Supernova nucleosynthesis is a theory of the nucleosynthesis of the natural abundances of the chemical elements in supernova explosions, advanced as the nucleosynthesis of elements from carbon to nickel in massive stars by Fred Hoyle in 1954[1]. In massive stars, the nucleosynthesis by fusion of lighter elements into heavier ones occurs during sequential hydrostatic burning processes called helium burning, carbon burning, oxygen burning, and silicon burning, in which the ashes of one nuclear fuel become, after compressional heating, the fuel for the subsequent burning stage. During hydrostatic burning these fuels synthesize overwhelmingly the alpha-nucleus (A = 2<i>Z) products. A rapid final explosive burning[2] is caused by the sudden temperature spike owing to passage of the radially moving shock wave that was launched by the gravitational collapse of the core. W. D. Arnett and his Rice University colleagues[3][2] demonstrated that the final shock burning would synthesize the non-alpha-nucleus isotopes more effectively than hydrostatic burning was able to do,[4][5] suggesting that the expected shock-wave nucleosynthesis is an essential component of supernova nucleosynthesis. Together, shock-wave nucleosynthesis and hydrostatic-burning processes create most of the isotopes of the elements carbon (Z = 6), oxygen (Z = 8), and elements with Z = 10–28 (from neon to nickel).[5][6] As a result of the ejection of the newly synthesized isotopes of the chemical elements by supernova explosions their abundances steadily increased within interstellar gas. That increase became evident to astronomers from the initial abundances in newly born stars exceeding those in earlier-born stars. To explain that temporal increase of the natural abundances of the elements was the main goal of stellar nucleosynthesis. Hoyle's paper was the founding paper of that theory; however, ideas about nuclear reactions in stars providing power for the stars is often confused with stellar nucleosynthesis. Realize that nuclear fusion in stars can occur with negligible impact on the abundances of the chemical elements.
Elements heavier than nickel are comparatively rare owing to the decline with atomic weight of their nuclear binding energies per nucleon, but they too are created in part within supernovae. Of greatest interest historically has been their synthesis by rapid capture of neutrons during the r-process, reflecting the common belief that supernova cores are likely to provide the necessary conditions. But see the r-process below for a recently discovered alternative. The r-process isotopes are roughly a 100,000 times less abundant than the primary chemical elements fused in supernova shells above. Furthermore, other nucleosynthesis processes in supernovae are thought to also be responsible for some nucleosynthesis of other heavy elements, notably, the proton capture process known as the rp-process,  the slow capture of neutrons (s-process) in the Helium-burning shells and in the carbon-burning shells of massive stars, and a photodisintegration process known as the γ-process (gamma-process). The latter synthesizes the lightest, most neutron-poor, isotopes of the elements heavier than iron from preexisting heavier isotopes.
History
The theory that nucleosynthesis of the chemical elements occurred primarily during advanced evolution of massive stars was first proposed by Hoyle in 1954[1], in which he predicted the existence of the excited state in the 12C nucleus that enables the triple-alpha process to burn resonantly, enabling it to heat the helium cores of stars while synthesizing massive quantities of carbon and oxygen; and he introduced the thermonuclear sequels of carbon-burning synthesizing Ne, Mg and Na and of oxygen-burning synthesizing Si, Al and S. Hoyle could not yet convincingly discern how silicon burning would happen, although he foresaw that it must be the final core fusion prior to operation of his thermal-equilibrium picture of iron formation[7]. He also predicted that the collapse of the evolved cores of massive stars was "inevitable" owing to their increasing rate of energy loss by neutrinos. This work was so advanced relative to the state of astrophysics that it was hard to digest. Hoyle's 1954 theory fell into obscurity for decades after the more-famous B2FH paper[8] was published in 1957 and, surprisingly, did not include Hoyle's original description of nucleosynthesis in massive stars. Donald D. Clayton has attributed the obscurity also to Hoyle's 1954 paper describing its key equation only in words[9], and a lack of careful review by Hoyle of the B2FH draft by coauthors who had themselves not adequately studied Hoyle's paper[10]. During his 1955 discussions in Cambridge with his coauthors in preparation of the B2FH first draft in 1956 in Pasadena[11], Hoyle's modesty had inhibited him from emphasizing to them the great achievements of his 1954 theory.
Thirteen years after the B2FH paper, W. D. Arnett and colleagues[3][2] demonstrated that the final burning in the passing shock wave launched by collapse of the core could synthesize non-alpha-particle isotopes more effectively than hydrostatic burning could,[4][5] suggesting that explosive nucleosynthesis is an essential component of supernova nucleosynthesis. A shock wave rebounded from matter collapsing onto the dense core, if strong enough to lead to mass ejection of the mantle of supernovae, would necessarily be strong enough to provide the sudden heating of the shells of massive stars needed for explosive thermonuclear burning within the mantle. Understanding how that shock wave can reach the mantle in the face of continuing infall onto the shock that became the theoretical difficulty. Supernova observations assured that it must occur.
Era of Computer Models
The papers of Hoyle (1946) and Hoyle (1954) and of B2FH (1957) were written by those scientists before the advent of the age of computers.  They relied on hand calculations, deep thought, physical intuition, and  familiarity with details of nuclear physics. Brilliant as these founding papers were, a cultural disconnect soon emerged with a younger generation of scientists who began to construct computer programs[12] that would eventually yield numerical answers for the advanced evolution of stars[13] and the nucleosynthesis within them (for examples see [14] , [15]. Most of this new generation never digested Hoyle (1954) carefully and in any case forgot what they had read in their focus on the immense task of computerizing massive stars. They usually did not cite Hoyle (1954), but they did cite B2FH as a needed default citation for stellar nucleosynthesis. This computer cultural revolution began in late 1960s. The upshot in regard to the puzzling confusion over Hoyle and B2FH that followed was made possible by the B2FH review's failure to describe Hoyle’s picture. Understandable was the feeling by the new generation of themselves discovering the correct picture that Hoyle had presented, albeit with huge numerical details that Hoyle could not provide. The computer models of massive stars demonstrated that core burning in massive stars occurred in smaller cores than the previous burning phase had. This shrinking of successive cores yielded an onion shell model of the sequence of burning phases, a shell model that was necessary for Hoyle's 1954 picture to work as simultaneous ejection of the abundances from each burning phase. Understanding this computer cultural revolution takes one far in understanding why Hoyle (1954) was forgotten and B2FH appeared to have been the work that founded stellar nucleosynthesis, as many even claimed. The field of working astronomers became devoted to B2FH owing to that paper's citation of about 100 research papers by astronomers showing evidence of abundance changes in stars owing to nuclear reactions. Such abundance alterations, which were visible at the telescopes, became confused with Hoyle's goal of understanding the origin of the huge interstellar abundances of the elements.
Cause

