document_title: Freddie Keppard

question_text: who organized the original creole orchestra in los angeles

text: Freddie Keppard

text: Early life and career in New Orleans[edit]

text: Keppard (pronounced in the French fashion, with relatively even accentuation and a silent d) was born in the Creole of Color community of downtown New Orleans, Louisiana.[1] Born in 1889, Freddie Keppard was Buddy Bolden’s junior by thirteen years and Louis Armstrong’s senior by eleven years. Keppard’s father, Louis Keppard (Sr.), had been a New Orleans man and had worked as a cook in the Vieux Café until his early death. His mother, Emily Peterson Keppard, was from St. James parish. His older brother Louis Keppard was his elder by one year and also became a professional musician later in life. The first tune they learned to play together was called “Just Because She Made Dem Goo-Goo Eyes”, a tune by Hughie Cannon and popular New Orleans minstrel show star John Queen, published in 1900.[2] Freddie Keppard was raised on Villere Street in New Orleans in a home environment filled with music. His mother first started him on the violin, while his brother Louis first played guitar. When he was still a young boy, he and Louis, who by then had become an aspiring guitarist, would disguise their age from police by putting on long pants before going to Basin Street to shine shoes for a nickel a shine, hoping to get in on the music scene and get advice or even tutelage from their favorite musicians in the District while shoe-shining.[1][3] As such, Keppard did not receive any formal musical training and may have been a non-reader who, instead of reading arrangements, most likely learned all of his parts by ear and used his powerful and imaginative abilities to improvise parts that were even better.[4]

text: Freddie played violin, mandolin, and accordion before switching to cornet. By the time he was ten years old, Freddie had already learned to play mandolin and was performing in a duo with Louis around their neighborhood. He did not begin playing cornet until he was sixteen.[3] This is most likely because, according to Louis Keppard, one strategy available to aspiring string players in those days was to switch to brass instruments in order to get more job opportunities with brass bands in parades. The Keppards’ mother apparently “didn’t think much of this music” until she saw them in their band uniforms, at which point Louis recalled that she became very proud.[2]

text: As Freddie and Louis grew older, both brothers became band leaders in their own right and became part of the competitive New Orleans jazz scene. Freddie Keppard organized the Olympia Orchestra around 1905. This band featured Alphonse Picou on clarinet. As a Creole band, the Olympia Orchestra would have been expected to play a wide repertoire for a variety of gigs, and therefore could play “legitimate” enough to get society jobs, yet “hot” enough to get jobs at the uptown jazz halls a few years later.[3] Louis Keppard led the Magnolia Orchestra, which became the regular band at Huntz’s and Nagel’s cabaret on Iberville in the District. The Magnolia Orchestra included Joe Oliver on cornet, who would later succeed Keppard’s title as "King" by winning a "cutting contest" against him.[2]

text: After playing with the Olympia Orchestra, Freddie Keppard joined Frankie Dusen's Eagle Band, taking the place recently vacated by Buddy Bolden. Soon after Bolden was off the music scene, Keppard was proclaimed "King Keppard" as the city's top horn player (see: jazz royalty). This was mostly because he kept Buddy's style, which was popular but had not been recorded. Indeed, many contemporaries have testified that Keppard's playing style was the closest to Bolden's that can be found in the history of jazz recordings and can be considered a more musical and sophisticated extension of Bolden's style: rugged and forceful, clipped and more staccato, and rhythmically closer to ragtime than later New Orleans jazz.[3]

text: Original Creole Orchestra[edit]

text: Sometime in either late 1911 or early 1912, bassist Bill Johnson, who had been making his career in Los Angeles, California since 1909, started the initiative to organize an “Original Creole Ragtime Band” to play the New Orleans style across the country. He invited players from his hometown of New Orleans, including Freddie Keppard, to join him in this enterprise. After Keppard accepted his invitation to play cornet for this band, Johnson managed to get Eddie Vinson on trombone, George Baquet on clarinet, Norwood Williams on guitar, Jimmy Palao on violin, and later Dink Johnson on drums. This group went on the Orpheum Theatre circuit out of San Francisco in 1913 as the "Original Creole Orchestra." In the following years, the band would tour Chicago and New York. In their 1915 performance at the Winter Garden, for a show entitled Town Topics, the group was billed as “That Creole Band.” Thus, Freddie Keppard was among the first musicians as well as the first cornetist to take the New Orleans ensemble style outside of the city.[3]

text: Keppard, who signed one photograph of himself with a caption describing himself as the “star cornetist” of the “Creole Ragtime Band,” probably considered himself the star of the Original Creole Orchestra. Although he was the youngest member of the band, he is perhaps the most well-known of all of its members and is more often mentioned in histories of jazz. This is most likely because he was one of the few members to make surviving recordings. Because of his relative fame compared to the other band members, many assume that the Creole Band was led by Keppard. There is, however, no evidence that Keppard played any major role in the organization of the band (planning tours and events, choosing songs for the repertoire, signing contracts, etc.). As such, Bill Johnson was most likely the leader of the group.[1]

text: From 1915 to 1917, the Original Creole Orchestra (sometimes also rendered as the "Original Creole Band") landed jobs at Loew’s Orpheum, Lexington Opera House, and the Columbia Theater, as well as a return performance to the Winter Garden. Newspaper reviewers in New York commented on the “rather ragged selection” of the band’s repertoire as well as the “comedy effect of the clarinet,” a testament to the American public's unfamiliarity with the “hot” style of New Orleans. During the band’s time on the east coast, other personnel who came to play in the Original Creole Orchestra included Bab Frank on piccolo and Big Eye Louis Nelson (De Lisle) on clarinet.[3]

text: The Original Creole Orchestra, after touring the Vaudeville circuit, gave other parts of the USA a first taste of the music that was not yet known as "jazz".[5] While playing a successful engagement in New York City in 1915 the band was offered a chance to record for the Victor Talking Machine Company. This would probably have been the first jazz recording. An often repeated story says that Keppard didn't want to record because then everyone else could "steal his stuff."[6] Another well known story is that he was so worried about being copied that he sometimes played with a handkerchief over his hand to conceal his fingering. Keppard’s famous tendency to hide his fingerings during performances, however, was most likely a publicity stunt intended only to amuse the crowd. After all, a real musician would steal by ear and not by eye.[3] In any case, the recording company offered him a $25 flat fee to make a record (a fairly standard rate for non-star performers at the time), far less than he was earning on the Vaudeville circuit. His retort to this offer, according to Lawrence Gushee, was: "Twenty-Five dollars? I drink that much gin in a day!" [7] The reminiscences of the other members of the Creole Orchestra reveal that another factor was that the Victor representative had asked them to make a "test recording" without pay. The band balked, fearing it was a ploy to have them make records without being paid. Another popular rumor which traveled through some of the New York jazz circles for some time also suggested that Keppard had refused to record because he had been afraid of being cheated by the record company and had demanded the same fees as that of the Victor Company’s highest paid and best-selling artist of the time, Enrico Caruso.[3]

text: The band continued touring successfully until the group finally broke up in 1918. According to Dave Peyton, who had been the leader of the Grand Theater Orchestra in 1915, the Original Creole Band had been so popular when the group hit Chicago that they “were bidded for by every theatrical agency in the city.” They were so popular, in fact, that, a few years after the band dissolved, Peyton asserted that “when they hit Broadway they were a great sensation and would be on the road today were it not for dissatisfaction among themselves and the loss of several of their members by death.”[1]

text: Career in Chicago[edit]

text: About 1917, Keppard settled in Chicago, which would remain his home (except for briefly going to the East Coast to work with Tim Brymn's band about 1920). Soon after he had settled himself into the Chicago jazz scene, however, King Oliver became Chicago's "cornet king" and was said to have attracted crowds by "thrusting his horn out of a window and blowing Keppard down."[3] Nevertheless, Keppard did well in finding continuous employment with a wide range of bandleaders, at one point leading his own group with Jimmie Noone on clarinet and Paul Barbarin on drums.

