John Cassavetes
American filmmaker and actor (1929–1989)
John Nicholas Cassavetes (December 9, 1929 – February 3, 1989) was an American filmmaker and actor. He began as an actor in film and television before helping to pioneer modern American independent cinema as a writer and director, often self-financing, producing, and distributing his own films. He received nominations for three Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and an Emmy Award.
After studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Cassavetes started his career in television acting in numerous network dramas. From 1959 to 1960 he played the title role in the NBC detective series "Johnny Staccato". He acted in notable films, such as Martin Ritt's film noir "Edge of the City" (1957), Robert Aldrich's war film "The Dirty Dozen" (1967), Roman Polanski's horror film "Rosemary's Baby" (1968) and Elaine May's crime drama "Mikey and Nicky" (1976). For "The Dirty Dozen", he earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
As a director, Cassavetes became known for a string of critically acclaimed independent dramas including "Shadows" (1959), "Faces" (1968), "Husbands" (1970), "A Woman Under the Influence" (1974), "Opening Night" (1977), and "Love Streams" (1984). His films employed an actor-centered approach which prioritized raw character relationships and "small feelings" while rejecting traditional Hollywood storytelling, method acting, and stylization. His films became associated with an improvisational aesthetic and a cinéma vérité feel. He received Academy Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay ("Faces") and Best Director ("A Woman Under the Influence").
He frequently collaborated with American actress Gena Rowlands (to whom he was married from 1954 until his death in 1989) and friends Peter Falk, Ben Gazzara, and Seymour Cassel. Many of his films were shot and edited in his and Rowlands' own Los Angeles home.
He and Rowlands had a son named Nick and two daughters, named Alexandra and Zoe, all of whom followed them into acting and filmmaking.
Early life and education.
John Nicholas Cassavetes was born in New York City on December 9, 1929, the son of Greek-American actress Katherine Cassavetes (née Demetriou), who was later featured in some of his films, and Greek immigrant Nicholas John Cassavetes. His early years were spent with his family in Greece; when he returned to New York at the age of seven, he spoke no English. He was then raised on Long Island, where he attended Paul D. Schreiber Senior High School (then known as Port Washington High School) from 1945 to 1947 and participated in "Port Weekly" (the school paper), "Red Domino" (interclass play), football, and the "Port Light" (yearbook).
Cassavetes attended Blair Academy in New Jersey and spent a semester at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont, but was expelled due to his failing grades. He spent a few weeks hitchhiking to Florida and then transferred to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, encouraged by recently enrolled friends who told him the school was "packed with girls". He graduated in 1950 and met his future wife Gena Rowlands at her audition to enter the Academy in 1953. They were married four months later in 1954. He continued acting in the theater, took small parts in films, and began working on television in anthology series such as "Alcoa Theatre".
Career.
Acting workshop.
By 1956, Cassavetes had begun teaching an alternative to method acting in his own workshop—co-founded with friend Burt Lane in New York City—in which performance would be based on character creation rather than back-story or narrative requirements. Cassavetes particularly scorned Lee Strasberg's Method-based Actors Studio, and the Cassavetes-Lane approach held that acting should be an expression of creative joy rather than the "moody, broody anguish" associated with Strasberg's teaching.
Shortly after opening the workshop, Cassavetes was invited to audition at the Actors Studio, and he and Lane devised a prank: they claimed to be performing a scene from a recent stage production but in fact improvised a performance on the spot, fooling an impressed Strasberg. Cassavetes then fabricated a story about his financial troubles, prompting Strasberg to offer him a full scholarship to the Studio; Cassavetes immediately rejected it, feeling that Strasberg did not know anything about acting if he had been so easily fooled by the two ruses.
An improvisation exercise in the workshop inspired the idea for his writing and directorial debut, "Shadows" (1959; first version 1957). Cassavetes raised the funds for the production from friends and family, as well as listeners to Jean Shepherd's late-night radio talk-show "Night People". His stated purpose was to make a film about modest-income “little people”, unlike Hollywood studio productions, which focused on stories about wealthy people. Cassavetes was unable to gain American distribution of "Shadows", but it won the Critics Award at the Venice Film Festival. European distributors later released the movie in the United States as an import. Although the box-office returns of "Shadows" in the United States were slight, it did gain attention from the Hollywood studios.
Television and acting jobs.
Cassavetes played bit-parts in B pictures and in television serials, until gaining notoriety in 1955 as a vicious killer in "The Night Holds Terror," and as a juvenile delinquent in the live TV drama "Crime in the Streets". Cassavetes would repeat this performance credited as an “introducing” lead in the 1956 film version, which also included another future director, Mark Rydell, as his gang mate. His first starring role in a feature film was "Edge of the City" (1957), which co-starred Sidney Poitier. He was briefly under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and co-starred with Robert Taylor in the western "Saddle the Wind", written by Rod Serling. In the late 1950s, Cassavetes guest-starred in Beverly Garland's groundbreaking crime drama, "Decoy", about a New York City woman police undercover detective. Thereafter, he played Johnny Staccato, the title character in a television series about a jazz pianist who also worked as a private detective. In total he directed five episodes of the series, which also features a guest appearance by his wife Gena Rowlands. It was broadcast on NBC between September 1959 and March 1960, and then acquired by ABC; although critically acclaimed, the series was cancelled in September 1960. Cassavetes would appear on the NBC interview program, "Here's Hollywood".
1960s.
In 1961 Cassavetes signed a seven-year deal with Paramount. Cassavetes directed two movies for Hollywood in the early 1960s: "Too Late Blues" (1961); "A Child Is Waiting (1963)" starring Burt Lancaster and Judy Garland. He starred in the CBS western series "Rawhide" in the episode "Incident Near Gloomy River" (1961). In the 1963–1964 season he was cast in the ABC medical drama about psychiatry, "Breaking Point". In 1964, he again co-starred with his wife, this time in an episode of "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" anthology program, and in 1965, he appeared on ABC's western series, "The Legend of Jesse James". In the same year, he also guest-starred in the World War II series "Combat!", in the episode "S.I.W.", and as the insane nuclear scientist Everett Lang in "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea", season 2, episode "The Peacemaker".
With payment for his work on television, as well as a handful of film acting jobs, he was able to relocate to California and to make his subsequent films independent of any studio, as "Shadows" had been made. The films in which he acted with this intention include Don Siegel's "The Killers" (1964), the motorcycle gang movie "Devil's Angels" (1967), "The Dirty Dozen" (1967), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, the Guy Woodhouse lead (originally intended for Robert Redford) in Roman Polanski's "Rosemary's Baby" (1968), and "The Fury" (1978). Cassavetes portrayed the murderer in a 1972 episode of the TV crime series "Columbo", titled "Étude in Black". Cassavetes and series star Peter Falk had previously starred together in the 1969 mob action thriller "Machine Gun McCain". The two later starred in Elaine May's film "Mikey and Nicky" (1976).
"Faces" (1968) was the second film to be both directed and independently financed by Cassavetes. The film starred his wife Gena Rowlands—whom he had married during his struggling actor days—John Marley, Seymour Cassel and Val Avery, as well as several first-time actors, such as lead actress Lynn Carlin and industry fringies like Vince Barbi. It depicts the slow disintegration of a contemporary marriage. The film reportedly took three years to make, and was made largely in the Cassavetes home. "Faces" was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress. Around this time, Cassavetes formed "Faces International" as a distribution company to handle all of his films.
