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Thelma & Louise
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Thelma & Louise
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
Ridley Scott
Produced by
Ridley Scott
Mimi Polk Gitlin
Written by
Callie Khouri
Starring
Susan Sarandon
Geena Davis
Harvey Keitel
Brad Pitt
Music by
Hans Zimmer
Cinematography
Adrian Biddle
Edited by
Thom Noble
Production
company
Pathé
Percy Main Productions
Star Partners III Ltd.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Distributed by
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
May 24, 1991 (1991-05-24)
Running time
129 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$16.5 million
Box office
$45.4 million (North America)[1]
Thelma & Louise is a 1991 American road film directed by Ridley Scott and written by Callie Khouri. It stars Geena Davis as Thelma and Susan Sarandon as Louise, two friends who embark on a road trip with disastrous consequences. The supporting cast include Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, and Brad Pitt, whose career was launched by the film.
The film became a critical and commercial success, receiving six Academy Award nominations and winning one for Best Original Screenplay for Khouri. Scott was nominated for Best Director, and both Sarandon and Davis were nominated for Best Actress. At its release the film stirred controversy. At the intersection of several genres, it is now considered a classic. It influenced other films and artistic works, and became a landmark of feminist film. In 2016, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Contents
[hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Reception
4.1 General
4.2 Feminism
4.3 Awards and honors
5 Soundtrack
6 See also
7 References
8 Further reading
9 External links
Plot[edit]
Best friends Thelma Dickinson and Louise Sawyer set out for a weekend vacation at a fishing cabin in the mountains, to take a break from their dreary lives in Arkansas. Thelma, a ditzy housewife, is married to a disrespectful and controlling man, Darryl, while sharp-tongued Louise works as a waitress in a diner, and is on-off dating a musician, Jimmy, who spends most of his time on the road.
On the way they stop for a drink at a roadhouse bar where Thelma meets and dances with a flirtatious stranger, Harlan. When he takes her outside to the parking lot to get some fresh air, he starts kissing her and taking her clothes off without her consent. Thelma resists but Harlan hits her, and then starts raping her. Louise finds them and threatens to shoot Harlan with the gun that Thelma brought with her. Harlan stops but as the women walk away, he yells that he should've continued the rape and insults them. Angry, Louise responds by shooting him dead, and the pair flee the scene.
At a motel, they discuss how to handle the situation. Thelma wants to go to the police but Louise fears they won't be believed and be subsequently charged for murder. They decide to go on the run, but Louise demands they travel from Oklahoma to Mexico without going through Texas. Something happened to Louise in Texas several years earlier and Thelma suspects it was exactly what had happened with Harlan but Louise adamantly refuses to discuss it. Heading west, the women come across an attractive young drifter, J.D., who Thelma quickly falls for, and she convinces Louise to let him hitch a ride with them. Louise then contacts Jimmy and asks him to wire transfer her life savings to her. When she goes to pick up the money, she finds that Jimmy has come to see her to deliver the money in person, and the two spend the night together. Jimmy proposes to Louise but she refuses. Meanwhile, Thelma invites J.D. to her room, and they sleep together. She then learns he is a thief who has broken parole.
The following morning, Thelma leaves J.D. in her motel room while she meets Louise downstairs for breakfast and, when they return, they discover J.D. has stolen Louise's life savings and fled. Louise is distraught, so a guilty Thelma takes charge and later robs a nearby convenience store using the tactics she learned from listening to J.D. Meanwhile, the FBI are getting closer to catching the fugitives after witnesses at the bar saw Louise's 1966 Ford Thunderbird convertible speeding out of the parking lot the night of the shooting. Their whereabouts are also questioned by the owner of the fishing cabin after the women failed to arrive for the weekend. Arkansas State Police Investigator Hal Slocumb leads the investigation and questions both J.D. and Jimmy, and taps into the phone line at Darryl's house. He discovers that Louise had been raped years earlier in Texas, so sympathizes with her situation and understands why they didn't report Harlan's murder to the authorities. During a couple of brief phone conversations with Louise, he expresses his sympathy and pledges to protect her, but is unsuccessful in his attempts to persuade her to surrender.
Thelma tells Louise she understands if she wants to go back home, knowing she has Jimmy waiting for her, but explains she can't go back to Darryl. Louise promises they will keep going together. The pair are later pulled over by a New Mexico state trooper for speeding. Knowing he will soon discover they are wanted for murder and armed robbery, Thelma holds him at gunpoint and locks him in the trunk of his police car, while Louise takes his gun and ammunition. They drive away from the scene and spend the next few nights heading further west. On the road, they encounter a foul-mouthed truck driver who repeatedly makes obscene gestures at them. They pull over and demand an apology from him, but when he refuses, they fire at the fuel tanker he is driving, causing it to explode.
Thelma and Louise are finally cornered by the authorities only one hundred yards from the edge of the Grand Canyon. Hal arrives on the scene, but he is refused the chance to make one last attempt to talk the women into surrendering. Rather than be captured and spend the rest of their lives in jail, Thelma proposes that they "keep going". Louise asks Thelma if she is certain, and Thelma says yes. They kiss, then Louise steps on the accelerator, and they ride the car over the cliff to their deaths.
Cast[edit]
Susan Sarandon as Louise Elizabeth Sawyer
Geena Davis as Thelma Yvonne Dickinson
Harvey Keitel as Detective Hal Slocumb
Michael Madsen as Jimmy Lennox
Christopher McDonald as Darryl Dickinson
Stephen Tobolowsky as Max
Brad Pitt as J.D.
Timothy Carhart as Harlan Puckett
Jason Beghe as State Trooper
Marco St. John as Truck Driver
Production[edit]
Although the setting for the film is a fictional route between Arkansas and the Grand Canyon, the movie was filmed almost entirely in the states of California and Utah. The primary filming locations for the movie are rural areas around Bakersfield, California and Moab, Utah. The Grand Canyon scenes were actually filmed just south of Dead Horse Point State Park in Utah.[2]
Reception[edit]
General[edit]
The film was an overwhelming critical success. Metacritic lists a composite critical score of 88 out of 100.[3] Rotten Tomatoes rates Thelma & Louise 83% "Fresh". Janet Maslin of The New York Times had only praise for the film in her review: "Mr. Scott's Thelma and Louise, with a sparkling screenplay by the first-time writer Callie Khouri, is a surprise on this and many other scores. It reveals the previously untapped talent of Mr. Scott (best known for majestically moody action films like Alien, Blade Runner and Black Rain) for exuberant comedy, and for vibrant American imagery, notwithstanding his English roots. It reimagines the buddy film with such freshness and vigor that the genre seems positively new. It discovers unexpected resources in both its stars, Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis, who are perfectly teamed as the spirited and original title characters."[4] Roger Ebert also praised the film, but withheld a perfect score on the basis of "the last shot before the titles begin. It's a freeze frame that fades to white, which is fine, except it does so with unseemly haste... It's unsettling to get involved in a movie that takes 128 minutes to bring you to a payoff that the filmmakers seem to fear."[5]
The film was screened out of competition at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival.[6] After watching the film, singer-songwriter Tori Amos wrote "Me and a Gun", the story of her rape six years earlier, which she had told only a few people about before watching this film. Affected by a scene in the movie, Amos began sobbing publicly in a crowded movie theater and writing the lyrics to the song in her head.[7]
Argentinian singer and musician Fito Páez wrote a hit song called "Dos días en la vida" ("Two days in one lifetime") after watching this movie. The lyrics tell the story of the main characters, with verses played by singers Fabiana Cantilo (in the role of Thelma) and Celeste Carballo (Louise). It was one of the most successful singles from his 1992 album El amor después del amor.
The final scene, where the two embrace each other before driving off a cliff, has become iconic. Numerous homages and parodies of the scene have appeared, including alternate movie endings, cartoon parodies, video game "Easter Eggs", and as a tragic ending to television series, music videos and commercials.[clarification needed]
The film also received harsh and significant criticism from those who thought it was anti-male and that its depictions of men were unfairly negative.[8][9]
Feminism[edit]
Numerous critics and writers have remarked on the feminist overtones of Thelma & Louise. Film critic B. Ruby Rich praises the film as an uncompromising validation of women's experiences,[10] while Kenneth Turan calls it a "neo-feminist road movie".[11] In her essay "The Daughters of Thelma and Louise", Jessica Enevold argues that the movie constitutes "an attack on conventional patterns of chauvinist male behavior toward females". In addition, it "exposes the traditional stereotyping of male–female relationships" while rescripting the typical gender roles of the road movie genre.[12]
In her review for The Los Angeles Times, film critic Sheila Benson objects to the characterization of the film as feminist, arguing that it is more preoccupied with revenge and violence than feminist values.[13]
In an article commemorating the film's 20th anniversary in 2011, Raina Lipsitz called it "the last great film about women" and said that it heralded the achievements of women that caused 1992 to become "the year of the woman". However, she also said that women-themed films have since been losing ground.[14]
Awards and honors[edit]
Khouri won an Academy Award for Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen; Scott, Davis, Sarandon, cinematographer Adrian Biddle, and film editor Thom Noble were nominated for Oscars.