text: Keppard worked in Chicago both as a soloist and with the bands of Jimmie Noone, Johnny Dodds, Erskine Tate, Doc Cook (for several years), Don Pasqual, Lil Hardin Armstrong, Ollie Powers, and John Wycliffe, all of which were highly respected local bands.[1][3] Keppard was one of the first to bring jazz to the West Coast.[8]

text: Don Pasqual, who played reed instruments for Doc Cook for some time, had much to say about Keppard's contributions to Doc Cook's band:

text: “Keppard really gave the band a lift and then we really went to town. Later, Andrew Hilaire and Johnny St. Cyr joined the band. Doc Cook seldom wrote out any special parts for Freddie Keppard but would just give him his head and while we were playing the arrangements Keppard would do anything he wanted.” - Don Pasqual[3]

text: After he found steady employment in Chicago, Keppard's style helped create a demand for more New Orleans groups, paving the way for other New Orleans players seeking to migrate north. Throughout his travels, Keppard sent back clippings to his fellow musicians in New Orleans, encouraging other bands to take their chances on the cross-country circuits.[2]

text: Recordings and legacy[edit]

text: Sidney Bechet reportedly believed it was because Freddie Keppard was a “good-time guy” and no other reason that he didn’t immediately accept the Victor Company’s offer to make the first jazz recordings while he was still playing with the Original Creole Orchestra.[2] In other words, he simply didn't want to make the recordings because the Victor Company represented big business and commercialization. Thus, if Keppard had agreed to make recordings for them with the Original Creole Band, the music would no longer have been for pure enjoyment but would have been turned into a commodity.[1] Some[who?] also believe, however, that Keppard did make the recordings but that they may have been too “hot” for the mainstream marketing that the Victor Company had in mind. This is because, in the Victor Company files, there is a listing for an unnumbered test recording for a song called “Tack ‘em Down” made by one “Creole Jass Band” on December 2, 1918 (nearly two years after Keppard’s first performance in New York) that may have been Keppard and the Original Creole Band.[2][3]

text: In any case, the first official recordings of New Orleans or Dixieland jazz did not come out until the 1920s during the “Jazz Age,” nearly two decades after the “hot” New Orleans sound and style had first been developed. By the time musicians of color like Freddie Keppard were officially recording, the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, an all-white band, had already made the first jazz recordings and had dominated the market for jazz recordings with their million-dollar hit, “Livery Stable Blues.” Incidentally, the ODJB’s commercialized rendition of “Livery Stable Blues” was blatantly derived from a number which Freddie Keppard used to do quite famously. According to Keppard’s contemporaries, the barnyard effects which became emphasized in the ODJB’s “Livery Stable Blues” had been merely occasional jokes to the original players. As Mutt Carey, a fellow New Orleans trumpeter recalled, when Keppard was feeling good, “he’d get devilish sometimes and he’d neigh on the trumpet like a horse” just to be humorous.[2]

text: Keppard did not garner such a large following through occasional neighs and whinnies and barnyard gimmicks, however. Fellow musicians from Keppard’s time who had either worked with him or heard him play praised his technical abilities as well as his creativity. Mutt Carey, while respecting King Oliver, spoke prominently of Keppard as the king of New Orleans jazz, even calling him the very best cornetist before Louis Armstrong.

text: “Freddie had a lot of ideas and a big tone too. When he hit a note you knew it was a hit. I mean he had a beautiful tone and he played with so much feeling too. Yes, he had everything: he was ready in every respect. Keppard could play any kind of song good. Technique, attack, tone, and ideas were all there. He didn’t have very much formal musical education but he sure was a natural musician. All you had to do was play a number for him once and he had it… he was a natural! When Freddie got to playing… he was no freak man like Joe Oliver. Freddie was a trumpet player anyway you’d grab him. He could play sweet and then he could play hot. He’d play sweet sometimes and then turn around and knock the socks off you with something hot.” –Mutt Carey [3]

text: Willie Humphrey, a New Orleans jazz clarinetist, had also played with Freddie Keppard around the summer of 1919, at a time when half of New Orleans followed Joe Oliver and half the town followed Keppard. Humphrey recalled that Freddie Keppard was known as the musician’s musician, Jelly Roll Morton’s favorite musician, and “everybody’s all-star.”[2]

text: “Freddie had such beautiful tone. Such beautiful tone. Good ideas. Freddie played all over his horn. He had a different style altogether from Joe Oliver. Oliver was much rougher, you understand. Freddie was nice and light. Clear. You could be sitting right under him, and it would sound just as nice. But you could hear him two, three blocks away.” –Willie Humphrey [2]

text: Indeed, Jelly Roll Morton said of Freddie Keppard that he “had the best ear, the best tone, and the most marvelous execution I ever heard.”[3] Buster Bailey, a clarinetist who played with both Joe Oliver and Louis Armstrong, recalled that Keppard “could play as soft and as loud, as sweet and as rough, as you would want.” Alberta Hunter, a blues singer and another artist who had been largely forgotten until she made her comeback in her eighties, also wondered why Freddie Keppard was often overlooked or unmentioned in many accounts of the histories of jazz. “You know,” she reportedly said, “he doesn’t get the credit he should get.”[2]

text: Some of the commentary on Keppard’s playing, however, is admittedly quite contradictory. Of those who spoke of Keppard as a “freak player,” most referred to him in this way because of his ability to utilize a variety of mutes and playing techniques, such as flutter-tonguing and half-valving. Others, however, insist that Keppard was a “much straighter player” than Joe Oliver. Additionally, while qualified listeners like Jelly Roll Morton were full of praise for Keppard's playing style, others like the younger Louis Armstrong is said to have described Keppard's playing as "fancy" (in an unflattering sense of the word).[1]

text: Keppard made all his known recordings in Chicago from 1923 to 1927. The only recordings he is certainly on are three sides under his own name ("Freddie Keppard's Jazz Cardinals"), two with Erskine Tate's Vendome Orchestra, and a dozen with Doc Cook's Orchestra. These feature Keppard on second cornet. Second cornet was the logical and quite demanding seat for the premier cornetist in a two-cornet band, as evidenced by Louis Armstrong's role (one example of many) in similar sized bands and orchestras around the same period. His "Stockyard Strut" is an improvisation on the chords of "Tiger Rag". Keppard contributed to the Doc Cook recordings, where he plays the 'walking-talking' style of Stomp Cornet that pre-dates jazz by about a half generation. It follows ragtime by the same margin. Keppard may have appeared on a few other recordings; many more are often dubiously attributed to him. Keppard was widely imitated both in New Orleans and Chicago, including contemporaneous and highly regarded players such as Louis Panico and Frank Guarente. Other recordings Keppard made include songs titled "Salty Dog," "Adam's Apple," "Stomp Time Blues," and "Messing Around."[9]

