Talk:Hadji Ali

Latest comment: 1 year ago by LlywelynII in topic Late mention
Featured articleHadji Ali is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do so.
Main Page trophyThis article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on October 24, 2012.
Article milestones
DateProcessResult
December 19, 2011Good article nomineeListed
December 22, 2011Peer reviewReviewed
February 10, 2012Featured article candidatePromoted
Current status: Featured article

Filmography edit

Right now there is nothing to support adding this to the article but in my research I came across this NYT article on the 1932 film Scarlet Dawn, which has one Hadji Ali playing the role of "Turkish Landlord". Other than the date and that it's not uncommon for vaudeville performers to pop up here and there in bit roles in films, I don't know if this is this Ali. Anyway, if anyone happens to have the film they can verify by sight whether it is or is not this fellow and report back.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 03:17, 16 November 2010 (UTC)Reply

On page 33 of The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, Hadji Ali was credited in 1931's Politiquerias and 1932's Scarlet Dawn (just credits, no other information of his role or anything). It notes that he could be the same actor credited as Ali in 1931's Rango. A more comprehensive account of Politiquerias (released in Costa Rica on 1 May 1931, Argentina on 11 Jun 1931, and Puerto Rico on 24 Jun 1931) can be found on p. 782 of the American Film Institute Catalog. Jappalang (talk) 03:09, 8 December 2011 (UTC)Reply
Note that p. 2765 of Jay Robert Nash's The Motion Picture Guide also credits "Hadji Ali (Turkish landlord)" for Scarlet Dawn, but I am unable to gleam further information from this. Jappalang (talk) 03:13, 8 December 2011 (UTC)Reply

GA Review edit

This review is transcluded from Talk:Hadji Ali/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Crisco 1492 (talk · contribs) 08:59, 5 December 2011 (UTC)Reply

  • Okay, you got me with that note. I'll take a look. Crisco 1492 (talk) 08:59, 5 December 2011 (UTC)Reply

Checklist edit

Rate Attribute Review Comment
1. Well-written:
  1a. the prose is clear, concise, and understandable to an appropriately broad audience; spelling and grammar are correct. Fairly decent. Some nitpicking below.
  1b. it complies with the Manual of Style guidelines for lead sections, layout, words to watch, fiction, and list incorporation. Good
2. Verifiable with no original research:
  2a. it contains a list of all references (sources of information), presented in accordance with the layout style guideline. Fine
  2b. reliable sources are cited inline. All content that could reasonably be challenged, except for plot summaries and that which summarizes cited content elsewhere in the article, must be cited no later than the end of the paragraph (or line if the content is not in prose). See below
  2c. it contains no original research. Fine
3. Broad in its coverage:
  3a. it addresses the main aspects of the topic.
  3b. it stays focused on the topic without going into unnecessary detail (see summary style). Good
  4. Neutral: it represents viewpoints fairly and without editorial bias, giving due weight to each. Good
  5. Stable: it does not change significantly from day to day because of an ongoing edit war or content dispute. Stable within definition.
6. Illustrated, if possible, by media such as images, video, or audio:
  6a. media are tagged with their copyright statuses, and valid non-free use rationales are provided for non-free content. Fine
  6b. media are relevant to the topic, and have suitable captions. Fine
  7. Overall assessment. Pending