Award
Category
Nominee
Result
Boston Society of Film Critics Best Actress Geena Davis Won
British Society of Cinematographers Best Cinematography Award Adrian Biddle Nominated
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Actress Geena Davis Nominated
NBR Award Best Actress Susan Sarandon Won
Geena Davis
Top Ten Films Won
Saint Jordi Award Best Foreign Actress Susan Sarandon Nominated
Golden Spike Award Ridley Scott Won
(tied with The Adjuster)
Academy Award Best Original Screenplay Callie Khouri Won
Best Actress in a Leading Role Geena Davis Nominated
Susan Sarandon
Best Cinematography Adrian Biddle Nominated
Best Director Ridley Scott Nominated
Best Film Editing Thom Noble Nominated
BAFTA Award Best Actress Geena Davis Nominated
Susan Sarandon
Best Cinematography Adrian Bibble Nominated
Best Direction Ridley Scott Nominated
Best Editing Thom Noble Nominated
Best Film Ridley Scott
Mimi Polk Gitlin Nominated
Best Original Film Score Hans Zimmer Nominated
Best Screenplay – Original Callie Khouri Nominated
Bodil Award Best Non-European Film Ridley Scott Won
Chicago Film Critics Association Best Actress Geena Davis Nominated
Susan Sarandon
Best Director Ridley Scott Nominated
Best Picture Nominated
Best Screenplay Callie Khouri Nominated
César Award Best Foreign Film Ridley Scott Nominated
David di Donatello Award Best Foreign Actress Geena Davis Won
Susan Sarandon
Best Foreign Film Ridley Scott Nominated
DGA Award Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures Ridley Scott Nominated
Golden Globe Award Best Screenplay – Motion Picture Callie Khouri Won
Best Motion Picture – Drama Nominated
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama Geena Davis Nominated
Susan Sarandon
Silver Ribbon Best Female Dubbing Rossella Izzo
(voice of Louise) Won
Best Foreign Director Ridley Scott Nominated
Critics' Circle Film Awards Actress of the Year Susan Sarandon
(also for White Palace) Won
Director of the Year Ridley Scott Won
Film of the Year Won
MTV Movie Award Best Female Performance Geena Davis Nominated
Best On-Screen Duo Geena Davis
Susan Sarandon Nominated
NSFC Award Best Supporting Actor Harvey Keitel
(also for Bugsy and Mortal Thoughts) Won
Best Actress Susan Sarandon Nominated
Literary Award Screenplay Callie Khouri Won
Writers Guild of America Award Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Won
The British Film Institute published a book[13] about the film in 2000, as part of a Modern Classics series. On the Writers Guild of America Award's 101 Best Screenplays List it made No. 72.[15] The film was ranked on the Australian program 20 to 1, in the episode Magnificent Movie Moments.
American Film Institute lists
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies – Nominated
AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills – No. 76
AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains: Thelma Dickinson & Louise Sawyer – No. 24 Heroes
AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers – No. 78
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – Nominated
Soundtrack[edit]
Pete Haycock on slide guitar contributed to Thunderbird, the theme music for the film.[16] In addition to Glenn Frey's "Part of Me, Part of You", which became the film's primary theme song, the soundtrack included songs by Chris Whitley, Martha Reeves, Toni Childs, Marianne Faithfull, Charlie Sexton, Grayson Hugh, B.B. King, and Michael McDonald.
See also[edit]
Social bandit
References[edit]
Jump up ^ "Thelma and Louise (1991)". Box Office Mojo. 1991-08-06. Retrieved 2012-06-15.
Jump up ^ "Movies filmed in the Moab area". Moab Area Travel Council. Retrieved 2008-07-29.
Jump up ^ "Thelma & Louise Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More". Metacritic. Retrieved 2012-06-15.
Jump up ^ "Thelma & Louise (1991)" The New York Times. May 24, 1991.
Jump up ^ Roger Ebert. "Thelma & Louise". Chicago Sun-Times.
Jump up ^ "Festival de Cannes: Thelma & Louise". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-08-12.
Jump up ^ "Chasing Away the Demons, 20/20 Interview with Tori Amos". Healthy Place Inc. 1999-02-15. Retrieved 2008-11-08.
Jump up ^ "Is This What Feminism Is All About?" Time, June 24, 1991.
Jump up ^ "Callie Khouri Answers Critics Of 'Thelma And Louise'" Chicago Tribune. July 7, 1991.
Jump up ^ Rich, B. Ruby (February 18, 2003). "Two for the Road". The Advocate: 48–49.
Jump up ^ Dunne, Michael (2001). Intertextual Encounters in American Fiction, Film, and Popular Culture. Bowling Green State University Popular Press. p. 89. ISBN 0-87972-848-5.
Jump up ^ Enevold, Jessica (2004). "The Daughters of Thelma and Louise". Gender, Genre & Identity in Women's Travel Writing. New York. pp. 73–95. ISBN 0-8204-4905-9.
^ Jump up to: a b Sturken, Marita (2000). Thelma and Louise. London: British Film Institute. p. 11. ISBN 0-85170-809-9.
Jump up ^ "'Thelma & Louise': The Last Great Film About Women" The Atlantic, August 31, 2011.
Jump up ^ Writers Guild of America, West: 101 list
Jump up ^ Pierre Perrone (November 22, 2013). "Pete Haycock: Guitarist with the Climax Blues Band who went on to write film music for John Badham and Franc Roddam". The Independent. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
Further reading[edit]
Fournier, Gina. Thelma & Louise and Women in Hollywood. McFarland & Co., Inc. Publishers, 2007
Cook, Bernie, editor. Thelma & Louise Live! The Cultural Afterlife of an American Film, The University of Texas Press, 2007
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Thelma & Louise
Official website
Thelma & Louise on IMDb
Thelma & Louise at AllMovie
Thelma & Louise at the TCM Movie Database
Thelma & Louise at Rotten Tomatoes
Thelma & Louise at Box Office Mojo
Thelma & Louise at The Numbers
Thelma and Louise – Original Trailer on YouTube
[show]
v
t
e
Films directed by Ridley Scott
Feature films
The Duellists (1977)
Alien (1979)
Blade Runner (1982)
Legend (1985)
Someone to Watch Over Me (1987)
Black Rain (1989)
Thelma & Louise (1991)
1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992)
White Squall (1996)
G.I. Jane (1997)
Gladiator (2000)
Hannibal (2001)
Black Hawk Down (2001)
Matchstick Men (2003)
Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
A Good Year (2006)
American Gangster (2007)
Body of Lies (2008)
Robin Hood (2010)
Prometheus (2012)
The Counselor (2013)
Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014)
The Martian (2015)
Alien: Covenant (2017)
All the Money in the World (2017)
Other work
Boy and Bicycle (1965; short film)
1984 (1984; advertisement)
Unrealized projects
[show]
v
t
e
London Film Critics' Circle Award for Film of the Year
Apocalypse Now (1980)
Chariots of Fire (1981)
Missing (1982)
The King of Comedy (1983)
Paris, Texas (1984)
The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
A Room with a View (1986)
Hope and Glory (1987)
House of Games (1988)
Distant Voices, Still Lives (1989)
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1990)
Thelma & Louise (1991)
Unforgiven (1992)
The Piano (1993)
Schindler's List (1994)
Babe (1995)
Fargo (1996)
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
American Beauty (1999)
Being John Malkovich (2000)
Moulin Rouge! (2001)
About Schmidt (2002)
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
Sideways (2004)
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
United 93 (2006)
No Country for Old Men (2007)
The Wrestler (2008)
A Prophet (2009)
The Social Network (2010)
The Artist (2011)
Amour (2012)
12 Years a Slave (2013)
Boyhood (2014)
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
La La Land (2016)
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List of This Is Us characters
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This Is Us is an American television series created by Dan Fogelman that premiered on NBC on September 20, 2016.[1] The ensemble cast stars Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore, Sterling K. Brown, Chrissy Metz, Justin Hartley, Susan Kelechi Watson, Chris Sullivan, and Ron Cephas Jones.