text: Several musicians with clear memories of Buddy Bolden said that Freddie Keppard sounded the most like Bolden of anyone who recorded. This is how many jazz historians propose that Keppard got his fame but also how he lost it. Keppard did not have a sound of his own and he came up in between Buddy, Oliver, and Armstrong. Keppard was extremely talented but was not unique.[10] Others, like Lawrence Gushee, insist that Keppard did have a unique approach to playing the cornet, which simply became overshadowed by Louis Armstrong's powerful influence. Gushee describes Keppard as "frequently on top of the beat or [anticipating] it," making his "phrasing excitable, even tense." Whereas "Armstrong seems to favor extended four or eight-measure structure, Keppard [built] his units out of shorter modules" underscored by vibrato. Gushee also argues that Keppard used a much more "rapid vibrato, more like an ornament, that could be used anyplace in a phrase."[1]

text: Many contemporaries said that either Keppard was past his prime when he recorded or that his recordings do not do him justice, as Keppard's health was already declining by the time he recorded in 1926.[1][2][3] Even with the constraints, the recordings demonstrate that Keppard was a very proficient player and an adventurous improviser. Keppard's style is much more raggy and characterized by a "brusque and staccato style" compared to Oliver's blues-tinged style.[11] While Oliver had more admirers, to some extent preference was a matter of taste. Jelly Roll Morton, Lil Hardin Armstrong, and Wellman Braud all thought Keppard superior to Oliver.

text: Keppard suffered from alcoholism and tuberculosis in his final years, although he was such a dedicated player that he continued performing despite the onset of his illnesses. He was still playing loud in the early thirties in Chicago, although, according to contemporaries, no longer very well.[3] By 1932, Keppard was restricted in his employment most likely due to his continued physical degradation. According to medical records, he was completely unable to work by December 1932.[1] He died in Chicago in 1933, largely forgotten. However, trumpet player Bob Shoffner recalled that in 1931 when Louis Armstrong's band had been preparing to leave Chicago on a tour bus, Armstrong instructed the bus driver to stop in front of Keppard's apartment. The entire band then went up the stairs to offer their greetings to the "old-timer."[1]


document_title: Lokpal

question_text: the creation of the institution of lokpal was the first recommended by

root

text: Lokpal

text: History[edit]

text: The term "Lokpal" was coined by Dr. L.M.Singhvi in 1963. The concept of a constitutional ombudsman was first proposed in parliament by Law Minister Ashoke Kumar Sen in the early 1960s. The first Jan Lokpal Bill was proposed by Shanti Bhushan in 1968 and passed in the 4th Lok Sabha in 1969, but did not pass through the Rajya Sabha.[1] Subsequently, 'lokpal bills' were introduced in 1971, 1977, 1985, again by Ashoke Kumar Sen, while serving as Law Minister in the Rajiv Gandhi cabinet, and again in 1989, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2005 and in 2008, yet they were never passed.[2] Forty five years after its first introduction, the Lokpal Bill is finally enacted in India on 18 December 2013.

tag: p

text: The Lokpal Bill provides for the filing, with the ombudsman, of complaints of corruption against the prime minister, other ministers, and MPs. The Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) recommended the enacting of the Office of a Lokpal, convinced that such an institution was justified, not only for removing the sense of injustice from the minds of citizens, but also to instill public confidence in the efficiency of the administrative machinery.

text: Following this, the Lokpal Bill was, for the first time, presented during the fourth Lok Sabha in 1968, and was passed there in 1969. However, while it was pending in the Rajya Sabha, the Lok Sabha was dissolved, and thus the bill was not passed.

text: The bill was revived several times in subsequent years, including in 2011. Each time, after the bill was introduced to the House, it was referred to a committee for improvements, to a joint committee of parliament, or to a departmental standing committee of the Home Ministry. Before the government could take a final stand on the issue, the house was dissolved again. Several conspicuous flaws were found in the 2008 draft of the Lokpal Bill. The basic idea of a lokpal is borrowed from the Office of the Ombudsman, which has the Administrative Reforms Committee of a lokpal at the Centre,[clarification needed] and lokayukta(s) in the states.

text: Anna Hazare fought to get this bill passed[where?], and it did pass on 27 December 2011, around 9:30,[when?] with some modifications. These were proposed as the Jan Lokpal Bill. However, Hazare and his team, as well as other political parties, claimed that the Lokpal Bill passed was weak, and would not serve its intended purpose. So the proposed bill by the ruling Congress Party has yet to be accepted in the Rajya Sabha. As of 29 December 2011, the bill has been deferred to the next parliamentary session, amid much controversy and disruption by the LJP, RJD and SP parties. The media at large, and the opposition parties, claimed the situation had been staged.[3]

text: Jan Lokpal Bill movement[edit]

text: Jan Lokpal Bill (Citizen's Ombudsman Bill) is a draft anti-corruption bill drawn up by prominent civil society activists, seeking the appointment of a Jan Lokpal, an independent body that would investigate corruption cases, complete the investigation within one year and conduct trials for the case within the next year.

text: Drafted by Justice Santosh Hegde (a former Supreme Court Judge and former Lokayukta of Karnataka), Prashant Bhushan (a Supreme Court Lawyer) and Arvind Kejriwal (a RTI activist), the draft Bill envisaged a system in which a corrupt person found guilty would go to jail within two years of the complaint being made and his ill-gotten wealth confiscated. It also sought power for the Jan Lokpal to prosecute politicians and bureaucrats without requiring government permission.

text: Retired IPS officer Kiran Bedi and others, like Anna Hazare, Swami Agnivesh, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, and Mallika Sarabhai are also members of the movement, called India Against Corruption. Its website describes the movement as "an expression of collective anger of people of India against corruption." It goes on to state: "We have all come together to force/request/persuade/pressurize the Government to enact the Jan Lokpal Bill. We feel that if this Bill were enacted it would create an effective deterrence against corruption."

text: Anna Hazare, an anti-corruption crusader, began a fast-unto-death, demanding that this bill, drafted by Civil Society, be adopted. The website of the India Against Corruption movement calls the Lokpal Bill of the government an "eyewash", and hosts a critique of that government bill. It also lists the difference between the bills drafted by the government and civil

text: Features of the Jan Lokpal Bill[edit]

text:
An institution called Lokpal at the centre and Lokayukta in each state will be set up.
Like the Supreme Court and Election Commission, they will be completely independent of governments. No minister or bureaucrat will be to influence their investigations.
Cases against corrupt people will not linger on for years anymore: investigations in any case will have to be completed in one year. Trial should be completed in the next one year, so that the corrupt politician, officer or judge is sent to jail within two years.
The loss that a corrupt person caused to the government will be recovered at the time of conviction.
How will it help a common citizen? If the work of any citizen is not done in a prescribed time, in any government office, Lokpal will impose a financial penalty on the guilty officers, which will be given as compensation to the complainant.
So, you could approach Lokpal if your ration card or passport or voter card had not been made, or if the police are not registering your case, or if any other work is not being done within the prescribed time. Lokpal will have to get it done in a month's time. You could also report any case of corruption to Lokpal, like rations being siphoned off, poor quality roads being constructed or panchayat funds being siphoned off.
But won't the government appoint corrupt and weak people as Lokpal members? That won't be possible because its members will be selected by judges, citizens and constitutional authorities, not by politicians, through a completely transparent and participatory process.
What if some officer in Lokpal becomes corrupt? The entire functioning of Lokpal/ Lokayukta will be completely transparent. Any complaint against any officer of Lokpal will be investigated and the officer dismissed within two months.
What will happen to existing anti-corruption agencies? CVC, the departmental vigilance and anti-corruption branch of the CBI, will be merged into Lokpal. Lokpal will have complete powers and machinery to independently investigate and prosecute any officer, judge or politician.
It will be the duty of the Lokpal to provide protection to those who are being victimized for raising their voice against corruption.

