Binghamton

The Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena is a 6,925 seat multi-purpose arena in Binghamton, New York. The Arena was completed in 1973, providing an... entertainment venue for residents of the Greater Binghamton area. After decades of haggling over location, size, and design - it's rumored a college student's design won a nationwide design competition. Whether or not that's true, the Arena has a near twins in the Cornwall Civic Complex in Cornwall, Ontario and similar facilities in the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, Maine and WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, West Virginia . Originally, a performing arts center was to be adjacent to the Arena, across Washington Street, but plans fell through due to lack of funds. The arena contains eight luxury suites, each holding 25 fans . The first act was the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, in an unfinished Arena in May 1973. Chicago played the first concert at the arena on June 13, 1973.
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The Roberson Mansion, part of the Roberson Museum and Science Center, is a home in Binghamton, New York. It was designed by Binghamton architect C.... Edward Vosbury and built in 1904. It is said to be very similar to the McKinnon House in Utica, built in 1899, which Vosbury also designed. The mansion is supposedly haunted by the ghost of its former owner, Alonzo Roberson. His spirit is believed to still roam around and apparitions have been seen in the elevator and along the upper corridors. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
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David Sedaris is a Grammy Award-nominated American humorist, comedian, bestselling author, and radio contributor. Sedaris has been described as 'the... rock star of writers'. He was first publicly recognized in 1992 when National Public Radio broadcast his essay "SantaLand Diaries". He published his first collection of essays and short stories, Barrel Fever, in 1994. His next five subsequent essay collections, Naked , Holidays on Ice , Me Talk Pretty One Day , Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim , and When You Are Engulfed in Flames , have become New York Times Best Sellers. In 2010, he released another collection of stories Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary. As of 2008, his books have collectively sold seven million copies. Much of Sedaris's humor is autobiographical and self-deprecating, and often concerns his family life, his middle class upbringing in the suburbs of Raleigh, North Carolina, Greek heritage, various jobs, education, drug use, and his life in France, and most recently in London and the South Downs.
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Amy Louise Sedaris is an American actress, author, and comedian. She is known for playing the character Jerri Blank in the Comedy Central... television series Strangers with Candy. Sedaris regularly collaborates with her older brother, humorist and author David Sedaris. Sedaris was born in Endicott, New York, the daughter of Sharon and Lou Sedaris, and grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina, with her siblings, David, Lisa, Gretchen, Tiffany, and Paul . She is of half Greek descent; her father was Greek Orthodox and her mother was Protestant, and she remains Greek Orthodox. As a guest on the Late Show with David Letterman, she described two experiences with bosses. At age 16, she worked at the local Winn-Dixie supermarket. She would make fake announcements over the loudspeaker, which prompted the head cashier to confiscate the microphone. After work, she egged the cashier's car in protest. Later, as a cocktail waitress at Zanies, a comedy night club in Chicago, she was five minutes late for a shift with ice cream cone in hand.
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Kathryn Bridget Moynahan , best known as Bridget Moynahan, is an American model and actress. After graduating from Longmeadow High School in 1989,... Moynahan pursued a career in modeling. She was signed by a modeling agency, which led her to appear in department store catalogs and the covers of widely known magazines. After doing television commercials, she began taking acting lessons, in order to change occupations. Moynahan made her television debut in a guest appearance in the comedy series Sex and the City in 1999, where she would later have a recurring role as the character Natasha. The following year, she made her feature film debut in Coyote Ugly. She was then cast in a supporting role in Serendipity . Moynahan has appeared in an eclectic range of films, including the action film The Sum of All Fears , spy thriller The Recruit , the science-fiction movie I, Robot , and the political thriller Lord of War . Away from film, Moynahan starred in the ABC television series Six Degrees, which premiered in September 2006. The show, however, was not successful, as it was canceled after one season.
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Dana James Hutton , usually credited as Jim Hutton, was an American actor in film and television probably best remembered for his role as Ellery... Queen in the 1970s TV series of the same name. Born in Binghamton, New York, Jim Hutton was performing in live theater in Germany while with the United States Army when he was spotted by American film director Douglas Sirk. One of his earliest screen appearances was in an episode of The Twilight Zone , in which he co-starred with Rod Taylor. In Hollywood, he gained recognition with teen audiences for his role in the college student film Where the Boys Are , where he appeared with Paula Prentiss, an actress he would be teamed with in several of his early films, in part because they were the tallest contract players of their time . He appeared with Prentiss in The Honeymoon Machine Late in 1960, followed by 1961's Bachelor in Paradise starring Bob Hope and Lana Turner, and finally The Horizontal Lieutenant in 1962. In 1966, Hutton gained a wider audience in Walk, Don't Run with Samantha Eggar and Cary Grant .
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Chris Wedge is an American film director of animation, best known for the films Ice Age and Robots. Wedge was born in Binghamton, New York. He... attended Fayetteville-Manlius High School, graduating in 1975. He received his BFA in Film from State University of New York at Purchase in Purchase, New York in 1981, and subsequently earned his MA in computer graphics and art education at the Ohio State University. He has taught animation at the School of Visual Arts in New York City where he met his future film directing partner, Carlos Saldanha. Wedge is co-founder and Vice President of Creative Development at Blue Sky Studios, one of the premier computer animation studios and producer of Wedge's films. He is the owner of WedgeWorks, a film production company founded by Wedge. In 1982, Wedge worked for MAGI/SynthaVision, where he was a principal animator on the Disney film Tron, credited as a scene programmer. Some of his other works include Where the Wild Things Are , Dinosaur Bob, George Shrinks, and Santa Calls. In 1998, he won an Academy Award for the short animated film, Bunny.