Contents
[hide]
1 Main characters
1.1 Jack Pearson
1.2 Rebecca Pearson
1.3 Randall Pearson
1.4 Kate Pearson
1.5 Kevin Pearson
1.6 Beth Pearson
1.7 Toby Damon
1.8 William Hill
1.9 Miguel Rivas
1.10 Sophie
1.11 Tess Pearson
1.12 Annie Pearson
2 Recurring characters
2.1 Introduced in season one
2.2 Introduced in season two
3 Guest stars
3.1 Introduced in season one
3.2 Introduced in season two
4 References
Main characters[edit]
Jack Pearson[edit]
Jack Pearson (born August 31, 1944–died 1996 or 1997), portrayed by Milo Ventimiglia, is Rebecca's husband, and the father of Kate, Kevin, and Randall.[2] Jack had a brother named Nick.
Jack had a rough childhood because of his abusive, alcoholic father Stanley Pearson, causing them to have a strained relationship. Stanley did not know that Jack was married, so when Jack found out that he and Rebecca were expecting triplets, he went to his father asking for money, citing gambling debts, rather than telling him that he intended to buy a house for his family. When Stanley was in the nursing home dying, he met Rebecca and his granddaughter Kate for the first time. Jack was camping with Kevin and Randall when Rebecca contacted him about his father dying, but Jack refused to see him.[3]
Jack was drafted into the Army at age 25; he served in the Vietnam War as a mechanic.[4][5] When Jack took Randall to Washington, D.C. on a college tour to Howard University, he then took Randall to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and told him about being drafted and how the war affected him; this may have been the first time that Jack shared about his Vietnam experiences to a member of the Pearson family (including Rebecca).[5][6]
After serving in the war, and working as a manual laborer, Jack became a construction foreman. When he wanted to buy the house for his family, he approached his boss and got a raise to $17,000 a year (equivalent to more than $49,000 in 2016), making him the highest paid foreman at the company.[7] He dreamed of opening his own firm, "Big Three Homes", but put his dreams on hold in order to provide a steady income for his children by getting a desk job.[8]
Two of the triplets (the third triplet was stillborn) and Randall (who was left at a fire station) were all born on Jack's 36th birthday.[2] Jack always wanted to find out who Randall's biological father was, and never knew that Rebecca had found him.[9]
Jack struggled with alcoholism while the children were young, but he stopped drinking to focus more on his family.[10] However, he relapsed into alcoholism when he had a drink after a fight due to a disagreement with his wife, who wanted to go on tour with a band with a member she'd once dated.[11] His drinking continued for some time until he decided to deal with the problem, at first by boxing, and then by attending AA meetings.[12] His sobriety and AA work continued for at least 6 months.[5]
Jack died while his children were in high school, and Kate keeps his ashes with her.[13][14] The exact cause of Jack's death has not yet been revealed, but the Pearson house is seen by Rebecca after being burnt in a fire.[15]
Rebecca Pearson[edit]
Rebecca Pearson née Malone (born 1950 or 1951), portrayed by Mandy Moore, is Jack's wife, and the mother of Kate, Kevin, and Randall.[2]
She strives to be a better mother to her children,[16] and has issues with Jack's alcoholism.[10] She has always known that William is Randall's father, but kept them apart as she was afraid that he would try to take Randall back.[9]
Rebecca always wanted to be a singer, but gave up on her dreams in order to focus on her family.[17] In the mid 1990s, she had a chance to become a singer again by joining a band with her ex-boyfriend. Jack was upset after finding out about their history, which caused a rift between Rebecca and Jack.[11]
About 8 years after Jack's death, Rebecca posted pictures of Tess, her new first grandbaby, on Facebook, then got a message from Jack's best friend, Miguel Rivas.[18] Rebecca later married Miguel.[10]
Randall Pearson[edit]
Randall Pearson (born August 31, 1980), portrayed by Sterling K. Brown (current day), Niles Fitch (age 15), and Lonnie Chavis (ages 8–10), is Jack and Rebecca's (adopted) son, and Kate and Kevin's brother.[2] On his 36th birthday, he found his biological father, William, and invited him to his northern New Jersey home.[2]
Randall worked at selling commodity futures based on weather patterns, and was shown to be successful and affluent.[8] However, after a nervous breakdown and some time off, he felt that his firm did not appreciate or respect him, and quit.[11][19]
On the day that Randall was born, he was dropped off in front of a firehouse by his biological father, William, and then taken to the hospital, where he was adopted by Jack and Rebecca.[2] Jack and Rebecca originally named him Kyle (the name they had intended for their third child, who was stillborn). Taking William's advice, Rebecca decided to give him his own name, naming him after William's favorite poet, Dudley Randall, although she refused to let William see Randall.[2][20] This allowed them to honor both their stillborn son's memory and Randall, rather than essentially replacing one son with the other.
At age nine, Randall’s teacher informed Jack and Rebecca that Randall was a gifted child who was not being challenged enough at his current school. They decided to remove him from public school and send him to Hanes Academy.[8] In high school Randall played football, wearing number 36.[17]
Randall and Kevin had an estranged relationship and didn't reconnect until they were 36 years old. At some points, Kevin openly despised Randall.[10] At a high school football game, where they played on opposing teams, they got in a fight.[17] However, there were also some moments when they acted like brothers.[3] (When they were 36, they got in a fight on the street in New York, but Kevin told onlookers they were brothers.)[17]
As an adult, Kevin was hurt that Randall didn't seem to care about his acting career.[17] They began to reconnect when Kevin needed Randall's advice, but Randall coldly told him he shouldn't care what he thinks. Eventually, Kevin moved to Randall's house in New Jersey, but they still had some work to do on building their relationship.[21] He loves Thanksgiving and has his family recreate a specific childhood Thanksgiving every year, including a 3.4 mile hike, watching Police Academy 3: Back in Training, and imitating a hotel owner known as "Pilgrim Rick".[22]
In season 2, Randall wanted to adopt a baby (to honor his father's legacy), but decided (with Beth's input) to foster an older child who may need help.[4][15] They fostered a 12-year old girl named Deja, whose mother Shauna was incarcerated. She showed signs of physical abuse, but Randall and Beth started to win her trust and get her to open up.[23][24][3] When the charges against Shauna were dropped, Deja went back home with her (over Randall's initial objections). Randall and Beth planned to try fostering again after some time.[5]
Kate Pearson[edit]
Kate Pearson (born August 31, 1980), portrayed by Chrissy Metz (current day), Hannah Zeile (age 15), and Mackenzie Hancsicsak (ages 8–10), is Jack and Rebecca's daughter, and Kevin and Randall's sister.[2]
Kate is obese and has struggled with issues of self-esteem her entire life, which she greatly attributes to her strained relationship with her mother and the death of her father.[2][19] Her relationship with her mother led to depression, for which she later took Prozac. She discontinued taking this drug due to the side effect of weight gain.[25]
Kate lives in Los Angeles and was her brother, Kevin's, personal assistant.[20] When Kevin decided to move to New York, he fired her in order to allow her to build her own life, apart from him.[21] She is an ardent Pittsburgh Steelers fan and has a routine where she watches the games with her dad's ashes.[13] At nine years old, she had her appendix removed on Christmas Eve.[25]
Kate decided to join a weight-loss support group, where she met Toby. Despite saying that she was not going to get involved with a fat person, she fell for Toby.[2] When Toby decided to not continue with his diet, Kate broke up with him and decided to go to Randall's for Thanksgiving. During a turbulent plane ride to New Jersey, Kate had an epiphany and decided to have gastric bypass surgery.[22] After consulting with a doctor, she instead decided to enter a fat camp to attempt to lose the weight without surgery.[14] When Toby surprised Kate by showing up at Randall's house for Christmas, he told her that he can live without pizza and junk food, but that he cannot live without her.[25] Toby collapsed from a heart attack, and was taken to the hospital.