tag: ol

text: Fundamental duties[edit]

text:
To judge the cases and make jurisdictions against corruption cases with the Lokpal.
To judge whether a case is genuine or whether a fake complaint has been made.
To potentially impose fines on a fake complaint, or even a short span of jail time, if the case is not proved to be legally true.

text: Anna Hazare, a Gandhian rights activist, had started a fast unto death at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi demanding the passing of the bill. Hazare called off his hunger strike on 9 April 2011, bringing to an end his 98-hour protest after the government issued a gazette notification constituting a 10-member Joint Committee of government ministers and civil society activists, including him, to draft a bill for the creation of an effective Lokpal. Thousands of people from all over India, especially youth, supported Anna Hazare's cause by attending candle lit marches and conducting online campaigns through social media.

text: Recently yoga guru, Swami Ramdev, fasted for this cause for 9 days from 4 to 12 June 2011. He wanted the Government of India to accept various demands, which mainly included those related to the Lokpall Bill.

text: Anna Hazare on 8 June 2011, declared that he would again fast unto death on 16 August, if the Lokpal bill were not passed by the Parliament of India by 15 August, which is the Independence Day of India.[4]

text: On 16 June, Civil Society reported that only 15 points, of 71, that they recommended have been agreed to by the Joint Committee consisting of five central ministers. Following differences with the Civil Society, the team of five central ministers decided to forward two drafts of the Lokpal Bill to the Cabinet, one from each side. Anticipating some sort of police action against his fast, intended for 16 August, social activist Anna Hazare said he would ask the Supreme Court to prevent any situation similar to the police crackdown on Baba Ramdev and his supporters at Ramlila Maidan.

text: "The government said, ‘we will suppress the agitation of Anna Hazare as had been done in the case of Ramdev’. Is this democracy or autocracy? You cannot suppress.... That is why we will go to the Supreme Court tomorrow," Hazare told reporters, adding "the Constitution has given right to every citizen to lodge a protest. We will launch the agitation from August 16."[5]

text: On 27 December 2011, the Lokpal bill was passed by the Lok Sabha after a day-long debate and amendments. The Indian Army, the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy have been kept out of the jurisdiction of the Lokpal. The bill also keeps the CBI independent.

text: The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013[edit]

text: The historic Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 was passed by Indian Parliament paving the way for establishment of a Lokpal (Ombudsman) to fight corruption in public offices and ensure accountability on the part of public officials, including the Prime Minister, but with some safeguards.

text: Lokpal will consist of a chairperson and a maximum of eight members, of which 50% will be judicial members 50% members of Lokpal shall be from SC/ST/OBCs, minorities and women. Selection of chairperson and members of Lokpal through a selection committee consisting of PM, Speaker of Lok Sabha, leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, Chief Justice of India or a sitting Supreme Court judge nominated by CJI. Eminent jurist to be nominated by President of India on basis of recommendations of the first four members of the selection committee "through consensus". Lokpal's jurisdiction will cover all categories of public servants. All entities (NGOs) receiving donations from foreign source in the context of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) in excess of Rs 10 lakh per year are under the jurisdiction of Lokpal. Centre will send Lokpal bill to states as a model bill. States have to set up Lokayuktas through a state law within 365 days.

text:
Lokpal will have power of superintendence and direction over any central investigation agency including CBI for cases referred to them by the ombudsman.
A high-powered committee chaired by the PM will recommend selection of CBI director. The collegium will comprise PM, leader of opposition in Lok Sabha and Chief Justice of India PM has been brought under purview of the Lokpal, so also central ministers and senior officials.
Directorate of prosecution will be under overall control of CBI director. At present, it comes under the law ministry.
Appointment of director of prosecution to be based on recommendation of the Central Vigilance Commission.
Director of prosecution will also have a fixed tenure of two years like CBI chief.
Transfer of CBI officers investigating cases referred by Lokpal with the approval of watchdog.
Bill incorporates provisions for attachment and confiscation of property acquired by corrupt means, even while prosecution is pending.
Bill lays down clear timelines for preliminary enquiry and investigation and trial. Provides for special courts Public servants will not present their view before preliminary enquiry if the case requires 'element of surprise' like raids and searches.
Bill grants powers to Lokpal to sanction prosecution against public servants.
CBI may appoint a panel of advocates with approval of Lokpal, CBI will not have to depend on govt advocates.

tag: ul


document_title: Grown Ups (film)

question_text: who plays lenny's wife in grown ups

question_tokens: who plays lenny 's wife in grown ups

text: Grown Ups (film)

text: Plot[edit]

text: In 1978, five childhood friends win their junior high school basketball championship. Afterwards, they celebrate at a rented lake house. The friends' coach, whom they nickname "Buzzer" (Blake Clark), encourages them to live their lives in a similar way to how they played the game. Thirty years later, Lenny (Adam Sandler) has become an ambitious Hollywood talent agent with his wife, fashion designer Roxanne (Salma Hayek), and his three children—daughter Becky (Alexys Nicole Sanchez) and two sons Greg (Jake Goldberg) and Keith (Cameron Boyce). The boys act very spoiled in his vicinity, much to his annoyance. Eric (Kevin James) claims he is now a co-owner of a lawn furniture company, but is disappointed in his wife Sally (Maria Bello) for continuing to breastfeed Bean (Morgan Gingerich), one of his two children, the other being Donna (Ada-Nicole Sanger). Kurt (Chris Rock) is a stay-at-home father with two children, Andre and Charlotte (Nadji Jeter and China Anne McClain). His wife Deanne (Maya Rudolph), the primary breadwinner of the family, is pregnant with another child and shares the house with her mother (Ebony Jo-Ann). Rob (Rob Schneider), nicknamed Carrot, has been divorced three times and holds custody of his daughters Jasmine, Amber, and Bridget (Madison Riley, Jamie Chung, and Ashley Loren). His current wife, Gloria (Joyce Van Patten), is 30 years older than him. Marcus (David Spade) is a slacker and lothario. All five friends regularly harass each other in comedic fashion throughout the film: Lenny for being rich, Eric for being overweight, Kurt for being skinny and useless, Rob for his continuous use of the joke "Maize!" and for having a much older wife, and Marcus for being sexually juvenile.