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Richard A. "Rick" Baker is an American special makeup effects artist known for his realistic creature effects. Baker was born in Binghamton, New... York, the son of Doris and Ralph B. Baker, a professional artist. He was awarded a Doctorate of Humane Letters from the Academy of Art University in 2008. As a teen, Baker began creating artificial body parts in his own kitchen. He also appeared briefly in the "lost" classic fan production "The Night Turkey" a one hour B&W video parody of "The Night Stalker" directed by William Malone and included in its cast Bill Mills and Robert Short . Baker's first professional job was as an assistant to Dick Smith on the film The Exorcist. He received the inaugural Academy Award for Best Makeup for his work on An American Werewolf in London.
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Jack Sharkey was an American heavyweight boxing champion. He was born Joseph Paul Zukauskas , the son of Lithuanian immigrants, in Binghamton, New... York but moved to Boston, Massachusetts as a young man. Sources report little of his early life until, at the outset of the First World War, teenaged Joseph repeatedly tried to enlist in the Navy. Turned down because of his age, he was not able to enlist until after the end of the war. It was during his tenure in the Navy that he first showed interest in boxing. Tall and husky for a man of his generation, Joseph was encouraged by his friends in the service to box. He quickly established notoriety as the best boxer aboard any vessel on which he served. During his brief returns home to Boston he took part in his first fights for pay, the first on January 24, 1924, against one Billy Muldoon, whom he knocked out in the first round. By the time of his honorable discharge just short of a month later, he had won a second fight and was already earning write-ups in the Boston papers.
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Kathryn Bridget Moynahan , best known as Bridget Moynahan, is an American model and actress. After graduating from Longmeadow High School in 1989,... Moynahan pursued a career in modeling. She was signed by a modeling agency, which led her to appear in department store catalogs and the covers of widely known magazines. After doing television commercials, she began taking acting lessons, in order to change occupations. Moynahan made her television debut in a guest appearance in the comedy series Sex and the City in 1999, where she would later have a recurring role as the character Natasha. The following year, she made her feature film debut in Coyote Ugly. She was then cast in a supporting role in Serendipity . Moynahan has appeared in an eclectic range of films, including the action film The Sum of All Fears , spy thriller The Recruit , the science-fiction movie I, Robot , and the political thriller Lord of War . Away from film, Moynahan starred in the ABC television series Six Degrees, which premiered in September 2006. The show, however, was not successful, as it was canceled after one season.
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Dana James Hutton , usually credited as Jim Hutton, was an American actor in film and television probably best remembered for his role as Ellery... Queen in the 1970s TV series of the same name. Born in Binghamton, New York, Jim Hutton was performing in live theater in Germany while with the United States Army when he was spotted by American film director Douglas Sirk. One of his earliest screen appearances was in an episode of The Twilight Zone , in which he co-starred with Rod Taylor. In Hollywood, he gained recognition with teen audiences for his role in the college student film Where the Boys Are , where he appeared with Paula Prentiss, an actress he would be teamed with in several of his early films, in part because they were the tallest contract players of their time . He appeared with Prentiss in The Honeymoon Machine Late in 1960, followed by 1961's Bachelor in Paradise starring Bob Hope and Lana Turner, and finally The Horizontal Lieutenant in 1962. In 1966, Hutton gained a wider audience in Walk, Don't Run with Samantha Eggar and Cary Grant .
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Chris Wedge is an American film director of animation, best known for the films Ice Age and Robots. Wedge was born in Binghamton, New York. He... attended Fayetteville-Manlius High School, graduating in 1975. He received his BFA in Film from State University of New York at Purchase in Purchase, New York in 1981, and subsequently earned his MA in computer graphics and art education at the Ohio State University. He has taught animation at the School of Visual Arts in New York City where he met his future film directing partner, Carlos Saldanha. Wedge is co-founder and Vice President of Creative Development at Blue Sky Studios, one of the premier computer animation studios and producer of Wedge's films. He is the owner of WedgeWorks, a film production company founded by Wedge. In 1982, Wedge worked for MAGI/SynthaVision, where he was a principal animator on the Disney film Tron, credited as a scene programmer. Some of his other works include Where the Wild Things Are , Dinosaur Bob, George Shrinks, and Santa Calls. In 1998, he won an Academy Award for the short animated film, Bunny.
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Richard A. "Rick" Baker is an American special makeup effects artist known for his realistic creature effects. Baker was born in Binghamton, New... York, the son of Doris and Ralph B. Baker, a professional artist. He was awarded a Doctorate of Humane Letters from the Academy of Art University in 2008. As a teen, Baker began creating artificial body parts in his own kitchen. He also appeared briefly in the "lost" classic fan production "The Night Turkey" a one hour B&W video parody of "The Night Stalker" directed by William Malone and included in its cast Bill Mills and Robert Short . Baker's first professional job was as an assistant to Dick Smith on the film The Exorcist. He received the inaugural Academy Award for Best Makeup for his work on An American Werewolf in London.
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Hugh Herbert was a motion picture comedian. He began his career in vaudeville, and wrote more than 150 plays and sketches. The advent of talking... pictures brought stage-trained actors to Hollywood, and Hugh Herbert soon became a popular movie comedian. His screen character was usually absent-minded and flustered. He would flutter his fingers together and talk to himself, repeating the same phrases: "hoo-hoo-hoo, wonderful, wonderful, hoo hoo hoo!" This catchphrase inspired Daffy Duck's "hoo hoo, hoo hoo" phrase during the early years of the character. So many imitators copied the catchphrase as "woo woo" that Herbert actually adopted "woo woo" himself in the 1940s. Herbert's earliest movies, like Wheeler & Woolsey's 1930 feature Hook, Line and Sinker, cast him in generic comedy roles that could have been taken by any comedian. Herbert soon developed his own unique screen personality, complete with a silly giggle, and this new character caught on quickly.
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