|
Hal Roach Studios
Hal Roach Studios was an American motion picture and, through its TV production subsidiary, Hal Roach Television Corporation, television production studio. Known as ''The Laugh Factory to the World'', it was founded by producer Hal Roach and business partners Dan Linthicum and I.H. Nance as the Rolin Film Company on July 23, 1914. The studio lot, at 8822 Washington Boulevard in Culver City, California, United States, was built in 1920, at which time Rolin was renamed to ''Hal E. Roach Studios''. The first series in Hal Roach Studios were the ''Willie Work'' comedies, with first short being '' Willie Runs the Park''. History Roach saw significant success in the 1920s with series of short comedy films featuring stars such as Harold Lloyd, Snub Pollard, and the ''Our Gang'' kids. The studio produced both short films and features for distribution through Pathé Exchange until 1927, when it signed a new distribution deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. By the early 1930s, the studio had en ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hal Roach
Harold Eugene "Hal" Roach Sr. Skretvedt, Randy (2016), ''Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies'', Bonaventure Press. p.608. (January 14, 1892 – November 2, 1992) was an American film and television producer, director and screenwriter, who was the founder of the namesake Hal Roach Studios. Roach was active in the industry from the 1910s to the 1990s. He is known for producing a number of early Media franchise successes, including the Laurel and Hardy franchise, Harold Lloyd's early films, the films of entertainer Charley Chase, and the ''Our Gang'' short film comedy series. Early life Roach was born in Elmira, New York, to Charles Henry Roach, whose father was born in Wicklow, County Wicklow, Ireland, and Mabel Gertrude Bally, her father John Bally being from Switzerland. A presentation by the American humorist Mark Twain impressed Roach as a young grade school student. Hal's first job was as a newspaper deliverer. One of his customers lived at Quarry Farm - Samu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Subsidiary
A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidiary company. Unlike regional branches or divisions, subsidiaries are considered to be distinct entities from their parent companies; they are required to follow the laws of where they are incorporated, and they maintain their own executive leadership. Two or more subsidiaries primarily controlled by same entity/group are considered to be sister companies of each other. Subsidiaries are a common feature of modern business, and most multinational corporations organize their operations via the creation and purchase of subsidiary companies. Examples of holding companies are Berkshire Hathaway, Jefferies Financial Group, The Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Citigroup, which have subsidiaries involved in many different Industry (e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harold Lloyd
Harold Clayton Lloyd Sr. (April 20, 1893 – March 8, 1971) was an American actor, comedian, and stunt performer who appeared in many Silent film, silent comedy films.Obituary ''Variety'', March 10, 1971, page 55. One of the most influential film comedians of the silent film, silent era, Lloyd made nearly 200 comedy films, both silent and Sound film, talkies, from 1914 to 1947. His bespectacled "glasses character" was a resourceful, ambitious go-getter who reflected the zeitgeist of the 1920s-era United States. His films frequently contained "thrill sequences" of extended chase scenes and daredevil physical feats. Lloyd hanging from the hands of a clock high above the street (dangerous, but risk exaggerated by camera angles) in ''Safety Last!'' (1923) is considered one of the more enduring images in cinema. Lloyd performed lesser stunts himself despite having injured himself in August 1919 while doing publicity pictures for the Roach studio. An accident with a bomb mistake ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United Artists
United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks as a venture premised on allowing actors to control their own financial and artistic interests rather than being dependent upon commercial studios. After numerous ownership and structural changes and revamps, United Artists was acquired by media conglomerate Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1981 for a reported $350 million ($ billion today). On September 22, 2014, MGM acquired a controlling interest in One Three Media and Lightworkers Media and merged them to revive the television production unit of United Artists as United Artists Media Group (UAMG). MGM itself acquired UAMG on December 14, 2015, and folded it into MGM Television, their own television division. MGM briefly revived the United Artists brand as United Artist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of newspapers in the United States, sixth-largest newspaper in the U.S. and the largest in the Western United States with a print circulation of 118,760. It has 500,000 online subscribers, the fifth-largest among U.S. newspapers. Owned by Patrick Soon-Shiong and published by California Times, the paper has won over 40 Pulitzer Prizes since its founding. In the 19th century, the paper developed a reputation for civic boosterism and opposition to Trade union, labor unions, the latter of which led to the Los Angeles Times bombing, bombing of its headquarters in 1910. The paper's profile grew substantially in the 1960s under publisher Otis Chandler, who adopted a more national focus. As with other regional newspapers in California and the United Sta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Way Out West (1937 Film)
''Way Out West'' is a 1937 Laurel and Hardy comedy film directed by James W. Horne, produced by Stan Laurel, and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was the second picture for which Stan Laurel was credited as producer. Plot Laurel and Hardy embark on a quest to locate Mary Roberts, the rightful heir to a substantial inheritance, including a gold mine deed, following news of her father's demise. Discovering Mary amidst the West's cabaret milieu, they encounter formidable obstacles in the form of her legal guardians, indifferent to her well-being and intent on usurping her wealth. Their journey to Brushwood Gulch is beset with misfortune, from Ollie's mishap in a river sinkhole to their encounter with the stern sheriff and his wife. At Mickey Finn's saloon, a case of mistaken identity leads to the theft of Mary's deed by the unscrupulous Finns, triggering a frantic pursuit. In a daring nighttime endeavor, Laurel and Hardy orchestrate a break-in to retrieve the deed, facing n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Topper (film)