text: The friends each find out that Buzzer has died, and reunite at their hometown with their families, a first in the three decades. Intending to pay tribute to Buzzer at a private funeral, Lenny rents the lake house for the 4th of July weekend for his friends to stay at. However, Roxanne has planned a fashion show in Milan, forcing Lenny to retreat. While at the lake house, he becomes annoyed at how his sons are playing video games instead of being outdoors, and pushes them to play outside along with his friend's children. At a local restaurant, Lenny talks to his old nemesis, Dickie (Colin Quinn), who is still bitter towards Lenny for an error in the match, where his shot shouldn't have counted since he allegedly had his foot on the outside line. With this, Dickie challenges Lenny and his friends to a rematch, but he declines when commenting on Dickie's health. The next day, Buzzer's ashes are spread in the woods while Rob becomes depressed, lamenting his failed marriages, and later warns the arrival of his three daughters from the previous marriages. After having to deal with Jasmine, he then relaxes with his friends partaking in fishing. After joking on Rob, the others elect to cheer him up with a game of arrow roulette. Rob wins by staying in the circle for the longest time, but the arrow pierces his foot when it flies back down. Rob then snaps at Gloria for using a maize-covered poultice. That night, Lenny manages to get the kids interested in talking on cup-phones and Roxanne accidentally reveals herself to be the "Tooth Fairy" when Becky listens in. Now happy that they are enjoying a similar kind of young fun that he had, Lenny proceeds to install an extensive cup-phone network in the house.

text: Roxanne settles on staying at the lake house over going to the fashion show. The friends decide to visit a water park, where Bean learns to drink milk out of a carton and Marcus repeatedly flirts with Jasmine and Amber, having bought them skimpy bikinis. Rob kicks a ride attendant down a water slide when the latter insults Bridget for being less attractive than her sisters. Eric ignores Donna's warning about a chemical in the kiddie pool that turns urine blue, and chaos results when the urine is revealed. The spouses spot and attempt to attract a muscleman, but he is laughed off when revealed to have a high-pitched voice. Later, Lenny and the group go to the zip line and meet Dickie again, this time with his own group of friends and former teammates, including Wiley (Steve Buscemi), who overshoots the swimming pool sliding down the zip line by his feet, and slams into a shopping kiosk. He is hospitalized as a result. Lenny teaches his son how to shoot a perfect shot during basketball, and the friends then end the night by sharing a dance with their spouses. The next day, Roxanne picks up Lenny's phone and confronts him on lying about canceling their flight trip before she agreed on staying. Eventually, everyone concedes into admitting their own truths about how they feel with their lives. On their final day at the lake house, Lenny accepts the rematch once and for all, and plays against their former opponents. At the game-deciding shot, Lenny purposely misses to allow Dickie's team to get a proper win. Before the end of the film, Marcus plays another game of arrow roulette, but with a larger crowd of people this time. Everyone fearfully takes off, and Wiley (who is still paralyzed) gets his foot impaled by the arrow.

text: Cast[edit]

text: Main cast[edit]

text:
Adam Sandler as Lenny Feder

Michael Cavaleri as Young Lenny

Kevin James as Eric Lamonsoff

Andrew Bayard as Young Eric

Chris Rock as Kurt McKenzie

Jameel McGill as Young Kurt

David Spade as Marcus "Higgy" Higgins

Kyle Brooks as Young Marcus

Rob Schneider as Rob "Carrot" Hilliard

Joshua Matz as Young Rob

text: The Feder family[edit]

text:
Salma Hayek as Roxanne Feder
Jake Goldberg as Greg Feder
Cameron Boyce as Keith Feder
Alexys Nicole Sanchez as Becky Feder

text: The Lamonsoff family[edit]

text:
Maria Bello as Sally Lamonsoff
Ada-Nicole Sanger as Donna Lamonsoff
Frank and Morgan Gingerich as Bean Lamonsoff

text: The McKenzie family[edit]

text:
Maya Rudolph as Deanne McKenzie
Nadji Jeter as Andre McKenzie
China Anne McClain as Charlotte McKenzie

text: The Hilliard family[edit]

text:
Madison Riley as Jasmine Hilliard
Jamie Chung as Amber Hilliard
Ashley Loren as Bridget Hilliard

text: Other characters[edit]

text:
Joyce Van Patten as Gloria Noonan
Blake Clark as Coach Robert "Buzzer" Ferdinando
Victoria Cyr, Niece of Coach Buzzer[3]
Di Quon as Rita
Steve Buscemi as Wiley
Colin Quinn as Dickie Bailey

Hunter Silva as Young Dickie

Lisa M. (Seitz) Francis as Bailey's wife
Tim Meadows as Malcolm Fluzoo
Ebony Jo-Ann as Mama Ronzoni
Dan Patrick as Norby the Ride Guy
Tim Herlihy as Pastor
Norm Macdonald as Geezer
Jonathan Loughran as Robideaux

Connor Panzner as Young Robideaux

Dennis Dugan as Basketball Referee

text: Production[edit]

text: Filming commenced in Essex County, Massachusetts, in August, 2009.[4]

text: Release[edit]

text: Box office[edit]

text: Grown Ups grossed $162 million in the United States and $109.4 million in other territories for a worldwide gross of $271.4 million against a production budget of $80 million.[1] Happy with the gross, Adam Sandler showed his appreciation by buying brand-new Maserati sports cars for his four co-stars.[5][6] The film won at the 2011 MTV Movie Awards for the "Best Line from a Movie" category, which it won for the line "I want to get chocolate wasted!", delivered by Becky, played by Alexys Nycole Sanchez.

text: Critical response[edit]

text: On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 10% based on 164 reviews and an average rating of 3.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Grown Ups' cast of comedy vets is amiable, but they're let down by flat direction and the scattershot, lowbrow humor of a stunted script."[7] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 30 out of 100 based on 32 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[8] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[9]

text: Connie Ogle of the Miami Herald referred to it as "the perfect poster child for this maddening summer of movie mediocrity."[10] Rick Groen of the Globe and Mail criticized what he saw as blatant commercialism, saying the cast "lob[bed] gags they surely disdain at an audience they probably despise while reserving their own laughter for that off-camera dash all the way to the bank." Richard Roeper went as far as to say that it was "a blight upon the bright canvas of American cinema", and that he hated it.[11] Tom Long of the Detroit News called it "trite comedy" and "total garbage."[12] On the other end of the spectrum, Lisa Kennedy of the Denver Post called it "crude and decent-hearted" and "easy, breezy, predictable."[13]

text: Awards[edit]

text: Rob Schneider was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor for the film, but lost the trophy to Jackson Rathbone for both The Last Airbender and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.

text: Home media[edit]

text: Grown Ups was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on November 9, 2010.

text: Sequel[edit]

text: A sequel, titled Grown Ups 2, was released on July 12, 2013. Dennis Dugan, the director of the first film, returned as director. The main cast, including Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, Salma Hayek, Maya Rudolph, Maria Bello and Steve Buscemi reprised their roles, except Rob Schneider. New cast includes Andy Samberg, Taylor Lautner and Patrick Schwarzenegger. The sequel follows Lenny Feder as he relocates his family back to the small town where he and his friends grew up.[14] Like its predecessor, Grown Ups 2 received very poor reviews[15] but was still a box office hit.[16]


document_title: Jumanji

question_text: who plays the little girl in the original jumanji

text: Jumanji

text: Plot[edit]

text: In 1869, near Brantford, New Hampshire, two brothers bury a chest and hope that no one will ever find it.

text: A century later in 1969, Alan Parrish escapes a gang of bullies led by Billy Jessup and retreats to a shoe factory owned by his father, Sam. He meets Carl Bentley, an employee, who reveals a new shoe prototype he made by himself. Alan misplaces the shoe and damages a machine, but Carl takes responsibility and loses his job. After being attacked by Jessup's group, who also steal his bicycle, Alan follows the sound of tribal drumbeats to a construction site. He finds the chest containing a board game called "Jumanji" and brings it home. At home, after an argument with Sam about attending a boarding school, Alan plans to run away. Sarah Whittle, his friend, arrives to return his bicycle, and Alan shows her Jumanji and invites her to play. With each roll of the dice, the game piece moves by itself and a cryptic message describing the roll's outcome appears in the crystal ball at the center of the board. Sarah reads the first message on the board and hears an eerie sound. Alan then unintentionally rolls the dice after being startled by the chiming clock; a message tells him to wait in a jungle until someone rolls a 5 or 8. Alan is sucked into the game, and a colony of bats chases Sarah out of the mansion.