A supernova is a violent explosion of a star that occurs under two principal scenarios. The first is that a white dwarf star, which is the remnant of a low-mass star that has exhausted its nuclear fuel, undergoes a thermonuclear explosion after its mass is increased beyond its Chandrasekhar limit by accreting nuclear-fuel mass from a more diffuse companion star (usually a red giant) with which it is in binary orbit. The second, and about threefold more common, scenario occurs when a massive star (12–35 times more massive than the sun), usually a supergiant at the critical time, reaches nickel-56 in its core nuclear fusion (or burning) processes. Without exothermic energy from fusion, the core of the pre-supernova massive star loses heat needed for pressure support, and collapses owing to the strong gravitational pull. The energy transfer from the core collapse causes the supernova display.[16] The nickel-56 isotope has one of the largest binding energies per nucleon of all isotopes, and is therefore the last isotope whose synthesis during core silicon burning releases energy by nuclear fusion, exothermically. The binding energy per nucleon declines for atomic weights heavier than A = 56, ending fusion's history of supplying thermal energy to the star. The thermal energy released when the infalling supernova mantle hits the semi-solid core is very large, about 1053 ergs, about a hundred times the energy released by the supernova as the kinetic energy of its ejected mass. Dozens of research papers have been published in the attempt to describe the hydrodynamics of how that small one percent of the in falling energy is transmitted to the overlying mantle in the face of continuous infall onto the core. That uncertainty remains in the full description of core-collapse supernovae.
Nuclear fusion reactions that produce elements heavier than iron absorb nuclear energy and are said to be endothermic reactions. When such reactions dominate, the internal temperature that supports the star's outer layers drops. Because the outer envelope is no longer sufficiently supported by the radiation pressure, the star's gravity pulls its mantle rapidly inward. As the star collapses, this mantle collides violently with the growing incompressible stellar core, which has a  density almost as great as an atomic nucleus, producing a shockwave that rebounds outward through the unfused material of the outer shell. The increase of temperature by the passage of that shockwave is sufficient to induce fusion in that material, often called explosive nucleosynthesis.[3][17] The energy deposited by the shockwave somehow leads to the star's explosion, dispersing fusing matter in the mantle above the core into interstellar space.
Silicon burning
After a star completes the oxygen burning process, its core is composed primarily of silicon and sulfur.[18] If it has sufficiently high mass, it further contracts until its core reaches temperatures in the range of 2.7–3.5 billion Kelvin (230–300keV). At these temperatures, silicon and other isotopes suffer photoejection of nucleons by energetic thermal photons (γ) ejecting especially alpha particles (4He).[18] The nuclear process of silicon burning differs from earlier fusion stages of nucleosynthesis in that it entails a balance between alpha-particle captures and their inverse photo ejection which establishes abundances of all alpha-particle elements in the following sequence in which each alpha particle capture shown is opposed by its inverse reaction, namely, photo ejection of an alpha particle by the abundant thermal photons:

28Si+4He⇌32S+γ;32S+4He⇌36Ar+γ;36Ar+4He⇌40Ca+γ;40Ca+4He⇌44Ti+γ;44Ti+4He⇌48Cr+γ;48Cr+4He⇌52Fe+γ;52Fe+4He⇌56Ni+γ;56Ni+4He⇌60Zn+γ.
The alpha-particle nuclei 44Ti and those more massive in the final five reactions listed are all radioactive, but they decay after their ejection in supernova explosions into abundant isotopes of Ca, Ti, Cr, Fe and Ni. This post-supernova radioactivity became of great importance for the emergence of gamma-ray-line astronomy.[19]
In these physical circumstances of rapid opposing reactions, namely alpha-particle capture and photo ejection of alpha particles, the abundances are not determined by alpha-particle-capture cross sections; rather they are determined by the values that the abundances must assume in order to balance the speeds of the rapid opposing-reaction currents. Each abundance takes on a stationary value that achieves that balance. This picture is called nuclear quasiequilibrium.[20][21][22] Many computer calculations, for example,[23] using the numerical rates of each reaction and of their reverse reactions have demonstrated that quasiequilibrium is not exact but does characterize well the computed abundances. Thus the quasiequilibrium picture presents a comprehensible picture of what actually happens. It also fills in an uncertainty in Hoyle's 1954 theory. The quasiequilibrium buildup shuts off after 56Ni because the alpha-particle captures become slower whereas the photo ejections from heavier nuclei become faster. Non-alpha-particle nuclei also participate, using a host of reactions similar to 36Ar + neutron ⇌ 37Ar + photon and its inverse which set the stationary abundances of the non-alpha-particle  isotopes, where the free densities of protons and neutrons are also established by the quasiequilibrium. However, the abundance of free neutrons is also proportional to the excess of neutrons over protons in the  composition of the massive star; therefore the abundance of 37Ar, using it as an example, is greater in ejecta from recent massive stars than it was from those in early stars of only H and He; therefore 37Cl, to which 37Ar decays after the nucleosynthesis, is called a "secondary isotope". The silicon burning in the star progresses through a temporal sequence of such nuclear quasiequilibria in which the abundance of 28Si slowly declines and that of 56Ni slowly increases. This amounts to a nuclear abundance change 2 28Si ≫ 56Ni, which may be thought of as silicon burning into nickel in the nuclear sense. In interest of economy the photodisintegration rearrangement and the nuclear quasiequilibrium that it achieves is referred to as silicon burning.
The entire silicon-burning sequence lasts about one day in the core of a contracting massive star and stops after 56Ni has become the dominant abundance. The final explosive burning caused when the supernova shock passes through the silicon-burning shell lasts only seconds, but its roughly 50% increase in the temperature causes furious nuclear burning, which  becomes the major contributor to nucleosynthesis in the mass range 28–60.[2][20][21][24] The star can no longer release energy via nuclear fusion because a nucleus with 56 nucleons has the lowest mass per nucleon of all the elements in the sequence. The next step up in the alpha-particle chain would be 60Zn, which has slightly more mass per nucleon and thus is less thermodynamically favorable. 56Ni (which has 28 protons) has a half-life of 6.02 days and decays via β+ decay to 56Co (27 protons), which in turn has a half-life of 77.3 days as it decays to 56Fe (26 protons). However, only minutes are available for the 56Ni to decay within the core of a massive star. This establishes 56Ni as the most abundant of the radioactive nuclei created in this way. Its radioactivity energizes the late supernova light curve and creates the pathbreaking opportunity for gamma-ray-line astronomy.[19] See SN 1987A light curve for the aftermath of that opportunity. Clayton and Meyer[23] have recently generalized this process still further by what they have named the secondary supernova machine, attributing the increasing radioactivity that energizes late supernova displays to the storage of increasing Coulomb energy within the quasiequilibrium nuclei called out above as the quasiequilibria shift from primarily 28Si to primarily 56Ni. The visible displays are powered by the decay of that excess Coulomb energy.
During this phase of the core contraction, the potential energy of gravitational compression heats the interior to roughly three billion degrees K, which briefly maintains pressure support and opposes rapid core contraction. However, since no additional heat energy can be generated via new fusion reactions, the final unopposed contraction rapidly accelerates into a collapse lasting only a few seconds. The central portion of the star is now crushed into either a neutron star or, if the star is massive enough, a black hole. The outer layers of the star are blown off in an explosion triggered by the outward moving supernova shock, known as a TypeII supernova whose displays last days to months. The escaping portion of the supernova core may initially contain a large density of free neutrons, which may synthesize, in about one second while inside the star, roughly half of the elements in the universe that are heavier than iron via a rapid neutron-capture mechanism known as the r-process. See below.
Nuclides synthesized

Stars with initial masses less than about eight times the sun never develop a core large enough to collapse and they eventually lose their atmospheres to become white dwarfs, stable cooling spheres of carbon supported by the pressure of degenerate electrons. Nucleosynthesis within those lighter stars is therefore limited to nuclides that were fused in material located above the final white dwarf. This limits their modest yields returned to interstellar gas to carbon-13 and nitrogen-14, and to isotopes heavier than iron by slow capture of neutrons (the s-process). A significant minority of white dwarfs will nonetheless explode, however, because they formed in a binary orbit with a giant companion star that loses mass to the stronger gravitational field of the white dwarf, which then grows past its Chandrasekhar limit and explodes as a Type Ia supernova, synthesizing about a solar mass of radioactive 56Ni isotopes. Its radioactive decay to iron keeps Type Ia optically very bright for weeks and creates more than half of all iron in the universe. Virtually all of the remainder of stellar nucleosynthesis occurs, however, in more frequent stars that are massive enough to end as Type II supernovae.[24][25] In the presupernova massive star this includes helium burning, carbon burning, oxygen burning and silicon burning. Much of that yield may never leave the star but instead disappears into its collapsed core. The yield that is ejected is substantially fused in last-second explosive burning caused by the shock wave launched by core collapse.[2] Prior to core collapse, fusion of elements between silicon and iron occurs only in the largest of stars, and then in limited amounts. Thus the nucleosynthesis of the abundant primary elements[26] defined as those that could be synthesized in stars of initially only hydrogen and helium (left by the Big Bang), is substantially limited to core-collapse supernova nucleosynthesis.
The r-process

