Question: Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian (Armenian: Sherilin Sargsyan); May 20, 1946) is an American singer and actress. Sometimes called the Goddess of Pop, she has been described as embodying female autonomy in a male-dominated industry. She is known for her distinctive contralto singing voice and for having worked in numerous areas of entertainment, as well as adopting a variety of styles and appearances during her six-decade-long career.

In early 1965, Caesar and Cleo began calling themselves Sonny & Cher. Following the recording of "I Got You Babe", they traveled to England in July 1965 at the Rolling Stones' advice; Cher recalled, "[they] had told us ... that Americans just didn't get us and that if we were going to make it big, we were going to have to go to England." According to writer Cintra Wilson, "English newspaper photographers showed up when S&C were thrown out of the London Hilton [because of their outfits] the night they arrived--literally overnight, they were stars. London went gaga for the heretofore-unseen S&C look, which was neither mod nor rocker."  "I Got You Babe" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and became, according to AllMusic's Bruce Eder, "one of the biggest-selling and most beloved pop/rock hits of the mid-'60s"; Rolling Stone listed it among "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2003. As the song knocked the Beatles off the top of the British charts, English teenagers began to emulate Sonny and Cher's fashion style, such as bell-bottoms, striped pants, ruffled shirts, industrial zippers and fur vests. Upon their return to the U.S., the duo made several appearances on the teen-pop showcases Hullabaloo and Shindig! and completed a tour of some of the largest arenas in the U.S. Their shows attracted Cher look-alikes--"girls who were ironing their hair straight and dyeing it black, to go with their vests and bell-bottoms". Cher expanded her creative range by designing a clothing line.  Sonny and Cher's first album, Look at Us (1965), released for the Atco Records division of Atlantic Records, spent eight weeks at number two on the Billboard 200, behind the Beatles' Help!. Their material became popular, and the duo successfully competed with the dominant British Invasion and Motown sounds of the era. Sonny and Cher charted ten Billboard top 40 singles between 1965 and 1972, including five top-ten singles: "I Got You Babe", "Baby Don't Go", "The Beat Goes On", "All I Ever Need Is You", and "A Cowboy's Work Is Never Done". At one point, they had five songs in the top 50 at the same time, a feat equaled only by the Beatles and Elvis Presley. By the end of 1967, they had sold 40 million records worldwide and had become, according to Time magazine's Ginia Bellafante, rock's "it" couple.  Cher's following releases kept her solo career fully competitive with her work with Sonny. The Sonny Side of Cher (1966) features "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)", which reached number two in America and became her first million-seller solo single. Cher, also released in 1966, contains the Burt Bacharach and Hal David composition "Alfie", which was added to the credits of the American version of the 1966 film of the same name and became the first stateside version of the popular song. With Love, Cher (1967) includes songs described by biographer Mark Bego as "little soap-opera stories set to rock music" such as the U.S. top-ten single "You Better Sit Down Kids".

Using a quote from the above article, answer the following question: How long was it number one?
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Answer: 


Question: Van Sant was born in Louisville, Kentucky, the son of Betty (nee Seay) and Gus Green Van Sant, Sr; Gus's father was a clothing manufacturer and traveling salesman who rapidly worked his way into middle class prosperity, holding executive marketing positions that included being president of the White Stag Manufacturing Company's Apparel Operation. As a result of his father's job, the family moved continually during Van Sant's childhood. His paternal family is of partial Dutch origin; the name "Van Sant" is derived from the Dutch name "Van Zandt".

After spending time in Europe, Van Sant went to Los Angeles in 1976. He secured a job as a production assistant to writer/director Ken Shapiro, with whom he developed a few ideas, none of which came to fruition. In 1981, Van Sant made Alice in Hollywood, a film about a naive young actress who goes to Hollywood and abandons her ideals. It was never released. During this period, Van Sant began to spend time observing the denizens of the more down-and-out sections of Hollywood Boulevard. He became fascinated by the existence of this marginalized section of L.A.'s population, especially in context with the more ordinary, prosperous world that surrounded them. Van Sant would repeatedly focus his work on those existing on society's fringes, making his feature film directorial debut Mala Noche.  It was made two years after Van Sant went to New York to work in an advertising agency. He saved $20,000 during his tenure there, enabling him to finance the majority of his tale of doomed love between a gay liquor store clerk and a Mexican immigrant. The film, which was taken from Portland street writer Walt Curtis' semi-autobiographical novella, featured some of the director's hallmarks, notably an unfulfilled romanticism, a dry sense of the absurd, and the refusal to treat homosexuality as something deserving of judgment. Unlike many gay filmmakers, Van Sant--who had long been openly gay--declined to use same-sex relationships as fodder for overtly political statements, although such relationships would frequently appear in his films.  Shot in black-and-white, the film earned Van Sant almost overnight acclaim on the festival circuit, with the Los Angeles Times naming it the year's Best Independent Film. The film's success attracted Hollywood interest, and Van Sant was briefly courted by Universal; the courtship ended after Van Sant pitched a series of project ideas (including what would later become Drugstore Cowboy and My Own Private Idaho) that the studio declined to take interest in.  Van Sant moved back to Portland, Oregon, where he set up house and began giving life to the ideas rejected by Universal. He directed Drugstore Cowboy about four drug addicts robbing pharmacies to support their habit. The film met with great critical success and revived the career of Matt Dillon.

Using a quote from the above article, answer the following question: what did he do with ken?
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Answer:
assistant to writer/director Ken Shapiro, with whom he developed a few ideas, none of which came to fruition.