1970s.
In 1970, Cassavetes directed and acted in "Husbands", with actors Peter Falk and Ben Gazzara. They played a trio of married men on a spree in New York and London after the funeral of one of their best friends. Cassavetes stated that this was a personal film for him; his elder brother had died at the age of 30.
"Minnie and Moskowitz" (1971), about two unlikely lovers, featured Rowlands and Cassel. "A Woman Under the Influence" (1974) stars Rowlands as an increasingly troubled housewife. Rowlands received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, while Cassavetes was nominated for Best Director. In "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie" (1976), Gazzara plays a small-time strip-club owner with an out-of-control gambling habit, pressured by mobsters to commit a murder to pay off his debt.
In "Opening Night" (1977), Rowlands plays the lead alongside Cassavetes; the film also stars Gazzara and Joan Blondell. Rowlands portrays an aging film star named Myrtle Gordon, who is working in the theater and suffering a personal crisis. Alone and unloved by her colleagues, afraid of aging and always removed from others due to her stardom, she succumbs to alcohol and hallucinations after witnessing a young fan accidentally die. Ultimately, Gordon fights through it all, delivering the performance of her life in a play. Rowlands won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 28th Berlin International Film Festival for her performance.
1980s.
Cassavetes directed the film "Gloria" (1980), featuring Rowlands as a Mob moll who tries to protect an orphan boy whom the Mob wants to kill, which earned her another Best Actress nomination. In 1982, Cassavetes starred in Paul Mazursky's "Tempest," which co-starred Rowlands, Susan Sarandon, Molly Ringwald, Raúl Juliá and Vittorio Gassman.
Cassavetes penned the stage play "Knives", the earliest version of which he allowed to be published in the 1978 premiere issue of "On Stage", the quarterly magazine of the American Community Theatre Association, a division of the American Theatre Association. The play was produced and directed as one of his "Three Plays of Love and Hate" at Hollywood, California's Center Theater in 1981. The trio of plays included versions of Canadian playwright Ted Allan's "The Third Day Comes" and "Love Streams," the latter of which served as the blueprint for Cassavetes' 1984 film of the same name.
Cassavetes made the Cannon Films-financed "Love Streams" (1984), which featured him as an aging playboy who suffers the overbearing affection of his recently divorced sister. It was entered into the 34th Berlin International Film Festival where it won the Golden Bear. The film is often considered Cassavetes' "last film" in that it brought together many aspects of his previous films. He despised the film "Big Trouble" (1986), which he took over during filming from Andrew Bergman, who wrote the original screenplay. Cassavetes came to refer to the film as "The aptly titled 'Big Trouble,'" since the studio vetoed many of his decisions for the film and eventually edited most of it in a way with which Cassavetes disagreed.
In January 1987, Cassavetes was facing health problems, but he wrote the three-act play "Woman of Mystery" and brought it to the stage in May and June at the Court Theatre, Los Angeles.
Cassavetes worked during the last year of his life to produce a last film that was to be titled "She's Delovely". He was in talks with Sean Penn to star, though legal and financial hurdles proved insurmountable and the project was forgotten about until after Cassavetes' death, when his son Nick finally directed it as "She's So Lovely" (1997).
Filmmaking style.
Cassavetes spent the majority of his directing career working 'off the grid' and in a communal atmosphere "unfettered by the commercial concerns of Hollywood." His films aim to capture "small feelings" often repressed by Hollywood filmmaking, emphasizing intimate character examination and relationships rather than plot, backstory, or stylization. He often presented difficult characters whose behaviors were not easily understood, rejecting simplistic psychological or narrative explanations for their actions. Cassavetes also disregarded the "impressionistic cinematography, linear editing, and star-centred scene making" fashionable in Hollywood and art films. Often unable to interest Hollywood studios in financing his work, Cassavetes typically worked with small but dedicated crew of friends and technicians. He said: "The hardest thing for a film-maker, or a person like me, is to find people … who really want to do something."
Cassavetes worked to create a comfortable and informal environment where actors could freely experiment with their performances and go beyond acting clichés or "programmed behaviors." He dismissed Method acting as "more a form of psychotherapy than of acting" which resulted in sentimental cliches and self-indulgent emotion. Instead, he held that acting should be an expression of creative joy and exuberance, with emphasis put on the character's creation of "masks" in the process of interacting with other people. Cassavetes also said that he strove "to put [actors] in a position where they may make asses of themselves without feeling they're revealing things that will eventually be used against them." He frequently filmed scenes in long, uninterrupted takes, explaining that:The drama of the scenes comes naturally from the real passage of time lived by the actors [...] The camera isn't content to just follow the characters' words and actions. I focus in on specific gestures and mannerisms. It's from focusing on these little things—the moods, silences, pauses, or anxious moments—that the form arises.
Cassavetes also rejected the dominance of the director's singular vision, instead believing each character must be the actor's "individual creation" and refusing to explain the characters to his actors in any significant detail. He claimed that "stylistic unity drains the humanity out of a text [...] The stories of many different and potentially inarticulate people are more interesting than a contrived narrative that exists only in one articulate man's imagination." The manner in which Cassavetes employed improvisation is frequently misunderstood: with the exception of the original version of "Shadows", his films were tightly scripted. However, he allowed actors to interpret characters in their own way, and often rewrote scripts based on the results of rehearsals and performances. He explained that "I believe in improvising on the basis of the written word and not on undisciplined creativity."
Cassavetes worked with jazz musicians Charles Mingus and Shafi Hadi to provide the score for "Shadows". Mingus's friend, Diane Dorr-Dorynek, described Cassavetes' approach to film-making in jazz terms:
The script formed the skeleton around which the actors might change or ad lib lines according to their response to the situation at the moment, so that each performance was slightly different. A jazz musician works in this way, using a given musical skeleton and creating out of it, building a musical whole related to a particular moment by listening to and interacting with his fellow musicians. Jazz musicians working with actors could conceivably provide audiences with some of the most moving and alive theater they have ever experienced.
When asked by André S. Labarthe during the making of "Faces" whether he had the desire to make a musical film, Cassavetes responded he wanted to make only one musical, Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment". Cassavetes was passionate about a wide range of music, from jazz to classical to rock, saying "I like all music. It makes you feel like living. Silence is death."
Cassavetes worked with composer Bo Harwood from 1970 to 1984 on six films in several different capacities, even though Harwood had initially only signed on to do "a little editing" for "Husbands", and "a little sound editing" for "Minnie and Moskowitz". Harwood composed poignant music for Cassavetes' following three films, and was also credited as "Sound" for two of them. During these projects Harwood wrote several songs, some with Cassavetes contributing lyrics and rudimentary tunes. During his work with Cassavetes, Harwood claimed the notoriously unpredictable director preferred to use the "scratch track" version of his compositions, rather than to let Harwood refine and re-record them with an orchestra. Some of these scratch tracks were recorded in Cassavetes' office, with piano or guitar, as demos, and then eventually ended up in the final film. While this matched the raw, unpolished feel that marks most of Cassavetes' films, Harwood was sometimes surprised and embarrassed.