text: Twenty-six years later in 1995, Judy and Peter Shepherd move into the vacant Parrish mansion with their aunt Nora, after their parents died in an accident on a ski trip in Canada recently. Soon after, Judy and Peter find Jumanji in the attic and begin playing it. Their rolls release a swarm of big mosquitoes and a troop of monkeys. The game rules state that everything will be restored when the game ends, so they continue playing. Peter's next roll releases a lion and an adult Alan. As Alan makes his way out, he meets Carl, who is now working as a police officer since 1974. Alan, Judy and Peter go to the now derelict shoe factory, where a tramp tells Alan that after his disappearance, Sam and his wife, Carol-Anne abandoned the business and searched for Alan, until their deaths just four years earlier.

text: Realizing they need Sarah to finish the game, the three locate her, now suffering posttraumatic stress disorder after Alan's disappearance, and they persuade her to join them. Sarah's roll releases fast-growing carnivorous plants, and Alan's next roll releases a big-game hunter, Van Pelt. Judy's next roll releases a stampede of various animals, and a pelican snatches the game. Peter retrieves it, but Alan is arrested by Carl. Later, Van Pelt catches up to Alan's friends and steals the game. Peter, Sarah, and Judy follow Van Pelt to a department store, where they fight him, retrieve the game, and reunite with Alan. When the four return to the mansion, it is now completely overrun by jungle wildlife. They release numerous calamities, until Van Pelt arrives. When Alan drops the dice, he wins the game, causing everything that had happened as a result of the game to be reversed.

text: Alan and Sarah return to 1969 as children, but have full memories of the future events. Alan reconciles with his father and admits that he was responsible for the shoe that damaged the factory's machine to prevent Carl from getting fired, and Sam tells his son that he does not have to attend boarding school. Alan and Sarah throw Jumanji into a river and then share a kiss.

text: Twenty-six years later, Alan and Sarah are married and expecting their first child. Alan runs the factory after his parents retired. He and Sarah reunite with Judy and Peter (who have no memories of the game), and meet their parents Jim and Martha during a Christmas party. The Parrishes offer Jim a job and convinces the Shepherds to cancel their upcoming ski trip, before they strike up a friendship with them.

text: On a beach, two French-speaking girls hear drumbeats as Jumanji lies partially buried in the sand.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Robin Williams as Alan Parrish, a man trapped in Jumanji for 26 years
Adam Hann-Byrd as Young Alan
Bonnie Hunt as Sarah Whittle, Alan's friend who is traumatized by Jumanji and devastated by Alan's disappearance
Laura Bell Bundy as Young Sarah
Kirsten Dunst as Judith "Judy" Shepherd, Peter's older sister
Bradley Pierce as Peter Shepherd, Judy's younger brother
David Alan Grier as Carlton "Carl" Bentley, an employee at Sam's shoe factory and Alan's oldest friend, who later becomes a police officer
Jonathan Hyde as Van Pelt, a big-game hunter from Jumanji who is dead set to hunt Alan and other players to prevent them from winning the game
Hyde also portrays Samuel Alan "Sam" Parrish, Alan's father
Bebe Neuwirth as Nora Shepherd, Judy and Peter's aunt
Patricia Clarkson as Carol-Anne Parrish, Alan's mother
Malcolm Stewart as James "Jim" Shephard, Judy and Peter's father
Annabel Kershaw as Martha Shepherd, Judy and Peter's mother
Gary Joseph Thorup as William "Billy" Jessup, the leader of the bullies that picks on Alan for being friends with Sarah
James Handy as the Exterminator
Frank Welker provides the special vocal effects

text: Production[edit]

text: While Peter Guber was visiting Boston, he invited author Chris Van Allsburg, who lives in Providence, Rhode Island, to option his book. Van Allsburg wrote one of the screenplay's drafts, which he described as "sort of trying to imbue the story with a quality of mystery and surrealism".[2]

text: Tristar Pictures agreed to finance the film on the condition that Robin Williams play the starring role. However, Williams turned down the role based on the first script he was given. Only after director Joe Johnston and screenwriters Jonathan Hensleigh, Greg Taylor and Jim Strain undertook extensive rewrites did Williams accept.[3] Johnston had reservations over casting Williams because of the actor's reputation for improvisation, fearing that he wouldn't adhere to the script. However, Williams understood that it was "a tightly structured story" and filmed the scenes as outlined in the script, often filming duplicate scenes afterwards where he was allowed to improvise with Bonnie Hunt.[4]

text: Shooting took place in various New England locales, mainly Keene, New Hampshire, which represented the story's fictional town of Brantford, New Hampshire, and North Berwick, Maine, where the Olde Woolen Mill stood in for the Parrish Shoe Factory.[5][6] Additional filming took place in Vancouver, British Columbia, where a mock-up of the Parrish house was built.[7]

text: Special effects were a combination of more traditional techniques like puppetry and animatronics (provided by Amalgamated Dynamics) with state-of-the-art digital effects overseen by Industrial Light & Magic.[8][9] ILM developed two new software programs specially for Jumanji, one called iSculpt, which allowed the illustrators to create realistic facial expressions on the computer-generated animals in the film, and another that for the first time created realistic digital hair, used on the monkeys and the lion.[10] Actor Bradley Pierce (Peter) underwent three and a half hours of prosthetic makeup application daily for a period of two and a half months to film the scenes where he transformed into a monkey.[11]

text: The film was dedicated to visual effects supervisor Stephen L. Price, who died before the film's release.[12]

text: Release[edit]

text: Jumanji was released in theatres on December 15, 1995.

text: Home media[edit]

text: Jumanji was first released on VHS on May 14, 1996, and re-released as a Collector's Series DVD on January 25, 2000. This was followed by an initial Blu-ray release on June 28, 2011.[13] The Blu-ray was re-released as a 20th Anniversary Edition on September 14, 2015[14] (with the same transfer found on the 2011 release). A restored version was released on December 5, 2017 on Blu-ray and 4K UHD to coincide with the premiere of the sequel.[15][16]

text: Soundtrack[edit]

text:
Jumanji: Complete Motion Picture ScoreFilm score (Digital download)/Audio CD by James HornerReleased
November 21, 1995Length
51:04Label
Epic Soundtrax

tag: table

text: Commercial songs from film, but not on soundtrack

text:
"Una Voce Poco Fa"
Written by Gioacchino Rossini
Performed by Agnes Baltsa and the Vienna Symphony
Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Ian Marin
"Night & Day"
Written by Cole Porter
"Serenade in D, Op. 44"
Composed by Antonín Dvořák
Performed by Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields
Conducted by Neville Marriner
"Locomotive Breath"
Written by Ian Anderson
Performed by Jethro Tull
"The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle" (Theme from Gilligan's Island)
Written by Sherwood Schwartz & George Wyle
"Dark Continent (Native Terror)"
Composed by James Horner
"Was Unrleased after the Soundtrack Was Complete but it can be found in the OST"

text: Reception[edit]

text: Jumanji did well at the box office, earning $100.5 million in the United States and Canada and an additional $162.3 million overseas, bringing the worldwide gross to $262.8 million.[17][18]