After Toby's heart surgery, Kate and Toby decided to get engaged.[26] Kate later found out she was pregnant.[24] Kate and Toby announced their pregnancy to Kevin, and planned to get married at city hall, but then considered a big wedding.[27] But Kate lost the baby in a miscarriage.[28] Despite some struggle in their relationship after the miscarriage, Toby eventually came through for Kate.[28]
Kate had said that her father's death was her fault (although this claim has not been clarified or explained).[19]
Kevin Pearson[edit]
Kevin Pearson (born August 31, 1980), portrayed by Justin Hartley (current day), Logan Shroyer (age 15), and Parker Bates (ages 8–10), is Jack and Rebecca's son, and Kate and Randall's brother.[2]
Shortly before his tenth birthday, Kevin became attracted to Kate's best friend, Sophie, whom he married when they were older. Kevin and Sophie decided that she would stay in New York and he would move to California to pursue acting, believing that their marriage could handle the distance. Kevin and Sophie later divorced, 12 years prior to season 1, due to the distance and Kevin cheating on her.[14][29]
Kevin has always struggled with worrying about what people think of him, which caused him to have a strained relationship with Randall as they grew up.[10] Kevin was visibly envious of Randall, who had always excelled in everything and received more attention from their parents, but he didn't realize that Randall has longed for the same attention from him. In high school he played football, as a quarterback, wearing number twelve one year and number one the next[17][30] (His number one jersey was on display with Kevin's trophies when he visited the high school at age 37, for an alumni celebration.)[30] His goal of a football career ended when his knee was injured from a tackle during a game.[30]
Kevin was an actor in Los Angeles, starring as the lead on a long-running sitcom called The Manny, a sitcom in the tradition of Who's the Boss and The Nanny. He abruptly quit that show on his 36th birthday, criticizing the script quality, the producer's reluctance to add nuance to the show, and the audience.[2] After quitting his job, Kevin decided to move to New York to pursue a career as a serious stage actor on Broadway.[21] Upon arriving in New York, he got hired as the lead role, David, in Back of an Egg, opposite a cynical actress named Olivia Maine (who thought Kevin did not have the ability, but that Kevin was hired because his being "The Manny" would sell tickets).[21]
When Kevin had trouble connecting with the emotions needed for his role, he began spending time with Olivia, who tried to get him to connect with his feelings.[8] Kevin and Olivia briefly dated, but broke up after she brought her ex-boyfriend to the Pearson family cabin.[9] After his breakup with Olivia, Kevin began dating the writer of the play, Sloane Sandburg, attending Hanukkah with her family and inviting her to the Christmas Eve party at Randall's house.[25]
Sloane took over as the lead of the play when Olivia disappeared and the play was at risk. Kevin decided to self-fund the performance, in order to save it.[7] After Kevin and Sloane broke up, he reconnected with Sophie and began a relationship with her again.[14][19]
Director Ron Howard saw Kevin's play and had him cast in a war movie.[19] Kevin had trouble with his lines when he could not focus after, when Kate (visiting the set) talked with costar Sylvester Stallone about her dad, Stallone talked to Kevin about his dad. Kevin also reinjured his knee (that was injured from football) during an explosion on the set.[23]
As a result of the injury, Kevin became addicted to pain medication and alcohol, and allowed his relationship with Sophie to deteriorate.[27] One day after a brief visit with Randall, Kevin was speeding down a road, unaware that Tess was hiding in the back seat; Kevin was pulled over and charged with DUI, and Randall and Beth became angry with Kevin for endangering Tess.[5]
Beth Pearson[edit]
Beth Pearson, portrayed by Susan Kelechi Watson, is Randall's wife, whom he met in college and later married, circa 1999. The couple has two daughters, Annie and Tess.[10] Their marriage is based on honesty where they make an effort not to have secrets from one another. William revealed to Beth that he had met and communicated with Rebecca. This caused Beth to give Rebecca an ultimatum: to either tell Randall or she would. Growing up, Beth lived in a three-bedroom house with 14 other people.[17] After Randall quit his job, Beth took a job so Randall could be a stay-at-home dad.[15]
Toby Damon[edit]
Toby Damon, portrayed by Chris Sullivan. is Kate's fiancé.[26] Toby was born in Palm Springs, California.[7] Toby began dating Kate after they met at a weight-loss support group.[2] Toby is confident with his own body although obese, and encourages Kate to have better self-esteem. He was previously married to a woman whom Kate views as beautiful and successful, but who treated him badly. Toby gained 90 pounds in the first year after his divorce.[21]
Refusing to take Kate's hesitance about the relationship lightly, Toby has continually come up with sweet gestures to win her over.[20] In the beginning, he felt that he had to compete with Kevin for Kate's attention.[20] Despite breaking his weight-loss goals, Toby decided dieting was not for him and went off his diet, resulting in Kate breaking up with him.[9] He surprised Kate by showing up at Randall's house for Christmas Eve, stating that he could live without pizza and junk food, but that he could not live without her.[25] On Christmas Eve, Toby collapsed and ended up in the hospital with an arrhythmia.[7] After Toby's heart surgery, he and Kate decided to get engaged.[26]
William Hill[edit]
William H. "Shakespeare" Hill (died 2017), portrayed by Ron Cephas Jones (recent days) and Jermel Nakia (as a young adult), was Randall's biological father.[20]
William was a recovering drug addict who was suffering from terminal stage-four stomach cancer in the present.[21] He grew up in Memphis,[14] and after his mother moved to Pittsburgh he stayed in Memphis to play in his cousin Ricky's band, where he played piano, wrote, and sang.[31] William left the band, with the intention of returning, to care for his dying mother. However, after meeting Randall's mother and becoming a drug addict, he never returned.[31] He got clean after he thought he saw a monkey on the streets, realizing that nothing good comes from a person being on the street at 3:30 am. (He also stayed clean for years after being told by a judge, who offered to help him after his first conviction, to picture the judge's face when he was tempted to do the wrong thing.)[27] William returned to Philadelphia to attend a Narcotics Anonymous meeting, hoping to find and reconnect with his former lover Jessie[25]
After leaving Randall at the firehouse, he waited outside the hospital to see him being taken home by Jack and Rebecca. Rebecca realized that William was Randall's father, after seeing him getting onto the bus as she left the hospital. She eventually tracked him down,[10] a secret she kept from everyone, including Randall and Jack.[9]
William always wanted to have a relationship with his child,[9] but promised Rebecca he would stay away for Randall's benefit.[20] He accidentally revealed this secret to Beth one night when they got high together,[17] and Randall accidentally found out himself, when he found a letter and photo in William's apartment, from Rebecca, while looking for cassette tapes.[22] (William also told Randall about the second time William saw Rebecca; he took a cab to follow her home, hoping he could be in Randall's life, but when he was outside the house, he thought better of it.)[5]
William was bisexual, previously having a relationship with a man, Jessie, with whom he never officially broke up. Jessie assumed William had died when he vanished one night (the night William moved in with Randall's family).[25] William eventually succumbed to his cancer during a road trip back to Memphis with Randall.[31] Prior to his death he left a letter to Randall's girls, asking them to plan a fun memorial for him. He also sent Beth a postcard from Memphis, saying goodbye and calling her the daughter he never had.[19]
Miguel Rivas[edit]
Miguel Rivas, portrayed by Jon Huertas, was Jack's best friend and is Rebecca's second husband. Miguel was originally married to Shelly, before they divorced.[29] While it originally seemed that his marriage to Rebecca happened shortly after Jack's death, in season 2 it is clarified that the two did not get together until at least eight years after Jack's passing. Miguel was initially disliked by Kevin, until Miguel told Kevin how much he is like his father.
Sophie[edit]
Sophie, portrayed by Alexandra Breckenridge (modern day), Amanda Leighton (age 15), and Sophia Coto (age 10), was Kate's childhood best friend and Kevin's childhood love and his ex-wife. Kevin moved to New York and reconciled with her, after his relationships with Olivia and Sloane ended.[14][19] Their relationship initially survived the distance when Kevin was in his movie in L.A., but Kevin broke up with Sophie, admitting that his painkiller and alcohol addictions were out of control and he couldn't be the man that he wanted to be for her.[27]
Tess Pearson[edit]
Tess Pearson, portrayed by Eris Baker, is Randall and Beth's older daughter. She was promoted to series regular in season two.[32] She was named after the Tessana ceiling fan Randall was going to purchase when hearing about Beth going into labor.[18] Although not noticed acting out previously, she hid in her uncle Kevin's car (claiming she hates it at her house), when he was pulled over for speeding and charged with DUI.[5]
Annie Pearson[edit]
Annie Pearson, portrayed by Faithe Herman, is Randall and Beth's younger daughter. She was also promoted to series regular in season two.[32] On William's first night at Randall's family's house, when William wanted to step out, Annie convinced William that he might be happy if he stayed. [23]
Recurring characters[edit]
Introduced in season one[edit]
Gerald McRaney as Dr. Nathan Katowski (aka "Dr. K"): An elderly widower, who delivered Kate and Kevin.
Dr. K was married to his wife, Caroline, for 53 years before she passed away in 1979.[26] He and Caroline had five children, the first of which was stillborn.[26] Dr. K worked as an obstetrician, and became a last-minute substitute for Rebecca's regular doctor, whose appendix burst. After one of the triplets is stillborn, he gave Jack some fatherly advice, and unknowingly convinced Jack to adopt Randall.[2]
Janet Montgomery as Olivia Maine: Kevin's former stage partner and ex-girlfriend.