The relationship between Harwood and Cassavetes ended amicably. When asked by documentarian Michael Ventura during the making of Cassavetes' last film "Love Streams", what he had learned from working with Cassavetes, Harwood replied:
I learned a lot through John. I've done a lot of editing for him. Picture editing, sound editing, music editing, shot sound, composed score, and I've learned a lot about integrity ... I think you know what I mean. You know, thirty years from now, I can say I rode with Billy the Kid.
Personal life.
Marriage.
Cassavetes was married to American actress Gena Rowlands from 1954 until his death in 1989. Many of his films were shot and edited in his and Rowlands' own Los Angeles home. He and Rowlands had a son named Nick and two daughters named Alexandra and Zoe, all of whom followed them into acting and filmmaking.
Death.
A long-time alcoholic, Cassavetes died in Los Angeles from complications of cirrhosis at the age of 59 on February 3, 1989. He is buried at Westwood Village Memorial Park cemetery in Los Angeles.
At the time of his death, Cassavetes had amassed a collection of more than 40 unproduced screenplays, as well as a novel, "Husbands". He also left three unproduced plays: "Sweet Talk", "Entrances and Exits", and "Begin the Beguine", the last of which, in German translation, was co-produced by Needcompany of Belgium and Burgtheater of Vienna, and premiered on stage at Vienna's Akademietheater in 2014.
Legacy and reception.
Cassavetes is the subject of several biographies. "Cassavetes on Cassavetes" is a collection of interviews collected or conducted by Boston University film scholar Ray Carney, in which the filmmaker recalled his experiences, influences, and outlook on the film industry. In the 2005 Hollywood issue of "Vanity Fair", one article features a tribute to Cassavetes by three members of his stock company, Rowlands, Gazzara, and Falk.
Many of Cassavetes' films are owned by Faces Distribution, a company overseen by Gena Rowlands and Julian Schlossberg, distributed by Jumer Films (Schlossberg's own company), with additional sales and distribution by Janus Films. In September 2004, The Criterion Collection produced a Region 1 DVD box set of his five independent films: "Shadows", "Faces", "A Woman Under the Influence", "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie" and "Opening Night". Also featured in the set is a documentary about the life and works of Cassavetes, "A Constant Forge", a booklet featuring critical assessments of the director's work and tributes by old friends. Criterion released a Blu-ray version of the set in October 2013. In 2005, a box set of the same films was released in Region 2 by Optimum Releasing. The Optimum DVD of "Shadows" has a voice-over commentary by Seymour Cassel. Then, in 2014, the Faces/Jumer library became the property of Shout! Factory, which acquired the films' holding parent company, Westchester Films.
Cassavetes' son Nick followed in his father's footsteps as an actor and director, adapting the "She's Delovely" screenplay his father had written into the 1997 film "She's So Lovely", which starred Sean Penn, as John Cassavetes had wanted. Alexandra Cassavetes directed the documentary "" in 2004, and in 2006 served as 2nd Unit Director on her brother Nick's film, "Alpha Dog". Cassavetes' younger daughter Zoe wrote and directed the 2007 film "Broken English", featuring Rowlands and Parker Posey.
"The New Yorker" wrote that Cassavetes "may be the most influential American director of the last half century"—this in announcing that all the films he directed, plus others he acted in, were being screened in a retrospective tribute at the Brooklyn Academy of Music throughout July 2013. AllMovie called Cassavetes "an iconoclastic maverick".
The Independent Spirit Awards named one of their categories after Cassavetes, the Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award. A one-person show about John Cassavetes titled "Independent" premiered at Essential Theatre in Atlanta in August 2017. The play was written by John D. Babcock III and starred actor Dan Triandiflou as Cassavetes. The song "What's Yr Take on Cassavetes?" by the band Le Tigre is about misogynistic themes within John Cassavetes' films and whether they can still be praised after those themes are identified. The song "Cassavetes" by the band Fugazi parallels John Cassavetes' independence from the film industry with the band's own independence from the record industry. In concert, singer Guy Picciotto introduced it as "a song about making your own road."
Filmography.
As director
Awards and nominations.
As a filmmaker, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for "Faces" (1968) and the Academy Award for Best Director for "A Woman Under the Influence" (1974). The Independent Spirit Awards named the John Cassavetes Award in his honor.
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Gloria (1980 film)
1980 film by John Cassavetes
Gloria is a 1980 American neo-noir crime thriller film written and directed by John Cassavetes. It tells the story of a gangster's former girlfriend who goes on the run with a young boy who is being hunted by the mob for information he may or may not have. It stars Gena Rowlands, Julie Carmen, Buck Henry, and John Adames.
The film had its world premiere at the 37th Venice International Film Festival, winning the Golden Lion, the festival's top prize, in a tie with "Atlantic City" by Louis Malle.
Plot.
In New York City, in the South Bronx, Jeri Dawn is heading home with groceries. Inside the lobby of her apartment building, she passes a man whose dress and appearance are out of place. The woman quickly boards the elevator.
She is met in her apartment by her husband Jack Dawn, an accountant for a New York City mob family. There is a contract on Jack and his family, as he has been acting as an informant for the FBI. Suddenly, the family's neighbor, Gloria Swenson, rings their doorbell, asking to borrow some coffee. Jeri tells Gloria there is an impending hit on her family and implores Gloria to protect her children. Gloria, formerly a mobster's girlfriend, tells Jeri that she doesn't like kids but begrudgingly agrees. The Dawns' daughter Joan refuses to leave and locks herself in the bathroom. While the family attempts to get Joan, Gloria takes their young son Phil, and an incriminating accounts ledger, to her apartment, narrowly missing the hit squad.
After hearing loud shotgun blasts from the Dawns' apartment, a visibly shaken Gloria decides that she and Phil must go into hiding. After quickly packing a bag they leave the building, just as a police SWAT team is entering with heavy weapons. Meanwhile, a crowd of onlookers and news reporters has gathered in front of the building, and a cameraman captures a picture of them leaving.
Gloria and Phil take a cab into Manhattan, where they hide out in an empty apartment belonging to a friend of hers. The following morning, Phil sneaks out of the apartment and sees his photograph on the front page of several newspapers. Later on, Gloria watches the news on television, which reports the mob hit and names her as Phil's suspected abductor.
The next morning, realizing they are not safe where they are, Gloria and Phil sneak out of the apartment just as a group of gangsters close in on them. The gangsters know Gloria and confront her on the sidewalk outside, exhorting her to give up Phil and the ledger. In desperation, Gloria shoots her revolver at the car of five gangsters, which takes off and flips over. Gloria realizes both her fate and Phil's are now deeply intertwined, and that they will have to leave New York to survive.
Gloria goes to the bank to empty her safe deposit box, and the two settle for the night at a flophouse. She confronts another group of gangsters at a restaurant; she asks for immunity in exchange for the ledger. "Only Mr. Tanzinni can agree to that", says one of the goons, so she takes some of their guns and flees.
The next day, Gloria tells Phil that she plans to send him away to a boarding school. Offended by her intentions, Phil claims he is an independent grown man who can manage alone. Gloria decides to abandon him and have a drink. She is soon filled with guilt for leaving the child and rushes back to look for him; however, he has been captured by some wiseguys. Gloria rescues him, killing one mobster in the process, and fleeing from two others via a taxi and the subway, where several by-standers help her escape.