Comments edit

1A
  • Overall
  1. You tend to favour long sentences, which may disturb reader understanding. Many of the issues I bring up here will be related to this.
  • Many sentences have been broken up during the peer review rewrite.
  1. This article is heavy on quotes. Paraphrasing some would be preferable, as many of them are still copyrighted.
  1. There is only one long quote in the main text, which is now blockquoted.
Lead
  1. "Hadji Ali (c. 1888[1][note 1] – November 5, 1937[2]), sometimes billed as "The Great Egyptian Miracle Man", "The Great Regurgitator", "The Egyptian Enigma", "The Human Aquarium", "The Human Volcano" and "The 9th Wonder of the Scientific World", was a vaudeville performance artist thought to be of Egyptian extraction, best known for a variety of feats of controlled regurgitation such as water spouting, nut and handkerchief swallowing followed by disgorgement in an order chosen by the audience and smoke swallowing." -- Could this be split? Perhaps something like "Hadji Ali (c. 1888[1][note 1] – November 5, 1937[2]), sometimes billed as "The Great Egyptian Miracle Man", "The Great Regurgitator", "The Egyptian Enigma", "The Human Aquarium", "The Human Volcano" and "The 9th Wonder of the Scientific World", was a vaudeville performance famous for his acts of regurgitation. Thought to be of Egyptian extraction, his best known feats included as water spouting, nut and handkerchief swallowing followed by disgorgement in an order chosen by the audience and smoke swallowing."
  • Done.
  1. "Ali's most famous stunt, however, the highlight of his act, was drinking copious amounts of water followed by kerosene, and then acting by turns as a human flamethrower and extinguisher as the two liquids were expelled by him over a prop structure." -- I'd cut "however" through "act". Also, is it possible to make the fact that both came out of his mouth clearer? I was reading the lead and thought some of it went south.
  • "However" was removed during the peer review (which is almost fully addressed). The thing is, "regurgitation", which precedes the summary of tricks, pretty much forecloses um, "southward activity" (ha!)
  1. "contemporary" -- This goes for the use later on. When I saw this I was thinking contemporary to Ali. As many of our readers aren't contemporary to the 1970s, perhaps another word or phrasing could be found?
  • Done. The ambiguity of the word has never been made so evident to me between your comments and similar at the peer review.
  1. Not everyone knows what Johns Hopkins is; perhaps state that it's in the US
  • Done for its use in the body. I think it would be excessive detail for the lead, especially because it's linked.
Background
  1. "Born in approximately 1888, according to his daughter, Almina Ali, her father became aware he had an unusual gastric ability at seven years of age,[note 2] when he inadvertently swallowed a fish and an ample volume of water while bathing in the Nile river." -- Flow is a little... hard to follow. Perhaps something like "According to his daughter Almina Ali, Hadji Ali was born in approximately 1888 and became aware he had an unusual gastric ability at seven years of age,[note 2] when he inadvertently swallowed a fish and an ample volume of water while bathing in the Nile river."
  • The whole section this appears in has been restructured.
  1. "duodenal" -- Link to duodenum, preferably.
  • No longer in the article.
  1. Perhaps a lead in to the quote in the second paragraph.
It's now a blockquote, following a lead in sentence and a colon.
  1. "He has been described as a "large, barrel-chested and bearded man... [that cut] an imposing figure in his Arab costume." -- By whom?
  • It's from his entry in Vaudeville, old & new: an encyclopedia of variety performers in America. Attribution to this book would work better if I didn't already mention it in text at a later point. I think it would break up the flow placing it here and anyone can follow the reference.
  1. "Once gaining some notoriety, he took on a manager, one Hubert Julian, a former colonel in the Abyssinian Air Force.[8]" -- Perhaps "He took one Hubert Julian, a former colonel in the Abyssinian Air Force, as his manager after gaining some notoriety.[8]"
  • The sentence has been tweaked. The gaining-some-notoriety part is the segue, so it feels like it needs to go up front.
Performance
  1. Water spouting was followed by Ali downing a quantity of one kind of unshelled nut, approximately 30 to 50 hazelnuts was typical (though one of Ali's posters advertised 40 pecans), and then one solo nut of another variety was taken in, such as an almond. -- I think the hazelnuts thing should either be in brackets or line-dashes.
  • The section was rewritten.
  1. Do you intend paragraph one and two to be together? We should keep the nuts with the nuts.

The first sentence of the second has been moved the the first. But the division here is that the first paragraph is about what the three swallowing tricks are, and the second is about how they it is thought they were achieved.