Olivia is very cynical and does not commit to relationships. She attended Thanksgiving at Randall's house and began dating Kevin. After breaking up with Kevin, Olivia vanished and stopped showing up for the show rehearsals.[25] After her return, she found that Kevin is dating Sloane.[7]
Milana Vayntrub as Sloane Sandburg: Kevin's stage partner and ex-girlfriend.
Sloane was the writer of Kevin's play, and she began dating him after his breakup with Olivia.[9] She brought Kevin to her family's Hanukkah dinner and went with him to Randall's house for Christmas Eve.[25] Kevin convinced her to take over the starring role of the play after Olivia vanished.[25] After Olivia suddenly returned, Sloane overheard Kevin telling Olivia that he could not take her back and that he was staying with Sloane, because it is the "right thing" to do. She broke up with Kevin, but continued to work on the play with him as friends.[14]
Ryan Michelle Bathe as Yvette: A family friend of the Pearsons.
Yvette became friends with the Pearsons, after meeting them at the local pool. She became their initial connection with Black life and culture for Randall's sake.
Denis O'Hare as Jessie: William's friend and former lover.
Adam Bartley as Duke: The stable worker at the weight-loss camp Kate attended.
Duke works at a horse stable of the weight-loss camp his family owns. He continuously was rude to and hit on Kate, inviting her to his cabin, despite her being engaged. Although he constantly criticized the whole weight-loss concept, when Kate went to his cabin and criticized him, he said his parents run the camp, and she got kicked out.
Jill Johnson as Laurie: A member of Toby and Kate's weight-loss support group.[2]
Peter Onorati as Stanley Pearson: Jack's father. Jack had a strained relationship with Stanley, who was alcoholic and abusive.[7][4] When Stanley was dying, Jack did not want to see him.[3]
Hari Dhillon as Sanjay Jahiri: Randall's newer coworker who was given much of Randall's client base before Randall had his nervous breakdown.[11]
Caitlin Thompson as Madison: Member of Kate's support group, although Kate doesn't think Madison has the issues the rest of them have. In a season two episode, after Kate criticized Madison in group, she accidentally bumped into Madison's vehicle; Kate ended up telling her she's pregnant, so Madison was the first to hear about Kate's pregnancy.[3]
Introduced in season two[edit]
Lyric Ross as Deja: Randall and Beth's foster child while her mother was incarcerated.[33]
Guest stars[edit]
The following is a supplementary list of guest stars, some recurring, who appear in lesser roles. The characters are listed, in alphabetical order by actor, by the season in which they first appeared.
Introduced in season one[edit]
Wynn Everett as Shelly: Miguel's wife.
Brad Garrett as Wes Manning: A television network president tasked with negotiating Kevin's exit from The Manny.
Jami Gertz as Marin Rosenthal: A woman who hired Kate to be an event coordinator.
Ron Howard as himself: After Howard saw Kevin's play, he called Kevin to praise his performance and offered to send him a script for a new movie he was producing.
Mario Lopez as himself: Lopez was hosting a talk show discussing Kevin's on-set meltdown.
Seth Meyers as himself: Meyers saw Kevin and Randall fighting on a New York City sidewalk and approached the pair, recognizing Kevin as a showbiz colleague.
Elizabeth Perkins as Janet Malone: Rebecca's overbearing mother.
Katey Sagal as Lanie Schulz: Kevin's Hollywood agent.
Jimmi Simpson as Andy Fannan: A co-worker whom Randall talked out of committing suicide on Christmas Eve.
Alan Thicke as himself: Thicke was guest-starring on The Manny when Kevin had his on-set meltdown.
Introduced in season two[edit]
Debra Jo Rupp as Linda: A social worker who worked with Randall and Beth Pearson when they fostered Deja.[34]
Sylvester Stallone as himself: Actor in a movie Kevin was cast in.[35]
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Bianco, Robert (September 20, 2016), "Review: 'This is Us' is heartfelt (if sweet-toothed) family drama", USA Today
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Pilot". This is Us. Season 1. Episode 1. September 20, 2016. NBC.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Brothers". This is Us. Season 2. Episode 5. October 24, 2017. NBC.
^ Jump up to: a b c "Moonshadow". This is Us. Season 1. Episode 18. March 14, 2017. NBC.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g "Number Three". This is Us. Season 2. Episode 10. November 28, 2017. NBC.
Jump up ^ Snierson, Dan (November 29, 2017). "'This Is Us' producer breaks down fall finale, what's next". Entertainment Weekly, Time Inc. Retrieved December 2, 2017.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f "The Right Thing to Do". This is Us. Season 1. Episode 11. January 10, 2017. NBC.
^ Jump up to: a b c d "Career Days". This is Us. Season 1. Episode 6. November 1, 2016. NBC.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g "The Trip". This is Us. Season 1. Episode 9. November 29, 2016. NBC.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g "The Big Three". This is Us. Season 1. Episode 2. September 27, 2016. NBC.
^ Jump up to: a b c d "Jack Pearson's Son". This is Us. Season 1. Episode 15. February 14, 2017. NBC.
Jump up ^ "A Manny-Splendored Thing". This is Us. Season 2. Episode 2. October 3, 2017. NBC.
^ Jump up to: a b "The Game Plan". This is Us. Season 1. Episode 5. October 25, 2016. NBC.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g "Three Sentences". This is Us. Season 1. Episode 13. January 24, 2017. NBC.
^ Jump up to: a b c "A Father's Advice". This is Us. Season 2. Episode 1. September 26, 2017. NBC.
Jump up ^ "All hail the rise of the reasonably competent TV heroine". Toronto Star, November 5, 2016, Sophie Van Bastelaer.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h "The Best Washing Machine in the World". This is Us. Season 1. Episode 7. November 15, 2016. NBC.
^ Jump up to: a b "The 20's". This is Us. Season 2. Episode 6. October 31, 2017. NBC.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g "What Now?". This is Us. Season 1. Episode 17. March 7, 2017. NBC.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f "Kyle". This is Us. Season 1. Episode 3. October 11, 2016. NBC.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f "The Pool". This is Us. Season 1. Episode 4. October 18, 2016. NBC.
^ Jump up to: a b c "Pilgrim Rick". This is Us. Season 1. Episode 8. November 22, 2016. NBC.
^ Jump up to: a b c "Déjà Vu". This is Us. Season 2. Episode 3. October 10, 2017. NBC.
^ Jump up to: a b "Still There". This is Us. Season 2. Episode 4. October 17, 2017. NBC.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j "Last Christmas". This is Us. Season 1. Episode 10. December 6, 2016. NBC.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e "The Big Day". This is Us. Season 1. Episode 12. January 17, 2017. NBC.
^ Jump up to: a b c d "The Most Disappointed Man". This is Us. Season 2. Episode 7. November 7, 2017. NBC.
^ Jump up to: a b "Number Two". This is Us. Season 2. Episode 9. November 21, 2017. NBC.
^ Jump up to: a b "I Call Marriage". This is Us. Season 1. Episode 14. February 7, 2017. NBC.
^ Jump up to: a b c "Number One". This is Us. Season 2. Episode 8. November 14, 2017. NBC.
^ Jump up to: a b c "Memphis". This is Us. Season 1. Episode 16. February 21, 2017. NBC.
^ Jump up to: a b Petski, Denise (June 30, 2017). "'This Is Us': 7 Young Actors Upped To Series Regulars For Season 2 Of NBC Drama". Deadline.com, Penske Business Media, LLC. Retrieved December 5, 2017.
Jump up ^ Keveney, Bill (November 6, 2017). "Everything's Deja new for 'This Is Us' star Lyric Ross". USA Today. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
Jump up ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (August 3, 2017). "'This Is Us' Season 2 Details: EP Dan Fogelman Talks; Sylvester Stallone To Guest Star – TCA". Deadline.com. Archived from the original on August 7, 2017. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
Jump up ^ Otterson, Joe (August 3, 2017). "'This Is Us' Season 2 Adds Sylvester Stallone in Guest Starring Role". Variety. Archived from the original on August 8, 2017. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
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St. Elmo's fire
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For other uses, see St. Elmo's Fire (disambiguation).
St. Elmo's fire on a ship at sea
St. Elmo's fire (also St. Elmo's light[1][2]) is a weather phenomenon in which luminous plasma is created by a coronal discharge from a sharp or pointed object in a strong electric field in the atmosphere (such as those generated by thunderstorms or created by a volcanic eruption).