The two eventually make it to a hotel room, where Gloria laments the mob's strength and ubiquitous presence, explaining to Phil that she was once the mistress of Tanzinni himself. She meets with Tanzinni, relinquishes the ledger, and then flees, killing one gangster as another shoots down upon her elevator car. Phil waits several hours, then flees to Pittsburgh via rail. At a cemetery, Phil and Gloria (the latter disguised as the former's grandmother arriving in a limousine after miraculously surviving her ordeal) reunite.
Production.
John Cassavetes did not originally intend to direct his screenplay; he planned merely to sell the story to Columbia Pictures. However, once his wife, Gena Rowlands, was asked to play the title character in the film, she asked Cassavetes to direct it. "Gloria" is John Adames' only film role.
A sequel was in the works before Cassavetes's death.
Reception and legacy.
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 91% approval rating based on 33 reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "A comparatively commercial entry from director John Cassavetes, "Gloria"'s pulpy pleasures are elevated by his observant touch and Gena Rowlands' galvanizing star performance."
Reviewing for the "Chicago Sun-Times", Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars and described it as "tough, sweet and goofy", as well as "fun and engaging but slight". He believed the overly silly nature of the script is redeemed by "Cassavetes' reliance on a tried-and-true plot construction" and the acting performances, particularly that of Rowlands, who he said "propels the action with such appealing nervous energy that we don't have the heart to stop and think how silly everything is". In a retrospective review, "Slant Magazine" praised Rowlands' performance and said that "the supporting cast pales in comparison to Rowlands".
The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
The Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa cited "Gloria" as one of his favorite films.
The film was remade in 1999 under the same title with a screenplay by Steve Antin. The remake was directed by Sidney Lumet. It starred Sharon Stone and Jean-Luke Figueroa.
Other films inspired by "Gloria" include Erick Zonca's 2008 film "Julia", starring Tilda Swinton and Luc Besson's 1994 film "Léon: The Professional". In 2013, Paul Schrader was planning his own remake of the film, starring Lindsay Lohan. And, in 2018, Taraji P. Henson starred in a loose remake entitled "Proud Mary".
John Adames.
The film is notable for the performance of child actor John Adames (also known as Juan Adames), for which he won the first ever Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor, shared with Laurence Olivier for his role in "The Jazz Singer". Adames, who had been cast after an open call, was between five and seven years old when cast, and his character Phil Dawn was six. He did not have any subsequent film roles afterwards.
Adames' performance was criticized by contemporary reviewers, who according to critic Ray Carney, expected Adames to be "cute and cuddly", and when he was not, they judged that Cassavetes had failed. Eric Henderson of "Slant" magazine posited that the criticism was due to Adames' vocal delivery, which he compared to "what Paddy Chayefsky would sound like impersonating Alvin Chipmunk".
Roger Ebert praised Adames' performance, calling him "well cast". Writing for "Film Comment" in 2017, Shonni Enelow revisited Adames' performance as the "crucial positive negative" that "makes the film work".
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Zero Effect
Zero Effect is a 1998 American mystery comedy film written and directed by Jake Kasdan in his feature directional debut. Starring Bill Pullman as "the world's most private detective", Daryl Zero, and Ben Stiller as his assistant Steve Arlo, the film's plot is loosely based on the Arthur Conan Doyle short story "A Scandal in Bohemia".
Shot in Portland, Oregon and scored by The Greyboy Allstars, the film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.
The film did not perform well at the box-office, grossing $2 million with a budget of $5 million.
Plot.
Daryl Zero is the world's greatest detective, but is also a socially maladroit misanthrope. Among his quirks is that he never meets or has direct contact with his clients, instead conducting business through his assistant, Steve Arlo. Throughout the movie, Zero provides narration as he reads lines from his proposed autobiography.
Zero and Arlo are hired by Portland area millionaire Gregory Stark, who has lost the key to a safe deposit box and is being blackmailed by an unknown person who forces him to follow elaborate instructions to deliver the cash payments. Zero quickly discovers that the blackmailer is Gloria Sullivan, an EMT with a mysterious past. Zero becomes attracted to Gloria and they sleep together, compromising his trademark objectivity. He lets his guard down and tells her that his mother was killed by his abusive father, who later committed suicide.
Stark pressures Arlo to reveal the blackmailer's identity so that he can have that person killed. Arlo must also deal with Zero's absurd demands on his time, which increasingly interfere with Arlo's relationship with his girlfriend Jess.
Zero eventually discovers that Stark had raped Gloria's mother after she broke up with him. She later blackmailed Stark with the threat of exposing him as a rapist, so he had her killed. However, she had already given birth to their daughter Gloria, who was discovered and raised by the hitman who killed her mother. Gloria grew up knowing that Stark was behind her mother's murder, and when her adoptive father (the hitman) contracted a terminal illness, she used the information to blackmail Stark, using the money to pay for medical treatment.
At the meeting to deliver the final blackmail payment, Stark collapses from a heart attack and Gloria is compelled to save his life. She then flees the country with Zero's assistance.
Production.
In April 1997, Castle Rock Entertainment acquired "Zero Effect" written by Jake Kasdan with Bill Pullman and Ben Stiller with Kasdan set to make his feature debut after having previously directed theater productions. Kasdan wrote the character of Daryl Zero specifically with Pullman in mind.
Soundtrack.
Released in January 1998 on Work Group, the official soundtrack for the film includes:
Reception.
Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 66% of 56 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 6.8/10. The site's consensus reads: "A promising debut for writer/director Jake Kasdan, "Zero Effect" overcomes its flaws with its off-kilter humor and likeable leads." Leonard Klady of "Variety" called it "scattershot entertainment that misses as often as it hits its targets". Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" rated 3.5/4 stars and wrote that he was surprised by how involved he became in the film. Janet Maslin of "The New York Times" wrote of the film's focus on the relation between Pullman and Stiller, "For all its admirable ambitions, this loosely focused first feature has the makings of a better buddy story than detective tale anyhow." Jack Matthews of the "Los Angeles Times" called it "a confident first film and one of the freshest detective yarns to come along in a while". Ruthe Stein of "The San Francisco Chronicle" rated it 2/4 stars and called it "more an interesting idea for a detective movie than it is an interesting film". Lisa Schwarzbaum of "Entertainment Weekly" rated it C+ and called it "a very shaggy and minor comedy". Geoff Andrew of "Time Out London" wrote, "Kasdan's is a very promising debut, its own dearth of feeling offset by able writing, engaging playing and a sure sense of pace."
Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.
Television pilot.
In 2002, Kasdan attempted to resurrect the character Daryl Zero for the NBC television network. He shared the screenwriting duties with Walon Green and directed the pilot. He was also one of the producers. The series was intended to be a prequel, tracing the early adventures of Zero as he and Arlo became a team. The pilot stars Alan Cumming as Zero and David Julian Hirsh as the Arlo character, renamed Jeff Winslow. The cast also features Krista Allen and Natasha Gregson Wagner. NBC did not pick up the pilot.
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Ann Arbor, Michigan
City in Michigan, United States
Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the fifth-most populous city in Michigan. Located on the Huron River, Ann Arbor is the principal city of its metropolitan area, which encompasses all of Washtenaw County and had 372,258 residents in 2020. Ann Arbor is included in the Detroit–Warren–Ann Arbor combined statistical area and the Great Lakes megalopolis.
