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Ben Lessy
Ben Lessy (April 29, 1902 – October 30, 1992) was an American nightclub comedian and television and film actor. Early life He was born in New York City, New York. Career Lessy was known for a nightclub act done with Patti Moore, the long-time wife of his best friend and agent, Sammy Lewis. They were regulars at Los Angeles nightclubs Slapsy Maxie's and Billy Gray's Band Box. Lessy appeared in over 50 films and television episodes between 1938 and 1981. His first film role was in the two reel ''Cafe Rendezvous'' (1938) and his career ended with the Billy Wilder film '' Buddy Buddy'' (1981). Lessy's film credits include '' Music for Millions'' (1944), ''Dark Delusion'' (1947) (the last entry in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Dr. Kildare series),'' The Pirate'' (1948) (Lessy's 9th, and final film during his seven years at MGM),''The Jackie Robinson Story'' (1950), '' Just for You'' (1952), ''Gypsy'' (1962), ''It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World'' (1963), '' Pajama Party'' (1964), '' T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the United States, and is more than twice as populous as second-place Los Angeles. New York City lies at the southern tip of New York State, and constitutes the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass. With over 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York is one of the world's most populous megacities, and over 58 million people live within of the city. New York City is a global cultural, financial, entertainment, and media center with a significant influence on commerce, health care and life sciences, research, technology, education, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gypsy (1962 Film)
''Gypsy'' is a 1962 American musical comedy-drama film produced and directed by Mervyn LeRoy. The screenplay by Leonard Spigelgass is based on the book of the 1959 stage musical '' Gypsy: A Musical Fable'' by Arthur Laurents, which was adapted from the 1957 autobiography '' Gypsy: A Memoir'' by Gypsy Rose Lee. Stephen Sondheim wrote the lyrics for songs composed by Jule Styne. The film was remade for television in 1993. Plot Determined to make her beautiful, gifted daughter June a vaudeville headliner, willful, resourceful and domineering stage mother Rose Hovick will stop at nothing to achieve her goal. She drags June and her shy, awkward, and decidedly less-talented older sister Louise around the country in an effort to get them noticed, and with the help of agent Herbie Sommers, finally manages to secure a booking on the prestigious Orpheum Circuit. Years pass, and the girls no longer are young enough to pull off the childlike personae their mother insists they cont ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Woman Of The Year
''Woman of the Year'' is a 1942 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by George Stevens and starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. The film was written by Ring Lardner Jr. and Michael Kanin (with uncredited work on the rewritten ending by John Lee Mahin), and produced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. The film's plot is about the relationship between Tess Harding—an international affairs correspondent, chosen "Woman of the Year"—and Sam Craig—a sportswriter—who meet, marry, and encounter problems as a result of her unflinching commitment to her work. In 1999, this film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Plot Tess Harding (Katharine Hepburn) and Sam Craig (Spencer Tracy) are journalists for the (fictional) ''New York Chronicle''. Tess, the daughter of a former ambassador, is a highly educated, well-travelled political affairs colum ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second Chorus
''Second Chorus'' is a 1940 Hollywood musical comedy film starring Paulette Goddard and Fred Astaire and featuring Artie Shaw, Burgess Meredith and Charles Butterworth, with music by Artie Shaw, Bernie Hanighen and Hal Borne, and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The film was directed by H. C. Potter and produced independently for Paramount Pictures by Boris Morros, with associate producers Robert Stillman and (uncredited) Fred Astaire. The film's copyright expired in 1968 and it is now in the public domain. Plot Danny O'Neill (Fred Astaire) and Hank Taylor (Burgess Meredith) are friends and rival trumpeters with "O'Neill's Perennials", a college band. Both have managed to prolong their college careers by failing seven years in a row. At a performance, Ellen Miller (Paulette Goddard) catches both Danny's and Hank's eyes. However, she serves them a summons notice for her boss, a debt collector, but the fast-talking O'Neill and Taylor soon have her working as their manager, where ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
McMillan & Wife
''McMillan & Wife'' (known simply as ''McMillan'' from 1976–77) is an American police procedural television series that aired on NBC from September 17, 1971, to April 24, 1977. Starring Rock Hudson and Susan Saint James in the title roles, the series premiered in episodes as part of Universal Television's wheel series ''NBC Mystery Movie'', in rotation with ''Columbo'' and '' McCloud''. Initially airing on Wednesday night, the original lineup was shifted to Sundays in the second season, where it aired for the rest of its run. For the final season, known as ''McMillan'', numerous changes were made that included killing off St. James' character of Sally McMillan. Plot ''McMillan & Wife'' revolved around Stuart McMillan (Rock Hudson), a 50-ish former criminal defense attorney who becomes San Francisco police commissioner, and his attractive, bright, affable wife Sally ( Susan Saint James), who was in her 20s. The episodes often found Mac and Sally attending fashionable parties a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The New Andy Griffith Show