St. Elmo's fire is named after St. Erasmus of Formia (also called St. Elmo, one of the two Italian names for St. Erasmus, the other being St. Erasmo), the patron saint of sailors. The phenomenon sometimes appeared on ships at sea during thunderstorms and was regarded by sailors with religious awe for its glowing ball of light, accounting for the name.[3] Sailors may have considered St. Elmo's fire as a good omen (as a sign of the presence of their patron saint).[4]
Contents
1 Characteristics
2 Cause
3 In History and Culture
4 Notable observations
4.1 Julius Caesar
4.2 Zheng He
4.3 Robert Burton
4.4 John Davis
4.5 William Noah
4.6 James Braid
4.7 Charles Darwin
4.8 Richard Henry Dana
4.9 Nikola Tesla
4.10 Mark Heald
4.11 William L. Laurence
5 In literature
6 In television
7 In movies
8 In music
9 See also
10 Notes
11 References
12 External links
Characteristics[edit]
St. Elmo's fire is a bright blue or violet glow, appearing like fire in some circumstances, from tall, sharply pointed structures such as lightning rods, masts, spires and chimneys, and on aircraft wings or nose cones. St. Elmo's fire can also appear on leaves and grass, and even at the tips of cattle horns.[5] Often accompanying the glow is a distinct hissing or buzzing sound. It is sometimes confused with ball lightning.
In 1751, Benjamin Franklin hypothesized that a pointed iron rod would light up at the tip during a lightning storm, similar in appearance to St. Elmo's fire.[6][7]
Cause[edit]
St. Elmo's fire is a form of plasma. The electric field around the object in question causes ionization of the air molecules, producing a faint glow easily visible in low-light conditions. Conditions that can generate St. Elmo's fire are present during thunderstorms, when high voltage differentials are present between clouds and the ground underneath. A local electric field of approximately 100 kV/m is required to induce a discharge in air. The magnitude of the electric field depends greatly on the geometry (shape and size) of the object. Sharp points lower the necessary voltage because electric fields are more concentrated in areas of high curvature, so discharges preferably occur and are more intense at the ends of pointed objects.
The nitrogen and oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere cause St. Elmo's fire to fluoresce with blue or violet light; this is similar to the mechanism that causes neon lights to glow.[8]
In History and Culture[edit]
In ancient Greece, the appearance of a single one was called Helene (Greek: Ἑλένη), literally meaning torch,[9] and two were called Kastor and Polydeuces[10] (names of the mythological twin brothers of Helen). Occasionally, it was associated with the Greek element of fire, as well as with one of Paracelsus's elementals, specifically the salamander, or, alternatively, with a similar creature referred to as an acthnici.[11]
Welsh mariners knew it as canwyll yr ysbryd ("spirit-candles") or canwyll yr ysbryd glân ("candles of the Holy Ghost"), or the "candles of St. David".[12]
Many Russian sailors have seen them throughout the years. To them, they are "Saint Nicholas" or "Saint Peter's lights".[12] They were also sometimes called St. Helen's or St. Hermes' fire, perhaps through linguistic confusion.[13]
St. Elmo's fire is reported to have been seen during the Siege of Constantinople by the Ottoman Empire in 1453. It reportedly was seen emitting from the top of the Hippodrome. The Byzantines attributed it to a sign that the Christian God would soon come and destroy the conquering Muslim army. According to George Sphrantzes, it disappeared just days before Constantinople fell, ending the Byzantine Empire.
Accounts of Magellan's first circumnavigation of the globe refer to St. Elmo's fire being seen around the fleet's ships multiple times off the coast of South America. The sailors saw these as favorable omens.
On 26 August 1883, the British warship Charles Ball sailing the Sunda Strait en route to Hong Kong came within 20 km of the exploding Krakatau volcano and witnessed a great deal of static electricity in the atmosphere, generated by the movement of tiny particles of rocks and droplets of water from the volcano's steam, which caused spectacular brush discharges taking place from the masts and rigging of the ship.
St Elmo's fire was also seen during the 1955 Great Plains tornado outbreak in Kansas and Oklahoma (US).[14]
Among the phenomena experienced on British Airways Flight 9 on 24 June 1982 were glowing light flashes along the leading edges of the aircraft, which were seen by both passengers and crew. While it shared similarities with St Elmo's fire, the glow experienced was from the impact of ash particles on the leading edges of the aircraft, similar to that seen by operators of sandblasting equipment.
St. Elmo's fire was observed and its optical spectrum recorded during a University of Alaska research flight over the Amazon in 1995 to study sprites.[15][16]
The ill-fated Air France Flight 447 flight from Rio de Janeiro–Galeão (GIG) to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport in 2009 is understood to have experienced St. Elmo's fire 23 minutes prior to crashing into the Atlantic Ocean. However, the phenomenon was not a factor on the disaster.[17][18]
Notable observations[edit]
Julius Caesar[edit]
References to St. Elmo's fire can be found in the works of Julius Caesar (De Bello Africo, 47), Pliny the Elder (Naturalis Historia, book 2, par. 101), Alcaeus frag. 34, and Antonio Pigafetta's journal of his voyage with Ferdinand Magellan. St. Elmo's fire, also known as "corposants" or "corpusants" from the Portuguese corpo santo[19] ("holy body"), was a phenomenon described in The Lusiads.
Zheng He[edit]
In 15th-century Ming China, Admiral Zheng He and his associates composed the Liujiagang and Changle inscriptions, the two epitaphs of the treasure voyages where they made a reference to St. Elmo's fire as a divine omen of Tianfei (天妃), the goddess of sailors and seafarers.[20]
The power of the goddess, having indeed been manifested in previous times, has been abundantly revealed in the present generation. In the midst of the rushing waters it happened that, when there was a hurricane, suddenly a divine lantern was seen shining at the masthead, and as soon as that miraculous light appeared the danger was appeased, so that even in the peril of capsizing one felt reassured and that there was no cause for fear.
—  Admiral Zheng He and his associates (Changle inscription) [20]
Robert Burton[edit]
Robert Burton wrote of St. Elmo's fire in his Anatomy of Melancholy: "Radzivilius, the Lithunian duke, calls this apparition Sancti Germani sidus; and saith moreover that he saw the same after in a storm, as he was sailing, 1582, from Alexandria to Rhodes". This refers to the voyage made by Mikołaj Krzysztof "the Orphan" Radziwiłł in 1582–1584.
John Davis[edit]
On 9 May 1605, while on the second voyage of John Davis commanded by Sir Edward Michelborne to the East Indies, an unknown writer aboard the Tiger describes the phenomenon; "In the extremity of our storm appeared to us in the night, upon our maine Top-mast head, a flame about the bigness of a great Candle, which the Portugals call Corpo Sancto, holding it a most divine token that when it appeareth the worst is past. As, thanked be God, we had better weather after it".[21]
William Noah[edit]
William Noah, a silversmith convicted in London of stealing 2,000 pounds of lead, while en route to Sydney, New South Wales on the convict transport ship Hillsborough, recorded two such observations in his detailed daily journal. The first was in the Southern Ocean midway between Cape Town and Sydney and the second was in the Tasman Sea, a day out of Port Jackson:
26 June 1799: At 4 Began to Blow very Hard with Heavy Shower of Rain & Hail and Extraordinary Heavy Clap of Thunder & Lightning when fell a Cormesant [corposant] a Body of Fire which collect from the Lightning & Lodge itself in the Foretopmast Head where it was first seen by our Captain when followed a Heavy Clap of Thunder & Lightning which occasioned it to fall & Burst on the Main Deck the Electrific of the Bursting of this Ball of Fire had such power as to shake several of their Leg not only On the Main Deck as the fire Hung much round the smith Forge being Iron but had the same Effect on the Gun Deck & Orlop [deck] on several of the Convicts.
25 July 1799: We were now sourounded with Heavy Thunder & Lightning and the Dismal Element foaming all round us Shocking to see with a Cormesant Hanging at the Maintop mast Head the Seamen was here Shock’d when a flash of Lightning came Burst the Cormesant & Struck two of the Seamen for several Hours Stone Blind & several much hurt in their Eyes.[22]
While the exact nature of these weather phenomena cannot be certain, they appear to be mostly about two observations of St. Elmo's fire with perhaps some ball lightning and even a direct lightning strike to the ship thrown into the mix.
James Braid[edit]
On 20 February 1817,[note 1] during a severe electrical storm James Braid, surgeon at Lord Hopetoun's mines at Leadhills, Lanarkshire, had an extraordinary experience whilst on horseback:
On Thursday 20th, I was gratified for a few minutes with the luminous appearance described above [viz., "such flashes of lightning from the west, repeated every two or three minutes, sometimes at shorter intervals, as appeared to illumine the whole heavens"]. It was about nine o'clock, P.M. I had no sooner got on horseback than I observed the tips of both the horse's ears to be quite luminous: the edges of my hat had the same appearance. I was soon deprived of these luminaries by a shower of moist snow which immediately began to fall. The horse's ears soon became wet and lost their luminous appearance; but the edges of my hat, being longer of getting wet, continued to give the luminous appearance somewhat longer.