Ann Arbor was founded in 1824 by John Allen and Elisha Rumsey. It was named after the wives of the village's founders, both named Ann, and the stands of bur oak trees they found at the site of the town. The University of Michigan was established in Ann Arbor in 1837, and the city's population grew at a rapid rate in the early to mid-20th century.
A college town, Ann Arbor is currently home to the University of Michigan, which significantly shapes the city's economy, employing about 30,000 workers which includes about 12,000 in its medical center. The city's economy is also centered on high technology, with several companies drawn to the area by the university's research and development infrastructure. The city has been a center for progressive politics as well as several social and religious movements.
History.
Before founding as Ann Arbor.
The region was once inhabited by several Native American tribes, the most prominent being the Anishinaabe people of the Three Fires: the Odawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi. The Potawatomi founded two villages in the area of what is now Ann Arbor in about 1774. Other tribes that inhabited the area included the Fox, Wyandots, and Sauk. These peoples established several trails that converged on present-day Ann Arbor. The land that included Washtenaw County was ceded to the U.S. by the Odawa, Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Wyandot in the Treaty of Detroit of 1807.
19th century.
Ann Arbor was founded in 1824 by land speculators John Allen and Elisha Walker Rumsey. On May 25, 1824, the town plat was registered with Wayne County as the Village of Annarbour, the earliest known use of the town's name. Allen and Rumsey decided to name it for their wives, both named Ann, and for the stands of bur oak in the of land they purchased for $800 () from the federal government at $1.25 per acre. The local Ojibwa named the settlement , after the sound of Allen's sawmill.
Ann Arbor became the seat of Washtenaw County in 1827 and was incorporated as a village in 1833. The Ann Arbor Land Company, a group of speculators, set aside of undeveloped land and offered it to the state of Michigan as the site of the state capitol, but lost the bid to Lansing. In 1837, the property was accepted instead as the site of the University of Michigan.
Since the university's establishment in the city in 1837, the histories of the University of Michigan and Ann Arbor have been closely linked. The town became a regional transportation hub in 1839 with the arrival of the Michigan Central Railroad, and a north–south railway connecting Ann Arbor to Toledo and other markets to the south was established in 1878. Throughout the 1840s and the 1850s settlers continued to come to Ann Arbor. While the earlier settlers were primarily of British ancestry, the newer settlers also consisted of Germans, Irish, and Black people. In 1851, Ann Arbor was chartered as a city, though the city showed a drop in population during the Depression of 1873. It was not until the early 1880s that Ann Arbor again saw robust growth, with new immigrants from Greece, Italy, Russia, and Poland.
20th century.
Ann Arbor saw increased growth in manufacturing, particularly in milling. Ann Arbor's Jewish community also grew after the turn of the 20th century, and its first and oldest synagogue, Beth Israel Congregation, was established in 1916.
Following a 1956 vote, the city of East Ann Arbor merged with Ann Arbor to encompass the eastern sections of the city.
In 1960, Ann Arbor voters approved a $2.3 million bond issue (equivalent to $ million in 2023) to build the current city hall, which was designed by architect Alden B. Dow. The City Hall opened in 1963. In 1995, the building was renamed the Guy C. Larcom Jr. Municipal Building in honor of the longtime city administrator who championed the building's construction.
During the 1960s and 1970s, the city gained a reputation as an important center for liberal politics. Ann Arbor also became a locus for left-wing activism and anti-Vietnam War movement, as well as the student movement. The first major meetings of the national left-wing campus group Students for a Democratic Society took place in Ann Arbor in 1960; in 1965, the city was home to the first U.S. teach-in against the Vietnam War. During the ensuing 15 years, many countercultural and New Left enterprises sprang up and developed large constituencies within the city. These influences washed into municipal politics during the early and mid-1970s when three members of the Human Rights Party (HRP) won city council seats on the strength of the student vote. During their time on the council, HRP representatives fought for measures including pioneering antidiscrimination ordinances, measures decriminalizing marijuana possession, and a rent-control ordinance.
Two religious-conservative institutions were created in Ann Arbor; the Word of God (established in 1967), a charismatic inter-denominational movement; and the Thomas More Law Center (established in 1999). Since 1998, Ann Arbor is also the home office of the Anthroposophical Society in the United States, an organization dedicated to supporting the community of those interested in the inner path of schooling known as anthroposophy, developed by Rudolf Steiner.
21st century.
In the past several decades, Ann Arbor has grappled with the effects of sharply rising land values, gentrification, and urban sprawl stretching into outlying countryside. On November 4, 2003, voters approved a greenbelt plan under which the city government bought development rights on agricultural parcels of land adjacent to Ann Arbor to preserve them from sprawling development. Since then, a vociferous local debate has hinged on how and whether to accommodate and guide development within city limits. Ann Arbor consistently ranks in the "top places to live" lists published by various mainstream media outlets every year.
In 2016, the city changed mayoral terms from two years to four. Until 2017, City Council held annual elections in which half of the seats (one from each ward) were elected to 2-year terms. These elections were staggered, with each ward having one of its seats up for election in odd years and its other seat up for election in even years. Beginning in 2018 the city council has had staggered elections to 4-year terms in even years. This means that half of the members (one from each ward) are elected in presidential election years, while the other half are elected in mid-term election years. To facilitate this change in scheduling, the 2017 election elected members to terms that lasted 3-years.
In 2020, partly as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the city government opened several downtown streets to pedestrians, limiting their use by motor vehicles to emergency vehicles during summertime weekends. In addition to providing a large pedestrian mall, these changes allow restaurants to use more of the sidewalks and part of the street for outdoor seating. These changes were popular enough that in 2021 the city council extended the dates from March to November, continuing the schedule of cordoning off cars from Thursday evening until Monday morning.
Geography.
Ann Arbor is located along the Huron River, which flows southeast through the city on its way to Lake Erie. It is the central core of the Ann Arbor, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area, which consists of the whole of Washtenaw County, but is also a part of the Metro Detroit Combined Statistical Area designated by the U.S. Census Bureau. While it borders only Townships, the built-up nature of the sections of Pittsfield and Ypsilanti townships between Ann Arbor and the city of Ypsilanti make the two effectively a single urban area.
Landscape.
The landscape of Ann Arbor consists of hills and valleys, with the terrain becoming steeper near the Huron River. The elevation ranges from about along the Huron River to on the city's west side, near the intersection of Maple Road and Pauline Blvd. Ann Arbor Municipal Airport, which is south of the city at , has an elevation of . Ann Arbor is nicknamed "Tree Town", both due to its name and to the dense forestation of its parks and residential areas. The city contains more than 50,000 trees along its streets and an equal number in parks. Into the early 2000s, the emerald ash borer has destroyed many of the city's approximately 10,500 ash trees.
The city contains over 160 municipal parks ranging from small neighborhood green spots to large recreation areas such as Buhr Park. Several large city parks and a university park border sections of the Huron River. Fuller Recreation Area, near the University Hospital complex, contains sports fields, pedestrian and bike paths, and swimming pools. Opened in the summer of 2014, the city-funded Ann Arbor Skatepark is a skatepark located within Veterans Memorial Park. The city is also home to the Washtenaw County-owned County Farm Park. The Nichols Arboretum, owned by the University of Michigan, is a arboretum that contains hundreds of plant and tree species. It is on the city's east side, near the university's Central Campus. Located across the Huron River just beyond the university's North Campus is the university's Matthaei Botanical Gardens, which contains 300 acres of gardens and a large tropical conservatory. Several other green spaces around Ann Arbor are privately owned or owned by government agencies such as Ann Arbor Public Schools.