During supernova nucleosynthesis, the r-process creates very neutron-rich heavy isotopes, which decay after the event to the first stable isotope, thereby creating the neutron-rich stable isotopes of all heavy elements. This neutron capture process occurs in high neutron density with high temperature conditions. In the r-process, any heavy nuclei are bombarded with a large neutron flux to form highly unstable neutron rich nuclei which very rapidly undergo beta decay to form more stable nuclei with higher atomic number and the same atomic mass. The neutron density is extremely high, about 1022-24 neutrons per cubic centimeter. First calculation of an evolving r-process, showing the evolution of calculated results with time,[27] also suggested that the r-process abundances are a superposition of differing neutron fluences. Small fluence produces the first r-process abundance peak near atomic weight A = 130 but no actinides, whereas large fluence produces the actinides uranium and thorium but no longer contains the A = 130 abundance peak. These processes occur in a fraction of a second to a few seconds, depending on details. Hundreds of subsequent papers published have utilized this time-dependent approach. The only modern nearby supernova, 1987A, has not revealed r-process enrichments. Modern thinking is that the r-process yield may be ejected from some supernovae but swallowed up in others as part of the residual neutron star or black hole.
Entirely new astronomical data about the r-process was discovered in 2017 when the LIGO and Virgo gravitational-wave observatories discovered a merger of two neutron stars that had previously been orbiting one another[28] That can happen when both massive stars in orbit with one another become core-collapse supernovae, leaving neutron-star remnants. Everyone could "hear" the replay of the increasing orbital frequency as the orbit became smaller and faster owing to energy loss by gravitational waves. The localization on the sky of the source of those gravitational waves radiated by that orbital collapse and merger of the two neutron stars, creating a black hole, but with significant spun off mass of highly neutronized matter, enabled several teams[29][30][31] to discover and study the remaining optical counterpart of the merger, finding spectroscopic evidence of r-process material thrown off by the merging neutron stars.  The bulk of this material seems to consist of two types: hot blue masses of highly radioactive r-process matter of lower-mass-range heavy nuclei  (A < 140) and cooler red masses of higher mass-number r-process nuclei (A > 140) rich in lanthanides (such as uranium, thorium, californium etc.). When released from the huge internal pressure of the neutron star, these neutralized ejecta expand and radiate detected optical light for about a week. Such duration of luminosity would not be possible without heating by internal radioactive decay, which is provided by r-process nuclei near their waiting points. Two distinct mass regions (A < 140 and A > 140) for the r-process yields have been known since the first time dependent calculations of the r-process.[27]  Because of these spectroscopic features it has been argued that r-process nucleosynthesis in the Milky Way may have been primarily ejecta from neutron-star mergers rather than from supernovae.[32] These results offer a new possibility for clarifying six decades of uncertainty over the site of origin of  r-process nuclei. Confirming relevance of this discovery by gravitational-wave astronomy to the  r-process is the radiogenic power from radioactive decay of r-process nuclei that maintains the visibility of these spun off r-process fragments. Otherwise they would dim quickly. Unquestionably this discovery raised support for such mergers being the main sources of the r-process nuclei rather than core-collapse supernovae; but that debate continues.
See also

Big Bang nucleosynthesis
Critical mass
Nuclear fission
Nuclear fusion
Nucleosynthesis
Primordial nuclide
Radioactive decay
Stellar nucleosynthesis
Supernova

Other reading

 Sky & Telescope Online, April 22, 2005

What element is the last one to be fused in a supernova?


List of ''Glee'' episodes

Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that aired on Fox. It was created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan. The pilot episode of the show was broadcast on May 19, 2009,[1] and the rest of the season began on September 9, 2009.[2] Fox initially ordered thirteen episodes of Glee, picking the show up for a full season on September 21, 2009,[3] ordering nine more episodes.[4] The remainder of the first season aired for nine consecutive weeks starting on April 13, 2010 and ending on June 8, 2010, when the season finale was broadcast.[5] The series completed its sixth and final season on March 20, 2015.[6]
The series focuses on a high school show choir, also known as a glee club, in the fictional William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio.[7] Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) takes over the glee club after the former teacher (Stephen Tobolowsky) is fired for inappropriate contact with a male student. With a rag-tag group of misfit teenagers, Will attempts to restore the glee club to its former glory while tending to his developing feelings for his co-worker Emma (Jayma Mays), as well as defending the glee club's existence from the conniving cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch). A major focus of the series is the students in the glee club: their relationships as couples, their love of singing and desire for popularity coming into conflict due to their membership in the low-status club, and the many vicissitudes of life in high school and as a teenager.
The series premiered on May 19, 2009 and ended on March 20, 2015. During the course of the series, 121 episodes of Glee airedover six seasons.[1][6]
Series overview

Episodes
Season 1 (2009–10)

Season 2 (2010–11)

"The Sue Sylvester Shuffle" (episode 11), broadcast immediately after Super Bowl XLV on February 6, 2011, was watched by 26.8million viewers in the U.S., as the highest-rated scripted TV broadcast in 3 years.[37]

Season 3 (2011–12)

Season 4 (2012–13)

Season 5 (2013–14)

Season 6 (2015)

Ratings
Glee: U.S. viewers per episode (millions)Audience measurement performed by Nielsen Media Research.[134]
See also