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 53% from 36 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10.[19] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 39 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[20] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[21]

text: Van Allsburg of the Los Angeles Times approved of the film despite the changes from the book and its not being as "idiosyncratic and peculiar", declaring that "[t]he film is faithful in reproducing the chaos level that comes with having a jungle animal in the house. It's a good movie."[2]

text: Sequels and spin-offs[edit]

text: Zathura: A Space Adventure[edit]

text: Zathura: A Space Adventure, the spiritual successor that was marketed as being from the same continuity with varied uses of the tagline, "From the world of Jumanji"[22] was released as a feature film in 2005. Unlike the book Zathura, the film makes no references to the previous film outside of the marketing statement. Both films are based on books written by Chris Van Allsburg. With the films being based on books that take place in the same series, the films vaguely make reference to that concept from the novels by having a similar concept and themes.

text: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle[edit]

text: In July 2012, rumors emerged that a remake of the film was already in development. In a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, Columbia Pictures president Doug Belgrad said: "We're going to try and reimagine Jumanji and update it for the present."[23] On August 1, 2012, it was confirmed that Matthew Tolmach would be producing the new version alongside William Teitler, who produced the original film.[24]

text: On August 5, 2015, Sony Pictures Entertainment announced their plans to film a remake and set the release date as December 25, 2016.[25] Internet reception to this announcement was negative, with some posters remarking that this announcement came too soon after the death of Williams.[26][27] The news was also heavily criticized by Bradley Pierce and E! News, the latter of which stated that they felt that the remake was "unnecessary and kind of insulting".[28][29] On January 14, 2016, it was announced that Jake Kasdan will direct the remake.[30][31] On January 20, 2016, it was announced that the remake would be pushed back to July 28, 2017.[32] In April 2016, Dwayne Johnson signed on to produce and star in the remake,[33] while Variety, TheWrap and Deadline.com reported that Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Nick Jonas were in early talks to co-star.[34][35][36] In August 2016, Dwayne Johnson confirmed that the film would not be a remake, rather a continuation of the 1995 film and that it would be filmed in Hawaii.[37][38] In August, Johnson announced on Instagram that Karen Gillan has been cast in the film.[39][40] In September 2016, Johnson released a concept art of his character "The Smoldering" Dr. Bravestone.[41]

text: The film, officially titled Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, was released on December 20, 2017.

text: Jumanji 3[edit]

text: Jack Black, Dwayne Johnson, and Nick Jonas have discussed in interviews that they after the sequel what they don't know is a third installment would be dead. Karen Gillan has also said that an alternate ending for Welcome to the Jungle would have closed the door and make a Parental guidance sequel for the 1995 version of Jumanji .[42][43][44][45]

text: In other media[edit]

text: Television[edit]

text: An animated television series was produced between 1996 and 1999. While it borrowed heavily from the film – incorporating various characters, locations and props, and modeling Alan's house and the board game on the way they appeared in the film – the series retcons[jargon] rather than using the film's storyline. In the series version, on each turn the players are given a "game clue" and then sucked into the jungle until they solve it. Alan is stuck in Jumanji because he has not seen his clue. Judy and Peter try to help him leave the game, providing their motivation during the series. Sarah is absent from the series.

text: Games[edit]

text: Jumanji is a board game originally published by Milton Bradley in the US and MB Spiele in Germany in 1995.[46]

text: Jumanji is a North American-exclusive game for Microsoft Windows that was released on 1996 and based on the film. It was developed by Studio Interactive and published by Philips Media.[47] It contains five different action-arcade-based mini-games that are based on popular scenes from the film. Clips of cutscenes from the film can also be viewed.[48] There are five different mini-games that the player can choose from, with different rules and objectives. Animals from the film provide instructions to the player for each mini-game, except for the Treasure Maze mini-game, where the Jumanji board game spirit provides instructions instead. Notably, players cannot play the actual Jumanji board game from the film. All of these mini-games contain rounds (or levels) and when players reach a goal, that level is cleared and the player advances to a more difficult version of the mini-game. The player must try to score as many points as possible, and set the best high score.

text: A video game based on the film was released in Europe for the PlayStation 2 in 2006.[49]

text: In 2007, Fujishoji released a Pachinko game, using clips from the film and also used 3D rendered CGI anime character designs for the game as part of the screen interaction.

text: Legacy[edit]

text: In 2005 Jumanji was listed 48 in Channel 4's 100 Greatest Family Films documentary just behind Dumbo, The Lion King  and Spider-Man.

text: In 2011, Robin Williams recorded an audiobook for Van Allsburg's book's 30th edition to coincide its release.[50]

text: In 2014, a game board prop from the movie was auctioned on eBay and sold for US$60,800.[51][52]


document_title: James and the Giant Peach

question_text: where does james fly his giant peach to

question_tokens: where does james fly his giant peach to

text: James and the Giant Peach

text: Summary[edit]

text: Four-year-old James Henry Trotter lives with his loving parents in a beautiful cottage by the sea in the south of England, until his parents are killed by an escaped rhinoceros during a shopping trip in London.

text: As a result, James is forced to live with his two cruel aunts, Spiker and Sponge, in a run-down house on a high, desolate hill near the White Cliffs of Dover. For three years, James is treated as a drudge, forced to do hard labor, beaten for no reason, improperly fed, and forced to sleep on bare floorboards in the attic. One summer afternoon, after a particularly upsetting altercation with his aunts, James stumbles across a mysterious stranger, who gives him magic green "crocodile tongues" which, when drunk with water, will bring him happiness and great adventures. On the way to the house, James spills the crocodile tongues onto a barren peach tree, which then produces a single peach that quickly grows to nearly the size of a house. The next day, the aunts sell tickets to neighbors and tourists to see the giant peach while James watches from the window of his room in which he is locked up, to prevent him from getting in the way of his aunts' business.

text: When night comes, the aunts release James and send him to collect rubbish discarded by the crowd. James goes to take a closer look at the giant peach, but he discovers a tunnel, which leads to a secret room inside the peach's seed, inhabited by a rag-tag band of human-sized, talking invertebrates (an old green grasshopper, centipede, earthworm, spider, ladybug, and a silkworm), also transformed by the magic of the crocodile tongues given him earlier. These bugs then become James' companions in his adventure, and the companionship is prompted by a common hatred of the aunts. Upon James' arrival, the Centipede bites through the stem of the peach, whereupon it rolls down the hill early next morning, crushing and killing Spiker and Sponge on the way. Everyone inside the peach feels it rolling over the aunts and bursts out cheering. It rolls through villages, houses, and a famous chocolate factory before falling off the cliffs of Dover into the sea. James and the bugs emerge to find themselves floating in the sea but manage to sustain themselves on the delicious flesh of the peach. Hours later, near the Azores, the peach is surrounded by sharks. Using the Earthworm as bait, James and the others of the peach lure five hundred seagulls to the peach from the nearby islands, which they tie to the broken stem as a source of flight.

