“Imitation of Life” a black-and-white film released in 1934, in which a white woman becomes rich through the pancake recipe of her black servant; meantime, the black servant is deeply saddened when her light-skinned daughter chooses to pass for white. This version of the Fannie Hurst novel starred Claudette Colbert.
Claudette Colbert An American stage and film actress (1903–1996) born in Paris, she won an Academy Award for best actress in It Happened One Night.
Betty Grable An American actress and film star (1916–73), she was the most popular pin-up girl of World War II; she co-starred with Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire in The Gay Divorcee (1934) and later appeared in such films as Moon Over Miami (1941) and The Pin-Up Girl (1944).
Hedy Lamarr An American film actress born Hedwig Kiesler in Vienna, Austria (1913–2000), she co-starred with Judy Garland in Ziegfield Girl (1941) and later starred in Cecil B. DeMille’s Samson and Delilah (1949).
Maginot Line a system of heavy fortifications built before World War II on the eastern frontier of France; it failed to prevent invasion by the Nazi forces.
Shet up! a dialectic pronunciation of “Shut up!”
incorrigival a youthful mispronunciation of “incorrigible,” unable to be corrected, improved, or reformed.