Glee albums discography
Glee songs discography
List of songs in Glee

Notes

List of  on IMDb


Mervyn Edward Griffin Jr. (July 6, 1925 – August 12, 2007) was an American television host and media mogul.[2] He began his career as a radio and big band singer who went on to appear in film and on Broadway. From 1965 to 1986, Griffin hosted his own talk show, The Merv Griffin Show. He also created the internationally popular game shows Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune through his television production companies, Merv Griffin Enterprises and Merv Griffin Entertainment.
Early life
Griffin was born July 6, 1925, in San Mateo, California, to Mervyn Edward Griffin, Sr., a stockbroker, and Rita Elizabeth Griffin (née Robinson),[3] a homemaker. The family was Irish American. Raised as a Roman Catholic, Griffin started singing in his church choir as a boy, and by his teens was earning extra money as a church organist. His abilities as a pianist played a part in his early entry into show business.
He attended San Mateo High School, graduating in 1942, and continued to aid in financing the school. He attended San Mateo Junior College and then the University of San Francisco.[4] He was a member of the international fraternity Tau Kappa Epsilon.[5]
During World War II, Griffin was declared 4F after failing several military physical examinations due to having a slight heart murmur.[6] During the Korean War several years later, he was examined and deemed healthy enough to serve, but by that time was above age 26 and therefore exempt from the draft.
Career
Singing
Griffin started as a singer on radio at age 19, appearing on San Francisco Sketchbook, a nationally syndicated program based at KFRC. Griffin was overweight as an adolescent and a young man, which disappointed some radio fans when they saw him in person.[6] He wrote years later in his autobiography that originally there was a deliberate effort to keep the public from finding out how he looked. Embarrassed by the weight issue, Griffin resolved to change his appearance, losing 80 pounds in four months.[7]
Freddy Martin heard him on the radio show and asked Griffin to tour with his orchestra,[1] which he did for four years.[8]
Griffin had an uncredited role as a radio announcer in the 1953 horror/science fiction classic The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.
By 1945, Griffin had earned enough money to form his own record label, Panda Records, which produced Songs by Merv Griffin, the first U.S. album ever recorded on magnetic tape.[9] In 1947, he had a 15-minute Monday–Friday singing program on KFRC in San Francisco.[10]
He became increasingly popular with nightclub audiences, and his fame soared among the general public with his 1950 hit "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts". The song reached the number one spot on the Hit Parade and sold three million copies.[11]
At one of his nightclub performances, Griffin was discovered by Doris Day. Day arranged for a screen test at the Warner Bros. Studios for a role in By the Light of the Silvery Moon. Griffin did not get the part, but the screen test led to supporting roles in other musical films such as So This Is Love in 1953.[12] The film caused a minor controversy when Griffin shared an open mouthed kiss with Kathryn Grayson. The kiss was a first in Hollywood film history since the introduction of the Production Code in 1934.[13]
Griffin would go on to film more pictures (The Boy from Oklahoma and Phantom of the Rue Morgue), but soon became disillusioned with movie-making. Griffin bought his contract back from Warner Bros. and decided to devote his attention to a new medium: television.[5]
In the summer of 1954, Merv Griffin and Betty Ann Grove sang & danced for a show called "Summer Holiday" (and "Song Snapshots from a Summer Holiday").  The premise of the show was a "Live musical show with two singers simulating a trip to various places in the world."  The show name had alternating titles for the same show, different nights, but were filled with the patter of songs and feet by the two hosts.  Merv and Betty were brought together by Byron Paul, producer of "The Jane Froman Show", and Irving Mansfield, the show's creator.  Mansfield remembered Merv for his singing in the Grace Moore picture and for his hit song, "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts."  The producer of the show (Byron Paul) had already considered Miss Grove for the summer replacement show, but "it was just a matter of finding a boy," Byron said.  "I'm quite excited.  They're both young, fresh, work well together, work well independently.  And I've never met two people who are easier to get along with."  The show ran for one summer.[14][15]
In March 2001, Griffin returned to singing with the release of the album It's Like a Dream.
Game show host
From 1958 to 1962, Griffin hosted a game show produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman called Play Your Hunch. The show appeared on all three networks, but primarily on NBC. He also hosted a prime time game show for ABC called Keep Talking. Additionally, he substituted for a week for the vacationing Bill Cullen on The Price Is Right, and also for Bud Collyer on To Tell the Truth. In 1963, NBC offered him the opportunity to host a new game show, Word for Word, which Griffin produced. He also produced Let's Play Post Office for NBC in 1965; Reach for the Stars for NBC in 1967; and One in a Million for ABC in 1967.
Talk show host
Griffin scored a coup when Tonight Show host Jack Paar accidentally emerged onto the set of Play Your Hunch during a live broadcast, and Griffin got him to stay for a spontaneous interview. After Paar left The Tonight Show, but before Johnny Carson took over (Carson was still hosting Who Do You Trust? for ABC), Griffin was one of the many guest hosts who presided over Tonight in the interim. Griffin was considered the most successful of the guest hosts,[16] and was rewarded with his own daytime talk show on NBC in 1962. This live, 55-minute program was not successful however, and was cancelled in 1963.

In 1965, Griffin launched a syndicated talk show for Group W (Westinghouse Broadcasting) titled The Merv Griffin Show. The show aired in a variety of time slots throughout North America; many stations ran it in the daytime, others aired it in prime-time and a few broadcast it opposite Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show. Griffin's announcer/sidekick was the veteran British character actor Arthur Treacher, who had been his mentor. After Treacher left the show in 1970, Griffin would do the announcing himself, and walk on stage with the phrase: "And now..., here I come!" According to an obituary article on August 24, 2007 in Entertainment Weekly, The Merv Griffin Show was on the air for 21 years and won eleven Emmy Awards during its run.
Griffin was not shy about tackling controversial subjects, especially the Vietnam War. The guests on the Westinghouse show were an eclectic mix of entertainers, authors, politicians, and "personality" performers like Zsa Zsa Gabor. Griffin also booked controversial guests like George Carlin, Dick Gregory, Richard Pryor, Norman Mailer, and Bertrand Russell. Griffin received critical acclaim for booking such guests, but was also widely criticized for it. When philosopher and anti-war activist Bertrand Russell used Griffin's show to condemn the war in Vietnam, Griffin was criticized for letting Russell have his say. Arnold Schwarzenegger, later the 38th Governor of California, made his talk show debut in the United States on Griffin's talk show in 1974 after moving from Austria.
Griffin dedicated two shows to the topic of Transcendental Meditation and its founder Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, one in 1975, the other in 1977; the 1977 edition aired separate from the main series as a standalone special in some regions such as Canada. Griffin himself was an enthusiastic student of the practice.[17]
Griffin would also frequently chat with audience members.[5] One regular audience member, Lillian Miller, would become a fixture on Griffin's program throughout its run.
Griffin's best friend since the sixth grade, Robert (Bob) Murphy, was the producer of The Merv Griffin Show, and eventually became president of Merv Griffin Enterprises.
Late-night host
CBS gave Griffin a late-night show opposite Carson in 1969, a move which proved disastrous. The network was uncomfortable with the guests Griffin wanted, who often spoke out against the Vietnam War and on other taboo topics. When political activist Abbie Hoffman was Griffin's guest in April 1970, CBS blurred the video of Hoffman so viewers at home would not see his trademark American flag pattern shirt even though other guests had worn the same shirt in the past, uncensored. Griffin disliked the censorship imposed by CBS and complained.[5]
Sensing that his time at CBS was ending, and tired of the restrictions imposed by the network, Griffin secretly signed a contract with rival company Metromedia. The contract with Metromedia would give him a syndicated daytime talk show deal as soon as CBS canceled Griffin's show. Within a few months, Griffin was fired by CBS. His new show began the following Monday and ran until the mid-1980s. By 1986, Griffin was ready to retire and ended his talk show run. Thanks to profits from his highly successful game shows, Griffin had become one of the world's wealthiest entertainers.[5]
Game show creator
Griffin created and produced the successful television game show Jeopardy! in 1964; in an Associated Press profile released right before the show premiered, Griffin talked about the show's origins:[1]
My wife Julann just came up with the idea one day when we were in a plane bringing us back to New York from Duluth. I was mulling over game show ideas, when she noted that there had not been a successful 'question and answer' game on the air since the quiz show scandals. Why not do a switch, and give the answers to the contestant and let them come up with the question.
She fired a couple of answers to me: '5,280' and the question of course was how many feet in a mile. Another was '79 Wistful Vista.' That was Fibber and Mollie McGee's address. I loved the idea, went straight to NBC with the idea, and they bought it without even looking at a pilot show.

