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Cameo Theatre
''Cameo Theatre'' is an American anthology series that aired on NBC during the Golden Age of Television, from 1950 to 1955. Television in the round The live series, produced by Albert McCleery, introduced to television the concept of theater-in-the-round, which had been well established and popularized since 1947 by Margo Jones with her Theatre '47 in Dallas, Texas. McCleery's method of staging employed minimal sets and props well lit within a black background, enabling cameras to move about with much freedom in the darkness, picking up shots from any angle. McCleery's skill with this type of staging led directly to his producer role with NBC's ''Matinee Theatre''. The technique put the focus directly on the characters and dialogue rather than scenery. Jim Buckley of the Pewter Plough Playhouse (Cambria, California) recalled: :When Al McCleery got back to the States, he originated a most ambitious theatrical TV series for NBC called ''Matinee Theatre'': to televise five different ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sir Cedric Hardwicke
Sir Cedric Webster Hardwicke (19 February 1893 – 6 August 1964) was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned nearly 50 years. His theatre work included notable performances in productions of the plays of William Shakespeare, Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw, Shaw, and his film work included leading roles in several adapted literary classics. Early life Hardwicke was born in Lye, West Midlands, Lye, Worcestershire (now West Midlands (county), West Midlands) to Edwin Webster Hardwicke and his wife, Jessie (née Masterson). He attended Bridgnorth Grammar School in Shropshire. He intended to train as a doctor but failed to pass the necessary examinations."Hardwicke, Sir Cedric Webster" ''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edition, Oxford University Press, December 2012; accessed 20 March ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constance Bennett
Constance Campbell Bennett (October 22, 1904 – July 24, 1965) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actress and producer. She was a major Hollywood star during the 1920s and 1930s; during the early 1930s, she was the highest-paid actress in Hollywood. Bennett frequently played society women, focusing on melodramas in the early 1930s and then taking more comedic roles in the late 1930s and 1940s. She is best remembered for her leading roles in ''What Price Hollywood?'' (1932), '' Bed of Roses'' (1933), '' Topper'' (1937), '' Topper Takes a Trip'' (1938), and had a prominent supporting role in Greta Garbo's last film, ''Two-Faced Woman'' (1941). She was the daughter of stage and silent film star Richard Bennett, and the older sister of actress Joan Bennett. Early life Bennett was born in New York City, the eldest of three daughters of actress Adrienne Morrison and actor Richard Bennett. Her younger sisters were actresses Joan Bennett and Barbara Bennett. All th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leave It To The Girls
''Leave It to the Girls'' is an American radio and television talk show, created by Martha Rountree, and broadcast, in various forms, from the 1940s through the 1980s. Broadcast details Radio version The series was originally a radio program airing on the Mutual radio network starting in 1945 with hostess Paula Stone. The show was created by ''Meet the Press'' creator Martha Rountree as a serious-minded discussion of the problems of career women, but soon became a comedic commentary on love, romance, and marriage from an almost-all female panel — one man was always on the panel to provide the male viewpoint. Biography of Martha Roundtree on th She Made It sub-website within the Paley Center for the Media ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Voice Of Firestone
''The Voice of Firestone'' was a radio and television program of classical music. The show featured leading singers in selections from opera and operetta. Originally titled ''The Firestone Hour'', it was first broadcast on the NBC Radio network on December 3, 1928 and was later also shown on television starting in 1949. The program was last broadcast in 1963. Radio The program was sponsored by the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company and aired on the " Blue Network" of NBC Radio on Monday nights at 8:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time from its 1928 inception. In 1948, ''The Voice of Firestone'' was the first commercial radio program to be carried simultaneously on both AM and FM radio stations. Firestone's 25th anniversary program was broadcast November 30, 1953, and it continued to be heard on radio until 1957.John Dunning's reference book, ''On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio'', gives the date of the final radio broadcast as June 10, 1957. Regular performers on the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Four Star Revue
''Four Star Revue'' (also known as ''All Star Revue'' and ''All Star Summer Revue'') was an American variety/comedy program that aired on NBC from October 4, 1950, to December 26, 1953. The series originally starred four celebrities, Ed Wynn, Danny Thomas, Jack Carson, and Jimmy Durante (hence the name ''Four Star Revue''), alternating as hosts of the program every week. Other stars would join the show beginning with its second season, causing the title to change to ''All Star Revue''. Some of the other stars to pass through during the second season were Bob Hope, Spike Jones and Helen Grayco, and Paul Winchell. As the series progressed, several permanent hosts were added to replace the original four. Some included actress and singer Martha Raye, boxer Rocky Graziano, actor and toastmaster George Jessel, and actress Tallulah Bankhead. At the time that the show originally aired in the early 1950s, ''Four Star Revue'' was known as the second most expensive hour on television. Each ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sam Wanamaker
Samuel Wanamaker, (born Wattenmacker; June 14, 1919 – December 18, 1993) was an American actor and director who moved to the United Kingdom after becoming fearful of being blacklisted in Hollywood due to his communist views. He is credited as the person most responsible for saving The Rose Theatre, which led to the modern recreation of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London, where he is commemorated in the name of the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, the site's second theatre. Early life Wanamaker was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of tailor Maurice Wattenmacker (Manus Watmakher) and Molly (''née'' Bobele). His parents were Ukrainian Jews from Mykolaiv. He was the younger of two brothers, the elder being William, long-term cardiologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He trained at the Goodman School of Drama at the Art Institute of Chicago (now at DePaul University) and at Drake University and began working with summer stock theatre companies in Chicago and northern Wisconsin, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ernest Truex