text: Now airborne, the peach crosses the Atlantic Ocean. At one incident, the Centipede entertains the others with ribald dirges to Sponge and Spiker, but in his excitement, he falls into the ocean and is rescued by James. That night, thousands of feet in the air, the giant peach floats through mountain-like, moonlit clouds, where the bugs and James discover the ghostly "Cloud-Men", who control the weather. As the Cloud-Men form hailstones to throw down to the world below, the Centipede insults them, and an army of Cloud-Men pelt the giant peach with hail. They escape and then encounter a rainbow which they smash through. One Cloud-Man pours a tin of "rainbow paint" onto the Centipede, briefly turning him into a statue before he is freed by a Cloud-Man who pours water on him. One Cloud-Man almost boards the peach by climbing down the silken strings tied to the stem, which the Centipede severs to release him. Thereafter, James and the bugs approach New York City; whereupon the military, police, fire department, and rescue services are all called, and people flee to air raid shelters and subway stations, believing the city is about to be destroyed.

text: A huge passenger jet flies past the giant peach and severs the silken strings connecting the seagulls to the peach, which is then impaled upon the tip of the Empire State Building. The people on the 86th floor at first believe the inhabitants of the giant peach to be monsters or extraterrestrials; but when James appears and explains his story, the people hail James and his friends as heroes. The remains of the giant peach are brought down to the streets, where it is consumed by the town's children, and its seed is established as a mansion in Central Park, where James lives, while his friends establish careers in the human world. In conclusion, James is said to have written the preceding story.

text: Characters[edit]

text:
James Henry Trotter – The eight-year-old protagonist of the book, who wants nothing more than to have friends and be happy. Though something of a dreamer, James is clever, kind-hearted, innocent, and ever-resourceful throughout his adventure in the giant peach, and his intuitive plans save his friends' lives on each occasion.
The Old Man – A friendly yet mysterious individual, who initiates James' adventure. In the 1980 re-printing of the book, with illustrations by Nancy Ekholm Burkert, he can be seen in the final illustration, amongst the New York City crowd.
Aunt Spiker – A dominating, cruel, malicious, and thoroughly repulsive woman; possibly the older of James' aunts. Spiker is described as tall and thin – almost emaciated – with steel glasses, and her speech produces spit whenever she gets angry or excited. James never hears her or her sister Sponge laugh, and they never call him by his name, but always refer to him as insults such as "you nasty little beast" or "you miserable creature". She seems to be the smarter of the aunts. She is destroyed by the giant peach in its escape. It is unknown if she and her sister Sponge are the sisters of James's mother or father, or (since the illustrations depict them as elderly) his great-aunts.
Aunt Sponge – Spiker's sister: a greedy, selfish, and morbidly obese woman, and equally as cruel and repulsive as Spiker, but seems to be less smart, and destroyed concurrently.
The Centipede – A male centipede, depicted as a boisterous rascal with a good heart, and perhaps James' closest friend in the peach. He is generally optimistic and even brave, but outspoken and rash. His sources of pride are his "100 legs", even though he has only 42, and his ancestral status of garden pest. He often asks for help with putting on his many boots, or taking them off, or shining them. In the last chapter of the book, it is revealed that he becomes Vice-President-in-Charge-of-Sales of a high-class firm of boot and shoe manufacturers.
The Earthworm – A male earthworm who often quarrels with the Centipede, and is frequently the most pessimistic of the protagonists, though on amicable terms with nearly all. In New York City, he becomes the mascot of a skin-cream company.
The Old Green Grasshopper – A male grasshopper, who (as the eldest) assumes an almost paternal role to James and the others. He is an accomplished musician; wherefore, he ultimately becomes a member of the New York Symphony Orchestra where his playing is greatly admired.
The Ladybug – A kind, motherly female ladybug who takes care of James. In the last chapter of the book, it is revealed that the Ladybug "married the head of the New York City Fire Department and lived happily ever after".
Miss Spider – A good-natured female spider who takes care of James. Generally friendly and decent in manner, but described by Dahl as having "a large, black and murderous-looking head, which to a stranger was probably the most terrifying of all". She has particular resentment toward Sponge, who caused the deaths of Miss Spider's father and grandmother. On the journey, Miss Spider makes hammocks for the others to sleep; and in the final chapter, becomes a tightrope manufacturer.
The Glowworm – A female glowworm, who quietly hangs from the ceiling at the center of the giant peach and provides lighting for the interior. After the adventure, she illuminates the Statue of Liberty's torch.
The Silkworm – A female Silkworm, who assists Miss Spider in the production of thread, both before and after the adventure. She is never seen to speak and is also the only one of James' travelling companions not to appear in the film adaptation.

text: References in the book to other Roald Dahl works[edit]

text: This section possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (February 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: James and the Giant Peach possibly references Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in the beginning and end of the novel (although its copyright date is three years earlier). When the peach rolls off the tree, it rolls through a "famous chocolate factory": a reference to Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. Towards the end of the book, people in New York City identify the protagonists, incorrectly, as Whangdoodles, Snozzwangers, Hornswogglers, or Vermicious Knids. All of those animals (except the last) are mentioned by Willy Wonka as predators of the Oompa-Loompas; and Vermicious Knids feature in the sequel book, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, when they try to link up with the Space Hotel U.S.A. It also references "the BFG" in the end of the novel: on the last page, James writes a recount of his adventure (the illustration shows him smiling with a book in his hands). This is also how the BFG ended. In both cases, the recounted stories are purported to be the books themselves .

text: Film adaptations[edit]

text: Though Roald Dahl declined numerous offers during his lifetime to have a film version of James and the Giant Peach produced, his widow, Liccy Dahl, approved an offer to have a film adaptation produced in conjunction with Disney in the mid-1990s.[6] It was directed by Henry Selick and produced by Denise Di Novi and Tim Burton, both of whom previously produced The Nightmare Before Christmas. The movie consists of live action and stop-motion to reduce production finances.[7] It was narrated by Pete Postlethwaite (who also played the wizard). The film was released on 12 April 1996.[8]

text: There are numerous changes in both the plot of the film and the plot of the book, though the film was generally well received. Liccy Dahl said that, "I think Roald would have been delighted with what they did with James."[6] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a positive review, praising the animated part, but calling the live-action segments "crude."[9] The movie was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Musical or Comedy Score (by Randy Newman). It won Best Animated Feature Film at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival. In August 2016, Sam Mendes was revealed to be in negotiations with Disney to direct another live action adaptation of the novel.[10] In May 2017, however, Mendes was no longer attached to the project due to him entering talks with Disney about directing a live-action film adaptation of Pinocchio.[11]

text: Musical adaptation[edit]

text: The book was made into a musical with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and book by Timothy Allen McDonald that premiered at Goodspeed Musicals in 2010 and is currently frequently produced in regional and youth theatre.

text: Editions[edit]

text:
2011 – ISBN 0-14-310634-1 (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition paperback, 50th anniversary, illustrated by Jordan Crane and Nancy Ekholm Burkert, introduction by Aimee Bender)
2003 – ISBN 0-06-054272-1 (audio CD read by Jeremy Irons)
1996 – ISBN 0679880909 (paperback, illustrated by Lane Smith)
1995 – ISBN 0-14-037156-7 (paperback, illustrated by Quentin Blake)
1994 – ISBN 1-55734-441-8 (paperback)
1990 – ISBN 0-14-034269-9 (paperback, illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark)
1980 – ISBN 0-553-15113-4 (Bantam Skylark paperback)
1961 – ISBN 0-394-81282-4 (hardcover)
1961 – ISBN 978-0-394-91282-0 (library binding, illustrated by Nancy Ekholm Burkert)