The show, originally titled What's the Question?, premiered on NBC on March 30, 1964, hosted by Art Fleming, and lasted for 11 years. Griffin wrote the 30-second piece of music heard during the show's Final Jeopardy! Round, and which later became the iconic melody of the theme for the syndicated version of the show hosted by Alex Trebek.
In 1975, NBC canceled Jeopardy! after moving it twice on its daytime schedule, despite having an additional year on its network contract left to fulfill. Griffin produced the show's successor, Wheel of Fortune, which premiered on January 6, 1975. Wheel, with Chuck Woolery as host and Susan Stafford as the hostess, had successful ratings throughout its network run. From December 1975 to January 1976, the show expanded to an hour, in response to the successful 60-minute version of The Price Is Right on CBS.
"Wheel" barely escaped cancellation in 1980, when NBC replaced three of its other game shows with a daytime talk show starring David Letterman; NBC finally cancelled it in 1989, when CBS picked it up for a year (only to return to NBC, when the daytime version was finally cancelled for good in 1991). The show became a phenomenon, when on September 19, 1983, a nighttime version hit the syndication market with Pat Sajak and Vanna White as host and hostess, respectively. Around the same time, Griffin composed the show's best-known theme song, "Changing Keys", which was used in several variants from then until 2002.
As for Jeopardy!, two different revivals of the show would be produced: one on NBC that ran for five months in late 1978/early 1979 with Art Fleming returning as host, and the other airing in first-run syndication beginning on September 10, 1984, starring Alex Trebek. The syndicated versions of both Jeopardy! and Wheel remain on the air today.
In 1990, Griffin had an ambitious but unsuccessful attempt at adapting the venerable board game Monopoly into a game show of the same name. His last game show was a wild game show called Ruckus, which emanated from the Resorts International Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, which he owned at the time. Involving slapstick stunts and a somewhat truncated version of his old Reach for the Stars, the show initially aired locally in New York, with the intent of national syndication early the following year. The Amazing Johnathan left the show after 65 episodes because of a contract dispute and the show was scrapped before it was to be nationally syndicated. A national audience did get a look at it, via reruns that aired for a time on GSN.
Upon his retirement, Griffin sold his production company, Merv Griffin Enterprises, to Columbia Pictures Television (now known as Sony Pictures Television), at the time a unit of The Coca-Cola Company, for US$250 million on May 6, 1986, the largest acquisition of an entertainment company owned by a single individual at that time. Following the sale, Forbes named him the richest Hollywood performer in history. He retained the title of creator of both his game shows.
The two powerhouses spun off numerous programs, and Griffin often would sign on as a creative consultant. The spin-offs included Wheel 2000 on CBS in 1997 and the short lived Jep! on GSN in 1998, both for children; Rock & Roll Jeopardy! on VH1 in 1998 for purveyors of pop music trivia; a teen-oriented game called Click!, which introduced Ryan Seacrest as its host, and – in association with Wink Martindale – Headline Chasers in 1985.
On May 14, 2003, Griffin was honored with the Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) President's Award at its annual Film and Television Awards ceremony, for having created some of America's best-known game show melodies.[18]
In 2007, Griffin's production company, Merv Griffin Entertainment, began production on a new syndicated game show Merv Griffin's Crosswords (originally titled Let's Play Crosswords and Let's Do Crosswords). The show taped in Los Angeles after initial reports that it would be produced at WMAQ-TV in Chicago. The show was produced in association with Program Partners and the William Morris Agency and began airing September 10, 2007. NBC-owned-and-operated stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Dallas carried the show, with many stations airing two episodes per day. The show lasted only one season, ending on May 16, 2008 in first-run and September 5, 2008 in reruns.
Business ventures

Griffin ventured into real estate, purchasing the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. In 1988 Griffin purchased Resorts International and two of their hotels, in Atlantic City, NJ and Paradise Island in The Bahamas from Donald Trump and other investors. Part of the deal was that Trump would buy Resorts' interest in the yet to be constructed Taj Mahal project for $273 million.[19][20] Griffin subsequently sought bankruptcy court protection on Dec. 23, 1989 for Resorts International Inc., his troubled hotel and casino operator.[21]
The background to this was on Nov. 12, when Resorts reached a tentative agreement with certain bondholders, several bondholders petitioned the United States Bankruptcy Court in Camden, New Jersey, to put the company into involuntary bankruptcy to protect legal claims they might have against Trump, the real estate investor Griffin outbid for Resorts the prior year. As a result, this literally wiped out or greatly reduced the investments of the bondholders, so that Mr. Griffin could sue Trump and yet still retain a significant portion for himself.
Besides Resorts International, the holding company for casinos in Atlantic City and the Bahamas, three company affiliates also filed for Chapter 11 protection: Griffin Resorts Inc., Resorts International Financing Inc. and Griffin Resorts Holding Inc.
An active desert resident, he was a supporter of the La Quinta Arts Festival and the owner of the Merv Griffin Givenchy Resort & Spa in Palm Springs, now The Parker. He owned a ranch near La Quinta, California where he raised thoroughbred racehorses, as well as St. Clerans Manor, a boutique hotel, set in an eighteenth-century estate once owned by director John Huston, near Craughwell, in County Galway, Ireland. In the 1980s, Griffin purchased the Paradise Island Resort and Casino in the Bahamas for US$400 million from Trump, but he later sold it for just US$125 million. Griffin sold his empire to The Coca-Cola Company for $250 million in 1986, then went on a buying spree of hotels, so that his wealth in 2003 was said to be around $1.2 billion.[22][23]
Personal life
Griffin kept many details of his personal and business life private.  In 1991, he was sued by Deney Terrio, the host of Dance Fever, another show Griffin created, alleging sexual harassment. The same year, Brent Plott, a longtime employee who worked as a bodyguard, horse trainer and driver, filed a $200 million palimony lawsuit. Griffin characterized both lawsuits as extortion.
Griffin's Los Angeles Times obituary repeated a 1991 statement he had made regarding Plott's lawsuit: "This is a shameless attempt to extort money from me.  This former bodyguard and horse trainer was paid $250 a week, lived in one of two apartments underneath my former house as part of his security function, and left my payroll six or seven years ago. His charges are ridiculous and untrue."[24]
Ultimately, both suits were dismissed. He consistently evaded answering questions about his sexuality with a characteristic quip. In an interview with The New York Times published on May 26, 2005, Griffin said: "I tell everybody that I'm a quarter-sexual. I will do anything with anybody for a quarter."[25]
Until his death, Griffin remained friends with his ex-wife Julann Griffin, whom he credited with creating the premise of Jeopardy!
On being wealthy, he said that "if people know you're rich, they don't talk with you when you walk down the street." He kept his wealth an open secret, amassing media outlets, hotels and casinos with a net worth widely estimated at more than a billion dollars. Griffin stated he did not really know his worth because it "would keep me from sleeping at night".[4] Former First Lady Nancy Reagan and he exchanged birthday greetings each July 6 for their shared birthday. Griffin was also an honorary pallbearer at the funeral of President Ronald Reagan in 2004, having been friends with both of the Reagans for many years.[26]
Honors
In 1974, Griffin was inducted to the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1998, a Golden Palm Star on the Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.[27] In 2005, he accepted the degree Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) from the National University of Ireland, Galway, and in 2008, he was posthumously inducted into the Television Hall of Fame.
Illness and death

Griffin's prostate cancer, treated originally in 1996, returned and he was admitted to Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where his condition deteriorated, leading to his death on August 12, 2007, at the age of 82.[28][29] Griffin is survived by his son, Tony, born in 1959 during Griffin's marriage to Julann Wright from 1958 to 1976, as well as two grandchildren.[30]
Funeral services were held for Griffin on August 17, 2007, at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills. The well-attended service included Nancy Reagan; Arnold Schwarzenegger (who gave the eulogy along with Tony Griffin); Maria Shriver; and various actors, television stars, employees, and friends including Pat Sajak, Vanna White, Alex Trebek, Dick Van Dyke, Jack Klugman, Dick Van Patten, Ellen DeGeneres, Portia de Rossi, Ryan Seacrest, Catherine Oxenberg and Casper Van Dien. Pallbearers included Griffin Group vice-chairman Ron Ward, President Robert Pritchard, and Vice President Michael Eyre, as well as Tony Griffin. His 7-year-old grandson Donovan Mervyn was an honorary pallbearer as was Nancy Reagan. His 12-year-old granddaughter Farah gave a reading. A post-burial reception was held at the Beverly Hilton, a property owned by Griffin from 1987 to 2003.[31] He was buried in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery and his headstone epitaph (even though in his book Merv, written with David Bender in 2003, states it would be "Stay Tuned") reads "I will not be right back after this message", an epitaph Griffin announced on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
GSN honored Griffin by airing ten-episode marathons of Wheel and Jeopardy! during the weekend of August 18–19, 2007. The Wheel marathon included two episodes with cameo appearances by Griffin: Sajak's departure from the daytime version in 1989 and a 1992–93 episode that ended with Griffin, his band "The MervTones," and White singing at a dinner club in Orlando, Florida. The Jeopardy! marathon consisted of a rerun of the Jeopardy! Million Dollar Masters Tournament from 2002. His estate was recently sold for $7 million.
Selected popular songs
"I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts"
"Christmas City"
"Wilhelmina"
"Never Been Kissed"
"The Charanga" (#69, Pop Charts, 1961)
"Banned in Boston" (#101, Pop Charts, 1961)
"Happy To Know You" (Radio Hit, 1973)
"Think!" (longtime theme music for Jeopardy!)
"Changing Keys" (former longtime theme music for Wheel)

