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Broadway Rhythm
''Broadway Rhythm'' (1944) is a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Technicolor musical film. It was produced by Jack Cummings and directed by Roy Del Ruth. The film was originally announced as ''Broadway Melody of 1944'' to follow MGM's ''Broadway Melody'' films of 1929, 1936, 1938, and 1940. It was originally slated to star Eleanor Powell and Gene Kelly, but Louis B. Mayer and MGM loaned Kelly out to Columbia to play opposite Rita Hayworth in ''Cover Girl'' (1944). The film instead starred George Murphy, who had appeared in ''Broadway Melody of 1938'' and ''Broadway Melody of 1940.'' Mayer then replaced Powell with Ginny Simms. Other cast members included Charles Winninger, Gloria DeHaven, Lena Horne, Nancy Walker, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, the Ross Sisters, and Ben Blue, as well as Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra. Plot Murphy plays a successful Broadway musical comedy producer named Johnnie Demming. He needs a star for his new show. He's smitten with the glamorous film star, Hele ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roy Del Ruth
Roy Del Ruth (October 18, 1893, Delaware – April 27, 1961) was an American filmmaker. Early career Beginning his Hollywood career as a writer for Mack Sennett in 1915, Del Ruth later directed his first short film ''Hungry Lions'' (1919) for the producer. By the early 1920s, he had moved over to features including ''Asleep at the Switch'' (1923), ''The Hollywood Kid'' (1924), ''Eve's Lover'' (1925) and '' The Little Irish Girl'' (1926). Following several more titles, many now lost, he directed '' The First Auto'' (1927), a charming look at the introduction of the first automobile to a small rural town. Also once believed lost, the film's almost entirely unsynchronised soundtrack features several elaborate sound effects for the time. Del Ruth directed another half dozen projects before the musical '' The Desert Song'' (1929), the first color film ever released by Warner Bros. That same year, Del Ruth directed ''Gold Diggers of Broadway'' (1929), Warner's second two-stri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eleanor Powell
Eleanor Torrey Powell (November 21, 1912 – February 11, 1982) was an American dancer and actress. Best remembered for her tap dance numbers in musical films in the 1930s and 1940s, she was one of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's top dancing stars during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Powell appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and most prominently, in a series of movie musical vehicles tailored especially to showcase her dance talents, including '' Born to Dance'' (1936), ''Broadway Melody of 1938'' (1937), '' Rosalie'' (1937), and ''Broadway Melody of 1940'' (1940). She retired from films in the mid-1940s and then began hosting a Christian children's TV show, but she resurfaced for the occasional specialty dance scene in films such as '' Thousands Cheer'' and eventually headlined a successful nightclub act in Las Vegas. She died from cancer at 69. Powell is known as one of the most versatile and powerful female dancers of the Hollywood studio era. Early life Powell was born in Sprin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ben Blue
Ben Blue (born Benjamin Bernstein; September 12, 1901 – March 7, 1975) was a Canadian-American actor and comedian who had a career that spanned nearly 50 years. Early life He was born Benjamin Bernstein in Montreal, Quebec on September 12, 1901 to David Asher Bernstein and Sadie Goldberg. He was Jewish. Blue emigrated to Baltimore, Maryland at the age of nine, where he won a contest for the best impersonation of Charlie Chaplin. Career At the age of fifteen he was in a touring company and later became a stage manager and assistant general manager. He became a dance instructor and nightclub proprietor. In the 1920s Blue joined a popular orchestra, Jack White and His Montrealers. The entire band emphasized comedy and would continually interact with the joke-cracking maestro. Blue, the drummer, would sometimes deliver corny jokes while wearing a ridiculously false beard. The band emigrated to the United States and appeared in two early sound musicals — the Vitaph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Ross Sisters
The Ross Sisters were a trio of American singers and dancers consisting of Betsy Ann Ross (1926–1996), Veda Victoria "Vicki" Ross (1927–2002), and Dixie Jewell Ross (1929–1963), who used the stage names Aggie, Maggie, and Elmira. Or (better quality) They performed as a three-part harmony trio, who also danced and have become particularly noted for their acrobatics and contortionism. Their careers peaked during the 1940s, when they featured prominently in the 1944 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical film '' Broadway Rhythm'', footage from which appeared in the 1994 compilation film '' That's Entertainment! III'', and later online. Early life and performing careers The Ross sisters were born in West Texas, to Veda Cordelia Lipham and her husband Charles Adolphus Ross. Their performances were first reviewed in ''Billboard'' in September 1942, when they appeared in Boston in the show ''Count Me In''. The reviewer wrote, "The acrobatic antics of the Ross Sisters stop the show on two occ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eddie "Rochester" Anderson
Edmund Lincoln Anderson (September 18, 1905 – February 28, 1977) was an American comedian and actor. To a generation of early radio and television comedy he was known as "Rochester". Anderson entered show business as a teenager on the vaudeville circuit. In the early 1930s, he transitioned into films and radio. In 1937, he began his role of Rochester van Jones, usually known simply as "Rochester", the valet of Jack Benny, on his NBC radio show '' The Jack Benny Program''. Anderson became the first African American to have a regular role on a nationwide radio program. When the series moved to CBS television in 1950, Anderson continued in the role until the series ended in 1965. After the series ended, Anderson remained active with guest starring roles on television and voice work in animated series. He was also an avid horse-racing fan who owned several race horses and worked as a horse trainer at the Hollywood Park Racetrack. He was married twice and had four children. He die ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nancy Walker