Cityscape.
The cityscape of Ann Arbor is heavily influenced by the University of Michigan, with 22% of downtown and 9.4% of the total land owned by the university. The downtown Central Campus contains some of the oldest extant structures in the city—including the President's House, built in 1840—and separates the South University District from the other three downtown commercial districts. These other three districts, Kerrytown, State Street, and Main Street are contiguous near the northwestern corner of the university.
Major landmarks in downtown Ann Arbor include the Michigan Theater, The Diag, and Tower Plaza, a 26-story condominium building that is the city's tallest building. Downtown is also home to several Fairy Doors and other public art installations.
Three commercial areas south of downtown include the areas near I-94 and Ann Arbor-Saline Road, Briarwood Mall, and the South Industrial area. Other commercial areas include the Arborland/Washtenaw Avenue and Packard Road merchants on the east side, the Plymouth Road area in the northeast, and the Westgate/West Stadium areas on the west side. Downtown contains a mix of 19th- and early-20th-century structures and modern-style buildings, as well as a farmers' market in the Kerrytown district. The city's commercial districts are composed mostly of two- to four-story structures, although downtown and the area near Briarwood Mall contain a small number of high-rise buildings.
Ann Arbor's residential neighborhoods contain architectural styles ranging from classic 19th- and early 20th-century designs to ranch-style houses. Among these homes are a number of kit houses built in the early 20th century. Contemporary-style houses are farther from the downtown district. Surrounding the University of Michigan campus are houses and apartment complexes occupied primarily by student renters. The 19th-century buildings and streetscape of the Old West Side neighborhood have been preserved virtually intact; in 1972, the district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), and it is further protected by city ordinances and a nonprofit preservation group.
Climate.
Ann Arbor has a typically Midwestern humid continental climate (Köppen "Dfa"), which is influenced by the Great Lakes. There are four distinct seasons: winters are cold and snowy, with average highs around . Summers are warm to hot and humid, with average highs around and with slightly more precipitation. Spring and autumn are transitional between the two. The area experiences lake effect weather, primarily in the form of increased cloudiness during late fall and early winter. The monthly daily average temperature in July is , while the same figure for January is . Temperatures reach or exceed on 10 days, and drop to or below on 4.6 nights. Precipitation tends to be the heaviest during the summer months, but most frequent during winter. Snowfall, which normally occurs from November to April but occasionally starts in October, averages per season. The lowest recorded temperature was on February 11, 1885, and the highest recorded temperature was on July 24, 1934.
Demographics.
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Ann Arbor has seen consistent growth in population between all decennial censuses since 1860 with the exception of the 2010 census which reported almost no growth from the previous census. As of the 2020 U.S. census, there were 123,851 people and 49,337 households residing in the city, with a population density of . The racial makeup of the city including Hispanics in the racial categories was 67.6% White, 6.8% Black, 0.2% Native American, 15.7% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 1.8% from other races, and 7.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race made up 5.5% of the population. Ann Arbor has a small population of Arab Americans, including students as well as local Lebanese and Palestinians, and a large community of Japanese nationals.
According to the 2022 American Community Survey estimates, out of 49,337 households, 33.8% were married-couple households, 9.8% were cohabiting couple households, 26.1% had a male householder with no spouse present, and 30.4% had a female householder with no spouse present. 18.4% of the households had individuals under the age of 18 living in them, and 20.1% had individuals over age 65 living in them. The average household size was 2.22 people and the average family size was 2.78 people. The median age was 25.9; 12.2% of the population was under age 18, and 12.3% was age 65 or older. The percentage of city residents age 25 years or older with at least a high school degree was 97.8% while 77.5% had a bachelor's degree or higher, which is higher than the U.S. national percentage of 89.1% for persons age 25 years or older with at least a high school degree and 34.3% with a bachelor's degree or higher.
The median household income in 2022 was $78,740 (versus the U.S. national figure of $75,149), with family households having a median income of $126,292. The per capita income for the city was $52,276, which is higher than the U.S. national per capita income of $41,261. Males working full-time jobs had median earnings of $86,970 compared to $61,543 for females. Out of the 109,973 people with a determined poverty status, 23.1% were below the poverty line compared to the U.S. national poverty rate of 11.1%; the age group with the highest percentage below the poverty level was persons between 18 and 34 years at 43.0% while other age groups have percentages between 2.7% and 7.7%. Further, 3.5% of minors and 7.7% of seniors were below the poverty line.
Crime.
According to the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program in 2022, Ann Arbor had 371 reported violent crimes (which include homicide, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) and 2069 reported property crimes (which include arson, burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft). With a violent crime rate of 309.5 per 100,000 people, the city's violent crime rate is lower than Michigan's rate of 461 per 100,000 people and the U.S. national rate of 380.7 per 100,000 people. However, Ann Arbor's property crime rate, at 1726.0 per 100,000 people, is higher than Michigan's property crime rate of 1536.8 per 100,000 people and lower than the U.S. national property crime rate of 1954.4 per 100,000 people.
Economy.
The University of Michigan shapes Ann Arbor's economy significantly. It employs about 30,000 workers which includes about 12,000 in the medical center. Other employers are drawn to the area by the university's research and development money, and by its graduates. High tech, health services and biotechnology are other major components of the city's economy; numerous medical offices, laboratories, and associated companies are located in the city. Automobile manufacturers, such as General Motors and Visteon, also employ residents.
High tech companies have located in the area since the 1930s, when International Radio Corporation introduced the first mass-produced AC/DC radio (the Kadette, in 1931) as well as the first pocket radio (the Kadette Jr., in 1933). Current firms include Arbor Networks (provider of Internet traffic engineering and security systems), Arbortext (provider of XML-based publishing software), JSTOR (the digital scholarly journal archive), Truven Health Analytics, and ProQuest, which includes UMI. Duo Security, a cloud-based access security provider of two-factor authentication, is headquartered in Ann Arbor. It was formerly a unicorn and continues to be headquartered in Ann Arbor after its acquisition by Cisco Systems. In November 2021, semiconductor test equipment company KLA Corporation opened a new North American headquarters in Ann Arbor.
Ann Arbor is the home to Internet2 and the Merit Network, a not-for-profit research and education computer network. Both are located in the South State Commons 2 building on South State Street. The city is also home to a secondary office of Google's AdWords program—the company's primary revenue stream. As of 2022,[ [update]] Ann Arbor is home to more than twenty video game and XR studios of varying sizes. The city plays host to a regional chapter of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) which hosts monthly meetups, presentations, and educational events.
The city is the home of many research and engineering centers, including the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory that is operated by NOAA and the Michigan Tech Research Institute. Other research centers sited in the city are the United States Environmental Protection Agency's National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory and the Toyota Technical Center. The city is also home to National Sanitation Foundation International (NSF International), the nonprofit non-governmental organization that develops generally accepted standards for a variety of public health related industries and subject areas.