Ernest Truex (September 19, 1889 – June 26, 1973) was an American actor of stage, film, and television. Career Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Truex learned acting at an early age after his father, a doctor, treated actor Edwin Melvin, who paid his bill by giving the son elocution lessons. He started acting at age five and toured through Missouri at age nine as "The Child Wonder in Scenes from Shakespeare". His Broadway debut came in ''Wildfire'' (1908), and he performed in several David Belasco plays and portrayed the title role in the 1915 musical ''Very Good Eddie''. Truex played the lead role in the disastrous 1923 premiere of F. Scott Fitzgerald's ''The Vegetable''. In 1927, he created the role of Bill Paradene in '' Good Morning, Bill'', which was based on an original play by Ladislas Fodor and adapted by P.G. Wodehouse. In 1926, he performed for the first time in London's West End. He played a leading role in ''The Fall Guy'' at the Apollo Theatre. He continued to p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mildred Natwick
Mildred Natwick (June 19, 1905 – October 25, 1994) was an American actress. She won a Primetime Emmy Award and was nominated for an Academy Award and two Tony Awards. Early life Natwick was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the daughter of Mildred Marion (née Dawes) and Joseph Natwick. Her grandfather, Ole Natwick, was one of the earliest Norwegian immigrants to the United States, arriving in Wisconsin in 1847. Her first cousin was animator and cartoonist Grim Natwick. Natwick attended the Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore and later graduated from Bennett College. Career Natwick began performing on the stage at age 21 with "The Vagabonds", a non-professional theatre group in Baltimore. She soon joined the University Players on Cape Cod. Natwick made her Broadway debut in 1932 playing Mrs. Noble in Frank McGrath’s play ''Carry Nation'', about the famous temperance crusader Carrie Nation. Throughout the 1930s she starred in a number of plays, frequently collaborating with friend and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Douglass Montgomery
Robert Douglass Montgomery (also credited as Kent Douglass; October 29, 1909 – July 23, 1966) was an American film actor. Early years The son of Chester Montgomery, a jeweler, Montgomery graduated from Los Angeles High School. Career Montgomery used the stage name Douglass Montgomery when he began acting in New York. He usually appeared as a male ingenue or leading man. He gained early acting experience at the Pasadena Community Playhouse. The film phase of his career began at M-G-M in 1930, playing the second male lead in films such as '' Paid'' and ''Five and Ten''. When he signed his contract at the studio his name was changed to Kent Douglass, to avoid confusion with that studio's star Robert Montgomery. Upon leaving MGM in 1932, he changed it back to Douglass Montgomery. Among his most celebrated roles was Laurie in '' Little Women'' (1933), opposite Katharine Hepburn's Jo March. He also played Johnny Hollis ("Johnny-in-the-Clouds") in ''The Way to the Stars ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Claire Luce
Claire Luce (October 15, 1903 – August 31, 1989) was an American stage and screen actress, dancer and singer. Among her few films were ''Up the River'' (1930), directed by John Ford and starring Spencer Tracy and Humphrey Bogart in their feature film debuts (Luce played Bogart's love interest), and ''Under Secret Orders'', the English-language version of G. W. Pabst's French-language feature, '' Mademoiselle Docteur'' (1937). Early years Luce was born in Syracuse, New York, but she grew up in Rochester in what an article in ''Silver Screen'' magazine described as "an atmosphere of discord and squalor". Luce's parents were divorced when she was 13. Florence Colebrook Powers, a friend of Luce's mother, adopted her. Powers was in charge of a dance school, and she introduced Luce to dancing. While still 13, Luce took a job as a "sort of utility employee" at a cafe in Rochester. When she was 15, she ran away with a Russian opera troupe that played in Rochester, becoming a bal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
June Havoc
June Havoc (born Ellen Evangeline Hovick; November 8, 1912 – March 28, 2010) was a Canadian American actress, dancer, stage director and memoirist. Havoc was a child vaudeville performer under the tutelage of her mother Rose Thompson Hovick, born Rose Evangeline Thompson. She later acted on Broadway theatre, Broadway and in Hollywood, and stage-directed, both on and off-Broadway. She last acted on television in 1990 in a story arc on the soap opera ''General Hospital'', and she last appeared on television as herself in interviews in the "Vaudeville" episode of ''American Masters'' in 1997 and in "The Rodgers & Hart: Thou Swell, Thou Witty" episode of ''Great Performances'' in 1999. Her elder sister Louise gravitated to American burlesque, burlesque and became the well-known striptease performer Gypsy Rose Lee. Early life Ellen Evangeline Hovick was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. For many years 1916 was cited as her year of birth. Havoc acknowledged in her late ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nina Foch
Nina Foch ( ; born Nina Consuelo Maud Fock; April 20, 1924 – December 5, 2008) was a Dutch-born American actress who later became an instructor. Her career spanned six decades, consisting of over 50 feature films and over 100 television appearances. She was the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award nomination for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actress, and a National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress. Foch established herself as a dramatic actress in the late 1940s, often playing cool, aloof sophisticates. Born in Leiden, Netherlands in 1924, Foch immigrated to the United States with her mother while still a toddler, and was raised in New York City. After signing a contract with Columbia Pictures at age 19, Foch became a regular in the studio's horror film, horror pictures and film noir, films noir, starring in such films as ''The Return of the Vampire'' (1943), ''Escape in the Fog'', and ''My Name Is Julia Ross ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