Nancy Walker (born Anna Myrtle Swoyer; May 10, 1922 – March 25, 1992) was an American actress and comedian of stage, screen, and television. She was also a film and television director (lending her talents to ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'', on which she also made several guest appearances). During her five-decade-long career, she may be best remembered for her long-running roles as Mildred on ''McMillan & Wife'' and Ida Morgenstern, who first appeared on several episodes of ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' and later became a prominent recurring character on the spinoff series ''Rhoda''. Early life Walker was born in 1922 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the elder of two daughters of vaudevillian Dewey Barto (né Stewart Steven Swoyer) and Myrtle Flemming Lawler, a dancer. The couple wed in Manhattan in 1919. Walker and her father both stood 4'11" (1.50 m). Her younger sister was Betty Lou Barto. Acting career In 1937, as "Nan Barto", Walker appeared on the NBC radio programs ''C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lena Horne
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American dancer, actress, singer, and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years, appearing in film, television, and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood. Horne advocated for human rights and took part in the March on Washington in August 1963. Later she returned to her roots as a nightclub performer and continued to work on television while releasing well-received record albums. She announced her retirement in March 1980, but the next year starred in a one-woman show, '' Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music'', which ran for more than 300 performances on Broadway. She then toured the country in the show, earning numerous awards and accolades. Horne continued recording and performing sporadically into the 1990s, retreating from the public eye in 2000. Early life Lena Horne was born in Bedfordâ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gloria DeHaven
Gloria Mildred DeHaven (July 23, 1925 – July 30, 2016) was an American actress and singer who was a contract star for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Early life DeHaven was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of actor-director Carter DeHaven and actress Flora Parker DeHaven, both former vaudeville performers. A 1983 newspaper article reported, "Miss DeHaven ... says that her real family name was O'Callahan before her father legally changed his name to DeHaven." Film She began her career as a child actor with a bit part in Charlie Chaplin's '' Modern Times'' (1936). She was signed to a contract with MGM. She had featured roles in such films as '' Best Foot Forward'' (1943), ''The Thin Man Goes Home'' (1944), '' Scene of the Crime'' (1949) and ''Summer Stock'' (1950), and was voted by exhibitors as the third most likely to be a "star of tomorrow'" in 1944. She portrayed her own mother, Flora Parker DeHaven, in the Fred Astaire film '' Three Little Words'' (1950). After ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Winninger
Charles J. Winninger (May 26, 1884 – January 27, 1969) was an American stage and film actor, most often cast in comedies or musicals. Life and career Winninger was born in Athens, Wisconsin, the son of Rosalia (Grassler) and Franz Winninger. His parents were Austrian immigrants. He began as a vaudeville actor. His most famous stage role was as Cap'n Andy Hawks in the original production of ''Show Boat'', the Jerome Kern/ Oscar Hammerstein II musical classic, in 1927. He played the role in the 1932 stage revival and the 1936 film version of the show. He became so identified with the role and with his persona as a riverboat captain that he played several variations of the role, notably on the radio program ''Maxwell House Show Boat'', which was clearly inspired by the Broadway musical. Winninger's pre-Code film career includes '' Night Nurse'', a 1931 drama about two girls being systematically starved to death by the family chauffeur. Winninger portrays a kindly physician who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Broadway Melody Of 1940
''Broadway Melody of 1940'' is a 1940 MGM film musical starring Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell and George Murphy (Astaire's first male dancing partner on film). It was directed by Norman Taurog and features music by Cole Porter, including " Begin the Beguine". The film was the fourth and final entry in MGM's "Broadway Melody" series of films, and is notable for being the only on-screen pairing of Astaire and Powell, who were considered the finest film musical dancers of their time. Plot Johnny Brett (Fred Astaire) and King Shaw (George Murphy) are a dance team so down on their luck that they work in a dance hall for no money. Meanwhile, Clare Bennett (Eleanor Powell) is a big Broadway star. Owing to a case of mistaken identity, Shaw is offered the chance to be Clare's dancing partner in a new Broadway show, when Johnny's dancing was really what producer Bob Casey ( Frank Morgan) saw and wanted. The partnership breaks up, but Johnny still helps out King, who lets his newfound succe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Broadway Melody Of 1938
''Broadway Melody of 1938'' is a 1937 American musical film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and directed by Roy Del Ruth. The film is essentially a backstage musical revue, featuring high-budget sets and cinematography in the MGM musical tradition. The film stars Eleanor Powell and Robert Taylor and features Buddy Ebsen, George Murphy, Judy Garland, Sophie Tucker, Raymond Walburn, Robert Benchley and Binnie Barnes. The film is most notable for young Garland's performance of "You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want to Do It)", a tribute to Clark Gable which turned the teenage singer, who had been toiling in obscurity for a couple of years, into an overnight sensation, leading eventually to her being cast in '' The Wizard of Oz'' (1939) as Dorothy. Plot Young horse trainer Sally (Eleanor Powell) befriends Sonny ( George Murphy) and Peter (Buddy Ebsen), who have been hired to look after a horse her family once owned. Concerned for the horse's well-being, she sneaks aboard a tra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cover Girl (film)
''Cover Girl'' is a 1944 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Charles Vidor and starring Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly. The film tells the story of a chorus girl given a chance at stardom when she is offered an opportunity to be a highly paid cover girl. It was one of the most popular musicals of the war years. Primarily a showcase for Hayworth, the film has lavish modern and 1890s costumes, eight dance routines for Hayworth, and songs by Jerome Kern and Ira Gershwin, including "Long Ago (and Far Away)". Plot Rusty is a very lovely and beautiful chorus girl at a Brooklyn nightclub run by her boyfriend Danny McGuire. Fellow showgirl Maurine Martin enters a contest to be on the cover of ''Vanity'' magazine, so Rusty tries out as well. When Maurine is given a lukewarm evaluation by Cornelia Jackson, she sabotages Rusty's chances, giving her terrible advice on how to act toward Cornelia. Cornelia's boss, magazine editor John Coudair, decides to check out Maurine at Dann ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