 on IMDb
 at Find a Grave


The Mauser C96 (Construktion 96)[4] is a semi-automatic pistol that was originally produced by German arms manufacturer Mauser from 1896 to 1937.[5] Unlicensed copies of the gun were also manufactured in Spain and China in the first half of the 20th century.[5][6]
The distinctive characteristics of the C96 are the integral box magazine in front of the trigger, the long barrel, the wooden shoulder stock which gives it the stability of a short-barreled rifle and doubles as a holster or carrying case, and an iconic grip shaped like the handle of a broom. The grip earned the gun the nickname "broomhandle" in the English-speaking world, because of its round wooden handle, and in China the C96 was nicknamed the "box cannon" (Chinese:盒子炮; pinyin:hézipào) because of its rectangular internal magazine and the fact that it could be holstered in its wooden box-like detachable stock.[7]
With its long barrel and high-velocity cartridge, the Mauser C96 had superior range and better penetration than most other pistols of its era; the 7.63×25mm Mauser cartridge was the highest velocity commercially manufactured pistol cartridge until the advent of the .357 Magnum cartridge in 1935.[8]
Mauser manufactured approximately 1 million C96 pistols,[9] while the number produced in Spain and China was large but unknown due to the non-existence or poor preservation of production records from those countries.[5]
History

Within a year of its introduction in 1896, the C96 had been sold to governments and commercially to civilians and individual military officers.
The Mauser C96 pistol was extremely popular with British officers at the time and many purchased it privately. Mauser supplied the C96 to Westley Richards in the UK for resale. By the onset of World War I, the C96's popularity with the British military had waned.[10]
As a military sidearm, the pistols saw service in various colonial wars, as well as World War I, the Easter Rising, the Estonian War of Independence, the Spanish Civil War, the Chinese Civil War and World War II. The C96 also became a staple of Bolshevik commissars and various warlords and gang leaders in the Russian Civil War, known simply as "the Mauser". Communist revolutionaries Yakov Yurovsky and Peter Ermakov used Mausers to execute the Russian imperial family in July 1918.[11]
Winston Churchill was fond of the Mauser C96 and used one at the 1898 Battle of Omdurman and during the Second Boer War; Lawrence of Arabia carried a Mauser C96 for a period, during his time in the Middle East.[5][12] Indian Revolutionary Ram Prasad Bismil and his partymen used these Mauser pistols in the historic Kakori train robbery in August 1925. Chinese Communist General Zhu De carried a Mauser C96 during his Nanchang Uprising and later conflicts; his gun (with his name printed on it) can be viewed in the Beijing war museum.
Three Mauser C96s were used in the killing of Spanish prime minister Eduardo Dato in 1921.
Imported and domestic copies of the C96 were used extensively by the Chinese in the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War, as well as by the Spanish during the Spanish Civil War and the Germans in World War II.[6][13]
Besides the standard 7.63×25mm chambering, C96 pistols were also commonly chambered for 9×19mm Parabellum with a small number also being produced in 9 mm Mauser Export. In 1940, Mauser officials proposed using the C-96 as the vehicle for an upgrade to the 9×25mm Mauser Export cartridge to match the ballistics of the .357 Magnum.[14] Lastly, there was a Chinese-manufactured model chambered for .45 ACP.[5] Despite the pistol's worldwide popularity and fame, China was the only nation to use the C96 as the primary service pistol of its military and police.
Contract variants
1897 Turkish Army Mauser
Mauser's first military contract was with the Ottoman Turkish government in 1897. They ordered 1,000 pistols; they had their own serial number range, running from 1 to 1000.[6] They differ in that they use a non-Arabic number system on the tangent sight and the weapon is designated in this number system in the Islamic calendar year "1314" rather than the Gregorian calendar year "1896 / 1897". Markings include a six-pointed star on both sides of the chamber and the crest of Sultan Abdul Hamid II (a trophy of crossed Turkish flags, various polearms, and a collection of his royal awards and honours) and the Muslim year 1314 on the square left rear frame panel.
1899 Italian Navy Mauser
In 1899, the Italian government ordered Mauser's first major military contract; an order for 5,000 C96 pistols for the Italian Royal Navy.[9] They differ in that their receivers were "slab-sided" (i.e., lacked the milling on the sides found on commercial Mausers). They also have a "ring hammer" (spurless hammer with a hole through its head) instead of the early "cone hammer" (spurless hammer with ribbed cone-like projections on the sides of its head). These guns had their own serial number range, running from 1 to 5000.
1910 Persian contract Mauser
The Persian government ordered 1,000 pistols. They have the Persian government's "Lion and Sun" insignia on the rectangular milled panel on the left side of the receiver and the serial numbers range from 154000 to 154999. It is often confused with the Turkish contract Mauser.
M1916 Austrian contract
Austria-Hungary ordered 50,000 Mausers in the standard 7.63×25mm. A small number were rebarreled to 8mm Gasser (8.11×27mm) for an unknown reason.[15]
M1916 Prussian "red 9"

