in the United Kingdom on December 6, 1996, and topped the country's box office that weekend.

text: Reception[edit]

text:
"Despite its fairly entertaining buildup and somewhat serious commentary on materialism during the holidays, the end of the movie takes a realistic conceit and adds in comedy sci-fi elements. Not only does the movie take a turn for the cartoony, but the end is basically everybody laughing and learning their lesson, without any realistic resolution of the situation. It's as if the screenwriters couldn't figure an easy way out of Howard's situation, so they added in slapstick comedy and the ending from an episode of Full House."

— Mike Drucker.[28]

tag: div

text: The film received a 16% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes, where it has 35 negative reviews out of 42 counted.[32] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[33] Emanuel Levy felt the film "highly formulaic" and criticized Levant's direction as little more advanced than a television sitcom. Although he felt Hartman, Wilson and Conrad were not given much opportunity to shine due to the script, he opined that "Schwarzenegger has developed a light comic delivery, punctuated occasionally by an ironic one-liner," while "Sinbad has good moments".[34] Neil Jeffries of Empire disagreed, feeling Schwarzenegger to be "wooden" and Sinbad to be "trying desperately to be funnier than his hat" but praised Lloyd as the "saving grace" of the film.[35]

text: The New York Times critic Janet Maslin felt the film lacked any real plot, failed in its attempt at satire, should have included Myron's only mentioned son and "mostly wasted" Hartman, while Levant's direction was "listless".[36] Similarly, the BBC's Neil Smith criticized the film's script, its focus on the commercialization of Christmas, as well as Schwarzenegger's performance which shows "the comic timing of a dead moose," but singled out Hartman for praise.[8] Chicago Tribune critic Michael Wilmington panned the film, wondering why the characters (primarily Howard) acted so illogically: "Howard Langston is supposed to be a successful mattress manufacturer, but the movie paints him as a hot-tempered buffoon without a sensible idea in his head."[37] Jack Garner of USA Today condemned the film, finding it more "cynical" than satirical, stating "this painfully bad movie has been inspired strictly by the potential jingle of cash registers." He wrote of Levant's directorial failure as he "offers no...sense of comic timing," while "pauses in the midst of much of the dialogue are downright painful."[38] Trevor Johnston suggested that the film "seems to mark a point of decline in the Schwarzenegger career arc" and the anti-consumerism message largely failed, with "Jim Belushi's corrupt mall Santa with his stolen-goods warehouse...provid[ing] the film's sole flash of dark humour."[39]

text: IGN's Mike Drucker praised its subject matter as "one of the few holiday movies to directly deal with the commercialization of Christmas" although felt the last twenty minutes of the film let it down, as the first hour or so had "some family entertainment" value if taken with a "grain of salt". He concluded the film was "a member of the so-corny-its-good genre," while "Arnold delivers plenty of one-liners ripe for sound board crank callers."[28] Jamie Malanowski of The New York Times praised the film's satirical premise but felt it was "full of unrealized potential" because "the filmmakers [wrongly] equate mayhem with humor."[40] Roger Ebert gave the film two-and-a-half stars, writing that he "liked a lot of the movie", which he thought had "energy" and humor which would have mass audience appeal. He was, though, disappointed by "its relentlessly materialistic view of Christmas, and by the choice to go with action and (mild) violence over dialogue and plot."[41] Kevin Carr of 7M Pictures concluded that while the film is not very good, as a form of family entertainment it is "surprisingly fun."[30]

text: Brian Levant was nominated for the Razzie Award for Worst Director, but lost to Andrew Bergman for Striptease; Sinbad, however, won the Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actor in a Family film.[42]

text: Lawsuit[edit]

text: In 1998, Murray Hill Publishing sued 20th Century Fox for $150,000, claiming that the idea for the film was stolen from a screenplay they had purchased from high school teacher Brian Webster entitled Could This Be Christmas?. They said the script had 36 similarities with Jingle All the Way, including the plot, dialogue and character names.[43][44][45][46] Murray Hill President Bob Laurel bought the script from Webster in 1993, and sent it to Fox and other studios in 1994 but received no response and claimed the idea was copied by Kornfield, who was Fox's script reader.[43] In 2001, Fox were found guilty of stealing the idea and ordered to pay $19 million ($15 million in damages and $4 million in legal costs) to Murray Hill, with Webster to receive a portion.[43][46][47] Laurel died a few months after the verdict, before receiving any of the money.[48] On appeal, the damages figure was lowered to $1.5 million, before the verdict itself was quashed in 2004 after a judge decided the idea was not stolen, as Fox had bought Kornfield's screenplay before he or anybody else at Fox had read Could This Be Christmas?.[49][50]

text: Sequel[edit]

text: A stand-alone sequel, Jingle All the Way 2, was released straight-to-DVD in December 2014. Directed by Alex Zamm and produced by WWE Studios and 20th Century Fox, the film has a similar plot to the original, but is otherwise not connected and none of the original cast or characters returned. The lead roles were instead played by Larry the Cable Guy and Santino Marella.[51]


document_title: Dog and pony show

question_text: where does the term dog and pony show come from

text: Dog and pony show

text: "Dog and pony show" is a colloquial term which has come to mean a highly promoted, often over-staged performance, presentation, or event designed to sway or convince opinion for political, or less often, commercial ends. Typically, the term is used in a pejorative sense to connote disdain, jocular lack of appreciation, or distrust of the message being presented or the efforts undertaken to present it.[1]

text: Origins[edit]

text: The term was originally used in the United States in the late-19th and early-20th centuries to refer to small traveling circuses that toured through small towns and rural areas. The name derives from the common use of performing dogs and ponies as the main attractions of the events.[2] Performances were generally held in open-air arenas, such as race tracks or public spaces in localities that were too small or remote to attract larger, more elaborate performers or performances. The most notorious was “Prof. Gentry's Famous Dog & Pony Show,” started when teenager Henry Gentry and his brothers started touring in 1886 with their act, originally entitled “Gentry’s Equine and Canine Paradox.” It started small, but evolved into a full circus show.[3] Other early dog and pony shows included Morris’ Equine and Canine Paradoxes (1883) and Hurlburt’s Dog and Pony Show (late 1880s).[citation needed]

text: By the latter part of the 20th century, the original meaning of the term had been largely lost.[citation needed]