I could observe an immense number of minute sparks darting towards the horse's ears and the margin of my hat, which produced a very beautiful appearance, and I was sorry to be so soon deprived of it.
The atmosphere in this neighbourhood appeared to be very highly electrified for eight or ten days about this time. Thunder was heard occasionally from 15th to 23d, during which time the weather was very unsteady: frequent showers of hail, snow, rain, &c.
I can find no person in this quarter who remembers to have ever seen the luminous appearance mentioned above, before this season,—or such a quantity of lightning darting across the heavens,—nor who have heard so much thunder at that season of the year.
This country being all stocked with sheep, and the herds having frequent occasion to pay attention to the state of the weather, it is not to be thought that such an appearance can have been at all frequent, and none of them to have observed it.[note 2]
—  James Braid, 1817[23]
Weeks earlier, reportedly on 17 January 1817, a luminous snowstorm occurred in Vermont and New Hampshire. Saint Elmo's fire appeared as static discharges on roof peaks, fence posts, and the hats and fingers of people. Thunderstorms prevailed over central New England.[24]
Charles Darwin[edit]
Charles Darwin noted the effect while aboard the Beagle. He wrote of the episode in a letter to J. S. Henslow that one night when the Beagle was anchored in the estuary of the Río de la Plata:
Everything is in flames, — the sky with lightning, — the water with luminous particles, and even the very masts are pointed with a blue flame.
—  Charles Darwin, 1832[25]
Richard Henry Dana[edit]
In Two Years Before the Mast, Richard Henry Dana, Jr. describes seeing a corposant in the Horse latitudes of the northern Atlantic Ocean. However, he may have been talking about ball lightning; as mentioned earlier it is often erroneously identified as St. Elmo's fire: "There, directly over where we had been standing, upon the main top-gallant mast-head, was a ball of light, which the sailors name a corposant (corpus sancti), and which the mate had called out to us to look at. They were all watching it carefully, for sailors have a notion, that if the corposant rises in the rigging, it is a sign of fair weather, but if it comes lower down, there will be a storm".[26]
Nikola Tesla[edit]
Nikola Tesla created St. Elmo's Fire in 1899 while testing out a Tesla coil at his laboratory in Colorado Springs, USA. St. Elmo's fire was seen around the coil and was said to have lit up the wings of butterflies with blue halos as they flew around.[27]
Mark Heald[edit]
A minute before the crash of the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin's LZ 129 Hindenburg on 6 May 1937, Professor Mark Heald (1892-1971) of Princeton saw St. Elmo's Fire flickering along the airship's back. Standing outside the main gate to the Naval Air Station, he watched, together with his wife and son, as the airship approached the mast and dropped her bow lines. A minute thereafter, by Heald's estimation, he first noticed a dim "blue flame" flickering along the backbone girder about one-quarter the length abaft the bow to the tail. There was time for him to remark to his wife, "Oh, heavens, the thing is afire," for her to reply, "Where?" and for him to answer, "Up along the top ridge" – before there was a big burst of flaming hydrogen from a point he estimated to be about one-third the ship's length from the stern.[28] (Added by K.G.H. Nicholes: My father is History Professor Mark M. Heald's son, physicist Mark A. Heald. They did indeed witness the Hindenburg tragedy, but my grandfather had no prior experience of St. Elmo's Fire, and no background to support his identification of what he saw as such. My father has protested people's uncritical passing along of his father's assumption on many occasions.)
William L. Laurence[edit]
St. Elmo's fire was reported by New York Times reporter William L. Laurence on August 9, 1945 as he was aboard Bockscar on the way to Nagasaki.
I noticed a strange eerie light coming through the window high above in the Navigator's cabin and as I peered through the dark all around us I saw a startling phenomenon. The whirling giant propellers had somehow become great luminous discs of blue flame. The same luminous blue flame appeared on the plexiglass windows in the nose of the ship, and on the tips of the giant wings it looked as though we were riding the whirlwind through space on a chariot of blue fire. It was, I surmised, a surcharge of static electricity that had accumulated on the tips of the propellers and on the dielectric material in the plastic windows. One's thoughts dwelt anxiously on the precious cargo in the invisible ship ahead of us. Was there any likelihood of danger that this heavy electric tension in the atmosphere all about us may set it off? I express my fears to Captain Bock, who seems nonchalant and imperturbed at the controls. He quickly reassures me: "It is a familiar phenomenon seen often on ships. I have seen it many times on bombing missions. It is known as St. Elmo's Fire."[29]
In literature[edit]
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One of the earliest references to the phenomenon appears in Alcaeus's Fragment 34a about the Dioscuri, or Castor and Pollux.[30] It is also referenced in Homeric Hymn 33 to the Dioscuri who were from Homeric times associated with it.[31] Whether the Homeric Hymn antedates the Alcaeus fragment is unknown.
St. Elmo's Fire is also mentioned in the novel, Castaways of the Flying Dutchman by Brian Jacques.
The phenomenon appears to be described first in the Gesta Herwardi,[32] written around 1100 and concerning an event of the 1070s. However, one of the earliest direct references to St. Elmo's fire made in fiction can be found in Ludovico Ariosto's epic poem Orlando Furioso (1516). It is located in the 17th canto (19th in the revised edition of 1532) after a storm has punished the ship of Marfisa, Astolfo, Aquilant, Grifon, and others, for three straight days, and is positively associated with hope:
But now St. Elmo's fire appeared, which they had so longed for, it settled at the bows of a fore stay, the masts and yards all being gone, and gave them hope of calmer airs.
—  Ludovico Ariosto, 1516
In Shakespeare's The Tempest (c. 1623), Act I, Scene II, St. Elmo's fire acquires a more negative association, appearing as evidence of the tempest inflicted by Ariel according to the command of Prospero:
PROSPERO
Hast thou, spirit,
Perform'd to point the tempest that I bade thee?
ARIEL
To every article.
I boarded the king's ship; now on the beak,
Now in the waist, the deck, in every cabin,
I flamed amazement: sometime I'd divide,
And burn in many places; on the topmast,
The yards and bowsprit, would I flame distinctly,
Then meet and join.
—  Act I, Scene II, The Tempest
The fires are also mentioned as "death fires" in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
About, about, in reel and rout, The death fires danced at night; The water, like a witch's oils, Burnt green and blue and white.
Later in 18th century and 19th century literature associated St. Elmo's fire with bad omen or divine judgment, coinciding with the growing conventions of Romanticism and the Gothic novel. For example, in Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), during a thunderstorm above the ramparts of the castle:
"And what is that tapering of light you bear?" said Emily, "see how it darts upwards,—and now it vanishes!"
"This light, lady", said the soldier, "has appeared to-night as you see it, on the point of my lance, ever since I have been on watch; but what it means I cannot tell".
"This is very strange!" said Emily.
"My fellow-guard", continued the man, "has the same flame on his arms; he says he has sometimes seen it before...he says it is an omen, lady, and bodes no good".
"And what harm can it bode?" rejoined Emily.
"He knows not so much as that, lady".
—  Vol. III, Ch. IV, The Mysteries of Udolpho
In Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick, Starbuck points out "corpusants" during a thunder storm in the Japanese sea in chapter 119 "The Candles".
St. Elmo's fire makes an appearance in The Adventures of Tintin comic, Tintin in Tibet, by Hergé. Tintin recognizes the phenomenon on Captain Haddock's ice-axe.
In Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, Billy Pilgrim sees the phenomenon on soldiers' helmets and on rooftops. Vonnegut's The Sirens of Titan also notes the phenomenon affecting Winston Niles Rumfoord's dog, Kazak, the Hound of Space, in conjunction with solar disturbances of the chrono-synclastic infundibulum.
In "On The Banks of Plum Creek" by Laura Ingalls Wilder St. Elmo's fire is seen by the girls and Ma during one of the blizzards. It was described as coming down the stove pipe and rolling across the floor following Ma's knitting needles; it didn't burn the floor (pages 309-310). The phenomenon as described, however, is more similar to ball lightning.