During World War I, the Imperial German Army contracted with Mauser for 150,000 C96 pistols chambered in 9mm Parabellum to offset the slow production of the standard-issue Luger P08 pistol. This variant of the C96 was named the "red 9" after a large number 9 burned and painted in red into the grip panels[16] to warn the pistols' users not to incorrectly load them with 7.63mm ammunition. Of the 150,000 pistols commissioned, approximately 137,000 were delivered before the war ended.[6] Because the army delegated the branding to unit armourers, not all 9mm pistols carry the nine.
M1920 French police contract
The French government set up an order for 1,000 pistols with 99 millimetres (3.9in) barrels for the Gendarmerie Nationale. The pistol had black ebonite grips rather than wooden ones.
WW2 Luftwaffe contract
The German government purchased 7,800 commercial M30 pistols in 1940 for use by the Luftwaffe. They have Wehrmacht proof marks and the Mauser serial numbers come from the early- to mid-1930s. The weapon had ceased production in 1937 but the order was filled from remaining stocks.
Major variants
There were many variants of the C96 besides the standard commercial model; the most common are detailed below.
M1896 Kavallerie Karabiner
One of the experimental ideas was the creation of a pistol-carbine for use by light cavalry. They had a "slab-sided" receiver, standard 10-round magazine, a permanently affixed wooden stock and forend, and a lengthened 300 millimetres (12in) (early production) or 370 millimetres (15in) (late production) barrel. They were dropped from production after 1899 due to poor sales and little military interest.
There was limited sporting interest in the carbine version and due to small production numbers it is a highly prized collectible priced at about twice the value of the pistol version.[17] Recently, importers like Navy Arms imported late-model Mauser carbines with 16-inch or longer barrels for sale in the US.
M1896 compact Mauser
A version of the Mauser pistol with a full-sized grip, six-shot internal magazine, and a 120-millimetre (4.7in) barrel. Production was phased out by 1899.
M1896 officer's model
This is the unofficial term for a variant compact Mauser with a curved wooden or hard-rubber grip, like that of a revolver. The name comes from the US Army designation of the Mauser pistol sent to participate in their self-loading pistol trials.
M1898 pistol carbine
This is the first model to come cut for a combination wooden stock-holster. The stock doubled as a case or holster and attached to a slot cut in the grip frame.
M1912 Mauser export model
This model was the first to chamber the 9×25mm Mauser export cartridge. It was designed to appeal to the arms markets in South America and China. Mauser C96 pistols in this caliber usually have an indentation milled into the upper surface of the magazine's follower to facilitate feeding of the straight-cased 9×25mm cartridge cases. The rifling in the barrel has a unique 13:8 twist. In addition, the flat surfaces extending around the chamber are longer to accommodate the higher pressures of the 9×25mm cartridge. Examples of Mauser C96s in this caliber are rare, but are still occasionally found on the private collector's market. The 9×25mm Mauser export caliber receded from the market as the armaments industry reoriented itself towards military manufacture during World War I, but the round enjoyed a resurgence in popularity as a submachine gun caliber in the 1930s.
M1920 Mauser rework
The Treaty of Versailles (signed in 1919) imposed a number of restrictions on pistol barrel lengths and calibres on German arms manufacturers.[18] Pistols for German government issue or domestic market sales could not have a barrel longer than 4inches and could not be chambered for 9mm cartridges.
The Weimar Republic banned the private ownership of military-issue or military-style weapons in an attempt to recover valuable arms from returning soldiers. The confiscated weapons were then used to arm government forces, leaving them with a hodge-podge of military and civilian arms. To meet the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles, a major reworking project was begun that set about converting these weapons.
To be compliant, pre-war C.96 models belonging to the Weimar government had to have their barrels cut down to 99 millimetres (3.9in). This meant that their tangent sights had to be replaced with fixed sights. They also had to be converted to the standard 7.63×25mm Mauser round, though a few hybrid Mausers were made with salvaged Luger barrels that were chambered for 7.65×21mm Parabellum. Compliant confiscated government-issue guns were marked M1920. This practice was continued on German service pistols even after the ban was ignored and the conversions had stopped.
M1921 "Bolo" Mauser
Mauser began manufacturing a compliant version of the C96 for commercial sale from 1920 to 1921. It featured smaller grips, a shorter 99-millimetre (3.9in) barrel,[7] and was chambered for the standard 7.63×25mm Mauser. An experimental 8.15×25.2mm Mauser cartridge (DWM 580) was used to replace the banned 9×19mm Parabellum and 9×25mm Mauser Export cartridges for domestic sales but it never supplanted the 9mm caliber.
Mass-production of the weapon was from 1921 to 1930. It was sold in quantity to armies in the contested Baltic region and was carried by the Poles, Lithuanians, German Freikorps and White Russians. The Bolshevik government (and later the new Red Army) of the embryonic Soviet Union, purchased large numbers of this model in the 1920s and also appropriated them from defeated enemies.[19] The distinctive pistol became associated with the Bolsheviks and was thus nicknamed the "Bolo".[19] The "Bolo" model was also popular elsewhere, as the shorter barrel and smaller overall size made the gun easier to conceal.[20]
There was also a transitional version in 1930 that used the "Bolo" frame but with a longer 132-millimetre (5.2in) barrel.
M1930 Mauser
Also known as the M30 by collectors, it was a simplification and improvement of the M1921 Mauser. It simplified production by removing several fine-machining details and reverted to the "pre-war" large grip and long barrel. The early model M30s had a 132 millimetres (5.2in) barrel, but later models had the traditional 140 millimetres (5.5in) barrel. It was made from 1930 until 1937.
Joseph Nickl designed a selective-fire conversion in 1930. It tended to "cook off" (fire by spontaneous ignition of the propellant when overheated) when fired in long bursts. Only 4,000 of this model were made between 1930 and 1931.[21]
Since the M1932 / M712 variant was full-auto, the semi-auto M1930 it was derived from was sometimes called the M711 by war surplus dealers and collectors.
M1932/M712 Schnellfeuer

The Spanish gunmaking firms of Beistegui Hermanos and Astra began producing detachable magazine-fed, select-fire versions of the C96 in 1927 and 1928 respectively, intended for export to the Far East.[6]
Mauser began production of the Schnellfeuer (rapid fire), their own select-fire, detachable magazine version of the M30 designed by Karl Westinger. Production started in 1932 and ended in 1936,[6] which has led to its unofficial designation of "M1932" by collectors. An extremely successful design, around 98,000 guns were made overall and they had their own series of serial numbers.[21]
It was largely intended for export to South America and China or to the opposing sides in the later Spanish Civil War. From 1932 to 1935, the Yugoslavian military tested batches of the Schnellfeuer in both 7.63mm and 9mm Parabellum for the purpose of arming mountain troops and special operations units. Improvements requested by the Yugoslavs included a detachable barrel, improved front and rear sights, more durable parts to prevent breakage under sustained fire and lowered position of the shoulder stock to avoid "hammer bite".[22]
Small numbers of M1932s were supplied to the German Wehrmacht during World War II, who designated it the M712.[6]
The US National Firearms Act of 1934 placed a $200 tax on select-fire weapons ("machine guns"), making exports of the Schnellfeuer guns to the US impractical since at the time this was roughly half the cost of a new car. After World War II, importers sold a semi-automatic conversion of the detachable magazine Schnellfeuer that was made for the US surplus market. The versions imported from China were built on new semi-auto-only frames; the ATF treats them under the law as new guns and not under the curio and relic exemption.
9 OBI
Oyster Bay Industries was an American company that made a detachable magazine conversion kit for the Mauser. It removed the floor plate, spring and follower and added a small magazine catch mechanism that allowed it to feed its own brand of proprietary fourteen round 9mm magazines. The conversion could either be performed on a "red 9" pistol or a new 9mm upper receiver could be sold that would convert a standard C.96 7.63mm pistol.
PASAM machine pistol
The Brazilian government bought five-hundred 7.63mm M1932 Schnellfeuer machine pistols for the Policia Militar do Distrito Federal (Portuguese: "Federal District Military Police") during the mid-1930s. The PASAM (pistola automática semi-automática Mauser,[21] or "semi-automatic / automatic military pistol") used the M1932 as its base but made a few alterations. The controls were the same as the standard model, except the markings were in Portuguese. The selector switch (found on the left side, above the trigger guard) was marked N for normal (semi-automatic) and R for rápido ("rapid" for fully automatic). The safety control lever (found to the left of the hammer) was marked S for seguro (safe) and F for fogo (fire).[23] It was used with Brazilian State Military Police (Polícia Militar) forces in the 1980s. They preferred to use it as a semi-automatic carbine and reserved its full-auto setting for emergencies due to its recoil and muzzle-climb.[23]
In 1970, the Policia Militar do Rio de Janeiro (PMRJ) asked the services of Jener Damau Arroyo, a Spanish-born gunsmith, to make modifications on their PASAMs in order to improve their handling. The first modification (PASAM MOD-1), of which 101 were modified, received a metal frame extension welded to the magazine housing. It was fitted with a metal forward grip well ahead of the gun under the muzzle.[21] The original grip was left alone, making it compatible with the wooden holster/stock.[21] The second modification (PASAM MOD-2), involving 89 pistols, featured a similar frame extension, but the forward grip had wooden panels and was of different shape. The pistol grip frame used thicker rectangular wooden grips and had a 1.5-foot (460mm) "t-bar" metal shoulder stock welded to it. A metal frame attached to the receiver supported a rectangular wooden foregrip, taking pressure off the barrel. In both models, of course, the barrel was left free so as to enable it to do its short recoil during firing. For the record, 295 PASAMs were left in the original condition.[21] It took standard detachable 10-round box magazines,[23] although they can also take the extended 20- and 40-round magazines.[21]
Notable copies
Shanxi Type 17 (.45 ACP)
During the Warlord era of Chinese history in the early 20th century, the province of Shanxi was ruled by warlord Yen Hsi-shan, who had established a modern arms factory in his capital city of Taiyuan. Yen was equipping his troops with a locally produced copy of the Thompson submachine gun, chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge, but was experiencing supply difficulties as his troops' sidearms were 7.63mm calibre C96 handguns.[24]
Yen's solution was to produce a .45 ACP caliber version of the C96, thus standardizing ammunition and making supply logistics easier.[24] Designated Type 17, production of the .45 caliber handgun began in 1929 at the Taiyuan Arsenal and ended in 1931. They are inscribed (in Chinese) "Type 17" on the left hand side of the gun, and "Republic Year Eighteen, Made in Shansi" on the right hand side.[24] They were issued (along with Thompson SMGs) to railway guards in the province as defense against bandits and other warlords.
Besides being chambered for a larger cartridge, the Shanxi .45 pistols use a noticeably larger frame than their 7.63mm counterparts, with the 10-round magazine extending below the trigger guard and a 155mm (6.1in) barrel. It was loaded using two five-round stripper clips rather than the single 10-round stripper clips of the standard 7.63mm Mauser. Because of the overall increase in size, Type 17 pistols share no interchangeable parts with any other C96 variant.
Most of the Shanxi .45 pistols were melted down after the Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War, largely due to their odd caliber for Chinese Communist standards, but a few examples were exported overseas for sale on the commercial market.[24] Approximately 8,500 Shanxi .45 caliber Broomhandle pistols are believed to have been produced by the Taiyuan Arsenal, but there is some debate as to how many of the Shanxi .45 caliber Broomhandle pistols currently on the commercial market were actually produced for Yen's troops, and how many are more recent productions for the US collectors' market.
Hanyang C.96 (7.63mm Mauser)
In 1923 the Hanyang Munitions Works began making a copy of the Mauser C96. The result was the Hanyang C.96, about 13,000 copies being produced, it is sometimes described as the "fancier" of the two Chinese copies. Like the Shanxi Type 17, it is unknown of how many originals are currently left on the market.[25]
Type 80 (7.62mm Tokarev)