''Topper'' is a 1937 American supernatural film, supernatural comedy film starring Constance Bennett and Cary Grant, and featuring Roland Young, Billie Burke, Alan Mowbray, and Eugene Pallette in support. Directed by Norman Z. McLeod, it tells the story of a stuffy, stuck-in-his-ways man who is haunted by the ghosts of a fun-loving married couple. The film was adapted by Eric S. Hatch, Eric Hatch, Jack Jevne and Eddie Moran from the 1926 novel by Thorne Smith. It was produced by Hal Roach and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. ''Topper'' was a huge hit with film audiences in the summer of 1937. ''Topper'' was the first black-and-white film to be digitally film colorization, colorized, re-released in 1985 by Hal Roach Studios. Plot George and Marion Kerby are as irresponsible as they are rich. When George wrecks their flashy custom roadster, they wake up from the accident as ghosts. Realizing they are neither in Heaven nor Hell because they have never been responsible enough to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Double Feature
The double feature is a Film, motion picture industry phenomenon in which theaters would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which the presentation of one feature film would be followed by various short subject reels. Operatic use Opera houses staged two operas together for the sake of providing long performance for the audience. This was related to one-act or two-act short operas that were otherwise commercially hard to stage alone. A prominent example is the double-bill of ''Pagliacci'' with ''Cavalleria rusticana'' first staged on 22 December 1893 by the Metropolitan Opera, Met (NYC). The two operas have since been frequently performed as a double bill, a pairing referred to in the operatic world colloquially as "Cav and Pag". Origin and format The double feature originated in the later 1930s. Though the dominant presentation model, consisting of all or some of the following, continued well into the 1940s: * One or more live acts * An anima ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zasu Pitts
ZaSu Pitts (; January 3, 1894 – June 7, 1963) was an American actress who, in a career spanning nearly five decades, starred in many silent film drama film, dramas, such as Erich von Stroheim's 1924 epic ''Greed (1924 film), Greed'', along with comedies, before moving into sound films, mostly comedy roles. She also appeared on numerous radio shows and, later, on television. She was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 at 6554 Hollywood Blvd. Early life ZaSu Pitts was born in Parsons, Kansas, the third of four children of Rulandus and Nelly (''née'' Shay) Pitts. Her father, who had lost a leg while serving in the 76th New York Volunteer Infantry, 76th New York Infantry in the American Civil War, Civil War, had settled the family in Kansas before ZaSu's birth. The names of her father's sisters, Eliza and Susan, were purportedly the basis for the name "ZaSu", i.e., to satisfy competing family interests. It has been (incorrectly) spelled as Zazu Pitts in some fil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thelma Todd
Thelma Alice Todd (July 29, 1906 – December 16, 1935) was an American actress and businesswoman who carried the nicknames "The Ice Cream Blonde" and "Hot Toddy". Appearing in about 120 feature films and shorts between 1926 and 1935, she is remembered for her comedic roles opposite ZaSu Pitts, and in films such as Marx Brothers' '' Monkey Business'' and '' Horse Feathers'' and a number of Charley Chase's short comedies. She co-starred with Buster Keaton and Jimmy Durante in '' Speak Easily''. She also had roles in several Wheeler and Woolsey and Laurel and Hardy films, the last of which (''The Bohemian Girl'') featured her in a part that was cut short by her sudden death in 1935 at the age of 29. Early life Thelma Alice Todd was born on July 29, 1906, in Lawrence, Massachusetts, to John Shaw Todd, an upholsterer from Ireland, 1910 United States Federal Census and later, a superintendent of streets, an alderman, and Lawrence's commissioner of health and charities in 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charley Chase
Charles Joseph Parrott (October 20, 1893 – June 20, 1940), known professionally as Charley Chase, was an American comedian, actor, screenwriter and film director. He worked for many pioneering comedy studios but is chiefly associated with producer Hal Roach. Chase was the elder brother of comedian/director James Parrott. Life and career Born Charles Joseph Parrott in Baltimore, Maryland, Charley Chase began performing in vaudeville as a teenager and started his career in films by working at the Christie Film Company in 1912. He then moved to Keystone Studios, where he began appearing in bit parts in the Mack Sennett films, including those of Charlie Chaplin. By 1915 he was playing juvenile leads in the Keystones, and directing some of the films as Charles Parrott. His Keystone credentials were good enough to get him steady work as a comedy director with other companies; he directed many of Chaplin imitator Billy West's comedies, which featured a young Oliver Hardy as a v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laurel And Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were a British-American double act, comedy duo during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957). Starting their career as a duo in the silent film era, they later successfully transitioned to "sound film, talkies". From the late 1920s to the mid-1950s, they were internationally famous for their slapstick comedy, with Laurel playing the clumsy, childlike friend to Hardy's pompous bully. Their signature theme song, known as "The Cuckoo Song", "Ku-Ku", or "The Dance of the Cuckoos" (by Hollywood composer Marvin Hatley, T. Marvin Hatley) was heard over their films' opening credits, and became as emblematic of them as their bowler hats. Prior to emerging as a team, both had well-established film careers. Laurel had acted in over 50 films, and worked as a writer and director, while Hardy was in more than 250 productions. Both had appeared ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