Non-high tech companies in Ann Arbor include Domino's Pizza, headquartered on Domino's Farms, a Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired complex just northeast of the city. Another Ann Arbor-based company is Zingerman's Delicatessen, which serves sandwiches and has developed businesses under a variety of brand names. Avfuel, a global supplier of aviation fuels and services, is headquartered in Ann Arbor as is Pinkerton, a detective and private security firm. Many cooperative enterprises were founded in the city; among those that remain are the People's Food Co-op and the Inter-Cooperative Council at the University of Michigan, a student housing cooperative founded in 1937. There are also three cohousing communities—Sunward, Great Oak, and Touchstone—located immediately to the west of the city limits.
Culture.
Several performing arts groups and facilities are on the University of Michigan's campus, as are museums dedicated to art, archaeology, and natural history and sciences. Founded in 1879, the University Musical Society is an independent performing arts organization that presents over 60 events each year, bringing international artists in music, dance, and theater. Since 2001 Shakespeare in the Arb has presented one play by Shakespeare each June, in a large park near downtown. Regional and local performing arts groups not associated with the university include the Ann Arbor Civic Theatre, the Arbor Opera Theater, the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, The Ark, and Performance Network Theatre. State Theatre and the adjacent Michigan Theater are a movie palace and a performing arts center, respectively. Another unique piece of artistic expression in Ann Arbor is the fairy doors. These small portals are examples of installation art and can be found throughout the downtown area.
The Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum, an interactive science center, is located in a renovated and expanded historic downtown fire station. The Ann Arbor Art Center is a nonprofit that organizes art activities and exhibitions. Aside from the Ann Arbor District Library, which maintains four branch outlets in addition to its main downtown building, and being the home to the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor ranks first among U.S. cities in the number of booksellers and books sold per capita.
Several annual events—many of them centered on performing and visual arts—draw visitors to Ann Arbor. One such event is the Ann Arbor Art Fairs, a set of four concurrent juried fairs held on downtown streets. Scheduled on Thursday through Sunday of the third week of July, the fairs draw upward of half a million visitors. Another is the Ann Arbor Film Festival, held during the third week of March, which receives more than 2,500 submissions annually from more than 40 countries and serves as one of a handful of Academy Award–qualifying festivals in the United States.
Ann Arbor has a long history of openness to marijuana, given Ann Arbor's decriminalization of cannabis, the large number of medical marijuana dispensaries in the city (one dispensary, called People's Co-op, was directly across the street from Michigan Stadium until zoning forced it to move one mile to the west), the large number of pro-marijuana residents, and the annual Hash Bash: an event that is held on the first Saturday of April. Until (at least) the successful passage of Michigan's medical marijuana law, the event had arguably strayed from its initial intent, although for years, a number of attendees have received serious legal responses due to marijuana use on University of Michigan property, which does not fall under the city's progressive and compassionate ticketing program.
A person from Ann Arbor is called an "Ann Arborite", and many long-time residents call themselves "townies". The city itself is often called "A²" ("A-squared") or "A2" ("A two") or "AA", "The Deuce" (mainly by Chicagoans), and "Tree Town". With tongue-in-cheek reference to the city's liberal political leanings, some occasionally refer to Ann Arbor as "The People's Republic of Ann Arbor" or "25 square miles surrounded by reality." In "A Prairie Home Companion" broadcast from Ann Arbor, Garrison Keillor described Ann Arbor as "a city where people discuss socialism, but only in the fanciest restaurants." Ann Arbor sometimes appears on citation indexes as an author, instead of a location, often with the academic degree "MI", a misunderstanding of the abbreviation for Michigan.
Sports.
Ann Arbor is a major center for college sports, most notably at the University of Michigan. Several well-known college sports facilities exist in the city, including Michigan Stadium, the largest American football stadium and the third-largest stadium of any kind in the world with a capacity of 107,601. The stadium is colloquially known as "The Big House" due to its status as the largest American football stadium. Crisler Center and Yost Ice Arena play host to the school's basketball (both men's and women's) and ice hockey teams, respectively. Concordia University, a member of the NAIA, also fields sports teams.
In semi-professional sports Ann Arbor is represented in the NPSL by AFC Ann Arbor, a soccer club founded in 2014 who call themselves The Mighty Oak.
Government.
As the county seat of Washtenaw County, the Washtenaw County Trial Court (22nd Circuit Court) is located in Ann Arbor at the Washtenaw County Courthouse on Main Street. Seven judges serve on the court. The 15th Michigan district court, which serves only the city itself, is located within the Ann Arbor Justice Center, immediately next to city hall. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit are also located in downtown Ann Arbor, at the federal building on Liberty Street.
In the Michigan Legislature, the city is split between Districts 23, 33, 47, and 48 in the Michigan House of Representatives. In the Michigan Senate, Ann Arbor is covered by Districts 14 and 15. Ann Arbor is within the 6th congressional district, currently represented by Debbie Dingell.
Ann Arbor has a council–manager form of government, with 11 voting members: the mayor and 10 city council members. Each of the city's five wards are represented by two council members, with the mayor elected at-large during midterm years. Half of the council members are elected in midterm years, with the other in general election years. The mayor is the presiding officer of the city council and has the power to appoint all council committee members as well as board and commission members, with the approval of the city council. The current mayor of Ann Arbor is Christopher Taylor, a Democrat who was elected as mayor in 2014. Day-to-day city operations are managed by a city administrator chosen by the city council. While Democrats, as of 2024,[ [update]] hold the mayorship and all ten council seats, Ann Arbor has two major political factions. A major source of this local divide is differences in views on the city's growth.
Education.
Primary and secondary education.
Public schools are part of the Ann Arbor Public Schools (AAPS) district. AAPS has one of the country's leading music programs. For the 2021–2022 school year, 17,070 students were enrolled in the Ann Arbor Public Schools. Notable schools include Pioneer, Huron, Skyline, Community high schools, Pathways to Success Academic Campus, and Ann Arbor Open School. The district has a preschool center with both free and tuition-based programs for preschoolers in the district. The University High School, a "demonstration school" with teachers drawn from the University of Michigan's education program, was part of the school system from 1924 to 1968.
Ann Arbor is home to several private schools, including Clonlara School, Michigan Islamic Academy, and Greenhills School, a prep school. The city is also home to several charter schools such as Central Academy (Michigan) (PreK–12) of the Global Educational Excellence (GEE) charter school company.
Higher education.
The University of Michigan dominates the city of Ann Arbor, providing the city with its distinctive college-town character. University buildings are located in the center of the city and the campus is directly adjacent to the State Street and South University downtown areas.
Other local colleges and universities include Concordia University Ann Arbor, a Lutheran liberal-arts institution. Washtenaw Community College is located in neighboring Ann Arbor Township. In 2000, the Ave Maria School of Law, a Roman Catholic law school established by Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan, opened in northeastern Ann Arbor, but the school moved to Ave Maria, Florida in 2009, and the Thomas M. Cooley Law School acquired the former Ave Maria buildings for use as a branch campus.
Media.
"The Ann Arbor News", owned by the Michigan-based Booth Newspapers chain, was the major newspaper serving Ann Arbor and the rest of Washtenaw County. The newspaper ended its 174-year daily print run in 2009 due to economic difficulties, and began producing two printed editions a week under the name AnnArbor.com. Ann Arbor has been said to be the first significant city to lose its only daily paper. The publication resumed using its former name in 2013, and also produces a daily digital edition named MLive.com. Another Ann Arbor-based publication that has ceased production was the "Ann Arbor Paper", a free monthly. The "Ann Arbor Chronicle", an online newspaper, covered local news, including meetings of the library board, county commission, and DDA until September 3, 2014.