  1. "Ali would also partake of such delicacies as live goldfish, watches, coins, costume jewelry, paper money, peach pits, stones, live mice, buttons, pool balls and other oddments.[16] Another standard performance segment was swallowing the smoke of multiple cigarettes—eight or more at a time—then to issue forth the smoke like an erupting volcano." -- Perhaps you should keep the list of stunts together, then follow it by suggestions of how he did it.
  • I don't have a one to one list of how he did it so I couldn't do this.
  1. Third paragraph: Too many "thus"'s.
  • Done.
  1. "Once the volatile was exhausted, ... " -- Is volatile able to be used as a noun? Perhaps another synonym for kerosene.
  • No longer in the article (section was rewritten). Volatile is, however, a noun.
Film appearances
  1. Contemporary, as above
  • Done.
  1. "By contrast with Palmer's negative description, in episode 30 of the Sundance Channel television program Iconoclasts, featuring renowned magician David Blaine and artist Chuck Close, Blaine enthusiastically spoke of Al" -- Close is not really pertinent to this sentence. Why not have him linked in the next one?
  • Section was rewritten and this is no longer an issue,
Death
  • "It was rumored that the Rockefeller Institute offered $10,000 to obtain Ali's stomach.[3] Even before his death the ghoulish rumor had circulated that the Rockefeller Institute sought to procure Ali's stomach upon his death, and would pay as much as $50,000 for it. This claim appeared in a poster advertising Ali's impending appearance at a theater during his lifetime." -- Perhaps finding a way to arrange this chronologically?
  • Was removed during peer review
2b
  • Done.
3A
  • When was Politiquerias released?
  • Added.
  • Hold for one week. Crisco 1492 (talk) 10:07, 5 December 2011 (UTC)Reply
  • Thanks much for the review. My time is constrained right now and between this and the peer review there is a lot to do. It may take me more than one week, but I am working on it.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 13:02, 7 December 2011 (UTC)Reply
Okay, I'm basically done with responding to the concerns in the peer review and above. Please take a second look and thank you for the review. I wasn't expecting the GA and the peer review to happen at the same time, mostly because every GA I've submitted has taken more than 40 days before review.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 14:52, 18 December 2011 (UTC)Reply

Status? edit

If improvements are imminent after the completed review, please place this GAN "on hold" rather than leaving it open. AstroCog (talk) 15:04, 13 December 2011 (UTC)Reply

  • Sorry about that, could have sworn I had marked it as being on hold. Crisco 1492 (talk) 00:38, 19 December 2011 (UTC)Reply
Question
  • Good catch. I'm sure I had this cited in a prior version (or in an open screen when I was working offline) but it got lost somewhere. Added now. I made many changes per above and the peer review working offline, and then found your copyedit in place. Much obliged. I've folded in most of those changes.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 14:52, 18 December 2011 (UTC)Reply

DoB edit

The article reads (c. 1888–92 – November 5, 1937); to me, it reads like "born somewhen between 88 and 92". The note, however, says "[...]sources give Ali's year of birth as 1892 or approximately 1892. [...] If Ali's daughter was accurate about her father's age at the time of his death, he was born in 1887 or '88", meaning Ali is born either 1888 or 1892, making it somewhat misleading (and the possible dob 1887 is missing anyway).
How about something like: (c. 1887, 1888 or 1892 - November 5, 1937)?
Regards, Mottengott (talk) 13:26, 24 October 2012 (UTC)Reply

  • With Sudirman I put the generally accepted date in the lead and infobox and gave a note afterwards. — Crisco 1492 (talk) 12:05, 25 October 2012 (UTC)Reply

Burial place? edit

Considering all the travels and adventures befalling his corpse, it is a wonder that this article doesn't say where Hadji Ali is buried. Whereizzit? --Piledhigheranddeeper (talk) 18:56, 25 October 2012 (UTC)Reply

File:Hadji Ali demonstrating controlled regurgitation Crisco edit.jpg to appear as POTD edit

Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:Hadji Ali demonstrating controlled regurgitation Crisco edit.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on November 5, 2014. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2014-11-05. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page. Thanks! — Crisco 1492 (talk) 01:35, 17 October 2014 (UTC)Reply

Hadji Ali (c. 1887–92 – 1937) was a vaudeville performance artist, thought to be of Egyptian descent, who was famous for acts of controlled regurgitation. His best-known feats included water spouting, smoke swallowing, and nut and handkerchief swallowing followed by disgorgement in an order chosen by the audience. In this 1926 image, he is performing his water spouting at the Egyptian Legation.Photograph: National Photo Company; restoration: Centpacrr and Chris Woodrich

Late mention edit

A late discussion of Hadji Ali was Judy Garland on the Tonight Show (24 June 1968) starting around 13:04. Another was on David Blaine's appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience. — LlywelynII 06:39, 25 June 2022 (UTC)Reply