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Bern Hoffman
Benjamin Bernard Hoffman (February 17, 1913 – December 15, 1979) was an American film, television and theatre actor. He was perhaps best known for playing "Earthquake McGoon" in ''Li'l Abner'', both in the Broadway play and in the 1959 film. Life and career Hoffman was born in Maryland, the son of Rose Hoffman. He had a brother and a sister. Hoffman attended Johns Hopkins University, where he studied medicine, and also attended Loyola College, where he studied explosives engineering. Hoffman left college to help out and support his family. Hoffman began his career in 1937, when he appeared in two films, '' Meet the Missus'' and ''Forty Naughty Girls'', playing the uncredited role of the "Orchestra Leader" in both films. Hoffman made his theatre debut in 1944, appearing in the Broadway play titled ''Catherine Was Great''. He also played the role of "Joey Biltmore" in ''Guys and Dolls'', during its first production. Hoffman later played the role of "Pawnee Bill" in the Broa ...
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Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. Baltimore is the largest city in the state, and the capital is Annapolis. Among its occasional nicknames are '' Old Line State'', the ''Free State'', and the '' Chesapeake Bay State''. It is named after Henrietta Maria, the French-born queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland, who was known then in England as Mary. Before its coastline was explored by Europeans in the 16th century, Maryland was inhabited by several groups of Native Americans – mostly by Algonquian peoples and, to a lesser degree, Iroquoian and Siouan. As one of the original Thirteen Colonies of England, Maryland was founded by George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, a Catholic convert"George Calvert and Cecilius Calvert, Barons Baltimore" William Hand Browne, ...
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Meet The Missus (1937 Film)
''Meet the Missus'' is a 1937 American domestic comedy film directed by Joseph Santley, using a screenplay by Jack Townley, Bert Granet, and Joel Sayre, based on an original story by Jack Goodman and Albert Rice. The movie was produced and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures, and was initially released on June 4, 1937. The film stars Victor Moore and Helen Broderick (in the fifth of their six 1936–38 films) as well as Anne Shirley. Plot Mrs. Foster loves to enter contests which she never wins. Mr. Foster is exasperated with his wife. The Happy Noodle Company is looking for Mrs. America and Emma Foster becomes a finalist. The couple go to Atlantic City for the finals. Emma never had time to do homemaker chores and during the contest she has to get her husband Otis to do the work. Other husbands were likewise frustrated with the contest and their wives. The wives went full force to out do the other finalists. Cast *Victor Moore as Otis Foster - Husband *Helen Broderick as Em ...
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Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956 Film)
''Somebody Up There Likes Me'' is a 1956 American drama film directed by Robert Wise and starring Paul Newman and Pier Angeli, based on the life of middleweight boxing legend Rocky Graziano. The supporting cast features Everett Sloane, Eileen Heckart, Harold J. Stone, Sal Mineo, and Robert Loggia. Steve McQueen has a brief unbilled speaking role as Fidel. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards, and won two: Best Cinematography (Black and White) (Joseph Ruttenberg) and Best Art Direction (Black and White) (Cedric Gibbons, Malcolm Brown, Edwin B. Willis, F. Keogh Gleason). It lost its nomination for Best Film Editing to ''Around the World in 80 Days''. Plot Rocky Graziano (Paul Newman) has a difficult childhood and is beaten by his father. He joins a street gang, and undergoes a long history of criminal activities. He is sent to prison, where he is rebellious to all authority figures. After his release, he is drafted by the U.S. Army, but runs away. Needing m ...
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The Phil Silvers Show
''The Phil Silvers Show'', originally titled ''You'll Never Get Rich'', is a sitcom which ran on CBS from 1955 to 1959. A pilot titled "Audition Show" was made in 1955, but it was never broadcast. 143 other episodes were broadcast – all half-an-hour long except for a 1959 one-hour live special. The series starred Phil Silvers as Master Sergeant Ernest G. Bilko of the United States Army. The series was created by Nat Hiken and won three consecutive Emmy Awards for Best Comedy Series. The show is sometimes titled ''Sergeant Bilko'' or simply ''Bilko'' in reruns, and it is very often referred to by these names, both on-screen and by viewers. The show's success transformed Silvers from a journeyman comedian into a star and writer-producer Hiken from a highly regarded behind-the-scenes comedy writer into a publicly recognized creator. Production By 1955, the American television business was already moving westward to Los Angeles, but Nat Hiken insisted on filming the series in ...
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Death Valley Days
''Death Valley Days'' is an American old-time radio and television anthology series featuring true accounts of the American Old West, particularly the Death Valley country of southeastern California. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was broadcast on radio until 1945. From 1952 to 1970, it became a Broadcast syndication, syndicated television series, with reruns (updated with new narrations) continuing through August 1, 1975. The radio and television versions combined to make the show "one of the longest-running Western (genre), Western programs in broadcast history."French, Jack & Siegel, David S. (eds.) (2014). ''Radio Rides the Range: A Reference Guide to Western Drama on the Air, 1929–1967''. McFarland & Company, Inc. , p. 43–49. The series was sponsored by the Pacific Coast Borax Company (Twenty-Mule-Team Borax, 20 Mule Team Borax, Boraxo) and hosted by Stanley Andrews ("The Old Ranger") (1952–1964), Ronald Reagan (1964–1965), Rosemary DeCamp (1965), Robe ...