In television[edit]
On the children's television series The Mysterious Cities of Gold (1982), Episode 4 shows St. Elmo's Fire affecting the ship as it sailed past the Strait of Magellan. The real-life footage at the end of the episode has snippets of an interview with Japanese sailor Fukunari Imada, whose comments were translated to "Although I've never seen St. Elmo's Fire, I'd certainly like to. It was often considered a bad omen as it played havoc with compasses and equipment". The TV series also referred to St. Elmo's Fire as being a bad omen during the cartoon. The footage was captured as part of his winning solo yacht race in 1981.[33]
On the American television series Rawhide, in a 1959 episode titled "Incident of the Blue Fire", cattle drovers on a stormy night see St. Elmo's Fire glowing on the horns of their steers, which the men regard as a deadly omen.[34] St. Elmo's Fire is also referenced in a 1965 episode of Bonanza in which religious pilgrims staying on the Cartwright property believe an experience with St. Elmo's Fire is the work of Satan.[35][36]
In movies[edit]
St. Elmo's fire is featured in the movie Moby Dick (1956), when Captain Ahab is stopped by it from killing Starbuck.
In the movie The Last Sunset (1961), Outlaw/Cowhand Brendan 'Bren' O'Malley (Kirk Douglas) rides in from the herd and leads the recently widowed, and his former flame, Belle Breckenridge (Dorothy Malone) to an overview of the cattle. As he takes the rifle from her he proclaims, "Something out there, you could live five lifetimes, and never see again," the audience is then shown a shot of the cattle with a blue or violet glow coming from their horns. "Look. St. Elmo's Fire. Never seen it except on ships," O'Malley says as Belle says, "I've never seen it anywhere. What is it?" Trying to win her back he says, "Well a star fell and smashed and scattered its glow all over the place."
In Lars von Trier's 2011 film Melancholia, the phenomenon is clearly observed in the opening sequence and later in the film as the rogue planet Melancholia approaches Earth for an impact event.
In music[edit]
Brian Eno's third studio album Another Green World (1975) contains a song titled "St. Elmo's Fire" in which guesting King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp (credited with playing "Wimshurst guitar" in the liner notes) improvises a lightning-fast solo that would imitate an electrical charge between two poles on a Wimshurst high voltage generator.
Michael Frank's song "St Elmo's Fire" was released on his album "The Art of Tea" in 1976. His song has since been sampled various times by artists like Absolutely Fabolous, & more.
The first song in Susumu Hirasawa's album Aurora, "Stone Garden" (石の庭 Ishi no Niwa), contains a line which translates to
That day when I melted away into the sky
Burning like St. Elmo's sacred fire[37]
"St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)" is a song recorded by John Parr. It hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on September 7, 1985, remaining there for two weeks. It was the main theme for Joel Schumacher's 1985 film St. Elmo's Fire.
See also[edit]
Ball lightning
British Airways Flight 9
Earthquake light
Foo fighter, WWII UFO observations
Hessdalen Lights
List of plasma (physics) articles
Naga fireballs, rising from Mekong river
Sprite (lightning)
St. Elmo's Fire (film)
Triboelectric effect
Will-o'-the-wisp
Notes[edit]
Jump up ^ It is highly significant that this was during the period of extraordinary atmospheric effects and dramatic reduction in temperatures following an earlier series of massive volcano eruptions that were, ultimately responsible for the Year Without a Summer.
Jump up ^ Braid also writes that one of his friends had a similar experience on the evening of the preceding Saturday: in which, his friend reported, he had seen " his horse's ears being the same as two burning candles, and the edges of his hat being all in a flame" (p.471).
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Darwin, Charles R. (1839). Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle between the years 1826 and 1836, describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagle's circumnavigation of the globe. Journal and remarks. 1832–1836. London: Henry Colburn. p. 619.
Jump up ^ The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online
Jump up ^ Eyers, Jonathan (2011). Don't Shoot the Albatross!: Nautical Myths and Superstitions. A&C Black, London, UK. ISBN 978-1-4081-3131-2.
Jump up ^ Bergreen, Laurence. Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe. New York: Morrow, 2003. Print.
Jump up ^ Heidorn, K., Ph.D. Weather Elements: The Fire of St. Elmo. Retrieved on July 2, 2007.
Jump up ^ Van Doren, Carl (1938). Benjamin Franklin. New York: The Viking Press. p. 159. Quoted text from May 1751 letter published in Gentleman's Magazine. Excerpt at "Franklin — The Scientist".
Jump up ^ Additional reference may be made from Yale University's collection, "The Papers of Benjamin Franklin". Archived from the original on 2006-02-14.
Jump up ^ "What causes the strange glow known as St. Elmo's Fire? Is this phenomenon related to ball lightning?". Scientific American.
Jump up ^ Lyd. Ost. 5; the term was also used of a special wicker basket used at the cult of Artemis at Brauron in Attica (Poll. 10.191).
Jump up ^ Also known as Castor and Pollux, Homeric Hymn 33 describes a generic epiphany of these fraternal heroes, collectively called the Dioskouroi, in the midst of a storm at sea. Here they are said to rush through the air "with tawny wings" and to bring relief to terrified mariners.
Jump up ^ The Elements and Their Inhabitants
^ Jump up to: a b Marie Trevelyan (1909). "The Sea, Lakes, Rivers and Wells". Folk-lore and folk-stories of Wales. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29 – via V Wales.
Jump up ^ Will With A Wisp: John Brand (1777)
Jump up ^ Storm Electricity Aspects of the Blackwell/Udall Storm of May 25, 1955 – Don Burgess, University of Oklahoma (CIMMS)
Jump up ^ Wescott et al. (1996) "The optical spectrum of aircraft St. Elmo's fire", Geophys. Res. Lett., 23(25), pp 3687–3690.
Jump up ^ "Peru95 – sprite observations over the upper Amazon"
Jump up ^ "Air France 447 Flight-Data Recorder transcript – What Really Happened Aboard Air France 447 – Popular Mechanics"
Jump up ^ "Final Report On the accident on 1st June 2009 to the Airbus A330-203 registered F-GZCP operated by Air France flight AF 447 Rio de Janeiro - Paris." Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses. N.p., July 2012. Web. 12 March 2014
Jump up ^ "Corposants" The American Heritage Dictionary
^ Jump up to: a b Dreyer, Edward L. (2007). Zheng He: China and the Oceans in the Early Ming Dynasty, 1405–1433. New York: Pearson Longman. pp. 148 & 191–199. ISBN 978-0-321-08443-9. & Needham, Joseph (1959). Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 558. ISBN 0-521-05801-5.
Jump up ^ Markham, Albert (1880). Voyages and Works of John Davis. The Hakluyt Society. p. 164.
Jump up ^ Noah, William. A Voyage to Sydney in New South Wales in 1798 & 1799. Personal Journal. State Library of New South Wales.
Jump up ^ Braid, J. (August 1817). "Account of a Thunder Storm in the Neighbourhood of Leadhills, Lanarkshire". Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. Vol. 1 no. 5. pp. 471–472.
Jump up ^ "San Francisco, CA Weather Facts". Myforecast.com. Retrieved 2014-01-24.
Jump up ^ Darwin Correspondence Project, Letter 178 — Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, J. S., July 23 – August 15 1832 Archived 2007-09-03 at the Wayback Machine.
Jump up ^ Dana, Richard Henry Jr., (1840) Two Years Before the Mast. Chapter 33.
Jump up ^ Tesla, Nikola & Childress, David H. (1993). The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla. Stelle, Ill.: Adventures Unlimited. ISBN 0-932-81319-4.
Jump up ^ Robinson, Douglas. LZ-129 Hindenburg. New York: Arco Publishing Co, 1964.
Jump up ^ William L. Laurence (September 9, 1945). "Eyewitness Account of Atomic Bomb Over Nagasaki". atomicarchive.com.
Jump up ^ "Alcaeus". Wesleyan University.
Jump up ^ "Homeric Hymns 5–33". Theoi Greek Mythology.
Jump up ^ "Gesta Herwardi, Chapter XXIX". Archived from the original on 2009-01-08. Retrieved 2009-06-22.
Jump up ^ Japanese wins solo yacht race across Pacific.
Jump up ^ "Incident of the Blue Fire", Rawhide (S02E11), originally aired December 11, 1959. TV.com. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
Jump up ^ "Devil on Her Shoulder", Bonanza (S07E06), originally aired October 17, 1965. Entire episode is available for viewing on YouTube. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
Jump up ^ "Devil on Her Shoulder", Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Retrieved April 23, 2017.
Jump up ^ phonon_belt (October 25, 2011). "平沢進 -「石の庭" [Hirasawa Susumu - "Stone Garden" Lyrics]. phonon-belt.livejournal.com/ (in Japanese).
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to St. Elmo's Fire.
St. Elmo's fire photographed on the flight deck of an airliner
Video of St. Elmo's fire observed from the cockpit of an airliner on YouTube
St. Elmo's Fire on Lake Monona on YouTube
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