Type 80 is a machine pistol designed in late-20th Century by the People's Republic of China. It is based on the C96 which was widely used in China since the 1900s and is chambered for the Type 51 cartridge (Chinese copies of the Soviet 7.62x25mm Tokarev cartridge), but it is fed by a 20-round detachable box magazine instead of the 10-round undetachable magazine in a standard C96. A 10-round box magazine is also available for the firearm. The Type 80 features a different grip similar to that on a TT-33 but seems narrower than that of a standard TT-33. The Type 80 is said to have an effective firing range of 100 metres (about 109 yards)and a muzzle velocity of 470 meters per second (about 1542 fps).It was designed to replace some of the PLA's Type 54s (Chinese copies of Soviet Tokarev TT pistol, the Type 54 was the standard service pistol of the PLA from the 1950s to the 1990s), especially Type 54s in service in the Chinese special forces, as a small, light weapon which was asked to be good at both attacking and personal defending, similar to that of a PDW. But in the 1990s, the Chinese designed a new type of pistol, the QSZ-92,which was adopted as the standard-issue pistol by both the military and most of the police forces later and replaced most of the pistols in their service, including the Type 80.
Astra Model 900

The Spanish gunmaker Astra-Unceta y Cia began producing a copy of the Mauser C.96 in 1927 that was externally similar to the C96 (including the presence of a detachable shoulder stock/holster) but with non-interlocking internal parts. It was produced until 1941, with a production hiatus in 1937 and 1938, and a final batch assembled from spare parts in 1951.[6] The Spanish copies of the C96 were generally intended for export to China,[6] but after the commencement of the Sino-Japanese war (which blocked supply of guns to Chinese forces) the remaining Astra 900s were used in the Spanish Civil War, and numbers were also sold to Germany in the period 1940–1943.[6]
ETAI / Royal MM31 (Model 1)
Produced by Beistegui Hermanos in Eibar, Spain, this was the first pseudo-Mauser on the market, a relatively crude semi-auto appearing in 1926 and full-auto variants appearing in 1927. Mechanically, it was laid out approximately like the Mauser original, but without the removable lock frame. Internal parts (trigger, hammer, safety lever, etc.) pivoted on pins and screws extending through the frame. The screws also held the frame together. The bolt was of round cross-section, unlike the square Mauser bolt. The weapon was stamped with either "Royal" or "ETAI".[26][27][28]
Royal MM31 (Model 2)
This was a much closer copy of the Mauser original than the ETAI/Royal model and variants, with the full separate lock frame and all. It was of much better quality than the earlier gun, though still not at Mauser level. The MM31 was manufactured until 1934. A total of about 10,000 were made, in perhaps four successive variants. These models came in semi-auto and semi-auto/full auto selective fire variants.[26][27]
Royal MM34
This model was much like the MM31, but added a mechanical rate reducer inside the grip area, a three-position lever to select the firing rate. It also had a ribbed barrel to help prevent the barrel from overheating during sustained full auto fire. Only a few hundred of these weapons were made and are very rare today.[26][27]
Azul and Super Azul
The Azul and Super Azul pistols were also manufactured by Beistegui Hermanos in Eibar, Spain, but sold by Eulogio Arostegui. The Azul was a copy of the standard C96 while the Super Azul was a semi auto/full auto select fire variant. Each accepted detachable box magazines instead of having an internal box magazine.[29][30]
Federal Ordnance M713 and M714
In the late 1980s to the early 1990s, the Federal Ordnance firearms company in South El Monte, U.S.A. made reproductions of the Mauser 1917 Trench Carbine and C96 pistol, named the M713 and M714 respectively. The M713 came in a standard variant with a fixed stock and magazine, as well as a "Deluxe" variant which had a detachable stock and detachable box magazines. The M714 supported detachable box magazines, unlike the original C96, and a "Bolo" variant, with the "Bolo" model having a shorter barrel and grip. All variants of the M713 and M714 were available in 7.62x25mm and 9x19mm ammunition.[31]
Users

Austria-Hungary[15][32]
Bolivia[33]
Brazil[23]
Finland: Used in the Finnish Civil War and in the Second World War.[34]
German Empire: Army issued 137,000 of the "Red 9" variant during World War I.[6]
Kingdom of Italy: 5,000 bought from Germany in 1899 for the navy.[9]
Nazi Germany: 8,000 of the Schnellfeuer variant was issued to the Luftwaffe during World War II. Also bought thousands of the Spanish-made Astra Model 900 and 903 variants.[6]
North Vietnam[35]
Ottoman Empire: 1,000 ordered from Germany in 1896.[6]
First Philippine Republic
Republic of China (1912-1949): Hundreds of thousands were used by Kuomintang, Communist, and warlord forces.[36]
China: Used by the People's Volunteer Army during the Korean War.
Second Spanish Republic[6]
Soviet Union: "Bolo" variant bought from Germany during the 1920s.[19]
Thailand[23]
United Kingdom: Many were privately bought by British officers before World War I.[10]
Non-state actors
Irish Republican Army[37]
Syrian National Coalition[38]
Cultural significance

The Broomhandle Mauser is a popular collector's gun.[5] It was popularized in Soviet films as the iconic weapon of the Russian revolution and civil war. The C96 frequently appears as a "foreign" or "exotic" pistol in a number of films (such as The Great Silence, where Jean-Louis Trintignant's use of the C96 intentionally contrasts with the Colt Single Action Army revolvers used by the other characters in the film)[39] and TV shows, owing to its distinctive and instantly recognisable shape. Author Ian Fleming outfitted agents of SMERSH in the James Bond series with Mausers on the advice of firearms expert Geoffrey Boothroyd.[40] The C96 was the inspiration for the  Buck Rogers Atomic Pistol in the movie serial and the comic,[41] and a popular toy version was produced in 1934 by the Daisy Manufacturing Company.[42] A C96 was modified to form Han Solo's prop blaster pistol for the Star Wars films (under the name BlasTech DL-44 heavy blaster pistol).[5] Reproductions of the blaster became so popular in the cosplay community that gun collectors became aware that fans were buying and altering increasingly rare original Mausers to make blaster replicas.[43] A .45 ACP C/96 was also fictional character Jon Sable's main weapon in the 1983 comic book.  The C96 was also the weapon of choice of the title character in Dave Stevens' "Rocketeer" comic and film.
See also
Bergmann–Bayard pistol – a similar German designed semi-automatic pistol produced under license in Belgium.
Machine pistol
Notes

Bibliography