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Ironside (1967 TV Series)
''Ironside'' is an American television crime drama that aired on NBC over eight seasons from 1967 to 1975. The show starred Raymond Burr as Robert T. Ironside (usually addressed by the title "Chief Ironside"), a consultant for the San Francisco police department (formerly chief of detectives), who was paralyzed from the waist down after being shot while on vacation. The character debuted on March 28, 1967, in a TV movie entitled ''Ironside''. When the series was broadcast in the United Kingdom, from late 1967 onward, it was broadcast as ''A Man Called Ironside''. The show earned Burr six Emmy and two Golden Globe nominations. ''Ironside'' is a production of Burr's Harbour Productions Unlimited in association with Universal Television. Plot The series revolves around former San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) Chief of Detectives Robert T. Ironside (Raymond Burr), a veteran of more than 20 years of police service, forced to retire from the department after a sniper's bullet ...
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The Man Who Understood Women
''The Man Who Understood Women'' is a 1959 American drama film written and directed by Nunnally Johnson from a novel by Romain Gary, and starring Henry Fonda, Leslie Caron, Renate Hoy and Cesare Danova. Plot Willie Bauche, a Hollywood producer, becomes so obsessed with turning his wife, Ann Garantier, into the sexiest star in Hollywood that he neglects her real needs. Feeling lonely and tired of Tinseltown, Ann returns to her native France and finds herself attracted to Marco Ranieri, a handsome and very attentive pilot. When Willie hears about the budding affair, he flies into a rage and hires assassins to kill his rival. Unfortunately for him, one of the killers is a romantic and decides that Ann and Marco are so in love that both must die so they can always be together. When Willie finds out, he rushes over to France to try to save his wife. Cast * Henry Fonda as Bauche * Leslie Caron as Ann * Cesare Danova as Marco * Conrad Nagel as Brody * Myron McCormick as the Preacher ...
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Tombstone Territory
''Tombstone Territory'' is an American Western series starring Pat Conway and Richard Eastham. The series' first two seasons aired on ABC from 1957 to 1959. The first season was sponsored by Bristol-Myers (consumer products) and the second season by Lipton (tea/soup) and Philip Morris (Marlboro cigarettes). The third and final season aired in syndication from 1959 until 1960. The program was produced by Ziv Television. Overview This program took place in the boom town of Tombstone, Arizona Territory, one of the Old West's most notorious towns and the site of the shootout known as the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Located south of Tucson, Tombstone was then known by the sobriquet "the town too tough to die." The program's theme song, "Whistle Me Up a Memory", was written by William M. Backer and performed by Jimmy Blaine. The series did not deal with real characters in the history of Tombstone in the 1880s, such as Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, or the Clanton gang, with the excepti ...
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On The Town (film)
''On the Town'' is a 1949 Technicolor musical film with music by Leonard Bernstein and Roger Edens and book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. It is an adaptation of the Broadway stage musical of the same name produced in 1944 (which itself is an adaptation of the Jerome Robbins ballet entitled ''Fancy Free'' which was also produced in 1944), although many changes in script and score were made from the original stage version; for instance, most of Bernstein's score was dropped in favor of new songs by Edens, who disliked the majority of Bernstein's music for being too complex and too operatic for film audiences. This caused Bernstein to boycott the film. The film was directed by Gene Kelly, who also choreographed, and Stanley Donen in their directorial debut, and stars Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Betty Garrett, and Ann Miller, and features Jules Munshin and Vera-Ellen. It was a product of the Arthur Freed unit at MGM, and is notable for its combination of studio and locat ...
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North Hollywood, California
North Hollywood is a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, located in the San Fernando Valley. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, the El Portal Theatre, several art galleries, and the Academy of TV Arts and Sciences. The North Hollywood Los Angeles Metro Rail, Metro Rail station is one of the few subway-accessible Metro Rail stations in Los Angeles. North Hollywood was established by the Lankershim Ranch Land and Water Company in 1887. It was first named "Toluca" before being renamed "Lankershim" in 1896 and finally "North Hollywood" in 1927. History Before annexation North Hollywood was once part of the vast landholdings of the Mission San Fernando Rey de España, which was confiscated by the government during the Mexican period of rule. A group of investors assembled as the San Fernando Farm Homestead Association purchased the southern half of the Rancho Ex-Mission San Fernando. The leading investor was Isaac Lankershim, a Northern California stockman and ...
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Annie Get Your Gun (musical)
''Annie Get Your Gun'' is a musical with lyrics and music by Irving Berlin and a book by Dorothy Fields and her brother Herbert Fields. The story is a fictionalized version of the life of Annie Oakley (1860–1926), a sharpshooter who starred in ''Buffalo Bill's Wild West'', and her romance with sharpshooter Frank E. Butler (1847–1926). The 1946 Broadway production was a hit, and the musical had long runs in both New York (1,147 performances) and London, spawning revivals, a 1950 film version and television versions. Songs that became hits include " There's No Business Like Show Business", " Doin' What Comes Natur'lly", "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun", "They Say It's Wonderful", and "Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)". History and background Dorothy Fields had the idea for a musical about Annie Oakley, to star her friend, Ethel Merman. Producer Mike Todd turned the project down, so Fields approached a new producing team, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. Afte ...
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Pawnee Bill
Gordon William Lillie (February 14, 1860 – February 3, 1942), known professionally as Pawnee Bill, was an American showman and performer who specialized in Wild West shows and was known for his short partnership with William "Buffalo" Bill Cody. In 2010, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Early life and family Pawnee Bill was born on February 14, 1860, in Bloomington, Illinois. His father Newton operated a flour mill in Bloomington; the mill burned to the ground in 1876. The family then moved to Wellington, Kansas, where Gordon developed a love for the West. By the age of 19, he was working on the Pawnee Indian agency in Indian Territory. In 1883, he was given the chance to work as the Pawnee interpreter with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. His work with the show was the origin of his nickname as "Pawnee Bill". Wild West show After courting for two years, Lillie married May Manning in 1886, a petite Quaker f ...
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