Current publications in the city include the "Ann Arbor Journal" ("A2 Journal"), a weekly community newspaper; the "Ann Arbor Observer", a free monthly local magazine; and "Current", a free entertainment-focused alt-weekly. The "Ann Arbor Business Review" covers local business in the area. "Car and Driver" magazine and "Automobile Magazine" are also based in Ann Arbor. The University of Michigan is served by many student publications, including the independent "Michigan Daily" student newspaper, which reports on local, state, and regional issues in addition to campus news.
Four major AM radio stations based in or near Ann Arbor are WAAM 1600, a conservative news and talk station; WLBY 1290, a business news and talk station; WDEO 990, Catholic radio; and WTKA 1050, which is primarily a sports station. The city's FM stations include NPR affiliate WUOM 91.7; country station WWWW 102.9; and adult-alternative station WQKL 107.1. Freeform station WCBN-FM 88.3 is a local community radio/college radio station operated by the students of the University of Michigan featuring noncommercial, eclectic music and public-affairs programming. The city is also served by public and commercial radio broadcasters in Ypsilanti, the Lansing/Jackson area, Detroit, Windsor, and Toledo.
Ann Arbor is part of the Detroit television market. WPXD channel 31, the owned-and-operated Detroit outlet of the ION Television network, is licensed to the city. Until its sign-off on August 31, 2017, WHTV channel 18, a MyNetworkTV-affiliated station for the Lansing market, was broadcast from a transmitter in Lyndon Township, west of Ann Arbor. Community Television Network (CTN) is a city-provided cable television channel with production facilities open to city residents and nonprofit organizations. Detroit and Toledo-area radio and television stations also serve Ann Arbor, and stations from Lansing and Windsor, Ontario, can be seen in parts of the area.
Infrastructure.
Healthcare.
The University of Michigan Health System (UMHS) includes University Hospital, C.S. Mott Children's Hospital and Women's Hospital in its core complex. UMHS also operates out-patient clinics and facilities throughout the city. The area's other major medical centers include a large facility operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs in Ann Arbor, and Saint Joseph Mercy Hospital in nearby Superior Township.
Utilities.
The city provides sewage disposal and water supply services, with water coming from the Huron River and groundwater sources. There are two water-treatment plants, one main and three outlying reservoirs, four pump stations, and two water towers. These facilities serve the city, which is divided into five water districts. The city's water department also operates four dams along the Huron River—Argo, Barton, Geddes, and Superior—of which Barton and Superior provide hydroelectric power.
The city also offers waste management services, with Recycle Ann Arbor handling recycling service. Other utilities are provided by private entities. Electrical power and gas are provided by DTE Energy. AT&T Inc. is the primary wired telephone service provider for the area. Cable TV service is primarily provided by Comcast.
A plume of the industrial solvent dioxane is migrating under the city from the contaminated Gelman Sciences, Inc. property on the westside of Ann Arbor. As of 2021,[ [update]] the average measured concentration was found to be 201.19 ppb, with the maximum being 6.000 ppm. While the United States Environmental Protection Agency does not impose a federal limit on the level of the contaminant allowed in drinking water, the World Health Organization suggests a limit of 35 ppb. The Gelman plume is a potential threat to one of the City of Ann Arbor's drinking water sources, the Huron River, which flows through downtown Ann Arbor.
Transportation.
The streets in downtown Ann Arbor conform to a grid pattern, though this pattern is less common in the surrounding areas. Major roads branch out from the downtown district to the highways surrounding the city. The city is belted by three freeways: Interstate 94 (I-94), which runs along the southern and western portion of the city; U.S. Highway 23 (US 23), which primarily runs along the eastern edge of Ann Arbor; and M-14, which runs along the northern edge of the city. Other nearby highways include US 12 (Michigan Avenue), M-17 (Washtenaw Avenue), and M-153 (Ford Road). Several of the major surface arteries lead to the I-94/M-14 interchange in the west, US 23 in the east, and the city's southern areas. The Washtenaw County Border-to-Border Trail connects Ann Arbor to Ypsilanti, mostly along the Huron River, for pedestrians, bicycles and other non-motorized transportation.
The Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority (AAATA), which brands itself as "TheRide", operates public bus services throughout the city and nearby Ypsilanti. The AAATA operates the Blake Transit Center on Fourth Ave. in downtown Ann Arbor, and the Ypsilanti Transit Center. A separate zero-fare bus service operates within and between the University of Michigan campuses. In 2019, 36% of trips in Ann Arbor were taken by walking, biking or transit.
Since April 2012, the "AirRide" connects to Detroit Metro Airport a dozen times a day. The Michigan Flyer, a service operated by Indian Trails, cooperates with AAATA for their AirRide and additionally offers bus service to East Lansing. Greyhound Lines provides intercity bus service. Megabus has direct service to Chicago, Illinois, while a bus service is provided by Amtrak Thruway for rail passengers making connections to services in East Lansing and Toledo, Ohio.
Amtrak, which provides service to the city at the Ann Arbor Train Station, operates the "Wolverine" train between Chicago and Pontiac via Detroit. The present-day train station neighbors the city's old Michigan Central Depot, which was renovated as a restaurant in 1970. Ann Arbor Municipal Airport is a small, city-run general aviation airport located south of I-94.
Sister cities.
Ann Arbor has eight sister cities:
Notes.
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References.
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Zingerman's
Gourmet food business
Zingerman's, or Zingerman's Community of Businesses, is a gourmet food business group headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The original business and current flagship operation is Zingerman's Delicatessen.
Starting from the original deli, Zingerman's Community of Businesses (ZCoB) has expanded to nine Ann Arbor based businesses with over 500 total employees. Each business has shared ownership between original founders Paul Saginaw and Ari Weinzweig, and the managing partners who started each business. Each business has its own organizational structure, but they carry out the same standards and commit to the company's values.
History.
Zingerman's Delicatessen was founded in 1982, by Paul Saginaw and Ari Weinzweig, and began serving non-kosher traditional Ashkenazi Jewish delicatessen dishes and sandwiches. The Deli was originally to be named Greenberg's Delicatessen after a regular customer at Monahan's Fish Market, where Saginaw had been a partner with Mike Monahan, but another business that had that name objected.
In the early 1990s, the co-founding partners generated a plan for their company to 2009, which called for 15 individual businesses generating $20 million in revenue.
In 1997, Monahan sold his share of the company to Saginaw to focus on his original business venture, Monahan's Seafood Market. As Zingerman's grew, it expanded its offerings to imported gourmet foods, making its own bread at Zingerman's Bakehouse and creating dairy products at Zingerman's Creamery. It opened a second restaurant, Zingerman's Roadhouse, which focuses on regional American cuisine. The enterprise now owns several brand names, including the aforementioned enterprises in addition to Zingerman's Mail Order, Zingerman's Coffee Company, Zingerman's Training, Inc., Zingerman's Candy, and Zingerman's Catering. Zingerman's sponsors several mail-order food clubs and occasional culinary study tours.
Zingerman's assisted Avalon International Breads with a substantial discount on the purchase of its old steam-powered oven as well as its original business plan when Ann Perrault and Jackie Victor established the Detroit-based bakery in 1997.
References.
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