HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.
(THEME)
This is Doug Johnson.
On our show this week: music from Prince, and a question aboutthe actress Katharine Hepburn. But first, a report about formaldances called proms.
Proms
HOST:
Many American high school students attend proms each spring. Promis short for promenade, a word meaning formal dance. It istraditional for a young man and woman to attend the dance together.But some American teenagers do not go to the prom on a formal date.They go with a group of friends instead. But however they go, theprom usually costs a lot of money for special clothes, flowers anddinner before the dance. Shep O’Neal tells about a way to reduce thecost of the prom.
ANNCR:
Last year, Rebecca Kirtman was asixteen- year-old high school student in the southern state ofFlorida. She was killed in a car accident. Before she died, she hadcollected more than two-hundred prom gowns and gave them to poorgirls across the state. Such dresses can cost hundreds of dollars.
After her death, Rebecca’s friends and family continued thiswork. They even opened a special store called Becca’s Closet. Morethan twenty other similar stores are opening in nine states. Anotheris starting in Singapore.
Rebecca’s family members say they are surprised that the idea hasspread so quickly. They say Rebecca got the idea after reading areport about wealthy girls who gave their prom dresses to needygirls. She wrote to dress companies and asked them to send her someprom gowns. They did.
Today, Becca’s Closet is an organization that provides formaldresses to young women who do not have enough money to buy one forproms or other formal dances. Where do the dresses come from?Reports say they are sent from all over the country, including somefrom actors in television shows.
Girls who need a dress contact the organization through its Website and make an appointment to see the dresses. Then they go to thestore and choose the one they want to wear to the dance.
The Becca’s Closet web site saysthe organization is expanding its goals. It says that Becca’s Closetwill in the future include formal clothes for young men as well aswomen.
And the organization has established a fund to provide collegefinancial aid to students who need it. Becca’s Closet says it honorsRebecca Kirtman by continuing to help young people as she wouldhave.
Katharine Hepburn
HOST:
Our listener question this week comes from a computer sciencestudent named Tsuly, at Huazhong Agricultural University in China.Tsuly is a fan of old movies with Katharine Hepburn and wants toknow more about this former star.
Katharine Hepburn once said: “Lifeis hard. After all, it kills you.” She was famous for saying thingsthat were funny but true. She had a sharp mind and, sometimes, asharp tongue.
Katharine Hepburn died in July of two-thousand-three. She was inthe movie business for more than sixty years. She held the recordfor the most Academy Awards. She won four Oscars and was nominatedfor eight others.
Katharine Hepburn made more than fifty movies. She was sometimescalled the First Lady of Cinema. But she was a stage actress first.She performed in plays on Broadway in New York. She was nominatedfor two Tony awards.
In Hollywood, Katharine Hepburn said she liked movie workimmediately. Her first film, “A Bill of Divorcement,” was a hit. Shewon her first Oscar for her third movie, “Morning Glory.” Her otherpopular movies include “The Philadelphia Story” and “The AfricanQueen.”
The actress was born in Connecticut in nineteen-oh-seven. Herfather was a doctor. Her mother was an activist for the right forwomen to vote. Katharine Hepburn said her parents taught her freedomfrom fear.
She starred in nine movies with Spencer Tracy. They also had arelationship together. It lasted almost thirty years, until hisdeath. Throughout this time, Spencer Tracy was married to anotherwoman.
Katharine Hepburn was ninety-six years old when she died lastyear. Another famous Hollywood actress, Elizabeth Taylor, had thesewords to remember her. She said every actress in the world hoped tobe like Katharine Hepburn.
Prince
(MUSIC: “Purple Rain”)
HOST:
That song made American rocksinger Prince famous back in nineten-eighty-four. He never stoppedrecording and performing, but has never been as successful as he wasthen. Now, critics are praising his new album, Musicology. GwenOuten has more.
ANNCR:
Prince Rogers Nelson is forty-five years old now. Critics say hisnew album shows that he has grown up and has a message for hislisteners. One example is this song that discusses some of theproblems in the world.
(MUSIC)
But Prince has not forgotten to include a jazzy sound in hismusic. Here he performs the song “What Do You Want Me To Do?”
(MUSIC)
Prince says the songs on his new album represent his return to akind of early rock music. And some critics say it sounds like theearly records that made him famous. We leave you now with the titlesong from Prince’s new album, “Musicology.”
(MUSIC)
HOST:
This is Doug Johnson.
I hope you enjoyed AMERICAN MOSAIC. Join us again next week forVOA’s radio magazine in Special English.
This program was written by Nancy Steinbach and Caty Weaver. Paul Thompson was the producer. And our engineer was Tom Verba.