''The New Andy Griffith Show'' is an American sitcom that was broadcast in the United States on CBS in 1971 on Fridays at 8:30 ET. It debuted on January 8, 1971, and ended on May 21, 1971. History Actor Andy Griffith had left his first sitcom, ''The Andy Griffith Show'', voluntarily after the 1967-68 season while it was still number one in the Nielsen ratings and despite a high-dollar offer from CBS to continue it, in order to pursue his other interests, singing and motion picture acting, and to prevent his being typecast solely as a rural Southern sheriff. When he decided to return to network television two years later, in the fall of 1970, it was in ''Headmaster'', a drama, in which he played the headmaster of an exclusive California private school. When that program very quickly sank in the ratings, Griffith replaced it immediately with this one, which was much closer in tone and content to his earlier, more successful role (also sharing some writers and music director E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Petticoat Junction
''Petticoat Junction'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS from September 1963 to April 1970. The series takes place at the Shady Rest Hotel, which is run by Kate Bradley; her three daughters Billie Jo, Bobbie Jo, and Betty Jo; and her uncle Joe Carson. The series is one of three interrelated shows about rural characters produced by Paul Henning. ''Petticoat Junction'' was created upon the success of Henning's previous rural/urban-themed sitcom ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' (1962–1971). The success of ''Petticoat Junction'' led to a spin-off, ''Green Acres'' (1965–1971). ''Petticoat Junction'' was produced by Filmways, Inc. Premise The show centers on the goings-on at the rural Shady Rest Hotel. Widowed Kate Bradley (Bea Benaderet) is the proprietor. Her lazy but lovable Uncle Joe Carson ( Edgar Buchanan) supposedly helps her in the day-to-day running of the hotel, while she serves as a mediator in the various minor crises that befall her three be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
That Girl
''That Girl'' is an American sitcom that ran on ABC from September 8, 1966 to March 19, 1971. It starred Marlo Thomas as the title character Ann Marie, an aspiring (but only sporadically employed) actress, who moves from her hometown of Brewster, New York, to try to make it big in New York City. Ann has to take a number of offbeat "temp" jobs to support herself in between her various auditions and bit parts. Ted Bessell played her boyfriend Donald Hollinger, a writer for ''Newsview Magazine''. Lew Parker and Rosemary DeCamp played Lew Marie and Helen Marie, her concerned parents. Bernie Kopell, Ruth Buzzi, and Reva Rose played Ann and Donald's friends. ''That Girl'' was developed by writers Bill Persky and Sam Denoff, who had served as head writers on ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' (with which Thomas' father, Danny Thomas, was closely associated) earlier in the 1960s. Storyline ''That Girl'' was one of the first sitcoms to focus on an unmarried woman who was not a domestic or liv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Cara Williams Show
''The Cara Williams Show'' is an American situation comedy starring Cara Williams which centers on a married couple who try to conceal their marriage from their employer. Original episodes aired from September 23, 1964, until April 21, 1965 on CBS.McNeil, Alex, ''Total Television: The Comprehensive Guide to Programming From 1948 to the Present, Fourth Edition'', New York: Penguin Books, 1996, , pp. 146–147.Brooks, Tim, and Earle Marsh, ''The Complete Directory to Prime-Time Networ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Jack Benny Program
''The Jack Benny Program'', starring Jack Benny, is a radio-TV comedy series that ran for more than three decades and is generally regarded as a high-water mark in 20th century American comedy. He played one role throughout his radio and television careers, a caricature of himself as a minimally talented musician and penny pincher who was the butt of all the jokes. Producer Hilliard Marks was the brother of Benny's wife Mary Livingstone. Format On both television and radio, ''The Jack Benny Program'' used a loose show-within-a-show format, wherein the main characters were playing versions of themselves. The show often broke the fourth wall, with the characters interacting with the audience and commenting on the program and its advertisements. In his first years on radio (c. 1932–1935), Jack Benny followed the format of many other radio comedians, standing at the microphone, telling jokes and stories, and introducing band numbers. As the characters of Jack and his cast becam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Make Room For Daddy
''The Danny Thomas Show'' (titled ''Make Room for Daddy'' for its first three seasons) is an American sitcom that ran from 1953 to 1957 on ABC and from 1957 to 1964 on CBS. Starring Danny Thomas as a successful night club entertainer, the show focused on his relationship with his family, yet went through a number of significant changes in cast and characters during the course of its run. Episodes regularly featured music by Thomas, guest stars and occasionally other cast members as part of the plot. In March 1953, Thomas first signed the contract for the show with ABC and chose Desilu Studios to film it using its three-camera method.''The I Love Lucy Book'' by Bart Andrews (revised and updated Broadway Books trade paperback edition, 2001), , p. 116 Two proposed titles during pre-production were ''The Children's Hour'' and ''Here Comes Daddy''. Synopsis Thomas played the role of Danny Williams, a successful comedian and nightclub entertainer at the Copa Club, based on the icon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Love Machine (film)
''The Love Machine'' is a 1971 American drama film based on the best-selling novel by Jacqueline Susann. Directed by Jack Haley Jr., it stars John Phillip Law, Dyan Cannon, Robert Ryan, Jackie Cooper and David Hemmings. Plot Robin Stone, a handsome, ambitious newsman for a New York television station, attracts the attention of Judith Austin, wife of Gregory Austin, the head of the IBC network. Concerned about ratings, Greg is encouraged by Judith to hire Robin as IBC's new anchorman. Although he opposes Greg's decision, Danton Miller, the head of programming, is unable to overrule his boss. Soon afterward, feeling threatened by Greg's support of Robin's plan to take his newscast to prime-time, Dan decides to build a variety show around second-rate comedian Christie Lane to prove that the audience prefers crass entertainment to more cerebral programming. Christie is a hit in the ratings, and Jerry Nelson, a homosexual friend of Robin, arranges for the show's sponsor to hire ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
